domenica

Sundays usually aren't very eventful at Wake for me, so yesterday was definitely a new experience. I tried to go to a local prayer service in English with the Beets family, Robert, and Mallory, but the service was actually in Padova (Mr. Beets misread the info on the bulletin). So, the bulletin indicated that there was an English service at a church near Rialto, which is a bit of a hike, but the service wasn't set to start for another hour. We hiked over, found what we thought was the proper place, then went to get some coffee. When we went back and sat in the church, we realized there were nuns and a bulletin in Italian (not to mention the Italian we could decipher made it appear Catholic). Mallory asked the priest what the story was and he let us know that we needed to go across the square to a different church for the service in English. The service ended up being almost 100% in Italian and it was evangelical Lutheran.....I'm 100% Catholic, so not only was it not exactly up my ally in general, but it was in Italian so I couldn't even understand what was going on! It wasn't completely awful, but I think I"ll definitely find a Catholic church nearby where I can at least listen to the Italian and know what's going on based on having gone to mass in English my whole life.

Later in the day, Jessica, Julie, Tristan, Allie, Mallory, and I met Mallory's friend Mateo in St. Mark's square so we could catch a big ferry boat to the mainland and go to his intramural volleyball game. We were early for the ferry, so we were lured into a temporary carnival type area where everyone bought funnel cakes and crepes. I really wanted a crepe, but was last in line, but Mateo kept insisting that we had time. So, I ordered one and as the lady was making it, Mateo yelled to us from the dock to hurry. Sure enough, Tristan, Mal, and I ran full speed but still got there to see the rest of the group watching the ferry leave. I felt absolutely awful for causing us to miss the ferry (and maybe the game) all for a stupid crepe. But, we got on the next one, which left 1/2 an hour later, and still met Mateo's friend Frank pretty much on time on the mainland. We got to the rec center with plenty of time for the teams to warm up, then they played 4 games...Mateo and Frank's team pretty much dominated the other team, so that was exciting, and it was nice to see something so "normal" after being completely surrounded by tourism for a solid week. Then Mateo and Frank drove us to a pizzaria, where we ate the best pizza (I got Diavola...which is pepperoni, but means devil, and it really was spicy). Mateo and Frank paid, which was really, really nice of them (maybe they did it to make up for their terrifying driving?!). Then, after a precarious ride and car dance party on the way back to the ferry, we got on the boat and came home to get some sleep before our first Monday of classes.

It was pretty hard to get up and get ready in time to tutor Mary Grace, the Beets' daughter, in Latin. I have forgotten so much Latin and I feel like she'll be teaching me more than the other way around, so I hope the Beets don't hate me by the end of the semester! Then came our first real Italian 153 class, which is intense since he doesn't let us speak ANY English, but he was relatively laid back and was teaching us the words for different types of beer, different types of priests/preachers/etc, so it was at least interesting and somewhat useful. I hit the meat/cheese shop during my free hour to get more turkey for lunch and some milk. I really need to go to the grocery, but we don't finish class until 4ish today and then I have a group meeting, so, turkey will have to tide me over. It's supposed to start raining soon and keep raining for approx. 5 days, Allie told me, so I'm not sure if I'll find the energy to even leave Casa Artom if we have acqua alta!