The Black Wolf Who....

 So, we decided against going to Asissi and decided to go shopping in Albano, the next town over and last stop on out train line. When we got off the train we had to walk up this crazy leveled walk way up into the town. Everything is up hill in Italy. I am so tired of walking up hill both ways to see a village. The older women amaze me. Their cardio endurance must be amazing compared to my college cardio endurance. Their legs are so defined. My legs on the other hand are like tree trunks. We found this beautiful little park and had a nice walk. I liked the main thorough fare of the park. Each side of the gravel path was lined with Italian Cyprus trees. In between each tree was a park bench. Sitting on each park bench must have been the local men's club. They had their dogs marching around the bench proudly while the men seemed to yell at each other from one bench to another. The cutest little thing to watch.
      I like Albano in a different way compared to Castel Gandolfo. Albano seems to have less of the ambiance of the Pope and local gossip. The older women are hanging their clothes out to dry from the lines dangling just outside their windows. They yell down to the people in the street to ask how everyone is doing. The children run around kicking their soccer balls into the building walls. Occasionally, one ball gets away from them and slips into a store front.We found a pizza shop to have lunch in for the afternoon. I had un pezzo pomodoro con prossutto e mazzeralla with a bottle of orange Fanta. Danilo has got me into Fanta. Every morning he grabs a bottle of Fanta at Johnnie's shop before we get on the train. None of us found anything worthy of buying so we headed back on the train and went back to campus.
    A couple of us headed outside to sit in the Kiwi vineyard to have a chat. Jenna, Rachel and I were talking about what we want in a guy. Jenna recommended that I make a list of things that I want in a relationship and what I want in a boyfriend. I made a list and found that my boyfriend Ray did not fit many of the things that I wanted. It was at this point that I realized that I did not want to be in a relationship with Ray any more. I had been dating him for seven months now. He wanted to marry me but I didn't. I realized that he was not going to make me happy. We sat outside until the sun started to go down. The group was heading up into town to have an apperativo before we had dinner at Cafe' Baruffa or Andre' Bar. Next door to campus is the Agriturismo Casale degli Archi. They have a restaurant that opens after the farm work is done. Agriturismo's are family run farm houses that rent rooms and sometimes have restaurants. They are a wonderful experience.
     We were sat down stairs in this lovely brick room that we had all to ourselves. Danilo started this game called "the black wolf who." It is a memory game of sorts. The first person starts it: The black wolf who wears shoes. They next person says the black wolf who wears shoes and eats babies. The game became so outrageous that we got into this laughing fit. Then, it turned into pure banter. It was one of those moments that anything seemed funny because we went beyond reality and into craziness. I love moments shared around a table with good company and great food. These memories are the ones that I cherish the most. We all learned about the art of the digestivo. One can choose to have an espresso, a shot of jagermeister or a shot of limoncello to finish off your meal. The idea behind the digestivo is to help digest your meal. My bill at the end of the night was 30 euros. I would have paid 100 euros to have another night like this again.