Sì, capisco...not.

This is the view from my window in L'Aquila. It couldn't be more beautiful.

As a city, L'Aquila is pretty small -- Professoressa Benedetti took us on a little giro della città yesterday and showed us the main piazzas, some of her favorite bars (where you drink coffee, not alcohol...most of the time), and the internet café from which I post at this very moment.

This morning, we made our first excursion to Conad (strangely close to another word describing a part of the male human anatomy that you probably wouldn't want to name a supermarket, in my humble opinion), the local supermercato.

I made the stupid mistake of hanging out in the store after paying for my groceries (prosciutto, pane, and a nice jar of Nutella were the highlights), and after leaving, was stopped by the manager who thought I stole something. He told me (in Italian) about the fact that they have security cameras and that they could watch me, and I tried to show him my receipt to prove I had paid for the bottle of water I was holding. Sure, I might have seemed suspicious(ly American and touristy), but I can't help but think this might have been the first instance of overt racism I've encountered. 

But maybe I'm also jumping to conclusions. After all, I'm here to adapt to the euro quo...which apparently disapproves of loitering in the supermarket after you've made your purchase. 

Nevertheless, a low point for the day. The high point was having the woman at the cell phone store where I bought my new SIM card compliment me on my italian. At least I'm doing something right!