I boarded the plane and left for my 5 month Italian adventure.
Living in Italy was like nothing I have ever done before. I had the most wonderful roommates a girl could ask for. We did everything together: discovered the treasures of Firenze, ate enough pasta and gelato to feed an army, partied till dawn nearly every night, loved each other wholeheartedly despite our vast differences, and traveled to some of the most fabulous places in Europe. I always tell people that Italy was one of the best times in my life, but it was also one of the worst. I believe that it was in Italy that I truly found myself and began to understand my utter dependence on the Lord. My wild adventurous life style was everything that I had ever held myself back from. I experienced the best life the world could offer and every once in a while I would feel a twinge of regret and guilt because I knew I was drifting further and further from the Lord. But, I always figured that I could fix my relationship with my heavenly Father when I got back to Baylor - because, you know Baylor is the perfect place for that sort of thing.
Part of my "experiencing" Italy came in the form of dating more than a couple Italian men. I was enamored with the idea of dating someone foreign, sexy, and exciting. Looking back, I can now ashamedly say that I might have imagined the sexy and exciting part. I did have some legitimately wonderful times motorcycling through the Tuscan countryside to old Italian ruins, eating at deliciously expensive restaurants, laying out by the pool at Italian villas, and horseback riding to my hearts content through the countryside. Yes, life was good by the world's standards. But I was slowly giving in to sin and after a few months I didn't even realize how dangerously low I'd sunk. But, my good Christian girl charade never stopped.
I think that Aaron was the only person from home that realized how much I was changing. I would call him in the wee hours of the night and as we would talk I would accidentally give away little hints that my life in Italy was much different than the one I'd lived in the US. The one secret that I was able to withhold from Aaron was the fact that I was dating other guys (I did tell him that I was "hanging out" with Italian guys but nothing serious - I always left out the motorcycle riding ect.) Now I really did think that we were taking a break , but I didn't want Aaron to know just how much of a break we were taking. I selfishly wanted Aaron all to myself, but I wanted to be able to go out and have a good time too.
In October Aaron decided that he wanted to come visit me during fall break. Luckily our fall breaks lined up and I was going to be out of school at the exact same time. I was VERY apprehensive about him coming to Italy. After all, he had never really traveled outside of the US and I was worried that he would be a horrible travel partner (oh how wrong I was). I imagined him complaining about the food, the hostels, the foreign language, ect. I really didn't think he could handle it and I was nervous once again about the commitment level of our relationship. Its not every day that someone flies half way around the world just to spend time with you. But I lied through my teeth and told him that I was excited about him coming.
The day finally came for Aaron to arrive. All of my roommates had left for a fall break extravaganza - they were travelling to The Netherlands, Germany, and Hungary. So it was just me and Aaron and believe me, things got off to a horrible start. I took a taxi to the airport to pick him up and on the way there I got to know my hunky taxi cab driver Fabio (yes, that was seriously his name). He was really nice and offered to wait for me while I went inside and found Aaron. I took him up on his offer and headed into the small little Florence airport. Aaron's plane had just landed and I figured that he'd be walking through the gates any second. I waited and waited, but no Aaron. After about 20 minutes, good ol' Fabio came waltzing in because he'd been waiting for so long. I explained that I couldn't find Aaron, so he offered to go ask some of the airport officials if they knew of a lost little American guy. After a little bit more waiting, the two men in my life showed up at the same time. Fabio got back about 30 seconds before Aaron and I was thanking him for trying to find out what the hold up was. As I was conversing (and probably smiling) at Fabio, good ol Aaron came walking up. He was exhausted because of his long flight, frustrated because he'd been unable to find his luggage, and now his girl was talking to a hunky guy.
When I saw Aaron, I tried to give him a hug but he literally just stood there staring down Fabio. I was seriously confused, but I did what any sensible girl would do: I introduced Aaron to Fabio. Aaron said hello and all the sudden got really nice to Fabio and proceeded to ignore me the entire way back to my apartment. I was getting more confused my the minute because I had no idea what was wrong, but then came the moment of clarity. When we reached my apartment, I asked Fabio how much I owed him. He told me the price and I paid for our cab fair. Aaron just stood there dumbfounded and the moment Fabio drove off Aaron turned to me and said, "So you're not dating him?" Aaron thought that I liked the cab driver. Now in Aaron's defense...I never exactly introduced Fabio as our taxi driver and Fabio drove an unmarked taxi, so Aaron had no way of knowing. We both laughed and headed into my apartment to start our Italian adventure together.
More tomorrow.... Here are some pics of the roomies when they came to Texas for my wedding (We are missing one fabulous roomie though - Amo I love you!!!!)
