Valentine's Day, The Project Site, and Finding Church

Saturday, 2/15/03
I am totally in an Enya mood. I am sitting in a sunlit hallway on the fourth floor of the hotel, sort of a conservatory space even, where the entrance to the roof porch is. It's beautiful outside, 45° Fahrenheit, but still a little too chill to be sitting out there. It is a wonderful change from the 20° weather we've been having, though. I hope it stays this warm for Rome next week, or even warmer would be wonderful. I just came in from a nice walk to the Tobacci to buy a Happiness phone card. I'm going to call Dad in an hour (9am there) to see if he has been able to find out anything yet about the Arezzo branch of the church.

So, to catch up. I really hardly remember Thursday at all. Oh yes! I got up in time for breakfast. Yay! After that I went to the Co-op to get some chocolate for Karin. All the TAMU girls drew secret Valentines out of a cup. Cady organized it, and I think it turned out great. I had gotten a little wooden Pinocchio figure in Siena and set him on top of the box of fancy chocolate, and wrapped the box and Pinocchio up to the neck in pink napkins and red thread. These are the nifty supplies I found at the Co-op.

We exchanged Valentine's gifts at lunch because so many people were leaving that evening and would be gone on the actual day. Marty gave me a little stuffed elephant and a Kinder Egg whose toy inside was a rolling suitcase. I put the inner plastic egg shell on the elephant's head and the suitcase on his back and said he was going traveling.

In studio time we drove out to our site, which was a field with canals running through, an old abandoned building, and a bare vineyard, but it was so bitterly cold that we couldn't do more than talk a little about the steel and cast iron bridges over the canals. Then we came back to studio (I had never driven into the city in a car and let me tell you, those steep roads are really scary) and reviewed our projects again. It was incredibly humiliating because my ideas are crap. I am going to do a very simple 1-3 pages of my book on the key, and find a new shape to develop into architecture. The key is hopeless as a building. Of course, studio went right up until dinner time, when it is supposed to end at 6. I got I Capture the Castle back from Valerie (which she loved) and started reading it. Then I went to bed.

Yesterday we had studio (first we had to carry boxes up the very very steep street from Santa Chiara to the studio. Thank goodness it's a short distance) and talked about the main project for Peter's half of the semester. I didn't get much out of it. I was spacing out because I was thinking about the poem I started writing about my key. After studio I took a short nap then went to Arezzo with Kate and Morgan. I wanted to see some of the sites, but we shopped the whole afternoon, which was fine with me because I wanted to be social. I didn't buy anything, but there was definitely a reason to go--I talked to the lady at the info center and am a tiny step closer to solving the Arezzo branch mystery.

Something wonderful has happened! Dad called the Rome Mission Office and got the address where the Arezzo branch meets and the number for the new branch president. Now my only dilemma is getting a decent map to find the street it's on. I've tried calling the branch president but didn't get an answer. So if he's not home after dinner I will have to go to Arezzo and see if I can get a map anywhere. I am so happy and so excited!

So, back to yesterday. Shopping in Europe is a totally different experience than in the states. It's so easy to scope out a shop from the streets, see their price range, and decide whether you want to go in. Yesterday was the last day of the pre-spring merchandise sales so the prices were really good. I still didn't buy anything though, because there was nothing that would fit me and still be appealing enough to part with my money for. But I still had fun though, giving my opinion to Kate on a lot of things she tried on. So we went to find the McDonalds to satisfy Morgan's craving but we don't know what was up with the sign that said five minutes with an arrow pointing down the road, because it wasn't there. So we ate at the little pizza place from last time, for the lack of cheap options.

Then, of course, we got the best gelato in the world at Gelateria Paradiso. When we came home I read for a while. I wish I could be as entertaining a journalist as Cassandra Mortmain. But it's time for dinner.

It's 12:30. After dinner I called the Branch President and he was there! It went very well. He spoke good English but I had to speak slowly. They are actually going to meet me at the train station tomorrow morning. I'm really excited!

After that I went downstairs to play spoons with a bunch of people. It was a lot of fun, even though I didn't talk that much. It's kind of hard for me to join in a conversation which consists of throwing perverted insults at one another. We played a long game where each person spells out S-P-O-O-N and I won! It was quite satisfying.