Yesterday was a sad day because I had to say goodbye to Tommy and his cozy little apartment. I would have stayed one more night, but they left at 5AM this morning and I wasn’t about to get up and go with them. I had a really nice time with Tommy and his roommates and hope they enjoy Shanghai as much as they did Rome.
Tommy didn’t have class until 1:30 so we lounged around ‘til he left and then I headed to the metro to find my way to my hostel. The place is about an hour’s worth of travel outside of the center of Rome on a stiflingly hot and packed train. From the train station I took the shuttle to the Country Club Castelfusano.
It’s not so much a hostel as a camping village. It’s similar to the one I stayed at in Venice but much larger and with fewer Australians. The majority of the people here seem to be Italians on vacation. There is an actual campground, little 4 bed bungalows (what I’m in) and what look like little houses with kitchens on the porch outside. There’s tons of stuff going on around here too. There are two giant pools and a little stage area. It kind of reminds me of a camp I went to in grade school called The Pines.
I spent the rest of my afternoon wandering around the little village and sitting outside reading. I was fortunate enough for the first night to have the whole bungalow to myself! It was nice not having to share with strangers but after staying with three other people for the last week it was very quiet.
Yesterday was pretty uneventful but today I went to the beach! There’s a free shuttle to and from the beach every half hour which is quite convenient. I love the beach. Getting off the bus, I immediately smelled the water and was brought back to summers in Florida with my family and vacations with my friends. The sand on this particularly beach is a lot darker than the sand back home. In some places it was actually black, but it was also really soft.
My favorite part of being at the beach is watching little kids. They do some of the most interesting things with sand and water. I was also pretty amused at all the little girls wearing bikinis with nothing to hold the little triangles in place. Mostly, they just look silly. There were also a disproportionate amount of little boys wearing speedos.
I spent most of my time walking up and down the shoreline alternating between watching the people in the water and those on the beach. At one point I was accosted by a little boy who couldn’t have been older than two. He was holding a rock and had a great big smile on his face and the next thing I knew he was hurling the rock in my direction. Fortunately his aim was terrible, but I was a little put out by it, especially since I saw his parents laughing and not scolding him.
Other than the rock incident, my stroll was lovely. I love the sound of the ocean, the crash of the waves over my feet, and the breeze that’s always in my face. I am currently rocking a pretty sweet tan—at least it’s tan for me. Others might laugh but as far as I’m concerned I’m dark!
After I got my fill of ocean for the day I took the bus back to the village. I was in my room for a few minutes when my first roommate came in. She’s from France and is meeting up with another one of her friends from Colombia who arrived shortly after. They’ve both been studying in Germany and speak German to each other, but English to me. I think it’s astounding the number of languages people around here speak. America really needs to get their act together and start taking languages seriously in schools. I took way too many years of Spanish and couldn’t hold a conversation to save my life. It just seems like most people in Europe speak at least two languages. I feel like we should follow suit.
Anyway, I haven’t been able to post because this place charges an arm and a leg for internet. I’ve gotten on for just long enough to check my email. I’m off to a new hostel tomorrow morning so hopefully it will be free there and I’ll be able to put this one up! Until then…
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