Okay, so I spent the last post pouring my little heart out, and through a few e-mails and a phone call from a fabulous Emily Tully (no big deal), I feel a lot better. In my last post I mentioned a few jobs I have been turned down from that I had wanted, to establish the fact that this is a pattern in my life. My mother decides to cheer me up by writing an e-mail that goes something like this, "Annie, Annie, Annie, you left out sooooo many other things you didn't get that you wanted. Remember all-state? Remember that scholarship you applied for with the trip to D.C?" Remember exhibit c, d, e and so on. It helped me laugh, because in reality, none of those things really mean all that much any more (if anything at all.) So yeah, five year test, this job in Sardinia won't matter in the least. Thanks, Mom.

The good news is I got a job! The Washington School here in Rome took me on without even a formal interview (when I met the guy, who is a very charming Brit named Steve) he had an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth the entire time we talked, and he also told me that it'd be okay to miss a class due to a hangover when it comes right down to it, all I have to do is call ahead. Sweet! (Don't worry Mom and all you other moms who are reading this, I wouldn't be that irresponsible, but it's nice to know the option is there.) I also found a place to live, but unfortunately can't move in until November 6th, but that's small potatoes compared to how great this place is for how cheap the rent is. I'll be living about two blocks from the main train station in Rome, which means getting around the city will be a cinch. The apartment is spacious without feeling vacant, we've got a pullout sofa (so guests are welcome), a HUGE kitchen, and a large terrace with it's own dining set-up. My friends and I who will be moving into the apartment are very excited, for two of them it means I'll be getting off of their bedroom floor, where I am currently sleeping. Ah, c'est la vie.

Last night I ate dinner at an Italian family's house, and it was soooooo good. I really need to befriend more Italians who want to have me over for dinner because a) the food is way better than you would find in any restaurant in the entire city, and b) because it gives me a chance to work on my Italian outside of orddering things and asking questions in shops. I like being able to say, "Oh yeah, I read that book. What did you think about it? Parts of it were a little preachy?" And so on and so forth. The food was amazing, and there were about six dishes, even though I only made it to number three before I was almost Thanksgiving full, and definitely Grammie's house full, when the food is sooo good and I don't know when I'll be getting it again, so I throw all caution to the wind and dig in. The first dish was lasagna. Delicious lasagna, a huge plate full, yum. The second dish was a crepe stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach, with a parmesan cheese sauce on the top, scrumtrelescent. The third dish was meat, I'm assuming some sort of sausage. That was also good. It was here that my eyes started lolling back in my head, the wine had taken it's toll, and I was ready for 17 hours of sleep, knowing I wouldn't have to eat for the next 5 days. But oh no, the food kept coming. Next we had tomatoes covered with slices of mozzerella and drenched in olive oil, a personal favorite, accompanied by an egg confection with spinach and cheese, somewhat like a quiche, but cut like a jelly roll. THEN there were loaves of bread, like, one loaf per person. This was followed by more wine, and a fabulous dessert of a halved peach with a scoop of ice cream drenched in caramel sauce. My God it was good. We topped it off with a drink made of green apples, limes and grain alcohol, that was one to keep a stomach warm on a cool winter's night, but very tasty too. So yeah, I'm not going to have to eat for a long time, that's the problem with Italian food, after five or six days you're hungry again. I'm sorry to have gone into such detail on this meal, but it's seriously one of the best ones I've had in Europe, and I need to have some sort of recorded memory of it, thanks for reading.

And of course, there are the embarassing moments I've been stumbling into lately. One day my friend Lindsey and I were at the grocery store, and when the clerk greeted her with a 'Buonasera' (meaning 'good evening') Lindsey, thinking she had asked if she had the coupon card or whatever, looked up and answered, "Uh, no." The clerk smiled, I laughed, gave Lindsey hell over it, and giggled the memory into my heart. A few weeks ago I went to the supermarket after a nap, and as the clerk slurred 'Buonasera', I shook my head no, and said, "I don't have one." That's right, I don't have good evenings, SO DON'T YOU DARE MUTTER THAT TO ME AGAIN!!!!! She did a double take, smiled much the same way she had with Lindsey, and I felt like a doofus. Go me.

The other situation involved Chiara, a really cool girl who is teaching with some of my friends at Berlitz. We were at a bar the other night, doing the whole 'get to know ya' thing, and she asked what I went to school for. I was already having a hard enough time hearing her, as her voice was the perfect pitch to disappear into thin air and not actually make it across the table to my ears. I responded French and Italian, and so she said something to me in French, as it's one of her four languages or whatever, and I completely missed what she said, so I just did the smile a nod thing, and I could tell something was missed, but the moment to go, "Wait, what?" had passed, so I just let it go. Later on I said something in French and she looked at me and said, "Wait a minute, so you DO speak French, awesome!" Oh, 10 minutes later, I understand the smile and nod question....fantastiiiic.