My journey here is coming to an end. I’m hanging at a really nice hotel in Pisa, literally right across the street from the central Pisa train station, with Chrissy. We were going to go to Lucca, but the sun/thoughts of lots of traveling ahead of us kept us here, relaxing. This morning, all of us roommates plus some others took a group van taxi the airport. Signora Pizzi, the landlady, saw us off, as did the poor old woman whose apartment was between the other three of ours, full of Americans. She never said much, besides the “ciao” or “buona sera” as she went in and out and ran into one of us, and the few times she practically ripped our heads off for using the washing machine outside. She watched us leave from the terrace as she had her morning cigarette. She smiled and waved her dainty, bumpy hand. She was probably thinking something like “good riddens.” She’ll finally have some peace and quiet. The first of the roommates to part was Summer, once we reached the airport. Then Chrissy and I saw Amber off a few hours later, and then there were two. Sarah G, Chrissy, and I walked around Pisa, found some great pizza and shopping, and then they saw me off as I headed off to the airport.
And now, writing from JFK airport …
After a day in Pisa, left at 9:30pm for Gatwick. I met Amanda from NYC at the Gatwick airport, and we stuck together and took a taxi together to Heathrow and kept each other company when we slept intermittently throughout our long overnight layovers. This was much more comfortable than the way over, by—instead of being on the tile floor and not even able to put my back flat against the wall due to the low metal bar that was in front of the wall throughout the entire check out area, and all by myself, I had company and we crashed on the surprisingly comfy booths at Costa coffee in Terminal 5. I actually think I got a decent few hours of sleep. Just having some company made all the difference in the world. Now, at the last leg of my trip, my flight to Rochester got cancelled. Argh. I’m on standby for a 10:00pm flight (it’s now almost 5), and if I can’t make that one I have to spend the night here and I have flight tomorrow. Arghhhh.
A few hours later ...
My flight got cancelled, so I'm chilling at a hotel for the evening. Be back in the states in less than 24 hours! Finally!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
The last couple days!
It's almost the end ...
My last couple days in Castiglioncello were fun and exciting. Last weekend we hung out and got some sun on the beach (Simona’s Bagni Miramare), and Sunday was performance day. Saturday we went out to Havana Mambo (with the roomies and Harge and Brown, etc.), and wound up chatting up some nice Italian guys who we invited to our show (and they actually showed!). Sunday morning was run through of our show at the palestra, the new got our stuff together and Momo drove us to Piazza della Cavallo (Plaza of the Horse, and there was a big statue of a horse and a really pretty pool/fountain there) in Rosignano, the town right next to Castiglioncello, where our performance space was. Another outdoor stage!! We ran through the show for tech and then, around 10, in front of a full audience on a lovely night, we started the show. And performing outside is definitely one of my favorite things to do know. At the very beginning of Chrissy’s piece, when we breath together and look up, I saw a huge, beautiful, clear sky of starts!!! After the show, they served us Prosecco in the Italian Communist headquarters (where our dressing room was, hahaha). We were exhausted when we got home but wound up staying up and talking and at 3am, we were convinced to meet Harge, Brown, Shanna, and Stefania and we went down to a gorgeous beach spot where the Saras were already hanging out. Some of them went swimming (I watched, it was chilly! The first night I had worn long sleeves the entire month), and came home around 4am.
On Monday, thank goodness, we had class late. Amy began the afternoon with a yoga/stretched class which was fantastic. It was just what we needed. Then we learned a super fun “new style” hip hop combo with Momo (Tabatha & Napolean style!!!). Tuesday was our last day of classes. Brown taught a Horton class, which is a particular style of modern/contemporary/whatever you want to call it that looks a lot like jazz to me, it’s very focused on lines. It was hard but I really, really liked it. One last technique class with Nicole, more “new style” with Momo (to “Addicted” by Ne-Yo … awesomeee) and then one more yoga with Amy.
