Last night our director, Laura, had organized a thanksgiving dinner. It was at an Italian restaurant since our program was afraid of getting sued for food poisoning or something of the like. While we waited for the turkey to cook (which wasn’t a turkey. It was something gamier and really tasty) we had Italian appetizers. They kept bringing out plates of animal-prosciutto, meat balls, raw chunks of beef, etc. until Laura asked them to please bring some rabbit food. So then we got arugula, tomatoes, huge amounts of mozzarella and some roasted radicchio. They then brought out mashed half potatoes/half parmesan and gravy that was wanting of flour. The bird and stuffing were very good, and Laura brought cranberry jelly (a gift from her sister who recently visited). Ava and I made pumpkin pie, which wasn’t really. It was some kind of squash that had much more water than pumpkin when baked, and less flavor. It turns out that I bought the wrong flour for the crust, so after laborious efforts, the pie crust came out like one big biscuit. We just dug out the middle and added the pie filling anyway. It was very strange pie. We drank huge quantities of wine and Ava and I got very drunk. Overall the food experience was quite fun/funny.
The dynamics of the table were a little odd, but much better than I expected. Andrew, who is socially inept and condescending, was mostly quiet and very sweet. Jamie, well, Jamie and I got along. Michelle, a shell without any personality remained such (a side note on her: One of my Italian friends is completely enamored with this girl. He says things like, ‘When I’m with her the minutes seem like seconds, the hours seem like minutes, and I never want to leave’, or ‘I’ve never felt this way about a girl before’. *cringe* I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I think she is so bland. She once said that she didn’t want to go to UCSC because all the students there are _weird_. She is very typical, Santa Barbara-white girl-alcoholic.) Unfortunately, the people I wanted there were off in other places.
Today it snowed while I was walking to class. It’s so pretty! The temperature has been about 5 degrees consistently throughout the day. I am wearing tights, wool socks, boots, pants, a tank top, a shirt, cashmere sweater, wool sweater, a thick long coat, gloves, and a scarf. I only feel warm while I’m walking. I really need a hat, but beenies look stupid on me. I thought about buying one of those cheesy poofy fur hats, but they make my head look like a mushroom. My house is always 13.5 degrees, unless we turn on the heat. Unfortunately, the insulation is really bad, so the place is warm for only as long as we keep the heat on. Last night I was wearing pj pants, fleece pants, lined jogging pants, normal socks, wool socks, a long sleeve shirt, fleece top, a sweater and gloves and I was still pretty cold. My solution is to spend most of my day at Bocconi where it is heated and temperate. Getting dressed and undressed is such an ordeal, but I’m enjoying the new experience. In a week, I will probably be tired of it. Looking cute in cold weather is hard.
