Mama No Parla Inglese

So I have officially moved into my homestay.  It has been beyond interesting.  My roommate and I headed out yesterday via taxi to reach our new home.  We are staying with Anna Michelin, a single woman who is a school teacher.  She came down and met us and brought us up to her flat. It's a very nice house; we have a nice big room with a huge armoire and so much more space than in London.  Anna was smiling, helpful, and cheery, a genuinely good soul.  Only problem is that she speaks ZERO English. None at all. Zip. Zilch.  Terror and panic quickly set in once Eryn and I realized that we too spoke ZERO Italian.  Yes, I will learn Italian much more quickly this way, but my goodness, this is going to be a challenge.  It gets pretty mentally exhausting to constantly be struggling to understand one another.  We had to guess what she was saying to us all night.  We think her mother goes back to Padua in a month.  Do we really know? Nope.  No clue what the dog's name is (an adorable little brown thing).  Thank goodness I have a partner in this. No internet. Expensive phone use.  Very isolating.  The shower situation is scary.  You have to hold the nozzle above your head and there are no doors so it's very hard not to spray water everywhere.  And it was a really cold shower.  Okay, panic and whining over with.  I swear the experience is certainly not miserable just a major adjustment.

Positives:  Really fantastic dinner of pasta, fruit, salad, potatoes, chicken, bread, wine. YUM.  Anna is very patient with us and eager to help us.  She seems really relaxed and sweet.  I will learn a ton of Italian this way.  We figured out the bus situation with relative ease.  I got a new sim card and my cell phone is up and working.  I might be buying internet.  I think I might have to.  We have plenty of options in the city but it's not all the time and wouldn't be at home.  So, I might drop a chunk of change on that.  It might save my sanity.  Florence is good so far.  I need to do more exploring but we have major class all day long so that might have to wait til the weekend.  GELATTO IS AMAZING! and cheap! and delicious! Yay for Italian food!

Florence is an entirely different experience than London. Worlds different.  But I'm learning and adapting. Slowly but surely.  Heck, I've only been here for 3.5 days.  I'll give it a chance before making final judgement.

Buona sera. (or Buona notte if you're reading this after 11 pm or buon giorna if reading this before 1 pm. Silly Italian rules!)