Oops.

Sorry. I guess I never did finish the spring break story. Well, it was one of the best weeks of my life so far. Let's just put it that way. I love Amsterdam. And Paris. For my birthday weekend I went to Rome, and I REALLY LOVE Rome. Europe in general is beautiful and exciting. Sicily in particular is kind of exotic and gorgeous. And I miss Henry.
Finals are pretty much here, and I have all five in three days, and each is three hours long, and I have effectively wasted this weekend. Or is it wasted? I'm about to leave all of my friends here, so it seems pretty important to spend time with them. I can't believe it's over. When you start something that's going to last 4 months it seems like a lifetime, but when it's over it seems very short.
What have I been doing....(besides school, ya'll don't really want to hear about that)...there was a EuroChocolate festival in Modica last weekend. Don't worry, I bought souvenirs. :-) Modica is an adorable little town in Sicily where they make this chocolate that doesn't melt. Chocolate seems like it's pretty much a way of life for people in Modica, like ricotta cheese is a way of life in Sicily. They even put chocolate in things like pasta dishes and couscous, and they have flavors like "peperoncino," which is red pepper - it's actually really good, I think.
Agrigento was one of my favorite excursions. The second best preserved temple in the Mediterranean is there, called the "Temple of Concord" because no one has any idea to what divinity it was dedicated. The best preserved temple, in case you're wondering as we all were, is the temple to Hephaestus, I believe, in Athens. Or was it Hercules? I'm pretty sure it started with an H.
On my birthday (and on the night before my birthday) I got all sorts of wonderful suprises, which confirms my suspicion that I have the most amazing friends in the world - that includes the ones at home, of course! Brie made dinner, Stefania and Julia made a cake, Maia gave me presents, there was a crapload of balloons and a note on the board when I went into my Latin class that day, and after the puppet show, when we were having tiramisu (which I made myself, and the preparation included beating egg whites stiff - with no electric mixer and no whisk!!) I received a very obscene card, the contents of which should not be discussed online. I love birthday attention. I think it's the only kind I like, actually.
So tomorrow is Julia's birthday and I am going to try Chicken Marsala as a suprise tonight - did you know that Marsala wine is made in Sicily? Probably you did know, but I didn't. I love Sicily.
But I love America, too, and in some ways I think I love it more after being away from it for a while. People are constantly makind unfavorable comparisons between the two countries, but I don't think Italy wins every contest. America does pies waaaay better than Italy, I have to say. Italian pies are almost all crust (and not a good crust, either) with just a thin layer of jam. That would never fly in America. We have real fillings. And Italians don't seem to have a lot of their own music - they listen to a lot of American music (and sing along even though they don't know what they're singing - it's funny to listen to) or sometimes Spanish or Mexican music, (I think, because it's in Spanish) for Salsa dancing. And we have to whole public restrooms thing going for us. Apparently a lot of Italians feel sorry for Americans because they assume that the food is all terrible in America. But really we have some pretty decent American food, and then we have all sorts of other kinds - Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, Italian...who says we are so closed-minded? And I'm starting to like American accents. I really really love Italy, but I refuse to constantly criticize the US just because it's different. Maybe we aren't quite as "cultured," whatever the heck that means, but give us a few more centuries, for crying out loud - we're just a baby country compared to Italy.
I think I'm starting to fit in with the Italians in at least one respect: I talk about food all the time! :-)