Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Back in OZ

It is 5:15 am local time, and I've been up, to varying degrees, for a while now.

The trip to Italy was a very interesting one, though not in the way that Italian travels are classically envisioned: it is quite different to go to a foreign country from a bad-ish spot of culture shock in an adopted country than from home.

While no 24 hour airplane journey (Sydney-Singapore 8 hours, 3 hour layover, Singapore-Rome 13 hours) can be termed "easy", I was surprised by how non-traumatic the flight and ensuing time change were. So I got to Rome in reasonably good shape. But man, I was in such a foul mood! I had no desire to speak in Italian, tour sights, navigate restaurants (good food, but language and cultural barriers to navigate). So I ended up spending most of my time reading mystery novels (great anti-jet-lag), visiting some American friends, and cooking at the apartment I was staying in. And as is the case here, the best bits were being with other Americans, which I find totally fascinating, since in the US I tend to seek out non-Americans. Fortunately, I have spent lots of time in Rome on a number of different occasions, so it was hardly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity squandered.

Siena was more my style. I love everything medieval, and Siena is all medieval. It also brought back fond memories of Orvieto. I found that by the time I got to Siena, my Italian had shaken off some of its rust, which helped with navigating the landscape.

The conference was a good experience. Interestingly, there I sought out the Aussies! (And a stray Kiwi). Perhaps that was because there were only two other Americans (whom I hung with as well) and a pretty big delegation from down under. I am still quite unsure where I fit in the academic landscape, but that is not a subject to get hashed out here....

Then I got the stomach flu. Which was just plain gross and ruined any improvement in mood.

I think being away might in the end have been good for me, since it has disrupted the anxious funk I was in before leaving. I have hardly thought at all about whether my sofa will fit since I have been back! And it was nice yesterday in my walk to work to realize that it was a familiar path.

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