Train

Nice people are everywhere, and friends are easy to make. This is a lesson I can’t help but bring away from this vacation because it has been demonstrated and iterated everywhere I go. Maybe it’s only true of Italy; that would be a shame.

Right now I’m on an overnight train to Palermo, my last stop. I will be spending three nights there before flying back to London, where I will begin to study for my tests! My last two days have been pretty quiet, but I will go over them to humor you.

Two days ago, on Friday (?), my new friends John, Brianna and Stacy and I were planning on heading into Naples for the day to see what could be seen. But, after exploring a park in our area and walking down to the water, the tone was set for a lazy day and we could do little to overcome our stagnant mindsets. We mostly hung out in the hostel, relaxing, enjoying pizza, watching movies. It was nice. When you travel, you are compelled to go and have adventures in a new place, but they had been traveling for about as long as I and both parties were more than happy to take a break.

That night I registered for my USC Fall 2009 classes. I got all the classes I wanted, which is a very good thing. I have 17 units right now. I’m considering overloading my schedule because I’m a little bit behind on credits, but I have all summer to decide what to do about that.

In the morning, Saturday morning, John, Brianna and Stacy left for Rome. They left at around eleven in the morning, and my overnight train didn’t leave until ten that night, so I had a whole day ahead of me. I considered going to Capri, a small, very touristy island off the coast of Naples/Sorrento, because I wanted to see a place called the Blue Grotto, but I don’t think the trip would have been worth the money and time to get there. So I had another lazy day! I wrote a little bit (not in my blog, obviously), I watched some Superman in Italian, I ate some Neapolitan pizza. Around four, some girls moved into the hostel. I talked to them and they, Brianna (not the same Brianna from above) and Jenny, were students from UC – Santa Barbara. I told them I was from USC and they just looked at each other. They said they had met about five people from USC while they’d been traveling. I guess this is a good thing. Anyway, we hung out for a while, watched a movie, went for a walk, got some pizza before I left for my train. They were pretty cool.

I hope none of these people I blog about mind me putting them on the internet. Maybe some of them are really paranoid about internet stalkers and the like. Hmmm.

I’m watching the sun come up on Sicily out of my train window right now. Earlier in my cabin, there was a retired couple heading from Rome back to their home, Barcellona, on Sicily. We must have talked for over an hour. I only speak ten words of Italian, and they only spoke ten words of English, but it was amazing how well we communicated, with hand gestures and drawings and charades. They were fun to talk to. Both of them were retired teachers. The man was a professor of mathematics, and I didn’t catch what the woman did. We talked about our families, and our homes, and the surrounding area of Sicily. They had two children, a pediatrician and a geologist. I learned from the man, before it happened, that the train from mainland Italy to Sicily takes a huge ferry between the two. And I saw it happen! We got to the water’s edge, and we boarded a ship, and then we got off on the other side. It was amazing! They gave me a copious amount of candy. The lady held the bag out to me and I took one piece, and she held it out again, so I took a couple more, and she held it out again. I think I went back into the bag, at her behest, about five times. Damn Italians and their insistent hospitality….

I was very happy to sit next to such a kind couple of Italians. I’m still amazed at the number of great people I’ve met in Italy. There are so many cool people out there! But you know who’s the coolest? That’s right. Me. Hehe, I couldn’t decide whether to put ‘me’ or ‘you.’ I went with ‘me.’ Ciao!