week 2 already?

Well, almost week 2. I can't believe it!

This week has absolutely flown by! Lets see, a list of meals:
* Sunday was an independent day so I just ate pizza with mozzarella, eggplant and tomatoes. There is this place called Mondo Arancina, where you buy pizza in a big square and then they cut the slice in half and you eat it like a sandwich, so its folded over on itself. Anyway, its awesome and so delicious! The pizza here is not greasy in the least. The crust is crispy and the cheese just a little bit heated and the vegetables are well roasted. So delicious!!!!

* Monday my host mom had her friend and her kids over for dinner. They brought the most amazing kinds of pizza over: white pizza (really just pizza dough with salt and olive oil on it), margherita pizza (mozzarella and tomato sauce), pizza with mushrooms and tomato sauce, pizza with potato and mozzarella and rosemary, pizza with a layer of buttery cheese and a layer of prosciutto over that, pizza with sausage absolutely covered in mozzarella, and I think thats it. The slices were fairly small so you could eat each kind, but it was still so much food!!! We also had beer with our pizza, which is odd as we usually have wine.

* Tuesday we had risotto made with parmigano and pumpkin - it was delicious! We also had slices of meat, they told me it was like pork but from a cow so I'm guessing it was some type of beef? It was very salty, you eat it with olive oil and parmesan on it, but I really enjoyed it. I've been trying super hard to not say no to anything, the only thing I've really refused is anchovies :) After the meat and the risotto, we had beet greens, at least I think thats what they are. They're really good, you put olive oil, lemon juice and salt on them and they just have a ton of flavor. Then we had persimmons for dessert. We had the most difficult translation experience so far - they call persimmons cacti. Once a week, Constantino & Angelica's dad comes over as well as Constantino's girlfriend Giulia. So dinner is kind of more important, I think.

* Last night, my host sister wasn't feeling well, so my host mom made basically their equivalent of macaroni and cheese - orzo with butter and olive oil mixed with some kind of buttery cheese which was AMAZING! - then leftover beet greens and tuna. It was very homey and definitely "feel-good" food. We also had, in between courses, bruschetta with tomatoes, salt, and local olive oil on it. The olive oil was so good, there just isn't a way to put it into words!

So, even though I'd love to say that I went to all these cool places and have done all these cool things, I'm really just focusing on the food! Its just so delicious!

Everyday for lunch we go to the grocery store and get a loaf of fresh bread (75 cents) and a mozzarella ball (63 cents). So cheap!


Anyway, classes have been great! Yesterday for my Christian Rome class, we went to the original chapel of Constantine's mother, Helen. She was really obsessed with Christianity and went to Jeruselem and brought a bunch of things back with her: soil from Jeruselem upon which she could build the chapel, a piece of Jesus' cross, some nails from the crucifixion, part of the sign over Jesus' head, a finger, and some of the thorns from Jesus' crown. All of the things are kept in relic cases in her church.

Its just awesome to do things like that in a typical class day.

I've got a ton of pictures to put up and definitely will be soon.

Thanks for reading :)

Ciao