Buongiorno! Mi chiamo Grace. Come ti chiami?

Buonasera! (Good evening!)

The view as I crossed the Arno to walk back to my apartment today...unreal.

These past few days have been busy busy but things are starting to feel much more like real life over here. Going to class, having time to go to the grocery store, cooking dinner (yes, Mom, I cooked food for myself last night!), etc. Which I am glad for- everything is easier to manage when you have a schedule and a routine.

BUT lots of new and exciting things are still happening all the time. Like the fact that yesterday I had my very first Italian class and can now present myself!

"Buongiorno, mi chiamo Grace. Sono americana di Atlanta in Georgia. Come stai?" (Hello, my name is Grace. I am American from Atlanta, GA. How are you?)

Our Italian teacher, Mathilde, is very energetic and inspiring- we are all very excited to learn to speak the language. She told us that, although there are many many Americans and tourists in this city, we are NOT tourists and should go where the locals go and do what the locals do. This has become my mission for the fall: Be a local.

On Saturday night, we had our pizza making class. This was another new and exciting experience! In groups of four, we got to go behind the counter and the very nice Italian pizza maker would guide us as we manipulated the dough and added toppings while saying things like, "Bravissimo, pizza girl!!" It was quite exciting. We did not, however, throw toss the dough in the air, so there was no dough-sticking-to-the-ceiling bridges to be crossed. Phew.

Amy, Caroline, Margaret, and I with our delicious pizzas! Mine had mozzarella, mushrooms, and some spicy peperoni.

This afternoon, we waited in a very slow moving line and bought tickets to the Italy-Slovenia football match, which is tonight! I am very excited to go to my first ever real-life football match as the only soccer games I have ever seen are my younger sister's team when she was five (Go Spartans!) and a few games in high school. While those were both quite the events at the time, football is such a big deal around the world, so it will be great to see everything in action--the fans and the players. I know nothing about Italian or Slovenian football, but I have seen quite a few Slovenian fans milling about this city today. Hopefully it's gonna be big.

I also tried an Italian popsicle this afternoon- mint dipped in chocolate and nuts. Gillis and I were shuffling back to my apartment and feeling the afternoon snoozes after waiting in the line for the tickets when we both turned and spotted the shop. Neither of us could really spit out any words, but in a matter of 3 seconds of spying the rows and rows of delicious treats in the window we were both in the store ready to order. Needless to say, we were more than happy with our afternoon snack and felt quite refreshed and pleased with ourselves. Now we are resting up before we make dinner and head over to meet the others to go to the game!

Arrivederci,
Grace