Hello! It has been so long. So much has happened! I have been very busy the past few weeks first with Pat visiting, and then with spring break! I will tell you all about them.
I don't really know what to say about Pat's visit accept that it was lovely. I went to meet him at the airport early morning on Saturday, March 7th. I looked at the arrivals screen and it said his flight hadn't arrived yet, so I stood staring at the screen for about forty minutes. After a while, two really creepy guys came and stood right behind me- so close that I could feel them against my back and it was completely unnecessary- there was plenty of room for everyone. There were a few people standing next to me who were waiting for the same plane to arrive, so I decided to go sit in a chair a great distance away from the creepy guys and wait for the two other people to walk away once the plane had landed. Unfortunately, the two creepy guys followed me over to my far away chair and sat right next to me. I was sitting there contemplating my next move when someone walked up right in front of me and stopped. I looked up and it took me a minute before I realized who I was staring at- it was Pat! Apparently the screen was misinformed and his plane had landed after all!
I gave him a big big hug and whisked him away to catch the train to Roma. Despite his long flight, he said he wasn't tired, so after we dropped his bags off at my apartment we decided to go wander around the city until he could check into his hotel. We went and saw the Trevi Fountain and got some pizza for lunch, and then wandered around Via del Corso.
Pat started to act funny because apparently he was far more tired than he realized. We had been walking straight down Via del Corso for about a half hour and for some reason he thought we had taken a bunch of turns down different streets and he was lost. That’s when I realized he should definitely take a nap before we did any more sight-seeing or he might not remember it.
We walked all the way back to Piazza Venezia and got on the forty-four bus to my apartment. We were lucky enough to get seats. I had a window seat so I was staring out the window for a while. When I turned back I saw Pat rocking backwards and forwards. For a minute I was wondering what the heck he was doing, when suddenly I realized- as his head took a fast dive towards the seat in front of him- he was sound asleep. I grabbed his arm and he woke up just before bashing his face into the chair and woman in front of him. He had on sunglasses so I had had no idea his eyes were closed. I thought he was doing some sort of weird dance to embarrass me in public- something he does often. He fell asleep a good four or five more times on the ride home. He took a little nap at my apartment until it was time for him to check in to his hotel. We checked him in, dropped off his bags, then went out for a lovely dinner and some more sight-seeing.
Sunday I met Pat at the crack of dawn to go to the open-air market. It was a beautiful sunny day and we didn't even need to wear coats. At 12:30 we went to La Fate, a cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant owned by a local family. I had signed us up for a cooking lesson with Andrea, the nicest guy ever who is the son of the couple who owns the restaurant, as well as the restaurant’s cook. These cooking classes were my gift to Pat for our one year anniversary, which is this coming Monday, the 30th of March.
The cooking class was a blast, though also very tiring! For the appetizer we made crostini with mushroom patè. I don't even like mushrooms but this tasted soooo good. Our first course was Ravioli filled with pumpkin and ricotta splashed in a fresh pumpkin sauce. My roommates Britt and Alyssa had already taken a cooking class with Andrea the week before and told him about how much I love butternut squash ravioli. Andrea said butternut squash was not in season here, but pumpkin was the next best thing. It was an amaaaaaazing dish. It turns out making pasta isn’t all that difficult. I’m sure I will be whipping up new kinds of ravioli all the time now!
For a side dish we made a tortino of leeks and eggplants which is basically like a little cake made out of vegetables. Delish. For dessert we made Millefoglie with cookies. It was layers of a sort of pudding or custard with nuts and chocolate and little cookies sticking out of it, inside of a martini glass.
It was a long day of cooking, needless to say, but in the end it was awesome to sit down and enjoy all the delicious food that we made! Andrea was a wonderful teacher and a lot of fun.
Monday I did not get to see a lot of Pat because I had classes from nine to five L. I had a midterm first thing in the morning too. Tuesday Pat came with me to all my classes. In the morning he came to Baroque Sculpture with me where we went to the Vatican for three hours. It was a lot of information to take in at once. In the afternoon I had a three hour film class where we watched the end of a movie called “The Best Years of Our Lives.” I think that is what it was called. Anyway it was a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it. That night we had a lovely dinner somewhere- all the days kind of blur together. Then I had to study for my midterm on Wednesday. That only took me about a half hour to take, so Pat met me after class and we went to do some sightseeing. I really can’t remember what we did that day. I know that at some point during the week we saw the Spanish steps at night and had dinner there, we went to the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel and all that fancy stuff, we walked down Via del Corso and did some shopping for his family, and on Thursday night we went out drinking with my roommates somewhere.
Overall it was an awesome week. It was so great to see Pat even though it was for such a short time. Though I am loving it here in Rome, I am really looking forward to returning home in six weeks. The time is going to go by so fast and it will be hard to leave, but I miss my family and Pat, and little Daisy! I went with Pat to Fiumicino airport on Saturday morning to say goodbye. I had to leave him and get in a cab to go to Ciampino airport to take off for spring break, and I sobbed the whole way there. The cab driver was very nice and he kept handing me tissues and tried to comfort me even though he had no idea what was wrong and he didn’t speak any English. He kept saying “basta, basta” which means “enough!” I think he was glad to get rid of me.
