Alcoholic Crumbs

I went bar hopping with some housemates last night.

Vicenza Crumbs

So we decided we needed to go shopping somewhere less expensive than Venice. We took the train to Vicenza (maybe an hour from Venice). There was a gigantic street of store after store... a lot of them were really expensive, but we found a couple decent ones. And in one of them, I found... A COAT!!! It had gotten really cold one day (jumped from 90 degrees to 55 basically overnight), and it's stayed cold since then. I forgot my coat back home. I don't have a clue why... maybe I just didn't think of it. But anyway, I was really cold and needed a coat, and I just sort of saw this purple one and tried it on. It is beautiful. It's a little bright, but the purple is deep and the cut is sophisticated. I was very excited.... Anyway, I also found a scarf and some cute underwear.
And I got out of Venice and spent some time with Rhianna and McKinley. Good stuff. The rest of the weekend (and the previous week) sorta sucked. But there's no reason to go into that. I'm in Venice! La via bella!
I'm still working on getting my pictures to a place where everyone can see them. For now, they're on Facebook. If you don't have facebook, I'll get them somewhere public soon. I'm working on it. Don't forget you can subscribe to the blog over there on the right side of the screen so you don't have to keep checking for updates or remembering to look at it. And comment down at the bottom of any post. I like comments... let's me remember you exist! haha. Just joking.

Casino Crumbs

Tonight, I decided it was finally time to be social. I like being my hermit-like self, but I think it's important to go out with everyone now and again. And most people in the house wanted to go to the casino tonight. So we all got dolled up (I wore my favorite strapless black dress with red heels for those who care) and took the vaporetto over to the casino.
On the vaporetto, one of the guys who runs the boat (as in goes over and ties it to the dock while people get on and then unties it when we're ready to go) starts making eyes at McKinley. This got good. He started saying nice things to her about how pretty she was. And then he asked her to come over to his seat and talk to him a little. And, of course, McKinley went over because she's so friendly and knows she can get out of the situation if necessary. And they flirted and talked. He spoke some English and speaks a tiny bit of Italian. Between the two of them they were able to talk pretty well. When we were almost to our stop, he asked for her number, so she gave it to him! Apparently he is going to call her next week so they can go out for coffee or something. How cute! We're totally going to go sit at the cafe next door and make sure she's safe, but still. At least she gets to go.
Anyway, so we got to the casino and paid the ten euro to get in and receive a ten euro chip to play with. We went a crap ton of stairs and then there were tables of roulette in front of us. The place was gorgeous. Well, not really gorgeous since it was a little tacky with the color choices and such. But it was done to appear stunningly expensive. haha. We walked around for a little bit, looking to see if the rest of our friends were there yet. They only had a few games available. Roulette (with a ton of tables available), Poker, Black Jack, and the slot machines. I don't know how to play poker, black jack makes you think too much and I don't really know strategies, and the chip they gave us was for the tables and not the slot machines. So I decided to play roulette. I waited as I learned to play from watching others and asking my friends. A few people from the group played a round of black jack. Everyone lost. haha. Then some people played roulette. I played and lost. Everyone lost. haha. Only two people put down any more money though. And they lost it all. So we waited a while for the rest of the group to come, having been at dinner before. When they didn't come after a long while, we got bored and left. A long walk home, and we were able to stop for gelato. (Yes, more gelato!)
Funny thing I hadn't mentioned: casino means two things in Venice. Casino the way we say it means a strip club or brothel, pretty much. I'm not entirely sure exactly which. But it's not good. haha. So you can't tell a Venetian you're going to the casino. You have to say you're going to the Casin-O, emphasis on the "o". The casino' is an actual casino where you bet and gamble. In fact, McKinley told her "new friend" (whose name may or may not be Johnathan) that she was going to the casino and he freaked out a little. She had to correct herself. So now, I've officially played my first game of roulette and been to a casino for the first time (well the first time I got to actually go inside the casino). Crazy.

