Day Thirty-Three.

I won't bother writing about normal days anymore. I'll just give you the highlights as I'm sure you're more than finished listening to where I eat (1 of 5 places) and what I eat.

This upcoming week's highlights:

• No class Monday morning.
  
• Get my Cinema test back Tuesday morning.
• Architect lecturer on Thursday.
• Field trip to Torino on Friday to visit the Cinema Museum.
• Nice and Monaco Saturday-Sunday.
  

Day Thirty-Two.

Today was a lazy day again. We're all just taking it easy since we won't have many more free weekends.

I woke up around 8:30 and took a shower and then headed out to the market. I went through most of the whole thing and bought a scarf. I looked at a coat and drooled over it but it was 69 euro so I decided against it. Maybe if it had been $63. It was bright blue plaid with a big hood (kind of like Red Riding Hood's hood) and had a belt. Oh well. I got the scarf and that was enough. Then I went to Bosco's for groceries (mainly my Special K!) and headed back to the house to meet up with people for lunch.

We decided to go to Akash for lunch and I got a bland sandwich but whatever. Afterward we went to Vin for cappuccinos but I didn't have an extra voucher (and I don't like cappuccinos) so I just sat with them. Apparently the orange juice (blood orange) at Vin is really good so I need to try that sometime when I have an extra voucher. Maybe sometime next week.

After lunch we hung around the apartment during siesta. I read and took a nap. At 3, when IN's opened, Kate and I went and got brie and crackers for partifs for when Dan came over to make dinner. He showed up around 5:45 and we started making the torta di panne and he started making the pasta. It ended up taking a really long time to make the pasta so we didn't eat until around 8:45. the spaghetti was alright--kind of mushy but the ragu sauce was really good. The torta turned out alright but no one else really liked it. They thought it was bland. I just thought it was subtle--a slight almond flavor. But it was definitely kind of weird. We weren't really well-equipped to make it. The recipe that Dan had didn't give any instruction other than ingredient proportions and to bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes (we ended up actually needing an hour and a half so not even that part was right). Oh well.

It was pretty late after we finished dinner so we just cleaned up and then went into our rooms to watch TV on our computers or talk to people and then sleep which I'm getting ready to do now.

Tomorrow we will still probably hang out, maybe go for a walk. My foot is feeling better but now I'm still hesitant to do much walking because I don't want to agitate it before it's fully recovered. So we'll see. Most stores will be closed so no shopping tomorrow. I want to go to Duchessa for lunch and I have an application to do so there will be SOME productivity tomorrow if only a little bit. Erin and Laura get home tomorrow around 9. I don't know if we'll wait for them for dinner--I hope we don't because 9 is late!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Day Thirty-One.

Ahhh. It was so nice to sleep in this morning, especially since I stay up late on the days when I know I can sleep in. I got up around 9:30, pretended to sleep until 10, and then watched some Veronica Mars until lunch around 12.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day out so I didn't even need a coat--I just wore a long sweater. It was glorious. Lunch was nice since it got us out of the house and it was just the four of us (Kiki, Jordan, Kate and I). We saw Dan briefly as we were getting ready to walk back to the apartment.

After lunch Kate and I went to find gelato on Via Maestra and we went to a new place which had a really good Crema flavor that tasted sort of like Boston Creme in ice cream form. Yum. Then we sat on a bench in the sun and ate our gelato. It was nice to sit outside and enjoy the day instead of running inside for shelter from the bitter cold.

After we got back to the apartment Kate and Kiki went to the gym and I took a nap and read some until dinner time. Did laundry and a load of dishes. Read on the balcony in the sun. Those kind of things.

Around 6 we all got dressed up to go out for drinks and appetizers (forget the Italian word for them) at a little bar that Kate, Jordan and Erin went to last night with Dan and his friend. It was nice to do something "grown up" like go out for drinks and appetizers before dinner. We were dressed a little too hopefully for the darkening night, though, so we went back to the apartment to change. Kiki, Jordan and Kate bought wine at the grocery store on the way back and we all sat on the balcony watching the dusk with some music playing. It got really cold though so I kept going inside for a few minutes and coming back out. I was kind of antsy to go eat so I had a hard time enjoying sitting on the balcony but in theory I liked it. I just was hungry!

After the wine was mostly finished off (Kate drank her whole bottle...) we headed to Osteria Nuova for dinner. Kate was pretty tipsy so that added to dinner's antics culminating in a headbonk as we went to put our heads together for a picture Kiki was trying to take of the two of us. It was painful but funny. We had gnocchi al pomodoro and the pomodoro sauce was really good so I was happy. Also, for dessert they usually give us a couple (usually two) small pieces of different desserts and tonight there was one that basically tasted like chocolate cookie dough. Yum. Just a taste, though. Nothing heavy.

Tomorrow Kate and Kiki are going to the photographer's studio to finish their photos. I might try to go to the market with Jordan but I don't know. I don't really want to buy anything but it's one of the last chances we'll get to go since we'll be away for most of the other Saturdays here. But they might start putting out spring merchandise which would be nice to look through. We'll see. Then the three of them will probably go on a hike. We'll see how my foot feels. It felt a little better by dinner tonight so maybe tomorrow it will feel even better. Around 3 or 4 Dan is coming over to make dinner in our kitchen since it's so much better than his. He's going to make pasta and a torte di panne for dessert and he'll show us how/we'll help him so it should be nice. Wine, music and cooking. A laid back night with the windows open. I'm excited.

Day Thirty.

Got to sleep in this morning until 7:45--woo! We met at the Campus Center at 9:25 and walked to the photographer's studio which, it turns out, I had walked by and looked in a couple of times before. It was exactly as I thought it'd be--we all sat around one computer while he told one student what to do to "fix" their picture. We didn't get to everyone and since I couldn't see anything and those who weren't at the computer "fixing" their picture weren't even included, I was really bored. I also didn't like what the guy was doing. He had us take these pictures and then HE chose which ones we should use in Photoshop and then HE told us what to do to them to make them "better." Apparently making them "better" means completely changing them--yellow houses with blue shutters turned into green houses with red shutters...Skies turned black instead of blue. It really bugged me. We were supposed to be capturing Italy, reality. Not some imaginary "better" image... And, to top that off, it wasn't OUR creativity that was producing these images, just our clicks of the mouse. Anyway, we're supposed to go back Saturday (those of us who didn't get to go today) but I don't think I'm going. It's early in the morning and I really don't think I will add anything but my grumbly opinion to the exercise.

Anyway, after the studio visit everyone went to lunch but I decided to go back to the apartment and have a sandwich and a pear. I wanted to eat light and my foot was hurting so I didn't want to do any extra walking. I started a new book instead. It's about horse racing.

Italian was pretty short. I got a B on my test! Yes! Then Dino decided to do a grammar review since only 2/3s of the class was there. I have to admit that I didn't really pay attention but he went through the different moods of sentences and then we focused on the indicative mood since it's the most useful and complex, going through each tense and explaining the differences. I love this stuff but he really turns me off it. He does NOT make things clear. It's in the way he approaches his explanation. There's no order to it. He goes off on tangents and includes things that aren't applicable to the precise thing he's trying to explain. It really makes it hard for me to follow him so I just don't.

After Italian there was a lot of hanging around the apartment. My foot is still hurting so, even though it was a nice day, I didn't think it was a good idea to go out. I read a little and watched Veronica Mars. Went to Duchessa to get pizza to go for dinner. Yum.

Tomorrow we have no class. No clue what we're doing. Jordan decided not to go to Prague or Paris and Kiki and Kate want to save money so I won't be alone this weekend. Kate wants to go hiking in the hills around Alba and I'd love to go but not only do I not have the right shoes for that but, and I know this is getting old, I should rest my foot. Lots of walking to do next week--trip to Torino next Friday. So yeah. No idea what will happen this weekend. Looks like rain tomorrow, actually. Just checked the weather. Warm, though, so yay!

