Lazy Sunday

I guess its starting to look like I might be posting on here everyday, or at least until I get into an area with no internet. Oh well, we have no TV and Netflix doesn't work here, so I need at least one good way to distract myself, even if nobody ends up reading these. Today was our first formal information session at the center. I thought it was a little weird that they were just now warning us about pickpockets and the dangers of our trip, since we've already been living here for a couple days and a large part of the class has gone out both nights. There's only been one incident here with a female pickpocket distracting one of the girls here and then taking her purse, which she actually was given back, just 100 euro lighter. Anway, the info session was a grueling 3 hours that started at 10 and didn't end until...you do the math. We went to lunch for pizza (again) afterward. The pizzas here are personal sized, but like I said before they're honestly almost no different than a bambino at Miseno's. I'm not that big of a pizza guy myself but I get the feeling that the Italians love it. They also drink a lot of Coke. I asked how Italians could get away with eating these huge pizzas all to themselves and eating huge meals every time they go out to eat and the US still have bigger obesity problems than Italy. The answer made sense. The pizza at least is very thin and not very greasy, but the main reason is that they have to walk everywhere. I never really thought about it but living in the suburbs IS a pretty lazy lifestyle. You could honestly get away with never walking anywhere again if you didn't want to at home, and I guess a lot of people have made that choice. Don't get me wrong, one of the very first things I noticed, even in the airport, was that there were a bunch of guys who had huge guts, but were otherwise skinny, so I wonder if Italians being healthier is just a perception of theirs or reality. We walked through a new part of the center district of the city to get to lunch, and then I walked back with 2 other girls who live in my apartment building. We walked through a nice park right next to our apartment building, which was connected to a piazza with a big beautiful set of marble steps with a bunch of sculptures. I was taking a picture of the piazza, and this old man came up to us with religious pamphlets. Since I've been trying to reach out and be open to new people and experiences, I automatically took the pamphlet as a reflex. I immediately regretted it when he started to talk to me (I'm used to the people in the US giving 20 minute lectures on all the different ways you can go to hell). He asked to pray over me, and I was already in it enough that I just gave up and let him. It only took about 10 seconds, and it was actually kind of nice considering it was a Sunday today. I want to go to church here eventually when we're free on a Sunday, even if I can't understand most of what they're saying. Its been nice little 20 and 30 second interactions with people here that have made me stop feeling so anxious about being here. I can never understand too much of what they're telling me and my Italian is broken, but they have generally all been extremely friendly. It makes me want to know more of the language. Anyway, I'm sure these posts will come less and less frequently as I get more settled into an everyday routine since everything won't be so new. Like I said before, I don't really expect to fully understand the way everything works here in just one semester, and I almost wish I wouldn't be traveling, except for the fact that I may never have a chance to see so much of Europe again. I guess this really is a once in a lifetime chance that I decided to take.

Mike