Slovenia and Italy

Slovenia and Italy

By Wandering Zoetrope

This year has been a whirlwind romance between me and Europe.  Well, not really, I just like use the phrase, whirlwind romance, because it sounds so whimsical and romantic.  But in all honesty, it has really been an interesting year for me here in England, the tiny island off the coast of Europe that somehow managed to control and create new massive nations such as U.S.A., Canada, Australia, the list goes on.  My plan to escape England at every chance possible, my dreams of Paris one weekend a month and Spain and Italy the other two weekends, with a weekend in London, wasn’t exactly realistic!  Not if I was to get any studying done, at least.  Who the heck cares about studying whilst you are in England, you say? Well, I agree, unfortunately, my professors don’t. DICTATORS!!!

The good news is that I have, at long last, made it onto the continent! WHOOT! Hip Hip Hurray!!  Last week I flew into Trieste, Italy, a small, mostly forgotten city on the northeastern most tip of Italy.   It is also the place that one of my favorite coffee shops is named after!  Of course the first thing I did in Italy was run to the nearest Caffe and have an Italian coffee.  I have to say, I was not disappointed.  It was AMAZE-BALLS!!!*

After the coffee though, it was down to business.  I came here for a reason, a mission:  to help a friend research his new novel. His story is about a young couple in Slovenia during WWII.  The story is about love and family and relationships, but it happens to take place in a scary time. 

What we did was road trip all over the part of Northeastern Italy and Western Slovenia, where Italians and Slovenians have always lived together, but thanks to the war, they began to fight over.  We visited Italian concentration camps and Monuments to massacred people.  Most of all, what we did was try to see what it might have been like for young people living in a divided area in a divided time.  Finally, we drove across the Slovenian Alps and back to my friend’s hometown:  outside of a very small city called Krsko on the eastern part of the country.  Unfortunately, for reasons of temporary insanity, I left my camera charger back in England and so I don’t have any pictures of Slovenia.  Only my first day in Trieste and then a few pictures the friend took on his phone.