Don't cha know...

The weekend thus far.....

Friday.

I was up bright and early, well 9. We had planned bright and early, but you know how that goes.... I digress. Erica and I had planned a fun filled day at the Vatican. We went by ourselves because Moly has plan to go later, and Kelsey had already been. So we got our bus tickets and hopped on the trust tram, ready for a fun filled day.

The entrance for the Vatican museum is actually a 15 minute walk away from the vatican. You have to follow these signs and walk through swarms of tourists and people who are offering their services as guide *cough* scam*cough*. The place is HUGE. Erica and I got there at 11:30ish and were not done walking through the museum until after 2. Then we thought we would head over to Saint Peter's Basilica. I had a hankering to see the Pieta and that is where it is housed. After seeing the Sistine Chapel (gorgeous!!!!) we exited a side door which is a short cut to the Basilica. Little did we know that there were two lines, one to climb to the top and one to enter. We, sadly, got in the climbing line. We did not fully realize that until we had paid 5 euro and were being ushered to a set of spiral stairs that led us to the top. Good news: the view is beautiful. Bad news: way more stairs than the Duomo, over 500 hundred if you were curious. We got about half way up, which deposited us on a lower roof, and were cursing our lack of research. We took a brief breather and continued to trek on. Then we realized, once inside up close and personal with the mosaics how far we had to go. Realizing that it was now nearly 3:30 and we had both eaten cereal at 9, we opted for a quick walk through the church, and then lunch. Wimps, maybe. Hungry, yes.

We wound our way back down and went inside the church. It is so big and so beautiful. It took my breath away. Almost immediately I saw the Pieta. There was a gaggle of people around it and it is behind bullet proof glass. A real shame. None the less. It was amazing. Words can not even begin to describe it.

Then Erica and I slowly stumbled away to find sustenance. We feebly staggered aboard a bus towards PIazza Argentina. There we found our first slices of thick crust pizza in over two months. Yum. It was reminiscent of home. We ate it while sitting on a ledge where Caesar was assassinated and counting the cats that roamed the ruins. There is a cat missing a tail, and several with only three legs. They must have a rough life. The highlight was seeing a cat that looked like Mo. Erica had to restrain me, I wanted to bring him home.

Saturday.

I spent most of the day (and by most I mean upwards of five hours) working on a research paper of mine. It is on piracy, and fascinating, but a person can only read so much about a subject before they want to shoot themselves in the foot. I have reached that point. However, I quelled my anger by eating nutella. I thought it was a better option.

My roommates went to the Opera tonight, but I really don't care for that, so I had the night to myself. I skyped the parentals (4 days!!!) and worked some more on my paper. Then I decided I earned myself a break. So I made dinner, did dishes, and rented New in Town. The tales of snow on the east coast and the cold weather back home made me nostalgic for Minnesota. Hence, I opted for a movie about my fine state (for the record, people don't talk like that!). Every time Blanche talks about "scrapping" I think of Mrs. Luckie (you should watch it, I think you would get a kick out of it). It also really made me miss tapioca pudding (things you can't find in Rome).

First thing I am doing when I get back home is throwing myself in a snowbank (and drinking Caribou, and, of course, hugging the family....don't worry, not in that order).

Day of Debate (with novices...ugh)

I had my rhetoric presentation yesterday. It was rather interesting. I had been given thirty minutes, and was fully prepared to use every ounce of time. However, my prof kept interjecting over me. To make matters worse, he would say things that I had on my next slide. Grrr. To be expected I guess, he is an expert on Berlusconi. Kids in my class afterwords were shocked at how calm I was, and that I actually used all my time. An audience of ten is nothing after an audience of over two-hundred. To be fair, if I was giving a thirty minute presentation in not my native tongue, I would have been way more panicky.

In the evening I had a fantastic mandatory meeting that I had to go to. My program was having "re-orientation." Basically, they went over all the rules they told us our first week here. They also talked, at nauseam, about culture shock and reverse culture shock. Well, I have news for them. Its not all that shocking over here. Laundry takes a year and half to do (yes mother, I know I am speaking in hyperbole *sigh*), but that is about it. Nearly everywhere they speak English. Then they fed us nasty pizza. Icky caf food. So glad I opted to cook my own meals this semester.

