Già in Italia

Flying past the Swiss Alps at sunset

As I turn over a new leaf in blogging, I have a few goals while on my Italian sabbatical. These include:

• Italian titles
• A new Italian word per post (this means free and very slow Italian lessons for you!)
• A special weekly entry in which I write about a new man I meet*
• More pictures; however, as I write this, I realize that I forgot to take a camera to dinner tonight. Oops.

*This is to overcome my androphobia and shyness. I'm not aiming for something romantic, but a special interest feature with a set number of questions. And a photo of said male (if permitted).

I will try to write as often as I can. It all depends on having internet access rather than time. Funny that what was so easy to come by in Vancouver (internet > time) is now the reverse in Italy.

First things first: the emotional repercussions of separation finally hit me in the wee hours of Monday morning and followed me to the airport. I was bawling, Mom was bawling, Dad was trying to distract himself from showing a similar weakness. Saying goodbye to Chiara was extremely difficult, and it seemed like she knew that something was going on, what with all the last-minute packing taking place. Caught up in my dreams of studying abroad, I hadn't once thought about what I would be leaving behind, and this was a difficult pill to swallow. It was almost like I needed to keep pinching myself as a reminder that I was embarking on a journey I wanted to take, and I know that within a couple of weeks, the homesickness will eventually subside. I tried my best to say goodbye to my friends, though it was strange uttering those words since I knew we'd continue to have a means of communication. I don't know how people did it before Internet and Facebook.

Some highlights from the past 24 hours:

• Being upgraded to World Traveller Plus on my British Airways flight to London--yay for noise-cancelling headphones, reclining seats and leg-rests, and being that much closer to First Class
• Apparently I had an Andrew Garfield movie-marathon, getting to finally see The Social Network (overhyped?!) and Never Let Me Go (reminded me of The Island)
• Waking up with a man on top of me. Let me explain: I had an aisle seat and the young man next to me (it seems weird to call someone a "young man" when I am also considered "young"...) was trying to lunge over my reclined body to go to the bathroom. I had been trying to fall asleep and when I opened my eyes I was shocked to find his body over mine. This was an extreme version of Nicky's adventure on the Circumvesuviana train three years ago
• Only peeing once on my 9-hour flight. In my defence, I have a huge bladder and was likely dehydrated. I had over 1L of liquids when I landed in London...and had to go once on my 2-hour flight to Milan (try waiting around for an opportunity to go when the man in the aisle has a laptop open and is using the empty tray next to you to store his wine bottles)
• Sleeping for 2.5 hours on the 9-hour flight. Luckily I almost slept for the entirety of my second flight.
• Schengen. As I saw this word upon my arrival in Milan Linate I could only hear Numz loudly repeating "Schengen? What's a schengen?!" (To this day I still am unclear to its true meaning)
• Eating a huge oval-shaped pizza with mozzarella di buffala, wild boar prosciutto, and tomato sauce. I almost couldn't do it. I blame peer pressure. (P.S. Apologies for forgetting my camera...)

I am staying in my relatives' place in a suburb of Milan for the next few days before I head to Florence. Which takes me to today's Italian word of the day:

già

It normally means "already", but my twin cousin (long story, but he's basically related to me on both sides in a non-incestuous way, so we look like siblings) uses it a lot now in the way that we say "yeah". I'm not sure if this is just among his circle of friends or if its slang-usage is widespread. It reminded me of how some of my guy friends back home say "G'yeah". Who would've thought that there would be such a similar teenage equivalent in a small town in Italy?