Resolutions

I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution. I didn’t really think about it as I don’t think they're popular here. I say that because last night I went to the gym like I do every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This time of year I was expecting to see it very crowded with people who have resolved to lose weight in the New Year. I’ve read that’s the most popular resolution in the USA and it seems like the same sort of thing that would be popular here even if people here are thinner already.
Now I never went to a gym in the States so I don’t how big the post-New Year rush is but I have heard stories probably from my brother. From my experience here I don’t see that. In fact I think it was more crowded before Christmas as people were trying to get into shape to look good over the holidays. I’ve heard from others in the gym that it WILL get crowded as we get closer to warm weather and people want to look good at the beach. Right now there seems to be a rather small group that go on a regular basis and at this point I know most of them (of course the beautiful women all have big boyfriends!) and another group that comes and goes at random. It’s also strange because I very rarely see people from the gym outside of the gym. There aren’t that many places to go around here. I just expected to run into these new friends “in giro” (around) because it seems you run into everyone in town just walking around. Giuseppe, the trainer at the gym, is about the only one. I see him every morning that I walk to work. He’s always walking with his son to school and from there he goes to work in the mornings at a butcher shop then in the evenings he’ll be at the gym (usually helping one of the beautiful young ladies, that bastard!!)
Also I feel the excitement of being back in Italy has worn off. I can’t put a finger on it and I don’t want to blame it on work. Work is necessary and it’s what got me here in the first place. Part of it could be that so many young people were in town up until last Sunday. Then a lot of these people head back up north to work or go to school. They were only down here for the holidays. The Big Ben was so packed last Friday night that cars couldn’t get by with all the people outside smoking. This weekend I’m sure things will be much quieter.