All Roads Lead to Rome

Ciao everybody!
Sorry for the serious lull in blogging activity! I tried to force one last week and it was pretty painful. So painful I decided to refrain from posting it. I just didn't really have much to fill you in on. HOWEVER, now I have some activities (and pictures) to talk about.
First let's all take a moment of silence for me missing St. Patty's at Holy Cross. I don't know if you all know, but it's pretty much the next best day to Christmas. The facebook statuses were killing me. But Italy, like always, happily surprised me by having a little holiday of it's own. It was the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification on the 17th. Essentially, the 4th of July but replace the blue with green and the hotdogs with pasta (and vino). Fireworks included in both scenarios. All of the major monuments were lit up red white and green and everyone was outside living it up all Wednesday night. There were seriously little kids out running around until like 3 AM. And a lot of clubs and stuff were open until 6. It was just absurd. But a lot of fun. Made for a very late start on actual St. Patty's, but my friends and I managed to find ourselves at our favorite pub for a Guiness breakfast-- I actually went home not long after "breakfast" and only resurfaced for Liliana's show that night. Background: Liliana doesn't work. But she's ALWAYS busy on the computer and for a long time I didn't know what she was doing. Until I made the mistake of asking--so now I get to hear updates all the time. But I learned that she's very active in her neighborhood chapter of "Partita Democratica" and is constantly working on little projects for them. Her latest was a presentation on the Women during the Unification of Italy (in so many words--it sounds better not translated) and I swear to you she's been putting that powerpoint together for the last 4 months. Or whenever I got here. For the last week I listened to her practicing reading segments out loud. "Francesco, how do you say this?" "Mamma, DUSSELDORF" "Douchendorn." "No, mamma. DUSSELDORF." "Dicendawn." "Mamma!" I think I was actually laughing out loud during this fiasco. It was like a scene from a sitcom. She's a riot. So, I decided when the big day finally came that it would be very nice of me to go to the show. Mario gelled his hair and put on a sweater, and we drove there together looking pretty adorable if I do say so myself. Liliana looked very happy to see that I showed up and I felt good for doing it. For 15 minutes. And then I was really unhappy that I didn't know how long this was going to last. And that I don't think I'd ever been so bored in my life. And you know what else?! Liliana didn't even talk!! So I guess her practicing the names of German cities was for my personal amusement. But really. Other than the funny outfits some of the ladies donned, it was pretty painful. Mario kept laughing at me when I fell asleep. Va bene.
So that was Thursday. Friday I left for ROMA! I went down to Rome on Friday after school to meet up with my friends Megan (Quirk) and Brady! Quirk, God knows why, was running in La Maratona di Roma. I don't know if I've ever known anyone who was running a marathon. 26.2 miles. Are you kidding me? I decided while watching people look like they wanted to kill themselves crossing the finish line that marathons are not something humans are supposed to do. We don't chase our food anymore. We're not supposed to run for 4 hours straight. We're just not supposed to. She finished, though. Like a champion!
We had a very fun weekend leading up to the big race on Sunday. Did some sight seeing, watched Brady enjoy Italian food more than normal people, played with Quirk's adorable little cousins and incredibly sweet aunt and uncle--it was a lot of fun. Her uncle is in the military and he and his wife and two little kids have spent the last few years living in Naples, so they came up to Rome to support the Quirky, also. Great weather, good people, solid weekend. Oh! And I got to go to a Papal audience on Sunday. Got to hear my man Joey Ratzinger give a homily in Italian from about a jillion miles away--out of a window on the 10th story. I'm 45% positive that it wasn't actually him, but just a mannequin and a pre-recorded voice. Nevertheless, very exciting. Brady asked when I was going to start jumping up and down and crying like the crazy old ladies she sees on TV. You'll all be proud to know that I kept my composure. And understood most of what he said!
So what's going on? I haven't blogged in a long time. School started on March, 7. It's alright. I'm really enjoying the classes so far, but once it warms up over here I'm going to get some pretty serious Spring Fever-- I'm afraid. I have school every day now. What's up with that?
I have found a beautiful website that lets me live stream most of the basketball games, and I'm loving March Madness. Can't believe the family is going to be here in a month! So excited for that I can hardly stand it.
Also so proud of my brother-in-law getting his residency at NYU. Looks like my favorite couple will be relocated to my side of the country! Sorry this is so scattered. I'll try to get back on my game. Oh, man, I booked my flight home today. What?
Mi mancate, ragazzi. E vi voglio bene--come sempre.
Baci!