Further British Crumbs

So I completely forgot to tell you about how the UK has issues with people entering the country without an address of where they are staying.
So I forgot to write down Lee's address and they held me at the border control desk. The guy was really nice to me, thank goodness. And luckily it was England, so I spoke the language. They tried twice to page Lee to the information desk, but for some reason he wasn't going. So they let me call him even though no phones are allowed in that area. He didn't answer. Then he called me and the phone hung up on me. Then they paged him again. Then finally I called him another time and was able to get his address written down and give it to the guy. It was rather amusing. But I was also a little freaked they weren't going to allow me in the country.
SO - if you ever go to the UK, make sure you have an address where you're staying!
Anyway... so we got to Lee's house after a short trip to the English Wal-Mart. He has a cute little townhouse. The guest room was small, but cozy. The bed was amazing when compared to the rock hard bed at Casa Artom. I had a TV! The shower had water pressure... it was wonderful!
The first night, we got home around midnight, so I didn't get to meet his parents or anything. I just talked to him for a bit and then went to sleep.
In the morning, Lee slept way late since he had been sick. Luckily, this gave me time to get some emails and things finished. I had a lot of stuff I had left to back up... So if you got an email or something from me over the weekend, you now know that I had pretty much ignored you for a while. Oops.
On Friday, Lee and I went to the Lake District... It was lovely. The water sparkled in the sun, we walked around and looked at the shops, got coffee (hot chocolate for me!), walked through a park down by the water... It started to rain and so we headed back to the car. Then we went to Bolton Abbey, down the road a bit. Walked around the abbey and then down by the water and stuff. Just nice and relaxing. Gave us some time to talk and whatnot.
We got dinner at some restaurant/pub place. We ate in the restaurant section, so it was really pretty and nice. We had a waiter and everything. I had salmon. (!!) Sooo good. And I took some sips of Lee's wine (be proud, everyone). That night, we watched a movie (Downfall, about Hitler) and talked and stuff. His parents were incredibly sweet to me. They just opened up their home freely.
On Saturday, we got up a little earlier so we would have time to get to a nearby castle. Skipton Castle. The area also has shops and such around it. We walked through a street market with mostly junk. And then we went to the castle. It was pretty cool. Lots of nooks and crannies. Might be creepy to have lived there though. The view was stunning. We ate dinner at another pub. The service sucked, but the food was good. The meal took several hours because the service was so terrible. It was dark when we left.
We watched another movie (Eurotrip) and chilled out. He helped me install the mobile broadband I bought earlier that day! Now I can get internet anywhere I need it while I'm over here... I hope it works in Finland, but I doubt it does. haha.
The weekend was just lovely and I was very sad when I had to leave. I hadn't realized just how much I had missed Lee until I got to see him again. And hopefully he'll come visit me here in Venice in a few weeks. :)

