Livin' Like a Polar Bear

Hello from Antarctica! My dear friends who are reading this are experiencing 60-70° weather; so basically I'm expecting some sympathy, y'all. This last week hasn't been very noteworthy but I'll try and make it sound real exciting. We've had record lows in this wonderful country during the last week, which may not sound like a big deal to you but I can assure you, is completely misreable. Don't believe me? Go ahead and read this article (I wouldn't post Fox but it was the first that came up) :

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/06/europes-struggle-under-record-cold-snap/

Enough said? No? How about this. My Renaissance Art professor sent us into the city 2 weeks ago with an assignment. We were to find a piece of Renaissance art and write a paper and prepare a presentation using the new artistic vocabulary we learned in class. Not too bad, right? When we'd written the paper, our next class period would be spent traveling to our piece of art and sharing our work with our classmates. Last week, our snow day (thankfully) kept us from being able to do the presentation. Today was makeup day. Get excited, folks. The reason we even got a snow day last week was because of the ice that made traveling up steep inclines impossible. I would much rather have gone out that day; because although the elements were left in heaps all down the streets, today was much, much worse. I suppose snow days come at a cost. Nevertheless, today was awful. I was bravely underdressed for the day. I had worn my North Face instead of my peacoat and had hurriedly forgotten gloves. It was 27° tops. T-O-P-S. Plus, I was the second-to-last of 17 to do my presentation. Needless to say, I am recovering in my kitchen with wine and hot food. In that order.

This weekend was fun. There's a group of us that have wanted to find a reason to play. With all the snow and the lack of traveling going on, we're starting to get cabin fever. Danielle and I made popcorn and coke floats and invited over some of the girls. They brought over all their movies and somehow, it was narrowed down to the Lizzie McGuire Movie -- most likely because we wanted something Italy-related. Don't look at me with those judgmental eyes... I'm not ashamed. We had a lot of fun: hair braiding, painting nails, girl talk. Normal. Over the course of the evening, we decided to go to Roma this weekend! I think we're giving up on cooperative weather. We have to get out.

Lastly, Sunday was World Nutella Day! I hope you celebrated sufficiently! We had made plans to go to Bologna to the Nutelleria to buy something festive. But our faculty in residence, Suzette, had spent her weekend stuck on a train due to ice so we decided not to chance it. Instead, we spent the day at a gelateria getting nutella crepes and nutella gelato. Not a bad way to celebrate, huh? Here are some pictures from our Nutella Day:

^^Danielle hates this picture. I think I love it because it's just so typical.

^^The group at "Cheri." Happy World Nutella Day!

^^Danielle, Courtney, Amanda and crepes.

Last, but certainly not least, Happy Birthday, Ronald Reagan! You are missed.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."

R.R.