Transitions

I should start by saying I have arrived safe and sound in Italy. Well, I suppose "safe" is relative because 200km away in Emilia Romagna there have been intense earthquakes in recent days. In fact, on Tuesday I felt one very faintly at 9AM while at my desk but my roommate didn't feel it. Anyway, everything is going well. 

my dearest Phyllis; last night in NYC

I had a tearful farewell with Phyllis a few weeks ago, we had decided to forego conversations about my impending departure and therefore when the day came in which I had to leave, it seemed all-too-soon. It was much harder to leave her than the internship or the city. I found that I did love the city and all it had to offer, and I did try to exploit all its resources, but I also felt ready to get back to a more laid-back way of life. People in New York seemed to me to be working incredibly hard, most with multiple jobs, just to scrape by. I find it to be a captivating, romantic, innovative city that, however, is utterly unsustainable both economically and socially. The common person is too busy working, taking transportation, and trying to survive that the time and means to really enjoy oneself has to be carefully calculated. In my opinion, one has to be willing to sacrifice a lot in order to have merely the opportunity - the presumed promise - of the New York lifestyle, that which only exists in films (or for the 1% of this country). Just an observation. I loved living there for 4 months, but forever? Maybe not.

how could you not miss this ol' gal?

Once I departed from the Big Apple, leaving behind my 78-year-old soul mate and life coach, I arrived in Texas for a few short days of enchiladas, pool time, cocktails, family and friends (not necessarily in that order). I always find it refreshing - and curious - that you can return to a place and feel as if you never left. That used to worry me, as if what was experienced just before could have very well never happened. The thought that life continues just as it was when you leave a place is still something I have to wrap my head around. The visual graphic of my life would have to be represented as an intricate web in which there isn't simply one line, but a web of tracks with intersecting nodes indicating shifts in direction.

Peveragno, Italy (only church, main piazza)

Before I knew it, I was on to my next transition: the summer in Italy. I arrived in Torino on a rainy Saturday afternoon and soon met my new roommates, Sirio and Albino. They're a married couple in their 40s from South Italy, Naples and Matera, respectively. I found the room at their apartment on the internet, by chance, and after they accepted me we found out they are good friends of not one but TWO of my professors! Just goes to show you the the world really is small. They are incredibly fun to be around and very giving individuals. Albino is a mechanic by day and a club promoter/PR person by night - apparently he's very well known in Turin because we can't walk a single block without people stopping him to say hello. Sirio is a felicitous casalinga, or housewife, and she is rather serious about a few things: playing The Sims with a lot of strategy, watching Gossip Girl (dubbed), and perfecting the art of homemade bread. They are the right amount of altruistic and eccentric for me to feel right at home.

joking around with Fatemeh before the ceremony

look out professional life, here i come

ah yes, my future awaits...

What else? Well, this past weekend I graduated. Only symbolically, though, because I technically have to finish 3 workshops and my thesis in order to get my diploma. There are so few of us that it was prudent for the ceremony to happen when it did and the graduation was really quite lovely. There were lots of Torino big-wigs in attendance, two professional photographers, a videographer, and a guy from the local news channel who interviewed me. I'm not too thrilled about the last bit because said newsman caught me at a particularly sweaty post-outdoor-photo-shoot moment in which I felt flustered and unprepared - not to mention the post-production error of his misspelling my name. I'm not bitter. But if you'd like to share in my shame, watch a local news segment in Italian, or feel like you were present at the ceremony, feel free to click here (skip ahead to 5:29 if you'd like to just see my part). Shucks, I almost have a Master's degree, but not yet… exactly. Let's all cross our fingers for these next months to go well. 

serious buffet action

donning my "arts and business" hood post-graduation

I should also mention I went to my professor's birthday party in a very small town 1.5 hours outside Torino on Sunday. Her party started at noon and - no joke - went on until 11PM and all the guests stayed the entire time. This must be a cultural thing because I tend to think you couldn't make an American stay at a party longer than 4 hours if you paid them. But we ate ALL DAY, Italian wedding style. We had a pre-lunch "aperitivo" that included nuts, chips and prosecco, then came the whole roast pig, potatoes, Rocío's infamous seafood paella, sliced veal with tuna, salami, 2 types of bread, 4 types of cheese, pineapple, strawberries, cake, gelato, dolcetto, moscato, grappa, genepy, you see where I'm going with this. I ate and drank for 11 hours, and just to give you a sense of the rustic Italian flavor of this festa, once the second round of dolcetto bottles were removed from the tables one of the guests brought out his accordion and everyone started singing classic Piedmontese ballads. As token foreigner and exotic party guest I was asked a question that has become a favorite of Italians: is Chuck Norris really a Texas Ranger? TV is really behind over here, that's all I can say.

lunch (and dinner!) in rustic Italian country house 

excitement over the roast pig (note the gesticulating Italian hands)

I've got to get back to working hard and finishing this degree. Though it's hard to do when you feel like you've already graduated. Alas! Lots of love from the former Roman Empire and current center for natural disasters!