Hope you all are getting closer to Spring, too!

Day Twenty-Nine.

Got up super early this morning (7am) to get to the Campus Center at 8:25. Turned out that we were going on another bus tour (could have been a walking tour which would have been bad--my foot still hurts a lot from our trip to and subsequent walking in Genova) around the Langhe countryside (region Alba is in--sort of like a county). This was part of the tour everyone went on earlier in the semester that I had to sit out because I was sick so I was glad to see some of it!

A local photographer came and gave us the tour, pointing out things for us to photograph and occasionally helping us get a good composition. It was fun to look at the towns and countryside in a more artistic way than just a "I've been here and want to remember what it looked like" kind of way. It was a weird adjustment, though. Especially since I didn't get all those pictures earlier. Oh, and naturally my camera died in the middle of the trip. Luckily it would occasionally "work" long enough to let me get one picture off before shutting down. So I made it through the rest of the trip by being stingy with my photos. I got some really good ones! Proof:









Tomorrow we'll go to his studio and get a lesson in Photoshop which I already know how to use pretty well (if I do say so myself =P). Should be fun but there will only be one computer so it will be eight people (the girls, Nick and Dan--Paul and Greg will be on their way to Prague) hovering around one person on the computer...Oh well. They try to plan fun things for us to do and it must be hard since Alba is pretty small.

We got back from our tour around lunchtime (a little later than usual! The horror!) and we ate and then went back to our apartments to study for the Italian quiz. I did really well! I probably got a B (that's better than I've been doing but refer to my earlier statements! A semester of not worrying about grades is liberating. Of course, this is the only class I'm taking Pass/Fail but whatever). I was proud.

After Italian I did a big round of errands! I walked (painfully--foot really hurts...) to the other side of town to find headphones (found them--7 euro!) and stopped into a clothing store and did some shopping of undisclosed amounts. Bought a shirt for normal wearing and perhaps gym wearing if need be, a really cool sweater/cardigan, some light sweatpants/pajama/lounge/gym pants and a pair of earrings. It was fun. On my way back to the apartment I got gelato (just a little!) and stopped in to Vin to turn in a voucher in exchange for monies and a peach tart (yum!).

After my errands I watched some Veronica Mars online (I'm rewatching the series--on Season 2 already!) and read over some pieces I've written for college in the past years, looking for something to use for a writing sample for internship applications (5 down, 2 to go!).

Oh, a change in plans! Last night Kiki brought up the idea of going to Southern Italy for the week of March 12th instead of Dublin since she really wants to see Southern Italy. Kate really wanted to do that too and I feel like I should probably get down there as well (even though I really want to go to Dublin). I'm here in Italy and I do feel like I'm missing out on a crucial part of the experience by living up in the Northern part where people are kind of strict and reserved (though not as much as America). Yes, I am going to Sicily, but I don't think it's really the same. So we've booked tickets for Lamezia Terme, Italy! It's in Calabria, in the part of Italy that is almost touching Sicily (kicking it). Look it up on a map. It's going to be warm (like Sicily) and beachy and awesome. I'm not known to be a beach person but I'm in Italy and beaches are different here. They are important (as in popular and well-known) and not full of trash like in Ocean City... So yeah, pretty excited for that.

For dinner most of the girls went to Osteria Nuova (the ones who didn't last night) and Kate didn't want to go to dinner so Jordan and I went to VinCafe and ate together which was slightly quiet but nice. Afterward we went to Akash and bought dessert to redeem a voucher. She got lemon tart and I ordered pineapple (like...the fruit) and received pineapple juice. It was delicious, though, so I let it slide.

Now I'm sitting in my bed while Veronica Mars loads. Yay. Tomorrow we get to sleep in a bit--don't have to be at the Campus Center until 9:25! Then we're going to the photographer's studio and blah blah blah, I already told you what we're doing tomorrow. This weekend is still up in the air. It's just Kate, Kiki and I here since Jordan decided to go to Prague with everyone (Nick is going to Paris). If Kate and Kiki go somewhere, though, I'll probably have to sit it out. I need my foot to get better and I'm sort of coming down with a cold/sinus infection thing that I always get around this time of year and I'd like to try to kick both of those ailments before Nice and Monaco next weekend. Plus, I have an internship application due Monday that I need to work on. So...yeah. Home alone! I won't mind. Maybe if it's nice I'll go to the market on Saturday. Plus, this is like the only weekend I'll be here in Alba until Kiki's birthday weekend after the Lamezia Terme weekend. I'll watch a lot of Veronica Mars, read my new book (found it at the Campus Center) and do some work. No biggie.

Here are my photos from today: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=153306&id=504487681&l=b52aff5d67

Day Twenty-Eight.

We had class from 9-12 today and took our Cinema test. It was not harder per se than I thought it would me. More like...included random things I didn't think we'd need to know. I don't know how well I did and it's 40% of the grade so I'm kind of nervous about it...

For lunch I had a date with Lisa Ceretto! She's a friend of a friend of the family's (Aunt Anne Joyner, to be exact) and Aunt Anne connected me with her a few weeks ago and today we had lunch! We ate at her restaurant which is actually something I walk past all the time and have always wanted to eat at so that was awesome. The food was great and I had semifreddo for dessert which is soft ice cream with hazelnut pieces inside and chocolate sauce on top. So now you guys can stop bugging me about meeting with her!

After lunch we had Italian and we prepared for our test tomorrow. Should be easier than the last two but I keep saying that so...

After Italian I did some shopping--I went into a couple of book stores to look for a book I want to buy, went into Max & Co. to look at the purse I want (it's actually 89 euro...) and dream a bit, redeemed a voucher at Vin and got an apple tart and then went to the grocery store for milk for my cereal in the mornings. It was a pretty good errand run. More to get tomorrow--I need headphones still.

For dinner Erin, Kate and I went to Osteria Nuova and it was delicious, especially the pasta al ragu. Yum. It was pretty loud in the restaurant, though, and we kept noticing it. Usually Italians are very quiet.

Tomorrow we have a Lange (region we're in) tour with a local photographer for our Seminar class. We're meeting at the Campus Center at 8:25...ugh. Should get back for lunch and then Italian test at 2:30. Tomorrow we're also going to the travel agency to find out about our weekend trip this weekend while everyone's in Prague (only Kate, Kiki and I aren't going). We're thinking Parma.

Dublin still isn't booked. I forget what Kate's reservations are. Probably she's still thinking about it because Erin and Jordan are going to Romania and she's torn as to where she wants to go. We'll see.

That's all for now! Should have some good pictures tomorrow.

Day Twenty-Seven.

Today we had class again, our last Cinema class before our test, concluding the first part of the course. After the test we'll be focusing on producing our own one-minute movies. We talked about Italian film of the '60s and saw some clips. The test is tomorrow and we'll watch a movie afterward.

Lunch was normal, as was Italian. Didn't do as well on the test as I thought. Oh well. Again, I got the concepts down and made stupid mistakes so I'm not worried. AND it's a pass/fail class and I passed the test.

After Italian we hung around the apartment until dinner around 6:45. Apparently after class Erin and Jordan had booked train tickets to Nice and Monaco for next weekend so Kiki, Laura and I went to the travel agency to book tickets (for Kate, Kiki and I--Laura wants to save money) before going to Duchessa (only L'occa and Duchessa are open on Mondays). We leave next Saturday morning (field trip Friday to Turin), stay a night in Nice, and get back Sunday night.

Kate, Kiki and I are also planning our trip to Dublin for the weekend of March 11th. Most of our weekends (with the exception of two, Kiki's birthday weekend and this weekend) are already planned out so we wanted to move fast to book this one, especially since the hostels in Dublin are booking really quickly. We'll probably buy our tickets tomorrow after confirming with Dan that the school won't be taking us on our trip that weekend. So excited!

