Today I had an "Italy-is-testing-my-patience" kind of morning. I woke up at 7:30 to the sound of pounding and grinding. Upon entering the kitchen, I find 3 routy Italian men with power tools literally tearing our entire kitchen apart. I then remembered I was told two days ago that "workers would be stopping by to fix some small electrical things around the apartment". Apparently, they failed to inform me they would be REWIRING the entire apartment, one room at a time. Unable to use the water, I threw on clothes and left for IES. I don't know why they couldn't have waited a week and a half until half of the roommates in the apartment move out. I'm kinda pissed.

In other news, the IES day trip to Cinque Terre on Friday was great. There were 80 kids who decided to go, so it was kind of an overwhelming group, similar to the orientation experience in the beginning. But after my friends and I split off, it was really fun. We took a ferry ride from La Spezia to the farthest village down the coast, Monterosso. There, we bought wine and laid on the beach for a bit before the hike began. At 3, we hiked from Monterosso to Vernazza (the hardest of the four hikes). We ate some amazing food when we got to Vernazza, and then eventually took the bus back to Milan. It was an excellent mini-adventure.

Megan Buckingham stayed at our apartment last Wednesday and Thursday nights, and I got to show her around Milan before she flew back to the US. And Virginia, a friend from Mac who I stayed with in Florence in February, stayed last night. She is heading back to the states tomorrow. Showing people around Milan has made me realize how well I know the city. Just recently, the different areas have really solidified into my mind and I can quickly get pretty much anywhere I need to. It's too bad that this has happened just before I leave.

I have finished all of my papers for the semester and now all I have left are my finals. I have one each day next Monday through Wednesday, and then I am singing on the IES recital on Thursday afternoon before the Farewell Dinner.

Last night I went to Casablanca, a club that has free night for international students on Tuesdays. It's really close to our apartment and a lot of IES kids usually go. It was probably the last time I will go there, since next Tuesday night I will be studying.

Our goal is to live it up in Milan as much as possible these last 10 days. I will let you know how that is going...