"Language is wine upon the lips." -Virginia Woolf

To begin with, I would just like to say that if you are ever in Florence and you get on the wrong bus, don’t panic.  Do one of two things:  [1] wait and hour or so for the bus to arrive back at your original location and try again or [2] ask an Italian for help.  In my case, I did both and it took me two hours to get home.  But, it was quite the adventure!  After riding what I thought was the right bus for about an hour (like I said) I finally asked the gentlemen next to me, “Corsica?”  Corsica is of course my stop.  Thankfully, he spoke English and he asked the driver.  The driver explained that I was on the wrong bus and the nice man who helped me, whose name is I think Valesso, got off with me at the next stop and got me on to the right bus.  He lived really close by so he was more than willing to do so.  Meno male! 

NOTE:  “Meno male” literally translates to “less bad.”  However, most Americans might use it in place of “Thank God!”

ANYWAY….

The last few days have been a rollercoaster.  So, to save us time, I am going to condense everything into a few short sections.  Pronto? (Ready?).  Allora!  (Okay!).

My Host Family

I am now the “adopted” son of Nadia and Pasquale (Nadia mi momma e Pasquale mi babbo’).  The first day was super rough.  They speak very little English and I ended up crying myself to sleep the first night.  It’s so painful to not be able to do something as simple as talk.  And, if you know me, you know I have grande bocca (big mouth).  So, yeah, that was hard.  At dinner, I sort of felt like a piece of furniture because neither myself nor mi host parents could really say anything.  I managed a few rough sentences like, “Sono studiento di politico.”  This translates into “I am a student of politics.”  They smiled and nodded and that was about it.  However, I will say that they welcomed me right into their home and I was tickled pink when I saw that they had hung a patchwork American flag on my bedroom door (see picture below).

I remember chatting with Stephen on Facebook, telling him how much I loved and missed him and that I wanted to come home.  His response?  “You don’t want to come home, babe.  It will get better.”    And do you know what?  It did!  I had to throw myself into the "lion’s den" so to speak, but things did get better!  Tonight, I managed to have a shaky, but productive, conversation for about uno oro (one hour) at dinner.

Italian Politics (For Beginners)

The main topic of our discussion was politics, (duh!).  Like the U.S., Italy is a democracy with two chambers in its parliament (sort of like the House and the Senate).  Historically, the “House” has been the weaker of the two but both must agree before legislation can be put forth (just like the U.S.).  However, their leadership roles get a little messy.  I’m still unsure as to how it works but apparently there is a president and a prime minister.  The president is above the prime minister but the prime minster is the "face" of the country and has a lot of power.  Anyway, the current prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is not a popular figure in my host family’s home (my professoro di l’italiano doesn’t like him either).  He is, according to mi host babbo’, a combination of multiple curse words that I do not quite understand.  Apparently, Berlusconi has destroyed the education system in Italy.  All of the private schools are, according to mi host mamma, “corrupt.”  “You have money, you no study,” she tells me with a shrug.  Tragic!

Above:  Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italia.  The man mi mamma says is "male" (bad). 

Anyway, to make a long story short, mi host familia are democratica l’italia (Italian democrats).  Basically, Italian democrats are similar to American democrats.  You can imagine my excitement!  They really like President Obama and Secretary Clinton.  But, (hold on to your hats, folks) THEY SUPPORT MARRIAGE EQUALITY AND THINK THAT THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE WOMEN IN PUBLIC OFFICE!  Uhhhh, yeah, they are just that awesome.  I haven’t told them about myself yet, but I think mi mamma knows something; she winked at me with a coy smile when I asked her about gay rights in Italy.  I think I am going to show her a picture of Stephen tomorrow.  :)

Oh, and one last thing:  the Pope is a very powerful political figure (as if we didn’t already know that).  Mi host mamma told me that because of his influence, rights will always be very medieval.  For example, children cannot be adopted by single parents.  There must be a mamma e babbo’!  Mi mamma e babbo’ think this is, as mi babbo’ said, “stup-eed.” 

NOTE:  The letter “i” in l’italiano makes a long “e” sound.  So, that’s why when mi babbo’ said “stupid,” he really emphasized the “i.”

Well, I could go on for oros (hours) but I need to get some sleep.  Long day tomorrow and its almost 1:00 A.M!  My first quiz is Friday and then it’s off to Pisa on Saturday! 

Buononotte!  (Goodnight!)

The view of Florence from my bedroom patio.  *Sigh*