let me introduce you...

I was talking with my friend yesterday as we took a break from homework (alright, yesterday I didn't really do homework... or much of anything, but I was taking a break from lounging around in my apartment) and I realized that I always just talk about "my friends" on here instead of giving them names. Which, I must say, would have been a whole lot easier. I'll introduce you guys a little around town too.

"This is Deanna. We have been attached at the hip since we arrived." (She literally told me to write that, so I'll just quote her on it.)

She also really wanted me to post this picture on my blog.

This is Deanna when she is not impersonating an eskimo.

This is the cooking class crew, more-or-less (with aperitivi in hand... after we finished cooking, of course!):

Left to right: (front) Deanna, Alyssa, Gianna, Claire; (back) me, Cara, Meredith, Cait

(Balebuste cooking classes were also the place I discovered the wonders of Italian fruit juice. They're almost as thick as milkshakes and taste like the actual fruit! I'm gonna miss my peach juice.)

This is the last cooking class group, which almost everyone came to because we made dessert.

Left to right:  (front) Gianna, Jordan, Ashleigh, Meredith; (back) Deanna, Cara, Lindsey,  me, Cait, Diana

Jordan broke his foot playing basketball on a team here. Congrats to him, they took it off on Friday!

This is the whole crew (including directors and the awesome CIEE Ferrara staff):

Left to right: (front) Telly, Lindsey, Meredith, Gianna, Katy, Deanna, Diana, Patti; (middle) Ashleigh, Claire, Alyssa, Veronica, Serg, Marty, Cait, Ricardo, Richard; (back) Maya, Tonilynn, Cara, Amy, Matt, Ben, Jordan, me

This is the castle in Ferrara. It's right in the middle of town, you really, really can't miss it. The area around it is "cobblestone," which really just means, original cobblestone which is super bumpy, not level, and which is uncomfortable to walk or ride your bike on. My shoe literally got stuck yesterday when I was walking through here. The street  around the front of the castle is paved in a similar style, except they used flatter stones (flatter being the operative word here, because it's still incredibly bumpy and uncomfortable to ride over on a bike.) Once, I lost my shoe in the middle of the street in that area. No joke. Granted, they were a pair ballet flats which weren't ideal for riding because the soles are super slippery, but my feet slipped off the pedals and there went my shoe. It was incredibly embarrassing to ride my bike with 1 shoe to the curb, prop it up (oh, yeah, it has no kickstand, so it was propped up against the lamp post for all of 2 seconds until I walked away and it fell over... which was even more embarrassing), then walk to my shoe which was in the middle of a very busy intersection with 1 shoe on one foot and a little ballet flat ped on the other.

Street-side view, but my little adventure happened further down, directly across from the castle.

This is the Duomo in Ferrara. On one of our first days in Ferrara, this is the place that the priest gave us a private tour of the dome interior. Because we asked him the name of the painter for our scavenger hunt...

This is a portion of the city walls. You can walk, bike, run, etc. on the tree-lined path which follows alongside the old walls. There is also a path outside the walls that you can use. Note: This is how they look in spring time when they are not covered in snow, ice, or slush.

This is my favorite pizzeria... maybe ever... but at least in Ferrara. Seriously, sometimes Deanna and I dream about their pizzas.

So I don't have a picture of the exterior because usually I'm too busy, you know, eating there. Duh.

This is a statue of Savonarola near the Castle Estense. Every time I walk by it, I seriously consider whether he was J.K. Rowling's inspiration for Lord Voldemort... You-Know-Who (which, fun fact!, in Italian is Tu-Sai-Chi. A lot of the minor character names are changed, for some reason, in each language. I think some of my favorites are Mrs. Purr (Mrs. Norris) and Unci-Unci (Griphook)... where do people even come up with these things??). Back to the point, this statue is unbelievably creeping. Especially at night. 

Creepier, right? I think it's the lighting. But also... that face...

I mean, you chop that nose off...

I'll show you all the cool spots in town on my map, because right now I am sooooooo not in the mood to do any homework. It's sunny, it's about 80 degrees and I have my window open. It was supposed to rain today, which would have been much more conducive to my 'shut-myself-away-in-my-apartment-all-day-so-I-can-finish-all-my-homework-today' plan. I'll get it done. After this I think.

I tried to make it in 3-D too! And now you can also laugh at the expense of my pathetic artistic abilities.