Pompeii and Eminem

From Rome, I headed off to Pompeii by train.  The change in Naples wasn't as daunting as I expected and there I boarded a regional train to Pompeii. The difference between the two trains, long distance and regional, is like comparing Amtrak to the L or the Metro. No matter, it's getting me where I need to go and is providing beautiful scenery along the way. 
Pompeii, the part I saw, was not what I expected, athough I never made it into the city center. My hotel was not even .25 miles from the ruins and as soon as I checked in, I set off in search of the preserved (in relative terms) city. The remains are quite astonishing in that there are fairly well intact, especially the Villa Dei Misteri, and in the sense that it is a City. And just like any city, getting around the whole thing takes time. More time than I expected. I grabbed the audio tour and spent four hours wandering the site without seeing it all. In hindsight I should have done a guided tour, but money was on my mind and the audio tour seemed as if it would suffice. 
Back at the hotel, my feet covered in dust (I wore sandels having no idea how vast the area was), I inquired about places for dinner and was basically left with the sole choice of dining at the hotel. I was skeptical about it because for the longest time no one was showing up to dine on the terrace near my room. 
And then I heard it. The shrilling laugh of teenage girls. 
I poked my head out the door and noticed three tables filled with them. Well, at least there are people dining there now, might as well join them. I settled in and my waiter, who spoke broken English at best, and I attempted to converse about my order. Vino rosso. L'aqua, naturale. La speciale. Done. The only other single diner there was seated next to me, a German, I found out, in Pompeii as an archeologist for four months. The group of squeeking girls, he informed me, is actually a school group from New Zealand. Funny how I must not have been much older than they when I first visited Europe. Just as excited to get away from home, just as excited to be - gasp - drinking!! and legally! I couldn't help but be jealous of their excitement - not that I would ever go through puberty again if you paid me. But the innocence about their visit was something to desire. While my trip here to most is one big vacation, to me, it's not quite so simple. Something is missing and I don't know what it is. These teenage girls don't think much past what their next homework assignment is or who to take to prom. Life, although they don't know it, is simple. Life seems to get more complicated as time goes on. But, as we say in the computer business, maybe that's just an operator error. Maybe sometimes we - I - make a mountain out of a molehill. All I know is my brain is constantly filled. Filed with things to do, things to say, things not to say, people to see. There is no free space. I've known this for quite some time and have flat out ignored it. And I guess, in a nushell, that's what this trip is about. Finding free space. And all the various ways that can be interpretted.
But I have completely digressssed. While all of this was going on in my head, siting there on the terrace with Mount Vesurius in the background, the ruins of a two thousand year old city within sight and with a lovely bottle of local red wine that fizzes when you open it, it's so young, the radio is playing over the speakers. From the Italian chatter I can tell it is similar to a top 40 station. And there, in an ancient town, Eminem and Rihanna come through air with Love the Way You Lie.  I couldn't help but grin ear to ear. A collision of two worlds and two cultures. As homesickness has already started to sink in, it is a nice reminder that while 'free space' is on the docit, home will always be home. And that, despite all my rambling, is comforting. Even if the reminder comes in the form of Eminem, I'll take it.