Apertivi and Firenze for the weekend!

---

This week was so busy at work! I feel like I barely slept this week but its okay because that means I was out doing fun things. We are in "peak season" for visas, which let me tell you is great fun. I have been enjoying apertivi after work (which I was corrected actually means a drink, but in trying to equate it to something in the U.S., I said appetizers, which is actually antipasti). So moral of the story is that "apertivi" is kind of like happy hour, but with better food than peanuts and chips. So there. That's what I've been doing a few times a week and its fun. On Wednesday night I went out to dinner with Stefano and Lucia to (re) celebrate his birthday. It was really fun, albeit long, but at a cute little restaurant outside of Milan and we were with about 15 of his closest friends. We had about 7 courses, pasta, cheese and meats, rice, steak, dessert, caffe, you name it we probably had it but the food was really good, so its okay. It was fun for me because I got to just hang out with Italians since I've been hanging out with a whole lot of Americans. And I got to speak Italian, something else that seems to be lacking a lot in my life lately seeing as I LIVE in Italy! So it was reassuring that I could acutally speak and communicate fairly well still....whew! Thought I'd come back speaking worse Italian! That would have been discouraging!

Tonight after work I leave for Florence. I am going to visit my host-family from when I studied there and I am really excited to see them! I had planned on going really early tomorrow morning because there was supposed to be a train strike (stupid Italian train strikes, its like my pet-peeve of Italy) but it got cancelled, so I get to go tonight! Yay! They are picking me up at the station and then we are going to the beach in the morning. I'm not really sure which beach seeing as Florence isn't exactly close to the beach, but hey who knows? It will be fun and maybe I can actually have a summer TAN!

Next Friday is the 4th of July celebration here in Milan thrown by the CG here. Then the following Wednesday, my boss and I are flying to Trieste, which is over near Venice, to attend the Consular Agency there's celebration. It will be much smaller but it is basically to honor the holiday for Americans in the area. So we will fly in Wednesday afternoon and come back way too early Thursday morning to go to work. Its nice having a job that pays for these things....airfare, hotel etc....what a life! Hahaha...just kidding, I'm sure I'll be hating it when I have to get up at 4 am that day!

Not much else going on. Laura and I are going to the crazy horse races next weekend in Siena, which I'm really excited about because Siena is a beautiful town and then we get to go to Bologna, which is supposed to have REALLY good food! (and I'm sure its beautiful as well 😊) So things are moving along here, getting busier all the time, but I counted today and I only have 7 more weeks of work...which really isn't that long at all. And I'm sure it will fly once we are traveling every weekend!

Okay, I'm off to Firenze! I shall post pictures on Monday.....ciao a tutti!

---

Comments

[Dave Sadler]

UNION TRIBUNE HEADLINER
The story of the arrest warrants of 13 CIA agents in Milan made the headlines here. What's the buzz about it there? Chez's party was a lot of fun. Folks stayed late. Met your friends. Nice girls. New grill worked great!