THIS JUST IN: Just booked my flight to Tangier, Morocco, too! We leave Wednesday night to stay a night in Milan to catch and early flight to Tangiers (skipping class that day) and get back Saturday afternoon.

So looks like my plans are all coming together. Nothing this weekend yet but people are talking about a day trip to either Switzerland or Pisa. Spring Break is booked and planned, Morocco and Monaco/Nice, and Dublin in the works! I'm a busy girl!

Day Twenty-Six.

Today was low-key, like I said it would be. I woke up at 9:30, did laundry, watched TV shows illegally online until noonish, took a shower, and then headed out at 2 to do some errands.

I wanted to go turn in some vouchers, find lunch, print out an internship application and buy some new headphones (the rubbery plastic piece to my Skullcandy headphones got lost on a train...) and figured some stores would be open but apparently only restaurants are open on Sundays. So all I got done was the application, the lunch (sort of--didn't pick a good sandwich) and the voucher. I'll get headphones on Tuesday (everything is closed Mondays too...). My feet hurt a lot by the end of that errand run...

After errands I did some application and cover letter stuff online (3 of 6 internships applied for! So far I've only found 6 that I plan on applying for and some of them require considerable commutes...But it's important for me to find something in the communications field so I can start targeting my resume toward what I want to do. Around 7 I went to Duchessa to get a pizza for take out since the rest of the group went to Akash and I don't really like Akash and I was hungrier than would be satisfied there. Turns out Akash wasn't serving dinner, though, and I ended up seeing them going to sit downstairs at Duchessa while I was waiting for my pizza. They didn't invite me to sit with them but they probably figured I was going to want to eat my pizza in the apartment. Or something. I don't know. They probably didn't mean it as passive aggressively as it came off.

Then I went back to the apartment and chilled until bed. We have Cinema tomorrow and a review for our test (which is Tuesday). I bet the test is a piece of cake. These classes are really a joke. But there is at least something interesting about each of them and they all take us on a field trip so that's awesome. We have some cool things happening for our Seminar this week, too. A local photographer is coming to talk to us on Wednesday and then take us to his studio on Thursday.

My feet still hurt from yesterday but definitely got better as the day went on. Stay tuned for feet status updates! Because obviously you have nothing better to do. =P

Day Twenty-Five -- Genova.

This morning we woke up super early (I woke up at 5:45 so I could shower) and got to the train station around 6:45 for our 6:56 train to Asti. The ride to Asti was beautiful, the sky gradually growing brighter as the sun rose. The countryside was covered in snowy, wintered vineyards and houses tucked into the hills. Definitely a touching view with the right music playing in your ears. In Asti we waited for our train to Genova inside a cafe, drinking caffe and eating brioche. When we got on the train to Genova, I put on my iPod and slept.

We got into Genova around 10am and made our first task finding a map. We found one with the help of Laura's Italian friend Sabrina who came with us for the day (she was with us at dinner last night, too). After finding a map we headed to the Cathedral San Lorenzo in the town center. The cathedral's edifice was very unique, striped black and white with different types of marble. After exploring the cathedral's gilt interior, we stopped in a foccaciaria for foccacia, something Genova is well-known for.

Outside the Cathedral--I really like this picture.

After our snack we headed towards Christopher Columbus's house (he was born in Genova and is pretty hot stuff there) and found lunch in a nearby cafeteria similar to our Mensa. They had a great pesto lasagna and macedonia (fruit salad). Then we perused a street market which was similar to Alba's but 100 times better because everything for sale was old. There was old jewelry, postcards, prints WWII paraphernalia, furniture and coins. I didn't buy anything but I wanted to.

Christopher Columbus's house.

Then we headed toward the harbor, stopping at a few churches along the way as well as stumbling across some amazing panoramic views of the city's hilly cityscape. In the harbor was a children's area surrounded by shops and docks. The whole place was very busy with a parade for Carnival and it was pretty exciting. No one was really interested in stopping to watch the parade (surprise...)--they wanted to trek across the city to a lighthouse.

Cityscape.

After an hour's walk along the harbor (which, admittedly, was pretty--but the parade and lighthouse were not mutually exclusive!), we reached the lighthouse, our feet pounding. We took a break on the lighthouse's benches and gazed out at the water, a sight we had missed while in Alba which is not on the water.

Water!! More specifically, the Mediterranean Sea!

Lighthouse.

Then we walked back towards the train station. Along the way we stopped at a tabbaci for postcards and I went into a bakery and found (drumroll, please) pinole! Pinole are delicious almond cookies with pine nuts on top and the Italian bakery at home (Vaccaro's) sells them. I was so excited--I bought 5 of them. Continuing towards the train station we found a kebab stand and the boys and I stopped to buy kebabs (with french fries in them!) while the girls continued onward to find gelato. We met up with the girls at a gelateria and they tried our kebabs, deciding to go back and get their own since they were SO delicious! While they did that, we got gelato. Then we all got more foccacia to round our our early dinner.

We got to the train station at 6:30 for our 7:05 train and hung out resting our feet until it came. Onboard, we promptly passed out, changed trains in Asti, and got home at 9:15. Everyone else (other than Kiki and I) went to Duchessa to take out pizza but I was stuffed so Kiki and I got small sandwiches from Vin to cash in a voucher. Now I'm writing this and GOING TO BED! I've been staying up way too late talking to people back home so I need to get some sleep.

All in all, I'm glad I didn't listen to my mother and went to Genova. It was beautiful, fun, delicious, AND didn't smell like a European port at all.

Tomorrow we'll probably be recuperating from our all-day walking spree. I'll probably head to the Campus Center to print out a job application or two and maybe stop into a store or two. Who knows. It'll definitely be a lazy day, though. We need a break! Looks like next weekend Erin, the boys, and Laura are going to Prague and Kiki, Kate, Jordan and I are going to Milano (Prague is way too expensive to get to--180 euro!). So more adventures are to be had!

Genova pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=152219&id=504487681&l=70ae899d7f

Day Twenty-Four.

Well today was very rainy so I was hesitant to do as much shopping as I claimed I would. Luckily, though, it cleared up after lunch.

I stayed up late last night (too late) so I slept in this morning and didn't get to the Chinese market until after lunch. I went around 3 and headed straight there. It looked sort of like a dollar store except things were not a dollar. Some things were but they also had prom dresses for 60 euro. It was weird. Lots of cheap, shiny fabric. There was so much stuff there. If I had to furnish a kitchen or a dorm room for longer than 3 months I would get a lot of stuff there.

After that I walked down Via Maestra and went into the travel agency to book my ticket to Bologna for Spring Break and my ticket back from Turin when I land there from Trapani. It was easy and cheaper that I thought so I was really happy! The total for both tickets was under 30 euro.

Then I kept heading down the street to the athletic clothes store. I went in and they had shoes for 39 euros that I liked but that was too much money for me to just buy them then and there. I want to go to another store that I've seen before making a choice. They also had tops and shorts but they were all under armor-y and very expensive. I want cheap mesh shorts and crappy used t-shirts but I don't think I'll find those...I want to try first, though. So it looks like this search will extend into next week since most stores are closed on both Sunday and Monday. There's a store over by the Campus Center that I want to take a look at.

After the sports store I stopped in a clothing store and saw this small brown leather purse. It's a sort of warm brown color and a great size with a shoulder strap that goes across your chest. There's a card inside that said the leather was chosen specifically to give the bag a vintage look. The leather is so soft and supple! It was 63 euros and is definitely bopping around in my head. I can't stop thinking about it. I'll probably go back and take another look at it and then maybe think some more about it.

Then I went into another store and they were having a sale and had a selection of shirts for 10 euro so I bought one. It's a nice plum color and has a low neck (I can wear a tank under it for modesty or not if I want to be a little more provocative for the club or whatever girls do) with a little rouching detail.

