Like Thunder and Lightning

Let me just preface this blog entry by saying that today was the best day of my life so far! And I'm not a person who goes around saying things like that everyday. So I am going to write everything down in chronological order so I never ever forget it. Bear with me here, because many truly amazing things happened to me today.

Today I went skiing in Abetone, a small ski town about two hours north of Florence by bus. I started by leaving my hotel at 5:45 a.m. to catch the bus to the Florence train station, where I would catch the bus leaving for Abetone at 7:10. I got to the station around 6:30 a.m., and it was still dark outside, so I went into a cafe and had a donut. During this time I became very frustrated with the Americans I was seeing, and I was embarrassed to share a nationality with them. First of all I saw three drunk American girls walking into their apartment, staggering and slurring their words. It was just a pathetic image, and I hope they don't think they are safe wandering drunk around a foreign city at night. When I got into the cafe, I sat down at a table to read a book, only to be distracted, in a negative fashion, by two American boys (they don't deserve the title of men, although they were definitely in their 20s). They were both drinking beer at 6:30 in the morning, and they were completely wasted. Although the Italians do drink more than Americans, I have never seen an Italian drunk in public. These boys were playing a came where they spun a quarter on the table and tried to hit the other's knuckles. Half the time the quarter would fly off the table and practically hit someone who was sitting at a table across the room just trying to eat his/her breakfast. They were also extremely loud in their yelling and carousing. One time their quarter went other my table, and I kicked it back to them and pretended like I didn't speak English. I didn't want to associate with them in any way!

Finally at 7:00 a.m. I left my fellow Americans behind to board the bus. There were two other American guys on the bus who seemed to be as confused about things as I was, so that was sort of comforting. And, props to them, they were not drunk. At about 9:00 a.m. we arrived at Abetone, and I got off the bus. I was surprised at how different the ski areas are here than in America. The entire town is devoted to the ski area, and there are many private shops that rent out skis and sell ski tickets. You have to go to separate shops for rentals and tickets. So I spent the first half hour or so just wandering around the town trying figure everything out. Since Abetone is a smaller ski town, nobody there speaks English. My Italian is still very limited, so that added to the challenge. At the rental shop, the old man who was working just started laughing and speaking in rapid Italian when I asked him if he spoke English. He was a character in and of himself, more about that to come. After getting my rentals I wandered a bit more trying to find where to buy a lift ticket. Somewhere in this time I ran into the American guys from the bus. They were just as lost as me, trying to find where to get on the ski lift, so I talked to them for a bit. But they turned out to be ivy-league assholes, pardon my French. They were from Syracuse, and when I asked what state that was in they looked at me like I was from the moon. I'm sorry to burst your bubble guys, but the whole world doesn't revolve around your hoity-toity private school that you probably go to on daddy's dollar. I think I prefer Italian men by far.

So anyway, after a bit more ordeal, I finally found my way onto the slopes and began skiing. The pistes were absolutely heavenly today. There had been about a foot of fresh snow last night, so I experienced my first time skiing in real powder. The technique is much different than skiing on the icy slopes in Minnesota. On my second or third time up the lift I rode up with an Italian man who was in line by himself. He did not speak English, but he did speak a bit of Spanish, so we spoke in Spanish. I am surprised at how well I can actually carry on a conversation in Spanish when necessity calls for it. I've used my Spanish more here than I have ever before. On the way up the ski lift with by new Italian friend, Dario, we talked about all sorts of things. He proceeded to tell be that my "occi" (eyes) are "bellisimi" (beautiful). This little compliment went straight to my heart. My uniquely colored eyes have always been one of my vanities, and I am always greatly flattered when someone notices them. When we got off the lift Dario offered to let me ski with his group for the day. I agreed, why not? So I met Alexandro and his son Jo-Jo. Alexandra and Dario were both middle-aged, although I assume Dario was the younger of the two (he was 39). Jo-Jo was 16, and he spoke almost fluent English. He informed me that he had been taking English lessons since he was five years old, which he said was quite common for Italian youth in schools now. That may be promising for visits in coming years. So Jo-Jo acted as sort of an interpreter between me and the rest of the group, which got a bit awkward because Dario was flirting with me unabashedly, like any Italian man worth his salt. Jo-Jo first informed me that Dario wanted to tell me that if I ever wanted to visit their town by the ocean, he could get a room for me. I really didn't know how to respond to that, I'm just not used to men being so forward with me, especially 39 year old men. He's closer in age to my dad that he is to me, for goodness sake! Jo-Jo also helped to translate another of Dario's comments, which, in English, translates to, "You make my heart beat like thunder and lightning." Now, honestly, where will you find an American man who will tell you that? I was almost ready to look past the fact that he was 39 and had disgusting teeth when he said that.

