BONUS: Foods I Miss.

• Swedish meatballs.
• Meatloaf.
• Tacos.
• Chipotle.
• Teriyaki chicken and white rice.
• Chinese food.
• Sushi--tempura anything.
• Pad Thai.
• Peanut butter.
• Cheddar cheese.
• Pancakes.
• Onion rings.
• BBQ ribs, pulled pork, etc.
• Poppyseed cake.
• Peach cobbler.
• Chocolate chip cookies.

Day Ninety-Three.

• Woke up at the normal time and went to class.
• Got out of the group meeting early and Prof Stabile can canceled the afternoon session since Kiki and Erin were gone so I went to Akash for lunch with Kate and then headed back to the apartment.
• Caught up on internet stuff. 
• Watched Community.
• Read blogs and McSweeny's.
• Kate and I headed out to the gym and, mid-journey, decided to check out a hiking path Prof Stabile told us about. We found the trail and walked it for a good while, planning to take it to the end where it looped around and came back. There was a wide stream we had to ford so we took off our shoes and, using sticks as poles to aid us, crossed the cool water. It was an adventure! Then we sloshed through mud and trekked up hills and came to the end of the trail. But where was the loop? We were confused and thought we had found it be ended up lost in the middle of someone's vineyard. Eventually we got back to the trail by side-swiping beehives, scrambling up sheer creek beds and using our generally fabulous sense of direction. Eventually, after 4 hours and approximately 6 miles of walking, we got back to the apartment.
• Kate, Erin and Laura went out for drinks with Prof Stabile and I stayed behind because I was tired and helping a friend speed-edit their senior thesis before turning it in--what a stressful four hours! But it was worth it and I was glad I could use my editing skills to help a friend.
• Chatting.
• BED! So tired and so happy I get to sleep in tomorrow.

This weekend: National holiday tomorrow so many stores and, perhaps, part of the market will be closed so, though I intended to go to the market, that may not turn out to be such a big event anymore. Was also going to go hiking in the afternoon but I did that today so I guess not. Writing my Econ. paper for next week at some point. Maybe going to Turin on Sunday but it's supposed to rain (until Thursday!) so maybe not. Who knows. Studying for Italian exam as some point--final (counts for 30% of our grade) exam is Monday afternoon.

Day Ninety-Two -- Milano.

• Woke up at 6:30AM to get to the Campus Center by 7:50.
• Went to Vin to get coffee with Erin and Kate. Had them drink my coffee since I just wanted the change from the voucher. Coffee is yucky!
• Got on the bus to head to Milan.
• Promptly passed out.
• Got to Milan around 10.
• Walked to the duomo which actually didn't seem as large as some of the other churches we had seen before (Florence) and then we were set free until 1:45.

Duomo.

• Went inside the duomo (unmiraculous) and did some shopping on the streets around it.

Shopping area near the duomo.

• Wandered around and found a public park so we wandered through that before wandering out to find lunch at an overpriced cafe.

Park.

• Went into a store called OVS to shop but didn't end up buying anything.
• Headed toward the castello so we could see it before it was time to meet.
• Saw the castello.

Castello tower.

Park inside the castello walls.

• Met up with the rest of the group and headed to the European Commission's office in Milan to meet with a Commissioner (of Media?) who talked to us about how Europe needs to become more united and think at an EU level rather than at the level of individual countries. The EU essentially wants more cohesive cooperation from the countries rather than the preoccupation they have with individual power. The EU wants to be united like the US is. Anyway, it was interesting.
• Got back on the bus and came back to Alba by 6PM.
• Hung out at the apartment.
• Had crackers with peanut butter and jelly and frozen peas for dinner.
• Argued with a friend about the censorship of South Park.
• Music and Solitaire and chatting.
• Bed!
  

Day Ninety-One.

