Hello fine blog followers,
I’m so sorry that I’ve been so terrible about keeping up with this. I will try not to go more than 3 days, is that what it’s been? I’m gonna try to not let that happen again. So anyways, today is Tuesday so that means that I need to update about…Sunday and Monday and todayJ
Sunday was a great lazy day, especially after the marathon that was the Helen field trip. I guess I'm crazy though because I’ve already signed up for another one this weekend to Pisa and Lucca. It should be a little easier though because there’s not an extreme amount see in Pisa, well, I say that and watch, Helen is going to have us all signed up for some Iron Man, followed by some manual labor. So anyways, Sunday. We slept in and took a long walk along the Arno to shoot a roll of film. I love film, I wish it were easier and more practical to shoot film and process and print yourself. If only I had access to the studios I have access to now, for the rest of my life. We went to the market, and also went to Ikea to buy some more meatballs and some lotion that I knew was lotion. While we were in Ikea, the free bus only comes on the hour so we ended up having some time to waste. So Sally and I are fighting the crowds, you would have thought it was Black Friday with the amount of people fighting through Ikea. But we were wasting time and decided to buy some gelato. In America, you can buy frozen yogurt in a cone from Ikea for a dollar, which is a great deal because its good ice cream and it’s so cheap. Well get this, in Italy they have gelato in a cone, for 60 cents!! 40 cents if you have that special family card, so that’s my next order of business, to get my hands on one of those cards. So we were in line for our gelato and we get to the counter and I awkwardly cough and point and try to make it sound like I know what Im doing and saying. He kinda laughs and rings up the gelato and then hands me an empty cone and a coin like at chucky cheese. He then says something in Italian that included “self-service” so I nod, because of course I know what he’s talking about (not), then wait for Sally to do something similar. So after we get over the confusion we find the machine, I feel so lame but this is one of the coolest things I've done since I’ve been here. You put your cone in the little machine and then it lifts up the cone and you can pick if you want plain gelato, or gelato with little chocolate swirl or strawberry swirl, then it fills it by itself! It was so fun! America needs one of those.
Monday we had class; Monday and Wednesday classes are my favorite. Batik is the greatest. It’s so peaceful and relaxing, melting the little wax pot over the flame and tracing my drawing onto the silk scarf, it’s so fantastic. Again, I wish I had access to these things all the time. And then photography where I processed my first roll of film, which was so, exciting. Taking a roll of film out of the canister and loading it onto the reel in complete darkness wasn’t easy but I actually got mine done pretty quickly. It was so exciting to see my images on the film after it was all processed. I can’t wait to print! Creative writing is interesting, not my favorite class ever but I also don’t hate it. My teacher is an interesting bird, and he has very different views and opinions than me, but that also brings a whole other perspective to my time being here, which is fantastic. I feel like I’m already being pushed out of my comfort zone being here like this, might as well not hold back now.
We’ve been making a lot of our own food, which is amazing; it makes me feel better to know all the ingredients and to know how the food is made. We’ve been eating a lot of pasta but also a lot of veggies in the pasta. It’s pretty deliciousJ and today we made sandwiches with pita bread, filled with sautéed mushrooms and peppers and red pepper flakes and red sauce, then we cooked it on the stove with some mozzarella. It was so great. And tonight, a friend of ours made spaghetti sauce that was so fantastic. I don’t think ill be able to buy sauce anymore.
So I guess that brings me to today. We had to meet up with the police this morning and check our names off of the list so that they know for sure that we have our passports. (Luckily they didn’t check about the visas, because haha I still don’t have one). So then we had enough time to get a cappuccino before class started. That’s another thing that I don’t know if Ill be able to drink when I get back to America. I have to buy my own espresso machine and milk steamerJ then I had my one class on Tuesday and Thursday. And then Sally and I went to the store to get the veggies for today’s lunch (the amazing sandwiches). Then I went for my second Italian run, I'm determined to get back into a running schedule. It makes me feel so much better about everything. Sorry America, my favorite place to run ever has to be next to the Arno. The combination of the still water and the hustle of cars and people is energizing. Breathing in pure exhaust on the other hand isn’t my favorite, but that’s ok, I can’t have my cake and eat it too right?
Since then I haven’t been up to much, eating homemade spaghetti sauce, showering, getting some amazing gelato, and talking to my best buddy. It feels more relaxed here. I guess because past a certain time at night, everything is closed and unless you’re going out, there’s not much to do, so its just good time to just be still. I think at school in America, I feel like I always need to be going and doing. Everything at school is open all night long and therefore I feel like I should take advantage of that. I feel like the almost forced relaxing time here has been amazing. I don’t think its good for me to sit for too long because then I get sad and miss home but not having to run around and do a million things is wonderful. I know work with school will probably pick up, but lucky for me, my classes are all about 3 hours long and photography is 4 hours each class, so I manage to get a lot of my work done in class so then there’s not a lot of homework. It’s a good set-upJ
I know this is super long:/ But I had to catch up right? Oh I forgot my story that explains the title of this post! So we were ordering pizza from our little corner Italian man, who doesn’t speak a word of English and I walked up and attempted to order on my own. Vorre, means “may I have” so I say of course “Verro” followed by pizza and me once again coughing and pointing trying to cover up my lack of Italian accent. Madison and Sally laugh at me because I said it wrong and then they rush back to look up what it means. Of course it means pig or wart hog or something terrible like that. Story of my life. Once again, well done Alex. Oh well, you live and you learn right? We want to be recognized as locals in this area, so there you go guys! I achieved it for us. I’m that crazy girl that doesn’t know any Italian and calls people wart-hogs. Oh and just another nugget of a story. Tonight, we went to our gelataria just around the corner and I brought change. So while the guy was in the back I counted it all out and sorted it into little lines of each different coin. Needless to say, the guy came out and laughed. I didn’t just want to hand him a bunch of change. People have done that to me in the drive through at chick Fila. There’s nothing I love more than counting out your 5000 sticky pennies while the line wraps around the building. Ok, rant overJ
I will now go put on my slippers and read my book like an 80-year-old woman. I don’t careJ Goodnight readers thank you for reading my crazy stories.
P.s. I miss my Michael Weller
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