so my theater teacher is a maniac.
today he made someone cry because they couldn't pronounce a word for the umpteenth time and he just started yelling at her. when she went to the bathroom to cry in peace he was like is she sick or something? we said no, just frustrated, and he said OH so it's a psychological problem, i can't deal with fragile people like that. we said italian was just difficult for her and she was really trying, and he said that she definitely wasn't or she would succeed, and it was merely a problem of concentration. very nice. he also yelled at us for not marking our parts for an exercise we had never previously done or discussed, and made fun of this one guy's american accent rudely and at great length. this was only today. we're still reading the same four poems (POEMS, not plays) that we have been for weeks and weeks, which is becoming a bit fastidious.

right now i'm chilling in the program office trying to stay awake, because i need to be here at 1700 for a mandatory program meeting and if i go home i intend to sleep for quite a while. currently wondering if i can get away with napping on this couch.

reason #346 why the italian bus system is ridiculous: this morning as i got to the bus stop i saw the #27 i wanted pulling away. i was bummed to miss it but was willing to wait nine minutes for the next one. suddenly another #27 pulled up to the stop, so i joyously boarded it, thinking, what luck! the system is working out in my favor! then we got to the main stop in the center of the city, where the bus stopped for 15 minutes and i ended up walking the rest of the way to school to avoid being late.

i'm finally getting that allergic reaction on my skin to the wheat i've been eating that i came home with last summer, so i'm taking another cleansing absolutely-no-gluten break.

i am a bit grouchy today, i apologize! however, it IS unbelievably gorgeous outside, and the windows are open and letting in a nice breeze. i am also very proud of my italian proficiency this week! i went to a dinner party yesterday and was able to have many lovely conversations with italian people.

more of the family vacation saga soon!

just went to the homemade gelato place around the corner from my school office called "sogni di walter" (walter's dreams) for the first time, and got stracciatella, coconut, and the equivalent of cake batter. i think i may have died and gone to heaven.

got offered a job at mathtree again this summer, so i'm all set!

short continuation of the italian saga, not feeling so good today. i just had a whole bottle of diet coke and a cappuccino and still feel all foggy. currently in the middle of a fibro flare which doesn't mesh well with walking all over town.

the second day of my parents' italian journey was spent in bologna. trish and i went for a run in the morning and i wore my awesome new running skirt. after that we met up with mom and got some excellent panini for lunch. after lunch, we climbed the daunting asinelli tower, which provides a spectacular view of the whole city of bologna. the stairs were quite a workout, so we went to my favorite gelateria afterwards. the gelateria is devilishly close to my apartment (horrible temptation!) so i gave them a quick tour of my cute little orange apartment with its amazing terrace. mom and i went to the internet point after that, and then we all went out for dinner at a restaurant with an all bolognese menu to experience some local cuisine.

so much has happened since i've last posted, so i'm going to start with annie coming to visit and update piece by piece! that way you won't have a giant block of text to read and i don't have to type out everything at once. :P

anyway, annie dropped by for two days before my parents came! i cooked for her which was fun, and i took her to my favorite gelato place of course. we got lots of time to catch up on each other's lives and gossip and whatnot. the night before she left i took her to my favorite discoteca.

the morning annie had to leave was the morning my parents' flight arrived! unfortunately their luggage had decided to take a brief vacation in france, but that just made the taxi trip and getting settled in at the hotel easier. mom and i took a walk around and went into the archiginnasio, which is the "official" seat of l'universita di bologna. inside the archiginnasio, we saw a really excellent library, all the family crests of the first students (from the 11th century and on!), and the anatomy theater where they dissected cadavers, among other things. after the archiginnasio, i left mom and trish so they could take a nap and i took annie to the train station so she could move on to her next stop (after having our own nap and lunch). when i met up with mom and trish again, we went into the basilica of saint petronius, which was gorgeous with the sun shining in but very loud because part of it was currently under construction. we wandered down the street where all my classes were, ran into an american guy who i disagreed with in every way, and stopped in a quiet cafe for coffees and pastries. i had this amazing mint hot chocolate that was actually just hot pudding covered in m&ms. after wandering around for a little while longer and visiting a nice park, we had a leisurely, delicious dinner and then all went to bed.

more later!

