New Greek Friend

Cari tutti,

Last night, Benedetta called me at midnight and fortunately I was still awake. She apologized for the hour and basically begged me to hang out with her friend today. She sounded very stressed out and was speaking Italian a mile a minute. She explained that she had to study, but had a friend visiting that only spoke English, so she asked if her friend could hang around with us during the afternoon. She spoke English, so of course I accepted.

By the end of this morning, I was ready to crawl into a hole and hibernate for the rest of eternity, so I was in no mood to make friends and show someone around in the pouring rain. I guess this girl really wanted to get out of the house though, because she still came.

At one, when CLIDA let out, we met Benedetta and her friend, Maria in Piazza della Repubblica. Benedetta went off to study and we got to know Maria. She is Greek, and a very sweet girl. I ended up really enjoying her company. We took her to eat at Antico Noe, our favorite, but she couldn't finish the whole sandwich (neither can I).  Then, since it was raining, we walked over to a little bar on Maggie's street and had a cappuccino and chatted for a while. I was very interested to hear that she and all of the other Greek students are required to learn two languages besides Greek, starting at a very early age. The first language is English, and the second is a selection between French or German. Maria chose German. I was so impressed to hear that she was fluent in 3 languages. She has been studying English for 12 years!!!! Like many other Europeans, she is obsessed with America, but has never been. She is hoping to do her study abroad in Washington, D.C. Sounds pretty cool.

After cappuccino, Maggie and Kevin went home, and I brought Maria to the Duomo. She seemed to enjoy it. Then, I showed her the bus station so that she could find it when she was ready to go home. I left her in the center and she went off to do some shopping. She informed me that I have an open invitation to stay with her in Greece. I better take it! Sounds amazing :) She also gave me a really nice complement in saying "I always thought Americans were very closed, but you and your friends are so nice. I really like you!" That was very sweet of her.

I'm looking forward to seeing her again on Thursday when I go over to Benedetta's for dinner and to teach Anarita and Antonio English. I think she and Benedetta want to go out dancing after that. We'll see how tired I am haha. Anyway, I'm glad I ended up meeting Maria. It was great to see a fresh face and get my mind off all the things that have been bothering me.

Tonight, we are going to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate Andrea's birthday, so I'm looking forward to that too. Maybe I'll have more to update tomorrow or Thursday.

Ciao!