Essay #4

A Difficult but Rewarding Trip

The homeland. I am eager to get on this plane and fly to a place I have never been before. It will be a whole new experience and little did I know for the next twelve days, I would be in a place I have only dreamed about. It is a place everyone always talks about, but very little know much about. Somewhere magical, like a fairytale and once you are there, your real home is forgotten and there are no worries besides what infamous dish you are going to eat that night.
Fifteen miles. The average amount my family and I walked each day. This is not an exaggeration, it is completely factual. Fifteen miles from point A to point B to point C, and so on and then back to the hotel of point A. We could barely take it with the scorching 95-degree hot, hazy and humid weather each day. We carried on as if it were our job, but enjoyed every second of what seemed like endless, hair pulling torture. There was too much to explore to let our exhaustion and dehydration take over us. Our minds said no, but our legs kept pushing forward. Fifteen miles felt like nothing after the first two days.
Rome: the capital. This was the location of our hotel and where our journey was based out of. We awakened at 7:00 each morning, ate breakfast, and were on our way. We hit the major attractions that surrounded us first: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain. My family and I walked up and down numerous stairs, in and out of several building and streets, and where we ended up is where we explored. We knew from the minute we stepped outside each day, it was going to be a day of adventure and exhaustion, but had to carry on and struggle through it. The walking never became easier, it became a part of us. We were hard pressed, but if we were not then we would not have enjoyed and appreciated each location of our journey. We saved the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica for the next day, another day of torturous walking, but loving every minute of it. The only time we stopped was for a minute to drink from the fountains. We waited in line for ten minutes only to get thirty seconds worth of water, and then carried on immediately after. “My feet hurt. I’m tired. I’m dehydrated. Can we go home?” These phrases became our new conversation starters each day. Every time one of us would complain, my brother would always ask, “How many times are you in Italy? You should be appreciating where you are. Stop crying!” This lecture somewhat motivated us to keep going onward. If it was not for Phil, we would have quit long ago.
Florence (Firenze). Two hours was the train ride on the express train. We knew it would be another day of nonstop walking and trudging through the areas. What carried us through this day were souvenirs we would buy for ourselves. My mother and I spent most of the day on the bridge of gold, which is what Florence is known for, however we did not have much luck finding inexpensive gold jewelry so we went home empty handed.
Naples (Napoli). An hour and a half train ride on the express train. The first thing we did when we got off the train was get something Naples was known for – pizza! Pizza gave us motivation to start the day strong and it gave us energy to successfully hike through the blistering sun for hours. After a while, the motivation wore off and we were all tired and blistering in the sun again. We took a short break and bought ourselves refreshing Coca Cola, which revived us so we could continue on our journey. At the end of this day I asked myself, “How many more days of this?”
Pompeii (Pompei). An hour and a half ride on the express train to Naples, then a half an hour transfer train ride to Pompeii. This was the one city I was looking forward to the most. The city that holds the infamous Mount Vesuvius. For some reason, the heat and exhaustion did not affect me as much as the other days in Italy. I became the motivator that day, and encouraged my family to keep going so we could explore every part of Pompeii. By the time we got on the train to go back to Rome, I felt like I could have kept walking and discovering new ruins in this town.
The nights. We ended each night early because we were tired and we had to awaken early again the next day. When we finally conked out each night, we all knew we were more than satisfied with how the day went based on how much we ached and how much sweat and dirt came off in the shower. Our swollen feet throbbed and our backs twinged, but we knew we would not see as much as we did if we did not go through all the pain to get there.
The boyfriend. Being in Italy away from Dan, my boyfriend, was difficult especially when I was trying to enjoy myself but barely could because I missed him too much. We were not officially going out, we still had a lot to work out and discuss when I came back. We started dating at a complex time considering he was starting school at Penn State and we did not know if we could handle the distance and him being in college for the first time. When we first started having feelings for each other, we were being pulled in every direction, not knowing what to do or what to say to each other to make things easier. Each day in Italy was an obstacle to get through, but I loved every minute of it. Each time I had an important talk with Dan was an obstacle, but I would not have had it any other way.