The Italian way of life

Update on the past 24 hours of my Italian life:

I woke up early so that Alana and I could go to Marcato Centrale and pick up some presents from our favorite cheese ladies and scarf man. We have become pros at negotiating cheap scarves. Then I had my Food & Wine Pairing final presentation. My group made pasta salad with eggplant, peas, and toasted walnuts in a really delicious lemon and olive oil dressing. Definitely bringing that recipe home. We had to cook that, make it look pretty on a presentation plate, and then pour the judges wine while giving a presentation about the type of wine and why we chose it to go with the food. I felt like I was on top chef or something.

After class I walked around for nearly three hours by myself shopping and taking pictures of all of my favorite places. Now that I realize I'm leaving, I'm much more aware of my surroundings. I really don't want to forget a single thing. I came home for another failed attempt at packing, when Alana and Eric called from Zanonbini, our favorite wine shop. They were already on glass two. Meg and I hurried down there and I had two delicious glasses of Prosecco (only 2.50!). We chatted with our favorite cute Italian bartender and had the other Italian guys in there help teach us Italian. "Posso avere un altro encorce?" is how you ask for a second glass of whatever you were drinking. After two glasses we ventured across the Arno to eat a really local Trattoria that Eric knew about. We seemed to be the only Americans in there and the food was so good. I had traditional tuscan ribollita, one of my favorites.

We left the restaurant and Alana & Eric went home while Meg & I went to Lion's Fountain for una birra. We made friends with a man from Holland and got free shots from Luca, one of the bartenders. I was so full from dinner I could barely finish my Bulmer's, so we took the rest of our beer for the road and wandered our way home drinking in the streets and loving our lives. We even stopped to say hi to our favorite gelato man, but didn't get gelato because we were so full.

Today was a perfect Italian day. No plans. No responsibilities. Spontaneous dinner. Speaking Italian at a local enoteca. I can't believe I really have to leave this all behind..