Back in the U.S.



FRIDAY, December 30, 1994.

I spent December 1-9 in California. I stayed with the Cohens, my cousins, in Palo Alto, which was great, though I didn't get a chance to spend much time with them; I was too busy visiting everyone else. It was a fun week of visits. It seems that everyone I know says they're going to come visit me in Rome. I bought myself a Powerbook on a special promotion at Apple, caught the Grateful Dead in Oakland, the symphony in San Francisco, and headed anxiously on to New York.

I stayed with mom for a week in New York. We had lots of tasty meals. Before I left the city, I had to be sure to get my fill of Bagels, Beef Chow Fun, and NY Pizza. A friend of my mom's gave her tickets (he has a season subscription) to "Peter Grimes" at the Metropolitan Opera. It was neat to go out for an evening at Lincoln Center, but I can understand why he gave away the tickets. The Opera sucked. It was not a good first experience with Opera. We also caught the new Sony IMAX 3D on the upper west side. It was really great, huge 3D. I had fish swimming right up to my face. OK, so the subject matter could've been better.

As for where to work in Europe, it was a hard decision. The job at UBILAB in Zurich would be technically superior and pay considerably more, but I turned them down. I decided that I really want to learn Italian. I want this more than I want a cushy job where people speak Swiss German. So I accepted the low paying job with a hellish-commute at Intecs in Rome.

While I was in New York, I had lunch with Deb and Steve (my aunt and uncle with the apartment in Paris) at Bouley, which they claim is the best restaurant in the world. It was great French food, although (sssh!) I enjoyed the food more at La Dinee in Paris. They're friends with the chef, David Bouley. I got to go back in the kitchen and meet him; he even let me hold a whole truffle (not the chocolate kind) in my hand. Did you know that only specially trained pigs can find these?

Then I went to dad's on Friday. We had dinner with the Meisliks on Saturday night at a tasty Mexican place in Teaneck. On Sunday, in search of a final dose of American intellectualism, we went to see "Dumb and Dumber." Generally, I was a bit anxious to be moving on.

I never would've guessed it, but I spent my last night in the U.S. at my friend Brian's house in Montclair, New Jersey, the town where I grew up. Brian and I have been friends since first grade, and we've always had a healthy rivalry when it comes to board games. Actually, it's not much of a rivalry; he usually wins. It was nice to visit with him, even if he did pummel me in both chess and Scrabble.

Tuesday, December 20th finally arrived, and it was time to head back to Europe. Brian drove me into the city and dropped me off at mom's. She went with me to the airport. JFK has got to be the least pleasant airport I've frequented, but luckily mom happened to have her boss's "Admiral's Club" card, and we used it to sneak into the deluxe, luxury, I'm-a-first-class-frequent-flier-so-please-kiss-my-ass American Airlines lounge. We dined on free Pepperidge farm cookies and sipped Cokes. I was really tense, freaked out that the day had finally arrived, and that I was about to leave for a year in Europe. I was leaving my friends, my family and my country! Me? Scared? Yes.

Finally, it was time to board. I gave mom a huge hug good-bye, got on the plane, and my adventure began.



Copyright 1997 by Bradley Edelman
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E-mail: Brad Edelman