School is going fine. I've been placed in a level a little low for me so I can review (sometimes it's things like simple future which is so easy for me and other times it's prepositions) and next week I'll go up a level. I've found myself mixing up a lot of works that I wouldn't normally - like thinking giovedì (Thursday) was actually Friday, and not remembering how to say "last night" and just being flustered in general. I feel like I'm getting into it though, the people are nice and the homework isn't difficult, yet.
One of the great things is in this small school, there's only one other American, and I haven't even met her yet. I live with a brother and sister from El Salvador who are in their early 20s, and an older man from Sweden. Across the hall are a Brazilian couple, also young, a middle aged Australian, and an Israeli girl, I think 24. I've also met another Brazilian middle aged woman. In my class are the two El Salvadorans, the Israeli, a 32 year old German girl who's getting married at the Heidelburg castle in August, and a 25 year old Spanish girl, who always brings candy to class and even made a Spanish-style tortilla for all of us today which was so delicious.
Since it's the last week for many of them, we all went out to this caffè called Cabala. Many of us had a bellini, which is a venetian aperitivo, or cocktail, made from prosecco, peach (i think) syrup, crushed ice, and came with a bunch of fruit. It was 4 euros, but the best part was food was included. At the front of the caffè was a whole buffet with cut vegetables, pizza, salami slices, chips, pasta with pesto, pasta with other vegetables, nuts, etc. 4 euros for a drink and dinner! I should see if there are other places like this around Bologna.
I've also made a habit of getting gelato very often. It's only 1 or 2 euro, and it's amazing. I tried this gelateria near my street that everyone says is delicious this afternoon. I got chocolate and this flavor which is like vanilla whipped cream, with wafers, chocolate, and meringue mixed in. I was astounded by how good it was.
One thing about Bologna though is that nothing is ever open. It's like everywhere is the post office, and the post office itself is open for about four hours in the morning on weekdays. Most places have a schedule where they're closed every after noon for 2 to 4 hours from about noon to 5, and they're closed Thursday, Saturday, and possible Monday and Tuesday all afternoon, and closed all day Sunday. I need to get my sandals fixed and found a "calzalaio" on the internet that said it was open Thursday afternoon. I walked there after class thinking what good fortune to find a place I needed to go open at a convenient time, except when I got there and found it closed from 1-3. I just didn't realize that "open Thursday afternoons" meant that it still closed for a few hours after lunch! Very frusterating.
In other, much happier news, I'm going to a frisbee practice today, in about an hour, and I might even go to Milan for the weekend for a tournament! I met with the captain of the women's team whom I had been emailing with, Martina, in a caffè just off of Piazza Maggiore, basically the center of town. Instead of smiling or shaking my hand she instead gave me a kiss on both cheeks and said how happy she was to meet me. We talked for a bit (in Italian, of course!) about how I've liked Italy, what I study, where I go to school, etc. and she mentioned how she studied in the US for 2 years and played with Indiana U's Calamity Jane and also UW in (near?) Seattle. She told me how in Italy there are only 8 women's teams and 20 men's teams TOTAL. That's it. Club and University combined. Isn't that crazy? Anyway, it ended with her making a few phone calls to organize a way for me to get to this practice, and inviting me to two tournaments in the coming weekend, without even asking me what position I play or my level or anything. She did say they were coed tournaments, and apparently in Italy, even moreso than America, women are in short supply. Anyway, I'm so excited to put on my cleats again, and hopefully the others will be as welcoming as Martina was, who kissed my again on both cheeks when we said goodbye.
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