Viva San Giovanni e Paolo!!

I decided to come to Italy for 8 days because I don't start my internship until next week. This was a GREAT decision. I have been loving exploring Ireland and hanging out with all of my American internship buddies, but I had too much idle time and was feeling so overwhelmed by Dublin that I was starting to feel really depressed. What I really needed, without realizing it, was a sense of community, and this was the perfect place to come.

San Giovanni is a teeny tiny town near Napoli, tucked in the hills with the most beautiful views I have ever seen. There aren't hotels or anything tourist-y and I get to eat homemade Italian food and wine all day long. Yesterday I played volleyball, tennis, took a motocross ride through the hills (again...best part of this sentence is that I have done this more than once in Italy. Beautiful :)). Ate lots of pasta and pizza and deserts, and just relaxed with all of the San Giovanni boys and my new friend Sarah, who lives in Venezia.

I haven't decided why I am so much happier here, I think that a lot of blame can be placed on Italia, and a lot has to do with my amazing buddies here. It is comfortable, and I am in love with it in a way that I haven't fallen in love with Ireland yet. I am going to Florence tomorrow, and then to Rome for the weekend to do a pub crawl (and because Rome feels like home to me) and am headed back early next week. I am nervous about going back to Ireland, but SOOO excited to start my internship and get settled in finally. I actually had a lot of fun last weekend in Dublin and think the Temple Bar District is a very entertaining place. I am just ready to go find my spot in Dublin that I can call home for the next 10 - 12 weeks, and I will feel much more content. That is all for now. Ciao!

"....Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure.Ours is an entertainment seeking-nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one....This is the cause of that great sad American stereotype- the overstressed executive who goes on vacation, but who cannot relax."
— Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia)

I have been reading Eat, Pray, Love, which I bought at JFK during my grossly long layover. Reading it last night, the author's experience almost perfectly matched up with mine, as she fought lonelinessin a far away place, traveling all alone (She was told to "embrace" it, to experience loneliness as a normal human emotion). Another battle she had was trying to find full pleasure while in Italy, perhaps the world capital of pleasure of food, sensuality and beauty. Culturally, I don't think Americans naturally contain the capacity for experiencing this in the same way that Italians do, and I was faced with this yesterday as I explored Dun Laoghaire for hours on end. Waiting for a call about my internship, I literally had the entire day to do anything I wanted. But what the hell do I want to do??! I don't know when the last time I even had the option of asking this question was, and today I am faced with it again. This is the same situation Elizabeth was in during the few chapters I read last night, and while we were both a bit scared of having to answer this question, it is REALLY REALLY nice to try to answer :)

Yesterday I left the hostel and just started walking, going first to Penney's, a clothing store that kick's Forever 21's butt. I bought 2 shirts, a necklace and some oxfords (finally!!) for €19.50 (roughly $24). Then I walked around a mall, bought a few groceries at Tesco, ate a delicious brie and tomato sandwich and spent a couple of hours walking the pier, people watching, eating ice cream (it is somehow different here, I think it tastes a lot better) and sitting by the sea. Just sitting. I had a pint with one of my intern buddies and received a call at about 8:30 saying I am going to be interning for the company I really wanted to intern for (yay!! finally!!)! What started as a tired, sleepless morning ending up being a really great and relaxing day, but I had to work really hard for it and had to fight the anxiety ofuncertainty and loneliness.

The truth is, I don't mind being alone, I am just not used to it, even after living alone for a year at school. I am paying a LOT of money to be here, and I will be working a LOT of hours at my new internship, because they are launching a new project. This is my last week of summer off, and I need to experience all of the best this country has to offer without feeling GUILTY, which is the hardest for me.

Anyway, it is sunny again today, everybody here keeps saying how amazing the weather is. I think I am going to hop on a bus to Dalkey and just see where the day brings me. Maybe bring a copy of Eat, Sleep, Love, which I think everyone should read. I am only about 75 pages in, I think reading a book a little at a time is a luxury, but maybe that's because I just graduated college :p. Here are some pictures from my day yesterday. There was a moment on the pier yesterday where I realized, "I like this, I like spending time with me". That was a big step in my trip :) I miss you all dearly (clearly, if you read this)! Wish you were here!

"The more exquisitely and delightfully you can do nothing, the higher your life's achievement."

Homesick

Kind of a depressing way to start my brand new blog, but I want to keep it short so that I can go shopping (this is kind of my cure-all for any sad/mad/depressed mood). I am staying at the Marina House hostel in Dun Laoghaire. I still have to google Dun Laoghaire everytime I type it out, eventually I will learn how to spell it. . . It is a cute little hostel and I have an 8-bed room all to myself for €16 (I still have to google the Euro sign too, eventually I'll figure it out :p). However, last night was the first night I have spent all by myself, and I think this solitude, combined with my inability to sleep through a full night in Ireland due to jet lag, my lack of internship and permanent housing, and FINALLY coming to a realization that I am so far from home have left me with a touch of homesickness. Perhaps because all of my plans were so last minute in coming here, it really didn't even occur to me that I may get homesick. I have been far from home before, for extended periods of time, but I have never been alone. Lucky for me I have a great support network both in Oregon and in Dun Laoghaire, all who are only a phone call away. I also realize that this is a completely natural progression in the adjustment period and I will get over soon (nothing I can't handle). Anyway, that is where i am now. Literally almost every moment of the trip so far has been amazing, so far I have been to Dublin and Wicklow. Ireland is beautiful, and I don't know what all of this talk of rain was, it has been amazingly sunny every day. Today's weather is expected to be a high of 22, which means almost nothing to me, but I think that is sunny :p. I had my first internship interview yesterday, for an amazing company that I am really hoping I can get in with. I think it is shopping time now though, so I will go. I am choosing not to post the link to this blog until my next entry, I don't want to worry everyone, and there are so many more emotions here than loneliness, it would be a shame to start off on only this one! To showcase a brighter note, here are a few of my favorite words/phrases so far:

"what's the craic"

"mind your guinness", "mind your head", "mind the step", etc..

colossal

bullocks

brilliant, brilliant, brilliant

D4!