Summing Up Italy

Last days in Italy
This is my last full week in Italy! On Saturday, July 26, I leave to see London with my friend, Maddi. Maddi has been studying abroad in Ireland so we planned this trip so we could travel Europe when she is done with her study abroad and before we both return stateside. (Check out her blog, Green is the New Black: http://maddiraz.wordpress.com/) On Tuesday we take a train to Paris and on Friday she flies back home to San Diego and I'll return to Forli. Forli is hosting the finals of the Italian Cup which is a tournament for Italian players only and we are one of the 4 teams left. I'll go to the games on Saturday and hopefully see them win the Italian Cup. On Sunday, August 3, I am on a plane back to America after 5 months!

Here is a map of all of the places I got to travel in Italy! Green circles are for softball and red stars are for touring.

The End of My Softball Career
After softball has been a major part of my life for the past 16 years, it is finally the end. I thought it was over when I finished playing at Ohio in May of last year. But this time it's for real. Be sure to keep my father in your thoughts, as I'm sure he is taking this very hard. I, on the other hand, am completely okay with being done with softball and finally starting a new chapter in my life. I guess I need to create something of myself so I am no longer known only for being tall and being a softball player. I know many of you are wondering: Will you miss softball? I have the same answer as I did back when I graduated from Ohio University.

Here is what I won't miss:

• Practices
• Playing in extreme heat
• Playing in extreme cold
• Rain delays
• Getting yelled at when the pitcher misses their spot on an 0-2 count
• Blocking
• Having constant cuts/raspberries from sliding

But I will miss other aspects of the sport. 

I will miss all of the people I have met because of this sport. I have been lucky enough to be teammates with and build friendships with so many people throughout all of these years. (Hopefully some future San Diego visitors!)

I have gotten to travel the world because of softball. Whether it be nationals back in rec all stars, playing in qualifiers for travel ball, playing in various tournaments and seeing tons of campuses during college, or coming all the way to Italy to play professionally, I have gotten to see tons of places I wouldn't have otherwise been able to visit. I am not one of those "wanderlust" people like so many of my friends who have made it a priority to travel once they graduated college. I had always heard about Europe, and Italy in particular, and I knew I eventually wanted to come see these famous cities. I just never imagined it would be this soon. One of the main things that being a student-athlete in college prevents is the ability to study abroad. But I was lucky enough to still get this opportunity (but without the studying!). 

Although some days have been really hard being so far away from home, in a foreign country, in a different culture where I don't speak the language, it is definitely a great experience that I don't regret at all. 

Regarding softball specifically, I ended on a high note. My team was successful in regular season where we got 2nd place and made it to the semi-finals of playoffs. I am happy to be a part of this winning team and be able to help out defensively and offensively. For people who are interested in stats, here are the final hitting stats of all the hitters in the Italian Softball League. 

Memories

I have so many memories and things to remember this trip by... but here are my top 3:

1. The team president, Bomba, gave me a team picture that all the girls signed. Well, some of the girls signed it. The pen ran out of ink. But it's the thought that counts.
2. The guy roommate, Francesco (aka "Cheet"), that I lived with when Ken was visiting, gave us his Italian flag.
3. On my birthday, the entire team sang me happy birthday in English. I don't know why, but that might be one of the happiest memories I have of the team.

Favorites

Favorite places: Cinque Terre and Venice (Apparently I like colorful, water cities.)

Vernazza in Cinque Terre

Burano in Venice

Favorite Food: Shellfish

Favorite Dessert: Gelato of course! Stracciatella (chocolate chip) is my absolute favorite flavor.

Words I Won't Forget

These are words that I have said, and heard being said, countless times and I really don't think it's possible for me to forget them.

• Ciao (hi/bye)
• Grazie (thank you)
• Due (two)... I said this literally every inning before I threw it down to second. I said it even more, during practice when outfielders were throwing to second or infield was turning double plays.
• Che schifo (that's gross)... Not sure why this was said so much by my teammates but I catch myself saying it without noticing when I drop something on the floor or see a bug.
• A lot of inappropriate words that I shouldn't share on this blog.

