I'm wearing a purple calcio shirt!

Hey yallziez!

Uffda. It's been one heck of a week and it's not even over yet!

Last weekend was spent shopping and reading. On Friday night, Manak and I ventured into the city in search of hoodies, coats, and sweatpants. We didn't find any of those. After a rough shopping excursion, we decided that instead of having Mensa (the cafeteria here at JFRC), we deserved some good old American fare. So we headed to the Perfect Bun restaurant downtown. It took a little bit to find, (good thing I have a photographic memory), but we finally made it. We were a bit early for dinner (6:30! oh no! blasphemy!) so we had to sit at the bar and order drinks before. But we both got great cheeseburgers and french fries. It was a cool place.

On Saturday we all once again headed out for some shopping. We were on the "Michigan Ave" of Rome (Via del Corso), and when we walked out of H&M, there was all of a sudden a parade down the street! Mind blowing. Italians are so random. I guess it was related to Carnivale, but anyway, it was people dressed up, and lots of horses, and confetti. Oh the confetti. They litteraly just threw it in your face. It was fun though. After shopping, we all went to a bar in Trastevere. We ended up at Mates, a pretty hip place if you ask me. I had my first Kamikaze(s). A very enjoyable drink if I do say so myself. The bar was very cool. Lots of italians, and lots of good music. We sat in this velvet booth thing with a table, and a curtain to boot! (Confession: I had accidentally typed "booty" but I changed it.) After the bar, we had to take a cab back as it was approx 2:30am. The guy tooootally screwed us over. He drove in a circle before actually going to JFRC, and then our total was 17.10 and I gave him a 20 but he only gave me 2 euro back. I wish I spoke more Italian so I could express my discontent.

Sunday. Oh Sunday. This day was great. It was sunny and warm, so I convinced Dana to come with me to read our book outside in the courtyard. It ended up that 4 other people from our class joined us, and we read the day away. We are reading a slightly (majorly) confusing and annoying book titled "The Silent Duchess" (I don't reccomend it, HUGE waste of time), so whenever one of us was confused about something, we would just ask the other what the heck was going on. Or we would tell eachother if it was actually worth it to read the next 10 pages or not.

I had my first Italian test on Monday!! I got a 50/50 even though I spelled Arrivederci wrong. I'll never forget it now though.

Tuesday! An uneventful day, I had class alllll day until 9.30 pm. In my film class we watched a 1946 movie about two boys who end up in jail together, and in the end, they get in a fight and one accidently kills the other. It was oh so uplifting. This came after last week'd movie where the dad killed himself. After the wonderful film, it was KARAOKE NIGHT!!!!!!!!! Karaoke night is one of the many activities that makes me love JFRC. 10.00 pm everyone gathered in the Cafe downstairs, and although it was called Karaoke, it ended up being more like a JFRC sing-along. There was even free beer provided by Loyola! They played such hits as "No Scrubs," Toto's "Africa," and Whitney's "I wanna dance with somebody." Along with the backstreet boys, brittney spears, and some Frank Sinatra thrown in there, it was a pretty magical evening.

Wednesday I only had one class and it was cancelled! Thank the Lord. It was my Architecture class. So instead of class, we planned the rest of our trips. All in all, we are going to: Madrid, Paris, Franfurt, London, Greece, Budapest, and Dublin. Uffda! and since it was Wednesday night, that means CALCIOOOOOOOOOO!!!! We got our t-shirts at dinner tonight, and because my high school soccer shorts already have the number 5 on them, I obviously got the number 5 on my tshirt! I am the only one with a full uniform! The Purple Nurples suffered a tough loss (2-1) but we will prevail next week. I had an assist with the Irishman! (who, by the way, was playing Irish jig music today in his room while I was showering. It was pretty great.) After the game we went to Angela's for pizza and beer. I want to play soccer this summer. High school sports really ruined it for me, but I love this.

As many of you know, I have a thing with older, or shall we say, Mature Women. Well, this gift didn't stay in the US! It came along with me to Italy. I now have a relaysh with Nella, the 70 year old woman who works with her husband Renaldo at the self titled Cafe "Renaldo's" downstairs. She always gives me the special, two nutella filled cornettos for 1 euro (a savings of 20 cents!) and the other day she brought our relationship to the next level by giving me pound cake completely free. She also asked for my name, and now she knows what I want at when I go. She looks good for 70, don't worry.

Well, that's all I really have to say for now. Time is flying here but I really do enjoy it, even if I don't enjoy Italian people all that much.

Ciao ragazzi. A doppo.