Genesis ’25, describes a rainy arrival into Reggio di Calabria.
The day started off like any other. My alarm woke me up and I rose from my bed to take a morning shower and get ready. However, there were no temples to see, no naked statues to ogle at. Instead, we were promised a beach day. Although the gray clouds circling above us said otherwise, it was boarding the bus at 8:30am and back on the road for us. About a half hour in, we had to make a stop to get breakfast. First we stopped at a gas station that looked abandoned and was closed. We got back on the bus and drove for a few more minutes, finding a gas station and flooding inside it, with the rain starting to pelt down. While consuming a chocolate croissant stuffed with Nutella, I watched the Italian music videos playing on. One of the singers looked and sounded suspiciously like Katy Perry, but soon we had to leave again. About a couple steps away was the bus. The only obstacle was the rain that had gotten heavier since we were in the gas station. Like Mary Poppins herself, I twirled and opened my umbrella, Henry hitching a ride under it on our quick walk to the bus.
Three hours later, we had pulled up to a street that was just across from the beach. Now all we had to do was get our bags and move into our hotel. How hard could that be? Turns out our hotel required a climb up a steep hill that rivaled the climb to the Rock. Add on our heavy suitcases and bags and we ended up panting and gasping for air in the hotel lobby. The plus side to this was that we could finally get our laundry done and the rooms were much nicer than the hotel we stayed in last. Me and my roommate Alex got situated in our room and then headed downstairs to get lunch. We settled on a sandwich shop and then we took our sandwiches to the park. The clouds had finally parted and blue skies shined through. Was that the end of the rain? While eating some sandwiches, Austin dropped a piece of bread and a pigeon swooped in. Against cries of warning, I threw a piece of my own sandwich far onto the bricks and a battle fit for the gods commenced between the pigeon, ending in the most unforeseen way: two little birds snatching the bread from the pigeon and zooming off away from the carnage.
After finishing our sandwiches, a visit to the beach looked more possible with the gray clouds disappearing. The whole group seemed excited and we all rushed back to our hotel to get ready. Although half of our group decided to stay in the hotel, the rest of us ventured down the street and onto the beach. Some of us shrived, others let only our legs get wet (obviously me), and some just stayed in the sand entirely. Eventually, the gray clouds had had enough of teasing us and decided to give us an early shower. Immediately we rushed to get out of the beach and back to the hotel, but there was a causality: A wave managed to get Raffaella’s shoe soaked and her cries of agony could be heard from all corners of the world.
We returned to the hotel as sand-covered, water-soaked bodies and we made our way into our hotel rooms to recover from the ordeal. I found myself watching my roommate Alex sleep while snuggled under my comforter and watching videos on how to make the perfect dress.
A few hours later, we walked to a pizza restaurant known for its giant pizzas. We each ordered our own pizzas and the waiter brought them to us one by one. And one piece at a time, we
consumed our pizzas. For dessert, a lot of people ordered cheesecake and I got some waffles smothered in Nutella. After all the food we had eaten, we walked back to our hotel and snuggled up in our hotel beds to rest for the long day ahead.
