Filling you all in on the past 3 months!

The morning of Wednesday, May 20th, I said goodbye to everything I know and got on a plane, heading to Naples, Italy, to live for one year. It was one of the most exciting and exhilarating feelings I’ve ever experienced, but at the same time, very nerve-racking. I was absolutely thrilled to be returning to the country I fell in love with exactly one year earlier, when I spent a month studying in Florence. But I was second-guessing myself for giving up so much. First and foremost, I had to say goodbye to my family, friends, and (then) boyfriend for a year. That might be easy for a lot of people, but I am extremely family-oriented, and thrive off of my friends, so it was really difficult for me to do. Secondly, I gave up my cute little apartment that I adored so much, I gave up my fun job at a sports bar (and possible promotion to bartender), and we put my beloved “Goldie” (my car) up for sale. I had to kiss goodbye my dear cat, Cooper, who had been a great companion for the past 2 years and, to me, symbolized me gaining independence. But hardest of all, I was giving up a year of my youth. I had just graduated college, and just turned 22 two days beforehand. No more lying on the couch and watching TV all day. No more all-night bar hopping and after-parties at my apartment. No more wasted days at the beach, sleeping in, road trips, lunches out, dinners out. No more irresponsibility. I was literally about to become the mother of two precious little Italian girls, and I knew my life would never be the same.

I arrived in Naples the morning of May 21st, after 24 hours of traveling. After retrieving my luggage, I searched for Rosa in the crowd. I knew what she looked like from pictures and from when we would chat on web-cam and spotted her right away. We rushed to each other, and I immediately tried to hug her, but she tried kissing me on both cheeks, and it was kind of an awkward moment (way to go Liz!) but we brushed it off and started heading towards the exit. How relieved I was to be with Rosa! We had spent months corresponding and I was so happy to finally be with her in person. She helped me with my luggage as we stepped out into – brace yourself – the extreme heat, strong sunshine, pollution, and absolute chaos of Napoli. Forget looking both ways before you cross the road – you just have to go! Or else you will never get across. “Don’t worry, they won’t hit you!” reassured Rosa of the oncoming traffic as she led the way to her tiny little Ford. Finally we were in the car and on the way to the house. It was sweltering, and I instantly remembered how anti-AC Italians are. I dared crack the window a bit for some fresh air as I clutched the sides of my seat, feeling like I was on the most intense ride at Kings Dominion. Naples is notorious for its traffic. It’s the one place in Europe, or possibly the whole world, where all social order breaks down and it’s every man for himself. Lights and signs are ignored; people double- and triple-park, there is literally no speed limit, and the carabinieri are a bit preoccupied to care. It’s insane, but kind of fun!

When we arrived to the house, I immediately recognized the area from the hours I spent on Google Earth before I left. I got to meet Rosa’s mom and 2-year-old Vittoria right away; 3-year-old Chiara was at school and the dad, Bruno, was at work. Rosa’s mom fixed me the most delicious plate of spaghetti I’ve probably ever had; I gulfed it down and took the most amazing nap. Hours later I was woken up by both Chiara and Vittoria (probably curious to check out ‘the new nanny!’). Rosa told me that for weeks they had been asking “When is the girl in the computer coming!?” referring to when I would talk to them on web-cam. I took a bit of time to familiarize myself with the apartment, and just couldn’t get over their beautiful terrace and the amazing view they have. They live in Capodimonte, which is a neighborhood of Naples that is up in the hills. From their terrace you can see almost all of Naples, including the sea and even the island of Capri, which is right off the coast. After a while we got in the car to go buy regalia, a present, for Rosa’s baby niece who was getting baptized that Sunday. Later on, we went to the park with the girls. The park also provided a great view of Naples as well as Mount Vesuvius in the distance. That evening I unpacked my belongings and got settled into what would be my new home for the next year. I took a long hot shower and have to admit that I cried myself to sleep that night, thinking, how can I do this? How can I sleep in this tiny bed, in the same bedroom as a 3-year-old? How can I ever overcome the language barrier? How can I survive without all the comforts of home?

