Chiao, tutti!

I decided to dilute the effects of jet lag and culture shock by making a little stopover in Italy before returning to the US after my year in China. One might say that the added time difference to get used to and the extra schlepping of bags might increase rather than dilute the exhaustion of travel, but those small stressors are more than soothed by looking out Venetian blinds on the periphery of Rome to see the countryside in the foreground and the city in the background, waking up in the morning to see that my friend's father had slipped out of the apartment early to buy us each a fresh chocolate pastry, and savoring fresh bread with olive oil while waiting for our pizza to be pulled out of the domed brick oven.

My friend and I, having spent the year together in China, are rediscovering the West together, sharing the burden of jet lag, culture shock, and sadness of leaving our program, and enjoying our friendship outside of what she so accurately described as The Golden Cage. I miss my friends, but time--and a little gelato--heals all.