One Week Later...

Ciao di'nuovo! (Hi again!)

The past several days have been a very cultural experience! We are definitely immersed in the Italian culture and learning so much about the Italians' way of life and about the country in general. Today was the third day of our Italian crash course. Before I came to Italy, I had more than six years of Spanish and have been told that Italian would be easy because the two languages are very similar. However, I have found in the past week that knowing Spanish makes learning Italian much harder! First of all, Italian is a very difficult language to learn, and since the languages are so similar, it is hard to not mix up the words and tenses and grammar. We have about 12 people in our class, most of whom have taken Spanish previously. Our teachers have to keep telling us not to speak Spanish. Apparently the Italians get very offended if we try to speak Spanish to them, thinking that they'll understand it just because the two languages are so similar. My teachers names are Francesca and Mariangela - they are very nice and helpful in giving us advice as to where to go in Florence to buy certain things, but they also speak no English, which makes it difficult to understand, but easier to learn Italian. Mariangela always shows up to class in the SAME exact outfit she has worn since Monday. It's weird. I don't know if it's an Italian thing, but we find it very strange. But anyways, I am learning so much already and have already done well - for a beginner - communicating with the Italians at the markets.

I still find it very easy to fit in here and to get around. One thing I have learned is that Italians and Americans do not share the same "politeness," and Italians are not politically correct whatsoever (which explains Grandma and her bluntness!). What we Americans would perceive to be rude, is not rude to the Italians - for example, when walking on the sidewalks, which are extremely narrow, no one, including men, will get out of the way for you to walk past them. I have been knocked off the sidewalk several times already (and I have a boot - you'd think they'd get out of the way for me!), and they don't even say "Scusa" or "Mi dispiache" (excuse me, or I'm sorry). They probably find it very strange that we say mi dispiache every time we bump into them. This morning my umbrella and I were knocked into the street a million times because no one cared about maneuvering their umbrella to accomodate me and my umbrella. At orientation, the counselors told us that it is considered strange to smile at a random person on the street who you do not know -- and that is very true. Everytime I have smiled at an Italian on the street, they just stare or look away. I have gotten used to it though and have learned to just push and shove back without caring. Another thing we've noticed is that the men have no chivalry. They don't care if the women get knocked in the face with the doors that they don't hold, or if they knock you onto the street. Patee's Italian teacher told her that "ti amo" (I love you) is only used between a married man and woman and it is considered strange to say it to a friend or family mate (which also explains Grandma and Dad's family!). The Italians are also soo blunt ... they will say whatever the hell they want to say and not even worry if it will offend someone. Additionally, whenever we are in restaurants, the waiters/waitresses/cashiers don't care about us. They don't care about customer service one bit ... we sat at the Red Garter the other night and waited around for a waitress to pay attention to us for about 30 minutes (only because we really wanted hamburgers and fries!). At our favorite panini shop, the waitress' friends will come in with a boom box and start playing techno music extremely loud and they will all start dancing in the middle of the restaurant. It's funny to watch, and it's so rare for us to see something like that in a restaurant. A manager would freak out in America if his employees were doing that, but not here! Whenever we walk through the market, the male vendors try and stop us and get us to buy their stuff. It's hard because if you jsut take one little peep or glance at their products, they will chase you down the street -- it's way too hard for me to walk through a huge aisle and market of leather shoes and jackets and purses without looking! I am on a mission to find a cute leather jacket and cute leather boots for a decent, good price before I leave. It'll give me time to bargain and find the good prices, especially with them seeing me walk through and looking everyday. :) Today one of the male vendors at the market, who says something to Patee, Marielle and me every single day, yelled "Won't you just love me for five minutes?" Yesterday he asked us if we were Charlie's Angels, and the day before he asked us, "Don't you wish your boyfriend was hott like me?" We just laugh hysterically and walk away. He enjoys it.

On Monday, my Italian teacher told me that I must pronounce my last name the way the Italians do while I'm here (ForCHina). When I went to buy my Italian textbook at the LdM library, the cashier asked me what my last name was and I told him, Forcina. He said "Like the hairpin?" I laughed because I wasn't sure what he said and thought he was making a joke. But then he asked again, and I asked him if that was really what it meant, and he said yes. Surprised that our family has never heard that before, I went to the Italian dictionary and found out that, yes, forcina does mean hairpin! What do ya know.

We have still been napping everyday after eating lunch at our favorite panini shop because the four-hour Italian class everyday has been exhausting. Today after lunch we went to the market for the first time, where we bought lots of fresh fruit, dried fruit, salad and chicken. We made (well, Marielle really made it) fettucini for our friends, salad and garlic bread for dinner at our apartment. It was a lot of fun, and I'm finally learning how to be somewhat domestic by cooking - Mark would be proud, even though he probably doesn't believe me that I'm finally learning how to cook! Marielle also made marinara sauce and meatballs on Monday night and we had a fun little roommate dinner in our apartment. Marielle and I are going to learn how to make manicotti sometime soon because that's one of my favorite meals that Grandma used to make. Patee made garlic bread the other night, taught by Marielle, and I had three pieces. She's pretty proud of herself, haha. I made the homemade garlic bread tonight and it was yummy! Anyways, the market is awesome, but it is also pretty gruesome. It has pig noses, cow stomach and shaved cat hanging up in the vendor shops. It's disgusting, but once you go upstairs, you get to the good stuff - all of the fruit! I can't wait to take Daddy there because he is going to LOVE it and help me learn how to pick out good fruit - it'll remind him of the Guss' Fruit Market days, like it does for me. It's also a really good place for me to practice using my Italian and learning - I was very impressed and proud of myself (it's not much that I know, but hey, I'm a beginner!).

We were told at orientation that probably a lot of Europeans and Italians will try and talk to us about the new president because they are so shocked that we have elected Obama. We've only run into one person at the market who asked us, but all he asked was where we were from and he had a big smile and said "OBAMA?!?!?!" I just walked away, figuring it was for the best (ha). Our group of friends went to the Red Garter again on Tuesday evening to watch the inauguration. It was pretty cool because they had it on a big TV screen and the bar was full of Americans celebrating. It was a beautiful inauguration, and was on the front page of the Italian papers this morning.

One thing that has been frustrating about Florence is how rainy it is! It has rained everyday since we've gotten here, which makes it difficult to go touring around the city. We still want to tour the Duomo and climb it to the top, but we have to wait for a sunny day. We also want to go back to Ponte Vecchio so that we can take pictures of it in daylight. We've passed by our friend's ristorante everyday, and we know each other by name now. His name is Marco and he is so funny! He loves when we come in and say ciao to him and he always asks us to come have some pizza or vino, but we have to go back sometime later this week. He looks SO Italian, similarly to UJ and Daddy. I saw a sweatshirt the other day that said "princapesa" on it, which made me smile because that's what Grandpa and Daddy have always called me (princess in Italian). I am very tempted to buy it, or maybe I'll just let Daddy buy it when he comes ...... :)

OK, well I am off to bed because it is late once again and we have Italian class early in the morning ... a domani (see you tomorrow) e buona sera (and good night)!