Arrivederci Italia

So soon, so soon, so soon. I come home. If that volcano doesn't strand me here. So this may be my last post for a bit. These last few days are going to be busy, and these past couple weeks have been pretty wonderful.

First of all, Claire and I made dinner for our host family last Wednesday. We made them a spinach salad with strawberries, goat cheese, walnuts, and balsamic vinegar. Then we made roasted chicken and potatoes with greenbeans as a side. We wanted to make sweet potato fries, but the grocery store did not have sweet potatoes. I would say the chicken went okay...but they really loved the salad. Everyone had seconds and Luigia has made it twice since then. Virginia told us they had never eaten raw spinach before. Overall, I would call it a success, Lucrezia was not crazy about the greenbeans (she thought they were too crunchy) but other than that we were very proud of ourselves. Especially considering we had to convert temperatures to celcius. I have acutally had this dream where I forget to do that...and it is bad.

Last Friday we went to Florence again. This time we went to the Uffizi, which is probably one of the biggest museums I have ever been in. You think it ends and then there are just more rooms, full of masterpieces. We saw Bottecelli's Birth of Venus, and Primavera, Da Vinci's Annunciation and the unfinished Adoration of the Magi, as well as Michelangelo's Doni Tondo. The museum was full of other beautiful works of painting and sculpture. I could have spent the entire day there. Afterwards, I met my friend Ian, from high school. He has been studying in Florence this semester. We went to a bakery for lunch where they had bagels! It was very exciting for me. We also got a red velvet cupcake, mmm. After lunch we walked around and shopped a bit. We talked about out summer plans and were delighted to realize that we both would be in Northern Virginia for most of the summer. We got gelato and headed to the Duomo to meet my friends. I have to say, I think the gelato in Siena might be better....but maybe that is because the place we go to in Siena is the only one with the chocolate pear flavor.

On Saturday night Claire, Kristyn, Izzy, Chelsea and I went to the discoteque. Before we left we split some champagne in Piazza Del Campo in honor of Izzy. If she was in America Saturday would have been her senior prom. Then we headed to the disco. It was quite an experience. We had to take a bus almost thirty minutes outside the city. My host sisters go there almost every weekend, and I don't know how they deal with that bus ride each time. But once we got there it was really fun. Granted, the club scene is not really my thing, and I am not a huge fan of how forward Italian men can be, but we all had fun dancing together and drinking long island ice teas. It was fun, but I think one time is enough.

Yesterday we had our farewell dinner at Carla's (our Italian teacher's mom) house. She lives just outside Siena on a beautiful farm overlooking the Tuscan countryside. It was really nice for everyone to hang out and eat good food. Our music history teacher Massimo was there, as was Sylvia our Italian teacher. As much as I am excited to come home, and as much fun as last night was, it made me a little sad. I am going to miss Sylvia a lot. I feel like I have been looking forward to this experience for a long time and now it is ending. I don't know, it just makes me feel strange. And it makes me feel even more strange that I wil be a senior at Guilford when I come back.

But that is a while off...I have a whole summer to look forward to, not to mention a few more days in Italy to soak it all in. So ciao Italia, arrivederci, it has been a lovely three months, but I have to go. Home soon, home soon.

Il est bon, cette fondue

That title is french, by the way, not Italian. I was in Rennes, France this weekend visiting my lovely friends Becca, Scottie, and Natalie. It was wonderful, definitely one of the best weekends I have had since being in Europe. I flew to Paris then took a train from Paris to Rennes. Becca met me at the train station, which was actually quite funny. I was so excited to be there that I was skipping down the platform, but in my excitement I was not really paying attention and just sort of followed where everyone else was going, assuming that is where Becca would be. Actually, Becca was on the platform...and I ended up near the metro...but we found each other on the stairs and had the best hug. Becca just got her hair cut and looked very french with her scarf, not to mention she was carrying a bag of brioche for our breakfast the next morning. It was a little after eight at this point so we headed to dinner. We went to an adorable little creperie and had galettes, which are similar to crepes but made with buckwheat, and filled with eggs or mushrooms or smoked salmon or...other things...I had one filled with chevre, salad and walnuts. Afterwards we of course had crepes, they were banana chocolate and the chocolate was literally like brownie batter. It was so delicious. We headed back to Becca's host home, where her host mom asked me several questions in french before realizing that I couldn't understand anything. She was very cute though, and said in English, "Oh, you don't speak any French?" with an adorable accent.

The next day we got up and made french toast with brioche, then headed to the market. There were so many different fruits and vegetables, and huge loaf of bread and about a million different types of cheese. We bought some bread with nuts, goat cheese, pears, and dried apricots for lunch, then headed to the park to eat. This park looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland. There was also a bird sanctuary filled with these tiny neon colored birds all singing as little kids ran around chasing the pigeons, which were, in turn heading towards Becca and I hoping for some bread. After lunch we went to the best knitting/fabric store ever. It was called "La Droguerie." They had the best buttons, and the girls that worked there were very nice. I bought some fabric for myself, and my mom of course, as well as some buttons. Now I just have to knit a sweater to put the buttons on. After lusting over everything I couldn't by we decided it was time for baked goods and possibly hot chocolate. We headed to a little coffee shop where sat and knit for a couple hours. It felt like I was back at Guilford. Except in France....Natalie and their friend Hayley met us there and we decided to cook lentil soup and naan for dinner later. After knitting a bit more Becca and I headed off to get the ingredients. Scottie met us back at the house. She and Becca sang songs and played guitar as we prepared the naan dough. Once Natalie and Hayley got there Becca's host mom decided it was time to bring out the champagne and we all sat around talking and laughing (but by talking I mean they spoke french, and I listened, and translating happened.) Becca's host mom was so sweet and so generous for letting me stay with them. After dinner we watched Beauty and the Beast in french, and I understood everything because I have seen that movie so many times. And it was kind of perfect in french, because I never realized it before, but Belle is so french....

The next day Becca and I went to this tiny town called Becheral for a book festival. This town had something like eighteen bookstores. We walked up on the ramparts and generally had a good time exploring. Becca found some good things to enhance her french skills, and we ate crepes and galettes for lunch. After drinking tea and knitting some more we headed back to Rennes. At Becca's house her host family was already preparing the food for Easter dinner. We were having fondue and creme brulee. We even watched her set it on fire, which was really cool, if a tad bit nerve racking. Becca and I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies as well. Scottie came over for dinner. In total there were about fourteen people there, including a tiny french baby. Becca and Scottie play music while we had appetizers. They translated for me, and some of the people some a little english, and as more wine was consumed, more english was attempted, which was nice of them. Dinner was delicious, as was dessert. We all definitely entered food coma. But Becca and Scottie still managed to play a few more songs. One of the guests requested wonderwall, which resulted in a everyone singing along. It was a long, but wonderful meal, a great end to a lovely weekend.