Ah, Memories!

Buona Giornata!

My apartment has just emptied for the first time in some 6 days. I have been visited by no less than 4 dear friends in the last week. It has been so great to see everyone, each from a different aspect of my life and different periods.

First, Lauren M. a dear friend from my riding days (she took me under her wing when I was about 15) came to stay from Wednesday to Friday of last week. We talked, we laughed, SHE cooked, and we ate. It was so nice to be able to recount some of our old horse-day stories and remember some of the crazy characters that were a part of everyday life of the circuit. She is currently back on the road, heading I believe to Berlin for the film festival next. So exciting!

Then two of my friends from Wisconsin, Lauren F. and Sally G. always visited from Rome, where they JUST began their study abroad sememster. They arrived early Friday morning, and we immediately began a thorough walking tour of the city. Beginning with the Duomo and ending high above the city at Piazzale Michelangelo and with many museums and churches in between. We were later joined by one of my closest friends from home, Claire P. who has lived in Rome and is a major source of information on Italian living. It was great to be able to be able to introduce these newcomers to Italy to someone with so much experience and knowledge about their new home in Rome.

We spent the rest of the weekend touring the city, doing a lot of shopping (I got new boots on sale and I am over the moon!), and heading out at night to some of my favorite haunts including Moyo and Kakuya on Via de'Benci. We ate out at my favorite restaurant Osteria de'Benci (on the same street, highly recommended, see past posts) and then last night we tried a Spanish/Latin restaurant called Salamanca which would have been fabulous had the service not been so horrible we absolutely refused to say Thank You by the end of the meal!

So my house has been emptied, and now I look at my Datebook for the first time in about a week and realize that I have 4 huge projects coming up and will probably never see any of my friends again unless they visit me at a library!

Off I go then, back to the end of the 15th century to my boys Sandro and Mike*. While I immerse myself in the idioms and genius of the Italian Renaissance, my brother continues to watch history in the making in Bolivia, and my mother ventures beyond the common trail to research new ways to aid AIDS/HIV victims in Ghana with the Jewish Foundation. I can not say how proud I am of my family, and how incredible each of these opportunities really is.

I hope everyone is doing well, and please continue with the emails and updates. I am now starved once again from news from home and those abroad!

Baci,
That Girl in Europe

*Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo