Bonjoirno! (hope you all caught the not-so-subtle Romeo and Juliet reference in the title...)
I have no idea if that is spelled correctly, but you know what I mean! I am finally in Verona, Italy, where I will be for the next four weeks. Yesterday we flew from Istanbul to Venice, and from Venice we took a two hour bus ride to Verona. This city is so beautiful - it's just like I imagined it. There is a beautiful river running through the city with beautiful old stone bridges. The roads are cobblestone/some other stone and are worn down from centuries of walking. They took us to an "Italian fast food" place (along the lines of a pizzeria that we would find in Atlanta) for dinner, where we met an older lady who was an opera singer performing in "Carmen" at the arena! We asked her to sing, and she did! She had the most amazing voice, and she just started singing in the middle of the street! Oddly enough, none of the locals really acted like it was out of the ordinary. Even though she didn't speak a lot of English, she was so happy to see us and was so sweet.
After dinner we were free to do what we wanted with the rest of the evening. A group of us decided to find a cafe to sit at for a while and then we decided to walk around the streets after it got darker and observe the nightlife. We stumbled upon a younger section of town, where we met two girls studying from Chicago. They had been in Verona for four months and last night was their last night. They gave us advice about places to eat, places to shop, and things to do here. One of them was even from Marietta originally! Only in Verona...
It seems that a lot of the people who live here are families with younger children and older people. It seems to be a very tight-knit and friendly community where everyone watches out for everyone else. The weather is extremely humid and temperatures in the 90s...yuck! But because it's Italy I am going to excuse it...
Today we had an orientation about what to expect here at the residence and in the neighborhood. We were taken to the grocery store and stocked up on groceries - if you think buying groceries in the States is hard, try looking for coffee filters when you don't speak Italian. My friend, another coffee lover, and I almost had a mild heart attack when we thought we couldn't buy coffee. But the day was salvaged when we realized we could use paper towels...
This afternoon we have a historical tour of the city, which I can't wait for! Stay tuned for more from fair Verona!
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