Running e Il Canale

Yesterday we only had orientation during the morning so we spent the afternoon wandering the city. We ate lunch in a little pizzeria and I finally had my first gelato - straciatella (not sure about the spelling) but it's my favorite flavor! It was very busy in all the piazze on Saturday but of course we always manage to draw attention to ourselves as that group of Americans. The hardest part is all the doors have a pull handle on both sides, but you always have to push to go in...we always mess up. A bunch of us met for dinner and again after wandering we found a restaurant called Otium. I had un panino tenebroso with brie, lettuce, tomato, and prosciutto!! The prosciutto is amazing! After, we went to this mysterious place called a bar, which I had never heard of before, and I ordered my first drink with this special substance called alcohol, but something must have been lost in translation, because as I said, I had never heard of it before. I had my first spritz like a true Italian. It was a great bonding time for our group. This morning Judith and I went running along the canal as pictured above. It's gorgeous, and this morning was nice and warm (by New England standards at least). We stopped at the torre (tower) where Galileo used to look at the stars!! So cool! Che figo!! (Except never ever say "Che figa" because in Venetian dialect, it refers to female genitalia) Ahah. I have a little belt with a pouch that I wear under my clothes when I run to carry my phone and keys. The Italian word for it is "un marsupio" just like a kangaroo! This afternoon I am meeting my e-pen pal Linda. I have no idea what we are doing but I'm really excited to spend time with an Italian student and hopefully learn some good information. A few things I have learned: At Bucknell, cars stop for pedestrians. In Padova, pedestrians stop for cars. I'm not quite sure they know what a stop sign means. As you move away from the center, people don't walk their dogs on leashes which is really cool. But I have to find out if it's normal for people to ask to pet dogs. It also seems as the days go on, your brain confuses the two languages more and more so that instead of speaking one when someone asks you a question, you panic and nothing comes out. But I can't even say how much my Italian has improved in only my few days here. That's it for now!