Reminiscing - My first weeks in Italy...

The month of September marks eight years since I met my husband and three years since our wedding in Siena... how time flies! It still feels like yesterday that I met him in Piazza del Campo in Siena and we started our adventure together. When I think back, it always boggles my mind how we were able to communicate and how new I was to Italy. I wouldn't leave the house with my dictionary in my purse and always managed to take it out at some point in the bar for at least the first month we were together. =)

The first two mistakes I made as an American that still makes me laugh to this day and yet I still feel isn't wrong...

1. We were in a bar and my husband, well boyfriend back then, orders a little glass full of rum and a little glass full of pear juice. To my fellow Americans, what do you see this as? A shot of rum and pear juice as a chaser, right??? So what do I do in my full American-ness... take the shot of rum and chase it with the pear juice in a couple seconds. I look to my husband and he's just staring at me as he sips his rum.... yeh... they like to sip their hard alcohol as a digestive. Lesson learned on an Italian way but to this day, I still can't sip my rum or vodka, and I don't like grappa.

2. Another night, we went to a bar around 5pm to get coffee and my husband asks me what I want. He was getting a coffee and I asked for a Cappuccino. He looks at me weird and says, "A cappuccino?" And of course the barista is looking at me weird as well and I have no clue why. Then my husband explains to me that Italians only drink Cappuccino in the morning for breakfast. Well if I can have my eggs for dinner then I can have my cappuccino for an evening drink as well! Can I be more American?

These were lessons I learned in my first weeks in Italy and to this day, I have learned many more and have grown accustomed to these "customs", BUT I still don't think it is a sin! =) Have you shared these mistakes with me???