I can’t tell you how magical it feels to leave your country and then return to an even more magical atmosphere of the holidays evident on TV, in the papers, and in the neighborhoods ... Mom and I are busily prepping for twenty-eight at two tables for Thanksgiving, as well as merrily gathering decorations for what promises to be a truly wonderful Christmas house tour to benefit our local church. I hear we might even get some flurries tomorrow, so the atmospheric stage is set and even though I’m an old twenty-five, it all just makes me feel so lucky and excited to herald in the wintry holiday season!
I didn’t do Roma justice [in the previous email], but I’m so glad to have seen it: the immensity, the history, the beauty of its fallen temples and landmarks. Now, I’m ultra sensitive to it, seeming to hear and read and see things that remind me of both cosmopolitan Italy and small-town countryside Italy all the time. My heart breaks to have left such a stunning and occasionally frustrating country ... Yet, my soul tells me that in another life, I too, was probably Roman or Mediterranean, which probably speaks to why I acclimated there so easily, picking up on the intonations of language and cultural ways; perhaps, too, why Italians would start speaking to me without a second thought and then laugh when I opened my mouth in shy protest, “Scoozi, non compito ... non parla molto italiano …!” I was, however, ready to dive into a conversation in French at a moment’s notice (having studied the language and culture for eight years), but that opportunity rarely presented itself. Still, I was deeply flattered.
The week spent in Milan with my Aunt Frannie, the international opera diva extraordinaire, was really a nice balance and education in the real-world Italy, after having spent ten days being romanced, wined, and dined in the various small towns of Umbria.
Her apartment was at least twice the size of her NYC Upper West side home; having my own closet space and double bed there was truly one of the first of many Milano miracles during my stay. We learned a great deal more about each other, as I acquiesced into roommate mode and she learned how to balance being hostess, music student, tour guide, and aunt all at once.
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