After that I was quite shopped out so I headed back to the apartment and did some work looking for summer internships and I wrote a cover letter for one internship whose deadline has passed but been extended until they fill all the positions. Need to get on that. I'll go to the Campus Center on Sunday and print out the application and fill it out and scan it on Monday. So that was productive! I felt good about what I'd done.

By the time I finished with my cover letter it was time for dinner and I met the group at Vin. All 9 of us ate together and Laura's friend Sabrina came down for the weekend from Turin so she was with us too. After dinner Erin, Kiki, Paul and I got gelato and then we met the rest of the group back at the boys' apartment for music and a little drinking (everyone still gags a little at the idea of drinking since Tuesday night) and stories.

Around 10 we headed back to the apartment because we have a big day tomorrow! Our train leaves at 6:53am so we have to get up early. We get into Genoa around 10am and head back around 7pm, getting back to Alba around 9pm. We don't have any formal plans for what we'll do in Genoa but a lighthouse was mentioned, as was a botanical garden. I should have lots of stories and pictures tomorrow so it should be a good entry! Yay!

Day Twenty-Three.

Today was pretty good.

We woke up late (around 10) and went to the Mensa around 12:15 and then headed to the Campus Center to study for our Italian quiz. We actually made use of the study rooms upstairs! The test was pretty reasonable and I made a bunch of really stupid, small mistakes but I definitely got the main part that was being tested correct (i.e. the verb tenses, etc.). Plus, I'm taking the class Pass/Fail. All I really want is to learn to speak the language. Not that this will help...I can write and read it, but not really speak it. We do absolutely NO speaking practice.

After our quiz we walked with Dan to a side of town we had never seen before to meet up with a group of Italian girls who play soccer. Some people in our group are interested in playing with them and then some of us just wanted to meet people. Due to a mix-up, we didn't actually get to talk to the girls but maybe next week. On the way back we went into an electronics store and Erin bought new headphones (she broke both pairs she brought here!). Then we headed down Via Maestra and got gelato at our favorite place and cereal for the next week. Special K, yay!

Then we chilled in the apartment until 7 when Jordan, Erin, Kiki and Laura went to La Duchessa and I waited behind for Kate to get out of the shower. We were going to go to La Duchessa as well but I mentioned that earlier today Dan pointed out where the sole Chinese restaurant in Alba was and we decided to go there. It was a good walk but it was nice to walk. On the way there we stopped in a different electronics store and found a webcam for Kate (hers was crapping out). We eventually found the Chinese place and it was cheap and cute. The food was very clearly an Italian interpretation of Chinese food. Smaller portions and something healthier about it. It didn't really satisfy our craving but it was good enough for now.

After dinner we walked to Akash and I used a voucher for pineapple and Kate used one for lemon cake. The change from our vouchers more than covered our dinner at the Chinese restaurant (17 euro)! We were excited. This means we can eat other places (granted, cheap ones) and still have our meal plan pay for it. Yay.

Tomorrow we don't have class (Friday!) so I'm going out on a mission to find gym clothes. I want to start going to the gym with Kate and Kiki and Laura so I asked Mom to mail me my shoes and gym clothes (I didn't anticipate going to the gym while I was here) but it would cost $100 to get the box here so Mom told me to just buy gym clothes here... Well, anyway, tomorrow's mission is to find said clothes. I asked Dan and he suggested going to the Chinese market by the train station because there are a lot of cheap things there. I'll start my mission by going to the Chinese market in the morning and then the sports stores I've seen around town after lunch. I at least need shorts and shoes by Monday if I want to go to the gym. Shirts and socks can be bought at the market next week (we'll be away this Saturday in Genoa!) if need be.

I'll let you know how it goes! Wish me luck.

Fay Twenty-Two.

Well so it turns out that the absinthe night didn't really turn into much.

Everyone except Laura and Nick made it to class and we watched a movie (La Gattopardo) which was way too long (3.5 hours!). They met us for lunch at the Mensa and then I got to hear all the stories.

When I was there everyone was annoyingly loud--too loud. Americans are much louder than Italians so I felt pretty embarrassed at the bar. When I left there was more loudness as well as a lot of spilling of drinks and food (they sell food at the bar) and, eventually, someone threw up out front of the bar. So...yeah. Pretty ashamed of us. Other than those little stories, I've gathered that Greg went up to the boys' apartment before everyone else and accidentally deadbolted the door and then, when everyone needed to come in and get their stuff, couldn't figure out how to open the door. So that required much yelling through the door and in the hall outside. Apparently, once Greg got the door open, Paul was raging mad about having to stand in the hall for half and hour and sort of started strangling Greg though Paul debates this. Greg was really scared Paul was going to kill him and holed up in his room crying...not a good moment. Anyway, this is what I know about last night.

After lunch I went to Akash and Vin and got small pastries to cash in vouchers. I got a lemon cake at Akash that I'll probably let someone else eat and I got an apple tart that I quickly ate. Mmm. Had some sort of custard underneath the apple slices and the pastry dough was SO fluffy.

Italian class was short and sweet--we had another exercise to prepare us for our test tomorrow and I got all but three correct! I was pretty proud. I'm still going to study a bit for the test, though.

After class we went home and I read my book while people went to the gym and Skyped and such. Dinner was at 8 at Akash. Like I've said before, I don't really like Akash. The food is only ok, the service is always grumpy and it always takes forever to get our food. But everyone else likes it so I don't fight it. I got a chicken burger with cheese. They're served on pita bread and they're actually pretty good compared to the rest of Akash's food. I got pineapple for dessert again. I love the pineapple for dessert idea--guilt-free dessert!

Then we went home (it was raining out) and watched a movie online and talked to people and generally hung out. The weather has been pretty crappy so we can't be outside much and other than shopping there isn't much to do. But this weekend we have Genoa so that's so exciting! Also, I'm pretty sure we've moved our Morocco trip to the last weekend in April because there's a speaker coming to talk to us on the Thursday we were going to leave on next week. So yeah. Update there.

Tomorrow we don't have a seminar in the morning so we get to sleep in (yay!) and all we have to do is the Italian quiz. No other plans have been made for other things during the day so I have no idea what we'll do! Hopefully the weather will be better.

Ciao!

Day Twenty-One.

Today was Laura's birthday!

We had class, as per usual. Today we had Cinema and talked more about the "crisis" of the early 60's where there was a feeling of emptiness caused by Italy's rapid industrialization and the Italians' quest for affluence. We watched a couple of clips and analyzed them and tomorrow we'll watch a movie.

We went to the Mensa for lunch as always and then after lunch I headed over to the video game store to look for a charger for my Nintendo DS because the one I brought from America wasn't working. Luckily the guy spoke a little English (couldn't find the word for charger in my dictionary!) AND they had one in stock! Only 10 euro! Yay! So that was a triumph.

Italian class was normal. We're working on the past tense. In Italian they use the present perfect to express the past tense so we are working on mastering that while simultaneously learning a lot of grammar we were never taught in school. Lots of identification of sentence tenses/moods/voices/etc. I like that stuff and I'd like it more if it didn't also include learning another language but maybe linguistics will be another chapter in my life.

We came back to the apartment after class and Erin and Jordan went to the travel agency to book our day trip plans for this weekend: Genova! Genova (or Genoa) is the main port of Italy and the industrial products from Turin and Milan get shipped out there. Also, it's beautiful, warmer than Alba, and on the water. We're going Saturday, leaving Alba at 7 and coming back around 8. 25 euro roundtrip--pretty good. We're all excited. Staying around Alba for a whole three day weekend is kind of rough.

For dinner we got all dressed up and went to VinCafe for dinner with the boys. Dan had paid for wine for all of us for Laura's birthday so that was fun (the wine was too strong for me!). We had similar stuff that we'd had there before. They pick what we eat when we go as a big group. The pomodoro was very good.

