While living in Florence, I love eating at amazing restaurants and cafes. It has been incredible tasting the food of this region and country! Unfortunately, my wallet cannot afford spending money on restaurant food every night. So, after day three I knew that at some point I must travel to the Italian grocery store. I had been dreading this chore, but the time had come.

I knew this task would be challenging for me due to the fact that I often meander the aisles and slowly pick out what I like, but that is not how Italians do it. Italians know what they need, pick it out, and leave. I was afraid of getting in the way or being overwhelmed in the store. Most of this knowledge comes from my grandmother who is Italian and has traveled to Italy multiple times and also from my general knowledge of inner-city grocery stores. 

When the day came, I was able to complete the task of grocery shopping! I stayed calm and picked out what I needed and left. There were lots of cultural differences that I was not expecting such as the produce being picked out with gloves and weighed before checking out and the shopping cart being a little wagon you drag around. 

My initial thoughts were correct, the Italians were in a hurry to get what they needed and leave. I can use the knowledge I learned from this experience to now correctly grocery shop the Italian way and educate others on how this chore is completed.