What I've learned in Italia

I am in Italia! I've been here for about five days now and it has been a wonderful experience. Here are some pictures and musings from my trip!

1. Italian coffees are small. Sorry Starbucks, but you WON'T find a trenta ANYWHERE. The cappuccinos are probably eight ounces (if that) and the espressos are maybe an ounce. But they are strong and terribly delicious. I've had at least one everyday. Or three.

2. Italians love to feed me. Read: I eat pasta and gelato and pastries and cappuccino and espresso and chocolate every day. And you know what? It's awesome.

3. Italian love their gelato (as do Americans). Everyday. Rain. Snow. Sleet. Hail. I see them eating it while they are working, while they are walking, while they are talking.

4. Pasta is just plain better in Italia. My host mom made us a HUGE dinner a few nights ago with two kinds of pasta--rigatoni and spaghetti. Both were absolutely fantastic. I wanted to sleep in them. No really.

5. Everything is slower in Italia. People drink coffee slowly, they eat slowly, they nap. I already feel as though I am falling into the Italian way of life. I want to sleep and rest. I want to take slow walks. I want to lazily walk around the city. Oh wait, I think I was already doing that in the U.S.

6. The weather is temperamental. Cold, then hot, then rainy, then windy. And I thought that I was the one with the mood swings ;)

7. Italians love their wine. In fact, it's cheaper than water here. And gas. I think they are on to something.

8. Four glasses of wine does a fool make (i.e., me).

9. My host family is the most generous, beautiful, awesome family I've ever met. They greeted me with torta con banane as soon as I entered their home, and they haven't stopped feeding me since.

10. My Italian is not as awful as I thought. People actually understand me when I speak. Or they are humoring me. I hope that it is the former.

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