Minorities

      Ciao a tutti! It's my second day in beautiful Tuscany and we're loving it. One thing to note: it's winter here, too. The weather is about 40ºF all dayyy long. We're bundled up in coats, gloves and hats and can't seem to shake it. Our apartment doesn't have a coffee maker of any sort so the last two mornings have been spent grabbing caramel macchiatos. By the way, maybe it's 100% sugar or it's made out of pure love but our espresso drinks, while miniature, are fantastic. They're so tiny and yet, so worth it. They use a lot of foam so you feel like it took you all of two seconds to drink it... because it did.

      Today was spent going through a boatload of paperwork. According to Italian law, within the first 7 days of taking up residence in their country, you must submit an application called a Permit of Stay. It's exactly what it sounds like. We have to give them our passport info, visa info, education legitimacy info, proof of insurance, stamped housing info, etc. We went over everything from 9:30am -- 1:30pm before going to the Post Office and sending the information off. They said it takes three months to receive your photo ID in the mail. So I'll be receiving it, oh, about the time I'm finishing up the semester. Makes sense, right?

      This whole atmosphere should be turned into a reality show called Body by Italia. Confused? Everything's uphill. The road to school, the road to the store, the road to any scenic location, the road up to my apartment. There's even three flights of stairs to get to my front door and then, once inside, another flight of stairs to our living quarters. Basically, the last two days we've woken up sore in places we didn't even know we could be sore in. I told Danielle that if I haven't lost at least two pant sizes, I'll be concerned.

      You know what else is quite funny? Everything is designer. All the shops along the Corso (the main street in Arezzo) by our school are completely out of any price range that any student could manage. Maybe that was OU's idea? It's definitely working if the goal is to prevent people from over-spending. I'm not just talking about upper-end stores. I'm talking, more specifically, about the 9.889€, ugly Rolex I saw in a shop window. Even their dogs are different. There are no "muts." Just purebreds. All their animals look so posh, even the dirty ones. I thought to myself, "Huhh. So that's what a real insert breed here looks like." I did find out after perusing the Corso and seeing about 20 different purebred dogs that I want an Airdale Terrier. They're the most precious ever. But the owners of these beautiful animals just let their dogs take dumps in the street. I suppose with no yard around, they really don't have a choice but it's an odd thing to witness: a hundred people going about their day and this dog is just taking his mid-afternoon poo on the lovely cobblestone. Then the owner bends over with a plastic bag, scoops it up, and throws it in the nearest trash receptical.

       The last thing I should fill you in on is that it is awful-rotten being the minority. I could have my sunglasses on, be looking down, and not attempting to drawn attention to myself, and you'd think I was dancing down the street. I tried smiling -- just to mix it up -- and I'll never do that again. We thought maybe it's because Danielle and I are redheaded and our roommates are blonde sisters. So it might look like two sets of twins are all hanging out? Regardless, it makes me feel like a goldfish... or like I'm wearing my underwear outside my pants or something. Tonight, we decided to go get some gelato after dinner. We were walking down one of the main streets when, right as we're passing an outdoor table, a mixed-gender group of teenagers started singing: "If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends..." I was so shocked by the fact that they were singing the SpiceGirls at me that my jaw literally dropped and I picked up my pace. It's rare for me to blush but honestly... Sometimes the hormonal high schoolers or those creepy men in dark doorways will rubberneck until we're completely gone but usually, everyone just mutters, "Americano..." as we walk by. (I bet the part about creepy men in dark doorways makes you feel good, huh, mom?)

We got an abbreviated tour of the city -- it's a lot bigger than we imagined! I plan to do more exploring of it this weekend when we have some free time. They're keeping us pretty busy this week!

My camera doesn't even do the view from our balcony justice. You can see the mountains in the distance and all the surrounding roofs. We only wish our view was 3-5 feet higher because some of the close roofs block our long-distance view.

This is the courtyard under our balcony. We all thought it was super weird because this tree has no foliage but has whole peaches growing on it.

This is the door leading into Corso Italia, 40 -- the facility OU owns.  This is school for me for the next few months! It looks like any old door but it's huuuuge inside. There are two classrooms, a computer room, offices, student and faculty spaces, and three restrooms. Because this used to be an apartment, the restrooms all have bidets, toilets and bathtubs. The ceilings are really ornamented -- frescos trimmed with a guilded molding. Everything's gaudy.

We decided to cook tonight instead of eating out. It was definitely interesting since we were missing some key utensils...

Our finished product! Yuuuuuum!

Lastly, here's a view of my new favorite spot by our house. I passed by this on the way to the school the last two days and it's exactly what I picture Italy being like: