Okay, I admit it. I'm ready to go back to Italy right now. I've been denying it to S, telling him that I would rather go back to Paris, Barcelona, Germany, Switzerland; the truth is, I'm already hungry for Italy. We were there in 2002, and I'm ready to go back. I lasted four years between visits in the last go-round (from May 1999 to November 2002), but I don't know if I can take it this time. (Not that I have the werewithal to get to Italy before I don't know when.)
S and I watched a show on the Fine Living Network (?) about cars in Italy/driving in Italy, and both of us were overcome with the desire to drive around Italy. Except that both of us are slightly nervous about driving around Italy. Oh, and we can't afford it. And I have to get a job this fall, so vacation time will be harder to come by. Yeah, all those things.
When I was in Italy, the first time, for school, my family came for one week of of my two-week spring break. They had made plans for us to drive around Italy. I had mono for that two-week period, so I wasn't necessarily on top of things. Not that my being on top of things would have helped with the driving, but it's fun to imagine me sounding like the teacher on Charlie Brown. That's what my brother said I sounded like. So anyway, on our last day in Rome for the week, my dad and I went to pick up a rental car at the main train station (Termini). This meant that to get out of the city, first he would have to navigate to the hotel where the rest of my family was waiting, and then somehow find the right road out of the city to Florence.
I wasn't much help. I think that I sat in the front seat and screamed for effect whenever my dad made a risky move. The mini-van was stick, I remember that much, and I thought that if we made it to the hotel in one piece, we'd be lucky. We did, and I guess we were. He did admiably well, considering he hadn't driven stick in a while, and there were three siblings in the back seat of the mini-van, fighting over music. Also, driving in Italy is hectic. In cities, they're not exactly civilized. I read once that Italians consider road signs and traffic signals to be suggestions--not law. That's at least a little bit true. If S and I end up living there, we'd need to have transportation. I'm thinking SmartCar, he's thinking Vespa. Then again, it will take me a good while to build up the courage to drive around Italy. I just don't think I could do it the way my dad did. He just jumped in a car and went. I don't know about that.
I do know, though, that if S and I move to Italy, we won't stay put in Rome every weekend. There's so much of Italy to love, and I'd want to travel the entire country. I don't think he'd argue. Frankly, I understand that everyone has a right to an opinion, but if you don't love Italy, you're insane. You can love other places too, but you really just can't not like Italy. I'd need really compelling reasons to accept your hatred or indifference to Italy. I must go back.
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