Amici

Monday brought the official One-Month mark of my stay here in Italy. That means I'm a third of the way through my Italian adventure.

It's amazing what can happen in one month.

When I think back to the beginning of my time here in Foligno, I remember so clearly the wonderment, excitement, and freedom that I felt as I braced myself for a long and unknown road ahead. There I stood, completely free and ready, facing the beginning of an epic journey and carrying nothing but my bags and hope for the future.

Yet at the same time, amidst the excitement and anticipation of a new future loomed a great sense of loneliness and fear. Even though I was confident that the experience would conclude as a rewarding and beneficial time, I still feared embarking on this journey alone, having no companions to laugh with me, no confidant to walk beside me, and no comrade to explore mysteries with me. As the days passed, the mist offered no promise of clearing. I trudged on into the foggy obscurity that remained ahead, surrounding myself in a whirl of my fears. There was no escaping the loneliness. It consumed me in my travels to Rome. Emptiness followed me as I walked through the streets of Foligno, unable to communicate with anyone I encountered. Hopelessness threatened by deceiving me into believing I would never develop fruitful relationships. Quietness echoed around me as I sat alone at home with nowhere to go.

And suddenly one day the sun peeked through. I found a friend. I was introduced to more. And I no longer felt the chill of the hopelessness surrounding me. Each day brought new excitement, new opportunities, new relationships. What seemed to be an unpromising and secluded path had suddenly turned into a bustling and busy road with dozens of other travelers. They brought encouragement, they brought adventure, they brought fun and delight. And they have turned and begun to walk alongside me. I am no longer alone. I have been brought companions, been blessed with loving spirits who want to enjoy and face new experiences with me.

On Thursday, I was invited to a concert with Andrea. Andrea is studying Geology at the University of Perugia, and the concert was a special event for all the Geology students at his school. There were several bands playing classic American rock, some heavy music, and popular Italian songs. There was also an entire buffet of food. It was a different crowd than I normally find myself around, but it allowed me the experience to be a part of a typical Italian concert. I saw it all - the excitement, the jumping, the free dancing, the belting and singing - and loved the enthusiasm of the participants. These listeners ensured that they truly enjoyed their concert experience and made the most of the thrill of the music.

Piazza Navona Christmas Market

Saturday I packed a backpack and left for Rome. It had been a challenging week (babysitting can be quite difficult at times), and I needed some time to relax and unwind. Upon stepping off the train, I had friends waiting for me - such a different dynamic from my previous visit to the city. I joined Madeleine, an au pair from Maine, and we walked around the famous Christmas market in Piazza Navona. Although we weren't especially hungry, we indulged in candied nuts and spent the rest of our time fascinated by all the fried food and children's toys. Later on, our friend Jess, an au pair from Australia, met up with us. She told us the plan for the rest of the day and we continued on our way through the city. I don't remember having a specific destination. We just walked. Right around sunset we found ourselves on a bridge overlooking the Tiber River. Of course, I got out my camera and we made the most of the beautiful golden sunlight. Madeleine and Jess both seemed to thoroughly enjoy playing with my camera, so I was kind enough to let them take turns carrying it through the city for me ;-)

I don't know what this was, but it was amazing! Almost as good as the food at the Texas State Fair... Almost.

Haha... actually I had been lugging around a heavy backpack, a thick coat, and my purse and camera all day. It was quite a blessing to have some relief for a bit! And it didn't even stop there. Madeleine had to return to her Italian family to work for a few hours, so she was amazing and took my backpack with her until she came back. In the meantime, Jess and I enjoyed an evening date in the city. We visited an International Bookstore where I found a book to teach myself Italian (which has actually resulted in drastically improving my language skills in a matter of days already), a guidebook for Umbria (so I can know what I am seeing when I travel to nearby cities), and the last book in the Narnia series (I have been determined to finish it for over a year now, so I am making sure it happens before I leave Italy). The bookstore happened to be right across the street from the beautiful St. Regis hotel that I visited during my last trip to Rome, so we stopped in for a few minutes to rest our feet and enjoy the atmosphere. You will never guess who we saw there. Okay, you probably already did. That's right - the old man that I awkwardly spoke with last time! Part of me couldn't believe he was there again, but then part of me was not the least bit surprised. I told Jess I wished I had taken a picture of him last time, and she cleverly suggested that I take a picture of "her" in the hotel. I officially have a way to remember my awkward friend :)

St. Regis

Indian food!

