squinney wrote:You seem more drawn to Florida. Is that due to the weather? Beach? Chicks? Or, do you just have fond memories of the previous years there? If you were going in cold, not knowing anyone, would it still be a place you would want to live?
I am drawn to Florida by the weather, the chicks, fond memories, all of the above. I thought it was a little boring back when I lived there, but after the pace of New York, I think I'm ready for a simpler life. Plus I have some close family down there and friends in Orlando, so I wouldn't be going in cold.
I vote for Italy. Go there and get a job...any job...and within six months, your Italian will be plenty good enough to teach. Nothing works better than immersion when it comes to learning a foreign language.
If it turns out you don't like Italy (uh huh, fat chance!) there's always Orlando as a back-up. I understand about the family ties in Rochester, but it sounds like you really don't want to live there, and there are other ways to stay in touch with family. I think you'd be miserable if you actually moved there.
I am not all against Rochester if you don't get shelled in, oh so easy.
I love where I am, perfect, if I could just use it as a base.
So I can see Rochester as base.
I hope you go for more than seven days, Kick.
I have heard of so many people who hate Rome. Then I notice that they were there in July/August, when people are fed up to the teeth with tourists and it is hot. People complain of the dirt/filth. Huh? Not in March, pre-tourists.
I have read that Firenze is tourist hostile. And I thought so too, carrying my bags on the way from the station the first time. I haven't stayed there all so long myself. The first time we knew folks (friend's daughter met and woo'd bartender who owned Bars plus and she has been there about twenty years now.) and they took us around a bit.
They set us up in a great room on the Piazza Sancta Sanctissima Annunziata. (Brunelleschi's Orphanage, et al.) Have stayed on that piazza on my own much later in a wee room in the Loggiati dei Serviti. Happy clam.
On my own, I was there in April, when tourists are fluttering but avoidable to some extent.
The history of Firenze is fairly mercantile and the city is busy yet needs the tourists, who entail constant dealing with from their point of view.
I hope you don't spend all your time in the big tourist cities, as wonderful - when almost empty in the rain, as they are. The place is complex, bad **** will happen. Well none so bad ever happened to me that I didn't still like it.
Trouble is, you now have expectations. When I went first, I was the veritable blank slate. You may end up disappointed, it is just another there. But - a dense there.
I know Gala, who lived in Rome, has a more jaundiced view than I and my old friend who lived there a bunch of years..
and we can all learn from a2kers like Luuksas (spelling?)
Oh, yeh, with Eva. don't put off going there for language lack. Jump in...
Eva - shhh, don't let kicky see this - I think it is possible to not like italy. Go for seven days in August on some bus.
All that said as an outside person. It is a complex place. Thus the pull, but also possibly the non-pull. But in my case I like the complexity of the politics and government, and (at least reading) of the layers of thicket between government and people.
I emphasize my engagement with italy, on a2k, as the italophilic groupie.
I say this as relates to the country as a whole, as opposed to any given government.
I understand, osso. Yes, it is a complex place, governmentally speaking. It is no mystery to me that it was an Italian who first conceptualized different levels of Hell.
Still, there are such enchanting diversions.
BTW, I was in Italy in late May. Perfect weather. I'm sure that colored my opinion. But I wonder if kicky would find Italy in August any worse than Rochester in January? Ugh. I'll take the heat.
I love the heat. I don't think I'd like all the tourists though. I'm thinking of going in either early May, or September for my birthday.
When is your birthday kicky?
Is it really?
What would you like for your birthday BIG FELLA.
TODAY?[/i][/color][/size]
I agree with your choices. I liked it in April and liked it in October. Given that your birthday is now, I'd suggest not doing the plane thing on that day. I'd suggest, what blither. Sorry for the formal sort of talk, it's just me.
You probably don't have the kind of jet lag thing some of us can have from the west coast of the US. Which means, if you were me (picturing that, heh) I'd leave NY on something like the seventeenth. Just about the time all the collegians go home. The neg is, that is when people may be most sick of tourists.
When I was there in March, people were really open to us, wherever we went... but May... may sounds good to me.
Depends on where you are going. If you do all the tourist things, number of tourists is important. If you go berserk and do none of them, no big deal.
Thing is, the country is thick with interesting stuff. You really don't need to stand in line, unless you want, for some reason, to hit all the high points whammo on the first visit.
Which is, in any case, impossible. Too many high points.
Plus, that's just out of whack for just being there.
Happy birthday kicky! Hope you're out and about in NYC having a blast.
Thanks! I went to my friends' house for dinner. Nice.
Two excellent things happened today. Well, okay, the first thing is only pretty great. The second thing is excellent.
1. My boss reprimanded me for a mistake I made a couple days ago, and I felt nothing! And do you know why? Because I'm starting to really feel like I'm actually going to get the f*ck out of this company soon! It's within reach!
2. The person who I most despise at work just made an announcement that she's leaving the department in a couple months. OH MY GOD I'VE BEEN WAITING TO HEAR THAT NEWS FOR THE BETTER PART OF FIVE YEARS!
I can't outwardly show it, but inside, I am dancing with glee.
I'm happy for you kicky, and I know how you feel.
One of the most annoying people I deal with is almost out of here. Tomorrow is her last day, and she specifically asked to have me included in her going-away luncheon. (We're in different departments.) I declined - I don't think I could be appropriately sad for such an event!
Thanks Mac. That is exactly what I was talking about with another one of my co-workers just now. I hope that she leaves sometime while I'm in Italy so that I don't have to go through that whole goodbye crap. It would be so much easier if I could leave for Italy and come back to an office without her. I am really bad at insincere affection. REALLY bad.
