after an afternoon.

I just got back to the Villa Godiola after spending the afternoon in Arezzo at the Saturday market where you can find anything from proscuitto to scarves for dieci (ten) euros or less. Pretty pretty sweet. My friend, Morgan, and I used our new Italian skills and ordered “uno panino con proscuitto e pecorino, per favore.” at a deli. 2,50 euros. SO good.

Allora (so), now I’m back at the Villa to relax until dinner. After a long first week of classes, I’m happy to just sit back and read… or update this blog.

There are a few things I’ve learned after spending a week or so in Italy:

1. Italians have no fear when crossing the street, therefore, neither should you. Just go. If una macchina (a car) is coming, they will stop. In Rome, I’m pretty sure it’s a whole different ball game.

2. Don’t order chocolate gelato unless you’re really into chocolate. It’s so rich, it’s black. I stick with the caramello and nutella flavors.

3. Coffee to-go doesn’t exist. If you want a cappuccino or expresso, be prepared to sit and enjoy it. This is definitely a nice change from the American way of running into Starbucks, grabbing a tall vanilla latte and driving off to the next thing.

4. Italian women love shiny, puffy coats. I see them everywhere usually in black, gray, or a deep purple. Sometimes they'll even have some fur trim on the hood. Definitely not my thing. Sono Americana.

Classes are wonderful. I dance four to six hours every day and am learning Italian little by little. This week we had modern technique with Rita, who speaks very little english, tarantella with Gianni and ballet with an Italian ex-ballerina who can't pronounce my name. The classes aren’t terribly challenging technically, but they make you think about dance in a different way, which is a refreshing change from my classes at Goucher.

Thursday night, we had our first Cabaret. Mostly everyone prepared something. The actors did monologues and the dancers broke off into groups to perform trios, duets and solos. Courtney and I combined our solos from our choreography class at Goucher with a duet we had done in a girl’s senior thesis last spring. It was great to dance in front of people again and we got a lot of positive feedback.

As far as traveling outside of Arezzo goes, I’ve booked two official trips. Venice for carnival February 13-14— a trip which may or may not include us sleeping in a train station one night due to lack of available hostels. Hopefully something works out. If not, it’ll be an adventure. Spring break will be spent in Greece for a week in March with four other girls. I’ll probably end up coming back to Arezzo with a nice sunburn.

Also, I'm going to buy Juno in Italian. Honest to blog.