Buona sera tutti! (Good evening everyone!) Good news, I am still alive and safe in Italy! This is my third whole day with my host family and I am having a blast! Yesterday I met Camilla’s and Martino’s grandma, and I saw her again today along with many aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was like a huge family reunion, except no one planned it and everyone just happened to be in the same place at the same time! I guess those are the perks of living in a small town; everyone knows everyone and you’re always running into other people you know without planning it.

We went to the post office yesterday and signed all the papers to get my residence permit for Italy. We also went to the dock of Lake Maggiore and I got a pass for taking boat rides to Arona. Apparently I will be taking the boat to school every day, as well as a long bus ride. It will be very different from Phoenix where I drove 5 minutes to get to school.

Now you’re probably wondering why I named this blog “Eggplant??”! This is the new word I taught my host family today. My host mom made us fried eggplant for lunch and called it “melanzana.” I asked her what it meant in english and she didn’t know. I asked Camilla and Martino too but they didn’t know either. Finally my host mom brought out the purple eggplant and I cried out “eggplant!” Anyway, that story probably wasn’t as entertaining to you thought it would be..but it was funny in the moment! :)