Today we had an awesome debate on the use of cluster weapons in my law class. I was arguing that the US could use them. I sort of confused my prof and the class by using debate lingo, whoops. I said we (my team) was arguing the negative, all I got was blank stares. Then I said, the opposite of the resolution, again, blank stares. In a last ditch attempt I said, we are arguing that the US can legally use cluster weapons, then they got it. The whole time this was happening, I was picturing how Claire (a debater friend of mine) would have reacted to this. The answer, not well. Those arguing the affirmative (US can't use cluster weapons) brought up an invalid argument concerning a treaty that the US should be abiding by. I sort of lit into them. It was a treaty that we had not ratified, therefore, the US is not in violation of international law. I continued that there was no universally accepted definition of cluster munitions and until one was arrived at this debate could not truly take place. First rule of debate, define your terms. Second rule, know your facts. They did not. Fail.

The rest of the afternoon I spent reading and researching. Yeah for productivity.

For dinner I felt like a taste of home so I whipped up a burger. I adorned it with spinach, tomatoes, onions, pepper-jack cheese (a most scrumptious find), and mayo and mustard. Things I lacked, a legitimate bun. Despite that, I feel like it was delicious, and dare I say better than the Burger-Meister-Meister-Burger's (aka. lil' Jim.....now that he is 24 and officially old that name seems ill-suited). Yes, yes that was a throw down. We shall have a grill-off upon my return to the states (which a friend informed me is only fifty days away...*gasp*).

Parentals get here in a week. Yippee!!! I am so excited to eat the peanut butter and oatmeal they will bring me..... wait.... I mean, I am so excited to see them and show them around town! Yeah, the second one, definitely *nervous laugh*.

For my favorite Uncle

*WARNING: If you are a liberal do not read this post, you may find it inflammatory*

For those brave (and conservative enough) to read this post, my rant now commences.

Holy cow. My international law class is made up of a bunch of people who are incredibly gun shy and believe they can solve the problems of the world by holding hands and singing kumbaya. Today in class we discussed the definition of terrorists and the national and international grounds upon which targeted assassinations would be deemed acceptable.

The book we are reading is written by flaming liberals. When reading the chapters assigned they basically said that Dick Cheney was the anti-christ and President Bush had no brain. It made me furious. My prof said the book was written by someone who worked in President Clinton's administration and some middle-eastern person. Go figure. I hit the nail on the head.

Anywhoo.... the book gives a definition of a "terrorist" according to Israel. Allow me to enlighten you. "First, in terms of the classification of terrorists, Barak (head of the High Court of Israel) rejected the government's claim that these were unlawful combatants, and found, instead, that terrorists were 'civilians taking direct part in hostilities.'" I ask you, is there a difference??

We then proceeded to discuss how bad targeted assassinations are, how do we know the person is guilty? And we must think about collateral damage. Plus, we should exhaust all other resources to try to capture said "terrorist" before we break out the big guns. Enter my argument. I raised my hand and interjected about cost-benefit analysis. At what point is it better to break out the sniper rifle or drone missile instead of wasting man power. And how many lives will be lost by their "terrorist plots" while we try to hunt them down in some cave? Honestly.

Furthermore, my class argued, we have no right to take a human life. At this point, my blood was way beyond boiling. I reigned in my inner Shaver, and instead of voicing this, I thought to myself: we can't kill a known terrorist, beg my pardon, "civilian taking part in hostilities" yet that can decapitate our journalists for no apparent reason. Seems logical. Not.

My prof also noted that we can't kill people in civilian clothing. I then asked about wars (like Korea and Vietnam) where insurgents dress up like civilians to purposely deceive the other side. She said it would be up to the soldier and they would have to analyze the situation. Yes. Because I really am going to way the pros and cons of firing my weapon when someone in a war torn area known for housing terrorist cells approaches me. Think too long and you won't have the ability to regret it.