Afterwards Erin, Paul and I went and got gelato and then met everyone at the boys' apartment for drinking and music playing. There was a lot of drinking since it was Laura's 21st and she wanted to get "blackout drunk." Eventually we went downstairs to the bar under the boys' apartment and everyone ordered absinthe. Kiki wanted to go home around 12 because she's sick and wants to get better so she wanted sleep. I went back with her because I was pretty done and things were going to get messy once that absinthe was done. There will be stories, I'm sure. Kiki and I made bets on who would hook up with who. We shall see.

Tomorrow is normal again--a movie in Cinema and then Italian class. Dino says he'll have another exercise for us so we can practice for the test on Thursday. Other than that tomorrow looks normal but I'm sure there will be stories from tonight--if people can remember!

Signing off!

Day Twenty.

Hey everyone!

Today we all woke up early and made it to the boys' apartment by 8:30. Then we walked to a part of town we haven't been to yet and went into the Ferrero Roche auditorium building. A man came and talked to us about the famous Alba writer Beppe Fenoglio who is known worldwide for his novels on partisan life during the Italian Resistance in WWII. His most famous book, The Twenty-Three Days of the City of Alba, is very well known and is even translated into English. He died of lung cancer very young (40) and only became really famous after death so no much is known about his life. Another of his books, Partisan Johnny, was made into a movie and we watched that for the rest of the time period. I really enjoyed it. It was boring at parts but that reflected the boredom the partisans felt as they sat around, wanting to fight but not properly prepared to do so. They had the will but the Nazis were just too strong and numerous to really fight against. So there was a lot of hiding and waiting. It was a good movie.

Afterward we went to lunch at the Mensa and then came back to the apartment for a little while before going to Italian class. We're still working on the present and present perfect tenses. Today we got a worksheet to self-test ourselves on what we learned. I think I did pretty well but the worksheet provides you with more information than the quizzes do. We have another quiz on Thursday.

After Italian, Jordan, Erin and I stopped by the grocery store to pick up toilet paper and fabric softener. Exciting stuff. Then we all hung out calling people on Skype and doing our little "errands" of the day. Some people went to the gym. Joanna and I booked the last leg of my Sicily flight and we booked the hostel. I'm staying 5 nights and she's staying 4 (I have to arrive the day before because of flights and pricing and such). We'll share a double room and a bed but we get a private suite so it'll be nice. Really close to the beach. Oh! And Trapani has a huge Easter procession where people carry religious statues around the town for 24 hours. Should be exciting. Apparently the procession is a famous event. I still have to iron out my plans a little. I have 10 days and I'll only be with Joanna in Trapani for 5 of them.

We were hungry early so we went to La Duchessa. Also, most of our eateries are closed on Mondays so we only had two choices and La Duchessa won. I had a normal margherita pizza and then fresh pineapple slices for dessert. Yum!

We came back home after dinner and watched Mean Girls together. Tomorrow is Laura's birthday AND Fat Tuesday so we're partying. We have reservations for all 9 of us at Vin and Dan has arranged for a "surprise" since he can't be there for dinner. Then I think we're going out to a bar or something to celebrate. I just know everyone wants to get wasted. So that will be something different. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Day Nineteen.

This morning I got up to a snowy scene outside my window. Big white flakes. Not much sticking to the roads but the sidewalks were a bit snowy. I went out for lunch and there were Valentine's Day couples walking together, huddled under umbrellas to shield against the snow. They sort of seemed fantastical, floating ethereally through the snow, their shoes wetly clacking against the cobblestones. I bet it was romantic.

I went to Vin for lunch and bought some sandwiches and then used the change to go to two bakeries and buy cookies for myself. The cookies from one place where big and heavy and not miraculous. The small, thin cookies from the second place were very good but left me wanting more. They're the only pinole's I've found in Alba!

At 1 I made plans with Joanna to meet in Trapani, Sicily on the 31st of March and stay until the 4th of April. She successfully bought her tickets and I've only been able to book one. We're buying from RyanAir and I'm having troubles getting them to accept my card on the second leg for some reason. I may have to call them but it's going to be ridiculously expensive and in Italian so I don't know what I'm going to do.

We went to dinner early because we hadn't made reservations and we were scared everything would be booked. We got to La Duchessa around 6:30 and had pizza (yum) and shared pineapple as an appetizer. After dinner we went to YoYogurt and got frozen yogurt. Here it's literally yogurt they freeze. It had the yogurt taste and everything and you can get sauces to put on it. Next time I'm trying the dark chocolate sauce on top.

Then we headed back to the apartment to watch a chick flick together. We ended up watching How to Lose Friends and Alienate People which is a funny British movie with Sean from Sean of the Dead in it. I love the title of the movie--hilarious and offputting, just like the character in the movie.

Now I must go to bed. Tomorrow we have an early day, meeting at the boys' apartment at 8:30 to walk to the Ferrera Roche conference hall where we'll have a lecture. Everyone else claims it won't be a lecture having anything to do with the factory but I feel like Dan said it was a lecture about the factory. Oh well--we'll see. Nothing else spectacular planned. Most things are closed Monday.

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. I love you--you know who you are.

Day Eighteen.

Today was Market day so I got up early and Erin and I headed to the Market around 9am. It was freezing out so we didn't spend as much time at the Market as we'd have liked to but we still were successful. Erin was on a mission for a coat and found one at the first vendor we went to--she had seen it there the last time we went. We also wanted to make sure we saw the whole thing since last time we only saw half of it. This time we made sure we saw the food part. There were all sorts of vendors there. Lots of fruits and vegetables and even fish, cheese, and meat carts! A county fair gone bad! I was hoping there'd be a pastry cart (specifically didn't eat breakfast in the hopes!) but there wasn't. We ended up getting pastries from the bread and pasta cart. I got a chocolate croissant with the edges dipped in chocolate and chocolate pudding in the middle. Yum.

Then we headed back to the house and hung out. People went out for lunch but I wanted to eat light so I stayed in and had cheese and prosciutto and crackers.

Around 4ish I went out to go shopping and mail some postcards. I went into a couple of stores and was pretty disappointed. They're all really small stores that are overstaffed so it's awkward to browse because people are always trying to help you. Also, the stores have basically no stock in them. It is sale season so I don't know if they're empty because of that or because they're boutique shops. I think the shopping in Torino is much better and I'll probably do the bulk of any clothes shopping I do there and at the Market (was too cold to browse this morning).

I also stopped into a gelato shop Dan likes and tried it out. They had a good selection and GREAT price (2 scoops for 1.80!) so I got some. I thought I was getting panna cotta and vanilla but they both had a weird mint flavor to them so I don't know if it was the flavors or the place. The texture was great, though. Very smooth and creamy but not too melted.

Then we went to dinner at VinCafe because it was finally open!!! I had reserved a table with Erin earlier in the morning (with the help of a very nice lady who translated for us--I didn't know how to say "reserve") so we got to sit down pretty quickly even though the place was PACKED. I had minestrone soup as my first course which turned out to be more of a vegetable stew than minestrone but oh well it was still good. Jordan got the carne cruda (raw meat) and it was a ball of raw ground beef but she said it was good. It looked scary, though. For my main dish I got the ravioli and it was heavy but good. I didn't finish it.

Then we headed back to the apartment. Everyone wanted to go out but a couple of the girls are sick with bad colds and wanted to make an effort to get better so they wanted to stay in. We all watched Bolt, the animated movie about a superhero dog and then went to bed.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I have no idea what we're doing. I'd like to go to a few bakery places for lunch and just sort of graze but I don't think anyone will want to go with me. I can't go to lunch with them as normal because Joanna and I are planning our Spring Break at 1 (good time for her) and lunch here is eaten around 12:30 in restaurants so I'd be missing her if I went with everyone. I'll probably go to Vin for small sandwiches and got to a bakery or two by myself.

