As you may or may not know, classes officially ended on Thursday. Thursday evening my roommates took me out to dinner for my birthday. Because of various scheduling issues, mostly involving studying for finals, we were unable to celebrate last week but that was just fine. We had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant that I love. Apparently the staff likes me enough to remember me and call me 'caro,' or dear one. It was very sweet. I was going to order some bruschetta and fried mozzarella but our waiter said no, he had a better idea, fried calamari and a huge plate of steamed clams. It was a good choice. Dinner itself consisted of individual pizzas for each of us. Oh, and wine. After dinner we went for a walk across the river to Giolitti's-perhaps the best gelato in Rome. From there we strolled home; it was a warm night and I was with wonderful company. When I arrived here I was so nervous about living with a group of kids that are young enough to be my children but I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed their company and will sincerely miss them. There were some generational issues (they have no idea who Doris Day is!) but all in all we got on swimmingly.
On Friday, one of my roommates, Nick, and I went to a large park in the north part of town, Villa Ada. Nick, for whatever reason, has tried to have me killed on several occasions; trying to get me shot by the Italian military while illegally entering the Spanish Embassy, and forcing me to walk on a very narrow, two lane road with no sidewalks, hairpin curves and Italian drivers are two examples. Friday was no exception. Again it was a narrow road, no sidewalk, and filled with crazy Italian drivers. Somehow we made it to the park. After trying to get us lost, Nick 'discovers' that his map was wrong the entire time and that the catacombs we want to see are across the street. Great; another shot to discover my mortality. Then, of course, was the thunder storm and the rain that came down in buckets like an Albuquerque summer downpour. All kidding aside, it was a lovely afternoon.
I will discuss the remainder of the weekend tomorrow...I am exhausted and must sleep now.
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