Tuesdays are going to be long this semester.
We started this morning with Fabio's Intercultural Communication class again. Today we watched a clip from "Pay It Forward" where Kevin Spacey's character assigns his students the following essay subject:
"Think of an idea to change our world and put it into action."
Fabio encouraged us to discuss what this assignment could mean and how it applies to our lives as foreigners right now. He said we will be going back to this idea a lot this semester as we try to change our perspective of the world and learn to embrace diversity within ourselves.
This is turning out to be my favorite class so far. Fabio asks really tough questions that encourage some serious soul-searching. It's fascinating to hear his views on culture and individualism, and to think about what it means to me personally to call myself an American.
Right after I.C., we had Italian with Gloria again, who was just as scatterbrained today, but at least I learned how to introduce myself in Italian.
We followed this class with lunch again at the 2.50 sandwich shop, then headed to the large lecture hall for Italian Art with Rocky. It turns out Rocky is from Connecticut and moved to Italy about a decade ago. Even though I can understand my Italian teachers when they speak, it's refreshing to have Rocky who understands our culture and concerns a little better than the other professors.
I think I'm really going to love Rocky's class. We have our first field trip Thursday at the Piazza Repubblica. We have field trips every week to various museums, churches and architectural sites around Florence. It's going to be great!
Right after Rocky's class, I have Comparative Media with Francesca. Today was a short class. Francesca introduced herself and we introduced ourselves, then went around the class discussing what "communication" means to us and what channels we personally use to communicate.
After class, Erika and I stopped at the grocery store again and bought enough to stock our fridge for the first time this semester. I bought more of those shelf eggs and came home to make a delicious gorgonzola omelet.
Tonight we'll be heading to the four-girl apartment to book our spring break trip to Interlaken, Croatia and Greece. I hope it goes better than yesterday when we tried to book trips... We narrowed down where we wanted to go, but didn't get around to booking anything. Instead Erika, Bethany, Kevin, and I played Rummy and made pasta, then went to another apartment where our attempt to vote on trips turned into a party. Not exactly productive. But hopefully we'll do better tonight with a more compact plan.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Kevin Spacey and Fabio
Day One of classes is officially over. I didn't have to be up until about 9 a.m. today since my first class (Elementary Italian One) doesn't begin until 10:45.
We made breakfast at home today and ate together since Erika and I are in the same Italian class and Bethany's Italian Two class is also at 10:45.
Fourth Lesson Learned: Shelf eggs are pretty tasty.
Remember a few posts back how I said they don't refrigerate their eggs in Italy? I bought a carton of brown eggs at the supermercado two or three days ago that I found sitting on a shelf between the bread and the cereal. If you want eggs in this country, that is the only way to buy them. All the dairy here is sketch.
So this morning I ate an egg that has been sitting out on the counter for several days and drank a glass of milk out of a carton that's been sitting in the pantry for a week. Freaky, right?
I was a little terrified to try the egg, since earlier this week two of the other girls from our class ate cured sausage and got sick because "cured" basically translates to "Here, eat this raw meat."
But I do love eggs and have been craving an omelet for the past week, so I decided today would be the day to be brave and go for it.
Since we have yet to find butter anywhere, and they certainly don't have PAM, I poured some olive oil in a skillet and cooked one egg into an omelet. I put the omelet on a piece of toast and made an egg sandwich that turned out to be surprisingly delicious and filling. I might even venture to say that my shelf egg was better than the eggs I eat in America (definitely far and beyond the liquid ladle eggs they serve at Eastway in Kent).
The taste was good enough to almost allow me to forget that I was drinking week-old, non-refrigerated milk and days old non-refrigerated eggs (and yogurt - which I'm becoming addicted to since I found really cheap, delicious yogurt here - but the yogurt they do refrigerate). It was a fantastic breakfast.
The three of us made our way to class and arrived ten minutes early for our respective Italian classes.