Finally we addressed that we can only kill people in battlefields. That brings up the question how do you define battlefield? It certainly would not be in a Pakistani compound with known terrorists and plans of/for past/future attacks. Bad Americans.

As you can see, this class got me really riled up. I apologize if I came off super sassy or opinionated. We are all entitled to our opinions, and these are all mine. Plus, none of you give me a final grade, so I don't really need to filter.

(Aunt Kreise, pick Uncle Mike off the floor and make sure he has not had an aneurism. I promise him that France would be worse. And he should not worry, I am sticking to my proverbial guns. He will still have his beloved conservative niece upon my return to the states.)

Delinquent, perhaps...

According to Kelsey I am a delinquent when it comes to updating my blog. Perhaps she is right. Mi dispiace (see how much I am learning?!).

Here is my last 48 hours....

Sunday:

I awoke bright and early to go to church with Erica. We shared a pot of coffee and then scampered off Piazza San Lorenzo. After two months I think we finally have mastered public transportation (knock on wood) and made it there with no bumps in the road, metaphorically speaking of course.

Post church we decided it was high time we saw the Pantheon. We walk past it on a weekly basis, but just never went in (mainly to avoid obnoxious throngs of tourists). Finally, we succumbed to the pressure and toted our cameras to church. The lighting inside was dreadful, but regardless I will post pictures.

Then it was a quick grocery shopping trip. We always seem to be out of milk over here. They don't sell it in gallons, and it expires really quickly. We never know if we will be able to drink two containers fast enough. This results in us buying milk on almost a daily basis. Thank goodness we found a grocery store that is open in Sundays.

The most exciting part of the day occurred in the evening. If you follow my blog on a semi-regular basis you know there is a blues joint we like to go to on Thursdays. Well, a few weeks ago there was an amazing group there, and we decided we wanted to buy CDs. Kelsey contacted them and they told us that they were playing at a different acoustic cafe (just for you, Mom) and we should come listen and pick up our CDs. We did and they were amazing!!! Instead of just Gina and Daniele, they were joined by two other vocalists. Bah. They were so good. My favorite would have to be the a-capella song that they did. Words can not even begin to describe how good it was.

Monday:

Class all day. Ugh. So much lecturing. Woe is the life of a student.

My Human Trafficking paper got pushed back until Monday. My procrastinating classmates "forgot" it was due on Wednesday and begged for it to be due later. My prof complied. She should be charged with aiding and abetting. Real life is going to be really rough for some of these people if they can't learn to prioritize and meet deadlines. Anyway, I digress....

I have a presentation on the rhetoric of Berlusconi on Wednesday in my media class. I am really looking forward to it. I have been talking to my prof about it and spent a large portion of my evening working on it. It is coming along quite nicely. To prove to you that I am a total dork I asked if I could have more than 15 minutes for my presentation. Because I am used to being severely punished if I go overtime, I asked how much leeway I could get. He said I could have 30 minutes. Huzzah! In my defense, I am covering two 25+ page articles, a chapter from a book, and have to show a video clip, plus there is Q&A. I love presentations!!

That about sums up my day. Oh. Erica made me a delicious spinach, mushroom, mac and cheese for dinner. I felt so loved. She even did the dishes! I feel so pampered : )

Bad Google maps, bad

Who had an awesome day? This girl. Molly ditched us for some quarter credit art class, and Kelsey was hanging with her rents, so Erica and I were on our own. We decided to wallow in our self-pity by booking our trip to Berlin (Kelsey and Molly are also ditching us that weekend, I need better roomies). We also decided to explore more of Rome by going to various museums and artistic exhibits. It was a grand old bonding time.

First stop: Georgia O'Keefe Exhibit. Located off the hustling and bustling street known as Vialle de Corso (shopping district) was a perfectly designed southwestern get away. The exhibit, though not my favorite artist, was really cool. They had transformed this building so it looked like her home in the desert. So cool. My favorite parts were probably her early works and the black and white pictures that had been taken by her boyfriend/lover.

