My Favorite Things About Italy

Well friends, in honor of my last month in Italy, I've decided to make June about Italy, my experiences here, and what I've learned along the way.  So, this week will be all about the reasons I fell in love with this place in the first place, the reasons I came back, and the reasons that it'll always have a place in my heart.  These are in no particular order.

1. The history.  There is a feeling of history throughout the entire country that you just can't ignore.  You can walk around anywhere you go and run into random ancient ruins just strewn about the city.  Each city is unique and has its own story.

2. The Wine.  Oh man.  It's delicious. Even the cheap wine is awesome.  But the cheap wine--- is CHEAP.  Not $7 cheap wine that tastes like sewer water that you find in the US.  It's €1.50 for delicious wine.

3. I'm initially slightly more interesting when you first meet me.  That probably changes 12 seconds into talking to me and actually learning something about me--- but when I'm first introduced to someone, I'm all--- American and foreign and so for a teeny tiny bit, I'm cool.

4. The language.  So purty. And when Italians speak in English--- they have the MOST adorable accents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1TnzCiUSI0

5. The people.  Everybody is super eccentric--- in a good way.  They all have this love for life that you don't find other places and they're not afraid to show it.

6. The landscape.  Here, you can find everything.  The sea, the mountains, the city, the country, the lake, everything.  And in a relatively small space.

7. All my fabulous friends!  I've met some fantabulous people during my time here.  People who I've shared some awesome times with, and who I'll remain friends with for the rest of my life.  Everybody has been super helpful and have really been there for me--- and I love you all for it.  :)

 I'm not putting pics because I just have TOO many and I can't decide which ones to put.

8. The food.  I'm not sure if this even needs an explanation.  The food here is indescribable.  It's literally nothing like you'll find anywhere else. Not only that, but the fact that every single place has its own specialty makes my life--- well--- SUPER DUPER happy.  I've been here for about a year and a half in total--- and I'm STILL trying new things and discovering all that Italy has to offer from a culinary perspective.  And every time I try something new--- it's phenomenal.

9.  The culture.  Although this category is a bit of all of these categories combined into one--- I don't care.  Collectively the culture of Italy is something that's super unique and really what makes Italy stand out from every other country.  The landscape, the history, the art, the language--- with dialects that changes from city to city and town to town, the traditions, the food, and the people.  You put it all together, and BAM.  Italy.

10. The men.  While I was CONVINCED that Italian men were for me the first time around, I came back and realized that I had built it up too much in my head and had a romanticized stereotype of an idea of the men here.  I couldn't deny it.  I missed American boys.  Skinny white boys who wear scarves and colored skinny jeans and own hair dryers--- meh, no thanks. But then I grew up.  Italian men are adorable.  They are real gentlemen who will open doors for you or pay for small things, just to be nice.  Not that I need any of that.  But after years of boys throwing things down my shirt--- I must say, it's a nice change.  The skinny white boy thing has grown on me--- and now --- I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I go back to the US....

(I'm just going to go ahead and assume that Stefano Accorsi is a good guy--- because in my head--- he's perfect)

11. Pietro and Filippo.  My boys. As much as I can whine when they're not on their best behavior, at the end of the day--- they're great kids and ADORABLE.  When Pietro smiles--- everything in the world just stops being important--- anything that has EVER made you mad--- just disappears.  Filippo and his random questions. Why, why, why, why.  His vivid explanations of how super mechanical things work that I had NO idea about until this 4 year old explained them to me.  I now know how a steam engine works.  The hilarious thing is though, you can't ask me--- because I can't explain it in English. Or, I CAN--- but I'm going to have to tell you the names of all the parts in Italian.

12.  The memories I've made here.  Times that I'll never forget and I CAN'T WAIT to come back and make more!