Era una cosa organizzata già da qualche settimana, appena saputo che avrei avuto Pasqua libera, ho chiesto se era possibile avere uno/due giorni per tornare in Italia a festeggiare. In un impeto di generosità, la mia superiore mi aveva accordato ben 2 giorni, in modo da fare tutto il weekend e io ovviamente, al costo di svenarmi con i biglietti, ho prenotato subito, nel caso cambiasse idea ;-).
E così Venerdì alle 2 di notte, dopo aver lavorato 6 ore e senza un minuto di sonno, sono uscito da casina con la mia bella valigetta e mi sono fatto tutta Cambridge a piedi per andare alla stazione delle corriere (ho scoperto dopo che c'era una via più corta e priva di gente ubriaca e potenzialmente molesta ;-) ). Da lì, aereo alle 6.20 e atterraggio alle 9.10 a Treviso -rivedere le montagne è stato spettacolare-. Oltre alla mezz'ora (!!) persa al controllo passaporti, tutto è andato bene ed è stato bello riabbracciare il padre e andare subito a rifocillarsi con una tipica colazione all'italiana (il vero cappuccino e la vera brioche).
Le ore di sonno ancora non si fanno sentire, perciò ho potuto concentrarmi sul pranzo pantagruelico a casa di mamma -non esagero se dico che quasi ero commosso alla vista di tanto buon cibo! ;-)- e poi, perchè no, cinemozzo con i friends (qui un poco di abbocco sulla poltrona mi è venuto eh, nonostante il film non fosse proprio uno dei più silenziosi). Chiudiamo il Venerdì con un'altra cena in compagnia della family. Le 39 ore di non-sonno si sentivano molto bene, tanto che la maggior parte della serata l'ho passata seduto su una comodissima sedia reclinabile in condizioni alquanto pietose ;-).
Sabato è stato il friends-day, tra pranzi fuori e derby agghiaccianti e poi serata insieme.
Domenica, prima della partenza -fissata per le 22.30- c'era tempo per un altro pranzo, stavolta con l'altra parte della family. Anche qui, compagnia piacevolissima e, manco a dirlo, cibo ottimo <3.
Salutare tutti un'altra volta è stato difficile, una parte di me non voleva partire (a costo di lasciare a Cambridge una valigia e molta roba da vestire. Ero disposto a fare questo sacrificio pur di stare ancora con le persone a cui voglio bene), ma rispetto all'altra volta è stato decisamente più facile -credo che avere una casa e un lavoro mi diano un poco di tranquillità in più eh ;-)-.
Il viaggio di ritorno è stato un po' movimentato: troppe persone per un aeroporto minuscolo come quello di Treviso => ho dovuto fare l'italiano e saltare la coda al controllo passaporti per raggiungere il gate in tempo (due controllori per 300 persone mi sembrano un tantino poche comunque eh). Alle 2 di lunedì sono andato sotto le coperte e ho potuto riposarmi dopo un weekend faticoso, ma che è stato comunque uno dei migliori di sempre. Se penso a quanto tempo dovrò aspettare per mangiare delizie simili (aka qualsiasi cosa comprata e cucinata entro i confini dello stivale) e, soprattutto, per stare insieme alle persone a cui voglio bene un po' di tristezza mi viene, ma sono anche contento perchè tutto va bene e ho la fortuna di vivere un'esperienza che pochi hanno la possibilità di fare.
Per oggi è tutto, alla prossima!! :-)
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Easter was definitely the best chance to plan a glorious (and rather short, sadly) comeback to Italy. Why? Well, everyone knows that Easter usually means spending some time with the whole family and, above all, eating like there was no tomorrow -in my case, everything gets doubled, since my family is split (even better, more stuff to eat! ;) )-.
It was a plan I had been toying with ever since I was told I wouldn't work at Easter. I took the chance to ask for another day off in order to have enough time to actually make the trip. I still can't believe how generous my manager was, or why she did that, but she gave me 2 days off besides Easter, which makes the whole weekend! Obviously I booked the flights as soon as I had a chance (bloody Ryanair), in case she changed her mind (likely to happen, she's quite a moody person)
After 8 straight full days at work, after finishing Thursday's shift I was euphoric. I didn't care not to have any time to sleep or to even rest, in a few hours (7.30 to be precise, from 2 am to 9.30) I would've been hugging my beloved ones and walking on homeland soil! I mean, how can you even think about being tired?! ;)
So, once I walked through the whole Cambridge with my oh so noisy (Ops!!!) luggage (carefully avoiding those groups of drunk -and therefore potentially dangerous- people) I got on my coach and, an hour later, I reached Stansted. The flight was ok -seeing the Alps again was awesome, they make such a breathtaking view from above!-, apart from the fact that, after landing in Treviso, we had to wait for sth like 45 minutes to have our passports checked. Luckily, my father, whom I was so happy to hug, understood I needed to eat something and immediately drove me to a bar where I finally had the chance to taste a real Cappuccino and a real brioche -quite cliched, I know ;-).
Surprisingly enough, I still wasn't feeling tired, therefore I was completely able to focus my attention on the enormous -and delicious- lunch at my grandmother's. I'm not lying when I say that view was a tad touching eh ;-). In fact, I started to feel sleepy a couple of hours later, while in the middle of a not so quiet movie at the cinema with friends -what's wrong with me?!
Anyways, there was still enough time left to have another meal, this time dinner, with my mom's family. Here, I feel I need to apologize to my relatives for my pathetic and pitiful conditions. Yes, as you may have understood, I wasn't exactly being the life and soul of the party. To give you an idea of how knackered I was, I tell you I spent most of the night half asleep on a oh so comfortable armchair. Come on, I had been awake for 39 hours in a row by then!! ;-)
That aside, it was lovely to see everyone again! <3 :-)
Saturday was more of a friends-day, spent having lunch in town and watching some horrific derby and then out for the night.
On Sunday I was going to leave at 22.30, therefore I still had more than enough time for a last, but not less huge, feast, this time with the other half of the family. Somehow, eating could be considered the main highlight of my permanence in Italy...I think I could as well change the title of this post into something like "Eating my way back to Italy at Easter" ;-).
Parting again was, as you can imagine, quite difficult to go through. I'm not lying when I say a part of me didn't want to leave, even though that'd have meant leaving a significant amount of clothes, a suitcase and other stuff in Cambridge. Yes, I was willing to sacrifice all of this to spend some more time with my beloved ones. On the bright side, this time I had accommodation and a job to come back to, so I wasn't in such a desperate situation ;-).
I'm not going to complain too much about the odyssey that was the comeback trip. I'll just say that you can't expect an airport that small like Treviso's to work efficiently with hundreds of people wanting to fly simultaneously => I had to bring out my Italian genes to give myself a chance not to miss my flight, which means I jumped the queue at the passports (only to be stuck in a room with more than 300 people waiting for the gates to open!). To cut it short, I was in my bed at 2 am and finally able to have some deserved rest after a lovely, but tiring, weekend.
I really loved to come back home for a few days, I loved to see everyone and to spend time with them and to eat such delicious food, I can't wait to do everything again (especially the food bit eh ;-) ). If on one side I was -and I still am- a bit sad for leaving, on the other hand, I'm always happy and more grateful for living something not everyone can do. I feel blessed for having such opportunity, I'll always feel that way.
And now, before getting ready to go to work (back to normal life eh), I'll say goodbye. See you soon!! :-)
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