My friend Zach believes Perugia is a Siren, and that if you aren't careful she will keep you here forever. I think he might be right. Every time I have thought, "Perugia is beautiful, but it's just too small..." something fantastic happens, like the other day.... I was passing through the center of town on my way to Cafe Morlarchi to meet my Italian girlfriend, Daniela, for an espresso when I heard drumming. Turns out there was a Calabrese troop of Flag Throwers performing (just like in Under the Tuscan Sun!). It was strangely beautiful. These men in blue and yellow tights were parading around gracefully launching flags into the air. I sent a quick text redirecting Daniela to The Fountain (there's only one) and we decided to follow along as they paraded down Corso Vanucci, Perugia's main street. We ended up at Piazza Italia where every last Sunday of the month there is an antique market. I had totally forgotten! Thankfully, I only brought 5 Euro with me... enough for my espresso and some totally decadent pastry.
I am departing with a sense of accomplishment and nostalgia, exactly how one would like to look back on any experience. I have made some great friends and met some amazing people from all over the world - China, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, England and the good-ole USofA. Oh, and a sprinkle of Italians too.
Perugia has been good to me. Here are some of the things I am thinking about:
I spent 3-months studying Italian and flirting with Leonello, the 70 year-old owner of my local cafe who is leaving his wife, 3 kids and 5 grandkids behind to open a little Italian cafe with me in LA. I went to the Opera (Righeletto) and I learned all the important doggie commands in Italian (Seduto! Terra! Damme una zampa! Parla!). I ate a fair amount of chocolate and gelato, and a lot of pizza; I mean, a lot of pizza -- 10 pounds worth in 3 months. For this I will thank my Napolitano Pizzatoio Felice at Pizza and Musica for the best pizza in town, which just happend to be "due passi" or just around the corner from my apartment. I lived with two fantastic women from New Zealand who left me for Rome after only a month together. Then I lived with two 18-year olds from Liverpool who gave me a new perspective on why my mom yelled at me to pick up my towel all the time.. and unless you have a teenager, you have no idea! Was I really that clueless once? At least they were very sweet. I would have preferred living with Italians, but it just wasn't in the cards. I will fondly remember dinners at Mauro and Nikos' home where Mauro made the most delicious dinners from practically nothing. This is the kind of Italian man I need; he also irons! I met Daniela regularly for un caffe and made her teach me all the cool things people say in Italian such as, "Stasera, mi vesto troppo figa" which means, "Tonight, I am going to look hot!"
I also learned to brave cold weather once again and I actually went sightseeing in the rain! I am like a whole new person now :) On the other hand, I have not sent enough postcards and I still can't remember the present tense of most verbs. Nevertheless, I am happy to announce that I can ease-drop rather well on Italian telephone conversations, train conversations and lovers quarrels whenever the opportunity arises.
I will leave Perugia with a quote Daniela gave me one day at Happy Hour as we were writing down some useful Italian phrases:
"Meglio il rimorso e non il rimpianto!" Which is to say, "It's better to have remorse than to have regret." Sometimes things don't always turn out the way we want them to in life, but the important thing is that we never regret that we haven't tried. Perugia is a special place and although there's always an opportunity to say, "I should have" or "I wish I had" while I stayed here, there's so many good things to remember. I can safely, say I don't have any regrets.
