Alejandrooo

5/26
Wednesday started uneventful but ended with one of my favorite things yet! Our first class just consisted of us finding out which topic we will talk about in our final presentation. In our culinary class, we learned about Extra Virgin Olive Oil and tasted different kinds from all over the country. We got to taste our teacher's olive oil! It was so yummy. We made pesto, olive tapenade, and bruschetta next. All of it came out delicious. I love eating the stuff we make.
The night, we got assigned to different host families to have a real Italian dinner with! I was paired with two girls, Lindsay and Eva, and we were assigned a family that lived 10 minutes away in the center of downtown Florence. We walked there at 8 PM. Their apartment was right in the center of everything! It was adorable but VERY small. They said the building used to be a convent. It was pretty much a long hallway with a living room area, one bathroom, a TINY TINY kitchen, and a newly remodeled master bedroom. Both the parents were chemists and spoke english. They were so welcoming and genuinely nice. They had one son Lorenzo who was 13 and very shy but absolutely adorable. He played his violin for us for awhile. The funniest thing was that there were 2 other people, a 20 year old girl and a 24 year old guy. All they did was introduce them by name when we walked in so we just assumed they were all their children. Half way through dinner, they started to become super touchy-feely and loving. We were all confused until she said they were engaged. I had no idea who they were at this point, so I asked,
so is this your daughter, or..." and they all acted so embarrassed to realize they had never explained themselves. She was their niece and he was just her fiance, no relation. They laughed for about 10 minutes when we all admitted that we were completely confused by the affection. She served the most lavish dinner, it was amazing!!! First, was a artichoke and spinach lasagna with white wine. Then a meat roll with spinach and cheese inside, salad, homemade bread, tomatoes, and fried seasoned potatoes and red wine. Finally, they served a huge platter of cookies and desserts, then a separate plate of every fruit you could imagine. It was amazing. They taught us so much about the culture, it was probably the best thing we've done thus far!