For dinner I want to go to the sushi place in town and sort of do something different but no one seems interested in that idea either. They want to stick to the vouchers so I don't know where we're eating tomorrow night. Places will be pretty busy, though, so I hope someone gets a reservation tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned for my super exciting day. Well, that's not completely sarcastic--I'll finally know my Spring Break plans! My idea to pose to Joanna is Trapino, Sicily. Before that I'd, ideally, visit Dad and Heather's friend Kirby who lives in Bologna. He said I could stay there and he'd be happy to show me around and maybe do some day trips in nearby places he enjoys. More on that later. Sicily (or where ever Joanna and I decide) should be figured out tomorrow.

Day Seventeen.

Today was mostly good until the end.

I woke up late (9:30) and had breakfast and showered then read and watched a movie until 1ish. Everyone else went to the Mensa for lunch but I didn't want that so I went to Akash, ordered a lemon cake and a small pizza they had sitting on the counter (personal size) and got some change from that. Then I went to a small pizza shop and ordered four mini pastry pizzas which were delicious. I tried to find gelato but the usual places didn't have anything that caught my fancy. I headed back to the apartment and ate my stuff at the kitchen table and then people trickled back from lunch.

After lunch I read some more and watched another movie. People mostly stayed around the apartment as well and Kate and Kiki went to the gym. Around 4 Erin, who had apparently been looking at flights online, suggested that we go to Morocco in two weeks. Nick has plans to go to Paris and Greg, Paul, Laura and Kiki were going to go to Prague (we had decided not to) so Erin found flights to Tangiers, Morocco for very cheap. We will book things tomorrow but it looks like a pretty done deal. We'd leave Thursday morning (skip both of our classes) and come back Saturday (last flight out until Tuesday). I'm pretty excited. The cheapest hostel there is pretty expensive ($27 a night) but is AMAZING. We basically get a hotel suite. More on this later.

For dinner we went to Locca which is the furthest restaurant away. Dan wanted to go so that's what we did even thought we all wanted La Duchessa. It was pretty good food. Nothing amazing. I wanted gelato afterwards but everything was closed. Dan, Kate, Erin and Jordan went to see Avatar in 3-D after dinner but I had no interest in seeing the movie so I headed back here to watch another one on my computer where I sit now.

Tomorrow we're waking up early to go to the market because apparently we missed half of it the last time we went. I'm on the lookout for a small purse that has a shoulder strap so I can put it across my chest. Something for going out everyday so I don't have to carry my big purse. We'll see. Hopefully Vin will be open tomorrow, too, so we can have dinner there.

Oh. Looks like the Valentine's Day bakery crawl isn't going to happen--just like I predicted. People are backing out because they don't want to pay even though they could just use a meal voucher and get change. Whatever...I'm not going to waste my time convincing them. Yay for a really lame Valentine's Day. I might just go to a bakery anyway but that's hardly less pathetic than not going.

Day Sixteen -- Torino

Today we went on a field trip to Torino.

We woke up early and got on a bus at 8am. It was snowing pretty heavily but it wasn't sticking to the roads so no one was worried. It was very pretty, though. Continued for the whole day. I forgot my camera in the apartment.

When we got to Torino, we walked down the main roads, passing many very upscale stores (Armani, Tommy Hilfiger, and Hermes were just some I can remember). Then we headed into the RAI (National Television Channel) Radio and Television Building. The museum part was pretty boring with a few display cases of old radios, telegraphs, and TVs showing how the technology progressed. It seems like Italy was a little behind in both technology and design as the items they had looked to me to be older, clunkier models of what I think America had at the same point in time. Can't be sure, though.

After the tour of the museum part, we were taken into the studio section that is in use today for Northern Italy's television. First we went behind the scenes to the set workshop of a popular children's show. We got to see the sets being built and painted and designed and then got to go on the set of the actual show. It was very fantastical.

Then we went upstairs in a huge elevator (as large as the one in the Anchorage Museum--tallest in Alaska!) upstairs to a news studio where we got to sit behind a news anchor's desk and play with the cameras. The tour guide was very generous--I'd never let a group of American teenagers near that stuff. There was no mention of the lack of free press. Surprise!

Afterward we headed towards Torino's public university. It was a hideous and huge building in the middle of the city covered in dirt, grime, and graffiti. I wouldn't want to go to college in that old warehouse but there were a lot of people there and apparently it's a very large school (Italians don't pay to attend pubic university).

When we left the university it was time for lunch so we were given a meeting place and set free for 2.5 hours. My usual group (Kate, Jordan and Erin) ditched me by abruptly crossing a street so I tagged along with Kiki and Laura. It was pretty frustrating because since they are usually by themselves together, they sort of just made decisions by consulting each other so I could either go where I wanted and be alone or go where they wanted and not be pathetic. Yay...

We ended up in a little gelataria that also served lunch and we all got the penne pomodoro pasta which was really good--probably the best pomodoro I've had here in Italy and that's saying something since nearly all of the pasta sauce is pomodoro. Laura and Kiki were full after that so we didn't stay for gelato even though I really wanted to. I feel like if I speak up, everyone thinks I'm an annoying bitch. I'm not usually a passive person--I speak my thoughts and opinions quite freely--but I don't want to get into fights with these people because then I won't have anyone...

After lunch we walked around looking for a dessert that would satisfy Laura and Kiki. Apparently they didn't want gelato so we stopped in a chocolate shop and ordered two pieces each. One was a square of layers of chocolate and hazelnut creme and the other was not very good. Then we stopped in a pastry shop to have cake. Mine was chcocolate cake covered in almond pieces and Laura and Kiki each got a rum cake. It was ok but wasn't what I had been craving. Oh well.

We met back up with the group at 2:30pm and walked to the municipal seat of the Region (like a state). We watched a movie in their main office and were given a backpack, informational booklets in Italian, and a hat. Then we walked to the Presidential (Regional President--not National President) offices and saw where the regional council meets and got to go into the Presidential office (or at least the office where he receives visitors).

After that we boarded our bus and went home, arriving back in Alba around 6:30. I hung out in the apartment and didn't go out to dinner because I was still moping and didn't feel like walking in the cold and snow anymore (it was freezing and really snowy all day as we were walking around). I had some food that I bought from the grocery store and I'm currently downloading a movie to watch.

There's no class tomorrow (we have Fridays off) so I can sleep in and go to lunch somewhere tomorrow. Hopefully VinCafe because it's been closed all week and we miss it. I think there were plans for something in the afternoon but I completely forget them. It'll probably be a slow day.

I was going to put pictures in this post but Blogger isn't letting me so I'll try later. In the meantime, there are more photos on Facebook courtesy of Erin since I forgot my camera: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149487&id=504487681&l=dc4e411a58

Day Fifteen.

Today was pretty normal. No Code Greens or skyscraper amounts of snow here.

We had class at 9, as per usual, and watched apparently a movie recognized as one of the best of all time (artistically): La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life). It was pretty damn artsy--reminded me of French nouvelle vague films I watched in World Cinema my Freshman year. It was about how the aristocracy and their "sweet" life in the city is really unfulfilling and empty.

After class we went to lunch, like always. I ate pretty light. Did get crackers and brie, though.

Italian class was a tad overwhelming because Dino jumped us into present tense conjugation and then decided it wasn't too much more of a jump to go to present perfect! It kind of is.

After class we went grocery shopping and did some window shopping as well. We went into two stores and looked at shoes but they were all really expensive. Still nice to look, though. We went grocery shopping, though, and I bought canned green beans and some Special K cereal. Then Erin and I went to a pasticerria (pastry shop/stand) and bought some delicious cookies while Jordan and Kate went into a second grocery store to look for Halls Cough Drops to no avail. Jordan and Kate then headed back to the apartment but Erin and I went to find a store she had seen last week called Moby Dick. It turned out to be an import store (like Pier 1). Erin really liked it but I didn't since it was all stuff I could get in the States. Then we headed back to the apartment.

