Italian things

I'm sitting in studio, not wanting to work on the stuff we've been assigned. So instead I am writing a blog. We have to measure and draw out the floor plan for the painting & mixed media studios downstairs because this is going to be our plan for our lighting showroom we have to design. I seriously feel like this is sophomore year...I was just informed how to make a section cut. And basically how to measure. And we are hand drafting the whole thing, and later, hand rendering. Good thing I brought my computer, right. Our last project was a technical drawing of a light fixture to scale...wow...my portfolio is just really going to shine after this semester. No computer rendering, and a lamp. OK I think that's enough bitching for the moment :) Now that that's out of my system.

I just went and got gelato as an assignment for my Italian class. Now that's some homework I don't mind. Our studio is located right in the Jewish ghetto (not the bad sort of ghetto..just where the Jews used to live) (and still live). There is a McKosher down the street that has hamburgers, fries, and such. And falafel! I got some falafel there the other day from the man in the yarmulke. It was really good.
Usually I bring a lunch to class (sandwich, salad, fruit and such) but there are days where I grab a cheap sandwich from my favorite place.. Bar del Cappuccino. Tomato and mozzarela or pastramie. Very tasty! I realized I cannot function without having tomatos in the fridge at all times. And cheese. And bread. And some sort of fruit. Almost every meal involves olive oil & balsamic vinagrette. Sarah even bought a little basil plant- appropriately named "Basil." Kind of makes me miss Herb, the little tree we had in our apartment last year :)

Our kitchen is kind of cute. We have two stoves/ovens. Apparently one didn't work so instead of replacing it, they just stuck a new one in front of it. It's a gas stove and gas oven, so we have to turn on the gas and manually light the burners. It was weird at first but now second nature. Our washing machine is slightly ghetto as well. It takes 2 hours to do a load and we have drying racks since we have no dryer. I am trying to get used to that feeling of crunchy pants after they dry :/ And whether it is the wash or the sink or the toilet, sometimes our showers are freeeezing. I'm not sure if we share water heaters with our neighbors, but you know it will be a good day if you get a warm shower.

Speaking of the shower, we have (had) a cleaning lady that would come once a week. She has only come twice so far and we have already gotten her fired. She was rifling through our belongings and stealing from us. A lot of our drawers had been gone through (she's not allowed in the bedrooms) and a few minor things have been stolen as well as shampoo etc used. I think she uses our loofas and towels and sponges to clean the shower and whatnot. We were warned about this beforehand so we hid these items in our closets. Some of them had still been used. She even got on our apartment computer and signed into Skype. Alas, she is no more. We can clean our own damn apartment thanks!

Last night we went on a pub crawl starting at the Spanish Steps. It was pretty fun and one of those things that you must-do once. We got a free T-shirt, free drinks for the first hour, etc. And met some cool people (and some weirdos but what bar in the U.S. wouldn't you meet weirdos? It's inevitable). We walked seriously though for miles that night. To the Spanish Steps, to the bars, and back home. I had a good time and a work out! My feet are loving me today. Oh! And at the first bar, they had the Brewer game on....live. And they were playing the Cubs! Sarah & Liz (cubs fans) and me (brewer fan) were like whaaaaattttt! Good thing, Brewers won :)

I am SO glad it is the weekend. We are going to check out the market this Sunday and hang around Rome. And unfortunately spend some long hours at studio. This week went fairly fast though, so that was nice! And we're having a family dinner at the apartment tonight...ravioli I believe :)

And lastly, I think it is definitely worth mentioning that today is my 5 years with Nate! :) It feels so weird to be away from him. We are going to try and set up a Skype-date tonight. We can talk and I can have a midnight snack and he can...idk..not eat. Almost like a candle-lit dinner. Hey, we can try. And it also means that there are exactly 3 months minus 1 day until I finally see him! May was such a long time ago!

Well I hope you are all having an enjoyable day. It's time for me to go to Italian class. Happy 5 years Nate!

CIAO TUTTI!!!