Faculty Gathering

Most of the study abroad faculty have now made it safely to Florence (Janet and Rebecca will arrive tomorrow on the student flight), so we decided to get together for dinner. We met at 6:00 at the Neptune Fountain in Piazza della Signoria, just steps from my apartment. Bob and I both arrived alone, Lanny came with his wife Janet, and Toni arrived with her father Coley and her six-year-old daughter Molly (now known as “Molliana”) in tow. Kirsty (of AIFS) and her friend Angela also made a surprise appearance. We all went to a café around the corner for aperitivi (“aperitifs” or “before-dinner drinks”) and stuzzichino (“appetizers”). Evidently, it’s quite common for bars and cafés to provide large spreads of appetizers, which are provided for free, as long as you order a drink or two. I hear that students often make meals of these spreads! In fact, Toni and her family did just that as they arrived only yesterday and are still overcoming jet lag. They just weren’t up to a later dinner!

Toni and her family headed back to their villa, and the rest of the faculty headed out to dinner at the trattoria that I discovered my second night, Antica Trattoria Nella. Lorenzo, the owner, treated us well. We gorged on crostini toscani (toast with duck liver pate), several kinds of pasta, duck, Tuscan white beans, and spinach, all washed down with vino rosso. We ended our meal with Lorenzo’s famous panna cotta, biscotti, vin santo, and espresso. Do Italians really eat like this every night? I can’t imagine.

Our original goal was to plan the students’ “Amazing Race” over dinner, which is game we’ll use to help orient students to Florence. Well, we never even discussed it, but we did have some wonderful conversation. Salute!