It's all about attitude, right?

Long time no news. I don’t know why it always takes some time for me to post updates about my life. Probably it’s meant to be like that for my emotions to calm down (well, I always feel like blogging when I get emotional) and for me to re-evaluate my feelings, attitudes etc.

So now it’s about my recent trip to Italy….
From the very beginning everything was in Italian style which reminded me a lot my last year – a lot of things to finish the day before, packing in the last minute, sleepless night before travel, no space in the luggage.. I was flying from Dusseldorf to Naples. Guess what – my train Dusseldorf was delayed for 20 min. However, I was still quite relaxed since I was sure that they train will take me directly to the airport. It actually did – to the stop that was called Dusseldorf Flughafen (airport), but I had to take another train from there which took another 15 min of time, then of course I was smart enough to confuse my terminal, so I had to run for another 10 min to the right one. Anyways, I was on time for the flight, but the flight was not on time for me.. It was delayed for 1,5h which meant that I will not have enough time in Naples to get on the train. The funny thing was that I forgot my watches (2nd time in my life) at home, so I had difficulties to check time, especially during flight. I landed in Cappodichino 40 min before my train was supposed to leave from Central station. As always I had to wait for 20 min for my luggage, then Dante was “a bit late”:) and then we were driving in the way that I don’t want to remember to the station, but we made it in 11 min and I got in train just in time (well, also because you don't expect Italian train to be on time in such a day, ha?:)

I have no idea why but I slept so bad in train that I was already tired in the morning. I met Anabella in the train and we got off at Acireale – the small town where the hotel was. Italian breakfast – OMG, I missed so much a cup of cappuccino & brioche in a bar… I don’t know how and why, but in this small city in the middle of nowhere I felt more home then in Bonn.

We got to the venue and I had a slight feeling of déjà vu- people, venue and conference – the way I felt is inexpressable. We spent time around doing nothing which made me feel strange – in the last couple of years there were only ICs that I attended as a delegate. During all other conferences I was superbusy, superstressed, superinvolved and a lot of other « super » adjectives.
We went to meet Dany and Matteo in the airport and spent a lovely day in Catania eating arancini, cannolli, cassate, drinking coffee. You know, I felt I became completely Italian – food indeed means a lot for me. Needless to say that 2 days of conference passed like a second, even though I lost my voice and was not able to speak during MC report. I think it looked quite wierd to see me whispering to Dany answers for questions. A nice ppt made by Dany with position explanations for everyone. My favourites are : Pigna in culo (Matteo), Pigna in mano (Dany), Pigna Napoletana (Masha), Pigna in panza (Davide), Pigna terrona (Doretta), Pigna e basta (Alba). Haha, it was important to confess that I drink 4 cups of tea per day and that I had a rat in my bed!

On the way back to Catania, we were supposed to catch a bus at 4.00 pm. On the way to the stop at 3.45 we saw a bus arriving. I was puzzled – bus coming 15 min in advance is a miracle even in Germany. But it was not a miracle at all – it was just a bus that was supposed to arrive at 2.30 being «a bit » late:)P What else ? Unhealthy panini (pero buonissimi), pizza and pasta fueled me for another 3 months :) Beuatiful nature and great places (Rome, Naples – my favourite) definitely made my stay there.

There were definitely a lot of things that went wrong, or let’s say differently from the way I was expecting, added a fly in the ointment for my trip. I have actually experienced a strange feeling of empytness and sadness that I have never experienced before in the same city, in the same situation. But surpirsingly, after keeping me sad for a day it reinforced my feeling of gratitude for the great moments that I had before.
I can proudly state that I am not sad because some things, emotions and people left my life but I am grateful and I smile knowing that I was lucky to have them once in my life. In the end it’s all about attitude, right ?