So my Italian grammar may be incorrect. I’ll correct it once my Italian improves a bit–it has been over six months since I’ve spoken it with any frequency before arriving.

After a day of travel, I arrived in Florence, cold, exhausted and excited. I did the math and realized that I had been awake for over 24 hours–I think the final count was 28. All I could think was, “Now I know how Jack Bauer feels at the end of the day.”

Italy has a spectacular custom called “aperitivo” or “apertifs.” Now, what are apertivi? You know how when you go to a bar, get something to drink and decide that you’re hungry too? Now you have to buy food. Not so with apertivi. Food is provided with the cost of your drink–as much food as you want to eat. These aren’t your typical bar peanuts. These are full out meals. The bar I visited (a mostly Florentine establishment) had home-made Chinese style food. It was delicious, not your usual New Year’s Eve stuff. This has to be the greatest thing ever.

We asked our Italian hostess if we could eat the food. She looked at us, very confused.  Through a pidgin Italian-English-hand signals language, we managed to ask her if we needed to pay for the food. She said no, and we told her that in the States we need to pay for the food as well!

My classes start on Monday, but tonight I have a cooking class. I’m really looking forward to it, as I can’t cook well!

I’ll have something more writing related up soon, probably a word portrait of the city.