Great friends, family, Rome and Sno

I went to Rossana's jewelry shop (mom's good friend) today..finally! They were happy I came. First, it was just Rossana and then Luana (her daughter) came out. I attempted to speak to them in italian/english for a bit, they opened mom's gift and card (which they loved), and then Arturro came out from the back as well. It was hard to communicate because Rossana and Arturro do not know english but Luana knew a little so she was able to translate some. Arturro said "your mom speaks italiano, why not you?" He said that in Italian and I actually understood him! He was just giving me a hard time, he was fun and they were all so nice. They said all of mom's children are so beautiful. Arturro loves my dad, and also kept asking about him and Justin. At first I thought it was weird when they asked about Justin but then it all clicked when they said they remember him when he was so small. I forgot he was there when he was 3 years old and they have met him before. It's always nice to meet people that mom grew up with because every time I mention her name their face lights up and they yell GIUSTINA and always give me a big hug and kiss. Their shop is closed for the next 10 days for remodeling, but when Tamara is here for the weekend we will be meeting up with them-I'm sure we will go to dinner or something like that.

Luana and Arturro

Luana, Arturro and Rossana in

their jewelry shop

Rossana and Arturro

Yesterday I took another cooking class with Chef "thanks god" Andrea. He is so fun to cook with, I like him a lot. There were only 3 people in the class: Maggie, another girl, and I. It was a "vegetarian" menu and we went to the fresh food market in Campo Di Fiori to get our ingredients. We cooked enough food for 15 people so we all got to take home leftovers after we ate. It was nice to get to eat all different kinds of vegetables, it made me feel healthy again and was a good break from pasta. We had a pumpkin soup for our first course which was DELICIOUS!! it was my favorite course that we made. Second, we made spinach risotto which was good and then we had ratatouille. I never had ratatouille before and all I could think of was the mouse movie. Ratatouille is basically a mix of vegetables cooked in the oven with oil and bouillon. It was a fun experience and he gave us the recipes to take home.

Chef Andrea with the pumpkin soup

Spinach Risotto

Ratatouille before it was cooked, so colorful!

Me, Maggie, and I wish I could remember her name- mixing up the vegetables...

We were not posing. at all.

Maggie with the finished product of Ratatouille

My friend sarah is here from back home and we finally got the chance to get together (she lives near Vatican City so it's kind of a hike to get to eachother's places). She is studying abroad here in Rome for half a semester through St. Ben's/St. John's (in St. Cloud) and then goes to Greece for the remaining part of the semester (if all works out..hopefully I can visit her when she is there! I would LOVE to go to Greece). She is traveling with a large group of students from her school as well, around 30 people. We met for wine in Piazza Navona which is absolutely beautiful at night!! It was fun to meet some of her friends from school too.

Sarah and I

Tay's in Germany....I am impatiently waiting for her arrival here in Rome! I got a message from Teresa (my aunt) on facebook that her and Ross (my uncle) are in Rome this weekend. what a nice surprise!! I get to see them tomorrow. We are planning to meet in Piazza Navona and get some lunch..hopefully I can take them to meet mom's cousins and also see my apartment/school. I can not wait to see family!!

That's all folks. I will continue to update.

baci! xoxo

-Sno