Love is Like Oxygen

Love is like oxygen
You get too much you get too high
Not enough and you're gonna die
Love gets you high
--Sweet

The big news of yesterday was that my bike was home again after being away since the night of the Gran Fondo. A big change I've had in myself since I've been here is that I've really been able to let go. I'm really okay living with a very small closet of clothes (had to get the black leather-looking jacket to feel okay on the streets here) and I'm finally okay with not having my black leather boots. I was even able to be totally okay with my bike being out of my possession for a few days. This is an incredibly simple life. I like simple. I'd like to know if it's this simple for everyone, or is this an effect of just moving here, living as a college student. We'll see in a few more months.

It's hard to believe it's almost 2 months since I left the U.S. In fact, I saw the date today, Cinco de Mayo. It sounds weird to me in Spanish. "See-n-ko-de-Mai-O" (as it's pronounced in Spanish). "Chee-quay-di-Maj-O" as it's pronounced in Italian (not that it's anything other than the fifth day in May here). Spanish is officially not messing me up any more. I've converted completely to Italian. In fact, when I write in English, I accidentally write some Italian and misspell English words. Many of my thoughts are starting to come in Italian. I thought a lot in Italian in the last Gran Fondo. Clearly, I have simple thoughts as my vocabulary is so limited still. :) But it's a natural reaction as I'm talking and writing in English to think about the translation to Italian. And I find it upsetting when someone speaks English with me on the street (fortunately, that doesn't happen often).

Did I mention my new nickname? I was 15 minutes late to grammar class last week and when I came in, the professor rolled his eyes and asked if I had been on the bike. "Si." He said my name was henceforth "Bici" (pronounced bee-chee, it means bike). So when he calls on me in class, he says "Bici" instead of my name (which I don't think he ever knew to begin with).

Today during break, he asked me more about riding. I had the impression he had little tolerance for it and considering today I got back from riding 9 minutes before class started and I went to class (on-time) after a 2-second sink-bath (after getting rained on a bit in the last 1/2 hr of the ride), I was sure he was going to pick on me. But no, I told him about the Gran Fondo, my team, the roads here and he was sincerely interested. I even explained the thin air in Colorado and the oxygen-rich air here (difficult to do and I don't think I've explained it well enough to my cycling friends here). He then mentioned the song, "Love is Like Oxygen." I've never heard it before, but I looked it up tonight. Cute. The title, in particular, is true. There is a lot of both in Italy.

After the break, the topic for everyone to discuss was each person's passion. The reason for this was that the passion I have for cycling was clearly communicated in the conversation I had with him. Yes, I am very passionate about cycling because of the amazing experiences and people it has afforded me. It's bought me a lot of time, too, since I think it's a big factor in staying healthy and looking young. And since I have a solid community of great friends, I'm a wee-bit less driven to fall into the wrong relationship for the purposes of driving away loneliness or the need for love. These are good things, but when it happens for me, it'll be for the right reasons and will be real deal.

I'm a believer that when you've been through experiences that involve an adrenaline rush with others, there's a strong bond formed there that takes significantly longer to form by other means. (Pretty sure there's a study that backs this up as well.) It's a kind of love that definitely substitutes nicely for the romantic love that is significantly harder to obtain.

In other news, I had a great ride with my teammate, Roberta, this morning. We met up 1/2 way and got some good miles in. Spello was the final destination before returning. The road was the same one I was on last summer on the Ciclismo trip. Really cool to see how the roads are related to each other and how everything is connected. The area is only now really beginning to make sense to me.

These are truly the most confusing roads, though. Especially in Perugia. Remember the movie "Blair Witch Project"? Often when I'm riding down the huge hill to go on rides, I somehow get turned around and end up on the wrong road and end up taking 20 minutes making circles around the hill before I can find the right road to drop down on. I think of Blair Witch...just can't seem to get out and it's typical that I'm trying to meet up with someone and it's just stressful. The massive confusion has a lot to do with the one-way roads and the move I just made--I'm only a 10 minute walk from where I was living before, but it's like being on the opposite side of town.

 Tomorrow will be a long day and not one for blogging. Pizza team dinner! Yea!