While waiting for my computer to be fixed, I took advantage of my technological freedom and spent the day with my friend, Ellie, in Florence. We began at the Boboli gardens, meandering through the mazes of greenery and amongst the statues. It was quite relaxing to just chat next to one of the most beautiful fountains in the world.
We wandered through the Galleria del Costume, looking at beautiful antique dresses and even found the burial clothes of Cosimo de Medici and his wife and son, all carefully restored. I am eager to spend more time there and excited for a new exhibit coming in ten days. But at that point, I needed to head to a Farmacia to find some cold medication, but not before trying a new and strange flavor of gelato. It is called Fiori del Latte e Mento, Flowers of Milk and Mint. And that's exactly what it tasted like. After eating all of it, I still haven't decided if I liked it or not but I would certainly recommend it to the adventurous palate.
We decided to take it easy after that with a movie. “A Dangerous Method,” an English film about Doctors Freud and Jung and their clashing psychological ideas was playing at the Cinema Teatro Odeon with Italian subtitles. I certainly recommend the film to you all back in the 'States, it was intense and thought provoking with wonderful acting by Viggo Mortenson, Keira Knightley and others that I cannot remember the names of. The theatre was an old Italian movie theatre that had been restored. It reminded me of the forties style theatre in the movie Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (an Italian movie that I highly recommend).
After the film, Ellie needed to find some running shoes so we entered a shoe store. I know that full immersion is the goal with study abroad and the best way to learn a new language and therefore I try to speak only Italian when I can. So when we entered the store, I tried my best to form questions in Italian even though Ellie only spoke English. She tried on several pairs and eventually decided to buy a pair. I accompanied her to the cash register where the cashier told her the total price in English. Then, he turned to me and explained the return policy in very quick Italian. I told Ellie that if she wanted, she could return the shoes within 21 days, then realized that I had understood this man. I did a mental-double take and realized that this man must have thought that I was either Italian or spoke Italian well enough to translate for me friend. What wonderful encouragement as I approach the halfway mark of my time here in Italy.
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