Brazilian Night

Last night, at the school, we celebrated "Brazilian Night." I think that every year, the student government puts together a night of Brazilian fun, and last night was just such an occasion. It was so cute - I felt like I was at a middle school dance again or something. The school is so small and in Italy, its almost impossible to find decorations, etc. so it was really funny and I loved it! I was especially fond of the crepe streamers and the balloons (except that one of them popped right next to my head).
We ate some Brazilian food: various salads, rice and beans, in my case, and for all of those omnivores out there: several kinds of meat cooked different ways. Then, to end it we had grilled pineapple, thinly cut, which was really sweet and delicious!
There were supposed to be Brazilian dancers but they didnt show up (yeah, this is Italy...not shocking) and so the student government people (crazy kids that they are) had a limbo contest. It may have been one of the funniest things I have ever seen. There's a boy at our school who is one of the friendliest, most hilarious people I have ever come into contact with and he definitely shimmied under the limbo crepe paper (yeah, there was no stick...we made do) with so much bravado that I almost had to run to the bathroom I was laughing so hard. He was more flexible than any 5 foot girl there and dominated the competition, which I must say seemed to give him pride.
Throughout dinner we listened to Brazilian music, which makes you just want to get up and start dancing. If you dont, you'll at least be tapping your foot because its impossible not to. It was great when everyone started dancing (some people were more impressive than others), and I saw one of the top guys in Housing out there shakin' it with one of his co-workers...he has some Brazilian dancing skills.
Meanwhile, our school was playing the only other American University in Rome and we had updates throughout dinner (those Italians love their calcio a.k.a. soccer). We won the game in the end. It was funny, going to such a small school, to be at one event for the school and to hear about another one taking place at the same time. Everyone was connected and all it took was a phone call from one group to another...something that can only happen in a university of 750.
I am now hoping for a Mexican Night so that we can have queso...its been almost 5 months and I still havent gotten over that craving.

Life in General

Life, in general, is really going well right now. Until this point my sights have really been set on home (not ONLY on home) because it felt like so long before I would get to see my friends and family again (7 months is a while for me), but now that I can see that end in sight, its clear that Ill also be leaving some things behind when I go home. I still cant wait to be in Austin again and to see my cousin, who is carrying a beautiful baby, and to have all of our Christmas traditions; to bake with a stove that works and to have TexMex, finally!
The weather here is cool but you can wear shorts and short sleeves on most days and be comfortable. When it rains, the air cools down and we have to wear pants (sometimes, even sweatshirts or jackets) but thats not the trend quite yet. My roommates and I fear that day, because our apartment is not only freezing constantly, but the heating doesnt come on in Rome (it is a city-wide system) until mid-November! Yikes. Also, our landlady is the one to flip the switch for the heating in our building and to regulate it for our apartment (strange...) and so with the fear of cold is the even greater fear of dealing with the apartment-owning witch. I bought some Nesquik, because it has lots of calcium and tastes like chocolate, to make in the mornings before school or, on the weekends, before I write papers. We also make coffee a lot. Two days ago, I was heating some milk when it started coming out of the handle (which I was holding) and it was VERY hot. I was scalded all over half of my palm, and so I held the only frozen thing in our apartment on it for an hour...chicken. The chicken was getting a sort of soft quality about it so I put it back and then soaked my hand in water for over an hour to try to make the stinging stop but all was to no avail. I was near tears so my roommate from Bulgaria, who believes in this miracle cream of hers (and which Ive always had my doubts about) told me to put it on. It WORKS! I was in complete shock and will forever believe her about Bulgarian remedies. It was still hard to use my hand but I couldnt believe how much of the pain it took away. Strange.
Ive been writing papers for my Italian class (a language, like most foreign spoken languages, at which I am horrible) and my vocabulary is so awful that I end up spending half of my time glued to the dictionary. I think my professor feels badly for me because Im just one of those people who has to work extra hard at getting the whole concept of...well, everything...in Italian. Fortunately, on my first test I did very well but oral presentations are a whole different story. Upon moving (and before I moved) to Italy, I thought of how "easy it would be to learn Italian." Muah ha ha ha...well. When you have roommates who speak English, and all of your classes are in English, and so forth, you have very little time left over for complete emersion. I guess I originally had this idea that I would just befriend a bunch of Italians, but Italians dont really want to be friends with people who are not already fairly proficient at communication (Im not quite there) and they also dont want to be friends with Americans. The proficient reason is because talking and having a friendship is difficult, and the American reason is because lots of people dont like us. As for me, its annoying to constantly hear your home put down and the "American way" criticized, even if you can agree with the sentiment some or even most of the time. Its home, no matter what else it is, and sometimes you just want to say "new topic."
I am starting a new book now, Washington Square, by the great Henry James, and am really enjoying that. Im not too far in but its going well so far - he is so sarcastic and hilarious which I love...very much like Jane Austen, my all time favorite. I just finished House Behind the Cedars, She's Not There, and Mary Barton, all of which were good. My favorite was She's Not There, but each was enjoyable. I cant believe how many books Ive already gone through this semester - its flying by!
So, life in general is going great. Im happy here and Ill be happy to see home, also. Im excited about what's ahead of me when I return and can apply some of the self-knowledge and academic knowledge to my life at home. Its a beautiful beginning...all over again.