The next few weeks were a complete whirlwind. I was getting into a routine with the girls, meeting both Rosa’s and Bruno’s sides of the family, learning to cook for the girls (pasta sauce from a jar? Never! Always fresh tomatoes or beans or other vegetables), adjusting to the food (I told them I love seafood, but I never meant octopus!) and just adjusting to the lifestyle in general. One weekend we went to Sorrento for a little get-away. Sorrento is absolutely charming. Another weekend I worked up some courage and went to Capri on my own. I should have done a little research before I went, because once I got there, I had no clue what to do! I just walked around the main piazza, sat on the beach for a bit, then headed back home. The week of June 13-20 we spent at the Cavallino Bianco, which is a family-oriented resort in the northern-most part of Italy, a small town called Ortisei. The town was beautiful, quiet, and quaint, with a strong Austrian influence, as it was right on the border. The resort itself was perfect – the girls were occupied all day while Rosa and I got to take advantage of the amazing spa, pool, and other amenities. One day that week we took an hour drive to Innsbruck, Austria. I was ecstatic to be going to Austria (as anyone knows I am a closet-nerd about my favorite movie of all time, The Sound of Music!) We walked around and explored all day, had a wonderful lunch, and Bruno and I had a few beers. Another day we drove about 30 minutes away to nearby Bolzano, another quaint little Italian town. Our week at the Cavallino Biano was a great getaway that recharged us for weeks to come. Back in Naples I was getting more and more familiar with the area that the family lives in, although I did get lost on the buses once. I was slowly getting over my homesickness, but was terribly upset to miss the homecoming of my older brother from Iraq. Additionally, things with my (then) boyfriend were starting to fall apart, and we ended up breaking up, something that I denied would ever happen when I left for Italy but maybe deep-down I knew it could never work. After the week in Ortisei I started getting ‘that feeling’ again…the same feeling I had gotten in Florence the summer before. The feeling that I don’t need anything or anyone, that I’m a free spirit and all I want to do is travel the world, and the fact that there is so much more to life than the Wilmington Mall and Wrightsville Beach. Of course I missed my family and friends, but I was beginning to not care at all about Wilmington itself.

At the end of July, with perfect timing, my cousin Cara flew to Rome and took a train to meet me in Naples. I was so excited to see not only another American, but a member of my own family! And to actually be able to have a conversation with someone! Rosa is the only person that speaks English and therefore the only person I can talk to here. You’d be surprised how lonely it gets in a room full of people when you don’t speak their language. I think Cara and I talked nonstop for the entire time she was in Italy. I showed her around Naples that first day, and then we were off to Rome for a fun-filled week. Cara lived in Rome for 4 months, so she knew her way around perfectly, and was so happy to reunite with old friends there. She introduced me to all of them, and it became a comfort to know that I now had some friends in Rome, only an hour’s train-ride away. We slept in late, shopped all day, and went out every night. We spent way too much money but we laughed a lot and had an amazing time. We even tried to convince her dad (my Uncle Rob) to let her stay a couple of more days, but it was a bit too expensive to switch flights. At the end of the week it was really difficult for me to return to Naples. Being in Rome made me develop a love/hate relationship with ‘Bella Napoli.’ It made me hate Naples for being so disgustingly dirty, for having so many problems with traffic and crime, for not being touristy at all and for nobody speaking English, for not being an international city like Rome, where I met people my age from all over the world. It made me hate Naples for having an impossible public transportation system and for not having an American university and floods of college kids every summer and pub crawls on weekends. But being in Rome for a week made me absolutely love Naples, for all of the same reasons. It made me realize that Naples is the REAL Italy. It’s dirty, its chaotic, it’s in your face, but it is THE lifestyle. There are no bilingual tour guides to sugar-coat everything. There’s no piazza full of pubs attracting college kids from across the globe. But there’s laundry hanging off every balcony, there’s delicious food if you give it a chance, there’s lots of history if you take the time to dig it up. It’s the dirty, gritty, Italy-isn’t-as-it-seems-on-TV part of the country. And I love it for that.

