Chapter Six: The Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni

First I want to apologize. I've been quite neglectful. You see, I've been here for over three weeks already and I realize I've hardly told you anything about the place in which I spend most of my time...

The hotel, as you may have guessed from the name, was originally built as a villa, or rather, some rich guy's house. That was back in 1815, when it was less than a quarter of its current size, and the town of Bellagio much less of (rather, not at all) a tourist destination. At some point between 1815 and now, the villa was turned into a hotel, several wings were added on, and a third floor of rooms was added to the top. As you walk through the halls, you are guided along by marble floors and pillars, stretching throughout the entire property in true Italian style. It is easy to find your way around the hotel, unless you get lost while staring up at the hand painted mosaics, original to the villa, that cover the ceilings throughout. The staircase, called the scalone reale,

or loosely translated into "huge, impressive, royal staircase into heaven," (exaggerated) can be found in the center of the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, located across from the ballroom. It is in this impressive, 1815 original ballroom, where every night a bass, violin, and piano trio can be found playing the Cinema Paradiso suite, at my request, in addition to all of your other classical music favorites from eight until midnight each evening. For a classical music lover such as myself, nothing could make working the late shift more enjoyable. 

Work itself has it's ups and downs, like any other job. While working forty hours per week for no pay can be exhausting, there is no where else in the world I would rather be spending this time. The hotel is exquisite, my coworkers are absolutely incredible, and the guests are mostly wonderful. Although I'd love to share some of my stories, I think it will be better to save them for my post-employment "epilogue" chapter. Regardless, I love the hotel, where I live, and the people I am surrounded by each day. My Italian has been getting better and better, especially after a glass or two of wine, and my coworker Elisa told a guest a few days ago that I am fluent. Although I'm not so sure I completely agree with her, I am certainly on my way there. 

Outside of work, I meet up with my coworkers every single day because, as I said, they are awesome. Be it at the Bellagio Sporting Club, the Hotel DuLac, Lido, or the beach bar Armando's, we always have a great time. 

A few other abstract thoughts I wanted to mention: 

My favorite part about work -- what I call "family dinner." Each day, for lunch and dinner, I go up to the employee dining room to eat. Unlike any other employee dining area I've ever seen, this one is unique in that there are only two tables, and the same ten or so people sit at one table, every day, and eat together. It is cozy, but it is so much fun. As the weeks have been going by and my Italian has been getting better, I've found that sometimes the best part of my day is getting to unwind for a half hour while laughing and eating with my friends, young and old, and of every rank in the hotel. It's certainly unique to me to have my manager come up and eat lunch with me, while joking with the servers in the restaurant and their managers alike. I guess really what i love is that there is no difference in rank when we enter for lunch. It's really neat, and has allowed me to get to know a lot of people I would have otherwise never met.

My favorite part about living in a small town -- guest loyalty discounts. But first, let me explain a few things. When I wake up for work, I first stop on my way down to get a custard filled, powdered sugar covered brioche, and a cappuccino with cocoa from the pasticceria that is closest to my apartment. On my way home from work, I stop at the gelateria next door to that to get the only type of gelato I will ever again try, pear with walnuts. It sounds weird but take my word from it that this stuff originated in Eden. After getting home and changing I either head back downtown to the DuLac for a glass of wine, or over to the Sporting Club for the same, plus a pizza. Now, three weeks into this routine, I have finally started reaping the benefits of what I call "life as a local."

1- I now receive 20 cents off my 2.60€ breakfast at the pasticceria.

2- For the times when i pass by the gelateria without money, i have now established good enough credit with my ice cream lady that I can always just pay tomorrow. 

3- At hotel DuLac, discounts when I buy two or more glasses of wine (doesn't happen very often I promise!) and at Sporting, portion increases and an occasional food discount. 

It's not a bad life.

My favorite part about Italians: language barriers. A few days ago a coworker said to me, "Why are you laughing?" What I heard, "What do you love in a man?" 

That one was a little awkward.

My favorite part about the culture: national unity in one sports team. Tonight was the first Italian "football" game in the FIFA World Cup series and it was crazy. Never in my life have I seen so many people gather together like this. There had to be 75-100 people at the Sporting tonight, and the eruption from them when the Italian scored their first and second goals, and finally won, were unlike anything I have ever since experienced. It is clear that there is no joy known to man as great as there is to an Italian man whose country has just won a football game.

Also, for the sake of my reputation among my Italian readers, I will hereby avoid use of the word "soccer."

So then...I just realized it is 3:15 am and I've been writing for an hour. Hope you enjoyed, but now it is time for bed! A dopo!