Tennis, Beach, Wimbledon

On Friday, we rose early and had a long day.  I got to watch Gregorio at his tennis lesson.  He is so good at it!  It's weird to see the sport complexes here in Italy because they are so different from our gyms at home.  We have the state of the art facilities, and the facilities in Italy seem a little more run down.

tennis lesson

After the tennis lesson, we went to the beach with friends.  We first stopped to grab a croissant and a cafe.  I sure needed the cafe as a pick me up because I was so tired from the late night before (watching the soccer match).  The beach day was perfect, and it was very hot!  The beach was filled with rocks and pebbles with some sand, so it hurt your feet to walk barefoot.  While laying out, you are bombarded by people trying to sell you jewelry, scarves, and whatever else you can think of.  It is quite annoying because they just stand there and pester you.

la mare (the sea)

After several hours at the beach, we headed home for a late lunch, nap, and an English lesson.  Our lesson was all about the Olympics.  I try to choose subjects that we can talk about, and I use the internet as support for visuals and translation when needed.  While I am teaching English, Gregorio will teach me some Italian.  I am not very good, but at least I try.  The rest of the afternoon we laid by the pool, and then got ready to go to the family's friends house.  We had left overs from the night before when we watched the Germania v. Italia match.  The food was as good as ever, and to top it off we had gelato for dessert.  It was so delicious!  We watched a few matches of Wimbledon, but mostly just Roger Federer.  Once the match was over, we headed home for the night.

Germania v. Italia

I have been in Potenza Picena for two days now, and it feels like I have never left.  I am right at home here.  My first full day in Potenza Picena was spent lounging by the pool and napping.  It's hard to get over the jet lag.  The family and I caught up with each other about what has happened over the past 11 months.  We stayed in touch via email, but it is amazing how we haven't skipped a beat since I have returned.

Today I spent the morning poolside with my buddy Nina, while Michela went into town and Gregorio slept the morning away.

The funny thing is... this dog hated the water last summer and now she can't get enough of it!

Miss Nina swimming to the stairs

We had pasta for lunch with tomato sauce that they made last summer, and of course it was amazing!  After lunch and a nap it was time for Gregorio's first English lesson for the summer.  He has done amazingly well, and I am so proud of him.  He responded to an email from my roommate for me (Christina--you will have to tell me how it sounded!), and we talked about our day and the plans for the rest of the week.  We also wrote about a picture.

After our lesson, we hung out at the pool again.  The evening consisted of Michela, Gregorio, and I going to Veronica's house.  Veronica and Massimo are friends of the family, who I met last year.  It was just like old times again.  We were both happy to see each other, and we got to enjoy each other's company while watching the Germania v. Italia match.  They had a huge set up of food.  At our sports parties you would find chips and dip, hot dogs, brownies, popcorn, and all that crazy stuff.  The set up for the match consisted of proscuitto, cantaloupe, pasta, rice salad, fried zucchini, and potatoes.  I was quite impressed with their spread, and it was delicious of course.  It was a really exciting game, and it ended with much celebration.  The Italians really know how to show off after a win.  Everyone went out into the street, honking horns, and waving flags.

You can see the boys were so excited about the win that their dad just drove them around while they waved the flag!

2 connecting flights, no lost luggage... I think I'm Home!

I left Monday for what I call my second home, Potenza Picena in the Marche region of Italy.  I was a little bit worried because I had a lot going on.  First, I visited my brother Thomas in the hospital to say farewell for the month and to find out what he wanted for kicking butt in the NCCU.  After visiting Thomas, my brother Charlie droves me to Dulles International Airport.  Let me just say, if I can avoid Dulles, then I will never ever go back again.  I spent two and a half hours in line to get my bag checked and boarding passes.  I then spent another forty-five minutes in line for security.  It was the most obnoxious experience of the trip so far.  I was hoping to get a chance to relax before the flight, but by the time I made it through all the chaos I had twenty minutes until boarding began. The highlight of this whole ordeal was getting a picture text from my brother John, it literally brought tears to my eyes.

That's my brother ,Thomas, walking for the first time in over a week since suffering a stroke!

I made it onto the plane, and whenever I get on a plane I always wonder if my luggage is going to make it too.  I made out quite well on the first leg of the trip which was from Washington to London.  With three seats next to each other, this sweet old British woman, who reminded me of Wendy from Hook, and I got lucky enough to have the seat between us open.  Boy did we have ample space.  The lady was so sweet, and we were able to swap life stories.  She was really sharp and funny for a lady in her eighties who was traveling home from seeing her family in Virginia.  The best part she did it all by herself... this will probably be me when I am in my eighties and there is no one left to travel with.

