I read the first post of a blog the other day in which the writer spoke about all their ready-made plans; flight booked, accommodation sorted, modules selected. At that point I had snapped my laptop shut as panic set in. My usually super-organised self was so unprepared for the next year that I could barely bring myself to think about it. I blame (of course) the incredibly nonchalant Italians who have given me next-to-no information, leaving me forced to pretend to be laid-back about the whole thing whenever anyone (notably my mum) asks me about my plans.
Since then though I have tried to take some steps in the direction of 'organised'. After searching for days for a cheap train from Geneva (near where I am now on holiday) to Genoa (where I am spending a month before moving to Bologna), I finally settled on what seemed to me like a fairly expensive but obviously standard-priced train. When I arrive in Genoa I will meet my Italian family, who I will stay with for a month as their Au Pair. With them I will travel firstly to Cervinia in the Valle d'Aosta to spend a week, and then will spend the rest of August and the beginning of September with them in Cappelletta di Masone, a village which they have told me has only 30 houses and which 'is not the kind of place a girl of your age would usually go'. A nice, quiet summer in the country sounds perfect to me, I told them. I will move to Bologna in the middle of September to find a flat before term begins. And from there who knows - it's all rather vague.
I'm starting to think that I'm going to have to learn to be slightly more relaxed if I'm going to survive amidst the Mediterranean way of life...
I'm starting to think that I'm going to have to learn to be slightly more relaxed if I'm going to survive amidst the Mediterranean way of life...
