Dec

10

Home – Part 1

Filed Under Europe, Italy, OU in Arezzo, The World, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment  | by

Disclaimer: This window has nothing to do with this post. I just really love it.

Despite my best efforts, the thing most on my mind lately has been this concept—home.

I say “despite my best efforts” because the last thing I want to be doing in my final ten days in Italy is thinking about leaving it. But in my studies and in my travels I keep coming back to this idea—home. I consider and I wonder (like the over-analytic freak that I am)…what is home? What does that mean to me anymore? I call myself a global student; I call the world my classroom. But am I a global citizen? Is the whole world also my home? I can’t seem to escape the question.

It doesn’t help that I have six songs on my iPod all dealing with “home” (three of which are literally titled “Home.” I don’t have any other repeats that dramatic—maybe this concept has been more important to me in the past than I knew?).

 

To share these thoughts with you (and of course give some updates on my time in Italy as it comes to a close) I am going to make a series of blog posts, starting now and ending when I fly back to the States, about this idea of home. And I’m going to share some of these songs. Hope you enjoy!

——————————————————————–<3————————————————————–

**Gabrielle Aplin- Home** – this is my most recently-dicsovered (and favorite) “Home” song that I have.  My friend Ashley shared it with me a few weeks ago, and it’s quickly become the theme song of my semester.

————————————**———————————————————————–**———————

We learned in Immigration Class that the Italians in the days of their mass emigration (1800s, mostly) had a sort of catch phrase with which they consoled themselves – tutto il mondo e’ un paese. Or “all the world is a home town.” Through the generations they had learned that they could bring their culture with them wherever they went and be happy anywhere in the world.

Before I had ever heard this phrase, I made a similar comment.

This summer, my best friend and I backpacked around Europe for a week before our semesters started. We traveled through Edinburgh, Sheffield, London, and Luxembourg, and by the end I decided that the lesson I learned (and I pull this from a travel journal, I’m not just conveniently making this up) was “With good friends, good coffee, and the good Lord, you can feel at home anywhere.”

(Edinburgh especially felt like home becuse we found my new favorite coffee shop ever)

Guess I was already more Italian than I thought.

 

I almost forgot this part! Aah.

One thing I learned about Arezzo
The main clock on Corso is 3 minutes faster than the clock on my phone!  No wonder I’ve been late all semester!!

One thing I learned about myself
My For those of you who know me well, this will be especially revolutionary — I can actually have fun at a discoteca (dance club) !

Best thing I ate
A home-cooked dinner with my new friend Ilaria!! Pasta carbonara, steak and potatoes, home made tiramisu….I was absolutely in heaven.

Italian Word of the Week:

Okay, we’re at, like, word of the month now (I’m sorry I’m so inconsistent!) so here’s a special one:

“Spalodito” – meaning “dazed” or “dazzled.” I learned this from my friend Martina on our train ride to Florence.  We were quizzing each other out of our English/Italian and Italian/English dictionaries.

Comments

Leave a Reply




Skip to toolbar