Bigs and Littles

A few years ago I read an article about someone's involvement with the Big Brother Big Sister organization, and it occurred to me that being a role model to a child in my community was something that was very doable at my stage in life.  I'd like to say the article was about Andy Baldwin, aka the Best Bachelor Ever, and his involvement with the organization, but research has turned up no such connections, so the person in the article will have to remain unknown.  Either way, I decided then that I wanted to be a Big Sister to someone in my community.  It seems like we all so often want to help others, and the easiest/fastest/most mass-friendly way is through the giving of tangibles, whether it be money or food or clothing donations.  We never really seem to devote the time or have the opportunity to develop true, genuine relationships with the ones we want to help, when so often that's exactly what they need most.  Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Florida seemed like the perfect opportunity to not only help someone else, but to develop a personal relationship, and to be challenged as well.


I filled out my application to be a "Big Sister" over 2 years ago, and was full of enthusiasm and excitement for the following weeks until an e-mail came explaining that there was really no need in my area, but that I would be contacted if anything became available.  Bummer.  My Big Sister high balloon had been deflated.  I still received e-mails about updates and events in the area, but they were all the general, non-profit organization, keep-you-up-to-date type mass e-mails, and nothing was written specifically to me.  Until today.  I had long given up hope, when lo and behold, in my inbox this morning was an e-mail from the BBBSCF saying they had a need for me!  I was so excited you would have thought this was the career of a lifetime just begging me to accept.  

This I Learned in Italy...

Traveling is 25% sightseeing, 25% exploring/getting lost, 25% experiencing and learning the culture of the area, and 25% building personal relationships with the people you meet.  And, as always, 100% living in the moment.

Family is the most important thing in the world, and should be the foundation of YOUR world.  Everything in Italy revolves around the family unit, and the relationships are of the utmost importance, as they should be.

Even if you’re traveling on a budget, take just one day to have a nice, sit-down, relaxing meal.  So much of culture is in the food, and so much relationship building and bonding is done over meals.

Fresh is best.  Since returning to the states, I can honestly and truly appreciate fresh, unprocessed foods.  My body went into a state of shock after the horrible things I fed it for the first few days of being home.  Now, it’s fresh/organic as much as possible, and I carry a lunch box with me everyday so I have healthy foods available.

Don’t hold yourself as high as you think others see you.  Nobody really cares how you’re dressed or what you look like.  Italians are not as self-conscious as us prudish Americans, and they’d rather wear what they like than worry about what others are thinking.  The important thing is to be yourself, and comfortable with who you are.  “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself." Thich Nhat Hanh

Live simply.  Forget about all the things that you “need.”  It’s just stuff and you don’t need it.  Life is so much more pleasurable with the simplicities; Chatting outside with the neighbors, riding your bike to the store, cooking a home cooked meal, etc.  The pleasure from experiences and relationships exponentially outweighs the pleasure from acquiring new “things.”

Travel is all about discovering yourself and who you are.  Even if you think you’ve got yourself defined, discovering new people and places has a strange way of showing you just exactly who you are in this world, and where you stand.

Without being open to the above mentioned form of discovery, travel is nothing more than a picture taking excursion unless you have someone you love to share it with.

With THAT being said, Italy is not a good place to visit without the one you love.

Every day is an adventure.  What you make of it is up to you, but the adventure is always there.

I learned much MUCH more about myself and the beautiful country I was sharing with you every day.  There is too much to put in writing, but in sharing my stories each night, I discovered that I really truly enjoy writing and blogging.  I love being able to share what I've learned and experienced, and I didn't want to stop just because I've returned to the states.  So how do I keep a "Life in Italy" blog alive when I live in the United States?  I've decided to take what I've learned in Italy and apply it to the new format of "Every Day is an Adventure."  I will post about my Central Florida adventures, including info on things that really interest me, like health and nutrition, and I'll do my best to make it as interesting and enjoyable as reading about beautiful Italy.  Every day really is an adventure, whether you're in Italy, Timbuktu, or Florida, and I want to continue to share that passion and zest for life that I've acquired in Italy.  I understand that some of the things I write about may not be the most interesting things ever (I mean, seriously? Can you really top Venice?), but I hope that you'll continue to read and learn along with me.

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” -Jawaharlal Nehru

I'm Not Normal

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this blog up.  I wrote it on the plane on the way home, but haven't been able to actually post it to the internet until now.  This is not my final post about Italy...I have one more reflective post that I will get to before the weekend, so please check back for that one.  Until then, here's our last weekend in Venice.

