Today was very interesting and entertaining... I did the normal school thing at CLIDA from 9-11. At 11, I left to find the bus and headed to Fiesole for pranzo with Edurne (the lady, Aunt Gail's friend, that I met at Thanksgiving that wanted to have me for lunch). She picked me up at the bus stop and we walked to the school that she teaches at. Now, this wasn't just any school, as I had thought. This was, in fact, a VERY prestigious university where people come from all over the world to do their PhDs! It's called the European University Institute, and Edurne is the Spanish teacher there.
She showed me around for a while because I arrived a little early (12:15), and our lunch was scheduled for 1. The campus was absolutely gorgeous. Some of the University departments were even in 12th century buildings!!! There was a beautiful view overlooking all of Florence and amazing gardens. The libraries were insane! As she was showing me the library, she rattled off some stats and features and said one thing that caught my attention: "We have every book you could ever want." I thought about the book that Elisa had us all order from America. It's called "Princes and Artists," it's very random and hard to find, and the only book that we are allowed to read in English for our class. We had all ordered it over a month ago, and it still hasn't arrived. Since the semester is almost over, Elisa gave us the photocopied Italian version to read instead. We were pissed that we had to read in the Italian the one thing that we were actually allowed to read in English. So, I went out on a limb and asked Edurne if maaybbbeee they had "Princes and Artists" in English. Turns out, they did! She immediately checked it out for me and made photocopies of the entire book, one section for each of us students (me, Jeff, Grace, Maggie and Andrea). The best part was that the photocopies were free since she's a teacher there. Elisa had made her Italian version photocopies for us, but had to get 5 euro from each of us because in Italy, you have to pay copyright fees in order to have a photocopied book. Not in this case! I can't wait to tell my friends. They are going to be soooo excited.
So, after thanking Edurne a million times, we met her students for lunch in the cafeteria. There were about 7 of them from all over the world. We all had lunch together and talked for about an hour. Of course, they all spoke English and whatever their native language was. So, I didn't have to worry. But seriously, EVERYONE KNOWS ENGLISH! I have to catch up on learning Italian! And then move onto foreign language #2! Naturally, they were all ridiculously brilliant and making all these historical jokes that went over my head. It was really cool to be around such smart people though. I felt like I was back at Holy Cross with the way the students were and the campus was set up. We had a really nice time and the students invited me to a party tonight. I don't think I'm going to go though because the cab will cost me about 40 euro, and I just can't swing it. So, after a lovely lunch, Edurne drove me back downtown and I walked to the bus stop to head home. This is where it got interesting...
I was standing at the bus stop minding my own business, but overheard an attempt at a conversation between two Italian women and an American woman. The American woman was struggling hardcore and trying to get directions on the right bus to take. The Italian women noticed me and of course, since I look totally American, said in Italian "Do you speak English!?" And I answered back in Italian, "Yes, I speak English and Italian." Then, they handed the American woman over to me. Turns out she needed the same bus I did, so we got on together, and started chatting. Her name was Sasha, and she was 66 years old, but didn't look it from all the plastic surgery she'd had. She was from LA and spending 4 months in Italy, exploring and trying to learn Italian. But, she was definitely doing more exploring than she was learning. She seemed so amazed at my ability to speak Italian and kept asking me lots of questions. Next thing I knew she asked "do you have a job?" I told her "no" and she then asked "Do you want a job? I'm on my way to this dentist that a pharmacist near the Duomo recommended to me. I broke my tooth a week ago and have gone once, but the dentist doesn't speak English and I don't speak Italian. I'll pay you to translate for me." Since I was in NO position to pass up money for simply speaking Italian, which I love to do anyway, I totally agreed. The dentists' office was right on the way to my house anyway!
So, we chatted a little on our walk from the bus stop to the office. When we got there, I introduced myself to the dentist and she was absolutely gorgeous! Blonde, tall, skinny and very very Italian. I started talking to her about what Sasha had said to me, and the dentist explained the procedure of fixing her crown. She explained that there were two types of crowns. One was the traditional way, which cost 1000 euro per tooth. The other was a new "high tech" way, which cost 1800 euro per tooth. Sasha kept telling me over and over that her insurance in the US only covered 500 euro's worth and that she wanted a discount. I of course conveyed the message to the dentist, but she wasn't into it, as I expected. I tried to explain to Sasha that the dentist had nothing to do with the strength of the euro versus the dollar and that procedures cost what they do. Perhaps materials are more expensive here than they are in the US, etc. Europe is just naturally more expensive than America in most ways. Finally, Sasha started to understand and decided to just take care of the hurt tooth, and worry about the other tooth and aesthetics when she got back to the US. (She was VERY concerned with how it would look and I told her to just do the less expensive procedure because she was so upset by the price. It would still be white, just not all the way through. I then told her to worry about the other tooth when she could pay what she wanted in the United States. Beauty wasn't an immediate necessity. Well, maybe it was for her, but I talked her out of it). Sasha ended up paying me 15 euro and asked for my phone number in case she ever needed a translator again. That would be awesome if I could help her again! And now I have money to go out tonight! The dentist also thanked me and told me that I could always come by if I needed anything.
I feel soooo cool right now :) And I can't wait to go out tonight! Yay weekend!
Ciao!
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