Sunday and today have been long days. Not because we have been doing very much, but simply because it takes a concerted amount of effort to communicate.

Even in just the few days that I have already been here, however, both my host family and I are picking up on each others’ language quite well. I’m slowly starting to understand more, but it seems like Italians speak so fast it is hard to discern where one word ends and another begins. If we have made this much progress this quickly, however, I am sure that it will only continue to improve at a rapid rate.

Yesterday we had a large meal in the afternoon – tortellini with a delicious carrot-beef-tomato ragu sauce, beef cutlets in a scallopine style with lots of fresh lemon, salad, mortadella and a half-cow/half-sheep’s milk cheese with a name I couldn’t possible pronounce, with a lovely Brunello. We had a much lighter dinner, a creamy potato and pea soup with croutons, a drizzle of olive oil, and parmigiana reggiano.

I’m still getting used to breakfast here – there are lots of carbs involved and I’m used to a different style of morning meal – but the coffee is amazing. I could live on Italian coffee for the rest of my life. I think an espresso machine will be on my short list of purchases when I get home.

Today we went to the supermarket to get groceries and for me to get some things to eat. I got lots of yogurt, come chickpeas to make hummus, some nice little Italian olives – and I got some peanut butter. Apparently no one in my host family has ever had peanut butter before, but they’re willing to try. I hope they like it! I can’t imagine a life without peanut butter.

The Italian supermarket that we went to was extremely similar to American supermarkets. The selections of meats, cheeses, and pasta is – obviously – much better. One thing I’m noticing here, too, is that Italian foods that I’m used to eating in the US just taste so much better here. Much like when I ate strawberries in California. They were grown a mere ten miles away and the flavor was just out of this world. It’s the same with everything here – the wine is better, the cheese is better, the meat is better. Everything is just so fresh and packed with flavor. It’s hard not to stuff myself like a Thanksgiving turkey at every meal!

Maria Carla was also extremely helpful and drove me around today to find a plug adapter for my electronics and to set up a cell phone plan here in Italy. We were able to find a standard two prong adapter for my cell phone and Nook, but my laptop has a ground. That was a little more difficult to find. We went to an electronics store in Montecosaro and managed to find a UK adapter that fit into the 3-prong American plug, and an Italian plug to fit into the UK plug. It looks a little funny, but it works – and that’s really all that matters to me!

Getting a plan started for my cell phone was a little more difficult. Everyone we talked to insisted that my cell phone would simply not work in Italy. I had made significant preparations before leaving the US to make sure that my phone would, in fact, work in Italy. I made sure I had the style of phone that would work with European cell service and got the unlock code from Verizon to be able to use it with an international plan. “No, no, no!” was all we heard from everyone. I finally managed to convince them to at least try, and it worked.

Without Maria Carla’s translation, though, it never would have happened. I read on multiple websites before leaving the US that it’s easy-peasy to get your cell phone set up in Italy – not so much. Unless you’re fluent and stubborn, I really wouldn’t suggest trying it on your own. Plus, you need a physical address in addition to your passport to even get a pay-as-you-go plan. All that being said, Maria Carla managed to work a minor miracle and got me set up with my phone – with email! Yay! I really don’t know what I’d do without internet on my phone. Now that I have all my little gadgets here I really feel more at home.

The school is still closed tomorrow for snow, but I will hopefully finally be in class on Wednesday. It should be interesting to finally find out what I’ll be doing in the classroom.