visiting friends

Over a month ago now I went to visit two lovely girls who I met on my language course in Florence in September. We'd spent nearly a whole month exploring Florence and the surrounding area together and as they were architecture students I learnt a lot from them. I was only too happy to hear that they were spending the year in Genova on the west coast of Italy and only a few hours from me by train.

After a five-am start on the only day so far that winter that we'd had snow, a fellow singer and I got the train together to see our prospective friends, enjoying the rapidly-changing scenery as we waved goodbye to the snow and the train took us into bright, warm sunshine.

Upon my arrival there were hugs all round and then the tour of Genova and all the catching-up began. We wandered round the streets together, enjoying the sun and the strange procession in medieval clothing happening round the centre of the city as we chatted about our experiences living in Italy so far.

I absolutely loved being in Genova - it being my first taste of a new place for quite some time. The whole atmosphere was completely different from that of Parma. The people themselves also unlike those I was used to. And I know that Parma is supposed to be amazing for its food, but as we walked around the streets with freshly-baked focaccia and then went for an incredibly simple yet delicious meal, and ended my visit with a choice of hot chocolate in 26 flavours, I was very envious of my friends!

There was such a different vibe in the city, and we stopped and appreciated it as we watched a one-man-band please a quickly-gathering crowd.

The most noticeable difference between the two places was probably the location however. Parma had become, in my eyes, sickeningly flat - not a hill in sight and no trace of an incline until well out of the City centre. Genova however is built into a bay, with the whole of the Ligurian sea laid out before it. It baffled me how you could spend as little as two hours travelling and be graced with this huge but beautiful change in scenery.

I completely fell in love with the City.

Aside from to see my boyfriend, it was the first time I'd taken a trip away to experience friends' years abroad and it succeeded in making very excited for the next trip I make which will undoubtedly be somewhere further away and somewhere even more diverse.

Goodbye Gabrielle and Cynthia and hopefully see you very soon in Parma!