Sicily! GANS Conference

Last Tuesday, Diego’s dad drove Diego and I to the airport to catch a plane to a town called Terrasini—which is in Sicily—for a ‘Conferenza di GANS’ which is a huge conference hosted by the LDS church for young single adults. I was dying to take a vacation (from my ‘vacation’), go to Sicily, meet new people, tan by the pool and swim in the ocean. Unfortunately, when we got to the airport, I realized that I had forgotten something very important. Yes, my passport!  I hadn’t even thought to put it in my purse; regardless of my blonde hair and American accent, I think I must be starting to think of myself as Italian because it honestly didn’t cross my mind to grab it. Diego and I had met up with some other people that were going to the conference and right before we checked out luggage, Diego pulled out his documents; that’s when I realized I didn’t have mine. My stomach moved into my throat—this was not happening. My gut instinct was to hope that the people checking me through wouldn’t be too thorough and just let me through with my driver’s license; after all, I wasn’t leaving the country. Diego, however, insisted that we go talk to the front desk. I let him speak with the lady in Italian, while I stood nearby trying to look as innocent as possible in my pastel skirt. She said that my driver’s license might be sufficient, but that we would have to talk to the boss of the airport. Mamma mia! I think that trying my luck through security would be far less stressful than this. To add to my stress, we had to wait at least 15 minutes (which felt like two hours) for him. The giant of a man finally made his way over to talk with us. Diego explained the situation and I smiled; it was a nervous smile and I actually had to make a conscious effort for it to look normal—didn’t want him to think I was a crazy American on happy drugs or anything—Italians already think I smile too often. He gave me a pitiful smile in return, shook his head and told me that I couldn’t go without my passport, I was crushed.  K that was a lie, he actually told me that I could travel with my driver’s license since I was staying in Italy. Phew!

Everything was amazing in Sicily! Not void of awkward moments, but hey, what is life in another country—or life at all—without those? It took me about 2.43 seconds to change into my swim suit (costume did bagnio) and make my way to the pool, which just so happened to overlook the ocean. As I was searching for a spot to sit, I saw a group of guys and girls relaxing with their feet in the pool. Then, there was that awkward moment when I said, “Ciao” and they all looked at me—confused. There was one girl, in particular, whose eyes followed me as I walked a little further, whom, based on the look she was giving me, must have thought I was crazy. Utterly confused, but used to feeling that way, I sat down near them. When I said something in English to Diego, the same girl who had looked at me like I was crazy, lit up and—in about 1.95 seconds—was sitting next to me. ‘Parli Inglese!?’ I told her that I did and she started speaking with me in English. She said she was confused when I said ‘Ciao’ because she didn’t know me. In Italy you say ‘Salve’ or ‘Boun Giorno’ to someone you don’t know, and only use ‘Ciao’ to if you’re speaking with a friend or familiar person—something I’ve known since my first day of Italian class, but always tend to forget. Anyhow, I’m not sure if she had even told me her name before inviting me to come visit her in Tarento; she assured me that I could stay for as long as I wanted and that the beaches were far more beautiful there than in Sicily. I told her that I would love to and am now planning on visiting Gaia (that’s her name) the third week of July! Needless to say, Gaia quickly became my best friend at the conference. She is honestly just one of the coolest people I have ever met. She is smart, outgoing, fun, speaks English really well, helps me with my Italian, and seems to know everyone. Another girl that I got really close with is named Jessica McCollaum; the first time I met her, I started speaking to her in Italian and then asked, ‘Parli inglese?’ She immediately switched from speaking Italian with a perfect accent to English in an American accent; it totally threw me off! Turns out, she is from the States and also attends BYU, but attended high school in Naples and speaks fluent Italian. I may or may not have invited myself over to visit her near Venice, where her family is currently living. So, on top of visiting Gaia in July, I will be visiting Jessica at the end of June. I also have a trip planned to Naples (my friend Daniele lives there) and weekend trips with friends planned for Florence and Cinque Terre. It’s so nice because I can continue to do my research while I travel. I actually interviewed a few people at the conference this past week; sitting by the pool asking people about their love lives—I definitely chose the right field of study (Marriage and Family Therapy). Ah! I just met so many great people; I want to write about them all! There were two sisters at the conference that I absolutely adored named Catia and Antonia Vasilachi—they spoke Italian, Russian and English; such impressive girls! They also happened to be the sweetest things ever. I really hope our paths cross again :)

Gaia and I :)

Gaid, myself, and Jessica

Catia and Antonia:)

I honestly don’t know what my favorite part of the conference was, probably just meeting new people and getting to practice my Italian while in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. A few things that topped my list were.

