Tuesday, February 06,

"Living Italian" finally comes to Lehigh University Exchange Student

The ANNOTICO Report

 

This young student took a while, but she DID get it!! :)

 

 

Carefree in Florence

 

The Brown and White

Lehigh University

By Elizabeth Callahan

A broad abroad, Columnist

February 5, 2007

I ate one of Florences most loved delicacies last weekend.

No, it wasnt pasta, olive oil or wine.

It was cow intestine.

Yes, thats right, beef innards.

It was my first experience at a real Italian restaurant where no one spoke English and the menu was in Italian.

I was in an adventurous mood, having spent the day perusing the Italian city that I now call home. I decided to branch from the familiarity of pollo (chicken) and order the Trippa alla Florentina.

Its a Florence specialty, and all the food in Florence is amazing, so I was sure it would be fabulous.

Everyone around me in the restaurant had plates of wonderful pastas and meats. My roommate and I were anxiously awaiting whatever we had ordered.

Our waitress finally emerged from the kitchen, and out came a giant slab of bleeding meat for my roommate and something that looked like tentacles for me.

Not exactly what I was expecting.

I thought it was some sort of sea urchin at the time, but only later did I learn that it was actually cow intestine.

I was more okay with it being sea urchin.

I actually managed to order the strangest thing on the menu and attract a lot of strange glances from middle-aged Italians as I laughed hysterically while I tried my best to eat the tentacle-like food in front of me.

In a country where you dont speak the language or know the customs, everyday things like ordering dinner, paying for a panini or finding your way to school become challenges.

Those challenges usually end in me making a fool out of myself as I try to communicate in a pretty pathetic mix of Italian, English, Spanish and hand gestures. I rarely get what I want or end up where I want to be, but I always see amazing sites along the way.

In Florence, everywhere I turn there is something beautiful, something to see.

Things Ive studied in art history classes are suddenly in front of me. Looking at a photograph of a Michelangelo painting or a building by Brunelleschi is nothing like standing in front of the real thing.

And the Tuscan countryside is even more beautiful than it is in the movies.

I am trying to take my cues from the Italians and live a more care-free life, to really take time to enjoy the sites instead of just rushing around all the time.

Even though Lehighs campus is beautiful, as I run to class with my coffee in hand and iPod on full blast, I rarely take the time to look and enjoy it.

Here people just enjoy their walks to work or school, and take in the beautiful city around them as they walk instead of talking on their cell phones.

Cafis in Italy dont even offer coffee to go, because it is expected that you want to enjoy your coffee at the cafi. People here seem to live more in the moment and appreciate life in the city.

So, Im doing my best to have this same menta lity.

If I get lost, or order the wrong thing, I just laugh about it and enjoy it for what it is, an experience. ...

http://www.bw.lehigh.edu/story.asp?ID=20383

 

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