Second stop: Piet Mondrian Exhibit. BAH!! It was so beautiful. Mondrian is by far one of my favorite artists. His works span several artistic eras and they are all fantastic. This exhibit was within walking distance of the other, but was in an awesome marble building. When we walked up to it we could see the Colosseum in the distance. Yup. I live here. The museum was structured far more geometrically (clever) and ended with his more well known pieces (the brightly colored geometric ones). I loved this exhibit so much!!!

Third stop: Macro Testaccio Photography Exhibit. This one was way out in the middle of nowhere. We actually tried to go to it yesterday, but Google maps led us in the completely opposite direction. We tried again today, and were mildly successful.Yes, we did find it, but only after walking a block away from it before deciding we were going in the wrong direction and then walking for ten minutes in the wrong direction. Woe to us. But in the end, we did emerge victorious. This exhibit was located in an old slaughter house. You could still see the pens where they kept the animals and the hooks they used to carry the meat around. So cool, it was like stepping back in time. This exhibit was a collection of various artists and was really cool. There were some landscapes, some portraits, some modern photos, and some really cool black and whites.

All in all it was a fun day. This time when we went to the exhibits it was to see things that I was actually interested in. So, consequently, I enjoyed it much more. It was exhausting, but worth it. Erica and I finished off the day by watching Gilmore Girls on my bed while eating tortellini, peanut butter, and nutella. Odd combo? Yes, I will grant you that. Delicious? You bet.

Ol' Faithful

I woke up this morning to torrential down pours. It was heavenly. The rain was making a soothing sound (thunder very loud and not so soothing, but eh...) so I snuggled down into my covers and went back to sleep, only awoken to be awoken by my alarm clock not 15 minutes later *sigh*.

I gathered my clothes and went to go get ready for the day. As soon as I opened the door to walk to the bathroom Erica greeted me (with copious amounts of energy) to drag me to her laptop to watch a video. For your entertainment, here is the video, narrated by none other than Erica Webb.

The video shows our showering drain bubbling up and water literally shooting out of the toilet like Old Faithful. This is not a fancy cinematic trick.

The bathroom, and maintenance issues, have been a point of contention this semester. We (and by we, I actually mean Erica) sent the video to SAI in the form of a maintenance request.

Other news on the janky apartment front. A few weeks back we had someone come inspect the pipes and water in our apartment (heck of a lot of good that did) and told us the pipes in the kitchen were eroding and needed to be replaced, or we would risk them breaking. Super. We told this to SAI and never heard back. So when they came to do an apartment inspection to ensure we were not living in squalor, we asked them. They looked Molly dead in the eye and said it was not an issue until they broke. SERIOUSLY?!?!?!? Super. So we will just call you in a panic when we have several inches of water standing in our apartment and it seeps in to the basement. Because that will be easier and cheaper to fix (*extreme amounts of sarcasm).

Hallelujah Chorus!!!!!

I can hear the hallelujah chorus. Midterms are finally done. The pain and agony that has been drawn out over the last two weeks is over. I could not be happier.

I feel like my last exam, Italian, went quite well. I studied for an insane amount of time, and I think it paid off. The hardest part was the written paragraph, but the conjugations and the identification were pretty solid.

However, the work is far from over. I now have a research paper to work on for my law class, a presentation for my slavery class, and SURPRISE a presentation next week in my media class.

These media presentations have been on the syllabus for a while, but he keeps pushing them back. So today, he finally decided to assign the presentation dates. Despite my email to him requesting a topic, I got a new one. Should I feel slighted and ignored, perhaps. But I actually like my new topic way better. I get to analyze the political rhetoric of Berlusconi. I am a total nerd, but I am so excited about this. Even better, he said that he would axe our final and instead allow us to write a longer paper on our presentation. Yippee!!!! Seeing as I wrote three twenty plus page papers on one speech in the spring for my Rhetorical Analysis class, I feel like I am ready to tackle this paper. Now if only he would respond to my email and let me know what article I need to read and what my presentation needs to look like.... I know I am asking too much.

I am off to make dinner and relax for an evening. I know I have a lot of work left, but I think I have earned myself a break.