British Crumbs

I'm so going to get yelled at for using "British" instead of "English". I've been informed that the UK is not very united right now. haha.
So some of the things I did this weekend, in no particular order:
1. Bought a bottle of water that was about the equivalent of 8 dollars.
2. Spent three nights at my ex-boyfriend's house in the middle of England.
3. Tried to use Italian with people who speak English.
4. Spent two hours trying to locate the correct bus and the correct ticket to get to the airport.
5. Met a Chinese girl and proceeded to do a blind-leading-the-blind style search for a bus to the airport.
6. Walked about six inches from a swan.
7. Drank several sips of red wine each day.
I think those are the highlights, though as I talk it might become apparent that there are more or that some of those things weren't all that exciting.
So let's see... Thursday, I had art history. But it was a church visit day. We were going to San Marco. We were supposed to meet the professor there. So everyone begins to gather downstairs. And Elizabeth and I are all impatient.. we should have been leaving right then. And so we thought we'd just walk out the door and some people might follow us. But no one did. So we just walked on our own. Somewhere in there, we got talking pretty quickly, and just went on autopilot. We ended up in Campo Santa Margherita, our typical nighttime hangout. And then we realized suddenly that we were supposed to have crossed the Accademia bridge, about a ten minute walk back. It was about ten minutes before we were supposed to be at San Marco, so we definitely didn't have time to get to the bridge and do the ten minute walk from the bridge to San Marco. But we had no choice. So Elizabeth and I took off running. We ran the Accademia stairs (really awkwardly placed and difficult) and ran practically the entire way to San Marco. We got there and everyone was waiting. I ended up dripping in sweat (ew!) as we walked around the church, marveling at the fact that practically the whole ceiling is done in mosaic.
An hour and a half later, I had finally cooled off and it was time to go our own way. I went home as fast as I could because I was starving. And I had to finish packing for my trip to England.
I left ten minutes after the rest of the house (with the exception of David, our professor, and Kelly, my roommate) left for the train station to go to Cinque Terre. I caught the vaporetto (a big boat used for public transportation) to Piazza le Roma (the bus station area where the post office is and whatnot).
When I got to Ple Roma, I looked around and found the bus I thought I was supposed to take. It wasn't there yet, so I waited. When it arrived, I asked the bus driver where I could get a ticket (in really horrible Italian... sigh). He pointed and this Chinese girl and I walked across the gigantic square to the ticket booth. The Chinese girl (I never did get her name) had been trying (and failing) to ask the guy where to get a ticket as well. I helped. Sort of. We waited in line at the ticket booth and when we thought it was our turn, someone butted in front of us and handed the man a ticket. Confused, we tried to go up to the window again. The man inside shooed us away! He vaguely gestured off to the side and we looked and saw some strange machine. It had a few options for what type of ticket you were looking for (public transportation, tickets for events, etc) so we, reluctantly, pressed the public transport button and out popped a ticket. We then saw that it had a big bold number on it... I felt a little dumb. Clearly it's one of those take a number style lines. So we waited and when our numbers were called we went up and asked for "uno biglietto per Marco Polo Aereoporto." And we payed an oddly cheap amount and left, slightly perplexed. Looking at the ticket, it was the size of a business card and looked... like a business card a bit. It was advertising the IMOB (a pass that lets you put money on a card and take public transport all over the city). But it was apparently, somehow, our ticket. We had no idea which bus to take except, of course, the one we had been at originally.
So we walked back to the bus, trying to talk to each other about anything we could think of. Her English was awful. I speak no Chinese. Both of us sucked at Italian. So we tried in English. The bus driver took half a look at our tickets and said in perfect English "this isn't the bus you want. You want the number 5." And turned back to the passenger he was helping.
At this point, it may be appropriate to attempt to describe the vastness of Ple Roma... But I'm not sure that I can. I'd say it's like a circle. And there are really crappy touristy kiosks selling junky stuff all around the one side. On the opposite side there's crappy food and junky-ness in general. On a third side is water and where the vaporetto comes in. And the fourth side is the road really.. That's roughly the layout. Inside the circle, there is a large ticket booth and about fifty or sixty different buses. It's very complex because there are tall poles with numbers on them for a group of buses... something like B52 (hehe). But you have no idea what B52 means. Nowhere does it tell you what buses are at B52 or why. So you just have to look around at the fronts of all the buses to see where they are headed. We search desperately for the section of buses with numbers on their fronts (the orange ones, I now know) and then look feverishly to find the number five. Sadly, they aren't in order at all. 12, 4, 9, 2, 1.... sigh.
Finally we found the five, but we didn't know what to do with our tickets and we weren't positive it was the right bus. The bus driver eventually gets on and we ask him "Marco Polo Aereoporto?" and he says "Si." And I kind of hold out my ticket and he just nods. So I look around, and I see some IMOB pass scanners... but my card has no scanning strip on it or anything. I don't know... but for some reason, my little Chinese friend holds her card over the IMOB scanner and it turns green for her. YAY! So we scan our tickets and sit down. And twenty scalding hot minutes later, sweaty and tired already, we hop off the bus at the airport.
I almost immediately abandon the Chinese girl (don't worry, I asked first if she needed me) because I'm tired of being responsible for someone I don't know when I don't know what I'm doing myself in the first place. The Lufthansa (my airline) counter is practically right in front of me with no one in line. I am so happy to know what I'm supposed to do that I practically skip up to the counter. I hand him my printed off confirmation email, and he looks like he's laughing at me or something. But whatever. He punches some things in the computer and takes my passport and whatnot. In about three minutes he's handing me my boarding cards and I'm on my way with an awkward wink from the guy... weird.
Security.... way too many times to count...
So I get on the flight to Frankfurt with no problem and then I get to my gate in Frankfurt (yes, I had to fly from Italy to Germany and then back the other direction to England. And yes, it was the cheapest!)... and I pass through security with no problem... and I walk toward an empty chair... and some airport guy stops me.
Sigh.
Apparently he is doing a random baggage check and wonders if he could have a look at my bag. What would he do if I say no? I said yes.
I handed him my bag and they opened it and like ran some weird piece of paper with something shiny on it on some of my things... I don't know what they were testing for... And I told them the black thing was my laptop battery and that the razor was really just my razor for shaving my legs. And they finally let me go.
Blah blah blah. Boring plane stuff and waiting in airports. I get to Manchester and Lee is right there as I walk out of the baggage claim. It was a relief to see a friend. And his car was right outside, and it was sprinkling lightly and kinda chilly. So nice. I was very happy.
And I will save the weekend for my next post, hopefully later tonight after I do my Italian homework. I know everyone is waiting with baited breath...

