What a day!

Orientation in the morning (just the coordinators of the program going over some last minute stuff), another piece of delicious pizza from a local pizzeria, some more grocery shopping at the cute shop Parma (where I accidentally bought bleach instead of laundry detergent-whoopsies! hehe), and finally learned my way down the skinny road Via dei Priori to Umbra 1 all by myself! Spent some time wandering through the enormous book store, spent 75 euro on text books for classes (not too shabby I guess?), and finally got onto the internet for the first time since arriving in Italy, minus the 5 minutes I got on my roommate’s computer at Hotel Gio to email the fam to let them know I was alive. I got to chat with Mel, Brittany, Dave, Tara, Maddie, and Maggi- it was so great to talk to people. I’m so far away! It was kind of hard to look at pictures from Denison, but can’t wait to post my photos (that I must take more of) and post them so they can see what I’m talking about!

The highlight of the day, though, was me & Elisha’s surprise excursion at the adorable Fashion Café & Bar right next to Bartolo 16 (one of the Umbra school buildings where classes are held). After getting some quality internet time in at Bartolo where wireless is free!, E wanted some coffee so we stopped with her at this place because a) it is literally right next door to Umbra I and b) we read that it was a good place in our student handbook. I wish we could have credit for finding this place all on our own, but oh well. The guy behind the counter, a dark, handsome (of course) Italian guy a couple years older than us didn’t speak English- Elisha asked straight away if he spoke English, and he responded with a friendly smile and laugh, the only word I recognized was “problemo,” and knew immediately that he had said something like “No, that’s going to make this a problem.” We understood, and he called to a girl a couple years older than him who was sitting outside who apparently knew a little English to come and help translate. E tried to explain that she wanted an iced vanilla latte- only to discover after some pointing to ingredients and guessing that “latte” means “milk” in Italian. So, she wound up with a drink that was basically milk with a bit of espresso over ice, but it worked. The girl who helped us was so kind and friendly- she could tell we were American (as could everyone, I’m sure), and would blabber off in beautiful Italian to us. We would wish we could understand her, and then she would remember that we couldn’t and try to spit out her “stupid English” as she called it. As she is speaking, we flipped through the phrase book trying to spit out our pathetic Italian to ask to see a drink menu for future notice. She kept telling us that we were “two beautiful girl,” and gave Elisha her drink for 1 euro and warned us with another laugh that “tomorrow was 10 euro” (thanks to another amused Italian inside who translated for us). We learned her name was Flavia, and the guy behind the counter with her was her brother (*EDIT* our italian comprehension sucks. he's actually her cousin, we later found out). We introduced ourselves ("mi chiamo Alison") and told her I was from NEW YORK (there's no use trying to explain that there is more to new york than "la citta"- the city). She got excited and kept trying to say things to us, and asked us how to say some words of ingredients she had lying around- she picked up the whipped cream bottle and asked the word (it is “panna” in Italian, I believe), all in the meantime us laughing at ourselves because we had barely an idea of what was going on, are trying to use our phrase book to help each other out, and we are thrilled the Flavia and her cousin Sem are so kind and friendly to us. When she first learned that we were American, she immediately boasted her most practiced English phrase, which she had down to a T (excuse me), “His dick is very small!” and pointed to Sem. We laughed a lot and told her she probably shouldn’t say that a lot. She responded loudly and happily again, “No, it is very --- “ and motioned with her hands “BIG”. Sam, I’m pretty sure, was clueless, but smiled along with it all anyways. We were having such a good time- we must have been in there for half an hour trying to decode each other. She tried to help us by using the phrase book, and when another customer (a regular, no doubt), acted a bit annoyed/impatient that Flavia was so distracted by us to help him, she again proudly flaunted her English (again, excuse my .. English?)- “Fuck you!” More laughing.
We eventually figured out how to say, thanks to my phrase book, the words “domani” (“tomorrow”) and “lavorare” (“work”) into a question to find out if we could see her again there tomorrow. She said yes and E & I knew we’d be back . We made an agreement with Flavia (I think she understood, at least) that we would teach each other a couple words every day. We taught her “tomorrow”, “whipped cream”, and “work”, and we learned the difference between a mixed coffee drink and “latte”. We bid them very peppy “Ciao!”s and “arrivederci!”s and vowed to go back tomorrow before/after Italian class.

Wowie. It felt AMAZING to socialize with kind, friendly, patient locals, both E & I agreed. We can’t WAIT to have more experiences like that, and imagine ourselves as regulars as the Fashion. That’s the kind of thing I’m looking for here, I think. Exposure, immersion, comfort. Knowing that eventually, I won’t stick out so obviously as an American and will no longer be looked down upon as arrogant and as an easy target for harassment and theft. Maybe, as our Italian improves, I could even be friends with Flavia and Sam! E & I blabbered about it our whole way back to the apartment, and were on a high from it all evening.

We just cooked a dinner better than last night—this time we used a better sauce for the pasta, and added some fresh unsalted bread (not sure if I like that) with butter and some corn. Deeelish. Tonight we’re getting dressed up and checking out our first Italian bar. Perugia, here we come!

Italian class starts tomorrow- I just can’t WAIT to learn more!!

12:16am
Tonight we hit up our first Italian bar! We went to La Tana, a popular local bar, and got offered free tequila shots upon our arrival. I guess it pays to be a lady. The waitress and other man in charge spoke English, which helped very much. I ordered a Cosmopolitan and it was delicious. I liked the bar, it was a nice atmosphere and the drinks were awesome. It was weird that most things were being conducted in English- there were all kinds of students there but I heard a lot of English. Even the raffle for free Corona t-shirts (haha) was in English. And, like most places I’ve found around town, they were playing American music. It’s nice to get a taste of home like that, but I was hoping to escape the PussyCat Dolls when in Italy- *sings* when I grow up, I wanna be famous … blah blah blah. I seriously heard that playing out of a café today. But I can get over that- I don’t know who I am if I’m complaining about music. We’ll definitely go to La Tana again, and we passed tons more on the way back that are on our list.

Now we’re back because we have 5 scattered hours of Italian class tomorrow. I want to go to bed but the restaurant that we live above is still hopping and the noise is floating into the room. It’s a bit loud for my liking, but at least they aren’t blasting American disco music (yup, heard “Stayin’ Alive) like they were last night through 2am. Shep first floor last year, anyone? (that’s for you, Steph Tara & Katie). But I feel as though I have no right to complain about ANYTHING here. I am so lucky to be here that I will seriously take whatever I can get. More to come.