The Intensive Course: A Novel by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER 15

‘W hat’s your favourite Italian word?’

‘ Colazione beats them all so far.’ Anna tried to sound serious.

‘Wait … I need to catch my breath.’ Eryka stopped in the middle of the street. ‘How can you survive here?’ she added, looking up the stairs that seemed to go on forever. ‘It’s a town for mountain goats, not people.’

‘You get used to it. There are elevators and escalators, but not on this side of the hill. Come on, it’s a great workout for your calf muscles. Have you noticed all these slender legs around here?’

‘Here we go. I knew it. You mean, those slender female legs around here!’

‘Yes, those are the ones.’ Anna giggled.

‘There’s one thing I don’t understand. Why did you come to the place where you spent your last summer holiday with your ex? Isn’t that a bit masochistic?

‘I don’t think about it that way. I try to remember the nice things that happened to us here before things started to go wrong.’

‘Just don’t let it tempt you.’

‘Tempt me?’

‘To, you know, try again. Don’t get nostalgic. I’m begging you.’

‘Come on. That’s in the past now. But you know, it’s not that easy to forget about Karolina. Not after all these years.’

‘You really got hooked on learning Italian.’ Eryka changed the subject. ‘What are you going to do with it?’

‘I don’t know. I might as well stay here.’

Eryka stopped and looked at her friend with her mouth open. ‘And could you do it? I mean, are you ready? Can you imagine living here? Last year, you said that Italians are annoying. You listed off all of their vices! Have you forgotten about that?’

‘No, I haven’t. Maybe that’s what makes them so irresistible—they have their weaknesses and their strengths. Let’s get moving, I’m cold.’

Anna took her friend by the arm and pulled her up the hill a few metres more to the top of the street. From there, the route to Anna’s was a lot easier.

‘The relationship with Italians—it’s a bit like with your family,’ Anna continued. ‘Obviously, we can’t choose our relatives. Your mother or your grandfather pisses you off, but you know deep inside that you share many traits with them, that you are just the same. That’s why you fight so much. It’s amore–odio. Love and hate. The latest generations of Italians have similar history to ours, the history of an immigrant nation … and then the Catholic heritage, oh my God, don’t let me go there.’

Anna took a deep breath before she continued. ‘We have strong bonds with our family, yet the relationship is full of hypocrisy. That’s why we get along well. We have a similar mentality. Just like us, Italians care about social relationships. There are fewer lonely people here than in northern countries. Walk into any café or restaurant and you’ll see. They feast and chat for hours. The average German would consider it a waste of time. But Italians know how to enjoy the simple things in life.

‘And it’s not true that they slack off—being in a hurry is not very healthy, that’s what they’ll tell you.

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