The Market

So every Saturday here, they have a market that goes from the Piazza Sen Cagnasso, all the way down Via Cavour, through Piazza Duomo, and down Via Maestra, which is right around the corner from our street. This being our first Saturday here, we got to go check it out for the first time :)

I got out there around 830-9 with Chelsea & Sasha, and it wasn't too too busy yet, but it definitely picked up as it got later. I mostly just browsed around, perusing the merchandise and inquiring about prices. I was able to get by just using what little Italian I currently know - Cuanta costa? How much?, Non parlo Italiano.. I don't speak Italian.., and Parle Inglese? Do you speak English? - as well as hand gestures and the like. I didn't try bartering today since I don't know much Italian yet, plus Dan told us that it's not all too common here, but it doesn't hurt to try (Sasha was able to barter for a pocket watch that had a scratch on it, so I may try when I actually know words and numbers to barter with :P). All of the vendors were really friendly even though we usually couldn't understand each other. They'd either hold up their fingers to tell me the price or write it down on a piece of paper, help me try to find a size, or point out more things that might be like the things I was looking at. It's funny because I saw more Asians today than I have in the whole six days I've been here.. I was thinking if I saw any Filipinos I would chat them up, but I think mostly they were Chinese or Korean. It seems like they're at every market, no matter what country you go to, haha.

I was kind of surprised by the prices, because I was thinking, you know, Ooh, market! Decent stuff for cheap prices! Hmm, not so much. There were definitely some cheap things, but I was looking to not spend more than $10 worth of euro on anything unless I reaaaally really loved it. I saw some really cute jackets and dresses, but the prices just weren't right. I have a better idea now though of what the market's like, where the cheaper things are, and what kind of stuff they sell, so I'm definitely looking forward to having that as a shopping source all semester. :)

I found that most of the cheaper stuff was closer to Piazza Sen Cagnasso, where they also have all of the foodstuffs. They also have food markets there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I'll likely be taking advantage of that as well. For today, I mostly browsed and explored, but I did walk away with a skirt, headband, and flowers for our terrace. The old man at the flower stand kept calling me bellisima! which pretty much made my day since I hadn't even fixed my hair or anything and wasn't feeling like I looked that great, haha. I tried to have a conversation with him, but we didn't understand each other enough. I asked if he spoke English, and he tried to transalte bellisima as "You are very very... nice" to which I responded Grazie!, and then he asked if I was Italian, to which I responded "No, from America", and mentioned that I was a student. He tried saying something else, but I had no idea what it was, so he just sold me my flowers and I went on my way. He called me "bellisima, very beautiful" again when I passed by again later to get back to the apartment, haha. He was very nice, and maybe I'll stop by again and try to have a real conversation with him again when I know more Italian :)

My 1 euro headband & 5 euro skirt :)

My 3 euro pretty purple flowers from the nice old man :)