being serenaded with bob marley outside my dungeon window. i shall miss you, rome.

skills gained

-playing pool
-gutting fish
-pruning olive trees
-feeding animals
-collecting eggs
-fending off horny goats
-rolling cigarettes
-hitchhiking
-building volcanoes out of various materials
-speaking Italian
-speaking some Dutch
-drinking grappa for breakfast without grimacing
-how to braid a pony's tail
-driving tractors
-jumpstart a fiat
-corking and labelling wine by hand
-beer pong (unfortunately)
-slicing even tagliatelle
-cutting marble
-kill a chicken
-hunting wild asparagus
-carrying six bottles of wine at a time - three per hand
-making ricotta
-mowing lawns
-baking bread in woodfired oven
-using a forklift
-lighting bonfires
-serving meals to giant tables of hungry people
-cooking fresh artichokes
-the difference between pinzette and pancetta
-the words to "Can't Hurry Love" in Italian
-why the toilets have two flush buttons on them. I never knew why. Today I encountered a toilet that had the buttons labeled, 1 and 2. So now I know unless you want to advertise, just pick a button and be consistent.

but also i miss everyone too much and have a pending plane ticket. so, potentially, see you soon!

You probably all want an explanation.

Well it wasn't the first time I'd considered staying here in Italy, whether extending my trip or not having a flight booked home. But the past few days, staying at an amazing place with amazing people and continually hearing these enticing stories about people with expired visas and spontaneous itinerary changes.

I spent two days on walking tours which I swore I would never do with people who are now planning their weekend visits to Montreal for later this year. I'm wearing one of their jackets and shoes. I miss everyone at home so much but I'm already here you know?

Anyways, the hostel I'm at, one of the members of the bar staff and one of the tour group leaders had an overlapping birthday weekend and had closed off the downstairs for their private party. I was invited and had cake and kept hearing about how easy it was to get a job here and how they have a place I can stay.

Finally I said the magic words, "Why not?"

A round of applause, cheers, I stumble upstairs in tears to skype my dad and not only inform him I will not be landing tomorrow but essentially run the whole thing past him.

----------

Tomorrow when the offices are open I head to the airport to check in on my missed flight situation and then start the job thing.

I'm not at all one hundred percent certain. There were points today I was literally walking towards the train station to get on the bus to come home. But I'm here, I have minus one hundred dollars, I threw out all my clothes yesterday to make room for packing souvenirs, but I sincerely doubt I'll be regretting this.

St Peter's Basilica

TEAM WIN/e

Rome is, once again, just frustrating gorgeous. I remember once going on a trip with my family to some cutesy ol'-fashioned doily-ed cottagey region and by the end of it we were all nauseated by how goddamn QUAINT everything was. This is how it is in Europe. They can't help it.

I grab a coffee at the hostel bar and then wander off. My touristing days have taught me that you don't need a map, you can really just follow all the other groups of tourists and find all the biggest landmarks. In an afternoon I find the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and I'm done.

I head down to the bar armed with my computer prepared to write a little update and google stuff about Gladiator to make it make sense, when the bartender who greeted me earlier spots me. "Paris!'
"No, um, Montreal..."
But there's a situation. It's pub quiz night and one of the teams needs their third member. I am pulled over to Team Win - two girls from the states. "Are you smart?" one asks.

Name three David Bowie albums. Recognize a movie still from North by Northwest. What medium is Frank Gehry known for. The other two girls are law students and we win by landslide. The prize - other than eternal glory - is a bottle of wine. "WHO WANTS A TASTE OF VICTORY?"

I get to speak to the people who work here and it's fascinating. Most of them were just like me, coming to Italy just for a crazy different thing to do and then a lot of them just ended up staying here. Some of them even have expired Visas to worry about but just don't care.

The night goes on and someone suggests we swing by the twenty four hour muffin shop down the street. How can I say no?

fontana trevi