3 month anniversary

Does everyone marry their best friend? Does every couple laugh this hard?

Does everyone feel this loved? Is everyone this happy?

I hope so



How did we get so lucky?

Going on four weeks...

These are some of my observations thus far…

-Men really are…friendly
-Eggs in grocery stores are not refrigerated, (some stores don't refrigerate milk either)
-Italians drink café', which is a straight shot of espresso in a tiny little cup. They also drink this café' standing up. You don't sit down, unless you are eating.
-There is a lot of tax fraud here, police randomly ask to see your receipts to make sure stores aren’t selling things under the table. You can get in big trouble if you don’t have a receipt.
-Heterosexual men can often be spotted wearing tight, TIGHT, pants, purple shirts, and scarves.
-Man purses are also very popular
- I have searched far and wide but still cannot find cheddar cheese or peanut butter
-Most stores are closed at 1:00PM until 3:30PM. Everyone goes home for a family lunch. Lunch is usually the biggest meal of the day.
-Italians eat dinner late, around 8 or 9
-Most Italians do not own a clothes dryer.
-Italians love Obama
-Italians smoke a million cigarettes a day
-You don’t have to tip in Italy, but they do have a “ill coperto” added to your check at fine dinning restaurants Il coperto is a 2 Euro (per person) charge for table service.
-There is a toll to drive on the highway. (at least around where we live) It costs about 2 euros for every 30 miles.
-You must and I repeat MUST, wear a plastic glove when touching produce at the grocery store. Failure to comply will result in glares and fingers being pointed at you.
- It is perfectly normal to live with your parents until you are well into your thirties.
-Pepperoni pizza is not what you think it is. It's cheese pizza with hot peppers.
-Chewing gum is ridiculously expensive, it’ll run you about $4 a pack, which is a lot to pay for fresh breath.

Ciao! It's Luke or if you live in Ferrara you may call me Lucca.

Here is a little pic from Venice, Lindsey and I took the train up there last weekend. It took

about an hour and cost 26 euros for the complete trip. Not bad for a trip to Venice.

Coming to Ferrara has been a trip of complete unknowns. Where would we live? How would the coaches and basketball be? Do they use toilette paper? etc. etc. Well everything has turned out to be similar to what we are used to, maybe just not as convenient as we are used to back in the states. We have a mall close by for shopping and they have the equivalent of a Walmart which makes everything pretty easy, the biggest adjustment so far is our power. We cant run the Washing machine and the oven at the same time without blowing a circuit. So before Lindsey starts cooking anything or we start washing anything we make sure to turn off all the lights and make sure nothing else is plugged in. Apparently, the gov't controls the power company and they only give each building a certain amount of power each month, and because august was an extremely hot month everyone had the air conditioners on alot causing an normal amount of power usage and alot of going downstairs to flip the breaker. I can't help but think if in 50 years I will be doing the same thing back home in the U.S. I hope not.

Anyways, I am really working hard and earning every red euros cent over here in practice. We are practicing twice everyday and its tough. I'm lucky that I have Linds to take care of me when I come home exhausted. And she is doing a good job of that.