Busy Week

It was a busy week this week. Monday, we got our long-awaited washing machine. Our landcouple (that is, landlord and landlady) had agreed to include it as part of the lease, so they swooped in along with the installation guy from the store. He hooked it up in our downstairs bathroom and then walked Kevin through how to use it, in rapid Italian. I listened to the flood of incomprehensible words in growing consternation, realizing just how many buttons and knobs this pretty white creation has - all labeled with pictures and no words, whether English or Italian. Kevin's comment after he left? "Well, I didn't get everything he said, but it seems pretty self-explanatory."

Fortunately, the loads of laundry that I've done since do seem to have turned out okay - everything has emerged damp, smelling better than it went in, and has remained the same size. Works for me.

Tuesday through Thursday we had classes as usual - which means that it was my first full week of classes, having missed classes due to being sick and then having various and sundry classes suspended due to a Mass at St. Peter's (Thursday) for the pontifical universities and then for All Saints' Day (Thursday). It isn't over yet, either - next week, Thursday morning classes are suspended for opening-of-the-academic-year pomp at the Angelicum, and the following Thursday is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, of course, isn't an Italian holiday, but with the North American College making up a significant portion of the English-speaking sections of the school, and the invitations they extend to other Angelicum students for their Thanksgiving festivities (both yours truly included), part of the afternoon is effectively knocked out. Poor Thursday professors. They're being hit hard this semester.

Friday dawned bright, beautiful, and wonderfully warm - no jackets necessary for our grocery-shopping trip. In the late afternoon, we hopped on the train into Rome to go to the Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, since it was the feast of the dedication of the basilica. Made it to Mass, then walked out to find that the weather had cruelly changed - thunder, wind, and rain, and Kevin had no jacket. We'd been planning to go see Bourne Ultimatum, having on good authority that it was showing at a theater in English at 9:40pm, after which my last-year's roommate, Mary, had invited us to spend the night at her apartment. 'Twas not to be. They'd changed the showtime to 4:40pm - so we missed the movie, but still got to spend time (and the night) with Mary.