Una Giostra nella Piazza

Today there is a Carousel in the Piazza della Repubblica, for no apparent reason. It is beautiful. I sat by it for an hour today and read my book and watched the Italian children run up to the cavallinos, begging for a ride. I want to babysit an Italian child and feed her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and have her grow up and remember her cool American babysitter that introduced her to this foreign delicacy.

It has become fall, there is a chill in the air that has forced me into a scarf and jacket and sweater combo and has me stopping at every shop window for the perfect pair of Italian stivali (boots) and drooling over the thousands of different colored guanti (gloves) that look so warm and stylish at the same time.

I find myself missing places to go sit and read. At home I grew up in Starbucks, which—say what you will about it—knows something about atmosphere, and for 3 bucks you can have a warm place to cuddle up with your latest novel all afternoon. At school in Northampton, café’s line up to provide students with the ideal study environment/escape from the harsh New England weather. While Florentines love their espresso, and it is extremely good espresso, they drink it standing up, and if you dare sit down without ordering food you can expect a dirty look from the cameriera (waiter).

Our University courses should start in the next few weeks and hopefully that will introduce me to what the students here do for fun, besides late night partying at the discoteca, which isn’t really my thing. This weekend they are calling for storms and rain, I don’t have any travel plans currently so I think I will finally take advantage of my museum pass and the bad weather and look at some indoor art, while still keeping an eye out for the Italian literary loner hangout of my dreams.