Two Tidbits

First, I bought a plane ticket to London yesterday!!! Five of my friends and I are going to fly there for the weekend (Friday through Sunday, since we dont have class Fridays) and Im so excited! I love those girls!
Secondly, I am up to my ears in midterm work...in fact, Id say Im up to my scalp in it. I had my first and hardest midterm yesterday, Early Italian Renaissance Art, which I think I did pretty well on despite the nervous convulsions that nearly took place mid way through. Today I have a midterm in Italian III and we will see how that one goes, but the whammy is that this weekend I have something like four papers to write, 300 pages to read, two movies to watch for a film class, and so forth...insanity. On Monday I will get down on my knees and thank GOD that I have two more months before I have to do it all again...

Amy

Congratulations to my cousin Amy who is pregnant!!! This will be the first great-grandbaby of my grandparents on either side of my family! Wow!

Mom's Visit, Part 2

On Wednesday evening my mom arrived in Rome, for the second time, in preparation for an extra day on her trip to spend with me!! Earlier that week, my roommate and I had planned out a route to her hotel (across the city from my neighborhood) and had successfully arrived at her hotel. I wanted to make sure that I could do it well on the day when I went to see her and to take her around Rome. So, Thursday morning I got up and headed out to the buses. I made it past the first hurdle and arrived onto my second bus, but I stayed on it too long (because I thought it made a loop to a street closer to her hotel) and I ended up discovering too late that I should have gotten off. I ended up out by the highways that lead OUT OF ROME and I was freaking out. I actually started crying at the point when I asked a man on the bus bench what bus I should take and he said that none would take me back into town; they all left town from that point! AHHHH! So, I tried to call a taxi but there was only a busy signal and I was already really late to meet my mom. So, I started walking towards the stop light just a little ways away and when I got there I was able to find a bus stop that would take me closer. A very kindly old man saw that I was upset and smiled at me and let me get on the bus before him. Its rare to meet people like that in Rome. Anyhow, I eventually made it to her hotel after some very fast paced walking and I was so excited to see her! It had only been a little over a week since I last saw her but Ive missed her so much that it still felt like a great reunion. We left the hotel and made our way to the main shopping road. From there, we walked all the way back to my apartment in some relatively good weather. We stopped in Campo dei Fiori and looked at all of the produce, herbs, kitchen wares, clothes and flowers! We saw some old and famous buildings and just had a good time enjoying the day and each other.
When we got to my apartment, I was pleasantly surprised that my mom thought it was really cute and liked it (though she admitted it needs a paint job). That made me feel good, not because I have some sort of pride for its creation, but because I wanted her to like where I live and see that we like it, too. We dropped off some things and then walked to lunch at a really good restaurant near my school, which Ive wanted to stop into but never have. I had a pizza and mom had a pizza with mushrooms. It was really good and pretty light.
We went to the school and I gave them the grand tour. Mom and I both agree that my school is the university version of my middle school. Thats okay though because its not negative, just small and based on a community idea. I think she liked seeing where I have class and all of the things I talk about in my emails to her. It was also neat to show her part of my life that I may never have gotten to show her if she hadnt been here. It meant a lot to me that she saw my life here and what I do so that forever I will know that she understands it.
We finished at the school and went to the church in the main piazza, the oldest place for Christian worship (in a building)! Mom really loved that part a lot and she thought it was breathtaking. We saw some Cavalli and the mosaics are beautiful. She really liked one of the side chapels a lot, also. From there, we went to a shop in the neighborhood and mom bought me a necklace that I love. Its so nice to have something that she left here with me so that all the time while Im wearing it, I can think of her and how she was here to share Rome with me.
We returned to the apartment and did some CD burning so that I could get her pictures onto something for her to take home (from a memory card she needed to leave with me) and we organized the suitcase she had left with me, which shes taking home now. It had some of my summer things that I can unload and she gave me some of the snacks she had brought with her on the trip that she no longer needed. I also got some magazines and mom, if youre reading this, I saw your note and you'll be happy to know that Ive eaten breakfast everyday that Ive been in Italy. :)
For dinner we went to this place on one of the main roads of the neighborhood and I had a REALLY amazing pasta dish with salmon and herbs. It was wonderful! I think it was the perfect ending to a day with her. We went to grab a taxi and they were off not long from then, but I could feel mom lingering and how much I miss her. I cant wait to see her again in December. Its hard when someone is there right before you but then you know it will be a while before seeing them again. Actually, for me, its not long until I can enjoy her company again and spend some time - only something like 8 weeks! I think that time will fly by.

