Hanging on...just

I have some good news today: chances are looking pretty good that I will be able to go home five days early.  I called the student travel agency and there is a flight with no fare difference, so I would just have to pay the reservation change fee.  I'm working with my professor because it means I would have to take the exam a day early, but he says it's possible and he's willing to help me out.  So if that's the case, I only have 23 more days here!  I'm planning one more trip in Italy to Bolzano (aka. Bozen) to see Ozi the ice man and try some real German strudel.  Tuesday is "La Befana" where the old hag comes to bring gifts to the good children (though they also get gifts from santa clause on Christmas) and everything will once again be shut down.  Oh boy.  This time of year, it seems places just close up until the middle of January.  Oh well, continuing my story from when my parents were here:

24-12-08: It's Christmas eve day and we decided to go to Comacchio, but on our way to the bus stop, we stopped to get coffee and decided that going to a small fishing village on a holiday might not be a good idea as everything was likely to be closed and the trip back home was a little foggy in terms of the bus schedule.  So we decided to go to Bologna instead.  We got on a train, got to Bologna with no idea where we were going or what we were going to do, but we walked around for a while, found a restaurant and sat down to eat.  I had tortolloni, a bolognese specialty, which were quite good.  After lunch, we decided to head back to town to check on when mass would be.  I wasn't upset at not spending more time in Bologna to be honest, it just didn't appeal to me as a city.  So anyway, we got back to Ferrara, took the bus into town and went to the cathedral to check about mass.  It was only an hour away, so we went and bought some postcards for mom (finally!) and then went to my favorite bar and had coffee (I had hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream).  We sat for a while and enjoyed the complimentary cookies served with our drinks.  Then we went to mass, which was beautiful and blessedly short (presumably to get ready for the more substantial midnight mass).  We went home and started on the seafood stew, which Dad masterminded and the result was outstanding.  Mom was upset because the box she mailed with some christmas gifts had not arrived and she felt upset at not having more things under the tree, though neither Dad nor I were bothered.

25-12-08: Christmas morning, oh boy!  Dad and I went for a run this morning before returning home to make some french toast out of a traditional Italian holiday bread called Panetone, which has candied fruit in it.  It was outstanding, pretty close to the best I've ever had if I do say so myself.  It was fun to cook for breakfast; I don't do that for myself.  Plus, breakfast is pretty non-existent here, my roommates think it's weird that I have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast.  Anyway, after breakfast we adjourned for a few minutes and met back up in my room to open a few gifts.  Mom loved the cat pin and salt and pepper shakers I got her, and Dad was very happy with the miniature Ferrari I brought him from the factory.  It even has little mirrors in the side view mirrors and impossibly small numbers painted on the gauges.  I got a new video camera that's unbelievably small and happily very simple.  I will try to make a video in the coming days and post it on the blog.  After enjoying a few cups of coffee, we went on a nice walk for about an hour, where we walked through my neighborhood and down the old city wall.  It was a strange feeling as there was no one else out and no cars on the street.  It was a lovely walk and when we got back, I started the preparations for dinner, which I had planned to be a big, multi-course Italian dinner.  We had Cappellacci al ragù for our first course, with the cappellacci from the local fresh pasta place, which was hands down the best I've had since I've been here, and believe you me, I've tried a lot of them.  Then we had that beautiful pork tenderloin roast marinated in balsamic vinegar and garlic and then roasted with a balsamic vinegar and shallot glaze.  It was really outstanding and gave us several days of great sandwiches afterward.  We then had blanched green beens marinated in olive oil and lemon juice, which was a nice little pick-me-up and palate cleanser to prepare us for the desert of the traditional ferrarese cake we bought at the market.  We finished off the evening with a little limoncello from Sorento and a game of Uno.  Altogether a quite satisfying day.