Note from Bonnie -
Pat and I are visiting Morgan and have taken over her blog for the duration! We arrived without problems yesterday, unfortunately it took our luggage a little longer to arrive - it didn't leave Paris when we did.
But we're all here now, and loving it!
Food is good, gelato is WONDERFUL and we're walking off every calorie - I swear!

hey everybody, i probably should have made this post hours ago, but i just wanted to say that the earthquake in l'aquila didn't affect bologna. my friends from that area and i are all okay! apparently the tremors beforehand actually started near bologna, so i'm considering myself very lucky. it's a real tragedy what happened to l'aquila. a lot of people lost their homes and around a hundred people are reported dead. please send prayers in their direction!

back from florence! i am EXHAUSTED, because i still haven't learned that one still sleeps when travelling. it was lots of fun, although unfortunately lots of the churches with Important Art we were trying to get into were closed.

we had an epic dinner that was 11euro for wine, water, first course, second course, and a side dish, so i think i'll take the parents there if i can find it again. i had ravioli with pesto, chicken with yellow peppers, and the most amazing roasted potatoes i have EVER had.

speaking of that restaurant (trattoria contadino, in case you're ever in town), it took a while to find because the streets in florence have "red" numbers and "black" numbers, which means there are doubles of every address! fortunately a very sweet hotel manager explained this to me when i asked why we were standing in front of a hotel and not the restaurant we were looking for.

for some reason all the trains back to bologna this morning were full in second class, but i found a first class ticket on a really run-down train that was cheaper than second class on the trains i usually take, so that was new and exciting i suppose. i was in a little six seat cabin with five italian people in business suits that shot me dirty looks the whole time and refused to move their legs when i was trying to get out. first class is serious business!

it occurs to me that i don't need to set my alarm clock again until thursday morning. oh. my. goodness.

i'm still alive, despite the lack of blog posts!

i just finished my anthropology exam, and got what amounts to be a B. good enough! now i'm completely done with my universita' di bologna classes, and only have two courses through my program remaining. however, after today i have TWO WEEKS of spring break, and those two classes will be finishing shortly after that.

last night i went to a discoteca for 80's night, which was lots of fun. tonight i'm going salsa dancing, which should be even more excellent. tomorrow i'm meeting some friends in florence, so as you can see i'm taking full advantage of being done with exams! saturday and sunday i'll take some time to catch up on sleep and start cooking my own meals again.

i'm currently in the process of finding housing and chosing classes for next fall back at MHC, which is weird because i feel like all of that is so far away right now.

in one week my parents will be here. :D

yesterday i ate something so simple yet so amazing that i had to share!

they were just slices of fried bread (called "crostini" here) with gratuitous amounts of taleggio cheese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taleggio_cheese) melted over it, covered in honey and toasted walnut halves.

i'm not sure if i can find taleggio cheese in the states, but i definitely plan on making this again.

my anthro exam is on wednesday and my last class is on thursday, and then i have TWO WEEKS of spring break! my parents are coming which is going to be amazing, and i'm not going to have ANY SCHOOL.

ha now i have a midterm on thursday as well, and a paper due the thursday after that. why so much work all the sudden? well at least a week from tomorrow i will be (theoretically, if everything goes well) completely done with three classes.

there were lots of students signed up for the exam today, so i actually don't have to take it til tomorrow after 1500. more time to study, and i didn't have to miss my language class again today!

translation of the last post, because now i have a quick second.

