for your listening pleasure

february 19th finally rolls around. winter break. aka italy.

morgan, brittany, and i head out on the metro towards the aiport friday morning. rome. where the other girls [renata, larisha, alexis, and meron - diana is getting there the next day] will meet us. we check in and get through security with time to spare, so we opt for mcd's tolberone mcflurries while we wait to board. once you pop you can't stop?

considering my minor aversion to flying, the flight goes well. we get a taxi to our hostel and our energy is high. the taxi driver points out sites as we drive into rome. we drive past the colosseum and renata is basically in tears. "this is what i've been waiting for my whole life!" she's sputtering. really? then i start to wonder.... what am i waiting for? i decide on mayan temples..... or maybe the great wall of china.

[on a more serious take, i don't think you can really wait on your dreams or goals, they are waiting on you. call me aristotle.]

our driver flips through the radio channels, tyring to find something as upbeat as we are. but i guess that's not what's fitting his mood, because he next asks us if we've ever heard of Cafe del Mar. ...no? [later, i will tell our tour guide this- along with a girl from south africa. both are completely familiar with these albums, casually confirming my ignorance to something that is obviously common knowledge.]

flashback: my musical knowledge is basically constructed by my father. when i was younger i honestly believed he had every cd in the world. which, in reality, it might have been pretty close. it was actually kind of ridiculous. the library consisted of artists such as cake, van halen, and crash test dummies to michael jackson to Kenny G (which was played often at bed time). if he didn't have it, it didn't exist. therefore, i feel it is only fair that any ignorance i may have of music between the period of my birth and 1996 (when i started listening to spice girls and backstreet boys - and i'm pretty sure he didn't have their cd) be credited to him. weights off my shoulders.

the cab driver pops in the cafe del mar cd and on comes something from a soundtrack of a bad romantic comedy from the '80s. yet, somehow, it fit. we all get quiet (which might have been the driver's goal) and watch in trance as the stoplight turns green and we drive away from the colosseum.
can't believe i'm here right now...