Where do I begin? This week has been so long and crazy and amazing that I really don't know how I can do it justice in one blog entry. So it will probably be long. Tune out now if you aren't interested. First on Wednesday evening (of last week) two of our Italian friends, Claudio and Ricardo came over to cook for us. And let me tell you, all that you've heard about Italians being great cooks is true. They were pretty adamant about teaching our American friend Tyler how to cook so he can attract the American girls. They said that all Italian men are excellent cooks, but they stop as soon as they got married, and the only good women cooks they knew were their mothers and grandmothers. Disheartening, yes. But, I have a feeling that if I hooked a good lookin' cookin' Italian man, I could convince him to cook for me. Between that and Vivian, I'd be set for LIFE. And also 803203948 pounds, but that's okay. I talked about health care and journalism and censorship with one of them and we ate pasta and cheese (with honey and jam which is both traditional and surprising, but also SUPER DELICIOUS) and drank wine and drank wine and limoncello, and played some guitar. It was really nice. Thursday night the whole program went out to a nice Maceratese restaurant down the street from the school, where we had all eaten our first few days in Macerata. We celebrated Ginnie's birthday with Tiramisu and singing in Italian and English. She cried. On Friday we did more touring of Macerata, only this tour was more in depth. We climbed up the clock tower and from every angle you could see forever. The clock tower is the highest point in Macerata. You could see courtyards and cars and buildings and acres and acres of countryside and rolling hills. It was completely breathtaking. We also got to see the Teatro Lauro Rossi which was palatial but simplistic and felt immediately like home. It felt good to stand on a stage again, even if it was without a purpose. I miss performing like mad. I have some presentations this week in my theatre classes which is exciting, so that should fill that void...mostly... Anyway, the theatre was built during the renaisscance, maybe a little earlier, so there are boxes in the balconies for the richies, a duke's seat, and where the chairs are on the floor, was once only standing-room-only for peasants. One thing I'm totally devouring here is all the history. It's so wildly different than anything that exists in the states, even on the east coast. Old there is what the tour guides here call "relatively new." We also toured what used to be an old mansion belonging to one family until as late as the 1960's. It was gargantuan, frescoes EVERYWHERE! The ceiling in one huge room was painted with so many different Greek myths and characters it was hard for your eyes to focus. The entire building was a myriad of art. The bedrooms are aphrodisiacs, covered in paintings designed to incite lust. The next day we went to Cingoli, which is supposed to be the "Balcony of the Marche region" which is high up on a plateau and over looks the whole region. We saw some gorgeous churches and old art...but the best part for all of us was that, unlike Macerata, Cingoli is rich in TREES! We had a midday picnic in the park, sitting on carved stone steps, surrounded by big beautiful trees enjoying cheese, wine, bread, olives and all of those delcious Italian snacks. Sunday was a day of rest. Yesterday we toured a winery. I officially have a new goal. Marry a man who owns millions of acres of Italian vineyards, and happily make wine for the rest of my life. I'm not kidding, this place was wonderful. The grapes they use are just like candy and the wine is the tastiest I have ever had. This winery's wine is considered the best in Italy, and Italy has the best wines in the world. That means that I tasted and purchased two bottles of, the best wine in the world. Epic. We also saw some AMAZING ruins from the Roman era. There were frescos on the walls of this collapsed temple that date back to 1ad. Jesus couldn't even talk when these buildings were made. And the crazy thing is, that some of the structures are a hodge-podge of materials...used from other older structures! We also saw the remains of an ancient Roman Theatre. It was like a Theatre History 1 lesson came alive. Many of the seats are still there, and the altar. I could feel this ancient communion with all the thespian that came before (as nerdy as that sounds) and it was so powerful and all-encompassing and magical. I can't tell you how much I love it here. Every day is like reading a novel. Only it's my life.