That is all for now because I need a break from typing, but in my next entry I will tell you all about my awesome spring break. Ciao!
I don't really know what to say about Pat's visit accept that it was lovely. I went to meet him at the airport early morning on Saturday, March 7th. I looked at the arrivals screen and it said his flight hadn't arrived yet, so I stood staring at the screen for about forty minutes. After a while, two really creepy guys came and stood right behind me- so close that I could feel them against my back and it was completely unnecessary- there was plenty of room for everyone. There were a few people standing next to me who were waiting for the same plane to arrive, so I decided to go sit in a chair a great distance away from the creepy guys and wait for the two other people to walk away once the plane had landed. Unfortunately, the two creepy guys followed me over to my far away chair and sat right next to me. I was sitting there contemplating my next move when someone walked up right in front of me and stopped. I looked up and it took me a minute before I realized who I was staring at- it was Pat! Apparently the screen was misinformed and his plane had landed after all!
I gave him a big big hug and whisked him away to catch the train to Roma. Despite his long flight, he said he wasn't tired, so after we dropped his bags off at my apartment we decided to go wander around the city until he could check into his hotel. We went and saw the Trevi Fountain and got some pizza for lunch, and then wandered around Via del Corso.
Pat started to act funny because apparently he was far more tired than he realized. We had been walking straight down Via del Corso for about a half hour and for some reason he thought we had taken a bunch of turns down different streets and he was lost. That’s when I realized he should definitely take a nap before we did any more sight-seeing or he might not remember it.
We walked all the way back to Piazza Venezia and got on the forty-four bus to my apartment. We were lucky enough to get seats. I had a window seat so I was staring out the window for a while. When I turned back I saw Pat rocking backwards and forwards. For a minute I was wondering what the heck he was doing, when suddenly I realized- as his head took a fast dive towards the seat in front of him- he was sound asleep. I grabbed his arm and he woke up just before bashing his face into the chair and woman in front of him. He had on sunglasses so I had had no idea his eyes were closed. I thought he was doing some sort of weird dance to embarrass me in public- something he does often. He fell asleep a good four or five more times on the ride home. He took a little nap at my apartment until it was time for him to check in to his hotel. We checked him in, dropped off his bags, then went out for a lovely dinner and some more sight-seeing.
Sunday I met Pat at the crack of dawn to go to the open-air market. It was a beautiful sunny day and we didn't even need to wear coats. At 12:30 we went to La Fate, a cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant owned by a local family. I had signed us up for a cooking lesson with Andrea, the nicest guy ever who is the son of the couple who owns the restaurant, as well as the restaurant’s cook. These cooking classes were my gift to Pat for our one year anniversary, which is this coming Monday, the 30th of March.
The cooking class was a blast, though also very tiring! For the appetizer we made crostini with mushroom patè. I don't even like mushrooms but this tasted soooo good. Our first course was Ravioli filled with pumpkin and ricotta splashed in a fresh pumpkin sauce. My roommates Britt and Alyssa had already taken a cooking class with Andrea the week before and told him about how much I love butternut squash ravioli. Andrea said butternut squash was not in season here, but pumpkin was the next best thing. It was an amaaaaaazing dish. It turns out making pasta isn’t all that difficult. I’m sure I will be whipping up new kinds of ravioli all the time now!
For a side dish we made a tortino of leeks and eggplants which is basically like a little cake made out of vegetables. Delish. For dessert we made Millefoglie with cookies. It was layers of a sort of pudding or custard with nuts and chocolate and little cookies sticking out of it, inside of a martini glass.
It was a long day of cooking, needless to say, but in the end it was awesome to sit down and enjoy all the delicious food that we made! Andrea was a wonderful teacher and a lot of fun.
Monday I did not get to see a lot of Pat because I had classes from nine to five L. I had a midterm first thing in the morning too. Tuesday Pat came with me to all my classes. In the morning he came to Baroque Sculpture with me where we went to the Vatican for three hours. It was a lot of information to take in at once. In the afternoon I had a three hour film class where we watched the end of a movie called “The Best Years of Our Lives.” I think that is what it was called. Anyway it was a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it. That night we had a lovely dinner somewhere- all the days kind of blur together. Then I had to study for my midterm on Wednesday. That only took me about a half hour to take, so Pat met me after class and we went to do some sightseeing. I really can’t remember what we did that day. I know that at some point during the week we saw the Spanish steps at night and had dinner there, we went to the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel and all that fancy stuff, we walked down Via del Corso and did some shopping for his family, and on Thursday night we went out drinking with my roommates somewhere.
Overall it was an awesome week. It was so great to see Pat even though it was for such a short time. Though I am loving it here in Rome, I am really looking forward to returning home in six weeks. The time is going to go by so fast and it will be hard to leave, but I miss my family and Pat, and little Daisy! I went with Pat to Fiumicino airport on Saturday morning to say goodbye. I had to leave him and get in a cab to go to Ciampino airport to take off for spring break, and I sobbed the whole way there. The cab driver was very nice and he kept handing me tissues and tried to comfort me even though he had no idea what was wrong and he didn’t speak any English. He kept saying “basta, basta” which means “enough!” I think he was glad to get rid of me.
That is all for now because I need a break from typing, but in my next entry I will tell you all about my awesome spring break. Ciao!
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