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“"Tre squadre [three teams]," Imperatrice instructed, as she handed small pieces of paper to the students standing closest to her and watched as the three teams moved into place. “"E dobbiamo avere fretto perche dopo facciamo spese, mangiamo.”"

‘"We must hurry, because after we shop, we eat.’" 

I was standing in the grocery store with my "Basic Italian" classmates and teacher, preparing to buy the ingredients we needed to prepare our dinner. Imperatrice, our instructor, had written out the shopping lists from which we worked. My team had been tasked with selecting the bread, salad supplies, and dessert. The bread was a bit of a challenge.

“"It says '‘due panini.'"’” my classmate said, looking up at the rest of us, “but doesn'’t that mean two sandwiches? And why only two, when there are fifteen of us eating?”

Our basic knowledge of the Italian language hadn’'t yet equipped us to deal with the distinction between sandwich slices and hard rolls. We decided to pick up schiacciata—soft, salty Italian bread that was typical of Florence. Imperatrice had been the first to introduce us to it on a different Italian field trip several weeks prior, so we assumed we couldn’'t be too wrong.

“"And now we need panna liquida,"” my other classmate said. “Liquid cream? Is that different from other creams?”

Luckily, this time, our teacher had drawn a picture of a milk bottle next to the words. We walked to the dairy aisle, grabbed what we needed, and headed to meet the others, satisfied with our discoveries. Although it turned out that we actually did need two hard rolls (they weren'’t for eating, but rather for one of the recipes we'’d be using), once we picked those up, Imperatrice seemed happy with all of our selections. She even let us keep the extra schiacciata to eat as an appetizer.

Although it might seem cliché, the fastest way to learn about culture in Italy is to experience an Italian meal. I can’'t even count the number of people who, upon hearing that I would be studying abroad in Italy for the semester, insightfully told me that I would be “eating a lot of Italian food.” I come from a family that eats pasta, bread, and cheese at least three times a week, so I thought I knew what to expect. When I arrived here three months ago though, I quickly learned that it wasn'’t that simple. In Italy, it'’s not “pasta”—it’'s tagliatelle alle melanzane, or penne ai frutti di mare, or gnocchi alla sorentina. It isn'’t “bread”—because it could be pane toscana (Tuscan bread, typically without salt) or foccacia (from the Northern coastal area of Liguria). It'’s never “cheese”—because cheese is pecorino, or mozzarella, or better yet, mozzarella di Bufala Campagna. Food isn'’t to be consumed from a package, or on the go——it'’s to be enjoyed over several courses with family and friends (and accompanied of course by a bottle of red wine).

The antipasto appetizer comes first, often bruschetta or crostini or carpaccio. It is shared among all those at the table—lots of arms reaching for bites, lots of passing of plates. The primo piatto comes next—the “first plate” that is usually pasta, risotto, or soup—followed by the secondo piatto, usually meat, or an omelet for vegetarians. This course is accompanied by a contorno—a side dish that could be spinach, or salad, or fried potatoes. A cheese plate sometimes arrives before dessert——you can put honey or balsamic on your cheese (both are good). Then finally, it'’s time for dessert (if you can manage it, but you'’ll most likely make room once you see the tiramisu).

The first dinner I ate in Italy lasted for two hours. Although most meals aren’'t that long, an important aspect of the Villa le Balze program is sitting down to lunch and dinner every day with our classmates and professors. Spending this time together is one of the things I'’ll miss most when I return to America in two weeks. Cooking dinner at Imperatrice’'s house last week reminded me of that. Although we couldn'’t read the Italian recipes perfectly, and we didn’'t find exactly the right bread, how the individual dishes turned out was much less important than the fact that we were making them together. I certainly hope to bring this aspect of Italian culture back home with me.