Midterms, what a Riot

First and foremost. I am alive and well. Yes, there were riots this weekend. However, they were on the other side of the river and I stayed far, far away (I thought it best to follow the advice of Lei and my mom....). I was holed up in my apartment all weekend studying. The only parts of it that I saw were the endless helicopters noisily flying past my windows, video clips on line. It looks like it got really scary, and some of my less bright acquaintances in my classes ventured out and were regaling us with their stories today.

Now that that is out of the way..... I am in the homestretch! Three of my four midterms are done. Huzzah!! The last two, however, were brutal. My Law midterm, as excited as I was about it, was a total beast. I had just over an hour to write four essays. FYI, these essays were not simple regurgitate what we have learned essays. No. No, these were solve the problems of Darfur essays. Literally. I had to write essays for and against the legality of humanitarian intervention, one on the Security Council and its thoughts on humanitarian intervention, and one that compared and contrasted the three major stances on international law and which I found most persuasive and sided with. My hand was ready to fall off. I finished three minutes early and all my classmates looked at me like I had six heads.

The midterm that I had today was equally as interesting. My prof had given us no guidelines for the midterm, other than it would be on politics and media and their relation in Italy. Pretty much the class title. Super helpful. I never had such vague profs in my entire life. This particular prof also showed up ten minutes late to my midterm. No joke. He said we could stay late to finish, but I had a class right after on the other campus, so not an option for me. So basically, I had fifty minutes to write four essays, totaling twelve pages in a blue book. It is a real shame that those things cross international borders. My hand is truly beginning to hate me.

Now I am in the throws of studying for my Italian midterm. It is cumulative, so I have lots of stuff to review, but I have all day tomorrow to study.

I also finished my Human Trafficking paper (a week early, huzzah!) This gives me ample time to edit it and see if John Cabot profs are at all willing to talk to you about your papers. So far the track record of helpfulness would be a resounding "NO," but here is to hoping.

In happier, less studious news, we made the peanut butter cupcakes again. We baked them last night as a study break. And tonight, Erica, Kelsey, and I took another break to frost them (and of course, test them, yum yum...). This time they dipped in in the center. Erica was bemoaning this when I looked on the bright side (Pocahontas speech paid off, way to go Dad!) and pointed out that the concave nature of the cupcakes would make them easier to frost. My roomies looked at me and started laughing. Apparently they don't appreciate my diction. Humph.

Just call me Elle

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. As I stated in a previous post, midterms are here with a vengeance, and that means lots of studying.

I have my Public International Law midterm tomorrow. That one will be a beast. My prof said if we do it right we will be begging her for more time. Yikes! I am moderately excited for it though. It is an issue spotter. So, my prof creates an elaborate fake international crisis and we have to create arguments for both sides. Then we reach a conclusion and present an opinion (course of action) for the Foreign Minister of one of the fake countries. I have been studying like crazy, and now feel comfortable using legal jargon in my daily life (I object!). Speaking of, I may just have to watch that movie (Legally Blonde) tomorrow after my midterm. It seems like a good way to unwind.

Big news! I planned all my weekends with my roommates today. It will be epic! Our destinations will be (drumroll please): Switzerland, Prague, Venice, Berlin, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Cinque Terre. I am so excited!!!!!

In later news, the count down to the stream of parents has begun. Kelsey's parents come next week, mine the week after, and Molly's the week after that. I can't wait to see everyone.

Cooking update. I made homemade mac and cheese. I felt like eating something homey, so I just whipped it up. No biggie. Just made a roux, added some milk, then some grated cheese and presto! Mac and cheese. Way better than Stouffers.

Now that I have caught you all up to speed it is back to the books for this one!

Addendum

What? Two posts in one day?!?! Yes, you are all that lucky. I just thought that you would want to know that our water heater has been fixed. A nice little man came about a half hour ago, jiggled a few things, and proclaimed that it was all better. We were able to once again wash dishes, do laundry, and shower without freezing to death. Huzzah! All is right with the world. To make things better, Erica and I ate fajitas in bowl tonight. Yum. I love Mexican food. I miss Mexican food.

Good night for real this time. Love you all!

I am a wilderness explorer!

