CARNIVALE!

Sunday, February 27

Carnival was wild. The streets were flooded with thousands of people in masks down to get their crazy on.

Something about wearing a mask, even one that doesn’t cover your whole face, makes people act even stranger than usual… that and way too much drinking.

Both of these things were running rampant in Venice on Sunday. 

We fit right in and had a fabulous time. I don’t know where to begin to describe this day.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here you go…

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

FIN.

Orvieto, Italy

Saturday, February 26

This Saturday we went to Orvieto. The bus left the train station early in the morning. We were under the impression that the weather was going to be in the 40s and relatively sunny. We were sorely mistaken. It was cold, cloudy, and no bueno. Molly was asked repeatedly if she was cold… just some advice, if you’re cold and the person next to you has on less clothing than you, don’t ask them if they are cold. Chances are they are just as cold if not colder than you and you will undoubtedly look like an ass for pointing it out.

In an attempt to hide from the weather, Maggie, Molly, and I ducked into every café possible during our guided tour. I think we had a total of five cappuccinos that afternoon.

Hopped up on caffeine, we got a little bit loopy in the caves our tour took us to. The guide was telling us all about the thousands of pigeonholes carved into the cave walls. These holes were there so the pigeons would go down into the cave, get comfy in a little hole, and the people would snatch them up and eat them for dinner. Sounds like the pigeons need to step their game up… I’d like to know who has the bright idea to keep hanging out in a cave where everyone keeps getting eaten.

Anyways, I started telling our group that Maggie’s grandmother lives in Puerto Rico and still uses this pigeon hunting method. I’m not sure if our group just doesn’t know me well enough or that the story seemed too bizarre to make up, but they believed every word! Silly ISA students…

Side note, we saw this in the gift shop and thought of the one and only teenage Mr. Louie Lopez.

We also got a little trigger-happy with Molly’s camera and took some of the stupidest looking photos of ourselves to date. I still have enough dignity not to publish them to this blog… which I am SURE is being flooded with visitors.

After the caves, my day took a significant turn for the better...

I SAW CAT’S OTHER ITALIAN COUSIN.

This time, I even got to pet him!

What a purrrrrfect addition to my already fabulous day.

As if that wasn't wonderful enough, we also saw a pack of golden retrievers in the square outside Orvieto’s beautiful duomo.

Molly was especially enthused by the goldens and we had a mini photo shoot!

RIP Cody, so much love.

While waiting for the bus to leave, we decided to grab another unnecessary cappuccino. This cafe had two of those little rides that you put a coin in and they rock back and forth. I decided I wanted to go on one.

Worst decision ever. I sat down, put the coin in, and nothing happened. Convinced it was broken, I stood up.

Wellllllllll, to my surprise, the damn thing starts rocking back and forth. I sit back down. It stops. I get up. It goes.

Needless to say, my ego was bruised and I was full of self-loathing.

On the bright side, it wouldn’t move when my little teacup of a friend Maggie sat on it either... that made me feel a little better.

Whatever kind of cruel weight limit is on that thing needs to be changed. Some of us big kids still like to go on rides.

Cooking Class!

Friday, February 25

Oh geez, I think we have been branded the "girls that are always late". I can't say I'm surprised, but that doesn't help the sting of my humiliation.

Picture this, Maggie and Meghan snuggled on the pull out couch watching Jersey Shore leisurely awaiting 3:30pm when they will meet a group in Piazza de la Signoria for a cooking class. Its 3:15pm and Maggie and I are informed by Amanda that everyone is standing around waiting for us.

What?! Waiting for us?? We have 15 more minutes to get downstairs! Wrong. So wrong.

Apparently the email said the cooking class STARTED at 3:30pm but we were all to meet in the piazza at 3pm to walk there together. Oh, details....

We ran out the door and downstairs to meet a very forgiving group. I made an empty promise to share my dessert with everyone to thank them for waiting... yeah, not happening.

The cooking class was too fun!

I was at a table with Maggie, Amanda, and Liz. Chef Alessandro, like the Lady GaGa song, was our teacher for the night. He was pretty funny and full of sexual innuendos. The expression, "that's what she/he said" was used way too often.

First, we made tiramisu. I separated the eggs and added sugar to each bowl. Maggie beat the whites and Liz did the same for the yolks.

Then Liz added the mascarpone cheese and folded the sugary egg whites into one big bowl to finish the cream. Coffee and brandy soaked lady fingers were layered into little cups with the cream. Dusted with cocoa powered, the little masterpieces were put into the fridge to set.

Second, we made an eggplant appetizer. These things are delish! Potato, zucchini, oregano, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil

and cheese stacked between layers of eggplant… yum. Just the other night, I made these for our friends before going out. They are really simple, but look impressive.

Finally, we made stuffed ravioli… from scratch! Combining flour and eggs we began to knead the pasta dough then fed it through a machine to flatten it. Once flattened, we cut the sheet of pasta with this cute little wavy pizza cutter and filled the pockets with a typical Florentine spinach and ricotta mixture.

I was pretty impressed with our group; our pasta was fabulous! The finished product was then plated and covered with a buttery sage sauce and served hot.

Alessandro agreed when we asked if we were the best group.

Honestly, I’m not surprised.

Manon Lescaut

Thursday, February 24

I went to my very first Italian Opera tonight. Well, my first Opera in general... Italian or not.

My class and professor, a 27 year old Italian whose English is sub par and communicates mostly with smiles and head nods, went to see Manon Lescaut performed at a local opera house. I want so badly to say I loved it; that it was so beautiful and I am a cultured genius of the arts. Honestly, I could barely hear them and when I did I had no freakin' clue what they were saying. It didn't help that the subtitles above stage were all in Italian. The performers were very talented singers and had pretty costumes, that's all I can confidently say about it.

During intermission, two girls in the class and I went to get cappuccinos and chocolate bars at the bar downstairs. The cappuccinos were delicious but we lost track of time and ended up missing the beginning of the third act. As we raced back to our seats, the ushers stopped us and said we could not disturb the audience by going in late. This lady clearly did not understand we were students surrendering our Thursday night for a class field trip... was this an invitation to leave? Nope, quite the opposite. This was an invitation to follow her to a lower level private box.

Our new seats were fabulous... and way more comfortable. The three of us spread out in the comfy box with an Italian couple that could have hidden their lack of enthusiasm to see us a little better. I think the rustle of our candy bars and glowing Blackberry backlights bothered them the most.

Experiencing the Opera from our new seats felt like a whole different ball game. We could see their facial expressions, hear them clearly, and pick up on the subtleties of the performance.

Upgrade! Lovez it!