La vita è bella

I'm really happy to be here.

The day I arrived my grandma said she's now a different person, and I got to go out to dinner with my aunt for her birthday (first meal in Italy: pizza, check!).

Conegliano, where I grew up, is a really lovely town, after living in Australia I can better appreciate its unique character and look, thanks to many sweet old buildings, some small one-laneway streets, then a couple of wide boulevards lined by trees now naked after a cold winter, the main streets lined by honest boutiques which promise quality and convenience (more on that later), and of course points of reference like the Teatro all'Accademia and the castle on top of a small hill, which just looks gorgeous with the hint of mist we're getting these couple of days.

After getting out of the Venice airport, I actually had to remove a layer of wool, for what awaited me was lovely 10° weather! These next few days are forcast for about 12, so it's not as cold as I was expecting at all =]

So, having already been taken shopping by my grandma, I've discovered this funny feeling when I walk past clothing stores here. (Please don't find references to silly films like Confessions of a Shopaholic - I'm not THAT bad) It's amost like they emit warm waves of trust and attraction, when walking past you know that if you enter those doors you will feel comforted and assured of great quality, of items of clothing which will be your friends and look after you for years, at a price no higher than stores in Perth. Even at the weekly markets! In Australia, meanwhile, I tended to get a cold feeling from most stores, a greediness which pulled me in and took advantage of my weakness for shopping, offering many Made in C***a products which looked great on the first time, but often let me down after the third time I wore them. So, I think I'm in for trouble.

Plans for the next few days: buy a mobile phone and internet USB, catching up with a few family friends, possibly going to a 'chocolate party', and seeing rehearsals of an old kids chorus I was a part of :)