My Very Own Crumb of Disappointment

So... Regatta Storica.
The big boat race on the grand canal in Venice. This is a huge deal. There are four different divisions to compete in. The races start with a procession of all the boats plus bunches of non-competing boats. These are all gondolas or really really long versions of gondolas.
We decided to have a party in honor of this big event. We invited our professors and their families, a few close Venetian friends of ours, etc etc. We made a nice spread of food (the most delicious cheesecake from Karen, and oh do I love Asiago cheese on a little round piece of toast... spinach and artichoke dip made with six thousand substitutes... mmm). And people began to show up for the festivities. We watched out the windows facing the canal, and on the tiny strip of patio we had. In fact, we even climbed onto the roof of the Guggenheim's courtyard next door so we could have more room to watch from. It worked rather well and they didn't get upset with us at all.
Anyway, so all of a sudden, I'm eating a little something and looking out the window... (This is before the race starts) I look down, and Ana is on one of the really long gondolas. The rowers (rowers?!) are holding out their hands to walk her along the boat. There was a rather attractive Venetian boy who held her hand for an extra moment. Too cute. And someone took her picture. This proceeded to be a huge event as several of the girls felt it necessary to have the same experience of getting on this competing boat and walking around. haha. So I'm sure it was slightly annoying for the (24 I think) rowers, but whatever.
So there was that bit of excitement. Then we all get settled on the roof and patio and whatnot, looking out the windows, whatever. And the procession starts. That was pretty cool. The boats were decked out in all sorts of finery. The bows of them had ornate lions, mermaids, horses, etc etc. Gold and silver and all manner of beautiful (or tacky, if you're me) things. Each boat had a color theme. It was all very coordinated and important looking. (I took pictures, which I will put up online somewhere and link to them here.)
Anyway. Thirty minutes after the procession (an incredibly boring thirty minutes) the first race started and we saw about two minutes of it as it passed our house. Then we waited another thirty minutes or so until the second race started. And so on and so forth. It was rather boring and uneventful and we didn't even know who won.
Sigh. I lost interest after the second race and went to my room to buzz around randomly. Then I caught the third race from my window before going to the kitchen to help clean up. I missed the final race because I was falling asleep on my bed. And I proceeded to take a nap quickly thereafter. A 2 and a half hour nap. hehe. At six in the evening. And now I'm tired again. So I guess it didn't hurt.
I got gelato again tonight. I think it's becoming an every night deal with me. That's not the best habit to get into, especially when Roberta (our house assistant) has yet to find me dance classes in Venice and not in Mestre. Until next time, in boco di lupo! (Good luck, literally in the mouth of the wolf)

Lost Crumbs

Getting lost in Venezia is a given. Even the locals will find themselves lost when they go to a more unfamiliar sestieri (basically a borough). This past Friday (I think it was Friday, but my days get confused here), everyone awoke at a decent hour except for me and maybe one other person. So everyone left the house, taking off for Lido (the long and thin island in Venice with the beautiful beaches) or Murano (glass making) and Burano (oddly-colored houses). I was still in bed. When I finally got up, the house was eerily silent. Finding only one person here, who was studying for some unknown reason, I decided to take the day to go out on my own. I crossed the Accademia and headed off in the general direction of the Rialto and St. Mark's Basilica. Of course, I made it to the outskirts of the Rialto, where there are many expensive and touristy shops... but then I just couldn't find my way onto the bridge! I guess I kept getting distracted by interesting-looking side streets.
So I went down a few of those side streets and got myself ridiculously lost. In thirty minutes of following any groups of people I found, I came upon St. Mark's! I had found my way. So, brave traveler that I am, I decided to make my way home without pulling out the map. I would have lunch (my kind of lunch, as in 4 pm lunch) in a cafe, maybe get a gelato... but first, I would figure out how to get home. So I walked to the water (the grand canal) figuring that Casa Artom is on the grand canal, so it shouldn't be difficult to get there. Except, unknowingly, I turned the wrong way. I just assumed I hadn't circled St. Mark's at any point because I hadn't seen it, so I went in the direction I had come from. I was, of course, wrong.
I walked along the canal for as long as I could stand in the intense midday heat. I was sweating (ew) and getting blisters from my tennis shoes. So I ducked down a calle (street in Venice, though no other Italian city uses this word) to cool off in the shade. As I walked, I realized more and more that I had no idea where I was.
Everything was unfamiliar and oddly quiet. I saw very few people, and those I did see were walking alone for the most part. With intense regret, I opened my purse and pulled out my map. Sigh. I had somehow gotten miles from home. I was about a mile and a half from St. Mark's (if one could possibly go straight in Venice...) and another half a mile to Accademia, which is about a half a mile from home. So I was maybe about three miles from home. Frustrated, I found the street I was on in my map and tried to memorize a couple names of the other calles I would need to take to get to a bigger street.
Clearly, this did not work. I should have known I wouldn't be able to remember those names. I got myself more lost. I was on a street referring to Greeks (I believe "Calle dei Greci"??) and I was NOT prepared to ask for directions. I was going to do this one on my own. My first day out of our area alone, I was going to find my own way. So I walked along the street to see what was there if I kept going... I glanced at a small calle on my left as I passed. Oh wow!
It wasn't a calle at all, but a courtyard. It was narrow and looked just like any calle would, but it ended into a door. And there was another door on either side of the courtyard. It was a little nook of calm in the middle of a labyrinth of confusion. I smiled to myself and even whispered aloud, "This is so cool." Then I pulled out my camera. Hey! I'm a tourist... I can act like it sometimes.

