July 1^st: Bologna

 Your flavor in my mind swings back and forth between,

sweeter than any wine, and bitter as mustard greens.

Light and dark as honeydew and pumpernickle bread,

The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead.

As you plow some other field and try and forget my name,

see what harvest yields, and, supposing I'd do the same.

 

But now books are overdue and the goats are underfed

... the trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead…

 

You're a door without a key, a field without a fence,

You made a holy fool of me, and I've thanked you ever since.

If she comes circling back, we'll end where we'd begun,

Like two pennies on the train track--the train crushed into one.

Or if I'm a crown without a king, if I'm a broken, open seed,

If I come without a thing, then I come with all I need.

No boat out in the blue, no place to rest your head,

The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead.

 

I am listening to those lyrics right now. Ah, mewithoutyou. Somewhere in my heart I believe they intentionally meet up and discuss what words to pluck out of the air that will make me the most engaged and fulfilled listener—specifically me, though. Of course.

 Anyways, today was wonderful cinematically speaking. If my day involved 1909 silent films, Jean Harlow in Platinum Blonde, Godard’s premiere restoration of Pierrot Le Fou, and a 2009 film that encompassed the 9.5mm personal work of Ingmar Bergman? I’m one happy gal. Not to mention, I fondled my knife and played with my mouth harp. These two things might officially make me an old (and possibly Southern) man.

I just need to find some means to rest properly. That needs to become a priority upon my return to the United States. Sleeping. How does one Miss Jessica Ramsey do such a thing successfully? We shall see…Uh oh, it’s 9pm at home in Atlanta…that means it must be 3am here!

After a very full and tightly scheduled day in the Italian heat, it was soothing and redeeming to take a nice shower before crawling into bed. I might have washed off a full pound of dirt as well as a cocktail of other sweat-drenched particles. Speaking of pounds, I seem to only consume mass amounts of cheese, bread, pasta, and wine here. It’s inevitable that I would choose these menu items…they are SO DELICIOUS. An exploration into the world of Italian fruits and light meals needs to be on the agenda. The addition of some evening runs or walks might help too. I need to detox, stat!

Another funny experience today was ordering SUSHI in ITALY. I arrived weak with hunger to the adorably themed sushi place right off of Piazza Maggiore. Mandy, Eva, Alex and I plopped into our pink seats and frantically and hungrily scanned the menu. In a strange and inexcusable moment, I blurted out my order of a pickled asparagus roll. Now, not only was this an incredibly expensive choice, I HATE PICKLED ASPARAGUS. What did I do that for?! In some heat exhausted portion of my mind, it made sense to order this. Then when my tiny order of sushi arrived…it was just that—PICKLED ASPARAGUS! I HATE PICKLED ASPARGUS! I tried to eat it like a grown woman (ha!), but couldn’t manage to chew the flavor for more than a brief moment. So I handed it off to everyone and picked at some white rice. Twenty euros (about $35) down the hatch for a side of white rice! Sometimes I make no sense. For some reason, rather than agitated, broke, and confused with myself, I was insanely tickled and we all got a good laugh out of it. Alex’s tea even came out of his nose. This happened to occur right before I would hit the middle of my back on a window and fall up the stairs. I was a mess!

Oh boy! This mess needs to try and get some sleep. Don’t order pickled asparagus. Yuck. Ciao.

Addition from this current night:

Alex summed up Mandy and I in one word each. Me? FUN! Mandy? Dangerous! We thought it was appropriate. We gave Alex his—revolutionary!

We had a really fun night watching Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in the piazza with a live orchestra. I asked Alex to grab me some chocolate gelato when he went on a gelato run and WHAT DID HE RETURN WITH!?

PISTACCHIO AND WATERMELON GELATO ON A CONE.

We laughed a good, good bit. It was hilarious. And nasty.

More stories later! Ciao!