When going to a new city, sometimes it helps to know some people already that remind you of home. Coming to Rome, I had my friend Vincenzo who worked at my Research Group in Gainesville as a familiar face. Going back to Florida is going to be very much like going to a new place. Nice thing is that I'll have plenty of familiar faces from Rome who can help the transition out. For all my friends in Jacksonville and Gainesville, this is a good thing for you, too. Just think...new friends (and friends who can cook Italian :) ). So I figured I'd give you a brief intro to all these people who'll be in Gainesville in the next year, in order of the time they'll be there.
So the first person who is pictured above is Anna. Anna is originally from Sicily and has actually been in Gainesville since about January. She actually already has her Ph.D and works in Sensors just like me and I think is contracted to work in Gainesville for a total of 2 years. She was one of the first people I met at Tor Vergata. We shared office space and when I didn't have internet connection yet on my comp, she always let me use her computer so I could communicate with people back home. One of the things I always remember Anna for is how she made sure I understood how to pronounce the double consonant in Italian for example the two "n"'s in her name. You see if you don't stress the double n it becomes Ana which is similar to the word ano which all you Italian speakers should know means ass.
"Yo check me out! I'm already a Gator"
The latest Gator is Francesco. Francesco is Roman through and through, living there all his life. Francesco actually arrived in Gainesville about a week ago and will be in there for about a year and a half working towards his Ph.D. He had already known he was coming to Gainesville for quite sometime now and not unlike many future UF students already had a bunch of Gator clothes. We actually have the same T-shirt, the Nike shirt that says simply "Orange and Blue" on the front. Mine is Orange and his is Blue. Luckily, we never wore it on the same day in Rome. I guess our situations are kind of similar with him being from Rome and me being from Florida. He has showed me a lot about Roman lifestyle (particularly how to talk in Roman slang) and I'm sure he'll be learning a lot about how to live life as a Floridian from me. Oh and most of the Italian recipes I know, I learned from him. He supposedly knows how to make Suppli. Yummy.
Next up is Danielle. I know it sounds like a girl name but in Italian, Danielle is the masculine form while Daniella is its feminine counterpart. Danielle is originally from Genova (in the north of Italy). For those of you wondering, Genova is also known for some quite good food, such as Pesto....mmmm. Believe it or not, Danielle is like 37. He's slated to leave for G-ville in July and will be there for about 2 years as a Ph.D researcher. Danielle is one of those guys that is simply brilliant. He can hold intelligent conversations about anything, particularly about traveling and culture. Ask my friends Nick and Danny. They have already had the pleasure of having one of those mind boggling conversations with him. Danielle is actually at this point not too excited about going to Gainesville. He kind of wishes he could have been put in a bigger city. I can't really blame him if he's used to places like Rome and Genova. I did tell him, "Dude, there are a lot of pretty girls in Gainesville". But he promptly reminded me that he was 37 and all of them would be a lot younger. I then responded "Sorry buddy, can't help you there". Oh one last thing. Danielle is one who commonly has a beer in the lab (which is totally ok here in Europe). He was shocked when I told him that it's usually frowned upon in the workplace in the US. Oh and I guess one more thing. Northern Italians are usually more purist about the Italian language, and Danielle doesn't like it when I talk in Roman :).
"Sorry Alessia. No Italian chest hair here."Alessia is my buddy who comes from a nearby city (just outside of Rome) called Frascati. Ok, we should get this over with. Alessia is a Lazio fan. You see, Lazio is a bitter rival of AS Roma, who I of course (along with Francesco) root for. We won't hold that against her. Alessia is actually one of the newest Ph.D students in our research group in Rome, but she also did her Master's within the same group. She'll be coming to Gainesville about the same time I'm returning and she'll also probably spend about a year and a half there working towards her Ph.D. Alessia is kind of like the sweet girl next door type. She's almost always really positive and really cheerful. I recently discovered firsthand that she's pretty awesome at soccer too. I guess we'll have to be recruiting her for some intramural action.
Last but not least, is Emilianna. Emilianna is also from Frascati and happens to be almost attached at the hip with Alessia. The two of them actually grew up together. That probably explains why she is also a Lazio fan (blah). She'll only be in Gainesville for about 6 months on a Fulbright Scholarship. She actually had the choice of going to MIT but I think the fact Alessia was going to Florida influenced her a little too. I was also like "good luck trying to have more fun at MIT than at UF". I think that scared her off from MIT a lil...heh heh. I should first get this out there. Emilianna makes some outrageously good Tiramisu. Hopefully she can replicate that in Gainesville. Emilianna and Alessia have also already had a taste of life in Gainesville. After going to a conference in Chicago, they made a stop in Gainesville. When I asked her how was it, she preceded to tell me about all the clubs they went to and all the boys she met. I kind of just shook my head with a sarcastic disgust. Emilianna seemingly really likes it when Americans say things like "Exactly" or "Obviously". So she'll have me say those things and will giggle when I do say them.
So this last photo is simply a photo of who will most likely be my future roommates when I come back to Gainesville. All my old roommates (sad face) will be gone when I return. So it made a lot of sense to stay with the Italians. We still got to work out the kinks but it seems like it'll work out. I still very much want to keep learning Italian, so I was like "if we do live together....no English in the apartment". Anyways, that's about it. One great thing about having these friends over in Florida is that I hope I get to share a little bit of the culture I experienced with all of you out there reading this. Ciao for now!
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