Skinny Dipping in Viareggio

VIAREGGIO, Italy - My roommates and I took a train to a beach town in the Versilia coastal area of Tuscanny called Viareggio after practically wasting our first Italian weekend on sleep and alcohol. We missed an opportunity to go to Pisa with some of the girls in our program, and I could tell when we caught up with them in Viareggio that they were slightly upset with us. That didn’t last too long, however, and once we smoothed things over, they sneaked our things into their hotel room, which made clear to the girls that they weren’t to have more than one boy over. (Three girls and one guy? What a country!).

In contrast to Florence, it was nice to see the Italians in a place where they were not the minority in a tourist-infested metropolitan city. What I love about Italian women is that many of them will walk gracefully in high heels, whether on cobblestone or along the boardwalk at the beach.

Viareggio, though only 1 hour and 40 minutes from Florence by train, seems like a world away. The shops along the beach stay open in the late hours of the night, it is slightly less accommodating to non-Italian speaking patrons, and things seem to cost what they really cost.

We stopped at a small pizzeria for dinner where we all got to know each other a little better. I guess it's sort of inevitable for a group our age to have a candid conversation about sex, among other things. Fine enough, except for the fact that with a bit of alcohol and a juicy topic of conversation, we instantly turn into the loud Americans we were trying not to be.

After dinner, we started to walk towards the nightclub that the waiter recommended, which, according to him, was “in the forest.” Along the way, we stopped at a nice restaurant and bar where we were treated to live music in the street right outside of the patio. It was a one-man show, and he performed a wide variety of American songs, everything from Pink Floyd to Michael Bublé . Throughout the night, I would step in and out of the bar to listen while Beth danced - sometimes by herself - in the street.

Inside, I had candid moments with Hayley, who is turning out to be one of my favorite people not only on this trip, but in life (coincidently, her last name is Favorite). I’m sure many of the stories I’ll post will involve her.

After the musician closed with “Easy” by Lionel Richie, we shook his hand, wished him well, and continued our stroll along the beach. By 1 a.m., the streets were dead, and it felt like just another late night at the beach.

Perhaps the most memorable experience of this trip was skinny dipping in the ocean at 2AM. It wasn’t entirely by choice. Chad, Pricilla, and Beth ran into the water partially clothed, and I unfortunately wasn’t wearing any underwear. For a second, I hesitated, but I took one look at the endless beach and before I knew it, I dropped my denim and ran into the ocean wearing nothing but my watch. It wasn’t too long before (some of) the rest of them followed in my steps.

We sneaked back into the hotel close to 3AM, where we each rinsed off the sand from the beach and told ridiculous (homoerotic) ghost stories in the dark. There must have been far too much laughter coming out of a room that supposedly had only 3 girls in it. In any event, it was nice falling asleep in the company of these people.

There really aren’t enough words in the English language to describe just how much fun I had at Viareggio. Perhaps I should look into Italian.