Autumn is All Around Me

A week or two ago, I guess, autumn began cropping up all around me: the smell of it, something Ive never been able to put my finger on, the sight of changing colors and falling leaves, not to mention the weather which is getting increasingly colder. The air is crisp and cool so that I brace myself a little bit in the mornings as I walk to my Tuesday/Thursday 9 AM class, before the sun has heated everything up. Ive now officially seen a woman standing in direct sunlight so she could receive the most warmth...its not summer anymore, thats for sure. Vendors seem to love this time of year and all of the stands are out everyday, not just Fridays and Saturdays. Gelato seems more and more to be inappropriate and Im dreaming of cozy blankets and hot chocolate (s'mores, too, but I have to wait for home to make those).
The thing that strange about autumn in Rome is that you notice some things that are really similar to what youre used to - the feel of it and the internal sense that its that time of year - but some things which are really different. At home, there are traditions that come with the season, but here, its the feeling without the action. I think that next autumn when Im able to do the things I normally enjoy doing this time of year, Ill appreciate each thing more than I ever have before. Its funny how we take for granted the small things we always do. For example, in Italy, no one carves pumpkins and there arent party stores decked out in Halloween this-and-that. There are chesnuts on the streets where you can stop and get some warm and roasted, but there arent caramel apples, small county fairs or country bonfires. Everything is different and, as you think of the traditions that are important to you either consciously or subconsciously, think of how no one elses are exactly like yours: no one else opens presents on Christmas quite like your family, or sits down to Thanksgiving dinner just like you do, or decorates cupcakes for Valentines just the way your mom taught you. What you have, the accumulation of your entire life worth of years stacked upon years, no one else has, and no one else lives life the way you and your family do. Its a special feeling to recognize that you really are very tied up in those traditions and in the people you share them with.

Crazy Landlady

My two roommates and I have recently come to the conclusion that our landlady is, in fact, insane. On our first day in the apartment, as I said in a recent entry, we told housing about the maintenance issues at hand and asked them to fix the more problematic ones. So, they turned in the housing maintenance form to the landlady, who is obligated to fix things according to her contract. Then, before we have heard anything, we find our landlady (Simonetta) at the exterior door to the apartment waiting on us to return home (its getting dark at this point...). It just so happened that that night, my roommate Irene was having over her mom, brother, aunt, uncle and two cousins to see the place before going out to dinner. Did that stop Simonetta? Oh no! She came right upstairs with us, despite the obviously bad timing and lack of notice, and began to MEASURE our furniture. No one is sure why she did this, but she and her daughter each had a measuring tape and they began in my room, making their way back and forth to the other side of the apartment. We were all in shock, and therefore unable to appropriately respond to this intrusion, so we just let her come and go without much said. Afterwards, the conversation went something like this:

