ciao, italia!

i am rather sad to say that. i will miss italy. i cant believe i have been here 2 and a half weeks! as i write this, dusk is falling on the smoggy city of milan. it makes for interesting lighting. there are mcdonalds everywhere. i can see 2 right now. soon i will be on a train for 13 hours to barcelona. part of me is looking forward to a new adventure and speaking a language i know a bit of, but part of me doesnt want to travel anymore. here in italy, i have been staying at least 2 nights almost everywhere, usually 3. so it will be a little more difficult to have one night on teh train, one in barcelona, 2 in salamanca, 1 in madrid, 1 on the train, and who knows for morocco? i havent gotten that far yet. rather, i am waiting to hear on a few things, and i will be on a tour, so i am happy to let them decide those things. i dont even want to think about it. after the tour, i should have 2 nights on a train and 1 in paris before heading home nov 1. oh, how time flies!

hates, loves, and likes:
so, i hate when the handrail on escalators moves faster than the steps do.
i like walking around supermarkets and markets of new cities and countries. i like hearing 2 and 3 year olds learn how to talk in their languages. it is so cute!! i like the idea of hospitality, welcoming people and helping them out. i am not so good at it when it comes to my own house. i love travelling. it really is a bed of roses, thorns adn all.

thinking:
i am thinking abuot teaching english overseas for a year or so, maybe in asia (dad, maybe you were right). someone mentioned it to me as i sat waiting for a train in the cinque terre, and i thought, "why not?" i am thinking of working holiday retail when i get back, maybe bath and body works or something. my friend and former roommate (and closest friend in boot camp) is getting married in oklahoma on nov 8, and i am thinking of flying out for the wedding. i am thinking about urbana. maybe i will go, maybe i wont. i am thinking life really is a lot simpler than i have made it to be for so many years.

cinque terre:
freaking amazing. i actually think the amalfi coast is more beautiful and dramatic, but the cinque terre seems more accessible, bc of the many hiking paths. and the towns are closer together, so it is perfect hiking for me. cliffs over the sea, mountains, desert climate on teh sunny side, rainforest on the dark side. so interesting to walk from one into the other. terraced vineyards, lemon groves, and olive groves on most visible slopes. the birthplace of pesto. warm, very salty seas that are perfect for a quick swim with the fishes after a long hike. just fabulous. i even stayed an extra day. i was supposed to have 2 nights, then go up to the lake district (lake como, lake maggiore), but decided to stay and do mre hiking. an aussie couple that i made friends with did teh same, only i didnt know it, so i was quite suprised to run into them! they were great fun to hang out with and a fun reminder of my semester in oz.

milan:
oh, it was so good to see annesa. we were friends when she came to OU to study for a year, my last year there. she is a student here in milan, so i stayed with her for almost 3 days. it was nice to slow down a bit and not rush around seeing tourist sights. and of course, it was fun to hang out with authentic italians. the first night, she took me to meet a friend of hers at a buffet-bar. its a pretty sweet setup, you buy a drink, then you get all the food you want. during happy hour, which wasnt over by the time we left at 930pm, that is. yum. i went to the duomo yesterday. the interior seems to me just like any other old, opulent roman catholic churh in italy. bu the exterior, and more specifically the roof.... ooh la la! it has a million spires on it, adn they let you up there to walk around. it is so amazing! loved it. after annesa got back from class, she took me to the castle. pretty sweet, a medeival castle in the middle of town. we also were shopping for birthday gifts for 2 of her friends. later that night, another of her friends picked us up and we went out to a suburb, to the house of the birthday girl, and had a small dinner party with the other birthday boy. they have all been friends for years, and it was fun to watch them interact and tease one another. i could tell that they were really good friends and really enjoyed each others company. they did speak in italian all night, and about every 15 min or so, someone would translate a few lines, or just tell me what they are talking about. so i did get bored pretty fast. i could pick out their conversation topic every now and then with my limited spanish, but still. i fell asleep on the way home. it didnt help that it was 1am. ah, well. so today i went to the teatro della scala, the opera house. it was beautiful. the outside wasnt much, except that it is italys first opera house, and mozart came and wrote operas for that building. theere were 6 levels of box seating as well as floor seats. there was also a museum next door that had portraits of the major actors and actresses and singers and composers for centuries. mom would have appreciated it more than i, but i did enjoy it. just stickig my head in the actual theater made it worth it.

so i am getting more excited about morocco, now that it is fast approaching. i would like to buy a guide book, but the ones i have found in english (lonely planet, rough guide) are ridiculously expensive. perhaps i should forgo it, or maybe i should have just bought one in the US. i am hoping to find one more moderately priced in spain. ah, espagna...

off to my forever long train ride i go!