six degrees of separation

First of all, I would like to congratulate myself on getting a 93 (Yes Mom, that is still an A even in Italy,) on my first Italian Quiz :)


You could say I'm a natural... I mean, I'm practically a native.


Anyways, aside from seeing the beautiful sunrise every morning over the Arno River, as I wander down the empty streets, I have come to find that I see the same people beginning their work day.


Every morning while crossing the Ponte, I see the same shop keeper opening his gelato shop, delicately placing each flavor in the same place it was the day before. As I continue past Piazza della Repubblica, I peer in the window at Hotel Savoy and wonder what it would be like to sit and eat breakfast at this incredible hotel, while people watching and reading a good book. And then, there's the old man. The one who doesn't speak any English. The same old man who showed me how to get to class on my first day of school. Every morning he opens his Newsstand and every morning someone is there buying the day's newspaper. 


It's incredible. 


But, perhaps my favorite is the man who sits in the cafe on the corner before I turn for class. The man who sits at the same table in the back drinking his coffee. He carefully reads the newspaper as if his life depended on it, not wanting to miss a single word. He takes his time and sometimes is still sitting there when I walk back. It's as if he has no where to be and that if he did have somewhere to be, they would wait for him.


While having early classes isn't unusual for me, in fact it's quite normal, I enjoy waking up early and starting my day. Life is too short to waste it sleeping, especially when you're in Italy. These stories remind me of when my sister was in Italy and she too passed the same man selling fruit every morning. 


And then I wonder, why doesn't this happen at home?


Maybe it's because I live in Columbia and there are no precious old men selling fruit on the street corner. Or, maybe it's the fact that Americans are always moving so fast to get from Point A to Point B*. And trust me, I'm just as guilty of this as the next girl. 


To quote Ferris Bueller, which is one of my favorite movies of all time--in fact it inspired one of my nicknames back home--"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." 


Cliche, I know, but so true. 


I look forward to my mornings. I look forward to seeing these people that I don't even know. I enjoy creating stories in my head about what they do when they're not at work, or when they're not reading in the cafe on the corner. 


Everyone has heard of the six degrees of separation idea. "everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of "a friend of a friend," statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer."


Could it be possible that somehow I'm connected to these complete strangers?


Possibly. 


But, more than likely, possibly not. Either way, it's a crazy concept that has intrigued me since the show "Six Degrees" aired on ABC, and then sadly never returned. 


I think part of my belief in this idea is my belief in fate.  Like my mom says, "If you go back and it's there, then it was meant to be."  It's the idea of knowing that one day you will be reunited with something or someone. Serendipity, another one of my favorite movies, is all about fate. They use the tagline "Can Once In A Lifetime Happen Twice?" 


Like I said earlier, I look forward to walking past these total strangers every morning, hoping that one day, when I'm back home in America, or even out and about in this crazy city, I'll run into them. And maybe, just maybe come to find I have a friend, who has a friend, who knows someone....


Maybe it's a small world after all...


XOXO,
Meggie





*In fact, I struggle keeping up with my mom when we're shopping at the mall!