i go away in earphones
i don't speak anymore to anyone
i dance, i pass by, and i say hello
now that i have the sountrack
i have become mute

it was in a poem we read for my theater class today, and it reminded me of myself! i have brand new earphones, and i really can't part from them. i prefer walking around town in earphones because it discourages salesmen, sketchy guys, and homeless people from trying to start conversations with me while i'm walking around, but i don't do it anymore since my old ones got stolen by walking around town in them.

history exam tomorrow...although my number is in the 50s so i might end up having to take it wednesday, which would be perfectly alright with me!

me ne vado in cuffia
non parlo piu' a nessuno
ballo, passo, e saluto
adesso che ho il sonoro
son diventato muto

these next two weeks are going to be crazy and exhausting.

monday - paper due, theater class, study all day for history exam
tuesday - history exam, language class if my exam finishes early enough (it won't)
wednesday - theater class, pilates
thursday - language class, massive language class work catch up, volunteering as a photographer for big event
friday - helping someone with a photo project
saturday - buy the rest of my anthropology books and study study study
sunday/monday/tuesday - continue to study like crazy for anthropology, occasional classes in there
wednesday - anthro exam, theater class if i make it (which i won't), pilates
thursday - grammar class
friday - florence with friends to celebrate (what i hope will be) an end to two classes!

i'm currently finishing up the paper i mentioned that's due tomorrow, and it's agonizing. gah.

i've been pretty horrible about keeping up my blog lately, but school's been getting really busy so a lot of my time is spent working or sleeping. :P

however! on thursday afternoon, i took a taxi to the airport, flew to stansted london airport, took a bus into the actual city of london, and took another taxi to my friend annie's dorm to see her, kathleen, and kate! i'm so glad this trip happened, because i had the greatest time ever with them. between thursday afternoon and now (6pm on saturday) i've gotten five hours of sleep total from collective naps.

i didn't do much sightseeing in london; most of my time was spent catching up with my lovely ladies. kathleen and i did walk around town some, but it started getting dark and really cold so we didn't actually get to the city center where we were headed. we went into a bunch of music shops all on the same street and looked at instruments for a while, which was fun. there was a street that was all used book shops as well, and we spent some time there too. i got new headphones to replace the ones that got stolen, and i got even better ones for about the same price i would have bought the old ones for online. the shop owner gave me something around a 20P discount; i'm not entirely sure why but i'm not complaining. we all went out on thursday night with some of annie's friends, and friday night we went to a club. the club was awesome and ENORMOUS and insane and i've never been to anything like it. it was also significantly less sketchy than the little discotecas here in bologna haha. i was able to get a box of jaffa cakes while i was in london, which i haven't had since i was 17 years old (the last time i was in london) and i've been pining for them. i also took the opportunity to get some new books to read in english.

unfortunately after going to the club, i had to catch a taxi around 4am so i could get to a station and take a train to the airport to catch a 7:25 flight back to bologna. my taxi driver was so awesome, we talked the whole ride and he narrated the histories of all the sights we were passing for me. navigating the airport with massive sleep deprivation was a challenge, but i made it to bologna with no problems and took a taxi from the airport right to my doorstep so i could collapse into bed.

my love of london has been renewed, and seeing some of my best friends albeit for a sadly short time has lifted my spirits enormously. i also feel awesome about coordinating all the transportation the trip required (without getting lost once i might add).

the rest of my weekend is going to be all work unfortunately, but it's only fair after having a lovely time in london. i also found out that my internet does expire after 30 days pass, not 30 days worth of time on the internet. i was given 30x24 hours, but i can't use them anymore after today so i'll have to buy another 30 days. oh well, i guess i knew the price was too good to be true!

someone's singing opera in the hallway. like honest to god straight up opera. loudly. yay italy. :D

woo working hard! i've got a paper due next monday and an exam to prepare for next tuesday; very exciting. i'm also busy preparing for my mini-vacation to LONDON to visit three of my best friends from home. i can't wait.

i went to venice this weekend with a friend from high school who is doing a tour of italy for his spring break, and it was a lot of fun. the weather was great and i went into a couple places i had never been before, like inside the doge's palace and up in the bell tower.

