First Day in Padova: Gelato e Pizza e Vino!

Once we check in at the dorms we were each assigned our own rooms (singles with a jack-and-jill bathroom that you share with the person in the room on the other side). Then we were free to do what we liked and we went out to lunch. I had eaten some bread and salami I had brought from CA but tasted a delicious kebob sandwich that a friend got for only 3,50 euro nearby. Then we went in search of gelato since some of us had just arrived and hadn't tried it yet. We found a yummy place and got some. We didn't ask for tastes because we weren't sure if that was customary or not. I went with my two favorites (since I probably would have gotten them after trying 30 other flavors anyway) - chocolate and plain yogurt. The yogurt was the best I've ever tried but the chocolate was only ok. Maybe I am used to a sweeter variety?

After lunch we came back and finished unpacking. Then we all went out to dinner with the study center staff. A restaurant that had a large seating area in the back (to fit all ~40 of us). There was a set menu with cold dishes: risotto with ham and tomatoes, spinach wrap, "Russian salad" (was just like my moms makes! loved it!) and then some plain pizza (my first in Italy!) ...the pizza was amazing. The cheese is more chewy than any mozzarella and then tomato sauce looks like barely cooked squished tomatoes on a delicious thin crust. I didn't think I'd be able to notice the difference but wow!, I can see why Italians get snobby about their pizza!

After the dinner, we headed out to find some fun. With the lack of open-container laws in all of Italy, we bought a bottle of wine for 1,80 euro and started off to one of the main piazzas. In this photo are some Italians we met at the Piazza delle Erbe (Piazza of herbs). In the plain turquoise shirt is Katie and in the black is Teresa, some friends from EAP. The others are Venetians: Rinaldo (shaved head), Davide, Davide (they have matching tattoos with a "D" in them (because they're such good friends!), and Irene. Irene spoke English pretty well and she helped us all communicate because the guys all spoke a venetian dialect (sounds totally different, they basically only say half of every word, skip some words and even have some very different vocabulary!) But when she got bored of translating, we were left with just these guys. They said it took some concentration but they spoke regular old Italian to us (that is the language you learn in all the schools, regardless of the local dialect) and slowly but surely we all were able to communicate and chat, we even joked (a bit)! After two hours of really concentrating on our Italian, we headed back home, proud of our initiative and conversational skills.