Hafenstadt neben den Bergen

[die Küste Genovas]

bwah. do i even need to say anything about this scene?

Francesco said i would like Genova and i certainly did! after a quick walk through at his university, we drove with his friends out of the city and up into the hills. then it was a little hike to some ruins/picnic area were we grilled and drank homemade wine. perfekte!

now add the factor that Francesco is a philosopher and one of his grade school friends is an artist. combine to two pools of colleagues to create a great mass of thinking and rhetoric. i was right at home. =)

[Campoligure]

Francesco's town is like what Glen Hope must have been back in it's prime; little town, nestled in the mountains, where everyone knows everything about everyone. am i right? Schwaben has hills, but it's not the same as a string of hairpins where you stay in third gear. more lust to have a motorcycle. =P did i mention that everyone in Italy has paintings all over their house? most likely the one who lives there is the artist too. there was a Genova cityscape by Francesco's mom that i could not stop looking at. the colors and reflections made me super excited about taking the painting survey next semester!!

[Grab im Staglieno Friedhof]

first stop was the amazing cemetery that Fabio had mentioned the day before. the graves were extravagant and covered with dust that exaggerated their volume even more. in fact, some of the portrait reliefs reminded me of Daguerrotypes because the contrast was so extreme. check out the album. big graves, little graves, halls that felt like i was walking through a spinal column, giant chambers of traditional Genova black and white marble stripes... oh, two hours was nothing! i was not surprised when Francesco said the keeper knew him by name.

[Wirbelsäule von Gräber]

i said in Milano that Italy felt decadent. there it was more on the gluttonous side, but in Genova it was not so vulgar. the age to the city was not the same as in Prague. i don't know how to explain it properly. it sucked me in and i could do nothing to stop it, but i really didn't care. i happily let my memory drown me with thoughts of world history class with Mason and flood my mind with the absurd amounts of mythology i read with Chia when we were in elementary school.

but it wasn't imaginary anymore. walking the promenades, sitting on the wharfs, buying lunch at the market, that was just the icing on the cake. and damn was it decadent. try to tell me those colors are not juicy like ripe strawberries in a Carolina April.

[die Innenstadt Genovas]

in addition to the philosophy department, i was also introduced to the art school. 'nuff said. picture marble steps so old that they are worn down to where you can barely walk on them. genau.

back to the countryside. the next day we took a little stroll in the hills, well a day-long stroll with a wealth of conversation (all auf Deutsch) and a few lessons on Latin. oh man, visiting friends in their hometown is quite magical. there are no locked doors, no crazy mazes. i'm not saying people are so easily influenced by their surroundings, more that it makes the subtle parts easier to understand. and you know how i like subtleties. =D Francesco knows me well enough to add a dash of suspense too. it was close to sundown and we had no idea where we were. of course a couple instinctive choices and we connected an unknown area to a childhood regular. no worries!

[Wanderung oben Campoligure]

and so closed a jam packed semester break. super thanks to Francesco! i may chuckle at your love of the kitsch, but i never find your ideas far-fetched. ;)

food for thought: everyone i visited is an Einzelkind like me. interesting, or?

Aliiiiicheyyyyy!!

i have been here so long. when the weather was warming up in Tübingen, i had a rush of memories from us sitting on the church steps in the night, drinking beers and chatting. they were real memories. they felt so far away. and what have i done since then? wow.

i was visiting Alice in Milan. i had been sending her postcards and little trinkets. i visited Jessica earlier in the States. i still see Elisée probably at least once a month. same with Oli. Reece sent me books. Erika and Gianluca invite me to parties and what not. naja, you can't exactly watch the grass grow, but i think through my photos it was like i made a stop-action film of the grass growing.

it was like my road trip from last summer. you know someone is a real friend when their friends are like instant friends for you. =D Alice took me around town for a bit, but we spent most of the time at her apartment and her friend, Fox. conversations were easy and interesting. the dialog just sang and i learned so much stuff about Italy! amazing.

then we went to Sanremo on Easter Sunday to stay with Alice's mom. enter: introduction to the Mediterranean Sea. lovely. Elena complained that the weather was not fit, but it was like the snow in Brussels to me. i was just happy to be there (shout out to Heath). the clouds were lovely. the rain was lovely. the Colomba was lovely. dinner together and long talks on the balcony were lovely. this smile is lovely too.

thanks for keeping me, Alice! seeing you again after the Sommerkurs was amazing and i hope we can meet many more times. =D