Touching down at 7:45 am in Rome meant that I had a full day to work and explore despite the exhaustion of having gotten up at 2 am local time. And work and explore I did for the whole two and a half weeks I had in Italy. My mantra “I’ll sleep when I get back to Philadelphia” is what kept me going. I wanted to be able to get as much work done as possible, but also have some time to explore my destination, catch up with old friends, visit with family and just have some good, old-fashioned fun.
I hit the ground running in Rome. After all, I only had four days there. Once I got into town from the airport I met briefly with the apartment representative and immediately caught a taxi to my first appointment at Avis Headquarters. Finally, after 15 years, I got to meet the people I interact with on at least a weekly basis during our season. They were just as excited as I.
Over a much-needed espresso (I hadn’t had anything but water since I had woken up) we discussed business and had a chance to chitchat about our jobs, families, and life in Philadelphia and Rome. Needless to say, by the time our appointment was over and we said our good-byes, I was famished.
Interestingly enough, one of my coworkers from our Media office was on an Untour in Rome with her mother and sisters, so we all met up at the Pantheon. It was a Tuesday, their last day, and so they wanted to do some last minute shopping and exploring, and I was interested in seeing their apartment. So, we met and had lunch and a last walk around and then went back to their apartment, the Flavia 3.
I had only seen it once, before we started using it, when it was unfurnished. It was a very productive visit, actually, because I not only got to see the apartment and spend some time in the neighborhood, but I was also able to convince Dee (my aforementioned coworker) to take home some of my stuff. I no longer needed my swimsuits and things that served me so well during my vacation in Greece. And any space I could save for paperwork and purchases, so long as Dee didn’t mind, was a good thing.
The rest of my time in Rome was dedicated to meeting and getting to know our staff person, Mary, who we hired over last winter, seeing some new apartments, revisiting others that have been on the roster for a while and to participate in departures, arrivals, orientation and the on-site event. To say it was a whirlwind stay is not exaggerating. I was even able to schedule a meeting with a representative from the Italian Notebook, an online daily info blog about Italy. It turns out, we both graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. Small world!
On the orientation day, I was up and out by 6 am for a walk around the city and a 7 am visit to the Vatican. What a great time of day to visit, only 2 people ahead of me in line for the security check and hardly anyone inside. Talk about serenity in such a large space. There were masses being said in various side chapels, but otherwise I had the place virtually to myself. From there, it was back to the apartment to get ready for another meeting and then on to orientation and our event. What a great day! Though it started early and ended late, it was just magical.
Friday was a day off for me, so I took the train to visit my family in the country. It was only a 6 hour visit, but it was so nice getting back to the homestead and seeing my aunt and uncle. We just sat around, ate and talked about the family, how big my nephews are getting, old times, my grandparents and parents, etc. I tried not to cry when I got on the train back to Rome, but couldn’t help myself.
I’m getting better at good byes, but as we all get older I find it harder and harder as I never know if it’ll be the last time we’ll see each other. I don’t mean to sound so dramatic, but those are things that immigrant families tend to think of. My mother’s dad never saw his parents again when he left Italy for the States. My dad only saw his parents perhaps ten times from when he came to the States in the late 1Elizabethkillough0s. My brother and I only met our dad’s parents a handful of times. Though, it’s wonderful to have family here and there to visit, the reality is the people that you’re closest to, and love the most, sometimes are just too darn far away.
Ok, enough of that.
My next stop, Tuscany…
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