Italians go to school on Saturday?!

Well, I was grateful to not be on the normal Italian school schedule today. My host sister Olga was in school today (seriously! how terrible!), but I got to enjoy a nice weekend day.

Today was a very relaxing Saturday after my first full week of classes. I spent the morning walking around the neighborhood, just exploring. I found some great spots, including a "private" hotel garden which I just wandered into. It had a really sweet tunnel of grapevines about 50 yards long. I spent almost two hours just trying out new roads and shortcuts. Since it's so hilly here, there's a network of pedestrian-only stairs and ramps connecting the roads which wind up and down the hills. I had fun people-watching; at the local stadium a group of men in their fifties put on quite a show in full spandex, and I spotted a hilariously obvious tourist couple wearing matching hats and fanny packs.

I've also been really surprised by the attitude of pedestrians here- even though Italians in every other aspect of life seem to have very little regard for following rules and regulations, crosswalks are another story. People almost never jaywalk here, which is really strange to me, since I'm used to Massachusetts where pedestrians belligerently assert their right-of-way. I've had to fight very hard against the urge to step out into the street without a little green man giving me the go-ahead, but even in the rush of the morning commute, pedestrians will wait patientlyat the corner, even if there's not a car coming. And if they're reallllllly in a hurry, and decide to go for it, they're much more likely to scurry across with a sheepish face. In the US, it's pretty common for someone to step out in front of oncoming traffic, and glare at the driver as is challenging them to lean on the horn. It's a point of pride; any quickening of pace undermines the assertion that the jay-walker has every right to bring traffic to a halt. Here, I literally saw a man with a cane break into a limping jog AND doff his hat apologetically.

Moving on.

In the afternoon, my host family left for an overnight excursion to visit family, so I'm fending for myself. It's nice though; just having a space to relax and watch a movie with some friends feels pretty novel. Earlier, I went into the city with Angela who had to practice sketching for her art class. I am certainly not an artist, but it felt very appropriate to sit out in the nice weather and try my hand at it.

OKkkkk well that's it for now.