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!