Parlare con i nonni

I'm loving my Italian class. Today "i nonni" (grandparents) came into our class to talk with us. We were split into small groups and assigned to 1 or 2 "nonni". Our task was to ask them questions about Italian food, what their favorite kind is, favorite desert, pasta etc. Tomorrow we're going to the Mercato Centrale for class to buy ingredients for a meal that "i nonni" recommended we cook. Then next week we're going to meet with "i nonni" again and tell them how the cooking went, how we liked the food and show them photos. I'm so excited!
Talking to them today was such a challenge. But a fun challenge. My group was with a woman named Lena and a man named Lorenzo. Neither of them spoke ANY english so we literally had to fight our way through speaking italian and hope that they understood what we were saying. It was definitely difficult but such good practice. They told us what they eat, explained the Tuscan diet (a diet of poverty), their favorite deserts, they even told us what gelato places to hit up in Florence. I love talking to Italians! I can't wait to meet up with them again and tell them how all the cooking went. We're going to make a veggie pasta, called Pasta Ortolana, and a salad. Tomorrow, my long day of three classes isn't going to be too bad (hopefully) because I have site visits for all of them! Bargello in the morning for Renaissance, Mercato Centrale for Italian and Museo Marino Marini for Painting. Ciao!