Today in Sara’s class, we were all abruptly reminded about family dinners tonight! There will be four girls going tonight to a family dinner, Samantha and Lauren, and Nicole and I. Tonight, Nicole and I are going to Chiara’s family. It was a shock to only be allowed a few hours to know beforehand but luckily it all turned out okay. Since I have never been to a family dinner with ‘strangers,’ I was nervous all day long leading up to tonight’s event. I had no clue of what to expect or how the family would be like. Sara had said that our family was one of the new ones this year, which made me even more nervous because no one had known them yet.
It was time to get ready and calm down before I go see the host family for dinner. Being that I’m shy and very quiet in front of people I do not know, I could not process the fact that I was going to eat with people I have never met before without my professors; I had to think of some kind of an ice break to get to know the family. Luckily I am not going by myself; I would probably die of not knowing what to say.
Well it was time to go downstairs to the lounge beside the class room and patiently wait for our host to come and take us to dinner; Bekah came down with us in case someone needed a translator. After a short time of waiting, we decided to go down to the main door incase the hosts did not know where to go. Right as we came down, Nicole's and my host came. At the time, Chiara was on the phone and confused us all because she mentioned in Italian something on the lines of, “there are five girls waiting and I don’t think we have enough room for all of them.” The five of us, Samantha, Lauren, Bekah, Nicole and I, were completely confused but then, Bekah jumps in to tell Chiara that there are only two girls going with her.
After Chiara got off the phone, it was our cue to go with her to her house. I had thought that we had to walk to her car and drive to her house, but her house is fairly close; it was just straight out Porto Fiorentino and towards the Coop (apparently, I seem to pass her house every time I go to school for my service learning). It was only a few minutes of a walk. Walking up the steps, I was feeling nervous all over again; then we were greeted graciously by her mother and her sister standing at the door so that made me feel a lot better, like a load had just been lifted off my shoulders. I figured that the family would be kindhearted and all but I was just still too nervous about what would happen throughout the night.
At the time of our arrival, I immediately gave my gifts to the mother, but she had refused to take it until I smiled and said, “Niente,” which means, “it’s nothing.” The father was not home yet because he was at work, but during the time he was not there, Chiara gave Nicole and me a tour of their lovely house. I was nice to be in an Italian house for a change. I have always wondered how the Italian house would compare to the American house; they do not differ very much at all, the big difference is that they speak Italian.
Even though the father was on his way home, the family decided to start dinner anyway. I was able to know a little bit about the family and relax some. Luckily, I also had Nicole; she was able to speak to them without a problem of nervousness or anything. Having her gave me a little room to think about what I wanted to ask or my input on certain topics. Soon after, Chiara’s father comes home and joins us at dinner table.
Throughout dinner, I learned quite a bit about my host family. My host’s name is Chiara and she is twenty-four years old. She and her family have been in Sansepolcro for a long time now but she and her sister, Marta, does not like it here because they said Sansepolcro is too small and they have been here for too long. Marta is Chiara's only sibling and is only eighteen years old. Marta attends the high school that Jenna goes to on Fridays and Chiara works around the corner at a clothing store. Their mother is a nurse and their father is a representative for Sansepolcro.
Since we were going to go to Matera this weekend, Nicole and I had asked about what it was like down south compared to Toscana. Chiara’s mother did not have much to say negatively about the city which was good to hear. She did tell us that the movie Passion of the Christ was filmed there and that it is a beautiful city and that we must visit it. This made me really excited because I had watched that movie and I cried my eyes out; I have always wanted to go see the place of filming for that movie.
Over all, they are a cute Italian family. They asked us a lot about how the American culture was, how we had liked Sansepolcro thus far, what we were studying, and where we have been in Italy. It was nice to have a gracious family to welcome us to the family bonding in an Italian culture. It was quite an exciting and wonderful experience. And I cannot wait until I get to see Matera for myself!