Amare la Vita Italiana: Meglio tardi, che mai

"Better Late Than Never"

Let me begin by saying that I AM SO SORRY! I know I am over a month behind on updating but it has been a crazyyy bunch of weeks for sure. Let me see if I can remember everything. Alright well back in September Katie, one of my roommates, and I decided to join the soccer club. We thought it would be a good way to stay active and make sure we kept off any extra weight all the amazing food here may bring along with it. The last Wednesday of September marked our first scrimmage. If you know me at all then you know I am not much of a soccer player. As a matter of fact the last real time I'd probably played soccer was back in kindergarten.... so needless to say I was a bit nervous. Turned out I had reason to be. We got divided on to 2 fields and lucky me ended up on the side with all the people who seemed to be playing for the World Cup. I decided to play defense, thinking it would be the safest position for me not to make a complete fool of myself. OH but don't worry I still managed to and I even had my own personal cheerleader who enjoyed pointing out my every mistake to the entire field. That's what teammates are for right? After that I can't say I was that thrilled to return the next week for our tournament. Thankfully these players were not as intense and I was able to actually enjoy myself. Having my "cheerleader" on a different team didn't hurt either haha. Although we didn't do the best in the tournament, it was a blast and now the scrimmages are a lot more fun. I even scored two goals last week! Never thought I'd rely on soccer to help raise my mood or relieve my tension but I'm definitely glad I decided to join. Hopefully these last few weeks go well, and I wouldn't be opposed to getting the opportunity to show up that cheerleader of mine either :)

Katie & I during the last tournament game!

Ok more catch up. The first Saturday of October our study abroad group got to take a cooking lesson! The combination of taking a cooking class and being forced to make my own meals here has really intensified my love for cooking so I get really excited for any chance to use my skills and try out new things. At this class we got to make Millefoglie Di Verdure (Vegetable Appetizer), Pasta Fresca all'Uovo con Tortelli di Patate e Ragu alla Bolognese (Fresh Egg Pasta filled with Potato Torelli and Meat Sauce), and finally for dessert Tiramisu! Talk about a delicious meal. There were 6 of us working together with the help of Chef Fabrizio. Fabrizio was a good teacher but any time someone would do something wrong he would give them a "what were you thinking?" look. However, he seemed to take a liking to me so whenever I was doing something he'd come over and just say Melissaaaaaaaa! I couldn't tell if that was his way of telling me I was doing it wrong or if he just liked my name but either way it made us all laugh. And by the end of the lesson the guy cleaning the table was even saying my name like that. It definitely made for an entertaining lesson and I can't wait to try out the recipes myself!
Here are a few pictures: