Ciao, Mamma!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I had readied myself for nearly 4 months without seeing my friends, for Halloween without ridiculous costumes, and for Thanksgiving away from home. When I left for Italy, I thought that I wouldn’t hug my mom again until Christmas and I had prepared myself to deal with a completely new environment, completely on my own.

Now, two months into my time Siena, I’ve perfected the art of Skype dates and e-mail updates and I have settled into my new world comfortably. So when Mom asked what I thought about her visiting, I was, in all honesty, a bit reluctant. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see her. In fact, it was the exact opposite. After having worked so hard to get over my homesickness and to find a routine in Italy, I was worried that a visit from Mom might throw me right back into that lonely, nostalgic feeling that I struggled with during the first few weeks.

Well, I was (partially) right. Just a few hours ago I cried and hugged my mom and felt that same longing for home that made the start of this semester so difficult. But, at the same time, this “so-long” scene was different from the last one in Dulles Airport. This time, I knew that I could (and would) pick myself up, hang out with my new friends, and fall back in love with Italy so much so that these last five weeks would fly by faster than the first eleven did. I realize now that the reason being away from the states is so difficult is because I am lucky enough to have so many wonderful people to come home to. I am homesick right now, but I’m also happy to be here on my warped Italian bed in my dysfunctional Italian apartment with my four fantastic roommates and my creepy stuffed squirrel.

That said, Mom and I had a blast this week. We considered a variety of day trips to nearby cities, but the yucky weather convinced us to stay in Siena. I played hooky on Tuesday and we spent the day shopping, eating, talking with Simonetta, and eventually finding our way to the Tea Room where we each enjoyed a pot of tea and a goodie (though my carrot cake lacked carrots and Mom’s chocolate cake with ginger didn’t have any noticeable ginger…) Wednesday, we got lost in the Market and today we took a cooking class that was virtually a private lesson with an Italian chef. Our four course lunch of crostini, gnocchi, pork, and chocolate cake was probably the best meal we ate during Mom’s trip and it left us absolutely stuffed (but not so stuffed that we didn’t eat giant pizza slices and gelato on the Campo.)

Though we had remarkably terrible luck with the Italian culture (countless restaurants, stores, and cooking classes were closed for the day/week/hour we needed them, causing us to do a lot of unnecessary walking and one ride on the largest escalator in the world to nowhere) and though Mom experienced blisters the size of quarters thanks to all that unnecessary walking, I think we both had a great mini-vacation that made my already surreal semester just a bit more dreamlike.

Now, exhausted after Paris, Pisa, and Mom, I am ready for a quiet weekend in Siena in which I will finally (reluctantly) begin the first of 3 research papers due over the next few weeks. Oh well. I suppose that if I have to do serious work while abroad, the past two weeks were the best, most fun preparation I could hope for.