Random Thoughts

August 28, 2009

I have had a very long day, and I am happy to say that I am relaxing on my bed listening to Enya right now. I have painted like a crazy woman these past few days, and I really have done nothing else during the evening besides take showers, watch films, and touch base with family and friends from back home. My legs are pulsating from the pain of standing on them all day, and I am keeping them up in the air to reverse the blood flow.

I am really happy with my progress in the hospital: I have finished my second mural that I had left before my departure, and I am almost done with the third. I have two smaller murals yet to paint, and I will probably have smaller improvised pieces to complete after viewing my “composition” after the big ones are finished. I am working especially hard these days because most of my friends in the city are still on vacation or are in their hometowns waiting to come back for school. Considering that I have barely any social options, it creates the perfect situation for me to work my little behind off to finish my mural obligation as soon as possible, especially because it isn’t paying me (besides the flight), and I need to find a job. Maybe I will start browsing for jobs tomorrow morning.

For those of you who don’t know, most all Italians take a vacation that usually lasts for most of the month of August. It seems absurd based on our American standard of vacation days, but the cities are practically vacant during these months. Due to the crisis this year, many traveled within the country and to Sardinia—which brags of some of the most gorgeous beaches in the world. In my opinion, they have it made! They live in an amazingly fantastic country, with beaches surrounding on all sides, incredible mountainous landscapes, history abounding, and cheap flights to many intriguing surrounding countries. Many of my friends went on fantastic vacations with friends and family throughout Italy, Switzerland, France, England Spain, Greece, South America, etc. Sooooo lucky!!! Even my hospital contact friend, Giorgio, took 3 weeks to relax under the Sardinean sun and bath on its spectacular beaches! I need to go thereeeee! I would love to do a tour of Southern Italy—Puglia, Calabria, and Sicily, and I need to visit Sardinia. In any case, despite my urge to explore Italy in, out, up and down, I wanted to describe to you that Italy in August---is FERIE….Vacation.

I listen to Italian music all day, hoping that those songs will help train my Italian listening even while I am concentrating on painting. I usually find it difficult to listen to English songs and then respond to doctors and workers that pass in Italian. Therefore, I try to keep it always in my head. I have several Italian favorites, but my favorite by far is still, Jovanotti, “A te”. This love song is so touching that I feel it really captures the deepness of love in its simplicity. I would like to translate the lyrics for you. It is obvious that the words are more poetic in Italian, and he sings the text as if he were reading a note to her, simply, gently:

“To you that is unique in the world, The only reason I have arrived to this point.
At my ever breath, when I see you, after a day full of words, with out you telling me anything, everything is made clear, To you who found me, in a corner with my fists closed, with my back against the wall, ready to defend myself, with eyes low, I stayed in line, with my disillusions, You picked me up like a cat, and you brought me with you, I sing you a song, because I have nothing else, Nothing better to offer you, than all that I have, You take my time, and the magic, that with one single jump, it makes us fly in the air, like bubbles. To you, you are, Simply you, Substance of my days, substance of my days, To you, you are my great love (grande amore), and my love great (amore grande), to you, who have taken my life, and you have made it much more, To you who have given sense to time, without measure. To you that are my amore grande, and my grande amore, To you that I, I saw you cry in my hands, so fragile that I could kill you, squeezing you a bit, and then I saw you with the force of an airplane, take your life in your hand, and drag it to salvation, To you that have taught me dreams, and the art of adventure, to you that believe in courage, and also in fear, to you who are the greatest thing, that has ever happened to me, to you who change every day, and remain always he same, to you who are, simply you, substance of my days, substance of my dreams, To you who are, Essentially you, substance of my dreams, substance of my days. To you who are never satisfied with yourself, and you are a wonder, the force of nature concentrates itself in you, you are a rock you are a plant you are a hurricane, you are the horizon that welcomes me when I am far, to you, you are the only friend, that I can have, only love that I would want, if I did not have you with me, To you who have made my life beautiful to die, you succeed in rendering the effort an immense pleasure. To you, you are my grande amore and my amore grande, to you that have taken my life and made it much more, to you who have given sense to time, without measure, to you who are my amore grande and my grande amore, to you, you are, simply you, substance of my days, substance of my dreams, and to you who are, simply you, companion of my days, substance of my dreams. “

Anyways, those are my best efforts at trying to turn that beautiful song into English. He uses short poetic lines with vivid analogies, and I love how Italian allows you to change around the words (ex: amore grande, grande amore) to emote a more powerful sentiment. My favorite part is when he says that she taught him the art of adventure, believing in courage but also in fear. Okay enough about this song.

Tonight might be the last evening spent in my apartment, and I looked off the balcony for a while after my shower. I have had such a lovely apartment, and I will miss looking off my balcony onto my piazza to the left, the beautiful apse of the Church to my front, and the Naviglio Pavese, the waterway canal with its bustling aperitivo, to my right. I will miss the commotion, I will miss the sun streaming in on my face as I wake to peak at the church masked in morning sunlight and purply mist. It has been a fantastic place to live, and I was truly very lucky and blessed to have found this living situation.

I went to Italy knowing only one Italian girl, Giulia, studying at Bocconi, the big private economics university in Milan. We met by chance in a bar in Chicago last summer, through a mutual acquaintance. We kept in touch, and as luck would have it—during my search for an apartment this December, she told me that her one roommate had moved out to do an exchange in the US—there was a room available for me if I wanted it!!! It is a great location!!! An amazing apartment! And I was very fortunate to live with the only person I know before moving to Milan…What luck! The only thing that is making me content to leave is the fact that there is no air conditioning, and the sun rises and beats on my bedroom window—practically suffocating me in the summer months. HOT HOT HOT!!!

This semester, Giulia has gone to Sweden to do a study abroad program with Erasmus. I miss her presence, but I have other friends to keep me busy in Milan. She got a serious boyfriend during our time living together, and our schedules were very mismatched as far as our school routines and obligations. Moreover, for being the most “prestigious” business/economics school in Italy—they sure do get a hell of a lot of vacation!! It seemed like they studied for exams in February, had a month of class, had a month vacation, and studied for summer exams again. Incredible! One day I will devote a blog to the differences in the American and Italian school systems—in depth. Anyways she and my dear friend, Ricky—now doing an internship in Brussels—are away from Milan.

Tomorrow Matteo is coming over for lunch, and we will then proceed to move all of my belongings to my new place. It is only 5 minutes away walking, but it will be much easier using his car. You would think that a girl who entered the country with two suitcases wouldn’t have much to bring, but instead I am surprised at all of the crap that I have amassed. We will spend the day together tomorrow, and it will be nice taking a break from the hospital and enjoying my free time with him.