Thursday, September 13, 2007

Living in Florence :: Castello Aragonese

Alessandro and I took the bus to Ischia Porto from Casamicciola today. We wanted to tour as much of Ischia as we could and decided on starting with Ischia Porto. I bought a guidebook before we arrived in Ischia, but I don't like to read up too much beforehand. I like to know a minimum of what there is to see. For me, it is more about visiting what there is to see, learning more about the place when I am there, and appreciating it. If I study too much, I tend to have a different idea of a place and might end up getting disappointed.

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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Living in Florence :: Terme Negombro

When Alessandro told me that Ischia was famous for its terme (thermal spas), I couldn't wait. It's not like we don't have any terme in Tuscany, but I've been wanting to go for a long time. A girlfriend of mine goes quite often and keeps telling me how wonderful they are. This morning, after I did some work, we hopped on a bus to go to Terme Negombo, which is located to the west of Casamicciola.

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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Living in Florence :: A few days in Casamicciola

Alessandro and I have been planning to go away somewhere for a few months now. We first thought of going to Portugal, and then we thought of Sardinia. In the end, we decided on Casamicciola, which is a town that is located on the north part of Ischia off the coast of Naples. I had never been south of Naples except to a conference in Sorrento, and I couldn't wait. Especially since most of my friends took off in August.

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Thursday, September 6, 2007

For the last two and a half months, I've had to carry around two cellphones. And, not out of choice. Alessandro and I signed new contracts with the mobile telephone company named 3. He was able to keep his old cellphone number that he had with WIND and transfer it to the new telephone. I put in my request at the same time and TIM has not granted me the right to keep my telephone number with my new cellphone provider.

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Wednesday, September 5, 2007

A little more than two months later and my interview in A Place in the Sun has appeared in the October 2007 issue. I haven't read the interview yet, but my friend Narinder was kind enough to go to his local newsstand in England and purchase a few copies for me.

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Monday, September 3, 2007

The street below my apartment that goes along the Arno river was packed this morning with cars, motorini (scooters), vans, trucks, buses, and bicycles. The tourists and other pedestrians walk single-file along the narrow sidewalk toward as well as away from the Ponte Vecchio.

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Sunday, September 2, 2007

I used to think that having a routine would be boring. I thought I needed to have so much freedom that I could be free to decide what I'd be doing at every moment of my day. But, I have come to realize that I crave routines. I like writing my morning pages every day, going to the gym a few times a week, running outside in the morning, and my Sunday lunches with Alessandro's parents.

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Today was another morning that I went outside to run some errands. I used to never do much in the morning, but it's been so hot lately that it's the only way to survive. I left the house a little after 9AM to get my impronte digitali (fingerprints) for my cittadinanza italiana (Italian citizenship). Because the local questura (police station) is only open to the public in the mornings three days a week, I decided to go to the main questura in via Zara.

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Monday, August 27, 2007

When I left the house this morning, I noticed something very different: the city was bursting at the seams. I couldn't help but notice that a lot of people had returned from their holidays this weekend. From last week to this week, it seems as if the city suddenly woke up. Shops in via dei Neri that were closed were now open, there were more people in the streets speaking Italian, and cars and motorini (scooters) were all around me while I was riding my bike through the city.

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Sunday, August 26, 2007

I think that one of the reasons that I love living in Italy is that I am constantly learning new things. When I was in England and I had to choice of returning to France where I felt at home for six years or to go somewhere else, I opted for a new country. I had wanted to learn Italian for years and just felt that I had finally arrived at the right moment in my life to do so. I was single and working freelance already so nothing was in my way.

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Thursday, August 23, 2007

One thing that I have learned is that I should never let anything stop me because there is more than one way to achieve a goal. I was pretty upset when I was told by the Italian consulate in the US last February that I did not qualify for Italian citizenship because my nonno (grandfather) was an American citizen when my father was born. The other day while looking for information about the requirements for renewing my permesso di soggiorno (permit to stay) I found that I might still qualify for Italian citizenship.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

A little past 7:30PM today, there was a ring at my campanello (doorbell). I usually don't answer my door unless I know someone is coming over. I popped open the window and looked down to see a man standing there with a small stack of papers. I yelled down to him, "Ś? (Yes?)" "Gallo?" he asked. I knew it couldn't be a delivery because I wasn't expecting anything. He told me he was from the polizia (police). "Viene su? (Are you coming up?)," I said. He said he wasn't coming up, but that I needed to come down. "Mi porti anche un documento per favore. (Please also bring a document.)"

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Living in Florence :: Lunch in Prato

Bari and I had decided the other day that we would take a train ride to Prato to have lunch. Neither one of us has ever been to the centro (downtown area) of Prato and thought it would be fun. I told Alessandro of our plans and he said, "Che ci fate a Prato?" (What are you going to do in Prato?) I explained to him that because they have such a high population of Chinese, we thought it'd be fun to go there to eat at a Chinese restaurant. Most Florentines seem to consider it a place not worthy of visiting, but we were determined.

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Sunday, August 19, 2007

Living in Florence :: My newest love

I had tried to eat fresh fichi (figs) last year and bought a few. I must not have picked well because I didn't like them at all. I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. I've had dried fichi, which I like quite a bit, but the fresh ones didn't seem like much to me. This last Wednesday, I went to Alessandro's parent's house for lunch and his mom put out some fichi for me to take home. I ate one to be polite while I was at their house, and finished all the other ones they gave me as soon as I got home.

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Saturday, August 18, 2007

Living in Florence :: Slowing down

For the past month or so, I've been busy with work, getting settled into my new apartment, and worrying about which path to follow for staying in Italy legally. So, today it was wonderful to finally take in my city again with a girlfriend of mine. I felt as if I hadn't been able to enjoy my city except when I look out the window at the Arno during the day.

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