Hooray for the beautiful weekend! Seriously, such beautiful weather…and it was about freakin time! It is not quite skirt weather, but I’m really looking forward to it! And it’s kind of ok, I guess…my legs are not quite ready for skirt weather either. But they will be after next week cause I’m going to GREECE and sitting on the beach all day every day!!! SO PUMPED!
Anyways, let’s talk about the weekend. It was good. My iPod is slowly recovering I think, but it was a tough weekend without it. I got through it ok and realized that my iPod probably died because I have dropped it on the floor multiple times. I mean, I don’t do it on purpose, but it slides off my night stand and/or bed a lot. But really, it needs to stop being a baby and suck it up. It’s in Italy for goodness sake.
Jeez, enough with the blabbering. Friday, a couple of us that volunteer at the soup kitchen met up with some of the Italian volunteers to go out for a St. Patrick’s Day drink. They are not big on St. Patty’s here, so they were not pleased with getting pinched for not wearing green. Also, they weren’t concerned with celebrating right, so we ended up at a German bar. Wasn’t the most festive, but it was still fun and really cool to get to talk with real Italians. It was kind of nerve-racking though because every time I attempted to speak Italian, all five of them would stop and listen. I would normally crack under the pressure and end up saying something completely wrong. But whatever, I tried
Saturday I went to a peace demonstration. It was REALLY cool. I really had no idea what to expect. This is everything I had heard about it: from my teacher-“it will be good…come take pictures for extra credit. Va bene? See you Saturday.” And an email from the US Embassy-“AMERICANS-STAY AWAY.” Just kidding, it wasn’t that extreme, but that is basically what it said. But my teacher won out, so off into the unknown I went. It turned out to be one of the coolest things I have done. There were a ton of people there and they were all just walking down the street waving flags of all sorts, yelling things, smoking cigarettes, looking cool, and dancing. It was awesome. And the best part was the DRUM BAND. If you know me at all, you know that drum line is one of my most favorite things in the world and it literally almost brings tears to my eyes to hear it. I don’t know what it is, but the drums make me sooo happy. Seriously, I went into special ed, the other sister mode, when I heard them. The people with me where like, um ok, Carla…we’ll go find them because I was like, WHERE IS THAT COMING FROM?!?! I KNOW I CAN HEAR IT!!! And I found them and I loved it and was kicking myself because of course I didn’t have my digital camera, only the regular one. But I got pictures, so it’ll be good. It was just a cool thing to be a part of, especially since I think it was for a good thing. I don’t know too much about what is going on in Iraq, but I don’t think W is making any progress. But that is neither here nor there. After the excitement of the demonstration (no one was injured), we had a little fiesta at the apartment complete with tacos and guacamole but sadly, no sour cream. I once asked Dr. Hotness if they ate sour cream here and to explain what it was I said, "its like plain yogurt...but sour." And he looked at me like I was crazy (like he always does) and was like, um, no we don't eat that here. Anyways, Katie made the most amazing Tiramisu for dessert (which doesn’t really fit the Mexican theme, but it was delic, so I’m not complaining), and I had it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack the next day.
Sunday, I was a good little student and wrote seven (sette) pages of my History of the Mafia paper. I was pretty impressed with myself. Granted, most of it is purely speculation and I have to go back and fill in actual facts, at least I got something. I was pretty excited about writing it though, as dorky as that is. It is about the relationship between the Mafia and the Catholic Church, which I think is really interesting…and scandalous! That night I went to a Roma soccer game, against Messina (from Sicily) and it was a lot of fun. I fit right in with my super awesome ROMA jacket that I bought for 15 euro at a street vendor. People are intense about their soccer over here. There were at least 100 security guards around the Messina fans because people can get CRAZY. It’s cool though. On the way home, I had a really good panini, ate some Tiramisu when I got home and life was grand.
Today, we took pictures in the Jewish Ghetto (that is really what it’s called) and on the Tiber River Island for photography. The Island has the oldest hospital in Rome on it. Fun fact I learned in Rome through the Ages…when the Black Plague hit Italy, they brought in the Greek God Apollo and started worshiping him because he was the god of medicine and they thought they could help fight off the Plague. And they built they hospital in honor of him, and its been there ever since. Of course, it has since been Christianized, and hopefully modernized (I didn’t go inside, but I would think they are not still using leeches or something to heal people). Anyways, it’s surrounded by the Tiber River, obviously (hence the name) but the river is soo gross! The water is this disgusting brown color and there is trash everywhere. Even in the trees on the side! It floods when it rains so the water rises and the trash gets all stuck in the trees on the bank and in one of the trees there was a skeleton of a DOG in the branches!! Isn’t that crazy?!! Don’t worry, I took a picture…you all will get a visual. Then I went to the post office for the millionth time to try and mail some stuff, and of course, it was closed…at 3 in the afternoon. Grrr…Anywho, in my last 2 classes, we reviewed for the mid term. Rome through the Ages, no problem. Mafia, we reviewed for a looooong time, so we’ll see. Tonight I went to “dinner with Italian students,” this thing our program sets up for us every now and then. But really, its dinner with a Chicca’s friends. Chicca (Key-Ka) is a little older than the students and works in the housing office. Some of them aren’t really students, but whatever. I only got to sit by one, but he was really nice and fun to talk to. I am in LOVE with the Italian accent, especially when they speak English. He wasn’t even that good looking of a guy, but I was in love by the end of dinner. My favorite lines… “What did you choice?” and…I can’t think of anything else, but it was cute. I think that is why I love Dr. Hotness so much. He’s really good looking and all, but who can resist someone that says “Jesus baby” and says “nak’t” instead of naked? Not me. Anyways, Italian student was trying to explain to me how he wants to be a lawyer and how it works and with his broken English and my horrible Italian, we didn’t very far. But, “no worries” he said and we just talked about pizza and soccer, and it was good.
Must go study now. It’s not all fun and games here…hahahaha, yeah right. I have the best life ever…. “dolce vita.” Ciao ciao!
Oh, and here is a random picture for you to enjoy...Guess who?!
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