Cousin Pat comes to visit

My cousin Pat so very sweetly organized her entire Italian vacation around coming to visit me here in Bologna! Friday night, after a bit of a mix up with my telephone number, I made my way over to her hotel to meet up with her and the tour group for dinner. You could see that she was with a really great group of people who all got along splendidly. We boarded the tour bus and made our way to the outskirts of town, to a castle where we would be eating a very special meal. We had a lovely "Spring Bolognese" meal with something like 6 courses! There was tortelloni and guinea foul and lots of appetizers and veggies. Pat was especially excited because there was finally steak on the menu! Everything tasted so fresh and delicious. I got to speak with the owner/chef for a moment because I complimented him on his English. Turns out he lived a couple years of his adolescence in Philadelphia and then went to University in the U.K. Very, very sweet man. Wine was included with the meal and so by the end of the night the group was quite rambunctious! The ride was pretty funny on the way home because people kept going up to the mic telling stories, saying how much fun they'd had, and expressing their gratitude to the guide. All in all it was a lovely visit. Always nice to see family when you live on the other side of the world from them!

In other news, yesterday I turned in my final paper for my Dante class and now I'm freeee! It's weird for it to be "summer" already, though. It's not like in American where everyone finishes at the same time. I just happen to have gotten all my exams done early. Others are still studying like crazy so it puts a damper on my beach trips, hehe. Anyways, Wednesday I leave for a bonus trip to Paris where I'll meet up with Brittany and Mary for a few days; directly after which I'll be greeting my friend Julia at the Bologna airport! She's coming all the way from Vacaville to visit me...and for her 21st birthday, at that! Great times are ahead...I just hope they don't come and go too quickly!