26.02.2008

Today I slept in a little, then went into town to buy my train ticket to Rome. I was going to take a cheap flight there and back, but it was more expensive than just taking a train. I ended up getting direct tickets, leaving on Friday at 17,00 and returning Tuesday evening. It cost just over 100 euro, which is pretty expensive compared to the trains to Florence, Venice, etc. But I will be staying with a friend while I am there so that will be nice.

I went to the CIAL Language center to enroll for my Italian course, but when I got there I realized that my voucher for enrollment a free course had Luiz’s, the student from my orientation, name on it. The Welcome Office must have mixed ours up. So I either have to go find him somehow, or see if the Welcome Office will print me a new one.

Later in the afternoon I walked around the shops, and stopped in an ice cream parlor (gelateria) and had my first gelato- tiramisu flavored. Era squsitio!

I headed back up to my apartment and decided to walk to the grocery store to buy food for dinner. I got artichokes, tomatoes, eggplant, chicken, olives, and red peppers (pepperoni). The sun was just setting and the walk to and from the grocery store was really nice. Even though it’s February, while the sun is out it’s about 50 degrees Fahrenheit here. In the mountains at night it can get a little chilly though, but it’s usually really comfortable to walk around in. Also it’s almost always sunny here, sometimes foggy in the morning, but it clears up by noon.

Movies, music, and books and magazines in Italian are a really good way to pick up the language.. that and sitting by friendly people on the bus. Earlier in the morning when I was headed into town I sat next to an older man who was making small talk in Italian. Before his stop he got pretty quiet and I could tell he was thinking of something. When he left he said “Have a.. good day” in the cutest accent. Haha.. it was great.