One week after I returned from Rome, I was packing my suitcase again and we were off to Gaeta for the entire month of August. Italians, as pretty much all Europeans, take their vacationing very seriously. Everything closes and everyone goes ‘on holiday to the sea’ for August. Rosa and Bruno rented a great apartment only a couple blocks from the beautiful sea in Gaeta. We spent the whole month laying on the beach all day, eating wonderful meals cooked by Rosa’s mom and in restaurants, and living a relaxing life. In the evening we would bring the girls to an outdoor puppet show featuring ‘Pulcinella’, a traditional Neapolitan character. Rosa has a sister my age, Mary, who stayed with us in Gaeta for a week and was a great friend to me during that time. She is familiar with the area and we went out every night and met a lot of people. One night we met a group of really fun guys, and with one of them I exchanged phone numbers so we could hang out in the weeks to come when Mary wouldn’t be there anymore. I ended up having a great time with him. Mario. He would come pick me up on his little Vespa and we would ride around Gaeta all night. One night he cooked me dinner; one day we met up on the beach. He’s from Caserta, a little town near Naples, and between his bit of English and my bit of Italian we were able to carry along just fine. Sometimes I questioned his sexuality when we were out with his friends, as he would put his arm around one of the guys and play with his earlobe or ruffle his hair, but I had to keep in mind that Italian men are just touchy like that, whether it be with a girl or another guy. Mario and his friends were constantly asking me, “but why, if we go in America, we kiss on both cheeks and they call us gay!? Or 3 men on one Vespa and they call us gay!?” It was hilarious, and sad but true. How do you translate the words ‘shallow’ or ‘lame’ or ‘un-cultured’ to Italian? Our holiday sadly came to an end the last day of August. Although we had a great time, I was ready to get back home and back to ‘my’ bed and ‘my’ shower. I was ready to go to the grocery store every few days and see the same smiling employees, eager to 'help the American girl'. I was excited for Vittoria and Chiara to start school, so I could have the mornings to myself. I was excited to get on a bit of a diet, to work even harder on my Italian, to plan some weekend trips. But even more than that, I was excited for our upcoming Mediterranean Cruise, and 2 weeks after that, a visit from my parents!

TODAY
To my great disappointment, the cruise has been cancelled. Apparently the last time the ship went out, four passengers ended up getting the swine flu. The ship is in medical quarantine – can you imagine all the employees, every single morsel of food, needing to be screened? Of course I don’t want to catch this flu, but I was so looking forward to the cruise. I have never been on one before, and this one was supposed to be extra special. We were going to Sicily, Tunisia, Spain, and France. The ship itself is amazing, brand new, unveiled by Sophia Loren herself in a special ceremony in the bay of Naples in December 2008. Rosa says we might look into another cruise for December or March. They don’t like to go too long without leaving town for at least a weekend, so I know we’ll be heading on another trip soon. However….my parents will be here in 3 weeks! I have never been more excited for something in my entire life. They are flying into Rome where I will take the train and meet them and we will spend a couple of days. Then, we are heading to Florence, the city of my dreams, for a few days. Our last stop is Naples, where they will get to see where I live and meet everyone, and they will be here just in time for Rosa’s sister’s birthday, so they will get to experience a true Italian festa!

My love/hate relationship with Naples continues. Some days I wake up and dread facing the day, the language barrier, the garbage, the poverty. As much as I love the girls, sometimes it’s hard to keep them entertained all day. Then I will be in the middle of doing something extremely trivial, like shaving my legs, and all of a sudden I will think... “Am I really in Italy!? Am I really doing this!?” And it’s moments like those that keep me going. Just to think, that no matter how hard it gets, it’s only one year out of my entire life. When I’m 50 I can look back on this time and think of how great an experience it was. In the mornings when I come back from my jog and I’m stretching on the terrace, I have to pinch myself to believe that I’m really looking out onto the bay of Naples and the island of Capri. That I'm really 'a nanny in Italy'. Some days I even surprise myself when my mouth opens and a flow of Italian words naturally comes out. It is an absolutely amazing experience to be having, and through the ups and downs of it all I wouldn’t trade it for anything. As cliché as it may sound, life is truly beautiful. La vita e’ bella!

Buona notte!