All it takes is a bicycle and a scarf

The market on Sunday was an absolute blast. Sam, Charlie and I wandered around for 5 hours looking at all the stuff, and the people, and bought some pretty great things. We spent probably 45 minutes at one stand where every item of clothing was 1E and the man just kept dumping more clothes on the pile. I got a neon yellow shirt with a cowboy and indian themed comic strip on it...with the text in italian! Big win. I also may have bought parachute pants. And by that I mean I did, and I've already worn them and have fallen in love. They were the one crazy Italian item of clothing I've been eyeing all semester and I finally did it. And got tons of compliments so apparently I needn't have worried so much!
Today I went over to Kelley's (Professor Di Dio, my advisor at UVM) apartment in Florence for prosecco with Natalie (former TREKkie of mine) and Maggie (current SUF grad student). It was so much fun! So nice to sit and chat with people from UVM who know me back home (well besides Maggie). I think that's been the strangest thing here. Most of my friends go to Syracuse and so vaguely knew each other, or at least know the same people, places, things. There's only two boys here from UVM and I kind of know one of them, and don't know the other at all. So essentially, to everyone I meet, I'm just a student in Italy. No one knows who I am, what I do, or where I'm coming from in the States. In some ways it's freeing (and believe you me, I've taken full advantage of that freedom) but sometimes it's strange to be such a blank slate. Having an afternoon with UVMers really made me appreciate everyone there a lot and made me really excited to see them. But oddly enough, it didn't make me homesick. I am having the time of my life here, and have grown so much over the semester that I don't regret coming in the least. Having the chance to see people from home so that someone besides me can tell the difference was possibly what made it so cool without making me homesick. It pretty much made my week that when I rolled up in bici Kelley remarked "Look how Italian you look with your bike and your scarf! Omg!" Success. I don't know if Italian is exactly how I look, but at the very least, it's nice to think I no longer stick out like a sore thumb. Of course I would reach that level of anonymity (oddly enough, something most of us strive for here in public settings) just days before leaving. But at least I reached it. I may still scream American sometimes, but it's cool to think of just how adaptable we really are. Although thank goodness it's going to get hot soon after I return home, because if I brought my scarf inducing paranoia of catching a cold by exposing the back of your neck back to the States, I might drive myself insane even before making everyone else crazy.

Which makes me think....there are some very "Italian" worries/hang ups/commonalities that I've been mulling on. I think I would like to share them now. Keep in mind that this is a work in progress. Nonetheless, indicators of a true Italian:
*insane driving habits that require a total lack of respect for anything smaller than your vehicle
*puffy, shiny winter coats (worn at all times, see fear of catching your death)
*a lack of concern for timeliness or punctuality....I call this "Italy-time"
*the equation of amount of food fed to/consumed by a person with the amount of love you are giving/receiving
*fear of catching your death which causes-
*the constant wearing of a scarf
*horror at the mere suggestion of wet hair
*constant wearing of slippers
*the insistence on a down winter coat even when it's reaching mid 60s during the day

You think I joke, but I kid you not. :)