I don't understand you miss

"Can I have a medium patate?"

"I don't understand miss."

"Can I have a patate?"

"Si."

Now not knowing what size I just ordered I paid for my McDonald's french fries and hoped it was a medium and not an extra large.

Even though Italians know English as well, there are some who cannot understand and I am learning new words and how to communicate better with others. For instance, I learned medium in Italian is Medie. The poor woman at the cash register was so confused, but I finally got it across.

Trying to communicate with a language I've only had a semester of is difficult, but I feel like I'm slowly getting better. I know the simple terms like thank you, your welcome, good morning, afternoon and goodnight, how much does this cost, etc. It's gotten me through these couple of days here.

However, even though I've used English a lot more than Italian I like trying to use what I know and give it a try. I'm finding the people appreciate it if you try.

Although, there are people who just don't like Americans. Today Lydia and I went into a store and the woman said "buon giorno" and we replied with the same. She must have heard our accents because when we said "ciao" she gave us a snotty look and said "bye."

It's the luck of the draw I suppose.

Today Lydia and I ventured into town and got lost, not on purpose, but it turned out to be a great mistake because we got to see parts of the city we haven't been introduced to yet. We ended up being four or five bridges away from ours, which was quite the hike. Once we got back, Lydia figured out that we had walked four miles!

I was told to bring comfy shoes because all I'll do is walk here, and boy I couldn't agree more. I could not tell you how many miles I have walked in the past three days. More than I did over winter break, I can tell you that much! My legs are definitely feeling it.

The city is beautiful though and I wouldn't trade this experience for the world.