We Will Always Have Rome

Reading Challenge 2017: book about a difficult topic, I chose André Aciman's Call Me By Your Name, which will be made into a movie later this year.  The difficult topic was a 17-year-old intelligent boy being obsessed with a 24-year-old graduate student he meets one summer on the Italian Riviera.  Elio stalks Oliver methodically, not realizing that Oliver is only feigning interest in him, even though he desires him as well.  The main character is affluent and intelligent in that he is transcribing Haydn, can speak more than one language, has read many classical books, and uses language that 17-year-old atypically is unfamiliar with.  The book was riddled with Italian, forcing me to look up translations online, even though some phrases are translated in the dialogue for the reader.  Visiting Italy reminded me of my own two visits to Europe.

My first venture to the European continent was with the Midwest Youth Chorale in 1982, the summer of my senior year.  I was 18 and very naive in an Iowan born sort of way. Having rarely traveled stateside, this was to be my first big journey.  It was my first airplane ride, transcontinental at that.  It was my first visit to countries where English is not the first language.  I spent time in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, and France.  I walked the streets of Amsterdam, bought lace in Geneva, chocolate in Brussels, had a beer in Baden Baden near a castle, and wine in France.  Looking at the world from the viewpoint of a fresh 18-year-old, I did not really see it.  The Louvre did not have as much meaning as it was only painting and sculptures.  Seeing the Anne Frank house had absolutely no meaning to me.  When the border patrol entered the bus in Berlin, I was afraid, but not as frightened as I should have been.  I did not even go up the Eiffel Tower due to my fear of heights.  My first trip to Europe was nothing more than a tourist's scratching of the surface of something wonderful.  I will admit that singing in the Notre Dame Cathedral inspired awe, but only from the viewpoint of a Catholic in a beautiful church.  I was along for the ride and sights.

My second trip to Europe would be the summer of 2010 with a EF Tours group of students from Sumner academy.  Having flown all over the United States with the Writing Project, I was ready to face the European continent with different eyes.  We spent a considerable amount of time in London where I rode around Piccadilly Square, had tea at Covent Garden, drank beer and ate poor man's supper in a pub, ate fish and chips and bangers and mash, as well as petted the lion statues at Trafalgar Square.  I saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace and purchased a Manchester United scarf at Windsor castle after seeing the crowned jewels at the Tower of London.  I cried while riding the Eye of London, holding hands with an Italian lady who shared my acrophobia.

A very fast train ride through the Chunnel to Paris and I revisited the Notre Dame Cathedral, climbed nearly to the top of the Eiffel Tower (further than I had gone in 1982), rode a boat on the Seine River, visited the Arc de Triomphe, and ate escargot, paté, and chutney in a small café near the cathedral.  I lived while there, rather than riding with the pack.  I saw the architecture and the art from an adult viewpoint and appreciated it.  I realized the world was much older than where I lived, and much more beautiful.  I checked off items from my bucket list.  And I shared my experiences with others.

As I read Aciman's novel, I felt a kinship with Elio in that he only saw what he desired and did not allow himself to live what he wanted.  It would be many years later, still obsessed with Oliver, that he would see the world differently and wished he could have done things differently.  I had chosen to live my adventure in Europe and not let a tour guide drag me through what he thought an American wanted to see.

As I consider my own students, I wonder how many of them will get to experience something outside of their safe neighborhood, city, or county.  Will they live or just follow the drove of lemmings as it leaps over a cliff to what is expected of them.  I can only hope they wish for more than that.