At the "Tandem" meeting the other night, I talked to three 24 year old Italians- two women, Mariangela and Marta, and one man, Nicola.

Marta spent last October and November in New York City, and she and Nicola are currently trying to figure out a way to go back for a year. They asked if it was easy to get jobs in the US like waitressing and things like that, but we didn't really know what to tell them. For American teenagers like us it's pretty simple, but we can't really say how it would be for Italians.

Mariangela is from Southern Italy, and she seemed to fit the description of an American Southerner. She likes to talk A LOT, and she was always ready to think of new things to talk about, even when we started to run out of ideas. She spoke the best English, I think because she's half American. I was glad she was there because she got Marta and Nicola (both from Umbria or close to Umbria) to open up a little. With her, I talked a little about politics and religion.

There are three main political groups in Italy- the right and left, which are similar to ours, and the center, which was started by religious laymen. Mariangela really couldn't figure out how to describe the center to us, so I'm still a little confused about it. The Left is in power right now, and a lot of Italians are disgruntled about the opening of the borders. Mariangela said she would rather Italy fix it's own problems first and then try to help the poor people of North Africa and the Middle East.

As for religion, Mariangela described an antiquated system to which most Italians cannot relate. She was raised Catholic and goes to church regularly, but she has come to the conclusion that she knows better than the Church what she needs, so she kind of picks and chooses. She said that she thought the US was probably more religious than Italy, because we have groups that really motivate people to attend church and want to be religious. So as much as Italy seems really religious to us Americans, it's really because this is where the Pope resides and has political influence, not because the Italians themselves are particularly believing.

I did not get to see Pirates of the Caribbean. It is playing at the Italian theater and is dubbed, not at the theater that occasionally shows American movies with sub-titles. We don't want to already know what happens in the movie when we get to see it in English. The American theater is playing 23, with Jim Carrey, which I have no desire to see. Maybe next week a better movie will play there.

I have not really had milk while I've been here, so today my roommate and I are going to a lateria, a milk shop. I am pretty excited for a big (if not that cold) glass of milk. The fridges here just aren't the same!

TCU is paying for our group meal tonight. My roomates and I suggested Dalla Bianca. We actually ate there last night, too, but we don't mind eating there again since it's so good! My friend Brittany had a spicy rabbit pasta dish there last night and my friend Bridget had pollo con le pepe verde al forno, baked chicken with green peppers. I had the penne alla norcina. All were fabulous! After dinner, we'll probably go to Umbra Institute's gelato night. I've been craving gelato all day!

Buona serata! -Ellie