GELATO POSSIBLE

So I didn't post yesterday, time ran away from me on its tiny little feet. But first I shall explain these magnificent photographs... I received a wonderful package today from Mom. She sent me that great purple wool hat. Some of the cushion packaging was a bit torn so it got covered in like recycled cardboard particles. Now these other pictures are really, really special. After another disappointing night of gelato-hunting (we spent 90 minutes searching without any results), we finally decided to go during the day. And we found gelato! Real, wonderful gelato. I had a wonderful two-scoop waffle cone with cioccolato and biscotti (a gift to humankind).
Anyway, let me start with yesterday, that way I won't leave anything out. Had lots of classes yesterday, and I was getting quite tired of being talked at. Especially by professors with very tiring accents... So I came back down the hill, then went back up the hill for dinner. Then Deniz and I decided to go gelato-searching. Nothing came of it.

So that was a boring anecdote. Today was a bit more interesting, I'd say. I had a quiz in German class this morning and then I had Marketing (another wonderful class period). After that I socialized for a bit (I try not to be too anti-social you know, spend a solid hour or so on lunch chatting it up), then I had lunch with a few people. Then I eventually went back down the hill, where I did laundry and worked on cleaning up my room a bit, since Baba and Angi are coming tomorrow and I'm probably going to be gone for a good part of the day. Then Deniz got done with classes and we did some window shopping and gelato-hunting for a few hours in downtown. Then we came back up and I did my dishes and straightened out my desk area. Then we went up to dinner, where we had "Cuatro P," which is for some reason, everyone's favorite, even though it's just penne pasta with tomato cream sauce and bits of chicken. It's really not all that exciting, even if it is good. Then we came back from dinner, and I've mostly been hanging out ever since then. (A whole bunch of Saudi Arabian kids just walked in--like a whole army of them.)

Now the interesting part of today was probably walking around downtown. Mostly things didn't go so well after we had our gelato; actually I'd say things went steadily downhill. If I remember there were three unhappy events, but I can only remember two now... Oh right, no, I remember now. First we had an Italian woman come and speak to us, she wanted to know where an exit was, I think. But we had no idea. And then she started talking to us in German when we said we didn't speak Italian (in Italian, of course). Then she asked us to get out of her way (we were sitting on some stairs), so we did. Then at "Inter-Discount," which is a cheap electronics store, I (or Deniz, we're not sure) set off the alarm because I touched the cellphone that was on display. They're out to be touched I tell you! Anyway, so some little Italian man came and turned it off, and I didn't know how to say "sorry" in Italian, and he just looked at me really accusingly and followed us around until we left the store (which was relatively soon after; we didn't want to run out of the store by any means, thought that would look suspicious). I felt like such a dirty American. These Swiss people, I'm pretty sure, believe there's no excuse for not speaking Italian. I thought the people here would be a little more welcoming and warm like the Germans, but they haven't been so far. They've actually been rather cold and stiff. After we got done at Migros and whatnot, on our way back/toward the water, we walked past a clothing store. Let's make a long-story short--essentially, there was a middle-aged man with a younger, rather butch looking but very trendy girlfriend who Deniz got in the way of. The man HISSED at her! I didn't think normal people do that. It's not like she got in their way on purpose. You'd think they would be looking too. People are rather rude in the stores here too, just in terms of elbowing their way through everywhere... Maybe they're just more practical about getting things done... So there's that.

I think I'm going to go to Bellinzona tomorrow. I think I've mentioned that in every post this week... It's supposed to be really pretty. Baba and Angi are supposed to be arriving in Lugano around 20:00... I still need to figure out how to get to their hotel. It's only about .6 miles away from here, which is really quite close, but the road I'd have to walk up isn't exactly safe for pedestrians. It's quite the opposite. And very steep. So I might actually have to go up to the school and then start from there... We'll see... Maybe I can just meet them at the school instead. All right, more soon!

Smile!