Long Afternoon

Whenever something bad happens to me, I make myself feel better by thinking, "It's okay, I'm in Italy!" Today, for example: I woke up early because Daniela's alarm went off at 6:15. After reading in bed for a while, I had breakfast. Today is our laundry day and because of differing schedules, Daniela and I decided to split up our clothes and do it separately. I didn't want to have to haul all of the clothes home on my bike after my internship when it's dark, so I decided to go into the city early, do laundry, come back to Rita's at lunchtime with the clothes, then go back again for my internship. The bike ride is kind of hard and takes about 20-30 minutes. There are big hills both ways. They aren't necessarily steep, but they're really long and make you pretty tired.


I left Rita's at about 8 with my backpack and a bag full of laundry. That wasn't a very good idea. It was a very arduous journey. My big bag full of laundry was really heavy and kept getting in the way of my pedaling because it kept bouncing off my backpack that was also pretty full. I finally made it into the city. I took a little walk to the Basilica di San Caterina (it has one of my favorite views of the city), stopped by the library for a little while, then went to the lavanderia to do the laundry. After it was done I folded all of the clothes as compactly as I could so my bags wouldn't be so bulky and began the perilous trek home. It was about 11:30, so this ride wasn't very enjoyable. I was really hungry and the sun was out so it was hot. I finally made it home and Rita was just finishing up my lunch. It was delicious and very much appreciated.

As soon as lunch was done I got back on my bike, with a significantly lighter load, and rode back into the city. I was congratulating myself on completing the trip two times as I rode into Piazza Gramsci where I park my bike. I got to the place where I lock up my bike and when I reached into my backpack to retrieve the key, it wasn't there! Then I remembered. The key had been thrown dramatically onto my bed when I had gotten home for lunch and I had left it there! I let out an audible moan, got back on the stupid bike and rode all the way back to Rita's. She couldn't believe it when I came in the door again. I explained the situation to her, marched into my room, grabbed the key, then got right back on that cursed green bike and began the trip into the city for a THIRD time. I finally made it into the city, sunburned and extremely hot. I think I glowered at a German man on a motorcycle. I didn't mean to. But all is well. I met up with Daniela in the library and we planned our trip to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast this weekend. Even though those were several very long, hot, and tiring hours, it's okay, I'm in Italy!