Later in the day we met up with Dario and Alexandro's friends, Frederico and Barbara. Frederico was about the same age as Dario, and single, so you can imagine how that went. One of the first things that Frederico informed me of was that he was single and that Barbara was only a friend. Barbara did not speak a word of English, and Frederico was absolutely infatuated with the language, despite his inability to speak it very well. I've got to give him props for trying though. I know how hard it is. He was just hilarious though. He would try to repeat all of the English words I said, one of which was "fog." Only he pronounced his G more like a K, so you can conclude what that sounded like. I ended up telling Frederico a little white lie, saying that I had a boyfriend in the United States, and I think that word got out to Dario, because the flirting died down a bit after that. I was happy about that because, although the flirting is fun to a point, it is sometimes just difficult to deal with because I don't really know how to respond or how they expect me to respond.

Around noon our whole group took a break for lunch, and I had a panini sandwich. Alexandro brought espresso shots, which they simply call "cafe" for the whole group. It was the first espresso I had ever tried, and, boy, let me tell you, that stuff is strong. They just give it to you in this little plastic shot glass, and it is only about a third of the way full, but I had the jitters after that. After lunch we went out and skied some more, but our group got split up. For some of the time I was just skiing with Dario, and for some of the time Frederico and Barbara joined us. It was Barbara's first day skiing, so she was pretty slow. She skied exactly like my mom, for those of you who know how she skis. So we ended up waiting for her a lot. The top of the mountain was inside a cloud, so I never got to go all the way to the highest point. The four of us were going to go after lunch, but by the time the fog cleared I had to go catch my bus. I did get some beautiful pictures though.

I must say I was a bit sad to leave my Italian friends at the end of the day, but I didn't want to give out any of my personal contact information either. I just have to be extra cautious being a foreign girl travelling alone in a country where and American woman is considered exotic. Dario left me with a kiss on each cheek, the Italian way for close friends to say goodbye. It was a little awkward though because I wasn't exactly sure what he was doing at first, then I wasn't sure which way to move my head. But I must say he was very understanding, and he was very kind and patient with me all day today. I will most likely never see any of them again, but I am so thankful for the experience they gave me. I learned more about the Italian language and culture today than I could have ever learned in three months in the classroom.

At the end of the day I returned to the rental shop to return my skis, and I proudly announced to the old man, "Parlo molto italiano oggi." ("I speak much Italian today."). I still couldn't really understand him, but I could pick out the word beautiful in his rapid speech. He left me with a sort-of embrace where he grabbed my arms and said something about me becoming his son's girlfriend, I think. But I could be completely off-base there. It just seems like something likely for an old Italian man to say to a girl.

At 4:00 I boarded the bus and headed back to Florence to join my classmates for dinner. I just can't stop telling people about the amazing time I had today. I am so glad that I went by myself and became immersed in the culture. I know if I would have went with classmates we would have just spoken English and kept to ourselves. I would have still had a great time, probably, but I'm sure it would not have been of the magnitude that I could call it the best day of my life. I hope that I have many more experiences like this one, but even if this one is the best that I have, I think I will be satisfied.