Awesomesauce and Pesto

Posted by Alex | | Posted On Sunday 20 March 2011 at 16:18

With three day weekends, you can do anything. Part of that anything includes hopping a plane from the nearest airport to the most inconvenient airport in Italy -- Lleida-Alguaire to Milano-Bergamo in one hour forty isn't half bad really. The problem involves getting to and from the airports from Lleida, and Pavia, but that's not something I'm going to delve into. I've had worse transport issues, and that's the core of this I guess.

Friday morning I packed up my stuff, headed off to the airport, and six hours later was getting off a train in Pavia, the city I hold in highest esteem and is probably the dearest thing to me in the world right now. If you're an avid follower and have read through my blogs mentioning the town on the Ticino, you'll know that I am head-over-heels in love with it, and any chance to return is a good one. So, you can only imagine my glee stepping onto the platform of a station I left behind almost two months ago.

I spent the weekend in the company of the most amazing people I have had the good fortune to meet this year: Roxy, Rebecca and Brandon, three Americans who know how to bring a smile into my life, even when I am opposed to it. A night of aperitivo, wine, fruit salad and youtube videos got me back into the swing of Italy; though to tell the truth, I was just happy to be amongst the folks I've missed the most since coming to Lleida. Uh oh, soppy blog!

The plan for Saturday was to go to Parma, but we agreed it wasn't going to be doable, considering we went to bed at 5am and had to catch a train at 1pm. Instead, the girls and I headed on down to Genova, one of the few cities in Northern Italy that I had missed out on. It's quite the interesting place, both on the sea and in the hills -- for a nerdy comparison, it reminded me of Dollet from Final Fantasy VIII. Being a bit of an architecture nerd, I got a little excited at the Cathedral, but the upper part of the city was all too fancy so I started hating on it. Still, it was good to finally travel somewhere with my girls.

Well, until we got on the train back and ended up stuck in Voghera for an hour and a half. It seems something happened between there and Milano Rogoredo, due to the bad weather probably, which caused all the trains to stop. I guess there was a power cut, since Roxy's place was without power when we got back. On the plus side, we got back. But, it was the beginning of some real bad luck -- I didn't get up until 8.30 this morning, meaning I just missed the Intercity at 9.33, and had to catch two different trains, arriving in Milan at 10.40. The bus from Milan didn't leave until 11.00, but thankfully arrived at 11.50, so I didn't miss my flight. However, the flight was so fast that it was due to arrive half an hour earlier than expected...until the air traffic controller in Lleida decided he didn't need to be in work until 10minutes before our scheduled landing time. That meant half an hour circling above TarregĂ , a town about 40km from Lleida. Some things you just can't make up.

But, putting aside my transport woes, this weekend has been something I really needed. You might think I'm being stupid when I keep on about how I miss my American friends, especially when you consider how little I've missed anyone from home, or university. I guess I know you Uni/Home friends will be close enough next year that if I want to see you, you're just a phonecall or a train journey away...rather than a longhaul, expensive flight that has to be planned weeks in advance. So, when I say I miss these guys...it might just look repetitive, but I mean it: when I miss them, I hella miss them. *audible sigh*

I'll let you go now. I feel like I'm boring you with attempting, and failing, to pour my heart out. I'm never good at this kind of soppy shit, no matter how much I feel it deep down (or on the surface). In short: good weekend, great people, awesomesauce.

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