hung out to dry in the rain

this weekends had its ups and downs.
first the good stuff;
i rode rollers for the first time. but wait, that's not the best part.
i didnt fall off once!
HAH! take that physics, you pansy! i defied you!

second, Alex, cameron and I had a lovely saturday night dinner with Manlio, Marco, Fabio, Rico and Paolo. Manlio invited us (the unh group) to have dinner with his friends and we all accepted, through Alex; he was the point man in this one.

Manlio is a local fellow, that heard that there was American students in Ascoli and wanted to practice his english. at lunch with alex last thursday, he extended this invitation to us.

we had spaghetti, sausages and pork chops. the meat was cooked in the fireplace and was simple but delicious! when the sausage was cooking, it smelled just like a summertime barbeque!

then, for 'dessert', we had roasted chestnuts. we, the americans, had never eaten these, so it was quite a treat. however it was a total shock for our hosts, to hear that we had never eaten them before.

interesting fact: chesnuts, in antiquity, were called the flour of the poor because that was the main staple of the lower class diet in the ascoli area. neat, huh?

Our italian friends were eager to talk to us about what we liked; food, politics, movies, girls, more food, etc. they were also very curious about american history, our thoughts about american diversity, our university system and how we pay for it (for years on end...) [this was hard to explain and even harder for them to understand].

they were even curious about the finer point of our language, which was fun to explain and listen to them try to pronounce. "Che é la differenza fra putana e spiaggia?" (figure it out on your own.)

like always, i was the official translator and talked the most. alex was quiet, and answered things when he was directly addressed. Cameron did really well, for only having 2.5 months of italian lessons in his entire life. he used the words and congugations that he knew, which i thought was really great.

by the time the conversation, the wine and the chesnut were finished it was 1:30 am!

it was a great night.



now for the stuff that pissed me off. okay, the one thing:
i have lost alot of faith in american college students.
as i mentioned, alex was the point man for our dinner with Manlio.
everybody (accept for benb-c he was in finland) agreed go to the dinner party.
then at the last minute -by last minute i mean, as Marco arrived and introduced himself, as we were all standing in the rain- they all decided not to go.
they couldnt seem to see acouple of different things: we were in a group of seven, wildebeasts understand this theory, why can't college students figure it out, didnt you clowns sitt through all those boring SHARRP presentations?; italians by nature are a hospitable race, they like to entertain and extend courtesy; Dianna, more or less, 'interviewed' Manlio, when he came in to the office she talked with him in order to ascertain his intentions; this was a good experience to meet some locals.
the list could go on and on. but mostly, alex, cameron and i looked like sacchi di figura di merda b-c the other clowns bailed on us. i said this to Marco -i even used that exact phrase which got a laugh out of him (i guess it was a good start for me)- and he said it was nothing, that it wasnt a problem but still i felt like an ass. i was very dissapointed that people, particularly college students, a group of people thought to be the most liberal, carefree, adventurous demographic, could be this cowardly!

if anyone going abroad reads this (i know who you are), i have a piece of advice for you;
don't hang out with UNH kids. dont do it. make friends, spend time with italians. spend time with anyone but UNH kids. you can hang out with them when you get back to campus. youre not here to hang out with your roommates. meet people, meet italians or go home.
or they might hang you out to dry like i have described.

to quote ryan carney; "shit's weak".