Thursday 30 July 2015

From a tutor to a student

To feel at home at another families house, what a feeling. I had a few wonderful days with my host family in Cremona. Some amazing lay-ins without a grandma peeking round the corner, an afternoon at one of the biggest water parks I've seen and real conversations about meaningful things that we were all interested in, rather than small talk about the complexities of what my father does for a living. "He creates food for gli animali?!" Great food, laying in the sun in the garden (yet being plied with sun cream) and a lovely family.

Last Thursday I got on a train and headed to Verona. Checked in to a beautiful hotel, that was weirdly only 2 star, and was reminded how easy it is to waste time in a hotel. I pranced about, laid all my clothes pristinely in the wardrobe, read the little soap packages with excitement and stood at the window watching the Veronese world go by. This sounds ridiculous but it's a great feeling being completely alone and doing what you want. Feeling far too excited and a little bit sick, I headed out at 8 for a wander and potentially some kind of pizza or pasta, not a difficult request in Italy. After 10 minutes gawping at the beautiful architecture and window flower pots, dodging the mopeds and weaving through the bars that have spilled into the street, I turned the corner into what seemed like the centre. It was buzzing with people and a line of restaurants and bars created the background music of wine glasses and cutlery on plates. I had no idea that within 2 minutes I would be utterly breath taken by the Verona Arena. It is outstanding. In the middle of the city, an ancient building, towering over everything else. It's as if it's from another world. I had dinner and a glass of wine in ore at this magnificent piece of art. I struggled to sleep and woke early, heading to the airport.

The weekend with my best friend was perfect. I've used that word far too much but I cannot explain how amazing it was. Not a single thing I would've change. We laughed, pottered about, fantasised, drunk wine from plastic cups, laughed, chilled the wine in the bidet, had a picnic in our room, laughed sat on the balcony and put the world to rights. It completely flew. Cannot thank him enough, I loved it.

Monday morning we parted at Verona train station and I sat uncomfortably on a packed train back to where I started in Milan. I met a group of people awkwardly standing around a man in an orange polo shirt, the one in the picture in the email that I was sent a week ago. We clambered onto a bus and headed for Gargnano on Lake Garda. I chatted to a lovely girl on the coach and then nodded off. As I opened my eyes we were driving through a tunnel under some mountains and as we came through the other side we saw the beautiful spectacle that is Lago Garda. The rolling mountains created a picturesque backdrop for the shimmering water and collection of idyllic, Italian villas. It was another breath taking sight that I've been fortunate enough to have experience. Words cannot describe the beauty. We followed the lake round to the quaint town of Gargnano. We created a marvellous sight for any locals as we all dragged suitcases and bags through the cobbled streets to our palace of accommodation. Huge stone pillars tower the doorway, fantastic chandeliers hang in the halls and beautiful paintings are scattered throughout what will be our home for the next three weeks.  

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