This substack is really meant to be a journal, a record of what happens to me, a report. I think that’s all most of my friends and family want to know. “How’s Italy so far?!”, “What did you do today?!” This post is numerically titled because I anticipate writing a lot of these. So, report #1, here goes:

I woke up Italian-hungover this morning. I have to qualify it as “Italian-hungover” because it’s just not like the hangovers I get in the U.S.. I am not poisoned or filled with anxiety or promising myself that I will take it easy over the next week to combat the damage done the night before. I feel wine-soaked but can still get out of bed to go read at the cafe over a cappuccino, which is what I did. I bought a new book on the short walk to the cafe and spent an intensely pleasant 40 minutes reading it outside at a table in the sun. I watched tourists walk by, the women dressed wonderfully and the men dressed like shit in cargo shorts and backpacks.

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Last night was trivia night at an Irish pub and Nik and I sent up the flares to see who might want to participate. We got a 100% response rate and ended up with a crowd of 12, a mix of Italians and Americans, all of whom know each other through the “Expats in Rome” group, with ages ranging from doing-my-senior-thesis-in-food-studies to retired-divorcee-from-Minnesota.

We started with Aperativo at 6:45 pm near Campo di Fiori and the group’s nexus, an Italian woman named Giusy (pronounced “juicy”), explained to us how to ask restaurants if they have an “Apertivo formula,” which is a discounted combo meal consisting of a drink and some food. The formula at the restaurant where we were sitting had a spritz and charcuterie plate for 10 euros. The charcuterie spread was pretty generous. Two cheeses, procuitto, mortadella (mortazza in Rome), salami and a piece of bruschetta.

At 7:45 pm, we headed to the pub, a 10-minute walk from where we had been sitting on the piazza. We arrived, and I walked to the Irish bartender announcing that we were there for Trivia. He had no clue what I was talking about. I repeated that we were there for “Trivia” that started at 8 o’clock. He told me he didn’t know what that was. We stood there staring at each other, confused, until another patron sitting at the bar explained to the bartender that I had meant “Pub Quiz”. “Ah, right! No, that’s not tonight”.

After that, our crowd lost steam and half left for home. The 5 of us who were left walked to a crowded wine bar nearby and stood on the street sharing a bottle of Nebbiolo while we waited for a table to open up. A table the size of a Frisbee opened up right next to the bathroom, and we squeezed chairs around it. A second bottle and an hour later, we left as a group and wandered back to Nik and I’s neighborhood.

Trapizzino for an 11 pm snack, which is a small triangle of bread stuffed with meat or stewed veggies. I had the chicken cacciatore, Nik the meatballs, paired with a large beer to share, both to be eaten and drank on the street, standing up. Home by 11:30 pm to rile up our cat. Showers, bed.

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I spent too much money yesterday. Nik and I are trying to stick to a budget of 100 dollars a day for everything except utilities and rent. My spending went like this, I think:

• Two cappuccinos and one cornetto for Nik – € 9
• Groceries: lettuce, salt, olives, Grana Padano cheese, sparkling water, toilet paper, giardiniera – € 14
• Aperativo: 2 spritz, 2 small charcuterie boards, 1 white wine, bread – € 29
• Bottle of Nebbiolo at enoteca – € 28 ( I really shouldn’t have paid for all of this, but I was with students who are broke, and I can’t help but be generous. Though, considering I don’t have a job anymore, I should probably stop this practice. )
• Trapizzino – € 10
• Large beer drank on the street – € 3.80
• Little pieces of grilled lamb bought on a stick (arrosticini) – € 6.50

For a total of € 100.30. Just 30 cents over budget. Today, I will be more restrictive with our spending and try and rebalance. Already I bought a cappuccino, a cornetto, and a new book (which I already love) all for € 20.50.

I got my 20k steps in yesterday.

J.D. Vance was in Rome on Easter to kill the Pope. Here is some graffiti about it.

That’s all to report for now.