kybearfuzz (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kybearfuzz) wrote2003-09-09 03:38 pm
kybearfuzz) wrote2003-09-09 03:38 pm
Getting Near the End of Things
Today went well. Got picked up to go to the company where I am working by a cute slim cub type with poor English skills. It was strangely awkward drive with neither of us understanding the other very well. I admire and appreciated his attempts at conversation though. We share the same name, or at least a variation of the theme. Marco is a cool dude.
Work will finish tomorrow so I’m hoping for the chance to go home early. That sounds bad I guess, less adventurous that I should be for my first trip overseas. The reality of it is that I’m stuck in a new hotel in the middle of nowhere with it raining outside and nothing but Italian or Italian dubbed television to watch. The two stations I get in English are CNN and BBCWorld, both of which are just repeating the same news every hour. I can’t even stay on the internet very long due to long distance dial up charges.
Overall, the trip has been tons of fun and loads of new experiences. Being totally immersed in another culture is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. The Brits are for the most part a very kind, polite people. The Italians are also very gracious (and the bears here as anyone here has read are plentiful). I have noticed that the Italians are a very passionate people, especially the women. Even the infomercials on TV have them speaking rapid fire Italian, arms flapping about and gesturing, just selling the product as though it was a prelude to the second coming. My main translator at the company I have been at is very funny, spewing off her opinions about all sorts things from politics to sports. The woman doesn’t need a soap box, she needs a stadium. She’s had me laughing for days.
Well, I just got off the phone with my foreign travel coordinator and she said if I can exchange my tickets, I can come home a day early. I’m thinking that won’t be a big problem as Thursday flights are rarely as full as the Friday ones. So I may be back in the USA early, which makes me happy. As my coordinator said, “You’re now an experienced foreign travel cadre member!” Translation: we expect more traveling the years ahead. Give me some time to get my American life back in gear … then bring it on!
Work will finish tomorrow so I’m hoping for the chance to go home early. That sounds bad I guess, less adventurous that I should be for my first trip overseas. The reality of it is that I’m stuck in a new hotel in the middle of nowhere with it raining outside and nothing but Italian or Italian dubbed television to watch. The two stations I get in English are CNN and BBCWorld, both of which are just repeating the same news every hour. I can’t even stay on the internet very long due to long distance dial up charges.
Overall, the trip has been tons of fun and loads of new experiences. Being totally immersed in another culture is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. The Brits are for the most part a very kind, polite people. The Italians are also very gracious (and the bears here as anyone here has read are plentiful). I have noticed that the Italians are a very passionate people, especially the women. Even the infomercials on TV have them speaking rapid fire Italian, arms flapping about and gesturing, just selling the product as though it was a prelude to the second coming. My main translator at the company I have been at is very funny, spewing off her opinions about all sorts things from politics to sports. The woman doesn’t need a soap box, she needs a stadium. She’s had me laughing for days.
Well, I just got off the phone with my foreign travel coordinator and she said if I can exchange my tickets, I can come home a day early. I’m thinking that won’t be a big problem as Thursday flights are rarely as full as the Friday ones. So I may be back in the USA early, which makes me happy. As my coordinator said, “You’re now an experienced foreign travel cadre member!” Translation: we expect more traveling the years ahead. Give me some time to get my American life back in gear … then bring it on!
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