My group had no idea how to get to the market that first Saturday so I gestured at the first Italian person I saw.

“Dov’e’ il mercato?” I said to a female university student, Chiara, hoping it would do us some good.

After many awkward nods and confirmations in Italian, also known as the magic word ‘si’, we all decided that Chiara would take us to the bottom of the steep, winding road leading up to the market. She was just a nice Italian girl—the first girl that I really talked to since I came to Italy.

The market is a cluster of people and things to buy. For a first timer, it is a whirlwind. However we still managed to run into our friend Chiara yet another time. She wore her usual strong smile and wide eyes. Her hair is in small curls that rebel from the security of her scalp. The hair on top her head is cut in a rectangular fashion and the long bits are free to roam about the space around her head—picture an Italian mullet of some sort.

She is tall, slender and has dark features. Chiara is actually 38 years old. After many spontaneous encounters with her, I decided to include her in my story. What an interesting young woman I found her to be henceforth.

“Normale Chiara,” I said as I attempted to tell her to stop acting for the camera that I was using to videotape her for my project.

But her left hand remained delicately perched on her right shoulder as she gracefully and simultaneously lowered her chin, fixed her glance at the camera, raised her shoulder and moved her hand downwards in a balletic fashion. Think of Marilyn Monroe at a photo shoot but with black curls, olive skin and a sharp nose. I had myself a great meal of laughs along with my group member Nicole.

For the continuation of my video coverage of Chiara, the actress in her shone forth and my worry that it was obvious heightened.

“Sono sempre cosi’,” she said as she tried to convince me that she is always that way—that she always seems to be acting on stage as a princess.

I did not believe her until I saw her that night with her friends. There was Marilyn Monroe again…the 38 year old Italian university student who just wanted to feel sexy and ultra feminine all the time. This is very intriguing when you consider the holistic picture. It is also very refreshingly uncanny.