La vita è bella

Today in film class we viewed the film La Vita E Bella, Life is Beautiful. When taking Holocaust class my senior year of high school I saw this movie but I do not remember feeling nearly as moved by what I saw as I did today. I had to hold back tears at least three times throughout the movie. I highly recommend the movie to anyone whose in the mood to laugh, cry or even learn something new.

I don't think you need to be Jewish to be able to appreciate the movie in anyway. There is humor, reality and drama. There is a sense of empathy you feel for the characters for what they are going through. Also there is the beauty or the sacrifice the characters make for their families. It truly makes you question if you were in the same situation, what would you do? Would you allow yourself to be abused in order to protect those you love? Would you suck it up and allow these people to treat you like dirt because of your religion or would you stand up for what you believe?

On to a more positive subject....

In the last few days I have been dying of heat and coming to accept the fact that my time in Italy is coming to an end. I'll never be ready to leave this place but more I won't be ready to leave these people. I know we will see eachother on campus and have fun reunions at Charlie O's and Bobby G's but it still will never be San Demetrio.

In this heat we've been forced to sit inside and pretend we have air conditioning. Luckily, Kristina and I are living in the up hill apartment which according to stories we've heard is a much cooler and ideal situation for sleeping and basic living needs.
We sleep through the nights with our beautiful little fan, don't have construction next door and no giant wasps flying at our faces at all hours of the day. Yet we still find ourselves sitting in this sweaty, humid, bug-infested apartment just so we can spend time with our friends. Screw the giant hill we have to hike! oh...and they live above a pizza place....guilty
Last night we made pasta at the "mama's" house from scratch. I have to say I didn't love the pasta because I've come to love the "al dente" style that we've been treated to everyday and this wasn't it but damn do they know how to make chicken cutlets!
Needless to say, we are eating very well here. Tonight we are getting treated to penne a la vodka, some sort of beef, and grilled veggies. I am soooo excited! I love these family style dinners where we are all "forced" (as if they would really have to force us to spend time together) to sit together, drink, eat and talk. I can't say there has truly been one night that I have dreaded going to dinner. I love sitting outside of Dantes restaurant with the other people in the program and laughing till I cry.

Now it is 5 pm and I'm in desperate need of some pizza! until next time xo