Meat, part two

Trip Start Mar 22, 2008
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Trip End Jun 23, 2008


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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Jaime got a bit of a two day birthday celebration, which of course she deserved in full!  Her second birthday dinner was once again fabulous.  Thanks to Melissa, who is quite skilled at making friends, our whole group was able to dine at a lovely place where we were treated like royalty, served much free wine and free dessert for the birthday girl.  Italians seem to be quite generous once you are in their good graces.  And every man in Italy seems to either want to marry Melissa or make her his daughter in law.  We are all just thrilled to be riding the Melissa train, because it comes with some excellent benefits (i.e. free food and drink and friendly people).  The best part about this meal was that I got to eat meat AGAIN.  I have now found roasted chicken and potatoes for 10 euros, which is actually quite a steal.

Side note on getting in on an Italian's good graces:  My "insalata lady" at the Campo de Fiori market smiled at me for the first time today.  It may sound like a small victory, but I have been buying salad from this woman several times a week for nearly a month now, and I have finally earned a smile.  I couldn't be more pleased.

Yesterday we were wandering around and ran into the enormous church of Santa Maria Maggiore.  It's a major architectural attraction here, and one we will be visiting on our class tours, but we decided to go in to check it out anyway.  Here's the most fascinating (and possibly most frightening?) thing about this church for me:  After being in this giant and spacious church for a matter of a few minutes, I began to feel nearly ill with claustrophobia and panic.  I think all the visual stimulation...seeing multiple people at the confessional booths, hearing a service in one of the chapels, watching many of the other (unidentifiable to me) rituals being performed in this church...I FREAKED OUT!  All I wanted was to get the hell out of that place.  Oddly enough, my heart is slightly racing with anxiety just writing about it.  Hmmm, analyze that.  Maybe my atheist grandparents would be proud??
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