01/27/10

Allora…I know my posts have dropped dramatically since I first left, but it happened that I actually am here to study, which means I’ve been loaded down with the usual: syllabi, textbooks, busywork, and long reading assignments. Honestly, I’ve forgotten I’m in Italy a few days--until I try to buy notebooks and I have to get out my Italian dictionary in the middle of the store…

So since Saturday, I’ve done a bunch of homework, and boring stuff like that. Grace and I went to Tigre to pick some more food up…I made dinner last night for Hsuan Hsuan and I. Nothing Italian, but even though I technically can eat pasta every night, I don’t really want to, believe it or not. So Dad, be proud—I cut up red potatoes, carrots, and onions, seasoned them a bit and wrapped them in foil and put them on a skillet and cooked some prosciutto—(kind of like ham). I just sort of winged the whole thing, but it was really good…and Hsuan Hsuan liked it so much she wrote my recipe down. If we have time, I want to take a cooking class here so I can learn how to make the nutella pizza I saw on the pizzeria menu tonight.

Today I met my tandem partner, Serena. She’s really cool and we have a lot in common—I don’t know how much they take into consideration when pairing us up. But she’s 25 and an English Literature major, and also speaks Spanish. She was bogged down with exams this week, so we’re not meeting again until next Thursday at the chocolate shop just down the street from me. I haven’t been there yet, but she said it’s really good. She likes to travel—she’s going to London in a couple weeks and going to New York at the end of February just to visit people I think. So she gave me some tips on cheap flights in Europe. She said she went to London in November for only 15 Euros. I love Europe.

So I cracked and bought a wireless card so I can supposedly get a connection anywhere for 100 hours a month. So hopefully this will help my dwindling blogs out…

Oh, and Serena at the AHA center set up a cheese tasting table for us for our Cross Culture class. The cheeses here are different than in America. Provolone is sharper and richer, when we’re used to a softer, more like mozzarella cheese. Mozzarella is very bland and soft, and had to be stuck with baby tomatoes to give it some flavor. I bought some at the market and it came out in a puddle of water…Gouda is less creamy. They eat fig jam with a couple different cheeses...I can’t remember the names, but one was from a goat and one, from a cow. Gorgonzola is really popular and rich. It made me think of the Ohio county fairs we used to go to when I tried it…no idea why. That’s just what I thought of. Parmigiano is regional I think and pretty good…

So we ate our weight in cheese. I heard this weekend we’re doing wine tasting in San Ginesio.

Mi piace vino biancho.