living free

Morcheeba sings about 'living free' and the words waft through the trees from the dj booth on the shore. White pebbles glint in the sun and little kids squeal as they paddle in the water, it's 'freddissima'; very very cold. Mountains loom across the lake in different shades of blue, rolling clouds obscuring their peaks. Listening to the many Italian voices undulating around me, I realise that for the first time, I'm the only foreigner in a group of Italians. (I'm picking up a lot of useful slang.)

I'm lying on the grass at Lago del Borgo. Germans and Dutch holiday here a lot, as well as Italians of course. There's a good wind here for 5 months of the year so it's packed with windsurfers. Today there's a competition so plenty of guys are walking around looking like they think they're hot (admittedly, a lot of them are). There's a notable absence of alcohol here, as always in Italy there are just a few beers here and there, for an Aussie it's pretty weird.

Gio and his friends are great, always friendly, often stopping to check that I understand at least a bit of what's being said and often assuring me that I am 'bravissima' - very clever. Yesterday we ate dinner at the top of a hill, overlooking the lake and the mountains with the lights of the town glittering below us. The drive back was a gentle spiral around the water, down the hills into the town with the oncoming headlights of maniac Italians dodging around us. Today has been a day of relaxing, listening to surprisingly good music, watching my friends struggle to control their sails in the wind, talking bits of Italian and teaching a few English words on request, lying under a sun that is pleasantly warm, opening my eyes every now and then to take in the bella vista.

Not a bad way to spend a weekend.