Changing My Ways

There are pros and cons of living in Italy. 

Pros…

1. The food is so fresh and you could NEVER find food in America so delicious.  You literally make everything from scratch, and would not dare buy frozen veggies.

2. There is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking an alcoholic beverage at anytime of day.

3. There are very beautiful places to eat and drink in the mountains or on the sea (the beach). 

4. Cheap cheap cheap to fly everywhere throughout Europe once you are here.

5. You just FEEL the history behind every building and try to capture it with pictures that don’t even do it justice. 

Cons…

1. Everything is about MONEY MONEY MONEY!  People either talk about having or making money.  The fashion here is SO expensive.  Chucks are 100 euros or 120 dollars.  Insane for a pair of tennis shoes!

2. Speaking of fashion; everyone wears heels and nice clothes out, even to go to the supermarket.  Our American sweat pants wont cut it :) This would not be a problem besides the fact that THIS GIRL likes to wears jeans with rainbow flip flops or toms everyday! I literally have to wear heels to go into town, and usually want a couple glasses of wine to help me walk in them.    

3. #1 on the Pros above. I will explain why…

I wasn’t feeling too good the other day, and what usually sounds good when you are sick? A can of Chicken Noodle Soup of course!  I had a fever and asked Marco if they had soup on the go.  Of course he chuckled and called me a “Stupid American”.
So...

Emily went to the market and got a big piece of cow meat, some celery, onion and carrots to make me fresh broth.  Yes… FRESH BROTH.  It was delizioso of course, but this "Stupid American" wanted something quick and easy.

I had a discussion with Marco that night about how I know our food is not very good in America- actually ex that- not good AT ALL compared to here, but sometimes I just want something easy peasy, and not have to make a HUGE meal for lunch and dinner every night!  Mind you this is a man who is a phenomenal cook; explained it perfectly to me.  Cooking is just not for the food, but the culture of cooking.  All Italians eat big homemade meals twice a day with wine because that is their passion.  That is how they were raised and will continue to raise their children.

It finally clicked.
 No more thinking about calories, no more thinking about time at the grocery store everyday (even though I still HATE grocery shopping), no more thinking about the time it makes the meal, and especially for me, no more thinking about how many pans I am going to have to clean when lunch and dinner are over (I am a huge neat freak and have to clean after every meal right away).

Again, this is one of the major challenges of moving to a new country.  I said I wanted to learn a new culture, but when it really comes down to it, you really have to change your mindset. This was just hard to do when you are sick :)

I have been here a month this tomorrow already!  I can’t even believe it! 

Me and Emily are now going to go eat free food and wine at a winery.  Yum Yum…. I want to ask the owner if I can give free English lessons for free wine.  Sounds like a good trade to me!

Thank you everyone who is reading this blog.  I feel very humbled by your support.

Ciao,

Meliss