Traveling Europe

Proud Mom

This summer one of my sons is traveling in Europe – yes, he needed an adventure and he is certainly getting many. Periodically he sends an update to several friends and family members.  I just had to post this since he articulates the power of music while staying on an olive tree farm in Torri, Italy! You are getting the entire update because it helps with the context. Sometimes while traveling people understand the power of music! I am so happy that he could have this moment to really get the concept! In Nicholas’ own words…

It hadn’t rained in Torri for the first two and a half weeks that I was here, I was beginning to have flashbacks of my summer in California where three months went by without a drop of rain. However earlier this week thunderstorms began to roll through the hills around us in the early evening, and then on Wednesday it came.

Early in the afternoon Alex asked me if I wanted to go for a ride to the market, not wanting to miss an opportunity to get out of the house and explore a bit more, I gave an emphatic “Yes!” Alex doesn’t speak a lot of English, and what is spoken is a bit broken. We communicate best with smiles and giggling. Since he spends most of his time in Roma, we hadn’t truly had time to connect and I could tell he was much more wary of the strangers in his house than Martin. I was anxious to see how this errand run would go. Silent? Talkative? Perhaps a game of charades would be in order.

As we were traveling down the steep hills, drops of water began to hit the windshield; it was here. Suddenly the skies opened up as if Zeus’ bathtub had overflowed. The kind of rain that heavily impairs visibility. As Alex’s driving slowed, ‘Rich Girl’ by Hall and Oates came on the radio. Almost instinctively I began to hum along while the rain kept the beat. Before I knew it, Alex and I had both broken out in song and the car shook as the volume went louder and louder. I began to seat dance and Alex was playing drums on the steering wheel. It was an intercultural, non-speaking jam sesh.

Lines in the sand had been erased and we were now friends.

Music, I learned, is an international language and it knows no boundaries. Music has been an integral part of my time in Torri. Floriano loves club remixes, Martin enjoys classical and opera, and Laurie the country tunes. There is always music playing somewhere, and if it isn’t, it will be shortly. It seems to be our common denominator.

“She’s a rich girl and she’s gone too far…” I hope it will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

– Nick

Travel | Adventure | Explore
Current Location: Venezia, Italia

P.S. More photos on the blog! borntodomorethan.tumblr.com