Beach, Outlets, and a Wedding?

Day 2 of full-immersion weekend again I headed to the car. This time I was a little less nervous perhaps because I was more used to the crazy Florentine driving. We met up with Patricia and two sons and two host sons and we headed to the beach. I had no idea where we were going until we got there. The beach was about an hour away but the ride was beautiful through the Florentine hills. It was nice to be with two other guys our age but everyone is so quiet we pretty much just sat on the beach and tanned. Fine with me. Next, Patricia, Mama, Melissa, Lorenzo, and I drove to the designer outlets which were just 15 minutes away. The outlet store looked like the Marysville outlets near Seattle but more expensive, more high end, and a different currency. But it really looked just like an outdoor mall in the United States. There was a fake river and the stores had a false façade giving a more Tuscan feel. We went into the Prada and Dolce and Gabbana outlets and surprise, surprise…we still couldn’t afford anything. Plus, the discount of the outlets was cancelled out by the weak dollar. Too bad. I did buy a nighty dress to sleep in (because its so freaking hot) for 6 Euro

Now this is where it gets interesting. Our Mama informed us this morning that we were invited to a wedding of one of her friends. It took me a while to figure this out but the friend had been married legally but recently decided to get married in a church—Mama think this was just an excuse to have a party. But she is a very good friend of our Mama and wanted us to come to the wedding too! Anyway, Melissa and I put on the nicest outfits we brought with us to Florence and headed out to a beautiful villa on the hillside just five kilometers outside of Florence. The villa was magnificent! It had a beautiful view of the city and was a large, ornate estate adorned with gold and fine pieces of art. What a perfect place for a wedding!

We were one of the first to arrive—we got there at 7:30 and it started at 7:00 and most of the guest arrived at 8:30—just a note on Italian punctuality. All the men were dressed in perfectly tailored suits and the women in formal dresses. Much more formal than a typical Northwest wedding, however there was that token couple who were both wearing jeans. They served heavy ors’devures—I was hungry so I stalked up on cheese, bread, onion rings (yes, they served onion rings), fried egg plant, salami, and other little finger foods. Little did I know there would be a four course meal to follow…

It was a somewhat unusual event because usually in this situation, when I didn’t know anyone, I would be working the room trying to meet everyone and learning about them. But because I don’t know Italian…well, that makes it much harder. However, I ended up with a fabulous table—we were the leftovers so had our own private table in a private dining room around the corner. There were six of us in our group: Melissa and I, Cristina a twenty year old from Florence who spoke English practically fluently, Pascual another Florentine (despite the French name) who was nineteen, hilarious, and spoke little English, Jacopa who was a beautiful twenty year old from a little town south of Siena—he spoke beautiful English, and his seventeen year old girlfriend who was English but spoke fluent Italian. Quite the pairing! I was happy to see how much communication can be achieved with gestures and limited English/Italian. I think it helped that we went through bottles of wine quickly. Generally so far in Italy, I would only have (at most) two glasses of wine with dinner. But, I guess it was a wedding? But mostly the peers drank quicker than there older Italian counterparts. We went probably five bottles of wine…but three other young adults joined us by dessert. There was then dancing and more eating (why not). It was nice to talk to Italians about life in Italy, I think they were very curious to actually talk to someone who studied her instead of just seeing them around. Most of their impressions were that Americans were drunk, easy, and in Florence to party. This (sadly) sounds about right for about half of my program. I tried to explain to them that the other half don’t know where to go to meet Italians who actually want to meet them or aren’t confident enough in their Italian language skills. Anyway, I ended up with four numbers from my new friends and I fully intend on calling them and hanging out with real Italians. I just hope I can improve my Italian as not to embarrass myself!

So there was my first weekend in Florence: a trip to a villa in the Tuscan countryside, a fantastic four course meal, a trip to the beach and outlets, and an Italian wedding. I can only hope the rest of my weekends are this eventful!