 After our elegant experience at the St. Regis, Jess and I made our way to an Indian restaurant for dinner. First of all, I love Indian and am very excited that I live in an area of Dallas that has tons of Indian restaurants. Second of all, I can't tell you how thrilled I was to have Indian food in another country, especially after eating pasta every day. It was amazing! We ordered samosas, tikka masala, garlic naan, and the house wine, an absolutely fabulous meal. As if we weren't full enough, we left to meet up with some other girls for tiramisu right afterwards.

We passed this on our way to tiramisu :)

The tiramisu place was on the other side of town, so it took us awhile to get there. We decided to walk. As we came to the end of our 40 minute trek, I considered how quickly it had gone by. A similar walk two weeks ago on a Saturday night in Rome had seemed to drag on forever, but with company to talk to and laugh with along the way, it didn't quite seem long enough.

I don't know what this tiramisu place was, but apparently it is extremely popular and was quite crowded. I also discovered where to find the local Italians in Rome and concluded that since there weren't too many English speakers around, we must have made a good choice in our caffe selection. The selection actually came on the suggestion of a girl we were meeting - one of several girls from Iowa State University who are studying interior design in Rome for the semester. All of us know each other from church, and I had worked out beforehand that I would be staying with these girls for the night.

I ordered a classic tiramisu, ate till I was stuffed, and then stood outside with the girls trying to decide where to go and what to do next. We finally agreed on walking around until we could find a comfortable, quiet, and warm caffe. There was one not too far away, so we went inside and ordered hot tea. The next hour or so was spent in laughs, jokes, and good conversation as we all opened up to each other and took time to get to know each other better. As much as I loved having the delicious tea at the St. Regis two weeks ago, I'm quite certain I preferred the not-quite-as-delicious tea at the caffe, because there's nothing more enjoyable than good company.

That night I went home with the Iowa girls to their large apartment. They had a futon set up for me and proceeded to supply every item that I was lacking for spending the night. I think I even ate some Corn Flakes before going to bed :)

We woke up for church the next morning and enjoyed a service with our friend singing for the special music and an intriguing sermon on God's silence. We stayed and talked to people until we were kicked out because the next service was starting, and then we made plans for the rest of the day. Two of the girls had to go to their studio to work on projects that afternoon, so that left me and Anna to have the entire rest of the day to shop and explore. And boy did we shop! I brought a list to Rome with me of all the things I wanted to buy:

• Pashmina Scarves
• English books
• Socks
• Black boots
• Christmas presents
• Exchange money
• Contact Solution 
• New shirts/sweaters
• A Rome snow globe

You better believe it - I checked off every single thing on my list! I still have a few more Christmas gifts to purchase, but I definitely did not come home empty handed. *By the way, please take note that I bought a pair of black boots. I would just like to point out that besides the cowboy boots I bought when I first moved to Dallas, this is the first pair of real boots I have ever bought. It's official: I now fit in :)

One of the shops we passed along the way

 I was also quite satisfied that I was even able to find my contact solution here, because I had convinced myself that the brand I use would not be sold anywhere in Italy. Not true - they do sell it, just for three times as much money.

By the end of the day, I was carrying a massive bag of all my new purchases, and we were exhausted. We stopped by the Piazza Navona market again to make sure we didn't miss anything, but shortly after that we headed home and did what the rest of the Italians do at 4:00 - took a nap.

Piazza Navona

 We woke up re-energized and hungry, so we made ourselves pasta (did you expect something else?) and got ready to go out one more time. We still had a few things we needed to get, so we visited a few shops close to her apartment and then headed home. Because I didn't want to rush to try to leave early in the afternoon, I had decided to just spend the night on Sunday and leave Monday morning. That meant we had the whole evening together. We went back home and chatted with the other girls for a little while and told them about our day.

