Knowing my destination and not knowing it at the same time, my taxi driver slammed on his brakes in the middle of a cliff-top road. With a whole line of cars waiting behind him, I knew his yelling and pointing in Italian meant he wanted me to get out of the taxi, admire the view and take a photograph. Traffic can wait for the wide eyed to see the pull of Sorrento. Jet lagged and uncertain, I did as I was told. In many respects, I have to thank that driver. He knew this moment and view would be one I wouldn’t forget. The Greek’s believed Sorrento was the site of the mythical sirens, those Continue Reading
Learning Italian and How To Travel From The Nonna
BUZZZZZ! BUZZZZ! “Non lo so! Non lo so!”, my driver Giovanni kept saying as he pressed the buzzer to my new home for the next month. 18 years old and for the first time in a foreign country alone, I began to wonder what I got myself into as it appeared nobody was home. Hand gestures and phone calls commenced as I sat on my suitcase wondering why my Italian host family wasn’t answering their bell. Did they already regret their decision? Will I have to live on the street? Questions in my mind mixed with an overzealous imagination that errs on the worried side more than the carefree. Coming Continue Reading
Sorrento Serenades and Charades
For a month in Italy’s hot Sorrento sun, I woke to vespas whizzing down the narrow streets outside my window and occasionally what sounded like a number of Italians yelling when really they were just excited to begin their day. I rose to shower, however, I found my shower resembled that of a large sink-like chair with a long hose attached. I stepped outside my narrow room to my balcony. I faced another apartment building where a little grey haired lady always hung up her laundry and where neighborhood kids would practice their soccer skills in the ally below. I would head to the kitchen for my Continue Reading