Erika and I had class with Gloria in the Giotto classroom. We learned the alfabeto and classroom phrases like, "Yes, I understand;" "No, I don't understand;" "I have a question;" and many other short, helpful phrases. We ended the class by practicing spelling our names in pairs.
Our second class was Intercultural Communication fifteen minutes later in the same classroom. Our professor for this one is Fabio. This was my first time meeting him, but I really like him so far (I haven't met anyone yet whom I don't like).
We spent most of the class introducing ourselves and asking Fabio questions about life in Italy.
"Culture shock is always positive," Fabio told us. We talked about how anytime you experience something new, you learn something good that can be taken away to make you a better person. It's a great way to look at an unfamiliar situation.
Fabio said he wants this class to help change our way of viewing the world and to mature and shape us to be world ambassadors.
... But he also told us Kevin Spacey would be visiting our class. We all just kind of stared at him.
"Like, the actor Kevin Spacey? The Kevin Spacey?" I asked.
It took us a little while to figure out Fabio was kidding. I think we might have problems with that this semester since Fabio seems to be very sarcastic, but with his accent, it's difficult to pick up on his sarcasm.
It turns out Kevin Spacey is just one of his favorite actors - "I wish I knew him and could invite him to come to class" - and Fabio will be showing us movie and television clips from Italy and America to help us recognize and understand differences in culture.
Fabio assigned us homework to describe who we are in three sentences, to be handed in and discussed in class tomorrow. That's going to be rough, but Fabio told us that's the idea. He wants to challenge us a lot this semester. Part of our homework every week will be to choose one new experience that challenges us, puzzles us or just makes us think because of it's foreign nature, and remember it to discuss in class. We can present these experiences any way that suites us - through writing, speaking, video, art, etc. Those are going to be very cool assignments as well.
After class, we got sandwiches (ham, goat cheese and spinaci) at a corner store on the same street as the school and did a little grocery shopping. Now we're hanging out for the afternoon and beginning to plan our big weekend trips. Any ideas where to go in Europe?
We made breakfast at home today and ate together since Erika and I are in the same Italian class and Bethany's Italian Two class is also at 10:45.
Fourth Lesson Learned: Shelf eggs are pretty tasty.
Remember a few posts back how I said they don't refrigerate their eggs in Italy? I bought a carton of brown eggs at the supermercado two or three days ago that I found sitting on a shelf between the bread and the cereal. If you want eggs in this country, that is the only way to buy them. All the dairy here is sketch.
So this morning I ate an egg that has been sitting out on the counter for several days and drank a glass of milk out of a carton that's been sitting in the pantry for a week. Freaky, right?
I was a little terrified to try the egg, since earlier this week two of the other girls from our class ate cured sausage and got sick because "cured" basically translates to "Here, eat this raw meat."
But I do love eggs and have been craving an omelet for the past week, so I decided today would be the day to be brave and go for it.
Since we have yet to find butter anywhere, and they certainly don't have PAM, I poured some olive oil in a skillet and cooked one egg into an omelet. I put the omelet on a piece of toast and made an egg sandwich that turned out to be surprisingly delicious and filling. I might even venture to say that my shelf egg was better than the eggs I eat in America (definitely far and beyond the liquid ladle eggs they serve at Eastway in Kent).
The taste was good enough to almost allow me to forget that I was drinking week-old, non-refrigerated milk and days old non-refrigerated eggs (and yogurt - which I'm becoming addicted to since I found really cheap, delicious yogurt here - but the yogurt they do refrigerate). It was a fantastic breakfast.
The three of us made our way to class and arrived ten minutes early for our respective Italian classes.
Erika and I had class with Gloria in the Giotto classroom. We learned the alfabeto and classroom phrases like, "Yes, I understand;" "No, I don't understand;" "I have a question;" and many other short, helpful phrases. We ended the class by practicing spelling our names in pairs.
Our second class was Intercultural Communication fifteen minutes later in the same classroom. Our professor for this one is Fabio. This was my first time meeting him, but I really like him so far (I haven't met anyone yet whom I don't like).
