pre-departure musings

In less than ten days, I will be en route to Italy. This means I will be 40,000 feet in the air, fiddling with air conditioning vents that will never attain a comfortable setting, adjusting and readjusting my seat to the chagrin of the poor passenger behind me, stretching my sore muscles like a 90-year-old rheumatic, munching gourmet airline peanuts (with a friendly label on the package warning me that "this food item may contain nuts"), and silently weeping at sappy in-flight films.

Maybe you're wondering, why did I debut this travel blog by describing the luxuries of air travel instead of predicting my glamorous Roman adventures to come? Why didn't I say that in two weeks, I would be "sipping cioccolata calda in a whimsical cafe in Trastevere" or "admiring myriad street performers on the Spanish steps", or even "eating pizza at the piazza"? Well... since this will be my first time in Europe, I would feel pretty presumptuous writing those flowery participial phrases about situations that may or may not be realistic. Honestly, I don't know what to expect from this trip, from Italy. Transcontinental flights? Been there, done that. But once I step off that plane onto Italian soil (or metal of the terminal, I guess), I am in new territory.

I'm mainly nervous about going to a foreign country without mastering the language. We don't recognize the importance of communication in our lives until we come to these lingual impasses - only then do we curse ourselves for our ears' deceit and tongue's shortfallings. Whenever I visit relatives back in China, it takes a few days to orient myself to speaking Mandarin 99% of the time. If there's a rocky adjustment period for a language I am fluent in, how am I going to function in Italy? I only started learning Italian over the summer - and by that I mean I purchased a beginner's guide and skated through the first few chapters. Sure, I can now rattle off salutations for all hours of the day, point out various household appliances and their locations, say I "am going to the library/beach/school/church", and inform rapt listeners that I have two parents and one sister... but my current Italian lexicon is probably not going to get me very far in Rome. (Trust me, during my week at home, I will become best friends with this language guidebook). Also, I'm not the best with directions, but hopefully after three weeks I will be able to navigate the city without getting spectacularly lost.

Now that I have covered all my study abroad anxieties like a regular Debbie Downer, let me just say that I absolutely cannot wait to go to Rome. I love traveling, I love fully immersing myself in a new location and new culture, imbibing all the sights and smells and especially the feel of a foreign city. Every place has its own heartbeat, and it's entirely fascinating to mentally dissect a city into its different facets - the cuisine, the customs, the urban planning, the people. Pieced together, all these components create a sort of cultural lattice, weaving into each other to create one unique city.

Looking over the course itinerary, there are so many historical landmarks planned for us to see, most of which (aside from the well-known sites like the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain) I have never heard of. After conducting some cursory Wikipedia research, I am even more intrigued to learn about each location in the context of art history and architecture, because 1) I don't normally have room in my schedule to take interesting humanities classes, and 2) We're in ROME! The City of Seven Hills! La Città Eterna! (learned that one from "The Lizzie Mcguire Movie", which I am not ashamed to say that I've seen about twelve times). I've also been religiously reading up on Rome travel tips from natives, and have come up with quite a list of places I want to explore in my free time. This would include the Campagna Amica food market, Celian Park, Testaccio, MACRO, (the modern art museum)... there are so many things outside of the local touristy area that I am anxious to explore Note: Most of these places may or may not involve food. Who am I kidding - all of these places involve food.

But for now, I will be furiously learning Italian phrases, reading about Baroque churches, and maybe even finish my holiday shopping on time this year. Next time I update this, I'll be in Rome! Until then!