Italians are bizarre. On my way to class this morning I saw three, yes three, people in down jackets. They have broken out the hats and gloves. They walk with a hunch. They rub their hands together. You all back home may be picturing a beautiful winter vignette. But the weather could not be farther from that. The weather topped out at 70 degrees. Yes, 70. I finally feel comfortable in jeans and a cardigan and they are busting out the wool sweaters. I shudder to think what would happen to a native Italian in Minnesota in the month of January. I don't think they would make it.

In other news, my apartment continues to crumble around us. The latest problem is the water heater. We awoke this morning to find a note shoved under my door, from my roomie Molly. She told us not to use the shower unless we were prepared to suffer from hypothermia. I checked, and turns out she was right. So this morning I washed my hair in the sink. I felt like some sort of wilderness explorer (I am waaaay cuter than Russell). We emailed SAI and they never emailed us back. By the time we could check our emails (darn class) and decide to throw in the towel and call them their office was closed. And of course, lack of hot water does not constitute an emergency, so we could not call that number. Needless to say, the residents of Trastevere 118 are quite peeved. We are all growing weary of the antics of our apartment and the lack of communication between SAI and us, and SAI and the agency who is supposed to fix things. SO FRUSTRATING!

Yup, It Leans

In lieu of midterms creeping up on us, we decided to stick close to home this weekend. However, we also decided we were all going a bit stir crazy, what with all the studying, so we planned a day trip to Pisa.

Pisa is located in Tuscany, close to Florence. Had we been thinking, we would have gone to Pisa when we went to Florence earlier in the semester. Alas, we did not. Hence, our trip this weekend.

We put Kelsey in charge of finding a train to our destination. Apparently she woke up at 4:30, rousted Erica and planned on waking me, to catch a 6:30 train. But there were some doubts about being able to get a ticket at that hour of the day. So they all went back to bed, I continued sleeping, and we awoke at a more reasonable hour (8:30) and caught a train at 10.

4 hours later, we arrived at our destination. I was a good little student, and did some reading and studying on the train. Yeah for midterms...not.

We walked out of the train station hoping to see the tour right away. However, those crafty city planners had us walk through a shopping district to get there. As a result, I am now the proud owner of two nifty Italian scarves. One green and paisley (obviously) and the other orange and red with a smaller paisley print. I love them both.

When we finally finished weaving our way through the town we saw the tower. The consensus, the tower does indeed lean. We took the requisite tacky pictures propping up the tower, took a few videos (to be posted soon), and even got kicked off the lawn by the po-po (I feel like this effort is in vain, tourists constantly storm the lawn).

Pisa is a super cute town. It is very tiny, and pretty much all that is there is the train station and the leaning tower. We did get some cool pictures though. Erica is in a photography class and needed some portraits. So I ended up posing in front of an old door. It felt a little like senior pictures. But I enjoyed it, and she got some awesome shots.

After pictures we were all quite hungry, so we decided to grab dinner before we hopped on the train. Dinner, was, well, an interesting experience. Erica was hit on by the server, Vittorio, for the whole evening. Even did some tacky magic tricks for us. It was very odd, but provided some good laughs. Italian men are huge flirts, the guide books are right.

Then we boarded the train, and spent the next four hours rehashing our day and attempting to get some sleep.

A quick trip, but a fun trip. (And a shorter post, just for you Mrs. S!)

sequestered in my lair

Last night was so much fun! Realizing that this weekend was going to be consumed by large amounts of homework and studying, we went back to the Ombre Rosse. This is a little bar in our neighborhood that has live music every Thursday night (the month of October is Blues). It was so much fun to sit with my roomies (sans Molly, she ditched us for the Amalfi Coast) and listen to the band. This particular blues band even had a harmonica player. How much more blue-sy can you get? Not much.

Joining us at our table was a little Russian couple. They managed to make conversation with me, though it was challenging. The man spoke "extreme English" (I think he meant broken....), but the girl spoke it pretty well. It was a little hard to hear over the music, but she certainly tried. I think she was excited about being able to use her English. I gathered that she went to school in Belgium, and had been traveling around Europe for the last month. She wanted to know how long I would be in Rome and where I was studying. After a while, we gave up and just listened to the music.

