I would also like to send my Mom and Dad a congratulations. There is a cycling race that travels all the way down California and ends in little Escondido on top of one of the highest hills in Southern California. It called the Tour De California. In preparation for a race that my parents are going to do in a couple months, they decided to do the hill the day before the Tour came through. I have done the hill with my dad and some friends and my dad had said that he wanted to do the ride from farther down (making it a much bigger climb) and with my Mom. I would like to mention that, besides racing, this hill was one of the most challenging things I have done, physically. My Mom saw me in complete exhaustion after the ride and swore she would never do it. The sweet bike she got for Christmas combined with my dad and I telling her she was DEFINITELY strong enough, convinced her to do. Anyway, I haven't spoken to her about it yet, but I did get a quick email saying they had done the ride and were now going to get drunk. I just wanted to say congratulations Momma for getting up that bastard of a hill and congratulations Daddy for getting there from Harrah's. You were seriously daunted and doubtful about it only about 2 months ago, and now you've done it. I can imagine that the celebration that evening was awesome. Love you both.
My week wasn't nearly as interesting as their weekend. I wrote a blog in the middle of the week so I'll just continue from there. I got so fed up with my crutches that I only use them for longish distances, and I walk as little as possible. I'm still taking my anti-histamines as instructed (most of the time) and basically, my feet situation is static. I'm still feeling a lot of pain but its not getting worse. Although it's not getting better either. I wasn't satisfied with the doctor's instructions to crutch around until my feet heal themselves. I was speaking to my friend here, Alessio, and he mentioned that he has a friend in Rome that's a physiotherapist. He was an amazing help and set up an appointment for me. Today he is picking me up from classes and taking me to the appointment. He's staying the whole time to be translator and hopefully I'll get some answers. A plus to this appointment is that I get to ride on his moto (vespa)!! I love it on that thing.
On the other side of things, on Friday night 8 other students and I had a cooking class in our apartment with our Italian professor and her friend who owns an Italian restaurant. We started at 6 pm and ended at 10 pm. All the ingredients were bought fresh from the market that day and made from scratch. Here's the menu: tomato and mushroom risotto, garlic and basil artichokes (cooked from whole artichokes), thinly sliced veal breaded with garlic and flour, and a desert of mixed berries on top of homemade cream on top of tiramisu biscuits. We students didn't actually do much cooking because we weren't very capable but it was by far the best meal I've had in Italy. And it was so simple, I'm going to attempt it at some point while here. I'll report back.
After that I went out with Alessio for a few drinks with his friends. Its really nice to be out with him because I'm not surrounded by Americans. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends here, but I also like going out and being mistaken for an Italian. People treat you differently. I was approached by a few different guys while Alessio was outside smoking and they would talk to me in Italian before realizing that I was American. AWESOME! Alessio's friends barely spoke english so it was a cool exercise to try and understand their conversation and try and speak back to them. I find that I understand most Italian and am able to communicate back with broken phrases and hand gestures.
I got home relatively early that night (1 am) and went straight to bed. The next morning I slept in gloriously late and then hung out all day in the apartment enjoying the beautiful sunshine flooding in from our massive windows. I had every intention of going to the Vatican to assuage my guilt for not having gone while in Rome for school. However, I've been before and quickly decided that it was unnecessary to go again, I'd much rather read and eat in my apartment.
That night, we hosted a toga party in our apartment. When in Rome, dress as the Romans do and then drink a lot. Right?? Because none of the students in my program have anything better to do, it was a really good turn out. There were about 30 people there, dressed in togas, and, by the end of the night, extremely drunk. We found ping pong balls and were able to play beer pong which we haven't played since getting to Rome. It was wonderful. It was also cool because one of my really good friends, Caitlin, is studying in Rome (she goes to U of San Francisco) and I don't get to see her as much as I would like. She and three friends were there. I got to see some of her side of life in Rome.
I only drank one bottle of wine that night so I wasn't hung over in the morning. I woke up relatively early and began my homework. This is the first weekend we have had a substantial amount of work and its only because we had a history exam today. I studied for the test and did studio work all day on Sunday. Went to bed early and woke up early so I could study more. I just got done with the test and it was AWFUL. I'm pretty sure all the stuff I studied wasn't actually on the test. Luckily, all the other students felt the same way so maybe the teacher will realize that and help us out a little.
I'm about to go around the corner and get some pizza for lunch. Then we have studio class and then my physio appointment. Cross your fingers for me. After that, I have a date! Haha. We'll see how that goes. I've given up most of my faith in the male species but I figured I may as well give them a chance. Haha. Tomorrow we have a couple low stress classes and then on Wednesday morning we leave for Tuscany. Spend the week touring with the class and then spend the weekend in Florence. Should be good. I'm just excited to be free from any kind of stress, once again.
Love you all. Hope you're all healthy and happy.
Ash
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