a series of rather fortunate events

I think I will continue in list form:


1. Thanksgiving Day.
Part One: Thanksgiving started out with a lovely trip to the Uffizi for Art History. We wandered around the huge and overwhelmingly beautiful rooms, each full of art by one particular artist or another. No big deal that we were surrounded by famous works of Michelangelo, Donatello and co. The funny thing was, take this piece for example. 

It's called a tondo and it depicts, obviously, mother Mary with baby Jesus (its real name is Tondo Doni). The idea of these tondos came from something called a desco da parto, otherwise known as the tray for the broth and liquids brought to a mother after she has given birth. Given that trays are only so large, I was imagining that this tondo would be roughly the same size. NOT THE CASE! It was huge! And when I say huge, I mean about 5 feet in diameter. Very big. And very gorgeous. 


Part Two: The rest of the day I spent eating lunch at the sede, sending Thanksgiving e-cards and shopping with my lovely Breana. We decided to stay out in the center the entiiiiire day because we had to be at Giovanna's around 7pm for Thanksgiving dinner, aka we walked for 6 hours....... So finally 7pm rolled around and we (very exhaustedly) arrived at Giovanna's with little gifts in tow. We bought Giovanna and Monica each some green tea and bath fizzies for relaxing and some chocolate with chili peppers to give them a little kick. 

Upon arriving I was embraced by the warm smells of Thanksgiving cooking and the lovely sound of Giovanna's husband playing his violin while Anna played viola. We sang Thanksgiving songs (yes, they exist....) and drank wine, and chatted and ate and enjoyed each other. The best part was that besides Giovanna, Monica and Pam, our old cooking teachers, all of our professors came! They were all dressed up and buzzed and very jolly and excited to be taking part in this weird American holiday. At the end of the night, our art history professor drove Breana and I home which was very much welcomed after our day of walking. 

Unfortunately, having Thanksgiving with everyone from Smith did not prove to be as anti-homesicking as one would think. When I got home, all I wanted was my mom's cranberry sauce and my dad's gravy. They were at a friends house for the night, so I promptly called them and wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving, thus making myself feel much more far away and lonely. But fortunately....


2. Friday rolled around! 
After doing some work, I met Breana and we went to Casa Buonarroti which is the museum of all things Michelangelo. Yet another fantastic experience, getting to see his wax models of now large and very famous sculptures and finally understanding the size of things such as Battaglia dei Centauri (much smaller than I imagined!! Projectors and images from Google just don't cut it!). 


After wandering around and finding some yummy pizza, we returned home. As I was standing in the kitchen, making some tea, I showed my host mamma that I had found some pre-made Ocean Spray cranberry sauce and some molasses. Lorenzo then asked her when I was cooking and she said perhaps Sunday. He then requested we please have stuffing and cranberry sauce that night because he wanted it. So therefore, I made it. We made the stuffing without mushrooms and with less garlic than usual, and I had Lorenzo as my little helper, cutting the prosciutto, toasting the bread, etc. Surprisingly enough, everything turned out rather well. The cranberry sauce that I doctored up tasted somewhat related to that which we make at home, and the stuffing was also pretty darn tasty. And! Everyone ate everything! The stuffing was gone very rapidly and everyone tried the cranberry sauce (the boys ate it without complaints or disgust, and Silvia and Enrico had seconds!) I was one proud mamma hen given that Enrico and the boys, especially Filippo, are veryyyy picky eaters! Successo! 


3. Lovely, lazy, holiday-time Saturdays
This morning I slept in a bit and then spent the day being productive. I ate lunch with my fam (incredible pasta with carrot curry sauce.... yummmm!) and then returned to studying, took a nap and got ready for.....


4. A Special Night Out on the Town

Tonight I got all dolled up, had dinner with my host family and some guests (including an adorable little girl named Marta... babysitting, hmm.... an idea...), and then hopped on the back on Enrico's motorcycle, arriving at Teatro Verdi in minutes. I went up the the ticket counter to pick up my pre-reserved ticket where I was informed that my seat had been changed. When I bought my ticket online, there were 5 seats left and I chose the best of the 5, which was in the second section on the theater, at least 3 rows back. My new seat was in the 4th row. Of the first section. With a perfect view of the orchestra. It was relatively magical. And I teared up... they played some Haydn and Jupiter from Mozart's Planets. It was a gorgeous concert, and since the orchestra was so small (6 first violins, 4 or 5 seconds, 4 violas, 4 cellos, 2 basses and very small winds, brass and percussion sections) you could hear everything and it was stunning. I will definitely be tuning in online to listen to their Christmas Eve concert and going to as much as I can when I come back in January! (Which reminds me, Enrico's gym gave him 4-one month passes to give as gifts and he is giving one to me! Pilates, yoga, pool, water aerobics, sauna, spa, hot tub, tanning, and regular gym usage allllll free for one month! A perfect way to avoid the semi-inevitable post-Christmas slump! Thanks host fam!)


Anyway, here I am back from the concert, snuggled into bed, ready for a long night's sleep and a productive day tomorrow, including cookie-baking!! 


Bacione!!