BIG AMERICAN

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From requests from my mom and Sarah, I am going to try to do my best to keep updating my blog more frequently (with no promises of quality or length of the entries...).
I arrived safely in Italy on Monday morning with no problems, although it was probably one of my more absurd airport experiences. My roommates and some other friends in Siena had requested that I bring back some different kinds of candy from America, so my mom and I had gone to Target and Costco to load up on a variety of sweets. I guess my eyes were a little bigger than my luggage allowance, and when I went to check my baggage it was very overweight. My parents and I began unpacking my baggage in the front of the check-in line at the airport, pulling out about five pounds of candy. It was probably quite the spectacle for people passing by. The woman at the desk said that I could either pay to check the heavy baggage (which seemed ridiculous just to transport loads of candy), or that I could just carry it all on with me in a plastic bag. So, after checking in my big suitcase, I proceeded through security with my purse, my computer bag, and a huge sack of American candy. So far everyone here has appreciated my efforts, especially my coworker, Filippo, who is obsessed with peanut butter M & M’s (much to his dismay, you can't find them in Italy!). I slept for almost the entirety of the flight, waking up only for feeding time. At one point I was very groggy and an attractive male flight attendant asked if I wanted something hot (meaning to drink), and in my head I thought ‘Hmmm, yes, you please.’ Luckily I caught myself and just meekly asked for some hot tea with lemon.
I knew I was back in Italy when I stepped off the plane into the airport and found myself surrounded by men carrying purses. It sure felt great to be back in Italy.
Tomorrow morning I have to leave for Roma at 7:30 a.m. to meet 25 new students at the airport. Armed with a list of flight information, I’ll be pacing through international arrivals trying to herd everyone together. Then we’ll take a bus to a town near Assisi where we’ll be staying on a farm for orientation. Unfortunately we realized too late that the bus might be too large to actually get to the farm because it might not be allowed on the windy streets. This might be kind of a fiasco. It’s possible that I’ll get dropped with all of the students and their luggage for the semester at the bottom of a large hill. I’m trying to talk the school into hiring mules to carry us to our destination. So far I’ve been unsuccessful.
Other than that, I’ve just been unpacking, cleaning, and enjoying my walks around the city. Yesterday when I was grocery shopping, I saw a brand of frozen pizza called BIG AMERICAN. I’ll attach a photo soon. It was huge and loaded with every kind of topping: PEPPERS, OLIVES, EXTRA CHEESE, ONIONS, SAUSAGE.... it went on and on. It’s amazing how much a brand of pizza can show us about the attitudes of Italians towards American culture.

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