Ou-lo-ween

I know a lot of you are in midterm season and are therefore looking for distractions, so I thought I'd write 2 posts in one day!

The title is your pronunciation guide for how to say Halloween in Italian. Sadly, Halloween isn't really a big thing over here. But last night, I did get to carve a pumpkin!! Teaching Italian how to carve a pumpkin in ITALIAN was a little difficult for several reasons. 1. My Italian 2. There is a ton of new vocabulary 3. There are a lot of words that don't have a translation, like pumpkin patch and to carve a pumpkin. In Italian, you just say field of pumpkins and to make a pumpkin. Not quite. 

Some other random stories.

-I was not crazy when I said it wasn't clear when my classes were going to end. 2 days ago, my professor announced that class would end yesterday. When I went to class yesterday, he said that he had changed his mind and class would end Monday. I don't know what I think about that... actually I do (shout out to Sofe). Can anyone fathom that happening at UCLA? How is that ok? What if I show up to class on Monday and he decides that he wants to have class for another three years?! How was the end date not decided before the class started?! Just some food for thought. 

-In this same class, we had a day where some students come up to recite a passage from the book. And only in Italy can you not hear what the girl is saying because she's not holding the microphone to her mouth because she is too busy moving her hands. 

-Translating the translation. One of the books we are reading takes place in a land called Oceaña. My professor very nicely tells us that you pronounce the ñ like the italian gn sound. Living 2 hours from Mexico, I thought the ñ sound was more clear. :)

-And for your pointless Italian fun-fact knowledge, a lot of Italians take notes on graph paper instead of lined paper. Don't know why and I don't know why you would want to know that. 

Buon Ou-lo-ween! Happy Halloween!! 

Rome!

Last weekend, I went to Rome!! And a shout out to my wonderful friend Giselle Bertino-Clarke who was a wonderful hostess and tour guide! I saw all the sights, took a picture with the Swiss Guards, and threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, so I'll be going back some day!
One of my favorite parts was hearing the "talk of the town". There were things like "That Swiss Guard is nice/mean" and "I saw a cute boy at mass and assumed he was a seminarian" and "Pope Francis says he moved apartments for that reason, but I think it's for this reason" and "Let's not go to St. Peter's today because it's going to be full of tourists." Rome problems (I was going to hashtag that, but I resisted.) :)
My my absolute favorite part going to St. Peter's Basilica. It is glorious, and when you walk inside, you immediately feel joy with peace! And it helps that I had the best tour guide explaining all the little details to me! Another shout out to Gizmo!
Rome is very different from Bologna. The most obvious difference is the size. Bologna is one of the biggest cities in Italy but it looks like a little village compared to Rome. I told Giselle not to worry about meeting me at the train station because I am now pro at public transportation: I've gotten around cities like Bologna, London, and Venice all by myself (with maybe a little help from google maps). But when I got out of the Rome train station, the first thing I thought was "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." (I know, very Italian.) There were rows and rows and rows of buses parked outside, several underground lines going in every direction, and tons of taxis and trams. (All we have in Bologna is a few buses and taxis.) And in typical Italian style, the maps of the public transportation weren't overwhelmingly clear.
Another major difference I noticed is that Rome is more international. Overhearing an English conversation in Bologna is rare; overhearing an English conversation in Rome is normal. Every waiter or barista I met spoke English. In Rome, you can find real brown sugar, and Halloween decorations. :) And for obvious reasons, there are a ton more tourists.
Surprisingly, a highlight of my trip was the train ride. I recently read a book (in Italian!) that took place on the train, and am feeling literarily inspired to describe every passage way, passenger, and panorama, but with a terrible start like that, I think I'll spare you. But I have to comment on the train compartments. Instead of rows of seats, the train was divided into compartments like this:  http://www.seat61.com/images/CNL-seats.jpg (I realize that this is not particular to Italian trains, but my only train experience has been in Italy.) I felt like I had waked into a movie and was just waiting for some murder to take place on the train! The outside scenery was perfectly Italian with green all around (the California girl has only seen green on the tops of palm trees...), lots of rolling hills (complete with sheep, shepherd, and sheep dog), and villas. Instead of cutting down a hill or going around it, the train would just go under it. The change of pressure would make my ears feel like they were going to burst!
I could go on and on (who me?), but there is no way to describe all the beauty of Rome in one post. Everyone just has to go!

