Family Club.

I want to talk about my time with Rosanna and Silvia.
I feel so blessed to have them in my life.
They are the Italian family I was paired with this semester.
We could not have been a better match.
Every time my friends ask me how dinner was with them,
I tell them I got a fantastic ab workout from laughing, as always.
We have the same sense of humor, 
so that helps balance any frustration from the language barrier.
This is a post to summarize some of our time together this semester.

Welcome Dinner:  Meeting Rosanna and hearing her passion for art was incredible. She is studying to become a tour guide of the city. I immediately knew she was layed back, and and just overall a very unique and cool person who appreciates life. The language barrier was larger than I expected. I learned quickly to not use phrases such as "double check" because it would only lead to ten minutes of playing charades trying to define it. She drew me a detailed map of how to get to her house the next week. That's going in the scrapbook :)

Tortellini Soup: When I described to Rosanna what to bring for making tortellini soup she was perplexed. I had all the spices and the chicken broth, so I told her to buy zucchini and tortellini. "That's all? What a strange soup." From then on she referred to my soup as "Laurel's strange soup" haha. Luckily they loved the "strange soup". We had the typical fruit after our meal. No wonder I rarely see overweight Italians. They eat bananas for desert haha. Meeting Silvia this time was exciting. She reminds me of my sister so much. She is 15. She is an Italian version of my sister, so it is refreshing to be around her when I get slightly homesick. I love watching the mother/daughter relationship with these two. They love each other very much. Rosanna told me about good bakeries and places to eat near my apartment. I helped them with their english, and they were so patient in reminding me a thousand times how to say the words "fast" and "near" in Italian. For some reason I kept finding myself needing to use those words and could not remember what they were. They taught me how to properly do the kissing on the cheek greeting/farewell. I straight up asked because I am an awkward human and don't know what to do with my hands during these greetings. Rosanna drove me home and made sound effects as we turned corners. Yes. In that moment I knew we were the perfect match :)

Women's Day: I already made a blog post about his day. Check it out here: http://laurelinflorence.blogspot.it/2013/03/treating-her-like-lady.html

Practicing Numbers: Rosanna took me out to a local pizzeria that was phenomenal. I had the Fiorentina pizza and it was delicious. Afterwards we sat on her couch for an hour or so. Just relaxing and kicking back. We watched my spring break video and she loved the song "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers. I told her that I had just learned numbers in Italian class that day so we went through all of our family members saying the years when they were born to practice. She got a kick out of how young I am compared to her. She told me when she was born and erupted into laughter. This woman's sense of humor. I can't get enough of it. 

How to Hold a Fork: Tonight Rosanna cooked some beef and pasta for us for dinner. Her meals are very simple, but so delicious. While I was cutting my meat, Rosanna asked if how I was holding my fork was how people hold their forks in America. I looked down at my hand and realized I was holding my fork like a 2 year old holds a crayon. All my fingers wrapped around it like a fist. I thought for a second, and said "Actually, I don't think so. I think only I do this haha." We got a huge laugh out of that, and from now on I have held my fork in a more proper and civilized manner to cut my meat. Never thought that would be something I would learn from my Italian family :) I left the apartment  with a pie and a guitar in hand. Silvia doesn't use the guitar so she has let me borrow it for a few weeks. I couldn't be happier!

Ten Terrible Minutes: Tonight was one of my favorite nights. We always laugh a lot when we are all together, but tonight was taken to an entire different level. We cannot remember what was said to set off this erruption of laughter, but it resulted in Rosanna spewing orange fanta across the table. We laughed for a solid ten minutes. Rosanna apologized, but I kept telling her that this was normal at the dinner table with my family. I felt at home. Come le pazzi. That is what we kept saying all night. We are crazy :)

Studying English: Tonight I helped Silvia study her english. It was interesting to see how a book taught english. I've never actually seen one before. Trying to help her was actually a bit difficult. Only because english is a slightly ridiculous language with so many exceptions and phrases that don't really make all that much sense. She kept looking at me saying,"What?!" Then I would think about it and she was right. The phrases really made no sense. I'm so glad english is my first language haha. Tonight Rosanna prepared a simple Sicilian pasta dish for us. Silvia says it's her favorite, but her mom never makes it. Rosanna winked at me and said, "Only when Laurel comes" jokingly. We reminisced about the fun times we've had over the semester. We laughed, as always. We were laughing really hard about how one time while Silvia was saying how much she loved Coca Cola and Rosanna was distracted and only poured her 1/8th of a glass as she was declaring her love for the soda. The phone rang and Rosanna answered it but had to take a few minutes to get herself together haha. I brought them flowers as a goodbye present, and they gave me a bag with a darling purple bow and said it is a gift for Spain. It is a beautiful blue floral scarf. They said every time I wear it I can think of them. I love them so much. Hopefully this isn't the final goodbye. Whether I get to see them when I come back with my family, or whether I come back to Italy in the future, I know I will see them again. They are a huge blessing in my life. They brought me so much joy, brought me into Italian culture, and have become my dear friends. 
I am so thankful for family club, and that FUA provides this for students. It has been an incredible way to be connected to italians and really experience what italian life is like. It also was a great way to improve my italian language and learn things that are specific to Florence verses other cities in Italy.