We spent most of the class introducing ourselves and asking Fabio questions about life in Italy.
"Culture shock is always positive," Fabio told us. We talked about how anytime you experience something new, you learn something good that can be taken away to make you a better person. It's a great way to look at an unfamiliar situation.
Fabio said he wants this class to help change our way of viewing the world and to mature and shape us to be world ambassadors.
... But he also told us Kevin Spacey would be visiting our class. We all just kind of stared at him.
"Like, the actor Kevin Spacey? The Kevin Spacey?" I asked.
It took us a little while to figure out Fabio was kidding. I think we might have problems with that this semester since Fabio seems to be very sarcastic, but with his accent, it's difficult to pick up on his sarcasm.
It turns out Kevin Spacey is just one of his favorite actors - "I wish I knew him and could invite him to come to class" - and Fabio will be showing us movie and television clips from Italy and America to help us recognize and understand differences in culture.
Fabio assigned us homework to describe who we are in three sentences, to be handed in and discussed in class tomorrow. That's going to be rough, but Fabio told us that's the idea. He wants to challenge us a lot this semester. Part of our homework every week will be to choose one new experience that challenges us, puzzles us or just makes us think because of it's foreign nature, and remember it to discuss in class. We can present these experiences any way that suites us - through writing, speaking, video, art, etc. Those are going to be very cool assignments as well.
After class, we got sandwiches (ham, goat cheese and spinaci) at a corner store on the same street as the school and did a little grocery shopping. Now we're hanging out for the afternoon and beginning to plan our big weekend trips. Any ideas where to go in Europe?
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Sleeping In
So today was a very lazy Sunday. I slept until 10 a.m. and woke up alone in the apartment, since Erika and Bethany slept over at the six-person apartment after going out last night.
I didn't know this until I woke up and found myself alone, but I was able to locate them by sending a few Facebook messages. I spent the next hour or two alone on Facebook and reading "Every Day In Tuscany," a book I brought with me by Frances Mayes, the author of "Under the Tuscan Sun."
Once le Ragazze di Aprile were reunited, we made mozzarella, spinaci e pomodori paninis on our George Foreman panini press and cafe Americano in our espresso maker (because we have both of those things - I can feel your jealousy) for lunch.
We spent the rest of the day lounging around the house until I went to the four-girl apartment for spaghetti dinner with Lydia and Caitlin. It was a brief but relaxing evening hanging out and learning a new card game from Lydia (Dutch Blitz; similar to double solitaire; lots of fun, even though Lydia crushed me).
I got home just in time for my 8 p.m. Skype date with the one and only Mike Cooknick (Oh my god Mike Cooknick the Mike Cooknick I know him!). And just got off Skype with him and my mom. It was so good to see them, even though we realized there wasn't much to talk about because of the blog (although we must have found something to discuss since we talked for two hours).
Anyhow, now it's time for a few more cookies (we found chocolate chip cookies at the 99 Cent store that are actually really good) and maybe a little reading before bed. Tomorrow is the first day of classes and I have Italian at 10:45. Luckily, it's not a super early day, but it will be early enough.
So buona notte, amici! And I will write again soon.
I didn't know this until I woke up and found myself alone, but I was able to locate them by sending a few Facebook messages. I spent the next hour or two alone on Facebook and reading "Every Day In Tuscany," a book I brought with me by Frances Mayes, the author of "Under the Tuscan Sun."
Once le Ragazze di Aprile were reunited, we made mozzarella, spinaci e pomodori paninis on our George Foreman panini press and cafe Americano in our espresso maker (because we have both of those things - I can feel your jealousy) for lunch.
We spent the rest of the day lounging around the house until I went to the four-girl apartment for spaghetti dinner with Lydia and Caitlin. It was a brief but relaxing evening hanging out and learning a new card game from Lydia (Dutch Blitz; similar to double solitaire; lots of fun, even though Lydia crushed me).
