random ramblings on a wednesday afternoon

Saluti!

Just within a few hours or so, I have so many thoughts about the life and culture of Italy that I don't want to forget. Today was the first day that I've had a lot of alone time, which was really wonderful. Of course I love meeting new people, but it's really wonderful to be able to escape on my own and soak in the culture.

Coffee! The coffee culture here is so different from in the united states. Along all the streets and roads here are several cafes, mostly called bars. But they aren't bars for alcoholic drinks, they're bars for coffee and a pastry, sometimes a small panini. The majority of these bars do not give coffee to go, and people stand at the bar and drink their coffee quickly. It doesn't seem to be a usual thing to go to a coffee shop and get something to go, or spend a long time drinking the coffee. Coffee cups are also a great deal smaller here. My coffee habit from the states of drinking 2 or 3 large cups of coffee a day is slowly being defeated here.

The quality of the coffee here is really rich and amazing. The majority of the coffees I've had here are sweeter and stronger. I have yet to navigate different coffee beans and asking for different roasts, but I haven't seen many people do that here.

I'm officially friends with the morning barista at a place called "Italian Bar" across the street from the building where I have class. He's been teaching me a few words every time I go in to get an espresso. (Who knew I'd start drinking espresso!) Today he taught me spoon, "cucchiaio". I'm slowly on my way to speaking with the locals! My goal is to have a basic conversation with a local by the time I leave. :-)

Moving on to the Mercato Centrale! I finally went today, and it was the best place I've ever been to. I'm officially in love with it. I love grocery shopping, and all of the grocery stores here have been really great to go to. Grocery stores work a lot more efficiently here than they do in the U.S. When you grab vegetables or fruits, you're supposed to weigh them and price them yourself before you go to the register. Also, you're supposed to bag your own groceries yourself, and its common knowledge to go quickly. I didn't know this the other day, and went a little bit slowly as I was juggling my purchases and wallet. A lady came up to help me move out of the way, and I thought she was being really kind-but apparently she was irritated with me haha. Anyways, the Mercato Centrale is the best place I've ever been to. There are fresh vegetables and fruits from several local farmers, fresh meat for those who want that, and all sorts of cheese and wine shops. I got an apple, some grapes, some dried fruit and some tomatoes. I can't even begin to describe how delicious ALL of it is. Everything here is sweeter, fresher, crisper and just overall delicious. It's clearly obvious that there are no preservatives or anything added to make the food last longer. The only downside for someone who likes to shop only once a week is that all of these fruits and vegetables last for only a day or two.

On to community service. I think it would be really wonderful to try and do some community service while I'm here. It would be both something that I'd love to do, and help immerse me in the culture here and speak with more locals. My apartment is on the north side of the river, which is more touristy, so its hard to engage people because they start speaking English as soon as they realize you don't speak Italian. The south side is a lot better for trying to learn the language, however I need some practice before I jump in.

And finally, my photography class. My teacher, Cossimo Bargilone, is quite amusing and really helpful. We took a roll of film yesterday, and we began the process of developing our pictures today! I'm not a great photographer in the least and this is an art form that I have absolutely no experience in, so I'm a bit wary. We took the caps off our film, and loaded the reel into a black canister that we would wash with all sorts of chemicals that would help the pictures show up onto the reel. Note: we did all of this in the dark so as not to expose the film. This was pretty difficult for me, as its a delicate process and you have to be careful not to touch the film. I needed some help with it, and at one point I dropped my film on the ground today, so I'm not expecting any masterpieces for my first roll. After I finally finished this, I went to the sink to wash the reel. We washed it for about 20-25 minutes with 4 different chemicals. Its a very precise process, and I had to time every step. I would list out the steps here, but they were so confusing that I can't quite remember them yet. Hopefully soon.

After all the washing, we were able to take the film out of the canister, and place them on a heated drying rack. After 20 minutes of drying, they were ready to cut and place onto negative sliders. On Friday, we will look at them on lighted tables to see which pictures we want to blow up and develop. Our first assignment is to have at least 4 shots that have demonstrated a good balance of aperture with shutter speed, something that is "curious and unique", and something that has a nice contrast of light and dark. I think I'll be lucky if all my pictures aren't blurry.

I think that's all for now!

Arrivaderci signores e signoras!