The moment I flipped that baby on, I heard "Ciao!" from somewhere above. I looked around, and up in the window right in front of me, an elderly woman was speaking to me in rapid (but friendly) Italian. I couldn't understand anything she was saying. Between the Venetian dialect, her speed, and the distance between us... sigh. I was completely lost (hehe, in two ways!). "Ciao! Scusa, ma non parlo Italiano," I said slowly. [Those of you who have no clue, that's just 'hi, excuse me, but I don't speak Italian.'] I'm pretty sure it was grammatically incorrect too. However, she expressed understanding "ahh..." and proceeded to speak in (slightly) slower Italian, which I still didn't understand. Somehow I caught a question about what I was doing here (I think she meant in Venice and not intruding on her property... she was being really friendly). So I said "Oh! Studio in Venezia per quattro mesi.... in Dorsoduro." And I pointed in, what I hoped, was the direction of my sestieri. She nodded in understanding and quickly wished me well. She clearly understood that we were going to have a frustrating and confusing conversation if we kept going. So she said, "Ciao!" before I could even tell we were finished talking. I repeated the farewell and left, despite my lack of pictures.
Of course, once around the corner, I took a picture of the street sign and the general area in hopes of finding my way back again. Then I pulled out my map and kept it on me until I got back to St. Mark's (about twenty minutes later) and found a sign for Rialto, which quickly got me to a sign for Accademia. And I eventually made it home, about three hours after I had left.
I guess everyone has to get lost once in Venice.

Opera Crumbs (a trip to Verona)

