On Monday we had our Italian class, and Kevin’s history class. The new room is interesting. I like that the building has a vending machine close by so we can get water if we run out or forget to bring our water. It is not as hot of a building, so things are more comfortable over all. The desks are nicer at our former classroom, but we will make it through. We have our test this Wednesday, and after that there are about 5 sessions plus the final exam and we are finished. We invited our Italian Professor, Katia, over for dinner. We made her honey-mustard-soy veggie kabobs for an appetizer, and we made a nice salad with egg and vegetables. On the dinner plate, we served our patent garlic-parm-mustard mashed potatoes, and a beef roll filled with parsley, Gorgonzola, and garlic fried mozzarella cheese. We had a red wine, and for dessert, espresso and a yellow cake with a pineapple-strawberry-pear sauce. Food, though tasty, is not the main highlight of the evening. We held conversations about what our plans were for returning, and she told us some more about her work and family. We also talked a lot about the USAC program and what it stood for. She is concerned that her students aren’t really picking up enough material because the schedule is so crammed, and because we are not completely immersed. Mostly, we are not immersed because most students do not come with experience in their language, unless they pick Germany, Spain, or France as their country of study. Many students also choose to study in English speaking countries, which is nice, but more expensive, and also easier to forget that you are in a different culture. Anyway, when it all came down to it, we weren’t sure what the program objectives were. Honestly, we have done more to learn about the culture just by living than we have in classes, and I think that is the part that so many students miss out on. I digress. Katia brought us some cappuccino glasses and saucers for a wedding present/dinner present. They… are… PERFECT! They have their own little stand in chrome, and they are cream and green. Very, very lovely. I love them! We told her a lot about how they fit exactly with our scheme and the things we registered for. It was really exciting. The night was fantastic.
Tuesday, we woke up late, and went to the internet place to check out how things were coming and do some last minute things with wedding “to do”s. We came home, and I could not remember if we had to present on that Tuesday, or the next, so we whipped a presentation together in less than an hour and a half--research and everything. We put pictures in that we took, and tagged all of them. When we went early to class, there was more information available from Christine, my cooking teacher, who also teaches the gardens class. We went with her class to Gardens, so we got to find a little bit more information about the man who created the gardens at Bomarzo. It was lucky that we did everything that day, because all of the presenters, except one, went that day. We presented well, and were proud of our efforts.
Wednesday, we did not have class. We had lots of time, so we went to get online. Gary, Kevin’s boss forwarded him an email that had information about a job he thought I might be interested in. The position was amazing: it is for a secretary position that involves keeping accounts, and working in acquisitions at the library at Marietta College. I was really excited, but I had to do all of the reviews on my resume, and get everything together in a day. It was a little rough, but I re-typed my resume, and cover letter, and got everything together. I typed my literature paper, which finally got another dimension that I needed, and I read my book for literature until midnight, when we went to bed. It was a very full day, but it must not have been a very significant day outside of hearing about the job, because all we can remember is that Kevin went to talk to Stefano, and I did my reading for my literature class and typed my paper. I had trouble sleeping because I wanted to turn in my resume, and had no access to the Internet.
Thursday we had about the worst literature session we ever had. Our professor was in a bad mood, and it never lifted. He had more trouble expressing himself in English, I think because he was distracted by whatever was making him upset. I felt bad for him. Anyway, we took our break late, and then we came back for the presentation. He completely rode the girls who presented and made their lives really difficult by asking questions that sometimes he answered in the question and sometimes not. It was very hard to follow and we did not understand what he was getting at, which frustrated him even more. It was very anticlimactic. We ended class with one girl asking, “uhm… is class over?” whew. It was awful. Afterwards, we went to the lab and sent my resume and updated my cover letter. Ever since I have been in a tizzy trying to keep from obsessing about the job. On Thursday evening, Stefano had a “welcome home Stefano/Happy Easter” party at his apartment, which I had never seen, and we got to see the insides of the girls apartments that live on the same floor as he does. Wow, did we get the shaft! Their places were all recently remodeled and had huge kitchens, living rooms, and two bathrooms. It was unreal. One of them even had a dishwasher, and the girls confessed that they had more cabinet space than they knew what to do with. I totally missed talking about the party… well, Justine tried to pour Kevin and me a coke, and ended up dropping the bottle on the table, which bounced, and she caught it, but there was such an impact, that it erupted… all over me, Stefano’s table, and his rug. We cleaned it all up, and we don’t think there was any damage, but it was funny. The party was fun, except when it got really crowded, and really loud. I don’t like to hear other people’s conversations more than I hear my own. We watched the sunset on one of Stefano’s two terraces, haha. It was fantastic. We moved into Jenna’s apartment when Stefano’s friend came over, and we realized we were in the middle of a date or something. Kevin and I were a little sad because wanted him to end up living happily ever after with Katia, haha. I guess I should stop playing match-maker, but they are both such great people, so I feel they deserve each other. Anyway, at Jenna’s we stayed for 2 or 3 hours, and in that time managed to make dinner plans at Jenna’s for the next night. On the way home, we realized we did not have class on Friday and in true college fashion, figured we would stop in at the MTV Café to have a drink with the girls that live next door. They came down, and eventually we had a large group, and even Stefano joined us. I kept ordering drinks that they weren’t able to make because they were out of one thing or another, but eventually I had a Mai Tai. About two hours, and many very good conversations later I had a Brazilian Night. In the middle, and with those drinks I had a few bottles of water to split with Kevin. The best or funniest part of the evening was when we convinced Stefano to have the drink that Corey created and named after him during the 3rd week we were here. He nursed it for two hours, and played parent to the kids that were having a little too much by Italian standards (coincidentally, “Doreen Standards”) which means they were getting tipsy.