 The dances—where they played what I like to call ‘anti-grind’ music—no rap, R&B or hip hop to be found. 95% of it was techno, mixed in with some salsa and a random mix from the movie Grease haha loved it, such a blast. The second dance was my favorite though, just because I knew so many people by that point and had zero inhibition.

Rome Group

Cliff jumping—I swear the pictures don’t do it justice; not beauty or height wise. I talked to my mom later that day on the phone and when I told her that I went cliff jumping she said, ‘I should’ve figured.’ I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing anything like that, what’s life without adventure and a few risks? I actually got invited by some friends to go rock climbing on the ALMALFI COAST! Yes please!!

The beach—we stayed at or near the resort for a lot of the conference, but we weren’t about to come all the way to Sicilia and not visit the beach. We hitch hiked in the back of a truck to the bus stop (we weren’t actually trying, some guy just stopped and offered—and who were we to turn down such hospitality?).

Hitch hiking to the bus stop :)

   Once we got to the ocean, we played games in the water, swam around and got tan. While skipping rocks, I decided to search for some pretty ones to take home—it seriously reminded me of being a kid again, and I loved it!

at the beach in Sicily

You're welcome for not taking a picture of the front.
One day at the beach in Sicily and I've seen more speedos than in my entire life

      After we had gotten our fair share of sun, we decided that we should probably rejuvenate ourselves with Gelato. A big group of us walked a mile or two to a specific gelato shop that someone had recommended, but when we got there, Diego and I decided that one shop that we had seen earlier looked better. We backtracked a mile or so, got our gelato, realized the bus was supposed to get to the stop in 10 minutes, and tried to enjoy our ice cream while we ran back to the stop. Luckily, we made before the bus did.

Waiting for the bus to take us back to the resort

    Unfortunately, after 10 minutes of waiting for the bus (they’re always late here), we saw it coming towards us. We stood up. Then watched as the bus driver shook his head and pointer finger in unison, without even touching the breaks! Apparently, it wasn’t worth his time to stop because he couldn’t fit our whole group in the bus. Are. You. Kidding Me!? The next bus wouldn’t come for two hours, so we could either wait for it or walk back. We chose to walk back, for two reasons: 1) The Italian national soccer team was playing and everyone wanted to watch the game and 2) We had just watched 17 Miracles, a movie about pioneers (watch it!) that morning, and couldn’t really justify our laziness when they had trekked for months. We felt like it was a slightly ironic situation, but the hour and a half walk back to our resort ended up being one of my favorite parts of the entire trip—go figure.

     OUR TREK:

injury...

even death

grave stones along the way

but in the end, one of my favorite parts of the trip :)

   Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering, there were some beautiful boys at the conference. I met one from Sicily who now wants to come to Rome to date me (haha) I wanted to clarify, “American date?” because in Italy, one date usually signifies some commitment; it’s common for people to go on one date, and be together and exclusive from that point on. Aye ay ay (I seriously cannot sound things out in English anymore, so if ‘aye ay ay' looks like gibberish, just go with it). There were also these two beautiful boys whom I was convinced were gay because they dressed perfectly and seemed to have no interest in girls. I randomly went down to the pool at one point and they were the only ones there, so we started talking. Definitely NOT gay, but from Spain, hardly spoke Italian, and were therefore a bit inhibited. I don’t have a picture on my camera, but if I get one I will definitely post it (it’s worth it). One of them, who I refer to as ‘Muscles’ told me I needed to come to Spain to learn Spanish. Well, if you’ll teach me, sign me up!

So, I have no complaints. I feel blessed to be here, to be having these wonderful experiences and meeting such amazing people! I love how similar and how different people are. We speak different languages, eat different foods, have different views of the world, but are still able to connect at such a deep and real level. I love that I can conduct research on Italian dating and courtship, find so many commonalities between interviews, and still uncover something that is unique to each person. I am sad that I only have 6 more weeks in Italy, but so excited that I chose a field of study where I get to meet, learn about and help people with their lives. Life is short, and I want to take advantage of every moment—that’s what I’m doing now and that is what I will continually strive to do forever and eternity. Life is too short to waste even a day, so I hope you’re taking advantage of your time like I am trying to take advantage of mine.

;)