May 28th 2020: I am having so much fun exploring new neighborhoods and eating allll the good food! I’ve never been to Florence in the spring so I am enjoying this new experience!
My favorite panini place (yes, it is the only one I have tried) might be the best hangout in the city. The people that run it are the nicest and have lots of fun teasing me about Vermont. They remembered me as ‘la ragazza senza glutine’ and were cheering when I walked in! Pino (yes, the store is called Pino’s Paninos) said to me ‘less bread means more good things’ so he stuffed my panino with extra cheese, meats, and pesto. He said it was his gift to me!
The bakery that I love is beginning to add more hours so I try to visit them (and get some delicious treats) whenever possible. The first day I went in after lockdown was lifted, the woman remembered me and started speaking English but then I ordered in Italian so she switched. She was so proud of my progress and was shocked that I had stayed so she decided that I am now ‘quasi italiana’.
School has been going really well as well. They opened up the in person classes but only individual privates can happen for now. I’m hoping that will change soon but online has been lots of fun! I have almost finished all the grammar so now we are doing lots of conversation and games. Now we are reading a book of fairytales and trying to understand the moral of the story. It’s a really fun book, the idea of it is a man would call home to tell his daughter a goodnight story each night but he didn’t have enough money to pay for a long phone call so they are all short stories. His wife wrote down the stories and kept them so now it is a famous fable book!
The city is still fairly empty but there are more people just moving around than a couple weeks ago. Some of the smaller tourist attractions are beginning to open and many Italians are taking the opportunity to do them. Even though there is more people, I can still find an empty piazza every now and then.
In other news: in class we pick a movie every weekend to watch and then discuss. I am still waiting for MAMMA MIA! to get picked but I was promised we would watch it before I left so they are running out of time!
Abbie Abroad 