When the Moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

GELATO!!!!

It has been almost two weeks since Meredith left for Italy and it has been a real roller-coaster ride as I suspected it would be. One moment she is high on life, excitedly chattering away about the city of Milan, the amazing architecture, even the great paninis she orders for lunch. A couple of hours later she is choking back tears and listing all the things she is missing from home. Thank God for our discovery of Skype, the free internet phone program. I would be selling pencils on the street corner to pay my phone bill otherwise.

She has sent back some wonderful pictures of Milan, really whetting my appetite for my trip over there in May. (See my countdown box in the sidebar)

This is my favorite one of her, so far:


Gotta love those flying buttresses...and that smile!!!

She has a posted a couple of albums on webshots with some very amazing shots of Milan, including a very healthy dose of pictures from her personal shrines. No, not the cathedrals and churches. I am referring, of course, to Armani and Dolce & Gabbana.

She also included some pictures of her dorm room, including a most amazing bathroom that might even wake HER up in the morning (and that's saying something!) I thought this was wallpaper but she told me it is tile:



It has been both wonderful and agonizing to watch her learn to navigate a completely new culture all by herself. She has learned how to get around in the city and how to communicate in Italian (with a fair amount of gesturing to fill in the language gaps). She has purchased tickets for a soccer game this Sunday and train tickets for a day trip to Parma next weekend. She has discovered the Italian tradition of apertiva, a late afternoon "happy hour" where the purchase of one glass of wine or a mixed drink entitles you to a groaning buffet table of appetizers. She has learned to watch out for the pickpockets and discovered that a little negotiating can drop a posted price on almost any item.

I have a feeling that by the time I get over there in May, she will be a vastly different young adult from the shy, nervous little girl I dropped off at the airport twelve days ago. She's already grown up so much! I can't wait!!!

I promise to get back to writing about my knitting in my next posting. But, be forewarned, there will still be tons of Milano updates!! Fasten your seatbelts, folks, it's going to be a wild ride!