December 2, 2008

I just realized the leaves have mostly fallen off the trees...

I keep looking at the calender in amazement. December? how on earth did it get to be December? A lot has been going on the past couple weeks, and I have a feeling that the next several weeks are going to be just as busy - I just keep reminding myself of all the time off I'll have between 18 Dec - 7 Jan. I put in as much time as I could at the Documentary Film Festival, I've made all my Dutch and Italian lessons, and I managed to pull off a very successful Thanksgiving party. It meant a lot to me to see my home full of people, eating matzo ball soup and exclaiming over the size of the turkey when we took it out of the oven.

But let's get back to that vacation time I was talking about. My last day of work is 19 December, and I leave for Rome on the 21st of December - traveling by car! I can't believe my luck. Me and three other people are taking two days to drive from Amsterdam, stopping in Switzerland along the way. A real European road trip is something I've always wanted to do, and I can't imagine better timing. When I started looking at dates and prices to come back to Amsterdam, I just selected the cheapest price and ended up with a 30 Euro one-way ticket from Pisa back to Amsterdam. I don't intend to plan much in advance for this trip, other than to learn as much of the language as I can and probably buy a guide book. So much of my life has to be planned in advanced, organized, made into time tables. At work I handle other people's schedules. I really don't mind that kind of thing, but I'm very much looking forward to just letting all that go for a few weeks. Insanely, an old friend from New Paltz (the town where I grew up) is living in Naples and plans to be in Rome for Christmas, so hopefully we'll try to get together.

A short post, just limited by the fact that I have no free time. But it's not a bad thing - work is great, and my free time has simply been filled up by fun, friends, and food. Usually all at the same time, which is exactly the way I like it.

1 comment:

Fida said...

It sounds like you have a lot of fun:-) Well, say hello to my home country when you travel through (Switzerland, that is). Have a wonderful time!