We made it to London in excellent time, and I had time to grab breakfast at a cafe in the airport.  I was worried I was going to have to go through security and customs, but lucky me I just walked right onto my next flight.  The second leg of the trip was from London to Munich.  By the time I was boarding the plane for Munich, I was exhausted.  I completely passed out on the plane, and the person next to me had to wake me up, so I would get off the plane when it landed.

The last leg of my trip was from Munich to Ancona.  I was not feeling too good at this point.  You could probably say I was looking a little green.  I was able to get some fresh air before boarding, and I hydrated like it was my business.  It was time to board the plane to Ancona, and I started thinking about my luggage.  I hadn't seen it since I said goodbye to it in Washington, so I was counting on the airlines to get it to Ancona when there were 2 connecting flights.  I was quite confident that it wasn't going to be there.  However, I was completely wrong.

Look closely and you will see a red piece of luggage... that's my suitcase at the airport in Munich meaning it was going to make it all the way to Ancona :)

Once I was on the plane to Ancona, I started freaking out worse than ever.  I am just not a fan of small planes with those type of propellers.  I just can't wait until I leave to return home! (sarcasm)  Once we got off the ground, things were looking pretty good!

Who wouldn't freak out when this is their view from their window?

View from the plane

The Boccaccini's were unable to pick me up from the airport because they too were returning home due to business in Milan.  I was greeted at the airport by Samir, who is from Sri Lanka and is working for the family this summer.  He had never driven to and from Ancona before, so the ride home was quite long.  Once home I was able to put my things in my room (same one as last year), take a nice shower to get rid of that awful airplane smell, and had a nice Italian dinner.

With all that being said, it has been over 24 hours since I have left.  I may have had about 4 hours of inconsistent sleep on the plane rides, so it is time to hit the hay and dream about what's to come on this summer's adventure!

Am I Ready?

Of course I waited to the last minute to do laundry, get the things I need, and most importantly pack!  This year is a lot easier to pack for because I know exactly what I am getting myself into (at least I think I do).

It's been a little rough getting ready to go.  On Friday I was quite determined that I was not going to leave for Italy.  The reason for that is my younger brother Thomas.  Last Sunday night he had a stroke.  I was absolutely shocked that a 19 year old boy could have a stroke, but he did.  As any big sister would, I worried like crazy about him.  He has so much going for him, and he has his whole life ahead of him.  He is getting ready to start his second year of college, extremely active in sports, loves his girlfriend and all of his family.  Since he has been at the Neurological Critical Care Unit (NCCU) at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he has made tremendous strides.  Friday morning I was on the phone with the airline figuring out my options.  I said I would call back in the afternoon once I had made my decision.  Well, I got to the hospital to visit Thomas, and he looked awesome.  It was the best he had looked all week.  He was alert and interactive.  His speech was a million times better in that we could understand him perfectly, and he was moving around a little.  Although Thomas has a ways to go, the doctors say he will make a full recovery!  After seeing him, I knew it would be alright to go.  Besides, if I didn't leave, then he would be upset that I didn't bring him back a present.  He gave me the thumbs up that it was ok to go :)

my little big brother, Thomas

 

With all that being said, I finally finished packing for the trip.  I packed a lot lighter than last year too!  This was my goal because I learned my lesson the hard way last year.  You don't want to have more than one big piece of luggage when you are running through airports, train stations, cities, and who knows what else!

2011 Summer Trip

2012 Summer Trip

Let's hope my travels start off without a hitch!

T - 21 days

21 days from now, I will be embarking on my third trip to Italy.  I am not as excited as I was last summer because I know exactly what to expect.  Last year was full of excitement and anxiousness.  This time I know I will be in a relaxing, peaceful, and a heavenly place that I can call home.  I actually wasn't even 100% sure that I was going to go back this summer until February.  Since returning home last summer, my Italian family and I have been emailing back and forth.  We spoke on the holidays, and we checked in with each other when our homes were experiencing natural disasters.  For Gregorio's birthday I sent him a birthday present.  He was so excited to get a fun filled package of a nerf gun and extra ammo.   When I got his email about the package, I just knew there was no turning the family down on their invite to come for the summer.  Now that I am writing all this, I am actually getting excited to go back.  It is always good to see life long friends.

You all probably think I am kicking myself right now for not going for an entire year, but I am quite content with the decision I made to return for just the summer.  I don't have any crazy travel plans like I did last summer going all over Ireland, France, and Italy.  I have been in touch with a few Americans who will be in the area, so it looks like I will be making new friends.  It will be sad not to have Chelsey and Liz nearby, but I will see them again on our next adventure.

Until next time...