Wow, what a ride!

Yesterday was amazing, my best day busking in Italy so far. Today has
been much slower, and I think it's a matter of finding the local rhythms
(Sat-Sun in Rome was good, Fri-Sat looks like the best time here). But
it's still been going pretty well, and I've got no complaints!

Last night, when I was done playing, I was browsing the displays at
various restaurants when an audience member pulled me in to have dinner on
him. That was pretty cool. I was also invited to a private party by
another busker, but by that time I was exhausted and wasn't sure. What
made up my mind, however, was the fact that the bus ride back to the
hostel (I had to go back, no matter what I did with the party, because I
didn't want to be wandering around with that much money on me) was a total
pain and by the time I arrived the last thing I wanted to do was leave
again. But it was pretty cool to be invited!

I've discovered that the Genovese accent is the easiest to decipher of
those I've run accross - they talk more slowly and enunciate more clearly
than Romans or Tuscans. Either that or a month of immersion is starting
to take hold :) It was also an epiphany when I realized that one reason I
sometimes have trouble understanding audience members is for the same
reason I can't understand them in the States - I simply can't hear them
over the music of the dulcimer.

On another note, it has been really interesting to run into members of the
"Erasmus" program which was featured so prominently in the movie
"L'Auberge Espaniole" (forgive my spelling, French is still beyond me).
As a history geek it was also fun to resolve an argument about which
century Erasmus belonged to...

I hope everybody is doing well!