"Very, Very Beautiful"

The rest of the week was pretty normal. I went to my Italian lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, and visited multiple professors at the University to line up my classes. Outside of that, I spent most of my time reading in my room, since I didn’t have Internet. Now THAT is a story.

Anna Giulia and I went together to get my Internet set up. Italy has a terrible Internet situation, and most people must use a wireless “key” to get an Internet connection. Essentially, this gadget plugs into your USB port and, voila! Internet. However, every time you log on, you “use” 15 minutes more than the time you spend on the Internet. If I log on 4 times during a day, that 1 hour that I had used, despite the time I spend actually ON the Internet. I only have 100 hours a month (about 3 hours a day), so I try to only log on once or twice a day for about 2 or 3 hours at a time. The next option was 400 hours a month, but I don’t need 12 hours of Internet a day! I guess this will be good for me.

Wednesday night, Anna Giulia took me to a pub to meet 2 of her friends: Greta and Davide. I like them. :) They speak English, and are very welcoming. I had just met them, and Greta asks me, “So what are we doing tomorrow night?” New friends. I love it. We made plans to go to one of Greta’s friend’s parties in Giulianova, a small town about 20 minutes from Teramo.

We left the pub and walked the streets of Teramo, Anna Giulia and Greta singing Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and Davide and I pretending not to know them. However, when they played Shakira’s “She Wolf” I couldn’t help but join in. They taught me new Italian words, like how to say “shut up,” “get away from me,” and “f*** off.” Enlightening.

We stopped by a local cornetta (croissant) shop and ate some pastries to hold us over. I had a powdered suger-topped roll filled with fragola e panna (strawberries and whipped cream). Wow. That stuff could go straight to your hips. That’s okay, I walk virtually EVERYWHERE in this town. I think I’m actually LOSING weight.

Thursday night rolls around. Greta, Davide and I are going out. My roommate Romeo tells me that his friends are coming over for dinner, and that he will head back to his hometown with them the next day. Just as I was about to leave, 6 or 7 Italian guys come through my front door. Must be Romeo’s friends. I introduced myself, and sat around until Davide texted me letting me know they were outside. I halfway wanted to stay behind…this looked like a fun group. But Giulianova beckoned!

Davide drove Greta and me to Giulianova. I thought we were going to a party, but we ended up going to a bar (again, sandwich shop not the American equivalent) and I ordered hot chocolate. Note: hot chocolate in Italy is not like American hot chocolate. It is more like hot chocolate pudding. And absolutely delicious.

Then we walked along the port. Greta told me that from Teramo you can reach the mountains in 15 minutes and the beach in 15 minutes. I love Italy. I joked around with my 2 new friends, and learned how to say “the fish are sleeping”: Il pesci dormano. They promised to bring me back to the coast when it gets warmer. Apparently Anna Giulia’s family has a beach house that they will take us to. Summer, get here NOW.

We drove back to Teramo, never stopping by the party but completely satisfied with our nighttime beach walk. I thought I drove fast, but I drive like an old lady in comparison to the Italians. Then again, their speed limits are faster than America. The speed limit is 90 mph usually, with it rising to 110 mph at one point. 110 mph? That’s allowed? I LOVE it here. Davide went 130 mph most of the drive. No wonder Italians get places so quickly. I don’t mind. I drive fast when I’m back home anyways…I felt completely at ease.

Davide and Greta dropped me off at my apartment, and I waved goodbye. I headed up to my room, my hair completely curled because of the seaside humidity. I opened the door and could hear boys. Romeo and his friends were still here. I went to my room to get ready for bed, and one of the boys came by to use the restroom. “Ciao!” he said.

The next thing I knew, 6 or 7 drunk Italian boys were surrounding me trying to talk. They said I was very beautiful, apologized for not speaking English, and one in particular, Filipo, kept trying to take pictures with me. He gave me a receipt, and I did not realize it’s significance until another of the friends pointed out that it had Filipo’s cell phone number on it. I already got my first number…how easy was that? Filipo was also the one to keep repeating, “very, very beautiful.” I come home to a bunch of guys telling me how beautiful I am?

I think I'm going to like it here. ;)