One of Akiko’s posts has inspired me to share a personal anecdote. I must say that my story is nowhere near as interesting as Akiko’s. Please, don’t fall asleep😕. That would be very rude indeed!

It was a hot April morning in my last year of high school. For once, I was actually looking forward to school. We had a student assembly scheduled, which meant we’d be leaving school early😁.

I left home at 7 a.m. and walked to the nearby bus stop; my school lies on the southern outskirts of Salerno, which is north of my town. I boarded the bus at 7:20 and arrived half an hour later. I didn’t go straight to school. Rather, I hung around waiting for some of my classmates. The morning chat before school was like therapy for us. Our school was considered one of the best in the province, so most of our teachers were very demanding and strict.

After ten minutes, no one had shown up, and I was getting tired of waiting. The blazing sun and the ugliness of the surroundings didn't help either. On one side was an industrial milk factory, and on the other side a hill with wild grass at the bottom and tall buildings in the background. Bear in mind that my school was divided into two different complexes: one was downhill and the other (mine) was uphill. Tired of waiting, I decided to make my way up the hill. I walked into the school, took the stairs and went to class. The first lesson passed without incident. Now it was time to go to the assembly. I couldn’t give a flying toss about the topics on the agenda, so my mind wandered during one of the speeches. At some point, one of my classmates brought me back to the present. He sounded worried. I asked him what was wrong. His answer made me turn to stone.

Thanks for reading. Part two will be out soon. In case you’re wondering, my Italian food series isn't over, so stay tuned.