Travel plans

Had my first Italian class with Rachel yesterday. It was an 8am (ugh) advanced Italian class that I had already taken at my home school (again ugh). BUT, there were 5 of us in the class. Out of the whole school! Props to the smarties! But waking up at 7am (especially not sleeping well the last two nights) was TOUGH. Like, I am actually in school again! But we had a cappuccino after class in via Nazionale (our street) and decided that this was going to be our after class place (we have places for different occasions). We also learned a new word: schiuma. This means foam. The barista didn't speak English and it was hard describing foam to him so we had to do it in Italian. Then we taught him the word 'foam' and he laughed.

We took a quick trip to the market for cheese, and of course I couldn't resist a pastry, called schiatatta alla fiorentina.

I asked the woman what it meant, since the other day I had a focaccia-like cracker called schiattatine, so there had to be some connection. So she said "Perche` e schiattata" and made this hand motion of squishin something, so I assumed it meant flat. But now that I am translating it from the verb schiattare, it means to burst. Well, nevertheless, I learned two words!

Big news: Rachel and I planned our spring break! It's going to be four days in Barcelona, and 3 days in Paris! We are taking cheap planes (thank you, Ryanair), staying in hostels, and bringing along some food to cook to keep costs down. Of course, we will definitely indulge ourselves in the local cuisine. SO excited.

We spent the majority of the day researching for our trip, then I cooked dinner with Antoinette, we made bucatini pasta with garlic-y spinach and olive oil, the fresh feta I bought on Sunday, and freshly grated parmigian. Yum.

Afterward, we were all exhausted so after a trip to the sauna and steam room (I love my hostel!) with my friend Randi, I was ready for bed. Gotta love those 8am classes.

Ciao!