The First Few Days . . .

So far things have been pretty fantastic.  My luggage finally came in yesterday which felt like being re-born.  I was really starting to miss my stuff.  Each piece had over 6 tags on it, no telling where it’s been that I haven’t, kind of jealous haha.  But we are re-united once again!  We’ve had a chance to venture into town a few more times.  Went to the Castle Café last night, had some amazing Mojitos with genuine garden grown Italian mint leaves, never had one in the states, but these were pretty amazing.  Then also went to another place in the town square called Epoca, pretty cool little hang out.  My classmates all just seem to click and get along great, we have a good time together, maybe it’s something in the air, not sure haha.  Although I’m quite convinced I’ve never heard a happier set of birds than outside my window every morning. 

My afternoon is free today, after class from 8:15-11:10 Monday through Thursday and an additional 2-5:30 session on Monday and Tuesday, I will enjoy this little break.  Classes have been good, I like the professors I have and they try to keep the long sessions interactive which is more like a lab approach which is appreciated.  Already have lots of reading to do, which is very hard to accomplish with the beauty outside the window.  The food provided by the school on class days is good sometimes, and other times not so good.  I’ve noticed they don’t season things near as heavily as Americans, and definitely don’t use as much sugar in everything, but it’s an interesting change.  The hills in Asolo are killer, and I now see why all its residents are nice and fit. 

Highlight of the trip so far was getting to go to a local pizzeria last night to make our own pizza.  The school set it up and we were given the opportunity to learn from a local pizza maker with over 20 years of experience.  He walked us through the ingredients of the dough and the importance of each and how the fire oven times change with the weather and humidity, super interesting! My pizza turned out pretty amazing, and was probably the best meal I’ve had in Italy thus far!  And decided to top it off with some gelato, we are becoming regulars at the local gelateria!  One thing I’ve noticed about the Italians is their passion . . . for life, their work, in everything they do.  I love to just watch them talk to each other because they are so invested and involved during the conversation, hand gestures, facial expressions, and all.  Wish I had more time to learn the language, it really is a beautiful one.  They have such a pride in all that they have, their fashion pushes boundaries by American standards but is always classy, the local houses are always in finest of presentation shape, the cars are always clean, and the respect of other’s property is clearly evident.  Something that’s definitely new to my usual observance of society, and I have a great appreciation for it.  There seems to be a principle of unspoken respect for one another between the Italians.

 

 

 We just booked hostel stays for this weekend in both Venice and Florence, so that should keep us busy for sure.  Pretty excited about it.  We waited too long to decide where we wanted to go so finding booking space was a challenge, I’m afraid all of Europe might be a tourist magnet for the summer, hopefully not too crowded though. 

Till next time, as always, grazie for reading and buon giorno!