Italia parte due

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Ciao ciao.
Life in Italia has been good, things have settled down a bit since the first week. There are no longer so many people crowding the streets and obsessing over an extremely gaudy statue. I don't mean any disrespect when i saw these things. Anyway things are settling down, summer is coming to an end and i am falling into a routine. My routine is very different from what it used to be in America. I no longer get up at 5:30am, so to crew, go to school sometimes for 12 hours straight, then come home tired and blame my poor roommates for everything.
Now, on a good day, i get up at 7am go for a run, eat something then go to class at 9am. However if dinner goes late, which it often does i get up at 8am and forget about the run, which i am ok with, i dont feel the need to beat myself up. So, i have class at 9am 4 days a week, on monday i have italian culture from 2:15 to 4:45 and thats it. On tuesday im done at 12. On wednesday i am still figuring out if i want to take environmental science or art history? the later may be more conducive to my relaxed lifestyle at the moment. Thursday i get out of italian at 11:15am then i will start italian cuisine, which goes from 6:30ish until we are done eating! I am so excited for that class.
This weekend Katie and I expanned our horizons and actually hung out with two Americans! We ate dinner with them then got gelato, then went to Piaza di Muerte, which is so cool. there, we met up with other Americans and we all went to Lucos, a really cool bar in San Pelagrino. The four of us had Lamborghinis. This is a drink with a mix of lots of sweet alcohol that turns out kinda bluish green i think, they light it on fire and u drink it really fast out of a straw as they pour more. Of course i put my straw in early and lit it on fire, haha. We hung out there for a while with the group of Americans, it was cool. On Saturday, i was anxious and it was a nice day, i needed to get out. So Katie and i caught the bus to Lago Bolsagna. We never really know where we are meant to get off so of course we passed through Bolsagna and saw the beautiful lake passing us on the left as we proceeded up the hill still stuck in the bus. We got off in a random little town and asked for help from a guy a little younger than us, he was nice and helpful, but i couldnt do anything before i peed and ate, so that is what we did. Then we decided to walk around. All i really wanted to so was to walk in the grass barefoot and law down in the sun. When you get lost, the best thing to do is make the best out of it, Katie was kind of nervous about the frequency of buses coming through the town, so i think it was hard for her to take a moment. We had a little disagreement/misunderstanding. We ended up catching a bus, thanks to Katie i must say. It took us back through Bolsagna and we almost got off but the bus driver said it was the last bus going to Viterbo. So this trip we only saw the lake, we were mostly on a bus the whole time. but it was well worth our 5 eauros to get nice tour of the countryside.
We got back, took naps and decided to put it behind us. That night we had a triple date, with our new American friend and three Italians we had met before. It was quit a challenge considering they spoke about as much English as we spoke Italian, which is very little. I was good though to practice. The night was pretty un-aventfull. We wanted to dance but there are not really clubs in Viterbo and nothing really happens until 12, so we hung out at the same bar for a while. I am proud of myself for Facebooking and texting in Italian, when there are no other options you make it work i guess.
Sunday was relaxing, i read in Piaze di Muerte, it is the picture with the little boy standing. Then i layed on my roof to tan and listen to music, then i helped my friend study italian, then i got pizza. It is funny, the whole town is dead on Sundays until about 6pm, then it becomes alive until at least 12, whole families are out, little kids stay up till 12. It is so fun to sit around and watch people, families, friends, everyone is out late.
Today i met my third roommate, Alessandro. He is so sweet. He asked if i rather him speak italian so i can practice and he says he has access to Rosetta Stone so i can use it. Me, Ace, Daniele and Alessandro all sat down and talked for a while over our separate but god meals of pasta, ravioli and pizza. It is a very true stereotype that food is a big deal here. They argued about it for about 20 minutes before they decided to walk to get pizza, in that time they could have made pasta, or at least a quick american style pasta. Speaking of food, i started my italian cuisine class tonight. It was just an into but made me so excited. We are going to do dishes from different regions. Every region in italy is so different and has such different history, the food reflects that. She says that there is Arab, Jewish and Atruscan influence in Viterbo. Also an interesting fact. The bread here is not made with salt, which is strange as Rome used to be a major salt capital. But salt makes bread mold faster, and no salt makes bread harden quicker. Back in the day this was good for sheep herders who did not want their bread to go moldy, and when the bread became too hard they would make a soup and pour it over the bread, this is still a popular dish. I now have a new appreciation for the bread i bought last week that was flavorless and felt like a rock.
Ok, i think i have written enough! We are going to Venice on Thursday night, well halfway to Katie's roommates parents house, then off to Venice on friday where we will stay for two nights! yay.
Va Bene, Hope you all are well,
-Lucia

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