Carnevale and Slowing Down

The exotic journeys have come to a pause. So if you don't want to read any more, I understand. haha. But really--now that the crazy month of February has come to a close, I'm sticking around Firenze for a while. I can't really say I'm upset about it. I love this place. But I did make one final excursion up to Venice with my German friend Anna and her friend Eleonora on Sunday. Anna goes to the Accademia di Bell'Arte (a really prestigious art school in Florence) and I follow her around and creep on her Italian friends and pretend like they're mine. It's fine. So she invited me to join she and Ele on their day trip to Venezia on Sunday to see the elegant celebration of Carnevale that is so famous in Venice. I'm not going to lie, I agreed out of boredom. The idea of Carnevale doesn't really do much for me. I think the masks are kind of scary and I don't really understand what any self-respecting person is doing dressing up like this and posing in a street while tourists take pictures of them. For fun. Call me crazy, but it's just not really my scene. Perhaps if I had done more research on the custom it would have been more interesting, but I had fun hanging out with my friends and wandering around the city anyways.
Carnevale for me is really just leading up to Mardi Gras. I'm my parents' child. Tuesday is actually another holiday in Italy called "Il Giorno delle Donne" which just means Women's Day. It's like Mother's Day but for all women, I guess. Apparently everyone's just nice to females and they all go out on the town sans dudes for the night. And we never celebrated Jenna's 21st birthday that was last Tuesday. Sounds like three fabulous reasons for next Tuesday to be a lot of fun, in my opinion. Sorry, I digress.
On Monday we went out to lunch in Chianti again. Kristen's parents were visiting, and our language school paid for the whole clan to get lunch at a really fun restaurant that made stellar hamburgers. Strange, I know. But they were absolutely delicious and I'm never really opposed to a drive through the Tuscan countryside...or hamburgers for that matter. Who am I kidding?
Not having any obligations is always nice for a few days-- especially after all of the traveling we had been doing. But I am going out of my mind. I'm not going to say I'm bored, because I'm in Florence and you're actually not allowed to be bored. But my friends have been preoccupied so I found myself literally wandering around aimlessly on Tuesday afternoon. I realized during my walk, though, that there was a beautiful church up on a hillside outside of the city that I'd always wanted to visit but had never taken the time to. Perfect opportunity--even though it was really cold and windy this week. So I made the trek up past Piazzale San Michelangelo, iPod and camera in pocket, ready to do some damage. When I got up there I was the only tourist poking around and the church was a little spooky in the late afternoon light, but it was absolutely gorgeous inside, as it is outside. There is no artificial light inside, so stepping in is like stepping back in time. Feels pretty weird. Anyways, when I got back that night I was really excited to tell the Rizzis all about my adventure. (Mostly because I'm afraid they think I'm a lazy piece of crap because I haven't gone to school in a long time and I wanted to sound productive.) However, when I tried to tell them where I went that afternoon I apparently butchered the name. I couldn't tell you now what I said, but the church is called San Miniato del Monte. But Mario's response when I said "Questo pomeriggio sono andata a San _____" was "Oh, isn't it beautiful?" I obviously agreed-- quite pleased with myself for being so proactive that afternoon. Until Mario kept talking. "It's such a beautiful city. Makes you feel like you're in the Renaissance. They make great white wine there." Well, shit. We're obviously not talking about the same thing here, Mario. HOWEVER because I'm the most awkward person in the world, instead of correcting myself I went along with it. "Oh, I didn't try the wine. I should go back when it's warmer." What, Lauren? There is no reason for you to be lying right now. Then Lils chimes in, "Wow, you went all the way to San____ today? How did you get there?" Me: "Oh, you know. The bus." Lils: "That was fast. You were only gone for a few hours. You must not have been there very long." Me: "Nope. My friends were cold. We're going to go back when it's warmer." Needless to say I changed the subject VERY quickly. Probably asking some stupid question about Burlusconi. That always gets Mario ranting. Oh, the beauty of language barriers. And me being exponentially more awkward than the average person...
Vi voglio bene, ragazzi. E mi mancate moltissimo.
Baci.