In front of the Pantheon

All day long the girls had been so encouraging and sweet to me, even though we had only known each other for a few days. As we were laying on our beds listening to worship music, Anna (a different Anna from the one I had spent the day with) turned over and asked if she could hear my God story. I love how she worded it. She didn't ask to hear my testimony or how I came to know Christ. She asked to hear the story of God in my life. It's a beautiful thought, thinking of the Creator of the Universe working, molding, and shaping my life, and to be honest, it's not something I've thought about much lately. Before I knew it, I was sharing the struggles I have faced and the pain I have felt in the past year, piecing together as I spoke how God was at work through all of it and how He has had a plan for it all along.

Although the trials I've endured are not exactly over, I felt the encouragement of love from my sisters in Christ. They didn't know me very well. They had no reason to sit and listen to my emotions and my story. But they did. And not only did they listen, but they cared, they empathized, and then they encouraged. We had some great discussion afterward about things we had learned or were learning from God's Story - the Bible. Even greater still was the girls' request to pray for me before our time was through. What a shower of encouragement and blessing, to be surrounded by lovers of Christ who love Him enough to love others - to love me - at a time when I needed it most.

To top the night off, I had the most delicious gelato in Rome. The girls are friends with the owner, so we tried pretty much every unique flavor you could think of. I ended up with a cup of Biscotti, Ricotta and Pear, and Nutella. Um... delicious?... Yes!

My train left from the end of these tracks. Understand my frustration?

The next day was one of the worst days I have had so far. I got up incredibly early (6 something - ugh no one should ever have to see that hour) in order to take a train to the main station so that I could take another train home to Foligno. My first train was five minutes late, so I ended up arriving in Roma Termini station (a huge and very hectic train station) 10 minutes before my train to Foligno left. I thought I would be dropped off on a platform close to my next train, but things never turn out like you expect. Instead of arriving at platform 8 as I had expected, I was at platform 26. The train to Foligno was at Platform 1. I looked ahead of me, looked across the tracks, and looked all the way back down to where I would have to run to get on the train. I still hadn't bought my ticket, and don't forget that I was carrying a backpack, purse, winter coat, and bulging shopping bag that weighed about 20 pounds. I was a mess. I dashed through the station, weaved through people, smashed into other people, and thought I was going to die I was so out of breath. I bought my ticket and ran and ran and ran some more, until I just couldn't go any further. I got to my platform, just in time. The train wasn't there. I looked up at the kiosk to make sure it was the right platform and realized that instead it was about another quarter mile down the way, to the very outermost platform of the whole station. I walked. As I was walking, panting, and sweating, I watched the train back out of the platform and roll away. It was 7:43 am.

I tried to be positive and think about the good that could come of my missing the train. I had two hours before the next train (which cost twice as much...of course), so I could definitely enjoy a Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit from the McDonald's nearby. Wrong. I forgot... this is Italy. We eat pastries and croissants for breakfast, and that does not include Egg McMuffins. Don't even try suggesting it because you are just a heretic if you do. When that idea failed, I found a pizza place that was open (because it's okay to eat pizza at eight in the morning, but not Sausage Biscuits) and indulged in a very large piece of ham and cheese pizza.

My pizza... still not as good as a Sausage Biscuit ;-)

 I'm going to skip the rest of that day, because I was not in a pleasant mood and wasn't too fond of Italy for a few moments during that day. Thank goodness the next day came to redeem my attitude a bit.

Martina invited me over to a friend's house for dinner on Tuesday night. It's Italy, so she picked me up at 10:00 pm when she finished her volleyball game. We arrived at her friend's house and drove up to a beautiful and huge home situated on a hill and overlooking the city of Foligno. Inside the cozy home we found seven girls (Martina's teammates) sitting at a round table, each with a pizza in front of her. There were two open seats. Martina and I sat down and dove right into the pizza.

The rest of the night was filled with hysterical laughter, comical attempts at English and Italian, and playful shouting matches. The girls were fascinated by my American background and kept asking questions about what things are really like in the U.S., as opposed to just in the movies. They couldn't believe we actually have balls in high school called Prom and that students really put their books in lockers. I assured them that these ideas are true and that the movies are usually pretty accurate when it comes to things like that.

After a late, late night, I went home and crashed for very short four hours. But it didn't matter. I am content :) I have had encouragement when I'm down, sharpening when I'm weak, laughter when I'm sad, and company when I'm lonely. God has been good. He has provided what I began to fear would never come. I have wonderful friends :)