In Cui Mi Adatto

I have a theory this time as to why I have left this blog in such a state of dereliction (derelicte!) for the past two weeks. It is not just that I am such a chronically lax blogger. I can actually blame it on Italy this time, in MANY WAYS. That's how much not my fault this is. One, I was going to write this blog last weekend but my internet stopped working for a day and a half. I couldn't access blogspot and therefore could not grace this account with my presence (and yes, I know weekends are longer than a day and a half, and particularly my weekends [in fact, school is basically my weekend and I often end up weekending (Weekenders! does anyone remember that show?) the length of most people's work weeks] but this is completely beside the point and therefore my brief interlude without internet is a completely legitimate explanation for my continuing absence). Two, culture shock has finally, thankfully worn off. Actually, to be frank, it was not so much culture shock as it was new place shock, since, as I'm sure we all know, I tend to be quite resistant to change and don't necessarily handle new places and people very well right away. I'd like to also note that this doesn't make me antisocial or borderline misanthropic, just that perhaps those are my knee-jerk reactions to new situations, but this tendency WEARS OFF after a while, making me eventually a normal person, even though it takes me a few weeks to, you know, prove it or whatever. So yeah. I finally feel comfortable here in Torino. I talk about going "home" at the end of the day instead of "back to my apartment," which are two obviously very different things. Generally speaking, I feel rather peaceful (aside from the 80 nagging worries that are constantly in the back of my head, but which are basically permanent and therefore negligible). So what in God's name have I done in the past two weeks? LET'S REFLECT.

Okay, after the weekend of many homemade, multi-course meals, there followed a pretty rudimentary week of classes. Had my first quiz in Culture (105%, hollaaaa!), got back my International Affairs midterm (we shall speak no longer of this blight on my soul, and especially not of my grade). And once again, that was it for my entire week of school, even the remembrance of which gives me distinct pleasure and a certain gleeful countenance. After this, all three of my roommates went out of town for the weekend. The whole weekend! I was originally going to go with them to the Amalfi Coast, Naples, etc. but after the train ticket proved to be a bit expensive, I instead started imagining all the glory that would result from having an entire apartment to myself for three days. Now, look, I've already explained to you how I'm not a misanthrope, but I still do value being alone and the freedom it entails. So I was basically pumped (I know I live with Californians now, but I still realize that it would be ridiculous of me to say stoked, even though I was that too). Anyway, from the moment they left, I didn't have to use my headphones for the whole rest of the weekend (!) and I promptly began my weekend of aloneness by surrounding myself with people. My friend Drew came over to my apartment and we hung out for a while before heading over to Chalet (it was not raining on the way, and I didn't get slip and fall on a slick footpath in high-comedy fashion, and I didn't have it painstakingly documented by Drew who then didn't publish said documentation on Facebook, and I ESPECIALLY didn't have a nasty bruise on the heel of my palm for a week thereafter, and I also didn't scrape my knee like a four-year-old, COOL). Chalet was, as always, awesome. I am basically a dance machine and had a great time dancing on stage (flashbacks to GirlTalk, anyone? okay, just me). Spent much time fending off creepy young men, but that is just part of the fun at a place like Chalet, where the good times flow freely. Danced until I thought my feet would fall off, which was a really good idea, because I then had to make the treacherous hike home, since the godforsaken buses don't run after midnight. Walked and walked, briefly considered giving up and sleeping on someone's doorstep, then reached the kebab shop that meant I was almost home, still stopped because the notion of baklava was incredibly appealing at that point, was dragged away by Drew and promptly arrived home, exhausted. And then I Skyped for an hour! Because I am a woman of unflagging energy and constant enthusiasm. Then I passed out. The next day, it was basically round two as Drew came back over and we had some fun bonding time. Drew did forensics in high school!!! He did extemp, but I will resist the temptation to make any snarky comments and simply state that the discovery gratified me very much in indeed. Then we went out again, this time to a gay club (my first! bars don't count, I feel) called maybe Centralino. There was supposed to be a theme (Avatar) and since I am ever festive, I wore my blue leggings in celebration (not just leggings obviously....I also wore a dress. And boots). Turns out my mother's disdain for costumery is roughly on par with that of all Italians, as I was the closest thing to dressed up in the whole place. I danced like an absolute madwoman, probably literally, since I knew everyone was gay and I wasn't going to get any action anyway and therefore felt zero inhibitions the whole night. There was an enthusiastic drag queen with two gay minions who spent much of the night performing, whipping the crowd into a frenzy when there were stuffed animals to be won (yes, I won one). Left eventually, absolutely dehydrated (drank out of the public water fountains, hopefully I have explained these wondrous things to you already) and perfectly spent. Waited for the night bus, which only runs once an hour and only on weekends. Came back home, Drew slept over again since he lives on the opposite end of town from where we'd been clubbing. Woke up and felt a primal need to eat McDonald's, so caught the bus to the train station and indulged in the Italian form of a BLT, the CBO, which is chicken/bacon/onion and which is also DELICIOUS. Then we got gelato (Nutella with biscottini, and another flavor that was also delicious but I don't know what it was) from an adorable little sweet shop only a few minutes from my place. Then just bummed around until it was time to go to Tara's for some socializing (Elena brought over maybe the healthiest drink ever, literally just pureed kiwis [fruit, not poor man's Australian] mixed with scotch, it was sooo tasty) until it was time to go to what was officially billed as an awareness-raising event for the police brutality perpetrated upon protesters of the G8 summit in Genoa in July 2001 (a documentary about it was looping on big screens the whole night, it was actually really interesting). The place had two rooms, a reggae room and a drum & bass room, which were both fun to dance in. Tara and I met two guys from Senegal who were interesting to talk to for a while until it was time to leave. We got to take a taxi home since it was raining and vaguely unpleasant (lest we ruin our hair) and I got the taxi driver to drop me off in front of the kebab shop, only to discover that they were the WORST KEBAB SHOP IN EXISTENCE and didn't even sell baklava, despite billing Arab dessert on their menu (is there seriously any other dolce arabo than baklava???), so I bought fries instead and enjoyed them very much anyway. And I Skyped again! What up, Reno. Sunday was quiet. My internet stopped working (aforementioned crisis) so I ended up doing all my laundry and all the dishes (..............even the ones that weren't mine [insert passive-aggressive disapproval here]). I cooked dinner with Allison and then made a quiet night of it, since I had to wake up in the morning and go to my internship. Since I didn't have class Monday or Tuesday, I went in and worked on my internship both days. I am very productive indeed. I experimented with different bus routes, went grocery shopping, I did homework (not really jk ahahah). I may have even cooked an almost complete dinner one night.

