How am I different?

I was listening to a song by Aimee Mann titled How Am I Different. And it made me think about my life in Firenze and how I’ve changed in the past few weeks since I’ve been here. I can think of a few things, but in particular I’ve developed a great amount of adaptability.

A few weeks ago my PowerBook had a little accident. Specifically, I kicked it off my bed in the middle of the night and one of its corners hit the hard tile floor. It’s all crunched up and the DVD player can’t eject. Steve Jobs and the other gods at Apple have been extremely kind to me, as the computer appears to function in all other ways. The DVD player not being able to eject affects me in a few ways.

- I’m unable to burn any of my art, design or photo files to CD.
- I’m also unable to burn music playlists to CD.
- I had an evening ritual of watching episodes of MI5, 24 or a movie on DVD each evening, as it’s refreshing to hear English at the end of the day. The DVD in the player at the time was Pride and Prejudice. And the only other thing I have on my computer to watch is the PBS documentary, The Medicis: Godfathers of the Renaissance.

In my newly discovered calm and relaxed manner, I came up with the following solutions:

- I’ve ordered a plug-in DVD player, which I’ll receive in about a month. (Don’t ask. It’s Italy.)
- In the meantime I use a USB flash drive to transfer my art, design and photo files as necessary.
- I have made some iPod playlists for friends, and rather than burning CDs I periodically lend my friends my iPod to listen to the tunes.
- I watch Pride and Prejudice and The Medicis in rotation. (If you have any lingering questions about Miss Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, Lorenzo il Magnifico or Cosimo I, feel free to add a comment and I can surely post the answer for you.)

Boh. (An Italian expression with no particular meaning, most often accompanied by a shoulder shrug.)

So I’ve been dropping weight at the speed of light while eating pasta, pizza and biscotti daily. (Atkins, ha!) And at this rate, I’ve had to buy a new pair of jeans every two weeks. You wouldn’t believe the price of Levi’s here, and the women’s styles aren’t offered in various lengths so I pay for them with a cringe on my face, then take them home and hem them myself. In my little sewing kit I have straight pins, but no pincushion. I thought to myself, why buy a pincushion, as it seems a frivolous purchase for a studentessa, so I made one from the denim I cut off the length of the jeans. This felt like a bit of a revelation. I may be crafting more household items in the future as it’s a great way to save a few euro.

Another way that I’m changing is that I’m apparently unlearning English. Saturday evening a few of us went out for drinks at Caffe Sant’Ambrogio. They serve cocktails and I ordered a chi-chi, which is similar to a pina colada, but vodka replaces the rum. (I enjoyed this drink so much because I found that the flavors of coconut and pineapple remind me of my Hawaiian-Californian home!) As we’re cocktailing, in walks Ricardo, a friend of Jean Claude. Firenze is starting to feel like a small town to me. I’ve run into many a friend at the supermarket, on the street and at bus stops. This time it’s Ricardo, the guitar instructor from Treviso. We called Jean Claude and decided to meet up at Ambasciata di Marte – a creative space with a gallery, bar and live music. To get to Ambasciata, we walked down one of the large streets that circle il centro. As in many European cities, the old city walls were removed and replaced by large boulevards. During our walk one of my friends asks me "Come si dice semaforo in inglese?" I couldn’t think of the answer. It took me two entire minutes to remember. "Traffic lights", I finally replied.

As I was riding the bus home tonight I was chatting on the phone with my mom and I said "I bet you 20 euro…". Recalling this conversation, my first thought is does she have 20 euro? My second thought is if I win the bet the current exchange rate will work greatly in my favor. I also made a new word during this conversation. I was saying something about balloons. And out of my mouth came the word "paloon". (The word for balloon is palloncino in Italian.)

> Ambasciata di Marte