Wildest Dreams

I'm almost done with my bulk posts, so here's one more to cover everything Jack and I did during his stay here in Italia!

Those of you who have been reading along since last year know that Fridays are field trip days in our program, and week two brought us to Lake Garda. We started the day at the Vittoriale, where famous writer, poet, and the man credited with establishing the philosophical basis of Italian fascism, Gabriele D'Annunzio, lived for many years. We toured his house, which is full of 33,000 books and over 10,000 objects, then escaped into the more breathable gardens and explored the trails, waterfalls, streams, mausoleum, and of course the giant naval ship built into the side of the mountain. Professor Erspamer and the students were very excited to take our picture imitating the scene from Titanic, as well as to see the two of us go under the chilly waterfall. Prof took a nice picture of us and then yelled "Jack, act like you're saving her!" Hence the goofy picture...

After a meats and cheeses/pasta/tiramisù lunch and a celebration of Rebecca's 19th birthday (my students are officially younger than Mike, with a bunch of them born in 2005...!!!!!), we took the coach bus to the lakeside town of Sirmione and went on a little boat ride around part of the lake. The students lose their minds when we put them on a boat and play fun music, so it was loud and full of bathing suit-clad teenagers dancing and screaming. Note our faces in the picture we took on the boat: Jack looks concerned, I look fed up. Checks out.

The two of us practically ran off of the boat in our zeal to escape, and after a quick pit stop for fresh lemonade with mint leaves, we found a quiet spot on the lake to take a quick swim and cool off before getting gelato. These are the biggest "small-sized" gelati I have ever seen, but they sure hit the spot! We got back to the bus, herded the students on, bid our professor goodbye (he's up north this weekend with his wife, entertaining some friends from Rome), and drove back to Milan. We grabbed some pasta for a late dinner and were ready for bed soon after!

The comic highlight of the day was Jack looking at me at some point and saying with a little laugh: "babe, your sneakers stink." Apparently wearing the same pair of tennis shoes almost every day for the past six months, including all of my little morning runs through Boston, Minneapolis, and Milan, is not a good idea for people's noses. Oops. I'll work on it before I move into our apartment in August!

I took Jack back to the Milan airport Saturday morning, and he arrived back in MSP at around 12:30am Sunday morning my time. I'll miss him for the next seven weeks! Who else will steer me around puddles on the sidewalks, keep me from walking over grates, catch me when I trip over every uneven surface in the city, and hop around to step on every stepping stone in the apartment's garden?

Okay, I'm all caught up for now! Stay tuned for more chaotic adventures...