So when we last left our epic story, I was sick. I had to skip class, even. But I did manage to go to my Thanksgiving (but not on Thanksgiving day) meal. It was wonderful. When we got there though, they told me I couldn't buy anything from the stores on base because it would "hurt the economy" because I technically live in Naples. So when we got there, Eugenio and I got to baking cookies (I made a bajillion). Then we had the lovely turkey. It was my friend's first Thanksgiving as a couple, so they started off their own new family traditions with us, haha. There was turkey, STUFFING, yams, cranberry sauce, corn that was cooked with butter, sourcream and cornbread, bread, ham, greenbean casserole and of course, pumpkin pie. It felt a lot like home.
I then brought back some American ingredients that don't exist in Italy (baking powder, baking soda, Hershey's cocoa powder, chocolate chips, DR. PEPPER, Reese's, Poptarts). Then I started baking up a storm during the week. I made Lamington's for a friend who graduated, I made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing for Alessia's birthday and then I made more chocolate chip cookies (they are in BIG demand in Italy). On Tuesday, Alessia had her birthday and that's when our friend, Gaetano, graduated. We had a nice party for them both here (I had brought some of my cookies to the owner of our apartment building that afternoon to butter her up, because I knew we'd make a lot of noise).
Graduating is really interesting in Italy, it seemed a lot like defending a Ph.D thesis, to me. You go to a building, there's a panel of professors, you talk about your paper, they ask you questions, you answer, then you speak in your studied languages (at L'Orientale, you study 2 languages, at least). It was cool to hear some of the languages that are rarely studied in the U.S.: Polish, Hebrew etc etc
The rest week kind of flew by. I didn't do too much. I went and saw Passione with Serena and Alessia (it's a documentary-type about Naples music) which I ended up falling in love with for various reasons. One of the cooler reasons was because it was filmed here in Naples and almost every scene, I have been to. I'd like to make my students watch it when I come back to the States.
This weekend I went to Matera, which was fun. It's about a 4 hour bus ride from here, it's in a region called Basilicata. We got there about 9pm and the owner of the B&B came and picked us up because after 8pm in Matera, the taxi's charge double. The B&B was really nice, newly restored. Matera is a city built like a cake, levels upon levels. Every building had a street above it, I don't know if I'm explaining it very well. The owner was a bit....annoying and bossy. She kept on insisting that I didn't speak Italian very well and that I wasn't understanding her. She even told other couples in the B&B to not try and talk to me because I don't speak Italian very well. Whatever, you know?
Saturday, Serena and I took a tour guide and walked around the city with him. I saw a lot of the city. It was where they filmed Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson, King David and a famous Italian movie called, "La lupa" or (She-Wolf). A lot of it was sight-seeing and kind of wandering around. I enjoyed it. We went to two museums and one of them had a free jazz concert, which was fun. Then we took the bus back to Naples on Sunday, which was another 4 hours by bus.
A sidenote I wanted to point out: Italian hotels and Italian bed and breakfasts are the polar opposite of ours. For example: Italian hotels, you have to pick up your room key and drop it off everytime you leave/come back to the hotel. They're also more expensive. Bed and breakfasts, they give you your key, you come and go when you want and are a little cheaper. It's an interesting phenomenon.
So some exciting news: I'm going to London this weekend (very exciting), I get to see Sara (even more exciting. But then I found out that she is also coming to Naples (the second weekend on December). So that's great. I hope it does work out though, almost every time someone has mentioned coming to Naples, it falls through. Let's hope for the best! :-).
Apparently our water is leaking through to the apartment below us, although everytime the plumber comes he says it's not us, apparently while I was gone, it got really bad. So now we can't use our water until the figure it out. Oh joy, haha.
I've started listening to Christmas music (there are decorations already here in Naples)
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