I've been writing all about my trips and such, I haven't said much about my living situation.  Syracuse places most students who study abroad here in Florence in home stays with an Italian family.

My host mom's name is Felicetta and my dad's name is Carlo.  They live in a house in a more residential area about 30 minute walk from the SUF campus.  They have a black lab named Mia (pronounced Mya here) and a black kitty named Milou.  I'm staying in the guest bedroom with my roommate Dawn, my sorority sister from Syracuse.  It's really nice knowing who I'm living with and having someone else who speaks better English than Italian.

They don't speak very much English, but we make it work!  Felicetta gives us dinner 5 nights a week...and that's an Italian dinner.  At least 3 courses of pasta, meat, bread, cheese, veggies, and ALWAYS wine.  My dad Carlo makes his own wine which is a lot better than the bottles we've bought from the store.

It's hard to walk places from where we live, but I've gotten really good at the Florence bus system and I ride my bike to school on nice days (they're all nice days :)  But my favorite part is picking up on Italian.  I definitely understand more than I can speak, but even though I've been here a week I've learned more than my friends who have been here two weeks, living in an apartment.  I sit down most nights and ask how to say the food and things on the table, and I always learn new words during our 'conversations'.  Keep in mind there's usually an Italian-English dictionary present at the dinner table.

It's a real adventure, but it's also very nice to have a home to stay in.  There are toys around for when their 2-year-old granddaughter Camilla comes over, and my mom even came to pick me up at the train station at 2am when my train was delayed from Roma.  I haven't really experienced culture shock and I think it has to do with the fact that I don't just go to an American school in Florence, but I'm actually surrounded by the Italian culture whenever I'm not in class.

I can't wait for Lynn and Joe to come have dinner with Felicetta and Carlo!  Maybe by then I'll be able to act as translator...wishful thinking, I know.

Here is a link to all of my Florence '11 pictures - https://picasaweb.google.com/104859887244946738313/Florence11?authuser=0&...