So the professor that's here with us is the orchestra director. We are taking art, music, and Italian classes (as well as a literature class on english-language pieces that are about or set in Venice...). And our music professor decided to take us to the opera. For many of us, this was our first. To get to the opera, we had to go to Verona, which I assumed would be a charming, homey, city. However, it was dirty and industrial (well industrial for Europe). There were too many tourists (more noticeable than in Venice, though there are probably more in Venice) and there wasn't a whole lot there but a bunch of over-priced shops.
Anyway... I digress yet again. That's a habit with me.
So we took the train to Verona (the train station actually went quite smoothly even with twenty people) in our fancy clothes (well fancy as you might dress for church or maybe to give a more formal concert). Once there, we roamed the city for a few hours (boring) and found Juliette's balcony (touristy) with the statue of her and her right breast rubbed down... sigh. As an "artist" or whatnot, I really have a problem with people manhandling that statue, or any statue really. I don't think most of them are meant to be climbed on or rubbed incessantly... We went through the little tunnel to get to the balcony, which had six trillion love notes scrawled on it or on pieces of paper taped to it with gum or bandaids... I admit to scrawling a short note on a small piece of paper and dropping it in the tunnel (having no way of getting it on the wall and not wanting my friends to see that I had submitted to such a horrible touristy thing). I figured I might get scolded by a certain someone if I didn't write anything at all.
Then we had dinner in the most lovely restaurant. The waiter was wonderfully helpful, though he couldn't accomodate a certain person's request for mushrooms that ended up being exceedingly complex and none of us could figure out why. I tried to share a plate with a friend, assuming it would be large as the plates often are when you get pasta. But it was super-tiny and we both ate meagerly.
Finally the opera. La Rigoletta. I was so exhausted at this point (having stayed up most of the previous night to fight with that same certain someone from the love note) that for the first act I was falling asleep the whole time. I felt horrid about it. This is my first opera! I wanted to really experience it... So during intermission I got up and walked around. I moved seats to further back so that I could sit more comfortably rather than crammed in between friends. And when the second act started, I had perked up a little. The rest of the show was lovely. Costumes were well-done, which I always look for. The performers were talented, both with singing and with acting. The musicians seemed to do no wrong. And the sets were stunning. I was very happy.
The opera let out after midnight. There are no trains from Verona to Venice at that hour... in fact, there aren't any until 5:30 am. So we had to spend the night in Verona, on the streets. There were cafes open until 2, so we sat down at one and had after-opera snacks (ice cream, pizza, coffee, etc). I had the richest hot chocolate ever. I'm beginning to remember that Italian hot chocolate is like a melted chocolate bar, while the rest of Europe has normal hot chocolate with whipped cream on top even. I drank about two sips, downed my entire bottle of water (acqua minerale naturale), and handed my cup to the person next to me to be tried by the rest of the table. Should've gotten a pizza that night. I was starving.
When the cafe closed, we went into the park across the street, sat in a circle, and played a rousing game of Mafia. By the end of the game, half of us were bored out of our minds. (For the record, the mafia won after a couple hours.) We talked for a bit, tried some Never Have I Ever. We even changed NHIE to a PG-13 version because our professor was playing. We found that very different people won and lost when you took out the sexual components. I got second place, though! Yay!
Eventually it was time to head to the train station. We slept on the train and returned, exhausted, to Venice. Those who were tired took the vaporetto (large boat used as public transportation. with the passes we have, it costs one euro to get on the boat and go anywhere), and another group walked all the way home (probably two miles or so) and I believe some others got breakfast at a cafe. When we opened the door to our house, we ran up the stairs for food and then crashed on our beds. I slept for hours and hours that day. I had gotten five hours of sleep in two days. This from the girl who likes to sleep for twelve hours every night.
For those (Mom) who were curious, I wore my black velvet dress (tasteful velvet) that ties in bows in the back. I've worn it for a few choir concerts as well. I looked classy. :)

Abito in Venezia (I live in Venice)

Ah the first real post... well Inkblot must admit that all her parents and friends are going to be reading this. So she is abandoning the moniker for now. In addition she will now be talking in first person. haha! The fun!
Alright, so life in Venezia has been interesting thus far. I remember the first day I arrived (August 24th) we had to take a water taxi (a boat with a partial cover over it) from the airport to actually get to Venice. And one of my first thoughts as we sped through the ocean was how it smelled like home. Now I'll grant you (those of you who don't know or don't remember) that I do live on an island; however, the thought was still comforting to my terrified mind.
The first few days were spent filling out forms, exploring the house, going out to eat and the grocery store, and doing "orientation" walks around the city. These orientation walks, in my personal opinion, were of little use and took forever!! We got tired and hot and most of us had no clue where we were. They would be much more useful about a week after we arrive so we have some clue of where we are in the city.
Life in Venice is wonderful. My image of it was that one had to take a gondola everywhere! That everyone owned gondolas and there were no streets, just gondolas. I don't know why I thought that. My mind was changed at the end of my senior year of high school when I spent a day in Venice, but still, I had lingering ideas of water covered streets. Though, I must say there will be water covered streets when acqua alta hits in the rainy season. Rain boots anyone?
I think the funniest thing for me about Venice is how far one must walk (and with so many specific turns) to get where you want to go. The closest grocery store is about a 7 minute walk with a good half of it in direct sunlight. It's incredibly hot and you are sweaty by the time you get to the store. It's tiny and incredibly crowded. I'd say it's about the size of two single-car garages put side by side. Maybe slightly larger if you include the cash registers. And it crams in about thirty people at any given moment, sometimes more at peak hours. The selection is small and the prices high (though it's the cheapest grocery around). The cashiers are apathetic and no one roams the floors to help customers in need. It's very much a "get in get out" mindset. You are expected to know what you need and to know where it is. They have no frozen meals, which is rough for me since I hate cooking. They have about eighteen different types of potato chips. I need to count that. And Italy doesn't have peanut butter.
BUT. I went to another grocery store a few days ago and found peanut butter in a corner next to the honey. This incited another five or six people running to Punto for peanut butter within a two or three day span.
Well, I think I will break up my posts into more manageable segments. So the next one should come later today, perhaps soon. And I will keep posting until I have caught us up to the present as best I can muster.