Next Steps

Tomorrow morning I depart Perugia. I love this city; it feels like a second home in so many ways, but now, finally, I'm going to be exploring new lands. Five lands, to be exact, because tomorrow I'm going to le Cinque Terre, which literally translates to "the Five Lands." The Cinque Terre are five villages set on a cliffside overlooking the Mediterranean. I'm very excited. The Cinque Terre are inaccessible by car, which means they have a reputation of peace and tranquility, despite their growing popularity with German and American tourists. Hiking trails connect all five. Some are as close as 15 or 20 minute walks, while others are more like 90 minute trails. Four of them, if I remember correctly, have beaches. Basically, to someone with a little outdoorsiness and adventurousness, they're a paradise.

However, they're a good ways from Perugia, so my train trip is likely to take 5 or 6 hours. I don't know what my internet situation will be there, so I may not be able to blog about them until I make it to Milan, my next destination. But I'll be in Milan by Monday or Tuesday, and I already have a few connections with locals. I'm staying with a friend of Gabriella Valsecchi's daughters. Gabriella is an Italian teacher at VCU, who is just the sweetest and most helpful woman in the entire world. Both my host, Marco, and another friend, Jessica, have offered to show me around the city. I kind of feel like I have Italian friends, even if they are friends-of-friends. And after Milan, I'm going to Venice, where I'm staying with a former teacher, Cinzia, and her family. I called yesterday to confirm. The call was kind of nerve-wracking, because I only had her home phone number, and I was afraid I would sound stupid if her parents answered, but she answered and I sounded kind of stupid anyway with my stunted Italian before she said "this is Cinzia, who is this?" But Cinzia is incredible and said just call her when I'm leaving Milan and she'll pick me up at the train station in Venice, it doesn't matter what day. She didn't even ask how long I was staying (3 or 4 nights, which we discussed a few months ago). Italians are the best. So hospitable.

The above comment about my stunted Italian notwithstanding, I feel very confident in my language abilities on this trip. I do NOT understand everyone around me--far from it--but I haven't had any issues so far understanding people who actually talk to me. Ordering coffee and food, paying for things, and even a few more random conversations have given me a lot of faith that I will not die here. The one time when I actually thought it would just be a better idea to use English (to buy my phone), that didn't end up being an option, so I scraped by in Italian and my phone works just fine!

By the way, I suppose all of you readers will have different phone plans there at home, so feel free to contact me at my Italian phone number (which I have proudly memorized) but don't blame me for costs incurred! Look up how your phone works with international calls or texts before you use the following number!

Il mio cellulare (my cell): 0039 331 391 7018. I don't remember how to dial out from the US. You may have to dial an additional prefix before the country code (0039). I don't really expect anyone to use this, so if you take the initiative, you can look up more info. I'm not spending my internet time on it.

And for those who don't already have this number but want to contact me via text, you can use my Google Voice number: (540) 315-4360. It works just like a regular US number, but don't expect instantaneous responses. I can only access my messages when I have internet. Have patience.

I think that's all I want to say for now. People don't want to read long posts about nothing. But until I can blog again, wish me buona fortuna (good luck)!