We hung out at the apartment until 8pm when we went to Osteria Nuova, my favorite restaurant on our plan. You don't order there--they just bring you food and it's always delicious. You get two appetizers, a main dish (usually pasta) and a dessert. It's served family style so you share with those at your table (we had a party of 4). We got the carne cruda (smoked meat) appetiser with prosciutto, bologna, and salami and the vitello tornado which is veal lightly seared served with a tuna mash. They were both very good. The pasta dish was fettuccine noodles in a cream and leek sauce. Also very good. Dessert was also very good but less distinguishable. I think there was a small chunk of almond cake with chocolate shavings and a bite of chocolate lace torte with apricot jam on top and orange compote on the side. All in all, an amazing meal as I expected it would be.

Tomorrow we will be going to Torino for the day. I only know a couple of things we're doing: visiting the news station, university and municipal seat. Should be pretty interesting as Italy doesn't have free press (I know--who'd have thought! An awful judicial system AND no free press). I'll try to remember everything and report back.

Oh. I feel a little bit better about Valentine's Day--the girls have decided we should do a bakery crawl on Sunday and buy a cookie or two at each bakery we can find. I really hope we do it because that would definitely make me happy. But this is also a group that says they want to do something and then doesn't so we'll see.

Day Fourteen.

Today it snowed. Not like back home, but it did snow and it was pretty. Italians use umbrellas to keep the snow from falling on their clothes. It's cute and I tried it. Felt silly but it works a little bit.

After our Italian quiz a reporter came to interview us for a story in the local newspaper. He asked questions about our impressions of Italy and what we wanted out of our experience. The group gave classic Miss America answers and I didn't really get a chance to answer.

We didn't do much and went to Akash for dinner. I don't really like Akash because I haven't found anything there that I actually enjoy. Oh well, they are smaller portions which is nice for my "figure."

That's all I'm writing today because I'm in a mad mood (due partially to Valentine's impending doom--I haven't been single on Valentine's Day in basically 6 years straight so I'm dreading this year's) and I want to read to get my mind off things.

Tomorrow will be normal.

Roma.

Day Nine (Thursday):

After classes and around 8:00pm, we got to the train station in Alba early to validate our train tickets (we don't know why we have to do this--we just know we do) and waited in the cold for the train. When the train showed up it was pretty disappointing: short and small and dirty. It was just a commuter train, though--a 1.5 hour ride to Asti to change trains to Rome. Inside the train, the air was heavy and stuffy. I felt a little like I was suffocating but still managed to quickly fall asleep.

On the train to Asti

We got to Asti and had an hour wait before our train to Rome arrived. When it did come, we found our car and our compartment but someone was sleeping inside so we had to find a conductor to kick him out. Apparently people can get away with that stuff here. It's an awful train system but I'll talk about that later... It was a cozy compartment for the 6 of us (6 seats) but we all popped pills and went to sleep. Despite the pills, we were awoken around eight times in the 7 hour ride: twice for ticket check and about 6 times because people felt like opening our compartment door and looking around...

Day Ten (Friday):

We got in to Rome around 6am and went to our hostel via walking to check in and drop off our bags. We couldn't get into our rooms until 3pm, though, so we went out on the town without stopping. We wanted to watch the sun rise so we headed down Via Nationale and ended up at the Imperial Forum. It was incredible to see such history like that right in front of us, practically littering the streets. We walked past the Colosseum and then went into and Irish pub for an "American" breakfast because we were starving and needed more than a croissant and an espresso... I had eggs, French fries (breakfast food?) and coffee. Then we walked back to the Colosseum and bought a Roma Pass for 23 euro which got us into 2 archeological sites or museums as well as free public transportation for three days (turned out to be perfect for us!).

Imperial Forum

Colosseum!

We used our first Roma Pass on the Colosseum, buying an additional 8 euro tour that also included a tour of Paletine Hill/Roman Forum (not to be confused with the Imperial Forum). It was a good deal and we saw so much! The pictures describe more than I possibly can but both the Colosseum and Paletine Hill were amazing. I think I liked the Hill more because of all the greenery and ruins. Plus, the Colosseum is more photographed. Exhausted from all our walking (must have been miles), we took the Metro back to our hostel to relax/nap.

Inside the Colosseum.

On Paletine Hill.

After napping for a while and showering, we headed to the laundromat nearby for some much-needed internet time (15 minutes free from our hostel) and then to dinner at a cheap place nearby that I found in a guide book Kt left me. It was a little ristorante that had cheap pizza and pasta. Everyone else got pizza but I got some fettuccine. Then we took the Metro to the Spanish Steps and got lost many times trying to find them since Kate and Kiki were a little drunk (had bought a bottle of wine from the supermarket earlier and put it in water bottles for portability) and decided to guide us...in the wrong direction. It became a frustrating too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen sort of thing. Eventually we found the Steps and marveled and photographed. Then we headed towards the Trevi Fountain and got gelato (which wasn't very good--I should know, I had gelato nearly every day we were in Rome). The fountain was absolutely AMAZING. My pictures don't do it justice since my camera is awful but I tried. Words cannot describe the beauty of the carvings' intricate detail. It was, by far, my favorite thing in Rome--then Paletine Hill. After the fountain we quickly headed back to the hostel for bed and exhausted sleep. I think we ended up being awake for 30-some hours. Ugh.

Trevi Fountain at night.

Day Eleven (Saturday):

We woke up late the next morning and didn't set out until around noon. It was raining and we knew it would rain for most of the day so we decided to visit another museum. We got breakfast across the street from our hostel (cappuccino and croissant for 1 euro) and then headed towards the train station to go to two parts of the Museo Nationale Romano. Our feet were killing us so after the second museum we Metro-ed back to the Colosseum for panini from a cart and then went back to the hostel to rest while the rain died out.

Sculpture in the Museo Nationale Romano.

After a little bit of rest, we went back out to see the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona. The Pantheon turned out to be a big building (HUGE!) that is now a Basilica. We couldn't go in because there was a service going on. While we were there, we were solicited for a bar crawl going on that night and the girls got really excited. Then we walked over to the Piazza Navona which had three beautiful fountains and nice shops. I bought a little watercolor print at a stand and we went into a little shop for sandwiches. The little man behind the counter also gave us a bag full of small meat pastries for free. Yum! After dinner we hopped on a bus to go back to the hostel.

The girls decided to go on the bar crawl and I decided to hang back because it was expensive (20 euro) and I don't drink...certainly not enough to justify spending 20 euro. It was too much money for basically a night of tagging along so I stayed at the hostel and they went out. I read and listened to music and hung out in the hostel's common room, meeting a girl from Normandy, France and two boys (both named John) from Pennsylvania who are going to school in Turin which is near Alba! They eventually went to go sleep so I went back to my room and did as well. We had an early morning the next day so I didn't feel too bad about not going out.

Day Twelve (Sunday aka The Second Longest Day):

The next morning we took showers for the last time in a while and checked out of the hostel at 10:30, leaving our bags there to pick up later. It was absolutely gorgeous outside so we caught a quick breakfast (American again because we were so hungry and some were hungover) at a nearby ristorante and then headed to the Vatican City--smallest country in the world! We got there right before noon, in time for the Pope's blessing! He was up in his tiny window and talked for a good while in about eight different languages. I'm not religious but it was still fun to see him. Then we went inside St. Peter's Basilica. It was incredibly stunning--lots of statues and carvings and gold and marble. Again, my pictures can show you more than I can describe. We wanted to go to the Cistine Chapel but it was a part of the Vatican Museum and we weren't willing to pay.

Blessed by the Pope.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica.

After visiting the Vatican we did some window shopping on the way to the Crypt which is a part of the Museo Nationale Romano. The Crypt was weird and not fun to look at and the tour was all in Italian so we had no idea what we were looking at. After that we were exhausted so we sat on some steps for an hour before catching a bus back to the hostel where we sat (illegally) in the common room until dinner time.

In the middle of one of the main roads they shut down on Sunday for tourists. Colosseum in the background!

