No Shame In Being Naked...
There is no shame in Italy about being naked.
A hard concept for me to take a grasp here, much less America. As a girl who's weight unfortnately easily flucuates, who (like other dancers) grew up looking and comparing herself in a mirror and therefore, constantly doing so in her day to day life, I've gotten to a pretty good spot in the last few years of loving myself and liking my body. But, like before I went on this trip, I worried because I was unable to really work out or even audition due to my foot injury.
So, in my eyes, there was no getting skinny before my Italy trip and I knew I'd be eating a whole hell of a lot over here.
Which I have done, you needn't worry.
And when I got in my new red bikini for the hot baths yesterday, I looked around and I noticed all of these women with no shame or the slighest thought about their bodies, bikinis, or anything falling out for that matter.
Brilliant. I mean, not because I was smaller than most around the pool, that wasn't it at all. It was this obvious comfort level with their bodies, no matter the size, and there was no strutting. No feeling superior or others feeling inferior due to body types and breasts and toned abs. And I've gotten pretty darn good at reading women, knowing when they feel self concious, fat, or well, just inferior to the rest of the pack.
Not here. Not Italy.
God, I love Italy.
Even still, however, I am not always the best with massages. Today, I was getting my second massage, known as Abhyangam, a relaxing massage (I love the hard stuff but I needed a little break from the Shiatsu) that uses hot sesame oil to ease tension and stress as well as nourish the skin. And with massages, It often takes me a few minutes to adjust to someone else touching my body. But needless to say, as soon as the hot seaseme oil was put on my skin, again, all qualms about what my body looked like on that table were gone.
Details for this massage will have to be asked in person. No need to scare the children on the blog here. ;)
After Chris receieved an amazing Shiatsu massage from a different masseur and said it was so wonderful that she cried at the end, and I received my hot oil massage which even after I washed it off the oil left a wonderful unreal softness to my skin, we decided to take a drive to Orvieto.
Orvieto is an interesting town, about an hour from where we were staying. The town, which is very underrated, interestingly enough was built on top of tufa, a volcanic ash. Thousands of years after a volcano erupted leaving this plateau of tufa, the Etruscan townspeople decided that this was a great place to stake their claim. On top of the tufa plateau made them feel powerful and safe because at the highest part of the city, they could spot any enemies coming. However, after we took a tour called the Orvieto Underground, we were able to see all of the tunnels, cellars, wells, and secret passageways that these people carved underneath their city. Over 1,200 of these different tunnels have been found below and although Chris and I toured through basic volcanic ash, I feel like we were in a stone cave. I found it remarkable how these people breed pigeons for food and dug over 300 feet down to the bottom searching for water down here.
After the tour, Chris and I enjoyed looking at the, as always, gorgeous scenary. We drove back home, crying because we were laughing so much along the way. Arrived at our spa to go to our deli for more snacks and wine, went to the hotel and enjoyed another great meal (still not as great as the night before-I will forever compare everything to that meal...) and spent a quiet night reading, packing because tomorrow we leave for Sorrento, and just drinking wine.
Simple. Perfect.
Ciao.
Love love,
Adrienne
A hard concept for me to take a grasp here, much less America. As a girl who's weight unfortnately easily flucuates, who (like other dancers) grew up looking and comparing herself in a mirror and therefore, constantly doing so in her day to day life, I've gotten to a pretty good spot in the last few years of loving myself and liking my body. But, like before I went on this trip, I worried because I was unable to really work out or even audition due to my foot injury.
So, in my eyes, there was no getting skinny before my Italy trip and I knew I'd be eating a whole hell of a lot over here.
Which I have done, you needn't worry.
And when I got in my new red bikini for the hot baths yesterday, I looked around and I noticed all of these women with no shame or the slighest thought about their bodies, bikinis, or anything falling out for that matter.
Brilliant. I mean, not because I was smaller than most around the pool, that wasn't it at all. It was this obvious comfort level with their bodies, no matter the size, and there was no strutting. No feeling superior or others feeling inferior due to body types and breasts and toned abs. And I've gotten pretty darn good at reading women, knowing when they feel self concious, fat, or well, just inferior to the rest of the pack.
Not here. Not Italy.
God, I love Italy.
Even still, however, I am not always the best with massages. Today, I was getting my second massage, known as Abhyangam, a relaxing massage (I love the hard stuff but I needed a little break from the Shiatsu) that uses hot sesame oil to ease tension and stress as well as nourish the skin. And with massages, It often takes me a few minutes to adjust to someone else touching my body. But needless to say, as soon as the hot seaseme oil was put on my skin, again, all qualms about what my body looked like on that table were gone.
Details for this massage will have to be asked in person. No need to scare the children on the blog here. ;)
After Chris receieved an amazing Shiatsu massage from a different masseur and said it was so wonderful that she cried at the end, and I received my hot oil massage which even after I washed it off the oil left a wonderful unreal softness to my skin, we decided to take a drive to Orvieto.
Orvieto is an interesting town, about an hour from where we were staying. The town, which is very underrated, interestingly enough was built on top of tufa, a volcanic ash. Thousands of years after a volcano erupted leaving this plateau of tufa, the Etruscan townspeople decided that this was a great place to stake their claim. On top of the tufa plateau made them feel powerful and safe because at the highest part of the city, they could spot any enemies coming. However, after we took a tour called the Orvieto Underground, we were able to see all of the tunnels, cellars, wells, and secret passageways that these people carved underneath their city. Over 1,200 of these different tunnels have been found below and although Chris and I toured through basic volcanic ash, I feel like we were in a stone cave. I found it remarkable how these people breed pigeons for food and dug over 300 feet down to the bottom searching for water down here.
After the tour, Chris and I enjoyed looking at the, as always, gorgeous scenary. We drove back home, crying because we were laughing so much along the way. Arrived at our spa to go to our deli for more snacks and wine, went to the hotel and enjoyed another great meal (still not as great as the night before-I will forever compare everything to that meal...) and spent a quiet night reading, packing because tomorrow we leave for Sorrento, and just drinking wine.
Simple. Perfect.
Ciao.
Love love,
Adrienne
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