I got home just in time for my 8 p.m. Skype date with the one and only Mike Cooknick (Oh my god Mike Cooknick the Mike Cooknick I know him!). And just got off Skype with him and my mom. It was so good to see them, even though we realized there wasn't much to talk about because of the blog (although we must have found something to discuss since we talked for two hours).
Anyhow, now it's time for a few more cookies (we found chocolate chip cookies at the 99 Cent store that are actually really good) and maybe a little reading before bed. Tomorrow is the first day of classes and I have Italian at 10:45. Luckily, it's not a super early day, but it will be early enough.
So buona notte, amici! And I will write again soon.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
A Day With My Favorite Italian
It's the weekend! At last.
This week has been amazing, but I am so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.
Bethany and I headed out early again this morning for our last 9 a.m. orientation with Gloria. We just made it on time, even though I was dragging because the brand new tennis shoes I wore all day yesterday gave me really bad blisters. I really wish I had a pedometer to see how much I've walked this week. I heard someone in one of the groups bought one and walked two miles in the two hours with Gloria yesterday. I believe that.
Today's lesson was on art and how Michelangelo "liked to make fun and so he was boonched in the nose" (as Gloria put it). That's why his nose is broken in so many portraits of him, apparently.
Gloria also told us that Michelangelo's David was carved out of another sculptor's rejected marble. The other sculptor started to carve a person out of the marble, gave up, and gave it to Michelangelo, who refurbished it into the David. Talk about flip this rock.
We toured the sculptures at Piazza della Signoria - the gateway to the Museo Uffizi - walked through the alleyway (a work of art in itself with its own sculptures of famous Florentines and actors posing as living sculptures) and wandered around the Arno and Ponte Vecchio while Gloria talked about tourists and provided more history about the Ponte Vecchio. I missed much of this last part because I was having trouble getting close enough to hear her mouse voice. At least I already know one important thing about Ponte Vecchio : Dr. Lecter himself spent some time hanging out there.
Yes. Because anywhere Hannibal is must be a prime vacation spot... And on a lighter note, I stood there today!
We also toured some of the ancient churches here. Many of them look very plain and unimpressive from the outside, but are just as gorgeous and full of art as any museum (and much more amazing than many museums I've seen) on the inside.
I didn't get any good photos in the churches because none of them allowed photos without a flash, but it was a fun tour nonetheless.
After this, I walked to Il Duomo where I sat on the front steps and waited for Elena, one of my best friends from high school, who is currently studying in Rome for three weeks and was able to come visit me in Firenze.
We caused quite a scene and probably looked like really obnoxious Americans running to meet each other in the Piazza. But it was so awesome to be able to hang out with an old friend from home in ITALY. I mean, who does that? Especially at our age. We're unbelievably fortunate.
The first thing we did was get paninis for lunch and head to a sunny bench on the Piazza to eat while we caught up on what Elena has been doing with her Italian class in Rome and what I have been doing here in Firenze.
While we ate, we fed pigeons bits of our sandwiches, until an Italian woman next to us scolded her son for imitating us... oops. Dumb Americans.
We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at the outdoor market at Piazza della Republica, where I bought a scarf and was accosted by some man trying to sell me a leather jacket. I tried on a jacket in the style I've had my heart set on, but the guy was so pushy, I ended up not buying. Also, he dumped water on my sleeve and tried to light me on fire to prove how durable the jacket was. These vendors are intense.
Elena and I then made our way back to the statues we toured in the morning and took our photos posing as some of our favorite famous Florentines.
A living statue dressed as a really creepy cupid blew us kisses when we walked past. Elena took a picture of a really fluffy dog that clearly thought it was a lot tougher than it actually was since it barked and growled at her.
We walked along the Arno while Elena took a lot of the photos I've already taken this week. It was hard to get over the fact that we were in Firenze together hanging out together just like we've done since high school (but in a much grander scale today).
Once we got too tired to keep going, I took Elena back to my apartment for a tour and to meet the roommates before the two of us went to Il Giardino del Barbano Pizzeria where I got pizza with my roommates our first night. We shared a delicious funghi pizza and salad, then sat around awkwardly wondering how to pay. The Sexy Waiter from our first night took our money from the table and we left, but not before we saw the waiter pointing at our table and saying something, at which the other waiter and the cooks laughed... Fantastic.