Around 6:30 we headed out for dinner, picking a random Metro stop and walking around until we found a ristorante we could afford. The first stop we got off at was a parking lot so we chose another. We finally found a nice restaurant (almost too nice) and ordered pizza. It was the best pizza I've had so far but I'm sure there will be more to compare it to. After dinner we went back to the hostel and hung out in the common room. I even saw the Johns again!

At 11 we left the hostel and headed to the train station where we found that our train was 20 minutes late. We sat around, ate McDonald's (so expensive!) and eventually got on the train. When we did, our compartment was not only occupied (again!) but one of the seats was wet and sticky...Since there were six of us and six seats, this was a problem. We found a conductor and, after much belaboring to communicate, we eventually got settled into another compartment 5 cars up the train. We quickly fell asleep--only one interruption for ticket-checking!

Day Thirteen (Monday):

Around 7:30 we woke to a winter wonderland. Sometime while we were gone it had snowed in the North and it covered the countryside--definitely a nice thing to wake up to. We got off at Asti to change trains and made our train to Alba by seconds. We got to Alba at 8:45, just in time to rush to class...yay. We had a lecturer come in to teach us about Italy's history. He came in last Thursday, too. It would have been interesting but all he did was read (poorly) from a piece of paper for three hours, skipping around the outline he gave us rather than going in order as would make sense... Needless to say, it was painful.

Afterwards, I skipped lunch to head back to the apartment to unpack and get on the computer where I am now! This afternoon we have Italian and we need to pay attention because we have a quiz tomorrow. We'll probably go out to dinner tonight but we'll mostly take it easy.

Tomorrow we have our cinema class and nothing else special except for the Italian quiz. I'll probably stay in the apartment for most of it. We have recovering to do. Thursday I think we're going to Turin for the day as a part of our Seminar class.

Woo. Long entry. There will be pictures on Facebook accessible via this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=148645&id=504487681&l=a96f99015e

Day Eight.

Hello again.

Today was pretty normal.

We woke up and went to class at 9 again and watched a movie called Don Camillo which was essentially about a conflict between the Communist mayor and Catholic Democrat priest of a northern Italian town. After WWII, Italy abolished its monarchy and started a republic. The two parties vying for power were the Communists (left-wing) and Catholic Democrats (right-wing). The Democrats eventually won but some towns elected Communist administrators in heavily-influenced areas. So it was about the rivalry between the mayor and the priest and was pretty funny. In the end they were friends at heart and only wanted to be tied rather than to destroy the other.

After the movie we went to lunch again and I had plain pasta, bread and a banana this time so my stomach wouldn't feel so bad. It worked pretty well but walking around in general makes it angry. Then I went to Akash to buy a water and a croissant and get change from the voucher. Then it was nap time until 2:30 when we had Italian.

In Italian we started out going over the verbs he introduced to us yesterday (esere [to be] and avere [to have]). But then he started to go into gender agreement for adjectives and nouns and totally confused everyone. He just doesn't teach in a systematic way. He goes off on tangents that really aren't useful at the time. Teach us some verbs and then teach us some adjectives and THEN teach us the agreement...then we'll be able to make sentences. Why is that so hard...?

After class I went to the grocery store for some travel-friendly foods (Rome tomorrow!) and there was more napping after I read for a little while.

Around 7 we were headed out the door for dinner when Jordan realized our train tickets to Rome were actually booked for tonight so we ran to the travel agency and managed to get them changed to tomorrow without paying anything extra. THANK GOD she noticed and everything worked out. We catch a train around 8:30 tomorrow evening! Then we went over to Akash and had dinner. I had tea and bread and a little bit of a burger. I feel ok but definitely still off. Actually, as I say that, I feel worse. Joy.

So tomorrow we have something at 9 for our Seminar class (we're taking a Seminar along with Italian that sort of introduces Italian culture and history to us as a companion to learning the language--we have it Mondays and Thursdays sometimes from 9-12 and sometimes in the afternoon in conjunction with Italina) but I don't know what. Then we have Italian in the afternoon and then we'll catch a train at 8:30! I might make a short post while in Rome (I'll have my iTouch) and I'll post a longer post after class Monday morning (we get back to Alba about 20 minutes before class starts). Wish me luck!

Day Seven.

Not much happened today.

I woke up feeling better and took a shower.

Class started at 9 and went until 12. We are starting the semester with a Cinema class and so two professors from Alba are teaching us Italian Cinema, focusing on the Renaissance period of the 1950's and early 1960's. Tuesdays are lectures and Wednesdays are movie viewings with discussion afterward. Understanding them through their accents is quite hard, even if they speak good English. It's just very hard to focus on and comprehend in large, long chunks. It's hard to explain why but it's just difficult to do.

Then we went to lunch and I ate a full meal and felt not so good afterward. I think the food here is just too much and too rich. I'm trying to keep it light now. For instance, I skipped dinner and just had a small sandwich instead.

After lunch I went to two of our meal places and tried to redeem meal vouchers for money. At Akash and VinCafe, our vouchers are worth $10 and if you spend less than $10 then you get back change. So when we go away (like this weekend) our plan is to turn in vouchers beforehand and get the money back to use for food in Italy. I got a croissant at Akash and successfully got change. At Vin, I got the sandwich I later ate for dinner but they didn't have enough change to give me back so I ended up paying for it...Yay.

After lunch we had Italian class from 2:30-3:30 with Dino who is...practically awful. His accent is alright but every third word is "Uhh." He likes linguistics a bit too much and, though I love linguistics, it isn't exactly what we're looking to get out of the class. We'll see if his approach (very different from how we are used to learning languages) works out in the end.

Class let out and I checked out a textbook on the off chance that I'll want to use it (I'm taking the class as a Pass/Fail so I'm not too concerned) and then headed back to the apartment. I hung around until 7ish when we had to go to a photobooth and get pictures taken to give to the police(?). Maybe he explained it yesterday but I still don't know why we needed pictures. Oh well, I didn't have to pay for them.

I walked home after that because everyone else was going to dinner but I knew dinner would just upset my stomach--it was already not feeling too good from all that walking. I did some more resume stuff and filled out an application but mostly was on the computer, watching last night's episodes of House and Big Bang Theory that I missed.

Not much today but you can't expect something amazing and notable to happen every day.

Bedtime, now. Tomorrow we'll watch a movie but nothing much else will happen. Keep a grip on your seats.

Day Six.

Today I didn't leave the apartment except to hang my laundry from the balcony.

Last night I ended up feeling awful with a very unhappy stomach. I went to bed and woke up at some undefined hour of the morning and hung out in the bathroom for about half an hour, eventually throwing up. After that I sort of moved into the bathroom, occasionally going back to me bed to sleep for half an hour before getting up to do it again. Around 3 in the morning I got really dizzy and stumbled around to the bathroom with a blanket, socks, and a sweatshirt. I just slept on the floor instead of making the trek from my bed. It was freezing but it was worse to stand up than to lie there. I slept on and off. Eventually I felt a little better (after throwing up a couple of times) and headed back to my bed and slept the rest of the night.

I still was feeling off when I woke up and stayed in bed, not going to lunch because I didn't want to stir anything up. I was still queasy when I walked around so laying in bed was my best bet. I opted out of the bus tour, too, thinking the movement of the bus (and the walking) wouldn't be good for me. I'm sorry I missed out on the bus trip since the pictures everyone brought back were amazing but there wasn't really anything I could do...

I read a lot, watching a horrible movie, and basically loafed around. Didn't put me in a very good mood. I did end up doing my laundry, though. At least that was productive.

I skipped dinner and had a yogurt in the apartment instead and now I'm back in bed, thinking sleep is the best option. We have class at 9 tomorrow until 12 and then again from 2:30-3:30.

Hopefully I'll feel completely better in the morning because at the moment I still feel queasy...

I'll let you know about classes tomorrow.

P.S. I stole an album of pictures from one of the girls and it's on my Facebook. Feel free to take a look.