Una Penna

I'm determined on this trip to actually use some Italian after all the time I spent practicing it in the car to and from my old job. I'm happy to report that just hours after crossing the Italian border, right after the train departed from Verona, I asked my cabin mate for a pen. The lovely little, older woman in a bright pink sweater and silk scarf heard me speak my first shamble of an Italian sentence 'scusi, per favore, ha una penna?'. I'm sure this is in someway incorrect, but she knew what I was talking about and after un momento and rifling through her purse, she found one! I said 'grazie' and upon return I said it again and she said 'prego' ('don't mention it'), and oh-my-word I cannot believe that this exchange took place without a single word of English in between. Even my Dutch which I heard spoken for two whole years, and studied at college level for another 3 years barely got this much use without dissolving into a 'do you speak English' disaster. So, I will continue to try out my home-grown Italian and hopefully be able to get more than just a pen in the future.