Night & Day
Malu Andrade
Hi! My name is Malu Andrade. :) I’m a rising junior creative media production major from São Paulo, Brazil. Coming to Italy had always been a dream of mine, and now that I’m here, it still doesn’t feel real. Italy has taught me a lot about the joy of sitting at tables and lingering longer.
Not Just Drinks
One of my favorite parts about studying abroad is how quickly life becomes a routine. When you’re not going on trips to other Italian cities, you’re on a class – lunch – class – aperitivo – dinner daily cycle.
You start meeting locals and feeling like you could possibly belong here. You walk down the hill to OU’s building (the annex), and greeting the familiar faces makes you feel like a tiny piece of the relatively small Arezzo community. This week, on one of my routine aperitivo adventures, I tried out Barberia with my classmate-turned-friend Rachel.
It’s a small bar right by the annex; if you don’t pay attention, you might miss it or assume it’s a part of the bigger, more popular next-door bar Sottopiazza. Though Aperitivos are usually accompanied by Hugos or Aperol Spritzes, neither of us felt like having alcohol. Instead, she got a Coke, and I got a random drink that said “limone.” I was expecting a lemonade (which was my mistake as most Italians don’t have the habit of having lemonades), but instead was served an iced lemon sweet tea.
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The waiter brought our glasses with ice, which is so uncommon in Italy. To us, that was an intentional, subtle act of our waiter trying to make us feel more welcome and at home. I confirmed once again to myself how much I dislike tea. However, the refreshing iciness cooled me off and set the stage for a good conversation with Rachel.
We asked each other questions about our lives and found out things we have in common. Mid-conversation, we were joined by Chris, another OU student spending some time in Arezzo. He pulled up a chair and with no rush told us about his day and class. In a classic Italian manner, we sat and talked about life over drinks.
Barberia was not the most mind-blowing bar with the best “vibey” ambience, but it set the stage to one of my favorite cultural experiences: Aperitivo! You quickly learn that an Aperitivo is not about the drinks, but about enjoying the company of people you like being with.