As far as I'm concerned it is spring

At first, this post started out totally normal. It was just a quick review of the good and bad things that have happened in the past couple of days. By the end I kind of got carried away talking about food. Again. Whatever.

Bad things:

1. Yesterday I took another math test. It was impossible. I hate math. 

2. I finished the peanut butter.

Good things:

1. My art history teacher knows how much I hate religious, biblical Renaissance art (which happens to be the art we are studying this year) so he brought me a book of contemporary, minimalistic art to look at during his lesson. He doesn't speak a word of English but I absolutely love him.

2. On Sunday we're going to have Palm Sunday lunch with my host aunt, her husband, my host uncle and his family and of course my host mom, dad, and Ludovica. I'm making brownies. Ludovica is making something with honey and almonds. 

3. Elena

Food update: I finally realized the main difference the Italian mindset towards food and the Kayla mindset towards food. Are you ready for it? Ok. In America I ate all the time.

• 7 am - cereal (always)
• 9:30 am - pretzels (I alwaysssss ate pretzel thins during Oceanography. Always.)
• 11:30 am - pb&j + apple (always)
• 3:00 pm - snack (literally whatever is available to me at this time)
• 6:00 pm - dinner (cheeseburger or salad or Chipotle or whatever. I mixed it up. I kept it fresh.)
• 9:30 pm - midnight snack (usually mini Reese's or a cookie or something - optional)

In Italy (this is how my host family eats - it's not exactly how I eat)

• 7 am - toast with jam
• 2:00 pm - bowl of pasta, bread with cheese and ham, salad, potatoes
• 9:00 pm - more pasta, either steak or chicken or something, tons of food... literally the food never ends

Because I still can't fully adjust to this idea of eating so much food in one sitting, I've been supplementing the Italian diet with my 2 snack times. I know this sounds psychotic and calculated but GOD DAMN IT, THIS IS MY BLOG. 

• 10 am = apple time
• At 5 pm I have tea and a banana or yogurt

I don't know why I get hungry every 3-4 hours. That's just how my brain//stomach have been trained. Italians don't seem to get anxious during the day or want snacks. They drink water or have coffee in between meals.

It's a completely different attitude towards food. In Italy, dinner is not casually thrown together - at least not in my host family. Everyone is involved. Ludo and I set the table and my host parents cook. We all hang out in the kitchen together. Even lunch requires a lot of preparation: toasting bread, grilling chicken, boiling water for pasta. It takes forever. For me, anything longer than the 2:45 minutes it takes to heat up soup is too much prep time.

I can't speak for other Americans, but my family never sets the table for dinner. We never even eat dinner together. Ok fine we eat holiday meals together. That's it. Mom, I'm serious! Think about it. Maybe we're a lot more disjointed than other American families, but I don't know.. This concept of eating dinner together is so beautiful yet foreign to me.

Ok I'm finished talking about food. For now. Love y'all. Ciao.