..... Or, I guess a more accurate thing to say is that the Italian mountain conquered me.
Let me start from the beginning. We have a week left in the program. A week from today, we will be doing our farewell dinner, screening our projects, and I will be catching a train to Milan so I can come home next Friday morning!
With only a week left, it's kind of crunch time as far as our projects are concerned. And mine isn't in very good shape right now. So this morning, while everyone else was gone, I got up and got ready to head out on my own to do some filming.
I wasn't really thinking about where I wanted to go, so my feet just picked a direction and off I went. I ended up taking the furniculare, which is basically a little tram that takes you to the very top of the mountain. (Let me clarify: here they call it a mountain. In Utah, we would call it a REALLY big hill.) Besides that, though, the furniculare takes you to the very top and there's a panoramic viewpoint where you can see the entire city laid out below you. It's breathtaking. (Unfortunately, it was kind of a gross smoggy day today, so that kinda sucked).
I had already been up to the viewpoint once, so I hung around and took some video and pictures, and then decided that since I had paid 1.50 to get up there, I wanted to take some time to look around. Last time we were up there, it was for our class project and we were busy filming, so we didn't get a chance to explore at all.
I found a little park area and took some awesome pictures (which I will post below - my internet is slow so hopefully they upload correctly). After sitting around at the park, I picked a random road and started walking to see where it went. Since Genova is a REALLY big city and we live right next to the port, there aren't any trees and it's always really noisy. So walking down that mountain road by myself, surrounded by trees and the sound of birds singing above me, was SO relaxing. Living in Genova has convinced me that I'm not a city girl at all. I love the peace and quiet of the countryside and the mountains, and I would much rather live there than a really busy city.
Anyway, after I went for a ways and didn't see much, I turned around and found a hiking trail that went down the other side of the mountain. I took that for a ways (pictures below), and then got a little scared that some psycho would kidnap me, so I turned back towards civilization.
When I finally made it back to the furniculare station, I decided I didn't want to take it back down the mountain. Someone had mentioned that we could walk back down to the bottom, so I picked a road that looked like it was heading in the right direction and started walking. That was my first mistake.
Long story short, I got horribly lost and ended up on the wrong side of the mountain with only a vague idea of which direction I needed to go to get home. It's the furthest I've ever been from the apartment by myself, and as I was wandering little alleyways between apartments and climbing over broken cobblestone paths and jumping down ledges, I honestly wasn't even very nervous.
It was, however, a VERY long walk back home. And yes, I did walk the whole way. I swear it was like 10 miles. (I don't think I'm exaggerating for effect either).
My professor told me at the very beginning of the program that I needed to spend some time alone and wander around by myself, and I would see Italy in a totally different way. I don't know if that's true (except for the fact that I saw Italy MILES away from where I should have been), but I did see a different side of myself today. It's nice to know that I can get so utterly and completely lost and not freak out, and be able to find my way home without too much difficulty. In a foreign country where I can't ask anyone for directions.
Anyway, today was an adventure! I hope these pictures show up below so you can see what I mean.
(Oh, and the random picture of the kids in the rappelling gear? Yeah, a freakin' summer camp that's like an obstacle course through the tops of the trees. COOLEST THING EVER. Why was I so deprived in my childhood? Haha)
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