It's carnivale in Italy, which is a celebration of lent and literally means "goodbye to meat." But it is also true to the english sense of the word, which brings forth visions of masked theatrical celebration. Although it really goes off in Venice, there is plenty of confetti littering the streets of Florence from revelers celebrating this Italian holiday. And we go to yesterday around 4 outside the Duomo...
I am walking with some people I go to school with when a little girl runs past me and throws a handful of confetti on some girls that were walking a few feet ahead of me. It got all in their hair and they looked like sprinkled Italian cupcakes. So as I walked past I said something funny in Italian, like "che scarbata!" which translates to "how rude!" They laughed and I didn't think more of it for the next few steps. But then my friend Kelley said "Remy, those were the Italian girls you are looking for!" I realized Kelley was right, and I turned around to go talk to them.
I have no social inhibitions. There's just no way around it. I am not scared of talking to people I don't know and I am not afraid to look like a complete idiot. A foreign country is the perfect place for me. I can talk to strangers without them thinking I am a weirdo (like most people probably do in the states) because I am from another country. I feel like people are more receptive to someone from another country in their homeland than someone who lives down the street from them. Or who knows, maybe that's just the Italians. Or I could be completely wrong altogether. I can't draw infinite conclusions about anything I suppose. In any case, I think everyone should drop their social inhibitions. You can meet some really great people.
So I ended up talking to these confetti girls from Milan and their friends for about thirty minutes. All in Italian. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life. They were so nice and kind and put up with all my ugly grammatical mistakes and strange pronunciations. They probably thought I was pretty hilarious. If I were them and an overly excited American came up to me and talked like I did, I would be like, "This guys is so ridiculous. What a goober." But they were so awesome and I am so happy they talked with me last night. So Maria, Irene and Beatrice and friends if you are reading this right now, Grazie Mille. You made my day so amazing. I am coming to Milan and I hope we can eat great food and have another great conversation together.
And speaking of rad Italians...
I made a friend who I guess it probably doesn't make sense for me to be friends with, but in case you haven't picked up on the theme yet I am a big fan of things not making sense. He runs the tripe cart just outside of my house. If you weren't aware, tripe is cow stomach lining. Or something like that. I am a vegetarian, but I think what people want to eat is completely up to them and I have no problem with people who eat meat. So a few days ago I stopped to talk to him and he offered me some tripe. I told him I wasn't hungry, but I would come back tomorrow for a caprese pannini. He thought I was funny with all the words I used and our friendship quickly transitioned from the formal to informal tense. Long story short, Roberto and I now talk to each other on a first name basis and I say "Ciao" to him every time I walk out my front door. He yells "Ciao Remy! Come stai?" from across the street, and I don't feel like I have been living in another country for three days, but like Roberto and I have know each other for years and we are old friends. He gave me free gelato yesterday from the gelato shop he owns down the street and wine today when I stopped to say hello. Pretty great stuff.
I guess it's just been remarkable so far. I'm almost a little disappointed at how easy and enjoyable it was for me to make the transition to live in another country, but not really. Like I miss seeing my family everyday and the totally amazing people I know in San Diego, but hey I guess distance makes the heart grow fonder right?
Anyway, thanks again for reading. I really enjoy transmitting all my thoughts to a digital computer screen. Ciao bella.
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