Ciao!

Ciao!

My flight went well; I arrived in Rome last Tuesday late in the afternoon. On the plane I sat next to Liam, a very friendly college student from Lake Tahoe; he’s studying math and physics in Reno.

The check in woman where I am staying in Spello asked her nephew Renato to pick me up at the airport in Rome. (This helped me avoid a two-hour train ride with a transfer after an 11-hour flight.) Renato and I discovered that we both love movies and most of the same ones. On the two-hour drive to Spello he told me how his uncle showed him the movies — the ones I saw in their first run — like Goodfellas, The Untouchables and so many more. We also agreed on which Jurassic Park movie is best — the first one — although I lobbied for Jurassic World as a close second; I loved how Chris Pratt trained and built relationships with the velociraptors Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo: “Eyes on me!” Kinda like teaching: “1, 2, 3, eyes on me.” But the kids don’t want to eat me. 

In my travels so far the kids in their 20s are most open and welcome connecting. On the flight to Rome I also met Sophia; we sat diagonally to each other. (Earlier in line for the plane I met her brother and parents. They introduced me to Sophia.) It was a surprise to discover that Sophia and I went to the same college for undergrad, and she is a new teacher in the Bay Area. Here we are about 40 years apart, both of us still new in the same profession. Granted this is my second profession, but I nonetheless feel like a new teacher even in my eighth year. Plus, I don’t meet that many people who went to the same school for undergrad; it’s a small school with only about 2,400 students. Comparatively my high school had 4,000 students. Regardless of age it seems that we are all fellow travelers, open and excited about our adventures and willing to share about ourselves and what we know.

On Thursday a gal at the train station in Spello showed me how to buy my train ticket from the machine. I was heading to Foligno to meet a college student who I met through the woman who owns and manages the place where I am staying in Spello. Finally on my way back to Spello a young man noticed I was still at platform 3. Our return changed to platform 2, which he kindly came by to let me know.

More to come in my next post about the flower festival this past weekend in Spello.

Arrivederci (for now),

Donna