Camminare

It's a little random but I was just listening to the John Mayer song and it definitely relates to the activity that occurred this week for me. I had a wonderful weekend which involved staying in Florence and enjoying the beauty that exists within reach. I have enjoyed these weekends which I have spent here because it helps me not to feel so much of an outsider. My friend Angela and I took a nice long enjoyable walk that started in the somewhat suburb Fiesole. We took the #7 Autobus and when we arrived to the town, we just walked down the main street and it took us all the way down to this other little town, Settignao which is very quaint and just a wonderful place. So the walk took us about 4 hours but we went at about a 1 hour mile speed because we were super distracted and wound up looking at all different things from the clouds to the leaves on and off the trees. Also we were living off the earth because not only did we find a few apples to consume but we picked a couple olives and we plan on making those edible. The walk was so good because we were able to take our time and enjoy some greenery, fresh air and calm noises. We just enjoyed the scenery and I had my medium format camera so I hope to have gotten some great landscapes, especially because we passed two castles, castelli. They were not inhabited and just had their own little characteristics. I like just visiting Castles, they are just so interesting and they put you in a strange position being so close to them and knowing that they have been through so much. Well yeah it was just what the doctor ordered, besides the few sun-showers which forced us to take shelter under trees or a makeshift gazebo. We even had a little picnic which is the same word in Italian. Per lo pranzo we ate (abbiamo mangato) some bread, cheese, peanut butter and apples. (pane, formaggio, burro di arachide) It was a great lunch and we were very thankful to have a place to scurry to once the rain started falling. It was a great walk (camminare) and I hope to head up there sometime soon before (primia) the weather (tempo) changes. After (dopo) Angela and I took the autobus to her house (sua casa) and there I met (incontrare) her host father (padre) and we collectively tried to talk (parlare) Italiano with him.
It is quite difficult to talk on the spot because you learn these sayings that may never come up in the conversation so then you are stuck trying to think of English-like words in Italian.
The following day My roomie, her friend (sua amica) and I met Angela at the Marcato Centrale and there we picked out dinner fix'ns. They picked out these really big tortellini and I almost got a Pumpkin but I wasn't sure if we were headed straight home so I plan on going back for one. Afterward Angela and I didn't head home, instead we wandered to the river(Arno) and there we met some Italians. They ranged in ages but they were all there fishing. I guess that is the place to go and talk to Italians because they are already taking it easy and so they speak slowly and it works out because they also are in the mood to talk usually. It was a great conversation that we had and Angela and I combined our Italian knowledge and got by pretty far. There was a guy named Giovanni and he was basically visiting because he lives in Torino but he is working in Florence for just a few weeks. We agreed to show him around a bit and so from there we went to a caffe and talked a bunch more. He bought us cappuccinos and little pastries. It was a great time and we talked about all sorts of things, I definitely feel that my Italian is improving. So yeah I may not have been able to say what I wanted to say but the act of trying proved to be quite rewarding. I will definitely head back soon to the river to hang out with the fishing guys.