Well, Alex has left me. This is sad.
But, before he left, we got to experience a traditional meal at an Italian household. First, we stopped for some pastries.
We ate pasta with mussels.
It was sooooooooooooooooo good.
After lunch, we had our first cheese course. I have to say, I didn't realize how literal a cheese course is. Seriously, you eat hunks of cheese after the main course. It's pretty great.
And guess what! They have Philadelphia cream cheese in Italy. Whenever I say that I live near Philadelphia, I'm questioned about our cream cheese. But, there aren't any bagels here. It's a bit of an oxymoron for me.
And I introduced the family to chocolate chip cookies. It wasn't my best work (they don't appear to have brown sugar here), but I think it turned out well.
I've been seriously craving cookies since being here. Italian sweets are great, but there's definitely a big difference between American dessert and European dessert.
After Alex left, I decided to drown my sorrows by going shopping.
I bought a used bike! I'm constantly worried that it will be stolen. I'll just keep my fingers crossed.
Actually, I might buy a second lock and be that paranoid American that takes 10 minutes just to lock or unlock her bike. I'm cool with that.
And then I got 12 euros worth of fruit. After realizing how much I spent, I realized I should probably make the fruit last. This is difficult, seeing as I could have finished it all in one day.
The market had one of my favorite kinds of apple: stayman. Mmmmmmmm.
And despite being surrounded by all this delicious food, a bowl of rice krispies once in a while can be very comforting.
Finally, I received my first letter. Please feel free to mail me a card. As the title says, I'm all alone and could use some form of company.
-Meri
