Classes are finished!

Beautiful Tuscania

Exams are finally over! Staying up all night was actually worth it. I think I did surprising well on both of my exams. I do not regret (in the slightest) going out last night! After about 4 hours of sleep the previous night, I had to go home for a power hour nap. After my amazing and much needed power nap, Jen and I started cleaning the apartment and packing for our next move.... ROMA! I never thought I would be this sad to leave Tuscania, I have grown to truly love all the locals here. I have never felt so at home as I do here. I know for sure, I will be coming back to visit sometime in my life. I know I will not have this type of experience in Rome, the city is too big and there is not enough time. But don’t get me wrong I am so excited to see the beautiful and historic city of Rome, but the small town feel will be vanish. I am also very excited to see Mom and Dad and show them around Rome. It will be nice to get into a bigger city. My number one task: buy peanut butter! I don’t know how I survived this long without it!

Tonight Dario surprised Jen and I by bringing over the movie “Vanilla Sky” and homemade wine. I’m going to miss that kid like crazy. He is the sweetest thing I girl could ask for. He already feels like a second brother to me. Whenever I need anything for the apartment or need a translator for the local Italians he is always there to help! Tonight Jen and I were sitting on the same couch cuddled in my large blanket, when all of a sudden I have Dario’s head in my lap as he makes himself quite comfortable to watch the movie. By the end of the movie I can hear a faint snoring from the lap, yep that’s Dario. Tomorrow he is coming over to celebrate our last night here. I know we will be seeing Dario and Ivo in Rome. They will miss us too much to not come visit at least once!

I am so excited to have Dario come stay with me for a couple of days in London once I head back home. He will be living there for most of the summer, about 3 hours outside the city. I promised to walk him around the city and show him the nightlife of an American-Brit! 

Typical, yet incredible night in Tuscania! 

Uncharacteristic of me, but I love it!

Wednesday night, mind you the night before both my Italian and History exams, Jen, Katherine Tara and I head out to the local bar, Duomo. Let me tell you it was an experience! Tonight was the last day of the weeklong festivities surrounded around carinvale. The entire bar was decorated similar to that of a masquerade party. There was string and masks hanging from the ceiling, lights contently flashing, and free food for as far as the eye could see. I especially loved it because they were playing American music and the Italians loved it! They knew the words to almost every song and were singing there little hearts out. Tonight was the adult version of Sunday’s carnivale extravaganza. Every type of imaginable costumes was present. And let me tell you there were a lot of smirfs. Must be the new thing here, and it was quite amazing. All the bartenders were covered from head to toe in blue paint. By the end of the night Jen and I ended up in the back on horse pen attached to a large truck roaming around the old town of Tuscania. And man oh man was that an experience. Every Italain man in that pen was dressed as a cow, a horse, or some type of farm animal. My abs were throbbing (from laughing so hard) after the first 5 minutes of being placed in the pen (by Gino of course). Tonight is a night I will surely never forget. I’m going to miss this small, yet crazy town! Tuscania never ceases to amaze me! 

Last cooking class, I will miss you Giordino!

Today’s cooking class was my favorite because of Giordino and his singing abilities! He was blasting Riana songs and singing his heart out. He kept making fun on his own tummy when it giggled as he belted out the words. I used a long large wooden spoon as my microphone and we have a lovely duet in the kitchen. That will be a memory I will never forget. We were one good singing team, I could hit the high notes and Giordino could hit the low ones. Because it was our last class, he bought the 6 of us 5 bottles of wine, so by the end of the class we were having a grand old time. He is such an amazing cook with the most beautiful bakery! He also cooks for people who have allergies, which I love! I tried his wheat free pizza and it was honestly out of this world.

Today we learned how to make “Risotto ai frutti di mare”, which translates to Risotto made with fish from the sea. I learned it is important to cook all the different types of fish in separate dishes because they all cook at different times. We had muscles, clams, squid, octopus, shrimp, and prawns. I was so proud of myself, I tired all the different types of seafood and I loved all of it! All the seafood we used came from Sicily; it was all extremely fresh and didn’t taste to “fishy”. My least favorite part was taking the head and eyeballs out of the squid, that almost made me loose my appetite. Girodino thought it would be funny to hang them in front of my face; he got a nice shove from that one! I was the one who prepared the tuna steaks, which took no time at all! You only cook the tuna for about 3 minutes on each side, the inside of the tuna should still be very pink! This was my favorite part of the dinner! The fish was so light, flavorful, and not too salty. I learned how to make a lemon and olive oil sauce, which added a great deal of flavor to the Tuna!

Mom: You should be so proud of me for trying all this seafood! My next adventure will be to try a spicy-tuna roll you rave so much about!

Tonight’s special: Fettucine con Ragu di cinghiele

Tonight I learned how to make Ragu with wild boar as the first dish and pork and mashed potatoes as the second dish! Let me tell you, like everything else I have made, it was delicious! I learned how to marinate and cook wild boar sauce. It was much easier than I was expecting. Jen and I made the homemade pasta for this dish. Now that is a lot of kneading. I felt  as if all we were doing was kneading, kneading, and more kneading! The eggs from the dough kept sticking in between my fingers. Jen and I were a great team, she kneaded the dough and flattened it out, and then I put it through the pasta cutter, and flowered the fettucine. I learned you have to pour flour on the fettucine soon after cutting other wise it will stick together and become one big mess.

Italian mashed potatoes are much different from the ones at home. I learned you must keep the skin on the potatoes when you boil them because it helps keep the water from evaporating into. When water evaporates into the potato is makes them loose their flavor and vitamins. The Italians also use a lot of cheese, which I love! Once the potatoes were boiled, then skinned, we added two large handfuls of Parmesan cheese! It made them so creamy and flavorful!

I really enjoyed the pork for the soul reasons of the applesauce we made to be put on top of it. Its very simple and easy, I can’t wait to try and make it at home. You first had to chop up the apples into thin slices, then sauté with butter, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley until the apples became soft. Place the apples on top of the pork and you are ready to serve! YUM! 

When in Rome (I mean, Tuscania!)

Today was a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. Jen, Katherine, Tara, and I headed to the local “carinvale” to see what it was all about it. Come to find out, carinvale is similar to our Halloween. All the kids dress up in crazy costumes and prance around the town. Many of the local school children participate in the float building and get to throw confetti at the bystanders as they pass by! The entire experience brought me back to my childhood as I watch kids chase after each other screaming and throwing confetti. All the parents stood close by sipping on wine and eating homemade sugar donuts. There was every possible costume you could imagine, from, Buzz Light Year to Indians, to princess, to bumblebees, to cowboys, and everything in between. They children where absolutely adorable! You couldn’t help but smile while watching them run around the town center.

The best part, was looking at their faces as the floats slowly drove by, there were in pure aw.  It was as if the local high school kids were celebrities to the youngsters. They all were trying to grab their hands as the float drove by. All the floats had themes, the first was as Hercules themes, the second was a farm theme, and the third was a career theme, any imaginable career was found on this float, from a painter, to a dentist, to receptionist, to farmer, and a doctor.  I have never seen the town so packed in my entire life! The streets were packed with families from all directions of the main road. The carinvale ended with a large bonfire and party in the town center. The town center was blasting music that could be heard for miles outside the town. I have come to love the Italian music; the idea of not understanding the words seems to relax me. It is all so upbeat and beautifully spoken! Tuscania’s local cooks sold any type of baked good imaginable. They were delicious! I got 6 homemade sugar donut holes with a glass of white wine! Nothing beats some sugar and wine. I hope to have the opportunity to experience carinvale in Tuscania again sometime real soon! 

Most relaxing day!

After the multiple weekend trips cancelled because of all the snow, today was an extraordinary day! To start off the day, Tori, Jess, and I went to visit a small town just 20 minutes away by public transportation called Viterbo. I loved it, absolutely loved it! It was like Tuscania on steroids. Perfectly for a day like today! It was around 55, the sun was beaming and the town was bustling! We walked around the town from 9:00 am until around noon. We toured many local churches, shops, and of course restaurants. We stopped at a local caffe bar called “Antico Caffe Schenardi” which is known for having the best cup of coffee in town, and man oh man did they ever! I had a piece of spinach pizza and a ginseng cappuccino. It was delicious!  So delicious in fact, the before we left I just HAD to buy another cappuccino. I hope to bring Mom and Dad there sometime! I know both of them would drool over this coffee. To end a lovely afternoon touring the town of Viterbo Mei took us to the “Terme dei Papi” natural hot springs!

Let me tell you this is my favorite place in all of Lazio! To die for! Mid February and I am in a bikini lounging in a hot spring, it honestly can’t get any better than that! The pool was huge! I am talking around the size of a football field! There was a very shallow area where the water was around 120 degrees and a deep end where the water averaged to about 110 degrees. I had to start off in the deep end because the water was too hot for my sensitive skin (what else is new!) I had a blast. There were 8 of us in total that went and I don’t think we left the water for 3 straight hours. By looking at my fingers and toes you would have thought I was 90 years old, so wrinkly! I had some interesting conversations with locals all of whom were very kind and intrigued by the fact I was American. I felt like a shark in the water, everyone was staring! It was expecting someone to say “Look American in the water!” Julianne brought her underwater camera so that occupied us for a good hour. We were all trying to make the most ridiculous faces underwater and they looked even more ridiculous because I refused to open my eyes in the sulfur water! It was one of the most relaxing days here and I could not have enjoyed myself more!

After the hot springs I explore my first Italian mall. That was interesting to say the least! It was one large circle! There were about 25 shops in total, but pretty much anything you possibly image. This was nice to see real supermarket for the first time in over a month. I saw my first frozen Chinese food, but I told myself no. So very very tempting! I did however find a hot already made rotisserie chicken and yes I did buy it and eat the entire thing by myself.  Mind you it was a small chicken, but yes I did eat it all. It made me feel like I was at home again! I finally got my fix of protein that I had been looking for since I arrived. To have the perfect ending to a perfect day on the way home Mei blast some American soul music and sings her little Asian heart out. It was hilarious; she was bobbing her head and belting the words while encouraging us all to sing along. We all know I can’t say no to a sing-along in the car. I think the entire town of Viterbo could here us through that car. “Ain’t no mountain high enough!” was blaring through the cars walls. Today was a success!  

Vulci field trip

Oldest remaining Roman street

Vulci, I advise everyone to visit Vulci when visiting Italy! Vulci is the idealistic rolling hills and valleys as far as the eye can see. The only thing that breaks up all the farmland is the cows and sheep’s. It was beautiful! Today I headed to Vulci for my history class where I got to see ancient Roman ruins spanning for the 1^st through the 6^th century AD. The name of the archeological site is “Vulci e la maremma etrusca”. It was fascinating! I could not believe I was walking on real Roman made streets. It felt surreal; I was exploring Roman castles, homes, temples, and marketplaces. It was remarkable how in tact it all was for being thousands and thousands years old. I love my history teach because I have never met someone who could love what she’s teaching more than her. She actually makes me excited to explore the lands and see what I can find. I had never been more thrilled to look for ancient ruins in my life. It was also great to have someone there who could explain, in depth, all the history of what I was looking at. The Roman’s never felt more real and alive to me than they did at that exact moment.

After getting the see the ancient Roman ruins, she allowed us to explore what would be the outskirts of Roman village. It actually reminded me a lot of the English countryside. Nothing beats the beauty of nature. It was truly breathtaking. I sat on the edge of what appeared to be a never-ending fence and just tired to absorb all the beauty around me. I felt so small in comparison to the vast hills and valleys. It was wonderful to just sit and listen to all the sounds around me. I could hear cows mooing in the distance, horses grazing, and crickets chirping. Nothing beats those sounds, nothing! I then kept on exploring until I came upon a magnificent lugo (lake). The water was truly blue. The lake sat below an entire wall of large boulders.  It looked as if someone took a scoop out of the boulders and place perfectly blue water right in its center cutout. It was an amazing find! And to top it all off there was waterfall! I could have sat in that exact spot for days and been completely content. The region of Lazio is truly one of the most beautiful places I have never been too. Every time I think I couldn’t see something more beautiful, I do!