Jesus H. Christ on a Vespa

I will never understand the Italian school system and the students' attitude towards it. On one hand it is really hard and whatnot and everyone freaks out, but then we just randomly don't go to school...The official schedule is wonky enough, what with festas [that is holidays, not parties] all over the place, and rotazione [because my school is too big for its building, each class has a day they don't go to school- ours is Wednesday], but then sometimes we [that is, Dani, myself, Grazia, and Angela] don't go to school, even when there is school to be gone too. I'm not at all sure why, I think sometimes it is 'cause they didn't do the homework, and then there was that one day that we went to Caserta...but then on Friday we didn't go, and I asked Gra why, and the best reason I got was "When we feel like/want to go to school, we do. When we don't, we don't." Huh. They don't even pretend to be sick or anything!! We took the bus back from Maddaloni, then sat around Gra's house drinking cappuccinos and watching Extreme Makeover [got-DAMN those people sure did need that!]...and then me and Dan went home and watched...a cooking show on TV. It was actually quite exciting! When we got there they were making Chocolate Chip cookies [Ha! They do have chocolate chips here! Take that, ASS3-slash-B3C!], and then there was this cooking competition with a red dude and a lady against a green dude and a lady. They were given certain ingredients [different for each team] and then given a brief amount of time to think of an idea for a complete meal [appetizer, main dish, and dessert], which they then had to execute in 20 minutes. I was actually quite impressed, though the team I was rooting for [the red team] didn't win. But yeah, it was a weird day. And they we didn't have school on Saturday 'cause it was a festa.

There actually was a festa, a party, on Saturday: Carmen, Alex's hostsister, was turning 15, and, of course, had a birthday bash. Oh, yet another thing I didn't understand: so, in the beginning, we were all going to go to the party, me, Dan, Gra, Angi, and Anna. And then, under an hour before we was a-gonna depart, they told me that they weren't going, but I was. I was provided with an explaination that didn't really make too much sense, and, as far as I know, they ended up watching the OC in my room all evening. But I went to the party [armed with a collective gift (they're really big on them here, where everyone puts in a fiver or a tenner and someone goes and buys a bigger gift from a bunch of people) and a carefully rehearsed excuse for the absence of the other girls], and it was actually quite fun.

There weren't that many people there, but Carmen's house [apartment, really] is smallish, so it was a good number. All the Americans [and Annette, the Canadian] were there, and a bunch of Carmen's friends and relatives. We danced a little, but I was tired, and they kept playing the same [not very long] CD over and over again. There was some pretty good food...the pizza was mediocre, but for the first piece or two I was SO HUNGRY that it was possibly one of the most delicious things that I had ever eaten.

There were four different cakes. Well, cake-ish things. There were two crostatas, one with chocolate and one with jam, a chocolate cake that was the closest I've seen to American cake in a while [which was DELICIOUS], and a freaking huge baba [this Neopolitan speciality]. I wasn't too crazy about the baba, as it tasted a little too much of rum for my taste. Plus the pastry/cakeish part had the signature dampness that I have found prominent in many Italian and Mexican pastries, something that I daresay I dislike.

I returned home at 11:30, watched the O.C. for a few hours, and went to bed. Now I am going to English class.

Being a good student,
Bee Electric