I've lapsed, again. And you know what? It happened right after I went to Italy.

I have discovered something. 

It's something you probably will be shocked by, before you realize just how much sense it makes.

I HATE Italy. 

"What? Why? Italy is fantastic!" 

No, it's not. It's overpriced, you never get what you pay for, the food is NOT diabetic friendly, I can cook Italian food myself (I come from a rather large Italian family on my father's side), Italians just don't take 'no' for an answer, it's hot, loud, overcrowded and it MAKES NO SENSE. Seriously, you'd think Rome would be better laid out for being the home of one of the supposedly most logical groups of people, ever. It is an organized and introverted diabetic's nightmare.

"Oh... well, yeah..."

Don't get me wrong. Seeing the Vatican, The Birth of Venus, David's Michelangelo and many other pieces of art made this worth it. I just will probably never go back to Italy for any extended amount of time, ever again.I was in pain for a good bit of the time; our group leaders did not walk at a pace that was easy for us shorter folk to keep up with. Because of this, my muscles were on fire from my hips down for the trip.

I will say this: Italy is where I actually branched out and started meeting people outside of my comfort zone. There was one afternoon in Rome where about 2/3 of our group just mingled and shopped and walked together. We ended up sitting on the top of a wall, listening to this Italian guitarist play classic American 50's rock 'n roll (some of us actually started dancing around). After that we went to this local eatery and there was singing and cheering and it was just... fun. It was an evening of moments of infinite contentment. 

 

 

We were able to visit Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. We climbed a freaking volcano. And from the top I could see the world... I have never felt so small and so much in the presence of life itself. If I ever go back to Italy, I would like to go to Mt. Vesuvius again. It was beautiful.