Xmas in Italy

Here's the past days in recap:

Delays...Italians are not that punctual but if you find yourself in their families, you find them very sincere and hospitable but don't even think about learning that funny language, it's so difficult...they rip the tourists off, who doesn't?...illegal immigrants, how this mess can possibly be solved in this country?...the Christmas shopping mayhem in the last minutes...questi milanesi, do I have to say more?...dinner with family on Christmas Eve...wonderful spaghetti with muscles and good wine, mamma mia...exchanging presents...good espresso in the mornings, now I know how to treat my new mocha thanks the tips from Franco...I am getting addicted to cheese, amazing stuff...Mantova is small and very nice town, didn't know that it gets foggy in the winter which is no wonder when you think of the humidity that I experienced in the summer last time I was here...man it was 5 years ago...

More to come...hopefully!

In my face!!!

I just put up a list of all the places that I have traveled on the blog. This obviously does not include all the places e.g. the places that I resided for a long time or considered as home...that discussion is still open for me, myself and I!

The reason for putting this list up just pure bragging...for myself of course! To show myself that I have seen so many places and I am such a "citizen of the world"* and thus give myself every right to comment, judge, accept and reject anything, anyone, anywhere!

It's gonna feel so good!



* "Citoyen du monde" trademark phrase by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

Consistency is the key

I have nothing but feeling guilty...for not writing as often as I intended to do. Add to that, I cannot access my blog from my work (where I spend all my days getting bored!) due to proxy restrictions newly introduced by company. My cousin who has been writing for the past I-don't-know-how-many years told me that I have to dedicate a certain time to writing and try to stick to that schedule. He said Sunday evenings are a good start as you can reflect on the whole week and most probably have nothing better to do but getting depressed about the coming week. I think he had a good point and I'll "try" to keep that in mind!

My other stupid mistake is that I am always trying to find something interesting and inspiring to write about, and also to formulate it in a most clever and sarcastic way. I call this stupid because I am setting the standard, mark my word, unnecessarily high for this blog which has the least number of readers! Who am I kidding? No one is reading this except me and yet, I like keep it sharp, flashy, fresh, controversial and intelligent to impress....MYSELF!!!

From no on, I will cease to be that uptight and will just relax, play along, chill out and write the f--- that comes to my distorted mind and keep the consistency at all costs!

I guess that's one hell of a new year resolution to start with.

Le retour

I will be heading back home in a matter of a few hours. The whole thing, exactly as I expected it, went so fast (as always!) and needless to say, it feels just like a short dream.

What surprises me the most is that 99% of the times and despite many new experiences in this trip, I felt like this was just part of my everyday and nothing particularly made me realize that I am on the travel and away from home (yeah right, like I have been living my whole life in Tampa and DC!) What I just said could mean that I have been at home in the past 2 weeks but I wasn't.

Home...what a strange word in MY vocabulary!

Where is my home...really?