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.