Elena hung out at our apartment again for about an hour before leaving to catch her train back to Rome.
Bethany and Erika just went out with the rest of our group, but I'm staying home to watch Italian TV and relax before an early bedtime. I'm wiped out from all the walking today, but it was another perfect day in Firenze. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow and spend the day relaxing.
Buona notte, tutta!
This week has been amazing, but I am so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.
Bethany and I headed out early again this morning for our last 9 a.m. orientation with Gloria. We just made it on time, even though I was dragging because the brand new tennis shoes I wore all day yesterday gave me really bad blisters. I really wish I had a pedometer to see how much I've walked this week. I heard someone in one of the groups bought one and walked two miles in the two hours with Gloria yesterday. I believe that.
Today's lesson was on art and how Michelangelo "liked to make fun and so he was boonched in the nose" (as Gloria put it). That's why his nose is broken in so many portraits of him, apparently.
Gloria also told us that Michelangelo's David was carved out of another sculptor's rejected marble. The other sculptor started to carve a person out of the marble, gave up, and gave it to Michelangelo, who refurbished it into the David. Talk about flip this rock.
We toured the sculptures at Piazza della Signoria - the gateway to the Museo Uffizi - walked through the alleyway (a work of art in itself with its own sculptures of famous Florentines and actors posing as living sculptures) and wandered around the Arno and Ponte Vecchio while Gloria talked about tourists and provided more history about the Ponte Vecchio. I missed much of this last part because I was having trouble getting close enough to hear her mouse voice. At least I already know one important thing about Ponte Vecchio : Dr. Lecter himself spent some time hanging out there.
 |
| "I came halfway around the world to watch you run, Clarice." |
We also toured some of the ancient churches here. Many of them look very plain and unimpressive from the outside, but are just as gorgeous and full of art as any museum (and much more amazing than many museums I've seen) on the inside.
I didn't get any good photos in the churches because none of them allowed photos without a flash, but it was a fun tour nonetheless.
After this, I walked to Il Duomo where I sat on the front steps and waited for Elena, one of my best friends from high school, who is currently studying in Rome for three weeks and was able to come visit me in Firenze.
We caused quite a scene and probably looked like really obnoxious Americans running to meet each other in the Piazza. But it was so awesome to be able to hang out with an old friend from home in ITALY. I mean, who does that? Especially at our age. We're unbelievably fortunate.
The first thing we did was get paninis for lunch and head to a sunny bench on the Piazza to eat while we caught up on what Elena has been doing with her Italian class in Rome and what I have been doing here in Firenze.
While we ate, we fed pigeons bits of our sandwiches, until an Italian woman next to us scolded her son for imitating us... oops. Dumb Americans.
We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at the outdoor market at Piazza della Republica, where I bought a scarf and was accosted by some man trying to sell me a leather jacket. I tried on a jacket in the style I've had my heart set on, but the guy was so pushy, I ended up not buying. Also, he dumped water on my sleeve and tried to light me on fire to prove how durable the jacket was. These vendors are intense.
Elena and I then made our way back to the statues we toured in the morning and took our photos posing as some of our favorite famous Florentines.
A living statue dressed as a really creepy cupid blew us kisses when we walked past. Elena took a picture of a really fluffy dog that clearly thought it was a lot tougher than it actually was since it barked and growled at her.
We walked along the Arno while Elena took a lot of the photos I've already taken this week. It was hard to get over the fact that we were in Firenze together hanging out together just like we've done since high school (but in a much grander scale today).
Elena hung out at our apartment again for about an hour before leaving to catch her train back to Rome.
Bethany and Erika just went out with the rest of our group, but I'm staying home to watch Italian TV and relax before an early bedtime. I'm wiped out from all the walking today, but it was another perfect day in Firenze. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow and spend the day relaxing.