Tuesday night was a blast—my roommates/Miramare hosted a potluck dinner. We originally had the idea so we could all get rid of our extra food so we didn’t have to buy more things or throw much away. The dinner was a great success, everyone, even Amy, Pola, Adolfus (Pola’s insaaane and hilarious husband), and Momo came. We had some great food and a great time, but the idea backfired on us, the hosts, because we wound up with about 3x as much food as we started with, and did wind up having to throw a lot out. After cleaning up from the party, we went out to Havana Mambo and ran into some of the Italian hip hoppers. We also ran into who else but Papi, the Senegalese man who did the drumming for our African classes. Papi had some friends at a discoteca and offered to take all of us there for an enormous discount, and so we totally took him up on that cuz it was our last night. The club was SO amazing. I wish I had gotten photos! It was really modern and hip, with great house music, and it was built on the beach so we could go outside to the bar/seating area and we were about 50 feet up from the beach, looking over the sea. We were there, dancing the night away with the Prodanza-ers unti they closed at 3am, and then we met the Saras and some others at the beach again where we watched the sun rise and tried to soak it all in. It was so very bittersweet.
On Wednesday, feeling very sleepy, we went back to the palestra for the last time for the prosecco party the teachers threw for us. We all hung out, took tons of pictures, traded information, and of course danced. It was a really nice way to end our time together. The rest of Wednesday was spent napping, packing cleaning, and going out for one more walk around the center for a gelato.
My last couple days in Castiglioncello were fun and exciting. Last weekend we hung out and got some sun on the beach (Simona’s Bagni Miramare), and Sunday was performance day. Saturday we went out to Havana Mambo (with the roomies and Harge and Brown, etc.), and wound up chatting up some nice Italian guys who we invited to our show (and they actually showed!). Sunday morning was run through of our show at the palestra, the new got our stuff together and Momo drove us to Piazza della Cavallo (Plaza of the Horse, and there was a big statue of a horse and a really pretty pool/fountain there) in Rosignano, the town right next to Castiglioncello, where our performance space was. Another outdoor stage!! We ran through the show for tech and then, around 10, in front of a full audience on a lovely night, we started the show. And performing outside is definitely one of my favorite things to do know. At the very beginning of Chrissy’s piece, when we breath together and look up, I saw a huge, beautiful, clear sky of starts!!! After the show, they served us Prosecco in the Italian Communist headquarters (where our dressing room was, hahaha). We were exhausted when we got home but wound up staying up and talking and at 3am, we were convinced to meet Harge, Brown, Shanna, and Stefania and we went down to a gorgeous beach spot where the Saras were already hanging out. Some of them went swimming (I watched, it was chilly! The first night I had worn long sleeves the entire month), and came home around 4am.
On Monday, thank goodness, we had class late. Amy began the afternoon with a yoga/stretched class which was fantastic. It was just what we needed. Then we learned a super fun “new style” hip hop combo with Momo (Tabatha & Napolean style!!!). Tuesday was our last day of classes. Brown taught a Horton class, which is a particular style of modern/contemporary/whatever you want to call it that looks a lot like jazz to me, it’s very focused on lines. It was hard but I really, really liked it. One last technique class with Nicole, more “new style” with Momo (to “Addicted” by Ne-Yo … awesomeee) and then one more yoga with Amy.
Tuesday night was a blast—my roommates/Miramare hosted a potluck dinner. We originally had the idea so we could all get rid of our extra food so we didn’t have to buy more things or throw much away. The dinner was a great success, everyone, even Amy, Pola, Adolfus (Pola’s insaaane and hilarious husband), and Momo came. We had some great food and a great time, but the idea backfired on us, the hosts, because we wound up with about 3x as much food as we started with, and did wind up having to throw a lot out. After cleaning up from the party, we went out to Havana Mambo and ran into some of the Italian hip hoppers. We also ran into who else but Papi, the Senegalese man who did the drumming for our African classes. Papi had some friends at a discoteca and offered to take all of us there for an enormous discount, and so we totally took him up on that cuz it was our last night. The club was SO amazing. I wish I had gotten photos! It was really modern and hip, with great house music, and it was built on the beach so we could go outside to the bar/seating area and we were about 50 feet up from the beach, looking over the sea. We were there, dancing the night away with the Prodanza-ers unti they closed at 3am, and then we met the Saras and some others at the beach again where we watched the sun rise and tried to soak it all in. It was so very bittersweet.
On Wednesday, feeling very sleepy, we went back to the palestra for the last time for the prosecco party the teachers threw for us. We all hung out, took tons of pictures, traded information, and of course danced. It was a really nice way to end our time together. The rest of Wednesday was spent napping, packing cleaning, and going out for one more walk around the center for a gelato.
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