Living in Italy was like nothing I have ever done before. I had the most wonderful roommates a girl could ask for. We did everything together: discovered the treasures of Firenze, ate enough pasta and gelato to feed an army, partied till dawn nearly every night, loved each other wholeheartedly despite our vast differences, and traveled to some of the most fabulous places in Europe. I always tell people that Italy was one of the best times in my life, but it was also one of the worst. I believe that it was in Italy that I truly found myself and began to understand my utter dependence on the Lord. My wild adventurous life style was everything that I had ever held myself back from. I experienced the best life the world could offer and every once in a while I would feel a twinge of regret and guilt because I knew I was drifting further and further from the Lord. But, I always figured that I could fix my relationship with my heavenly Father when I got back to Baylor - because, you know Baylor is the perfect place for that sort of thing.
Part of my "experiencing" Italy came in the form of dating more than a couple Italian men. I was enamored with the idea of dating someone foreign, sexy, and exciting. Looking back, I can now ashamedly say that I might have imagined the sexy and exciting part. I did have some legitimately wonderful times motorcycling through the Tuscan countryside to old Italian ruins, eating at deliciously expensive restaurants, laying out by the pool at Italian villas, and horseback riding to my hearts content through the countryside. Yes, life was good by the world's standards. But I was slowly giving in to sin and after a few months I didn't even realize how dangerously low I'd sunk. But, my good Christian girl charade never stopped.
I think that Aaron was the only person from home that realized how much I was changing. I would call him in the wee hours of the night and as we would talk I would accidentally give away little hints that my life in Italy was much different than the one I'd lived in the US. The one secret that I was able to withhold from Aaron was the fact that I was dating other guys (I did tell him that I was "hanging out" with Italian guys but nothing serious - I always left out the motorcycle riding ect.) Now I really did think that we were taking a break , but I didn't want Aaron to know just how much of a break we were taking. I selfishly wanted Aaron all to myself, but I wanted to be able to go out and have a good time too.
In October Aaron decided that he wanted to come visit me during fall break. Luckily our fall breaks lined up and I was going to be out of school at the exact same time. I was VERY apprehensive about him coming to Italy. After all, he had never really traveled outside of the US and I was worried that he would be a horrible travel partner (oh how wrong I was). I imagined him complaining about the food, the hostels, the foreign language, ect. I really didn't think he could handle it and I was nervous once again about the commitment level of our relationship. Its not every day that someone flies half way around the world just to spend time with you. But I lied through my teeth and told him that I was excited about him coming.
The day finally came for Aaron to arrive. All of my roommates had left for a fall break extravaganza - they were travelling to The Netherlands, Germany, and Hungary. So it was just me and Aaron and believe me, things got off to a horrible start. I took a taxi to the airport to pick him up and on the way there I got to know my hunky taxi cab driver Fabio (yes, that was seriously his name). He was really nice and offered to wait for me while I went inside and found Aaron. I took him up on his offer and headed into the small little Florence airport. Aaron's plane had just landed and I figured that he'd be walking through the gates any second. I waited and waited, but no Aaron. After about 20 minutes, good ol' Fabio came waltzing in because he'd been waiting for so long. I explained that I couldn't find Aaron, so he offered to go ask some of the airport officials if they knew of a lost little American guy. After a little bit more waiting, the two men in my life showed up at the same time. Fabio got back about 30 seconds before Aaron and I was thanking him for trying to find out what the hold up was. As I was conversing (and probably smiling) at Fabio, good ol Aaron came walking up. He was exhausted because of his long flight, frustrated because he'd been unable to find his luggage, and now his girl was talking to a hunky guy.
When I saw Aaron, I tried to give him a hug but he literally just stood there staring down Fabio. I was seriously confused, but I did what any sensible girl would do: I introduced Aaron to Fabio. Aaron said hello and all the sudden got really nice to Fabio and proceeded to ignore me the entire way back to my apartment. I was getting more confused my the minute because I had no idea what was wrong, but then came the moment of clarity. When we reached my apartment, I asked Fabio how much I owed him. He told me the price and I paid for our cab fair. Aaron just stood there dumbfounded and the moment Fabio drove off Aaron turned to me and said, "So you're not dating him?" Aaron thought that I liked the cab driver. Now in Aaron's defense...I never exactly introduced Fabio as our taxi driver and Fabio drove an unmarked taxi, so Aaron had no way of knowing. We both laughed and headed into my apartment to start our Italian adventure together.
More tomorrow.... Here are some pics of the roomies when they came to Texas for my wedding (We are missing one fabulous roomie though - Amo I love you!!!!)
2 comments:
you're killing me here, lady! i really want to know the rest of the story!
love you!!
xoxo
This is a nailbiter. I like it, sister!
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