I've been having a much more difficult time writing here than I did in Mackinac. It's not that I'm not inspired by what I see every day. What I think the problem is, actually, is that none of this looks real. I've been waiting to come to Italy since January of 2012, and now, here I am. In Italy,
Maybe it was all of the horse shit in the streets of Mackinac, but it all just felt so much more real. Here, it sometimes feels like I'm watching a movie...one that I don't belong in.
Most of our guests, and most of the tourists here in general, are American...but I don't feel connected to them. Honestly I find them to be, for lack of a better word, brutto, ugly. Not looks, obviously, just their personalities. On my way to work yesterday, I passed a couple in the street who were arguing. They had passed a restaurant that the husband wanted to eat at because it looked good, and it was close. The woman insisted, angrily, that she didn't want to go there, she wanted to go to the restaurant that Trip Advisor said was good.
Why do we do this? Italy is filled with so many amazing things to eat, drink and explore, why do people plan out their trips so close to the tee of what everyone else has previously experienced? Does anything really beat the experience of walking into some corner dive bar and finding out through sheer dumb luck, that it is the best place to eat in the whole city? Plus, Italians don't use TA, so by going to that site to get recommendations on where to eat in Italy is just dumb. Ask a local. It's worth it.
The other thing that I've learned since being in Italy is that it really is about who you know. The five of us here in Bellagio - Maria, Julie, Claire, Ryan and I - have had the extreme pleasure of getting to know easily the kindest and most incredible family in Bellagio, the Leone's. Their patriarch, Luca is the owner of the Hotel DuLac, the Hotel Bellagio, and the Sporting Club, all of which are now our regular spots to socialize and relax. Dani, Luca's son, is one of our closest friends here in Italy. Having grown up in Bellagio, he is the perfect person to help us learn our way around town. In fact, on Saturday night, we all went together to Club Lido, the beach club we went to shortly last week. But this week was a little different. Because, this week, for a small cover, we arrived VIP at Lido....which means bottle service. I'm not sure it was really for me, but I have to say it was truly a once in a lifetime experience, and definitely the most fun I have had since arriving.
Other than Lido, it has been a relatively calm and slow week. Every night after work the five of us, plus Dani, usually, meet up at the DuLac or some other wine bar in town and relax. It's really an amazing way of life. Additionally, my Italian is getting better and better. This week I learned a very important word that I now use all the time : starnutire, to sneeze. Other than that, I have been getting along great. Several times a day I am told that i speak beautiful italian. Plus the day that someone told me that I am Bella come il sole, or, as beautiful as the sun.
Did I mention that I don't want to leave?
Well, I admit I was hoping Daniel Radcliff came in asking for you and you were on a break... that would have been the shit, for sure! love you Lizzy! I hope the work is challenging and filled with learning.
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