Dolce far niente. Ironically, an italian phrase I learned not from living in Italy, but from the novel "Mangia, Praga, Ama"(Eat, Pray, Love), that translates to the "the sweetness of doing nothing". Now this phrase, when I read about it last spring I found it very... inspiring as at the time I was constantly overwhelmed with school, work, soccer, etc. Now, ironically, I am in Italy where this phrase it supposed to come true, and oh, it definitely has, for me at least. My host dad informed me that I am staying in the one region in Italy where everyone works EXTRA hard all the time; the neighboring region parties and the other neighbour apparently, mixes partying and working equally, but Udine, just works; I have definitely noticed.  I have accepted the fact that I have no luck as far as life goes, so I just make the best of it. So in the one place in Italy where "Dolce Far Niente" is not applicable, while everyone else works, I am the only one taking this phrase's advice, and wish I wasn't. But hey, Dolce Far Niente is part of some Italian culture so I am integrated somewhere!
   Plus, I do watch hockey, which unfortunately is very Canadian and not Italian of me. I go watch hockey games in  a northern town called Pontebba, with my adult friends who are much older than I am, but hey, I'm growing up right? The hockey is a decent game to watch, probably around the level of the Vees, and waving around my gigantic Canadian flag in a crowd of Italians makes me happy. After the hockey game, typical of the Italian lifestyle, we sometimes go to Austria at the wee hours of the morning. These voyages make me realize how small Europe really is, and how easy it is to get around.
Other than the hockey games, I have little news to report from life in Italy. School is the same, although I am taking more social sciences classes which I enjoy, I think. In these classes, I am able to understand most words and sentences, but I am struggling with the overall ideas as I still have to focus so much on the individual sentences. Halloween in Italy isn't a grande chose, but I went out with some friends from school and hit up some bars and the bowling alley, which proved to be a bad idea as I am a terrible bowler and a terrible klutz who knocks over big toy machines under the watchful eyes of an entire restaurant of fashionable Italians. Go Misha.
People keep telling me that the first 3 months are hard, and that they are. Unfortunately I cannot say that I am past the uncomfortable stage yet, but tomorrow is only my two month mark so I am holding out hope. Also packages from home with Reese's PB cups (they don't have PB here, my host mom said she's seen PB in movies!) make life just a little better. So, Happy November and Happy Eggnog-is-finally-here-NOT!