Today, has been every bit as dull as I thought it would be.

I slept in (woot), ate breakfast, then hit the books. I have barely moved from my bed (which is functioning as desk) all day. As a result, I got a great start on the research for paper (researching child sex tourism is not for the faint of heart), started my Public Law midterm study guide (lots of Latin words), and made a study guide for my Italian test (lots of Italian words...). It has been very boring, but necessary work.

The one exciting thing consisted of a cheesecake making study break. Erica found a recipe for a blueberry peach cheesecake that we simply had to try out. So we all took a break and convened in the kitchen. Much to our surprise, the recipe made a lot of filling, so we ended up making two cheesecakes. Such a sad revelation...

Anywhoo, the plan for the evening is to rip me from my laptop, eat cheesecake, paint nails, and watch a chick-flick. I feel like that will be a great end to a rather exhausting day.

Roll Up Those Sleeves

At long last I can breathe again! This is not in the figurative "oh my gosh I had so much to do" sense, but the literal sense. Finally I have shaken the bug that has been plaguing the residents of Vialle di Trastevere. Huzzah!

Very exciting news *jumping up and down with grin covering my face*!!!!!! We found the most amazing grocery store yesterday. It is located, oddly, in the basement of a department store. You may be thinking, bug deal Kate, another grocery store. This is where I would wave my finger in your face and say "no, very big deal." That would be because I found some of the most amazing things. There were blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, pre-cored pineapple, oreos, swiss-cake rolls, baby spinach, and sour cream. The discovery of these things was enough to send us happily skipping down the isles. This is biggest grocery store that we have found, and it has the most variety. As an added bonus, its all in one place. Usually, I would have to go to multiple stores to find these items, but not at Billa, they are all in one place. Even better, it is several blocks closer to my apartment (which means my arms are significantly less likely to fall off my body from the heavy bags). Its a tad more expensive, but for the aforementioned reasons, I feel it is worth it.

Fast forward to today. I had my first midterm. This test is a full two weeks before the designated "midterm week," but my prof decided to move it up. Her reasoning was that the European Human Trafficking and Slavery awareness week is the same week as midterms. She did not want us to have multiple midterms, and speakers to attend, and documentaries to see all in one week. Thoughtful, I thought so. This also meant that there was less material covered on the midterm. Woot. I studied like mad because it was an essay exam, so I would have to recall the information, not just fill in a bubble. I felt very prepared, and I think I did alright (but I am an awful judge). There were only two essay questions and she wanted no more than one or two pages. Thus, it did not take terribly long.

In my other classes nothing terribly exciting happened. Just more lectures. I really miss the discussion based classes at Gustavus. I don't learn very well in a solid lecture environment, which regrettably, is how all of my classes are structured.

The next few weeks will be busy and involve more studying and less exploring. I have an Italian test on Monday, my law mid-term on Friday (scheduled on a make-up day, grrrr...), media mid-term the following Monday, and Italian mid-term on Wednesday. Plus I have two papers that I need to start working on. One is only 2000 words, so hopefully it won't take long, the other is 12 pages (still nothing compared to my 20+ pages for Rhetorical Criticism last semester). One thing is for sure, will all the research, typing, and studying, both my trusty laptop and myself will be fried at the end of these two weeks.

I leave you with inspirational words of Sam Ewing (former White Sox player c.1949) that I have often read during times when I feel like there are simply not enough hours in the day: "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all." I intend to be the one who turns up my sleeves.

Under the Tuscan Sun

This past weekend I embarked on another epic adventure, a three day trip to Tuscany planned by SAI (my program). It was by far some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. This was probably enhanced by the fact that this was the first time in over a month that I have seen this thing called grass. After walking on cobblestone, however historic and quaint it may be, it was a welcome sight.

Enough about that, you probably want to know what I did.