Buona notte, tutta!
Friday, Friday
Friday. Day two of orientation with Gloria.
Today we woke up way late - too much of a good time last night - and ended up making it to Gloria's class in the middle of a lecture on the train system in Italy. At least we arrived before the class left on our second field trip, and even before a few of our classmates.
Once everyone was there, Gloria took us on another long walk; this time to the Firenze Stazione Santa Maria Novella (SMN Train Station) to learn how to ride a train. Along the way, we stopped at another open air market so that Gloria could do some grocery shopping...
At the SMN, we learned how to read the train schedule, find our departure platform and buy tickets. I've been on one or two trains in my life, but only because of Michael's childhood obsession with trains - we never used a train to travel, only for fun. So I didn't really know much about how to catch a train. It seems though that it's just like in the United States except you must stamp your own ticket with your departure time to validate it, rather than have a conductor stamp it. I expected this because my aunt Barb has been to Italy before and taken trains and warned be about this, but it was helpful seeing it all firsthand with Gloria.
After the train station, we walked to a three-story bookstore nearby that Gloria recommended as a great place to study. It is a lot like a giant Borders with a cafe area and book nooks everywhere. The third floor (second in Italy) even has an extensive English section for fiction and nonfiction books. It was definitely a cozy and inviting place, and one I will have to return to soon.
This time, instead of leaving us in a random part of Florence after our tour, Gloria directed us back to Cerchi and we were able to find our way home from there. Bethany and I thought we would be able to eat lunch, nap and have a relaxing afternoon with nothing to do but go to Petra's "girl talk" session in the late afternoon. Turns out we were wrong.
While chilling at la casa and checking Facebook, I got a message from Petra to come to Cerchi for a meeting that started in half an hour. The meeting was with a post office official to fill out more paperwork associated with our stay permits. Bethany and I ended up running out to Cerchi instead of napping, grabbing ham and egg sandwiches at a corner cafe and eating them on the way like typical Americans.
Third Lesson Learned: Italians NEVER walk and eat. They also can't understand the American trend of carrying a water bottle. When we try to buy normal sized water bottles at the grocery store, they get confused and try to sell us large bottles too big to carry.
The post office meeting was kind of a joke. We sat around while they checked everyone's passport one at a time for an hour. Then several of us had to stick around for a special orientation for Honors students by Marcello and Marijka that lasted another hour, before we finally had the girls' meeting with Petra.
This meeting was not too bad. It was mainly a lecture on basic safety, like not leaving your drink unattended or walking alone, and a chance to ask Petra anything that was on our mind.
We finally left that meeting around 5 p.m. and used the rest of the evening before dinner to go to the 99 Cent store with the rest of the girls in our group and do a little bit of shopping and walking around. We went to the grocery store and, for the first time this trip, bought enough food to stock our refrigerator and pantry.
I've been craving an omelet for the past few days, so I was excited to buy eggs, until I realized that the eggs in Italy are ultra-pasteurized. Instead of being refrigerated, they were sitting on a shelf next to the milk (which, disturbingly enough, also does not need to be refrigerated in Italy) and bread. Weird. But I really wanted them, so I bought a carton of four to try this weekend.
I was also really happy to see peanut butter here, until I saw that it was 8 Euros for a jar half the size of the Jiff I'm used to. I passed on the peanut butter and bought a cheap can of peanuts instead. :(
Bethany, Erika and I took our purchases back to the apartment where we cooked a frozen pizza by cutting it in half and baking each half separately in the toaster oven. Toast in this oven takes about ten minutes for two slices, so we put the first half pizza in for twenty. It burned. Round two was much better.
We ended the evening at the six-girl apartment for girls night with the whole group (minus Glenn and Kevin, obviously). It was wonderful drinking Italian wine and eating fresh bread dipped in olive oil and parmesan cheese. We talked, laughed, played Pit, and painted our nails before going home late. It would have been the perfect end to a perfect week - if it was the end. We still have one more orientation tomorrow morning with Gloria.