Me: So, our landlady was just at the front door waiting on us to get home.
Irene: Yeah, what if we didnt come home until the middle of the night?
Me: Maybe she has a key.
Irene: Yeah. I think shes allowed to come when she wants.
Me: No, shes not allowed to come at all. JCU said its illegal.
Irene: ILLEGAL? We have to tell housing about her...shes crazy.
All of us: (much rambling about how insane she is and the fact that she wears clothing that resembles a sheet draped over her)

So, the following morning we did go to housing and tell them our woes about Simonetta. They called her in front of us and told her that she isnt allowed to come over without notifying JCU and setting up an appointment, and that it is illegal for her to even have a key to the apartment. So, no more problems, right?? HAH!
About a week later we realized that it had almost been four weeks since we submitted the form for maintenance and nothing had been done. Perhaps it was lost in the shuffle? We thought we would check it out so we went into the Housing office and they said that things were getting taken care of. Apparantly, Simonetta would lose rent money if she didnt get the problems fixed. Overjoyed would not describe the way we felt: hot water in our sink...its almost too much! Sure enough, Simonetta called us and set up an appointment, which she never came for. She called again and said that this Thursday (yesterday) she would call around 3 or 3:30 to confirm and that she would like to be confirming a 5:30 or 6:00 time to come over to fix our kitchen problems. YAY! Well, no phone call yesterday at all so we assumed we would hear from her yet again for another appointment. Oh, would that we were so lucky! Actually, at 7:00 she calls us while we are at the school waiting on a friend to go eat dinner nearby and says that she is in front of our door (familiar?) and that we must come home. Woah woah woah! I have a certain fear of this very irrational and scarily insane woman so I had my roommate talk to her. Our landlady said that "oh I could just go in and fix things in the kitchen"...but isnt it illegal for her to have a key? Thats what we said. We rush home, despite the fact that two friends are waiting on us, and we let her in, allow the maintenance guy to fix the sink (yay!) and go. We are grateful for her finally getting this done, but are a little bit peeved by the whole trend that she has set in dealing with these problems. So, another visit to housing is in order for Monday. Yuck! Still, its a little bit funny to be dealing with an Italian and certainly educational. We always get some good laughs at her expense...sinful laughs, but laughs anyways. She is so "typically" Italian and that cracks us up. It was especially funny when she pretended that there was no hot water in the sink because of the city...? and also when she acted like she didnt speak English so thats why she had misunderstood times before (even though our ITALIAN roommate spoke to her in ITALIAN about it). Oh shes a character...I look forward to two more months of the madness.

Mom's Visit, Part 1

My mom came Saturday and Sunday to Rome to begin her tour of Italy and to see me! I knew that I would be excited to see her but the minute she opened her hotel door and I got to hug her I could feel home rushing back to me. It was so nice to get to have her physically there in front of me and I could almost not believe it, after having not seen her for months now! The first day, she was jet lagged and needed to get some rest for the coming trip, so we stayed at their hotel, which was really fancy and beautiful! It had a huge pool and nice tennis courts - nice even by American standards, and by Italian standards well, woo hoo! So, we had a great time just walking around the grounds and then taking a nap together before I went home. She had a dinner for the tour group to attend (an information session). Then, the grand event was yesterday when we went on a walking tour of Rome with her tour guide (I got some gelato that was Orange Chocolate and thought of dad). After that, we loaded their bus again and took off for this special restaurant where you eat everything from antipasto (appetizers) through dolce (dessert) while listening to opera! It was excellent and we had a blast because the singers were both extremely good and hilarious. They sort of performed while we were listening and the pieces were all especially Italian, making it really feel special. The place itself was sort of small and settled into a nook but the inside was wonderful with low lighting, paintings, a grand piano, and some balconies above. We had a great time and it was so nice because I was able to meet some of the people from her tour and see what she would be doing, while seeing her! I couldnt have asked for a better night.
Mom comes back in a week and a half, which I cant wait for! I know it will be hard to say goodbye then, just like it was hard for me to go last night. It feels like saying goodbye all over again, except with the knowledge that Ill see her sooner rather than later. I felt like I had reformed this connection Ive been missing and then had to lose it again so soon, but it wont be long until December when we really get to spend some time together. I hope the rest of her trip goes well and that the tour guides stop waking them up so early! haha. When youre thinking of Italy, think of my mom who is exploring it for the first time!