Seven Bells, it's Hot!

Seven bells echo off the valley, followed by two deeper rings to mark the half hour. From that point on, it’s a hopeless struggle for more sleep.

The absurd heat necessitates a 24-hour open window policy, but that also means that the morning sun is free to highlight the yellow walls of my new room. I keep my eyes closed and hope for another few moments rest. Unfortunately, another three hours pass with more ringing and not another minute of sleep.

Instead, my sobering brain tries to recall the events of the night before, hoping I didn’t do or say anything too moronic.

Altogether, we’re near on a hundred and thirty international students from Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. The common languages are English and alcohol. As we tend toward the latter, the first becomes garbled and we all learn to develop our Italian hand gestures.  

Interspersed are conversations that have the amazing ability to change the way we think. Never have I felt the world shrink as much as in the last few days. We may all be in Italy, but to find out what the world is really like in several different countries, all we need to do is ask. Each of us is an unassuming expert of our home country.

If anything, the past week has reminded me that people are more the same than they are different. We want to be recognized and understood. We want to stand out and feel that we’ve made a difference.

So, if you’ll excuse my rather short and vague post, I’ve got over a hundred lives to unravel and my own stories to share. Then maybe I’ll have a few more words to say here!

 Ciao!