i had/have pneumonia, but i've already taken four days of antibiotics and i'm feeling much much better than i was.

according to gilberto and an italian proverb, it's unhealthy to be in the sun during months that have the letter R, such as february/febbraio, march/marzo, and april/aprile. he told me this when i was reading outside on the balcony today and insisted that i return to my chilly room since i was already sick. i asked him if the january sun is okay (gennaio doesn't have an R) and he said it was. :P hmm.

i think i'm going to make wheat free foccaccia tomorrow. :D

i am exceeding ill!
so much that i'm quoting much ado about nothing, apparently.
my sore throat got worse and my voice is really unpleasant to hear, and i've got these horrible wet coughs. very appealing, i know. my program directors made a doctor's appointment for me because they wanted to make sure i actually had one haha.

the only reason i'm at the internet point and not sleeping like i spent the rest of the afternoon doing is because i have to find an article from an online italian newspaper to present in class tomorrow. i decided to skip out on the program party and aperitivi with friends so i don't spread my plague.

in theater class today i asked the teacher if i could just observe instead of reading lines today, and he told me to read anyway. it was so embarassing, i sounded horrible and it hurt, and i had an increasingly bad headache. just like any charming italian professor would do, he yelled at me repeatedly whenever i didn't speak loud enough or pronounced something incorrectly. i just went with it even though my throat was getting worse with every word, because unfortunately my grade depends on pleasing this crazy guy. alas! i don't have theater til next monday though, and i'm sure i'll be better by then.


today i learned about this thing called a sabbiatura, deriving from the word "sabbia" meaning sand. basically it's something italian people with arthritis do to help their joints. they go to the beach and get their bodies buried in the sand with the hot sun shining on it, and the heat of the sand theoretically pulls the moisture out of your joints and makes you feel better. it sounds kind of crazy to me, but interesting nonetheless!

it's finally nice enough that i can run every day now once i feel better. this is an excellent thing, because i could use the additional exercise. i'm probably going to do pilates with jessica and maureen (only 36 euro a month!), which will probably be painful and awesome.

hello everyone! sorry for the temporary radio silence. everybody on my program is getting allergies or a cold or something so i'm tired and losing my voice and such. i didn't do too much this weekend, i decided to just take it easy and enjoy the sun.

last wednesday i went to a discoteca with some new friends after the program's party. thursday i went to the wine tasting class which was excellent. i learned so much about wine, including how to pour it elegantly, how you should hold your glass, how to identify tastes, smells, and quality, and all the various terms to describe what you're experiencing. they also gave us excellent meats and cheeses to eat with the wine, including pecorino cheese and mortadella, some of the emilia-romagna region's claims to fame. yesterday i hung out with jessica and we made dinner together, which consisted of pasta, red tomato sauce, pancetta, onions, garlic, peppers, cherry tomatoes, and zucchine. she and her adorable roommate lucilla have dubbed it "sexy pasta".

tomorrow there's another party through the program with some italian students from unibo, and afterwards i'm going out for aperitivi with some friends. thursday i might go salsa dancing again. i plan on spending the whole weekend working, because i have a paper due on the 23rd and an EXAM the 24th and i'm going to london between now and then so i've got to get cracking!

i think i might go to parma this weekend (for real this time). i meant to go last weekend as we all know, but they are also the closest city playing the watchmen movie this weekend.

the dentist went well today, i got my filling after three shots of novocaine. i discovered that filling out medical history reports is just as tedious in italian as it is in english. the office was pretty far away and involved an hour of busrides and about 40 minutes of walking in the rain, but the staff was really nice. i think it was cheaper to get it done in italy than it would have been in america.

thinking in italian a lot. dreaming in italian all the time. failing spectacularly at english on a regular basis. might switch back to novels in english for a while.

life is exciting and i have things to talk about, but i'm exhausted and sore and i think i'm going to go hit the hay.