Yeah that clearly didn't happen. Well, I'll give it a go now.
We have now been living in Arezzo for about a month and a half. That blows my mind! It seems like just yesterday that we had move-in. Then again, I feel like I've known all of my friends here for much longer than that. It's been an amazing time with fantastic people.
Here are some highlights of what it's been like here in la mia città :
I've been to mass in the Duomo (gorgeous) and in a little church right down the Corso from my apartment, La Chiesa di San Michele. Going to mass at San Michele is an extremely cool experience. It's actually not even a parish: it's the youth center for Arezzo. So, mass is at 9 pm on Sunday nights and most of the people that go are probably from their early 20s to mid/early 30s. For those of you that may think that's not exactly "youth", that's still very young for Italians. They don't usually get married until their mid 30s. Anyway, the first time I went it was kind of nerve-wracking because I didn't know anyone and didn't really speak much Italian. It's a very small group that goes there at 9 pm... maybe around 20 people or so. It ended up being an awesome night the first time I went, though, because the priest (who knew that I was American from when I met him earlier that night at a praise & worship/adoration service -- which by the way was an AMAZING thing where they had adoration and people playing guitar and singing P&W songs in Italian) came up and talked to me in English a little bit and then introduced me to some of the people. Mass itself was pretty standard, except for the small detail that I couldn't really understand much of it, but then afterwards I talked to one of the girls I met who spoke English pretty well. She and some of the other Italians -- including the priest -- were going over to someone's apartment to have tea and hang out, and they invited me! I figured it would be interesting to say the least, since she was the only one who really spoke English, and I just couldn't pass up the chance to see how Italians really are in their own homes. Needless to say, it was a little intimidating but extremely cool. I didn't always know what was going on, but we were able to have enough of a conversation that I had a great time and made some new friends! They called me "Saretta" since I was much younger than most of them because, other than the 25 year old English speaker, they were all in their mid 30s. It sounds like a good way to start a joke: the American 21 year old, the Italians in their 30s, and an Italian priest... haha. I've seen some of them on the street since then, and it's so fun to be able to talk to them a little bit and do their fun little double-cheek kiss routine, haha :)
So that's the story about some of "i miei amici Aretini"---
I have many more stories about walking around and discovering fun stuff about Arezzo, but they honestly aren't really that exciting to tell. It's enough to say that I have completely fallen in love with Arezzo -- the town and the people. It's small enough to be cozy, but large enough to have cool things to see and do. There are famous frescoes, beautiful views, a discoteca to party at, and much more. I think America is going to have a hard time measuring up!
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| Crucifixion painting by the famous artist Cimabue. It just hangs out in one of the small churches here. No big deal. |
Other than checking out the town, I spend my time hanging out with friends, doing homework, grocery shopping (I've been cooking quite a bit... be proud, Mom!), laundry (which is pretty annoying since they don't use dryers in Italy), catching up on TV shows, drinking wine, and planning trips! It's a pretty amazing life. I still can't believe I've been so blessed with this experience.
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| I figured out how to make my own "Italian version" of eggs and bacon because bacon is hard to find here. I just cooked up some cubed pancetta in some olive oil and it tasted just like bacon bits! Delicious! |
Oh, I almost forgot one of my favorite aspects of Arezzo: befriending the owners of the little stores and restaurants! Some of my go-to food places have learned who I am over the past month or so, and it's a blast to talk to them when I stop in. There's the lady from Istanbul Kebap who loves to talk to us whenever we go in there and always gives us free baklava (she's my favorite), and the men who work at both Panini & Co. and Bloom's (one of the bars in town) who know all of us americani. Last but not least, we have the guy who works at Pizzeria del Corso -- the one that I joke about with everyone here and call him my boyfriend, haha. Il mio ragazzo... really I just call him that because the fact that Pizzeria del Corso has an amazing calzone salsiccia and is right down the street from my apartment means that I'm quite a regular and therefore see him quite often. He's really nice though, and always knows my order and that I usually take it "da portare via" which means "to-go". All of the people that I've met in Arezzo have been extremely friendly and kind, which is really nice for us americani who don't always know what we're doing.
Anyway, that's just about all I've got for now. I'm going to try to post again tomorrow after I get back from Art History class in Florence to talk about my recent trips that I've taken. Plus, I should have brand-new pictures from our class at the Uffizi Museum to share.
Allora... a domani! Ciao ragazzi!
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