JUSTINE – Kenyan. I met Justine soon after I arrived and now I shop at that store a mile away just so I can say “hello” to her. Here she is cutting prosciutto for me.

EVELINA, BRUNELLO & GLENDA – Italian. These are the three I work most closely with at NABA.

PIOTR & EWA – Polish-German and Polish. We met in the summer when our tables were an inch apart and I was eating octopus. We’ve been getting together once a week or so ever since! Eva is a Pharmacist and Piotr is a retired conductor from Teatro alla Scala.

NARIN – Thai. Architectural faculty member from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

PETE & ERIN – Australian. We met on the bike trail in the morning, and they slept on my fold-out bed that night! They were biking around Europe for 6 months and relying on the kindness of strangers.

ORIETTA – Italian. Concept researcher and trend forecaster in fashion and accessories. An instructor at NABA.

LYDIA – Swedish. Lydia makes the way smooth for NABA’s agents.

DOMENICA & PAOLO – Italian. They have the Spezia Pasticceria that creates those incredible pastries I’ve shown. They’re two blocks away from me, and we met when he did a search on the pastry shop and found my blog. They make the best pastries in town.

ANASTASIA, EMANUELE & ENCARNA – Greek and Spanish. Emanuale is the Consulate General of Greece. We shared a table and the dance floor at the Thanksgiving Dinner.

ENZA – Italian. Born in Sicily, raised back-and-forth between there and Australia. She and her husband own the corner grocery where I buy my water, and we chat.

TOMA – French, but has lived in Italy for years. He’s established in fashion and teaches at NABA.

BARBARA – President of the Benvenuto Club.

BRUNELLO – Italian. Vice President of NABA.

LILY & TOM – Irish. My cousins from my family’s historic homeland in Fermanagh County, Northern Ireland.

LEE – British, but she’s been in Italy a long time. Lee’s been working in fashion for about 30 years. She was my Fashion Design instructor in 2008 at NABA.

CIRO – Italian. A One-man Chamber of Commerce for the town of Casamicciola on the Island of Ischia.

SAM, PATRICK & MOMO – French and ? These three are fishmongers down the street from my hotel in Paris. Patrick, in the middle, speaks some Spanish, so between that and sign-language, we all had some laughs.

DAN – American. From Ohio University, working with NABA. Executive Director and Professor of Geography.

EVELINA & GLENDA – Italian, though Glenda lived in the U.S. for 8 years. These two coordinate the myriad details of the NABA summer and semester programs.

LUCA – Italian. We’ve discussed “Italian Design Methodology” and the differences in teaching methods between Italian schools and U.S. schools. Luca is NABA’s Design Program Coordinator.

DIMITRI & VERA – Russian. Architects, instructors at NABA.

ENIEL – Cuban. Moved to Paris 5 years ago and speaks some of 5 or 6 languages. Loves history and was my personal tour guide in Paris.

MADALENA & EMILY – Italian and Australian. Madalena lives in the mountains near Milano, and teaches Italian language courses. Emily is a student in my class.

AHMAD – Pakistani. Living in Venice and assisting his brother with his restaurant, “Noemi”.

FRANCESCO – Italian. Architect and instructor at NABA. He’s engaging and involved with the students.

GISELLA – Italian from Sicily. She has a Siciliano bakery just down the street. Sometimes I’ll buy little regional specialties from her.

HASSAN & SEBASTIAN – Iranian and German. We’ve been in Italian language classes together.

IDA – Italian. We met at the Benvenuto Club Christmas Bazaar, which is a fund-raiser for several local charities.

JAMES – British. He’s opened up a shop here selling textiles and is taking Italian language classes, too.

ROLANDO – Italian. We met on the train to the airport. I was on my way to Seattle. He was on his way to an EU gathering of parachutists from 10 different countries. He was in the Army in the mid-60s. He pulled B&W photos of his father out of his suitcase to show me.

MARZIA & FRIENDS – Italian (Sicily), Russian and ? Marzia’s on the right and after we had gone out for “apperitivi”, we met up with her friends at another restaurant. Marzia is also with NABA.

REMO – Italian (from the south). A Materials Engineer. We’ve had some good conversations and I sat in on some of his design classes at NABA and accompanied them on field trips.

OZDAN, SEBASTIAN & EMILY – Turkish, German & Australian. In this photo, they were doing a skit in our Italian language class.

NORM & JOE – Irish. My Guinness drinkin’ buddies in the far northern reaches of Ireland.

JAN – Norwegian. He got talked into wearing a “Babbo Natale” hat at the Scuola Leonardo language school’s Christmas party.