I Learned to Survive Without...

• Dryers
• Netflix
• Dr. Pepper
• Mexican food
• Air conditioning

My Thoughts on the Pizza and Wine

The pizza was delicious but people made it seem like Italian pizza was so much different than the pizza we have in America. I mean it wasn't Pizza Hut, but it was still pizza. The main thing that impressed/surprised me was that everybody orders and eats their own "individual" pizza that could easily be shared with at least two people. 

After going wine tasting in Tuscany with Chelsea, I really enjoyed drinking wine at dinner. But I don't think that it's because my taste buds magically acquired the taste of wine just because I went wine testing for a few hours. I think it was a combination of the following things:

1. Wine is cheap here.
2. I saw tons of vineyards while I was here and developed some appreciation.
3. I feel classy and sophisticated drinking it.

Things I Learned

• Do not call the Sea, the Ocean.
• There is no sport and school affiliation in Italy. No high school soccer team or anything.
• They all learn English in schools from a young age and in way more depth than us taking Spanish for a couple years in high school. Everyone on the team was able to communicate with me because of this.
• Public transportation is very popular here. People use trains and buses on a regular basis.
• Italian first and last names almost always end in a vowel.
• Smoking is definitely more prominent here than what I've seen in America.
• They use kilos not pounds, kilometers not miles, centimeters not feet (to measure height), and Celsius not Fahrenheit. This made it difficult to understand how far away places were or how hot it was supposed to be the following day. But most people have converter apps on their phone just for this reason.
• You have to bring your own bags to the grocery stores unless you want to pay for bags there.
• It is mandatory to separate your trash into plastic, paper, and glass.

Challenges

Like I said at the beginning, there have been a lot of challenges since I've been here. Here are three main ones:

• The language. I was learning Italian on Rosetta (which definitely helped) but I slacked off a lot and stopped studying once I had people come and visit me and I started to travel a lot more. I can understand the language in context... especially when it is involving softball. But when it is out of context and someone is telling a story I have very little to no idea what's going on. I will know that they are talking about a dog or something that happened at the field yesterday... but that's about it. The hardest thing is definitely ordering food. It's not as easy as just looking at a menu because they always ask questions about your order and I just end up saying ok and accepting the fact that it will be a surprise when I get my food.
• The 9 hour time difference from home. It's just weird that I can wake up after a good night's rest at 8 in the morning, and it only be 11 pm the night before in San Diego.
• The indecisiveness and changing of plans/schedules. Most of the time, we wouldn't know what time practice was until a few hours before. Any post-season game schedules were very vague and seemed to be changing constantly. Public transportation, like trains, would be off schedule and throw off timing as well.
• The weather. Everyone here says that it has been such a strange season this summer. Usually it is hot and humid in the summer. Besides the other day where it was humid and 97 degrees, it has been in the 70s or 80s... but with lots and lots of rain.

Thank You

After spending 5 months here, I have a lot of people to thank. (I feel like I am receiving an award at the Grammy's or something.) My coaches have been great and even though we couldn't communicate very well because of the language barrier, they were always kind and helpful. The president, Bomba, has been very helpful with anything I need and he organized all my flights and living arrangements for me to play for the team. My teammates have been so much fun and they are all really nice girls. They are always willing to translate for me so I know what's going on and answer any of my questions if I don't understand something. Finally, everyone else who has supported me since I've been out here. Some of you came out here and visited which was so much fun! Others have kept in touch with me on Viber or Facebook or other social media. And some of you have just kept up with my by reading my blog. I appreciate everyone who has helped make this such a great journey.

GELATO TRACKER

43

Here is my final gelato count. In 5 months I have consumed 43 gelatos! That's about 2 per week. Not bad. I guess since I still have some more days here, there is a chance that I will enjoy gelato once again. But for now, we'll just say that 43 is the final number. And I enjoyed each and every one of those gelatos. 

I plan to write one more blog post about my time in London and Paris so stay tuned. Thanks for reading!