Living the Life

Buon giorno mia famiglia e mio amici. I am beginning to settle in and am really enjoying my time here in this beautiful city. Today I sat outside at a café and watched the tourist in Piazza San Michele, which is just around the corner from my apartment. Apparently this Piazza is one of the main places that the tour buses stop, so any time of day you can see large groups from all nationalities standing around taking pictures of each other and the church. I know it’s funny to say that I watched the tourists, as if I’m not a tourist myself, but hopefully I don’t stand out quite as much as they sometimes do. I find it interesting that they seem for the most part so comfortable being tourists. Here I was worried about my very limited Italian and trying to communicate with the waitress using one word Italian sentences and pointing at pictures (she spoke English, but I didn’t want to presume) when an American tour group shows up and without hesitation place their orders completely in English. I just find it interesting how different people do life.

On a fun note, I have been mistaken for a local twice now. Yesterday while shopping at the grocery store, a woman started complaining to me in Italian about something she could not find on the shelf (at least I think that is what she was doing). And then again last evening, as I was strolling around the neighborhood, someone stopped me and asked in Italian for directions. At which point I became so flustered that I replied (in English), “I don’t speak English”. Oh well, I’ve still got plenty of time.

This morning I took my camera out for the first time and had a great time taking way too many pictures (I’ll post some later after I sort through them). In an effort not to look too touristy, I put on my best “I hope I blend in and look Italian” outfit, which was of course a skirt and sweater with boots and tights. It’s great (or not so great, depending on how you look at it), when I’m at home I’m the only one that dresses this way, but here all the women do, so I don’t stand out.

I also had my first Italian stalker today. Here I was, after three days and no male attention, thinking that either I am quite unattractive or all the hype about Italian men was wrong (though I still think it is way over stated, at least in this small city), when I figured out the problem… I don’t make eye contact. I rarely make eye contact with people I don’t know in America, and I certainly wasn’t here. But today, as I was walking around the walls, I made eye contact with this guy as he was passing by on his bicycle. He promptly turned his bike around and came back by the other way, which he continued to do for about a mile. He would ride past, get off the bike and wait till I walked by, then ride past again. He said something to me in Italian (what I have no idea), blew me a kiss and continued this game, until I finally got tired of it and ignored him till he went away. It was kind of a fun distraction though.

Well Ciao for now. I’m off to get some gelato!