First of all, my parents came last Wednesday! They are renting this great little apartment along the Arno where I have been spending much time. Since they arrived, we have been going to dinner, cooking dinner, going to little museums, and checking out churches. And of course, this has been a wacky week for schoolwork and continues to be so given that next week I have two midterms and the following week two more plus a little presentation (plus the usual pages of reading and about 5-8 compositions per week..... mind you this is all in Italian so although it isn't tons of work objectively speaking, it takes much longer to do and requires much more attention.... ugh).
Sunday night we celebrated my mom's birthday just over one month late. I made pasta with a homemade zucca (squash) sauce (I cooked the squash, then sauteed onions, re-added the squash and cooked them until they were paste-like, added Italian cooking cream, lots of black pepper and ground red pepper mixed with garlic, and then tossed it with pasta), breaded chicken cutlets with lemon, and lentils served Italian-style (al dente with olive oil and salt). After dinner I made roasted chestnuts. A lovely dinner!!Another highlight of their visit thus far was when we ate dinner with my host family on Monday. I spent the entire day worrying and becoming more and more nervous because I am generally pretty shy around my host family and I was going to have to play translator all night. When we got to my house, the table was set beautifully, the boys were on their best behavior and there was the delicious scent of homemade lasagna coming from the oven.
I am happy to report that the night was a success. We laughed all night as my mom (with some help from me) tried to talk with the boys in Italian and Enrico and Silvia did their best to use some English words. It was just about the sweetest thing I have ever seen. The boys were chatty enough and at one point ran to get a photo album from when they were about 2 until they were 4 (SO CUTE!). Toward the end of the night, the boys went to bed and Enrico decided that my parents were not going to take a taxi but instead that he would drive them home so we piled in the car (Enrico, Silvia, my parents and I) and we started toward their apartment. But then Enrico remembered how nice Fiesole (a little town on a hill overlooking Florence) is at night because you can see the whole city. So Silvia, elbowing me in the ribs, says, "Oooohhh! We could go for a little drive!" And so we drove. Up the windy, windy roads alllll the way up to Fiesole. At 11pm. Mind you, I was exhausted... and full... and within minutes very, very, very carsick. Sheesh. Regardless, it was adorable! Enrico narrated the entire drive, telling my parents all about the streets, buildings, hotels, etc. (and I was forced to rapidly translate as best I could!) It was a very wonderful evening and although I thought I might die I was so nervous, I survived and the outcome was great! (Enrico and Silvia decided that my parents are adorable and very young at heart while my parents remained ever-so content that I live with such a sweet and loving family.)
Since then I have just been swimming in work, studying, reading, writing, visit museums, having double lessons of art history... it's exhausting!!
Tomorrow my parents and I are heading to Lucca and Pisa for a little day trip! Be prepared for photos! Then I will be spending the rest of the weekend writing four more compositions, visiting a little church, and relaxing with my parents and pals over here in Italia - hopefully we will find something exciting to do because its been quiet around here lately given that everyone has swine flu! Viva la suina! (Long live the swine.... terrible joke, not funny.... it just had a nice ring to it....)That's all for now! I promise to update at least on Sunday!!!
Baci a tutti!!
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