But then it's the weekend in Firenze. :)
Today we woke up way late - too much of a good time last night - and ended up making it to Gloria's class in the middle of a lecture on the train system in Italy. At least we arrived before the class left on our second field trip, and even before a few of our classmates.
Once everyone was there, Gloria took us on another long walk; this time to the Firenze Stazione Santa Maria Novella (SMN Train Station) to learn how to ride a train. Along the way, we stopped at another open air market so that Gloria could do some grocery shopping...
At the SMN, we learned how to read the train schedule, find our departure platform and buy tickets. I've been on one or two trains in my life, but only because of Michael's childhood obsession with trains - we never used a train to travel, only for fun. So I didn't really know much about how to catch a train. It seems though that it's just like in the United States except you must stamp your own ticket with your departure time to validate it, rather than have a conductor stamp it. I expected this because my aunt Barb has been to Italy before and taken trains and warned be about this, but it was helpful seeing it all firsthand with Gloria.
After the train station, we walked to a three-story bookstore nearby that Gloria recommended as a great place to study. It is a lot like a giant Borders with a cafe area and book nooks everywhere. The third floor (second in Italy) even has an extensive English section for fiction and nonfiction books. It was definitely a cozy and inviting place, and one I will have to return to soon.
This time, instead of leaving us in a random part of Florence after our tour, Gloria directed us back to Cerchi and we were able to find our way home from there. Bethany and I thought we would be able to eat lunch, nap and have a relaxing afternoon with nothing to do but go to Petra's "girl talk" session in the late afternoon. Turns out we were wrong.
While chilling at la casa and checking Facebook, I got a message from Petra to come to Cerchi for a meeting that started in half an hour. The meeting was with a post office official to fill out more paperwork associated with our stay permits. Bethany and I ended up running out to Cerchi instead of napping, grabbing ham and egg sandwiches at a corner cafe and eating them on the way like typical Americans.
Third Lesson Learned: Italians NEVER walk and eat. They also can't understand the American trend of carrying a water bottle. When we try to buy normal sized water bottles at the grocery store, they get confused and try to sell us large bottles too big to carry.
The post office meeting was kind of a joke. We sat around while they checked everyone's passport one at a time for an hour. Then several of us had to stick around for a special orientation for Honors students by Marcello and Marijka that lasted another hour, before we finally had the girls' meeting with Petra.
This meeting was not too bad. It was mainly a lecture on basic safety, like not leaving your drink unattended or walking alone, and a chance to ask Petra anything that was on our mind.
We finally left that meeting around 5 p.m. and used the rest of the evening before dinner to go to the 99 Cent store with the rest of the girls in our group and do a little bit of shopping and walking around. We went to the grocery store and, for the first time this trip, bought enough food to stock our refrigerator and pantry.
I've been craving an omelet for the past few days, so I was excited to buy eggs, until I realized that the eggs in Italy are ultra-pasteurized. Instead of being refrigerated, they were sitting on a shelf next to the milk (which, disturbingly enough, also does not need to be refrigerated in Italy) and bread. Weird. But I really wanted them, so I bought a carton of four to try this weekend.
I was also really happy to see peanut butter here, until I saw that it was 8 Euros for a jar half the size of the Jiff I'm used to. I passed on the peanut butter and bought a cheap can of peanuts instead. :(
Bethany, Erika and I took our purchases back to the apartment where we cooked a frozen pizza by cutting it in half and baking each half separately in the toaster oven. Toast in this oven takes about ten minutes for two slices, so we put the first half pizza in for twenty. It burned. Round two was much better.
We ended the evening at the six-girl apartment for girls night with the whole group (minus Glenn and Kevin, obviously). It was wonderful drinking Italian wine and eating fresh bread dipped in olive oil and parmesan cheese. We talked, laughed, played Pit, and painted our nails before going home late. It would have been the perfect end to a perfect week - if it was the end. We still have one more orientation tomorrow morning with Gloria.
But then it's the weekend in Firenze. :)
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