A Semester Abroad Read Online Free Page A

seemed impossible that a sandwich could taste so good. I ordered one with speck. I had no idea what speck was—I still forget sometimes if it’s beef or it’s pork—but my life has been better for trying it that day. It was delicious. Lisa showed up with Adam. They sat with us but insisted on speaking Italian to each other. They brought the optimistic vibe down. We all knew that was what we were supposed to do, but I was overwhelmed by everything and happy to not have to try hard. We were caught up in excitement for a minute over our prospects, instead of fretting about an unknown future in a little-known language. With their arrival, that minute was over.
    Instead of joining their conversation, most people stopped talking and stared blankly ahead. I felt myself pulling out, wanting to go back to my room and close my eyes and try to remember Jonas’s face again. I was trying to remember it there, but the language distracted me. At last, Pam obliviously interrupted Lisa and Adam to ask if they knew where she could get hash.
    The table laughed, and I doubted Lisa knew what hash was. I felt a breathy voice in my ear.
    “This is really something else isn’t it?” It was Lucy, smiling.
    “That girl is my roommate.”
    Lucy offered me a cigarette. I didn’t really smoke, but I took it, happy for another smile.
    My mood turned again.

    Janine and Michelle were home when I got back. I stopped at a 
tabac
 to get postcards and stamps and to get away from Lisa. For some reason they sold stamps at a candy and tobacco store according to reports, from the other kids in my group.
    It took forever because I tried to do business in Italian and the woman behind the counter kept asking me to repeat myself. She kept saying 
cosa
? and 
non ho capito
. I could understand her, and I didn’t believe she couldn’t tell what I wanted. I was holding postcards. I knew the word for stamps and the word for the United States. I double-checked it in the damn 
dizionario.
    It would have been comical if it weren’t happening to me. I questioned whether I was even in the right place, but the cigarettes and postcards made me believe that I was. I waved the postcards around again and again, pointing to the box where the stamps went. Finally, she handed me the stamps I needed and gave me a sigh when I counted my change, trying to figure out if it was correct.
    I never went back to that 
tabac
 again.
    Lisa returned to the apartment right after me and looked at me suspiciously. Janine and Michelle were there in sweats and sneakers. I was finally learning to tell them apart. Janine’s sweat pants sat low on her hips, revealing stomach, the top of a thong. They said that they spent the day running around the city. They found a supermarket and bought a ton of supplies and food. They even cleaned up the place. They scrubbed the floor. Then Janine asked Lisa and me for money. It was a little presumptuous, but since they got stuff like toilet paper and dish soap, and dealt with whatever communication difficulties on their own, I gave them 25,000 lire, the equivalent of around seventeen dollars. Lisa demanded to see the receipt and then handed over only 15,000 lire.
    “I’m on a budget and besides, I don’t drink milk.”
    “Well,” said Janine, “we just got stuff I thought everyone could use. Milk does not equal 10,000 lire.”
    “Well, no one talked to me about it before hand.” When Lisa talked her eyes kind of fluttered underneath lids that were half closed. It was as if she had already explained whatever she said and couldn’t believe that she had to go over it again. I thought Lisa was one of those people who don’t really understand how to interact with people and thus she was a little intimidated by Janine, who was more than a little intimidating. Michelle left to fix instant coffee in the kitchen.
    “Look, Lisa,” I said. “It was cool of them to go shopping for us. We need that stuff. We’re all on a budget, right? Why