Italia
My
22 year-old sister, Nicole, graduated from College of the Holy Cross this past
May. As her graduation present, my parents had booked a two week long vacation
for all four of us to Italy. We would land in Rome, than travel to Florence and
Venice and fly home from there.
Anyone who was about to spend two
weeks in Italy would probably be excited beyond belief, and I was at first. As
the vacation got closer and the reality of the trip became clearer, my anxiety
levels got higher.
My grandparents, being native of a
small town in Italy called Rose, were jealous of us that we were going to their
native country, but they were also nervous at the fact that my parents were
taking us there.
My Nonna, which is Italian for
Grandma, kept warning Nicole, my mom and I about the pick-pocketers that were
everywhere and even how expensive everything was.
My nerves were quickly setting in,
and the fact that I was going to be safe with my family the entire time didn’t
seem to make them any bit better.
May 26, 2012 came very quickly. We
packed up the car and took the trip to John F. Kennedy International Airport in
New York. My dad kept asking me if I was excited, I kept answering yes. It
wasn’t a complete lie, I was excited, but I was more nervous than anything.
The 9-hour flight into Rome, Italy
airport felt like the longest trip of my life. It probably didn’t help the fact
that the disgusting dinner they served to us on the plane didn’t agree too well
with my stomach. I was already a bundle of nerves, and food poisoning only made
it worse.
We finally landed in the completely
foreign country on a gloomy and rainy day. My mood matched up perfectly with
the weather. I felt like crap, and all I wanted to do was go to bed. My dad
refused to let me nap because my body “has to adjust to the time change.”
As miserable as I felt, I decided to
suck it up for the sake of my family. I grabbed my camera, my raincoat and put
on a happy face even though it was extremely fake.
We grabbed a map from the front desk
and took off on a walk towards the heart of Rome. You turn down a bunch of
small alley’s and walkways until you look up and there right in front of my
face was the world-known Trevi Fountain.
I was no longer feeling sick. I was
no longer feeling anxious. All of the gorgeous monuments all around the city
made the awful flight and anxiety all well worth it.
Our trip continued onto Florence and
Venice, with little day trips to Capri, Sienna, San Gimignano, Pisa, Burano,
and a winery tucked away at the top of a hill in Tuscany.
One thing I learned from this trip
was to not let my fear get the best of me. If I spent the full two weeks before
afraid of the what ifs than I
would’ve never have been able to come home and tell everyone it was the most
amazing trip I have ever been on.
Assignment: To write about either Joy, Fear, Sorrow or desire. You can write about more than one as well.
**This is from Creative Writing**
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