La Vita Quotidiana

As the weather becomes colder (and nearly everyone I know comes down with a cold), I'm settling more and more into daily Italian life.  I know where to find all my basic food needs on the shelves of the Plenty Market, the people who run the fruit and vegetable stand nearby recognize me when I stop by on my way home from class, I never leave my grocery shopping for Sunday (since all the stores are closed) and my roommate no longer gives me constructive criticism every time I clean the bathroom.

My classes are nowhere near as good as the ones I've taken at Wesleyan--the language barrier contributes, but I also miss having the opportunity to participate in discussions and challenge the ideas brought up by our course material (in Italy, the professor's word is law).  I'm really getting into art history, though- I finally understood that thing my professor said about seeing works of art in person and in their original context when I was in Venice- I was transfixed for almost an hour by a Titian altar piece.

And while my weekends are still spent traveling, weekdays are dedicated to smaller, everyday adventures that become necessary once you've spent a prolonged amount of time somewhere.  For example, I could no longer see for my overgrown bangs and had to go get a haircut.  I studied up on vocabulary beforehand (solo una spuntatina- just a trim!) and the hairdresser patiently walked me through some that I had missed (I didn't want my hair angled, I wanted it scalata).  Even though my Italian hadn't seemed to fail me in this encounter, I still ended up with a way shorter cut than I had asked for.  I was upset for awhile, but I feel better knowing that it wasn't my fault- the hairdresser wanted to get rid of my rovinati ends, I didn't, and in a battle of wills, the one with the scissors usually wins.

Frustration from this encounter and the piles of reading that I'm forever behind on, I decided to check out a nearby gym.  So far, I've taken a kick-boxing and step-aerobics.  The step-aerobics class was eerily similar to those I've been to at home, right down to the music (sorry Zack, Black-Eyed Peas again!).  It made me feel a lot less homesick to be in a place where the only thing that was different was the instructor saying quattro, tre, due, uno instead of four, three, two, one.  The kick-boxing class was a bit different, but was totally worth it because I got to watch a bunch of tough-looking guys punch in time to Taylor Swift's "Love Story." I used to be disappointed that American music is played everywhere here, but in my cultural history class I learned that things can be much worse:



Recognize the tune? In the 60's, Italian singer Rita Pavone "covered" Pete Seeger's political anthem and turned it into a dance hit, with lyrics that more or less translate as "Give me a hammer so that I can hit people I don't like on the head." That's the spirit!