• Econ.--this class feels pointless since we have no tests and the papers are all on the readings so I feel like my time would be better spent reading and writing the papers. This is the kind of mentality that college has created in me--ugh. Or maybe I just had a bad day. Usually I get involved even if it's not required--taking notes, asking questions, etc. I just feel like these three years have been a big waste of my time, like I've just become bogged down by professors' attempts at "revealing reality," pressure to essentially fabricate bullshit (literary analysis), and my fellow students' sex, gossip and party agendas. I am so finished. Only one more semester!
• Read the last section in the second Econ. book and wrote my contribution to the group paper.
• Lunch--ate too much bread.
• More Econ. Zoned out.
• Gym--spent a longer-than-normal amount of time there.
• Very warm outside.
• Started reading the last Econ. book.
• Went out shopping with Erin, Kate and Laura. We went into a few of the Alba touristy stores deceivingly called enotecas which are supposed to be wine stores but end up selling all Langue (Alba's sector within the Piedmonte region) related products such as an assortment of mushrooms/truffles, chocolates, pasta and other souvenir-ish gifts. I bought one or two things as gifts. Then we did some window shopping and ended with apperativi at Vin serving as a light dinner. We sat outside and I ordered moscato (sweet dessert wine) and the girls ordered wine spritzers. The food was pretty good and it was nice to eat outside.
• Headed back to the apartment.
• Did more reading for Econ. Kate and I are trying to get ahead (this reading isn't due until next week) so we can write our parts of the term paper before we leave since we're busy once we get home and the paper is due the 13th.
• Talked to people.
• Music.
• Random internet.
• Blogs and webcomics.
• Bed early--getting up early for Milan tomorrow! Will have pictures and, hopefully, stories!
  

Day Ninety.

Is this even interesting anymore?

• Woke up to a rainy day after a rainy (and thundery!) night.
• Econ. class taught us about the US as a monetary and economic union, focusing on our monetary system's development.
• Read tomorrow's reading during the break for group discussions.
• Group discussion about term paper (1o pages within the group of 3--easy).
• Lunch. Yummy pasta.
• More rain.
• Econ. again--European Union.
• Watched the fifth installment of the Film Festival. It was called Giulias Verschwinden (Gulia's Disappearance) and was essentially a really depressing movie about aging. I think it had an uplifting ending but I was too busy being bogged down by how horrible aging it--as if I hadn't already heard. But this was very intense. Well done, but a little too close-to-home for me. I'm secretly (not so secretly) terrified of getting old. I secretly hope I die before I turn 50.
• Gym! Felt sort of nauseous when I ran so I only ran for 10 minutes... Did ab workouts, though!
• Bought milk from IN's.
  
• Wrote paper for Econ.
• Emailed people things.
  
• Got turned down for the internship at CNFA. Will be working at Powertrain this summer.
• Watched last night's episode of House.
• Read articles and blogs about Baltimore and briefly dreamed about working for the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.
• Chatted.
• Listened to WTMD.
• Bed.

P.S. Going to Milan on Thursday to meet with a member of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union. We will have time in the morning (before 2) to wander around Milan so we will get to see it's HUGE duomo which is the fourth-largest church in the world and took five centuries to complete. Also we will get to shop! Yay.

Day Eighty-Nine.

• Woke up early for class--ugh!
• First Econ. class. Wasn't too bad but Prof. Stabile writes sideways on the board and has the handwriting of a third grader so it makes it hard to takes notes. Also, sometimes he's hard to follow. We got to break into groups and talk to him individually which meant that we each got an hour off from class while the other groups talked to him. Awesome! Went to Vin with Jordan and Kate for coffee/sandwiches while he was talking to the first two groups.
  
• Lunch. Felt nauseous beforehand so didn't eat much.
• Second part of class. More of the same. Still felt awful.
• Eventually didn't feel awful.
• Hung around the apartment, feeling awesome about the amount of free time I had since class let out at 2 (moved afternoon class up to start at 1) and I didn't go to the gym (sore from Saturday and, coincidentally, ended up feeling nauseous).
• Read and wrote for Econ. and then did tomorrow's assignment, too!
• Hung out. Finished reading the archives of 1000 Awesome Things.
• Chatted with people.
• Dinner at the apartment.
• Stuff.
• Bed early--I'm tired!

P.S. I've opted out of the Greece trip--it just didn't seem to be working out to be something I was interested in. Lots of partying and it was expensive and I'd rather stay home this weekend, get work done, go to the Saturday market and go to Turin one day.

Day Eighty-Eight.

• Woke up around 8:30 but "hatched out" until 10ish.
• Got out of bed to test my achy limbs.
• It was a nice day out so we all got dressed up in cute skirts and went to Akash for lunch around 11:45--had hummus and a chicken burger with cheese.
  
• Went shopping--didn't buy anything except gelato.
• Went back to the apartment and proceeded to create my own Horse Movie Marathon: Something to Talk About, The Horse Whisperer and The Horse Boy.
• Dinner at Vin at 7.
• Finished my movie marathon.
• Bed.

Simple day spent languishing in the sun and recovering from the physical stress of yesterday. My calves are what hurt the most and I hope they are better by Tuesday so I can go to the gym.