Shopping with Marta

My friend Marta and I went walking around town today, but it was absolutely freezing outside. I took her to my favorite chocolate place where they serve little hot chocolates. I ordered mine with peperoncino as usual. It's spicy, but so good. Who would've thought that a little red pepper could be so good with chocolate. Marta tried it and loved it too! It's nice when I'm able to share something I love with someone and they like it too.

She thought it was funny that she has lived her for many years (she's originally from Umbria and has lived in Florence for about 8-10 years now) and hadn't yet discovered this place yet. "Come mai arrivi qui da poco e sai già tante cose buone." (How can you be here for such a short time and you know so many good things.)

Marta and I used to go out dancing when I was living here before. She's the only person I know of who never seems to tire out. We used to stay out until 3AM and she'd still be the last one to fade out. She'd dance from the minute we arrived until we left...and usually we had to drag her off the dance floor.

Shopping with most of my friends here seems to be different here. I told Marta that I wanted to shop for oils and creams for my skin. It's so cold here and even though it's humid, my skin gets dried out, so I needed something.

We went to "The Body Shop" because I was looking for something particular. This time, it was fun walking all the way to San Lorenzo and back. She's fairly goal-oriented when we go shopping. The last time we went, I told her I needed to get some more pants, so every shop we went to she kept me focused on pants. But, I actually wanted to just look at different things, not necessarily to buy, but to just hang out together. In the end, I did buy a pair of pants, but only because she said, "Se ti piacciono...e stavi cercando i pantaloni, comprateli." (Well, if you like them...and you were looking for them, get them.)

Maybe next time, I'll just tell her I want to walk around and not buy anything. Then we can go shopping "American style."

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