catching up: calcio and cooking class

So this post is going to be a compilation of some of the things that have happened in the past couple of weeks that haven't been included in my other posts.

Calcio:
I may have mentioned it briefly, but some of the US study abroad programs - including AEF - here in Florence are part of a calcio (Italian football = soccer) league. Games are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays but we usually only have 1 or 2 games a week. Games are played on a small turf field about the size of a tennis court and consist of two 15 minute halves with 5 players from each team playing at a time (including the goalie).

Almost everyone in my program comes to the games: both to play but also to support and have fun! We've won 1 game and tied 1 (out of about 6 total) but we are definitely improving and I, at least, am having a blast playing! It's no field hockey, but it's helping keep me in some sort of shape so that once I get home I won't have as much work to do to get ready for pre-season in August (at least that's the goal).

We have our last two games the week after Spring Break, but I think there's a championship after that, so depending on how our other games go will decide whether we get to play more. It's a great way for our group to bond and come together even more than we already were.

Cooking Class:

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to participate in an Italian cooking class. We had to pay for it, but the school organized it through a local cooking class-school that caters to tourists and students etc. We spent a few hours making four dishes and then got to eat it! It was so much fun and I ate some of everything (even though I'm a picky eater and didn't care for some of it).


We made an eggplant, potato, cheese, dish for the appetizer

The main course consisted of two different pasta dishes

Ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta

homemade egg noodles with tomotoes

and then dessert was tiramisu!

It was a fantastic night filled with food and friends!

I think that's pretty much everything that's happened - that I haven't already posted about. Tonight the whole group is getting together for a pot-luck dinner before we all head off on our Spring Break adventures. Tomorrow I head off to England with Sam for about 5 days, and then Wednesday we'll head to Amsterdam to meet up with the rest of the group before they head off to Barcelona, leaving me, Sam D, Sam S, and Amy to explore Amsterdam for about 3 days.

I'll return to Florence Sunday, April 7 in the morning, which will give me a day or so to relax etc. before classes start up again. I'm not bringing my computer with me, so I'll post again when I get back in about 10 days!

Happy Easter!