It's just after 5p.m. and the best part of the day in Siena. The main drag is crowded with practically all the people of the city huddled in twos, or fives, or sixes, talking about everything under the sun (at least to me, the girl who speaks un poco Italiano). But as I stroll down the street, taking my time the way a good American study abroad student should, no language barrier could be thick enough to mask my beaming smile.
The old men are my favorite, and they know it as I flash my glossy whites at them. Sometimes I wonder if they think I'm strange for the wide-eyed smile on my face. Do they think I'm flirting, or god-forbid an American "prostitute" that so many Italians apparently watch on MTV? (That's their language choice, not mine.) I wonder if a smile like mine is familiar to them... if so many young and excited women from the U.S. visit their town and share with them an unspoken connection of appreciation, of eagerness, of perfection found in this rich cultural community. Either way, there's something so powerful, so universal about the distance a smile can travel...so I make sure to carry it with me wherever I go.
A presto, genti belle. What smile have you shared lately?
"If you smile at me, I will understand. Because that is something everybody, everywhere does in the same language."
-Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
ps-It's been hard finding an Internet connection strong enough to allow me to upload pictures. I'll add them as soon as I can!
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1 comment:
you're such a beautiful writer
i love you! miss your beautiful face
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