Christine and I read in a blog about Venice of a new “People Mover” to transport people from the parking garage and the cruise ships to the island.  Since it was just the 2 of us this weekend, we decided to give it a shot and see what it was all about.  When I think “people mover,” I think of one of those moving conveyor belts at the airport where you just stand and it moves you along.  This Venetian “People Mover” was essentially a monorail over the water, connecting the mainland to the island, and is supposed to be much more efficient than the vaporettos.  It costs €1 for a one way ride, and there are 3 stops; The beginning, at the parking garage, one stop in the middle for the cruise ship passengers, and then the end at Piazza le Roma, where all the train traffic arrives.  Considering the price, ease, and speed of getting from one side to the other, the people mover turned out to be highly convenient.  A one way ride on the vaporetto (water bus) costs €6,50 and it generally takes at least 30 minutes to get from tronchetto (the parking garage area) to your destination.  The only drawback to the people mover was the location of drop-off.  The vaporettos obviously have more access to the areas in Venice, and you can generally find a bus stop somewhere within 3-5 blocks from your destination.  Piazza le Roma was easy for the location of our hotel, but if we had been staying on the other side of the island, we would have had a hike to get to our hotel.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

It is officially my last night in Italy.  My plane leaves tomorrow morning, and by 6 p.m. I'll be in the beautiful sunshine state.  For my last weekend here, Christine and I decided to go to Venice so I could say bye to Sergio and see any last minute sights I'd been wanting to see.


Believe it or not, of all the times I've been to Venice now, I hadn't yet actually gone in to Saint Mark's Basilica.  It's amazingly impressive on the outside, so I couldn't even imagine what it was like on the inside.  Rick Steve's said the inside of Saint Mark's is like covering (some crazy odd number that I don't have access to because I don't have the book) football fields with contact lenses.  26,240 square feet to be exact.  The ENTIRE inside of the massive church is mosaic, from wall to ceiling.  There is so much mosaic work that it is unfathomable to think of how much work went into the completion of the building.  Just to give you an idea, which I know won't really do any justice to the immensity of the church, but here's a far away and a close up of one small minor part of the mosaic work.

Life Lessons

The last few days have been pretty uneventful but productive nonetheless.  I mentioned this a couple of posts ago, but my time in Italy, and this experience in general, has been one giant, invaluable life lesson that I couldn't have gained any other way.  I honestly am coming out of this a completely different person than I was on May 24th when I boarded the plane to come over here, and it's all for the better.  


For the past 3 years (at least) I had been hell-bent on coming to Italy.  It was like some unexplainable power had taken over my brain and was telling me "You need to go to Italy."  I was doing anything and everything I could to get over here, and I didn't have the slightest idea what I was going to do once I landed.  I had purchased travel books and novels set in Italy, done countless hours of research online, and watched the Travel Channel anytime the show was set in Italy.  Needless to say, I was obsessed, and I didn't have anything else to go off of other than that I just knew I needed to come to Italy.


When the opportunity of a lifetime came through my e-mail one day, it's safe to say I was just the slightest bit ecstatic.  I was finally going to achieve one of my lifelong dreams (if you can call it that at 23 years old), and, as an added bonus, I wasn't going to be a sole, lonely American in a sea of Italians.  It really was the perfect opportunity and something I had been dreaming about for years.  Another check off the bucket list!

It Tastes Like Chicken

Today was a pretty uneventful day, so I'm going to post more "You know you're in Italy when..." pictures and comments.  Christine cooked up one of the rabbits that have been hanging out in the freezer for dinner tonight.  Elia and Ida do a really good job at cleaning the meat before they give us their headless pets, and the meat is very lean to begin with, so aside from cutting the meat off the bone, there's very little preparation involved.  Christine found a recipe online that involved slightly browning the rabbit meat in olive oil, adding crushed garlic, some rosemary (from the garden), and a bottle of white wine.  She let it simmer for a few minutes, and then baked it in the oven for about 3 hours.  And guess what?  Rabbit tastes a lot like pork, with pretty much the same consistencies as well...maybe a little less tough.  Living in Florida, everybody always says gator tastes like chicken, and now I can say that rabbit tastes like pork.  It was pretty good though, I've got to say.


Today Jameson was running around the kitchen rummaging through our makeshift pantry, and he pulled out a bag with yesterdays leftover baguette from dinner.  You know you're in Italy when your kid starts gnawing on a rock hard day old baguette.  And so it begins.

Bread Crumbs, Mi Amigo

Alright, I've got a shiny €2 coin for the first person who can tell me what late 90's teen chick flick the title quote is from.  And NO GOOGLING!  (I'll give you a hint...they're glow in the dark.)  The movie rates right up there with She's All That for all time best teen chick flicks.


Enough with that, on to the blogging!  I went out for a bike ride today, and got so lost I needed bread crumbs to find my way back (hence, the title).  I like to mix it up on my runs/rides, because, well, let's face it, it's a heck of a lot more fun to have a change in scenery, and you never know what you're going to find around the next corner.  I started out on the road right across from our house, which is the same road that took me to the grocery store last ride, so I had get a bit crazy with my turns.  I ended up on a dead end at one point, and then on the autostrada for a period as well.  I can officially check that off my list of things I've done in my life that not many other people have.  The autostrada is like the Italian version of the autobahn, but it has speed limits, so it's really just like a highway or toll road.  Here, though, instead of just ending or merging into another highway, the road is still under construction, and it just tapers down into several roundabouts leading to different cities in the area.  Because of all the turns and winding roads, I'm not exactly sure how far I went, but I tried to map it out as best I could and it came out to about 8 miles.  I just kept using the big mining spot on the side of the mountain behind our house as my landmark, and I eventually ended up in Sacile and was able to find my way home from there.  I had planned on taking more pictures during my ride, but ended up only taking 2.