I can't believe it has almost been a month already!

This weekend was a great ending to a rough week. Monday and Tuesday were ok, but I ate something on Tuesday that didn’t quite agree with my stomach, and by Wednesday I still didn’t feel better. Also on Tuesday, I tried to withdraw money from the ATM machine and it kept telling me the pin was wrong. My phone was refusing to call PNC and for some reason it wouldn’t send the text message to mom telling her to call me. On Wednesday, my stomach still hurt and when we went to the synagogue for Holocaust Memorial Day, I got really sick and almost fainted. It was really scary, but I learned there are a lot of very caring people in this program  Our director offered to call me a cab and send me home for the day, but I didn’t want to skip class and there was no one at home anyway, so I stuck it out and started feeling better. After class, I tried to find French classes to fit in my schedule but there were only 2 I could take and neither fit. Teresa gave me some herbal stuff to help with digestion, and it worked, so now I’m totally better. On Thursday, my phone still wouldn’t call PNC and my internet stick said I had reached my volume limit, though I had only used 5/10 hours, so I spent my lunch break at the Vodafone store. Internet key problem fixed, but the phone still wouldn’t call PNC, so after class I called from the CIEE office. I fixed the problem with my debit card—I had been trying to use my credit card instead, and didn’t realize it—and then I went home early. I spent most of Thursday night studying for our final exam on Friday…who wants to do that? But the exam went fine and I could look forward to Verona without any classwork looming over my shoulders. On Friday night, I came home early because no one was doing anything, and to kill some time I wrote post-cards and tried to find something on tv. AND I DID. I watched DOUG in Italian. It was amazing. Then I watched some of The District until it was dinnertime.
Saturday morning I woke up at 5:45 (WAY too early) and met at Hotel Carlton by 7. We caught the train on time, but missed the connecting one. It was ok, because there was a “Mexican” café next door and we got some breakfast. By “Mexican” I mean, it said “Mexican” on the door and there was a clock on the wall that also said “Mexican.” We arrived in Verona around 9:45 and after getting lost for the first 10 minutes, we found our way to some cool really old walls. We tried to go see Juliette’s tomb, but it was under construction, and I got yelled at for climbing into something to get a cool picture so we left. Our first real stop was the Roman Arena and it was the only place we paid to get inside of. We climbed to the top and it was TERRIFYING! There was nothing to keep you from falling hundreds of feet down the stairs to your death, and some of the stairs were very slippery. The view from the top was awesome though, but could have been even better if there wasn’t so much fog. Some little British boys were chasing each other around the top as if they were invincible and it was really cute. Then a whole group of them got on either end of the arena on balconies and yelled back and forth “I am the Emperor!” “NO, I am the EMPEROR!” Adorable.
With sore legs we trekked back outside and saw those statue-people posing for pics, but didn’t want to pay so we moved on toward another piazza. At the next piazza, there was a market going on and some of us bought masks for Carnivale. I didn’t find one I really liked (except a super-elaborate one that I didn’t even want to know how much it cost), so I’ll have to find one next week when we go to Bologna. They also had some cool glass, but I can get that in Venice when I go in a couple weeks. After the market we were starving again so we ate at a pizzeria (I actually had lasagne al forno) and then went to a church. They also wanted us to pay to go in, so we left. Behind the church was a gorgeous view of part of Verona across the river and a nice bridge. Again, it would have been better if it weren’t such bad weather, but maybe that just means I’ll have to go back. Next, we went to another church, left, and went to see Juliette’s statue and house. The wall with all of the love letters was crazy, but we didn’t leave any. We saw the balcony, but didn’t want to pay to get inside, so we just grabbed Juliette’s boobs and left (for those of you who don’t know, you’re supposed to touch the statue of Juliette’s breast and it will bring you luck in love.) We did stick around to read a little about the house and watch other people taking pictures with the statue. THAT I could do all day…some people were really funny about it…especially kids and old men.
Snack time! I got a delicious pastry from a bakery that was 2 sugar-cookie-like cookies, one with a heart cut out of it, with raspberry jam in between and part of it dipped in chocolate. INCREDIBLE. We did some shopping next and though I failed at finding leggings (a new adventure for this week) I did find a cool pair of brown boots that were only 15 euro and look really cute. They’re much more for style than practicality, so I might have to wait to wear them until it isn’t this cold. As we were shopping, we saw a ton of other good bakeries (pasticcerie) and panino places. I would go back just for the food. Unfortunately, I was still full from lunch and snack, so I didn’t get any more food. We got to the train station and I changed tickets because originally a few of us had planned to stay until 9, but we were tired and out of stuff to do so we wanted to go home around 5. We got tickets to Rovigo and then to Ferrara, and ended up saving money by changing tickets. Woo! The first train took FOR-EV-ER because we were the last stop. Finally “home” around 8, and I ordered pizza with some of the apartment crew then went home.
This morning I woke up at 7:30 (since I had been waking up then all week to get my lab hours) and it was snowing!!! I had used the bathroom and when I was going back to my room, Clara asked if I had seen the snow, so I opened my window and there it was!!! Yay! We both went back to bed, but when I woke up again at 9:30 it smelled like HEAVEN and I dreamed of pasticcerie until 10, when I went downstairs and had a nice warm piece of apple cake with apricot stuff in it too. I HAVE to learn how to make that. I also tried doing laundry this morning, and when I went downstairs to get my clothes, there was water in the bottom of the machine. I was really scared I had broken it, but Clara came down and tried to explain to me (this is what I think she said) that there had been too many things running at once, so it blew a circuit and the laundry was only half-way done. I had already taken my clothes out though and gotten the floor all wet, so now my slippers are soaked, but at least I didn’t break the lavatrice!