Some might wonder...

Some might wonder....why Italy?  When I was 14, I was a typical, surly American teen growing up in the 60s. Then one summer, my parents hosted 2 Italian boy scouts and my world shifted. They settled into our household of 6 kids, 2 dogs and various cats not knowing much English and we knew absolutely no Italian. These boys opened our eyes to different customs, expressions and ideas. My Mom's idea of pasta was mac and cheese. It must have been a horrible culture shock for them. We ate white bread and peanut butter. They longed for fresh fungi, risotto and real cheese. It was a summer of wonders for us as well as them. O.K....so I had a massive crush on one of them.  Summer ended and they returned to Italy. My sisters and I found that we missed that beautiful language. We missed the deep converstaions about the state of the world or the whys and wherefores of particular customs. Each summer we again hosted 2 to 3 Italian boy scouts and we looked forward to hearing that wonderful, musical language in our home. We wrote back and forth to a few of these boys but it was that first boy that I continued to write to every few months. Time went by and one summer several years later,I spent a few months living with his family in Torino getting to know his sister. It was a turning point in my life. I was smitten with Italy....the beauty, the people, the ancient feeling of so many people who came before, and always the language. Forty seven years later. .. I convinced my husband to go back with me. And while exploring Italy,we fell in love all over again.