Friday, we had plans to meet Katia to go to Caprarola, a pentagonal palace and gardens that were a summer home of the Farnese family (the family who also owned the palace we got married in that is now City Hall). We messed up the directions, but we got there eventually. We rode with Katia, her sister Manuela, and one of her colleagues. Instead of going through the palace on tour first, and then eating, we did the opposite because we missed the tour. We met two nice British people named David and Linda, and we met John, a nice German man who was Katia’s student, but was relocating, I think to Ischia. We re-met Sarah, who was taking lessons, and is a Nanny for a family outside of town. She spends time with Danielle, so we see her occasionally, and we met Amy, who is working with a church in a nearby town. She did not speak any Italian, so we got to be kind of smart, haha. Anyway, it was Good Friday, and I was the only one who ordered meat, because everyone else was observing the “eat fish” thing, and I didn’t even realize, so I felt a little out of place. It was a very heavy meal because of how I ordered, but it was very tasty. We then toured the palace and the gardens, which were very nice, but the tour guide spoke very quickly in Italian, so I had trouble following her at times. It was fun to have new people to talk to in English, though, haha.
Then, we got home to Viterbo, and tried to get online, but it was a problem, because they were closing they said “at six,” then said “a little early” and then after having been there for less than 5 minutes, at 5:15, they kicked us off the computers, and asked us to shut them down, telling us they would be closed until Tuesday. We were a little bummed, but then we got called to head over to Jenna’s. I felt a little bad because the stores were closing when we went over, and we didn’t even think about what we should ask to bring. When we got there the meal was starting, so we ate, and then we chatted until late in the night.
On Saturday, we were planning on going to the Terme or to Tarquinia, but the weather wasn’t great, and by the time we woke up, it just wasn’t worth it. We took a walk, rented our movies, went grocery shopping, and basically hung out. We found an internet café, and we watched Valiant, which, although it did not get fantastic reviews, was a good film, and the kind of lighthearted thing I needed.
Sunday it was Easter, and the whole day I wanted my kids to call, even though I knew I would have to wait until like 9pm or so. We slept in, and ate PBnJ and French fries for lunch, and then took some walks around town. Giulio’s was open both Saturday and Sunday(for once!), and we went for caffe both days. On Easter, there were a lot of people out, and there was a small antique/flea market in the square that the epiphany market was in when we first arrived. We went to a little mass at the church of Santa Rosa, and we saw her mummified self. The cloistered nuns were singing, and we could not understand any of it, because it was echo-y and Italian or Latin. But we went, and we enjoyed it. I commented to Kevin that it felt like Enya. We then got a text from Jenna to come over to dinner at the apartment next door to hers, and so we spent from 7pm until 3 or 4am at Bethany, Brenna, and Jenny’s apartment. Courtney usually lives there, but she was off on vacation, and between the night next door at Jenna’s, and the night at Bethany’s, we really got to know Jenny and Brenna better. We feel kinda bad, because now we like them, and we think we might invite all of those girls we ate with to dinner here, but Courtney is mean, and we don’t really want to inject her negativity into our plans, but how do you invite an entire apartment, but leave out one roommate? It is a conundrum. We had a fantastic time there, and we want to repay them for all the food we ate, haha.
Monday, we did not have classes, because it was a national holiday, and we woke up very, very late. We had more PBnJ because we took the Turkey we planned on using for sandwiches for lunch to Jenna’s for an antipasto with the cheese we also wanted to use. We are getting a lot of good use out of that peanut butter. We watched eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, and it was awful for the first hour, but we stuck it out, and eventually, we liked it. It was just really confusing for the first hour. I wrote a lot in my other journal to try to catch up, because I forgot to bring it with me to Ireland, and haven’t really written in it since, always expecting to catch up. It was a very lazy weekend.
So… that about covers it. Mom, don’t forget to water my plants!
A Presto!
Doreen