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!