Rimini, March 23rd. The 19 degrees of this early spring allow me not to shiver while sitting on the stairs of Piazza Cavour together with Marcin and Adam, two boys from Liskow, a Polish town of 5000 inhabitants.
They are in Rimini for a
4-week internship they are doing at the Amorimini restaurant. I immediately ask
what they think of Rimini, what they like and what they miss about Poland. Adam
says he is struck by the different cultures in the city and recommends a visit
to the old city, “a fascinating place where time seems to have stopped a hundred
years ago; moreover
its the right place to drink the typical Italian coffee ”.
Marcin fell in love with Rimini, “a city where you can recharge your batteries. I like to take long walks in Piazza Cavour, where we are now, but also in Piazza Tre Martiri or Borgo San Giuliano ”. He misses his family and the schabowy, the pork chop, from Poland.
“And what about the internship”, I ask?
They look at each other and smile. They are both satisfied with the way things are going at the restaurant, starting with relationships with colleagues who laugh and joke during their lunch break. With some of them they even go out in the evening and last Sunday they went to see the Rimini match.
“The internship” adds Adam, “is allowing me to learn new things that I can put into practice in the future. For example I am trying to learn Italian between one sentence in English and another ”.
And together with Marcin they give a try with a list of sentences learned during these two weeks: “ci vediamo”, “ho capito”, “la sala è piena”, “non c’è probelma” up to the surprising “bòna zurnèda ma tót ”, (good morning everybody in Rimini dialect).
Marcin is also very satisfied with the internship he is doing and tells me that he would like to stay and work in Rimini.
I ask them what they
think about the future, if the exclamation points will win over colored
question marks.
Both are focused on school and final exams but they wouldn’t mind returning to
Rimini one day. “Poi chi lo sa” (who knows) Marcin tells me in Italian. On
this slight, decisive indecision, we greet each other with a handshake and a
warm “goodbye” like a toast at the weekend.
It’s not yet half past eight but Rimini is as dreamlike and magical as a Fellini movie. I drive an used bike and take advantage of the 18 degrees (the temperature goes down slowly) to admire the debut of spring.