DAY ONE:

First stop of the weekend was Lake Bolsena and the surrounding town. We got to take a boat tour of the lake, don't worry, it was far less disastrous than Gilligan's tour. The water was so blue, it looked like the boat was driving through blue powerade (after years on Lake Minnetonka, I forgot what water was actually supposed to look like... ). Our guide told us all about the lake's two private islands and was kind enough to point out the local wildlife (that is a mah-lahrd duck and that, over there, is a seagull). After we got done with the boat tour, we move to dry land to take a tour of the town. We were escorted to a gorgeous little church that was named after the martyr Saint Chirstine. The church was really beautiful. The artwork was amazing and the architecture dated back to medieval times. We even got to tour the catacombs that are under the church (don't worry, very few bodies are actually left down there).

After we finished, we boarded the bus and were taken to our home for the weekend. A luxury resort nestled in the hills with natural mineral springs heated by volcanic activity (Terme di Sorano). Slice of heaven? Yes. They fed us a scrumptious four course meal in an old church (no longer used for services). With full bellies we went back to our villa, spread blankets on the lawn, and stared at the stars. Being a city girl I have never seen the milky way, and let me tell you, it is quite the sight.

DAY TWO:

The previous night I had gotten no sleep. I am still sick (darn typhoid Molly) and cold medicine is hard to find. Never the less, I was in Tuscany and was going to live it up. So horseback riding in the morning it was! My horse's name was Shena, and she was a real sweetie (softest ears ever). We rode through a vineyard and wound our way down a hill to get a breathtaking view of town. Sorry, I don't have pictures of this part of the trip. I lack the coordination necessary to hold the reins and take pictures. So you will have to take my word for it. Think horseback riding scene in "The Parent Trap" but more rustic and more hills. The place where we went riding also had sheep. So after our ride we scampered over to them and cooed over the babies. You have not lived until you have heard a lamb bleet. SO CUTE!

After riding we had a quick bite on our porch and then went on a tour of the Maremma Towns. This is a grouping of three towns that are super tiny (like 100 people or less tiny). The first stop was Pitigliano. It has three main roads, no joke, and we covered the whole town in less than an hour. The history in this town is amazing though. They had a Jewish ghetto and the stories the guide told us were amazing. The Jews would be locked in at night, but had free reign of the town during the day. The townspeople thought they were total equals and hated the ghetto, but had to have it as it was law. Then, after the armistice was signed in WW2 the townspeople hid the Jews in the hills so they would not be taken to concentration camps. It reminded me of a book I read called "It Happened in Italy." In fact, this town may have been mentioned, but I don't remember. Anyway, I would highly encourage you to read this book. It gives autobiographical accounts of WW2 Italian Jews and just how different their experiences were from those in Germany. I thought it was fascinating.

The second town we went to is called Sorana. Here we visited some of the Etruscan ruins. My favorite part of this town was the bomb shelter. Let me explain. There were natural cracks in the earth and the townspeople widened them. They were sheltered by trees and pretty deep, so during bomb raids in WW2, they would hide there. Someone even carved 1945 into the rock (sadly the picture did not turn out). Now they are used to get from town to town, and children walk to school in them.

The third town is Sovana, and is where we ended our tour. We saw a church that was commissioned by a Pope name after the Virgin Mary. Funny story. They only built the church when they had money, and it was interrupted by wars, so it took a long time to build. As a result half the church is Romanesque and half is Gothic (some of the arches come to a point, and some don't). Also, the church was literally splitting in half, so all the pillars bend out, it looks like an optical illusion. They fixed the crack and added flying buttresses so the church will remain in one piece. The things you learn on a guided tour.

After dinner (another four courses) we headed off to the hot springs. It was dark (and like 10 at night) so the stars were super vivid. We sat in the pool, floated and stared at the sky. All the while, soaking up the mineral-y goodness of the natural springs.

DAY THREE

We went to a fantastic little farm to watch a demonstration of Italian cowboys (Butteri). They were hysterical. They showed us how they would brand a calf and then played a game on their horses. It was a lot of fun.

We arrived back in Rome in the early evening, exhausted, but satisfied with our time in Tuscany.

Sorry for the crazy length of this blog. I had a lot to say and didn't want to leave anything out!