After one of the best dinners of my life (more to come in the next version of Eating in Italy), I think I’m ready for the week. This week will be one of the most draining I’ve had in college. Having four 10-page papers due in a three-day period during the semester I took 20 hours wasn’t as bad as this week will be. I have a Classical Rhetoric assignment due (only 2.5 pages, though). I have a presentation to give in my International Politics class on the recent Synod of Bishops in Rome. I have an Italian test; never-mind, I have two Italian tests — a grammar and a conversation. On top of all of that: my family arrives tomorrow morning! That’s right. After almost three months of only having a technological link, I get to see them again!
They arrive tomorrow morning from a series of long flights. I’m going to the early mass at St. James and then meeting them at their hotel. They’ll need an hour or two to crash and get situated and then I’ll show them around town. The best part: THE soccer game of the season is in Florence tomorrow afternoon. Third-ranked Fiorentina plays second-ranked AC Milan. It’s huge! In fact, tickets were sold out a long time ago. So, my Poli Sci professor pointed me to an old Communist hangout in a nearby town that acts as the community center which is showing the game on their big screen. It’s GREAT! The views are some of the best I’ve ever seen in Italy (you literally are on a small mountain looking into the valleys). It might be hard concentrating on the game.
After that, it’s back to get some gelato and then a nice relaxing evening. Every day of the week is packed full of places to visit and things to do. I’m taking them only to the best things that I’ve seen. Mike, my cooking mentor, is teaching us how to make an extra-special dinner on Tuesday night (again — more to come in the next version of Eating in Italy) and then we have reservations at one of the best restaurants in town on Thanksgiving night. It’ll be the perfect way to finish off my night after my Italian test. Can you believe that?!? I have a test on Thanksgiving! Sometimes American holidays are wonderful — most of the time only in America, though. 
This week I expect the best of myself. I have to be “in my groove.” I have to be “in the zone.” I must “stop the tyranny of evil” that occurs in my schooling (sorry, I just had to — that was the most powerful rhetorical escalation that’s still used today). In all seriousness: I am going to have one of the most demanding, least stressful and most rewarding weeks of my life. At least: I hope so! Surprisingly, my best writing comes from these times when I really shouldn’t be taking the time sit down and do it (read: Greece). Hopefully this week will continue the trend and I’ll have plenty of pictures/stories to write on. This past week was pretty sparse in my update section. Let the fingers start flying on the keys!
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