midsemester

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i just ate the most delicious cannoli ever! actually, it was a cannolino, which is a baby cannoli. so good, and only 80 cents! i think i have a new addiction.

ok so what have i been doing... the past two weeks have been pretty chill (considering). we went to a chocolate festival in peruggia last saturday. it was pretty cool, there were hundreds of tents of chocolate stands. nothing was free, so we didnt go too crazy with the chocolate, but it was packed. peruggia was kind of a cool city, quaint is the word that keeps coming to mind. there were a ton of people there, very crowded. i did have a delicious fondente (dark chocolate) and banana crepe. ive also discovered how much harder it is to communicate in a smaller city. in rome most everyone speaks english, they pretty much have to due to all the tourism and such, but we had a very confusing lunch experience in peruggia, but it all worked out in the end.

the day after that we attended a soccer match. Roma vs Palermo. they get really intense with their soccer games here! the stadium was really cool, we were in the olympic stadium of rome. the crowd was nuts, there were flags flying and songs being sung the entire game with periods of smoke and fire being set off. and this was when they were winning, i cant imagine how they would have reacted if roma had lost. were going to another game at the end of november, im really excited. the games are so short though, only 90 minutes and they play straight through with a 15 minute half time.

the week after that we had an italian midterm, which i think went pretty well. thursday night we had a homeade pasta making class. we made tagliatelle (sp?), which is kind of like fettucini. its really popular in bologna. it was simple to make the dough, just flour and eggs, the rolling pin part was a bit tough though. it turned out pretty well, but unforunately i waited too long to make it and it went bad 😞 i never got to try it. but now i know how to make pasta from scratch!

i dont think too many exciting things happend last week. two of my friends went to paris this past weekend, so we had a smaller group over the weekend, which was kind of nice. it was a lot easier organizing things anyway. we have been playing a lot of rummy when we hang out since we dont have a tv in our apartment. we hung out with a few other of our friends friday night. saturday night we walked around rome and walked by the trevi, pantheon, and spanish steps. sunday mitsuko and i went to the market in campo di fiori. i bought a little pumpkin (they didnt have big ones) finally! i also haggled for a scarf and bought a spice girls dvd in italian haha. afterwards we went to this pizzaria that had a whole menu for gluten free people, like mitsuko, so it was a good find.

monday was halloween! well of course you all know. but italy isnt big on halloween. all of the american bars had halloween parties though so we dressed up. we had VERY homeade costumes. i ended up being a mermaid, printed out some paper props of starfish and seashells and wore a green sheet as my tail. one of the other girls borrowed my cowboys jersey and was a dallas cowboys cheerleader. another girl was a child, another girl was a genie, and a few guys were soccer players, etc. anyway, we all looked pretty good for picking costumes out of less than half of what we normally own!

then tuesday was all saints day so schools and stores and everything in italy was closed. it was a lazy day which ended with lots of studying for the midterm we had today... which was... ridiculous. we had some short answer questions then two 300 word essays followed by one 500 word essay. they expect us to do school work here?! the nerve!

there's about a month and two weeks left. WOAH that's so soon. i have so much to do still, i'm not ready to come home! but oh how i do miss the simplicity of america. i miss my giant cozy bed, amps, gas stations being open all night, my car, people speaking english, cable, football, my family and friends, iced coffee, hot sauce, my heating blanket, knowing what's going on all the time, dollars instead of euros, not being run over by italians all the time- on mopeds, in cars, and on foot! seriously, italians hate us and will not move out of the way when youre walking by, and i will NOT miss the insane and constant honking on the streets allllll day long, oh and having traffic laws will be nice again! but then there is so much i still want to do and see and so much i love about being here. the FOOD, lemonsoda, gelatto ( i know all these things could count as food), the history, the COLOSSEUM, the people i've met here, witnessing crazy domestic fights in the streets, being able to walk down the street and have a life changing experience at any moment, the ability to travel to other countries on weekends, speaking other languages, not having to work, penne all'arrabbiata, intense soccer games, learning something new every single day, and sharing all this with people who are just like me and so different from me. anyway, i'm worried that the end is coming so quickly but i know i'll be ready when the time comes.

in the next month and a half i have to look forward to the zoo, wine tasting, cooking class, spain, amsterdam, thanksgiving (yes, they're making sure we get a thanksgiving dinner!), visiting the colosseum at least 5 more times, taking pictures around rome (i know, i haven't done enough of), going to the vatican, berlin, and austria! time to make the most of my time starting..... tomorrow! (it's 11 pm here and not safe to walk to streets alone at night!)

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