Aaaand then it was the regular week again, eighteen thousand life experiences later. Learned about Richard Nixon in International Affairs, and my new Italian class started on Wednesday. I didn't actually meet my professor since she was still tied up in other work stuff this week, so Giorgia and Simona led class on Wednesday and Thursday, which was fun since they are both very lovely. Also had Composition...our first test is on Tuesday. FUN. Other things I did throughout the week. Went to the gym a couple of times, getting pretty svelte (NOT REALLY, unfortunately). Got a letter from Sheila, very good fun. ACTUALLY, dear readers, that was my first letter from home and quite frankly now I want many more. Send me a letter at:

Kathleen Phelan
SAA c/o USAC Italia
via Ventimiglia, 115
10126 TORINO Italy

But really. I like letters. Send more. Played my part in the letter-sending business and sent a package to Nonna for her birthday. This entailed finding the nearest post office, showing up with my goods and inquiring how one could go about packaging it (without knowing the words for box or envelope), getting told to go down the street to the cartoleria, finding out the place was closed for the week (FOR NO REASON), going back and begging for a properly-sized envelope from the lady who frankly could have just given me the damn thing to begin with, having to get back in line and of course getting stuck behind a lady who legitimately spent 20 minutes sending about 8000 letters and big envelopes and cashing things and other stuff that I think we all very well could have done without, finally getting served and finding out that the package only cost 5 euros to send, and sending it! I was very much gratified to find out how cheap it was, since Micki sent a pillowcase to her boyfriend last week and it cost 30 euros! Having escaped that cruel fate, I decided an hour at the post office was worth it after all.

Other things that have happened, hmm. On Wednesday night, the Italians took us all to dinner at this place downtown, which was quite good fun. I foolishly ordered a seafood pizza, not realizing that they basically grabbed the seafood out of the sea and dumped it on top of my pizza. Shells and all. Clams, shrimp (unpeeled, which I only found out after I popped the first one in my mouth and, not wanting to make a scene by pulling shrimp peel out of my mouth, I just ate it...), mussels, calamari, octopus, prawn, and something else that I had literally never seen before, but which I had an Italian peel for me so I didn't make a 100% fool of myself (I was already at about 75% by that point). The pizza was good anyway, once I could actually eat it. Wine, limoncello, and a bite of chocolate pudding followed. We then went to a lounge-type thing where they had many fancy drinks, including the Frozen Orgasm (I think they get away with these names because the Italians don't actually know what the English words mean), which was basically a chocolate milkshake with various alcohols in it. These were the types of drinks served, so they were of course expensive. But I'll be back for happy hour one day. Two for one! I got made fun of for my panda hat, which nobody seemed to understand that I HAD to wear since we were being subjected to freezing rain, but whatever, my panda hat was about 80x less embarrassing than the Grease singalong that somehow spontaneously occurred inside the lounge, making us objects of scrutiny for every Italian in the place. On Thursday night, I went to aperitivo with Drew and Elena, which was sooooo good. They had calamari, chicken, potatoes, pizza, wurstel, zucchini, and many other tasty things. Then we went to get gelato from Eataly! I'd never been before, but it was like an upscale Whole Foods and reaallllyy big and with tables for people to hang out. I've never seen anything like it in America, but I think it would be quite successful. I had peach, lemon, and dark chocolate flavors. SO GOOOODDDD.

Honestly, I really need to update more often, because I often observe things and have thoughts about them and think, hey that'll be a good story/observation for my blog and then I FORGET THEM. This is unacceptable. Maybe I should carry around a little notepad so this doesn't happen anymore. Yesterday, I ate two whole zucchinis. One in a salad with chicken, and one on top of a frozen pizza I baked. Another night in recent memory, we had our first meter of shots. It is literally a meter-long plank of wood with spaces notched into it, in which 13 shots are placed. It is an Italian institution. I also went shopping yesterday! Bought some stuff from H&M in anticipation of spring break, which is LESS than a week away. Sooooo exciting. I also read a book last week called Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend. I definitely recommend it, I found it quite funny. OH! And next semester's class schedule came out!!!!! Schedule-planning season is my FAVORITE part of college, I love the potential it holds and I loveee planning. I have advising on Monday to finalize my schedule, but so far I am quite pleased with how the planning is going. I won't comment on the absolutely ridiculous budget cuts and how the Italian department no longer exists at Reno, because I am severely displeased. I'm also thinking about taking summer school this summer....we'll see about that. So many other things I wish I could remember to talk about. If it comes back to me, I will update I suppose. Google is now in Italian on my laptop. I painted my toenails. Eh, I have nothing else to say anymore. Maybe I will do a mini-update before I leave for SPAIN AND MOROCCO ON THURSDAY. Yes, that's what I'll do. So ciao for now, by which I really mean arrivederci.