Oct. 24

Yes, I'm going back to the boring title because I can't think of anything else. But this title happens to be significant as it is over the half-way point! While the idea of being home in 2 months makes me very happy, I'm also glad that I'm not going home in 2 weeks. It seems like I've been here forever! But I still can't speak the language, and I still have lots I want to see and do before I leave!
When my mom came, I asked her what surprised her most about Bologna. (As she is a faithful reader of my blog, I wanted to know what she noticed that I had not written about.) What struck her the most was the difference between the University part of the city, and the other parts. The University part is pretty dirty, with LOTS of graffiti, ripped advertisements, and some vagabonds (I don't really know what to call them but they are 20 somethings, some of them homeless, and all of them with dreadlocks and dogs). Then you leave that part of the city and there is the rest of beautiful Bologna: full of history, fashion, and beauty!
Some other random things:
-With an italian accent, there is no difference in the sounds of the words earth, art, and heart, or between word and world.
-I saw a car go in reverse on a one-way street. 30 minutes later, I saw another car do the same thing! I have no idea what it is about that street... but how is that ok?
-On the subject of cars, half of my roommates don't know how to drive! They wouldn't survive 2 seconds in LA.
-Speaking of driving in LA, one of my friends has a video game where you drive through LA. I think it's some sort of cops and robbers game, but we just took a virtual tour through LA- it was so good to "see" the Santa Monica Pier and the LA freeways again!
-Sometimes, especially when I'm very tired, I forget to speak in Italian. A few mornings ago, I woke up and asked my roommate, in English, what time it was. She was obviously confused and it took me a few seconds to realize what had just happened.
-Maybe this is obvious, but I was surprised to find out that most American actors have an Italian dubber that dubs all of their films. So the italians have a different idea of what Russell Crow sounds like.
-I'm not saying this is an only-in-Bologna kind of thing, but it is a not-at-UCLA kind of thing: there are hooks in every classroom to hang up your coat when you walk in. It gets so cold here that you need a place to hang up your winter jacket. -_-
-It's funny the things that you never think to be grateful for. But one thing every UCLA student should appreciate is the fact that all our lecture halls have exits that go outside. At Unibo, the lecture halls empty into the hallways. So when all the classes are let out at 10 min before the hour, it's almost impossible to get through the halls. If you have a class in the lecture hall on the 3rd floor, it can take almost 10 minutes to get out of the building!
-And another wonderful shout out to my Daddy and Grandmama! I went to the California Study Center yesterday for a class and that is where I pick up my mail. As I was walking over there, it occurred to me that there might not be any mail for me, which made me very sad. But when I walked in, there were 2 letters in my mailbox!! You guys have no idea how much it means to me. Thank you!! And Pop-pop, cigarettes behind the ear is waaayy cooler :)

What's better than Santa Clause coming to town??

My MAMA!!! Yes! For my mom's 40th birthday, she came to visit me in Bologna!! I am a very, very lucky girl! It was the best weekend in Bologna, and even one of the best weekends of my life! And it was like Christmas because she brought me hats and socks and the latest issue of the Verily magazine!! Conversazione in Sicilia has not been touched since that magazine came into my apartment. :)
The plan was for her to take a taxi from the airport to my apartment, and email me a few minutes away form my apartment so that I could come down and meet her. (I had actually planned on surprising her at the airport, but there was a bus strike--oh Bologna.)  What I didn't know was the my email inbox was full and it had been like that for a little over a day without me realizing it. So you can imagine where this story is going. I had given her my street address, but not the apartment building number. So she had no way of knowing which of the 60 apartments I was in. Let's just say my mom and the VERY NICE taxi driver became friends, in a kind of we-don't-speak-the-same-language sort of way for over 30 minutes. Did I mention this was all happening after midnight?
But after that snafu, the weekend was pretty perfect! We saw all of Bologna (it only takes a day), and she had gnocchi for the first time! Then the next morning we got up early and went to VENICE!! Touristy? Oh yes!!! For the first time here in Italy, I thought I would be better understood in English instead of in Italian. But it was so beautiful. Every time you turned a corner, there was something else that was really beautiful! There were the little canals, the street shops, the artists selling there paintings in the piazza's, the gondolas, the churches (and more churches, and more churches...). One of the best parts was walking through the street and then looking to your left and seeing the great canal on the other side of a really narrow street. Or seeing the clothes hanging out to dry between two apartment buildings. Some buildings had the rich Mediterranean colors of yellow, orange, and pink, with pretty flowers in the flower boxes and green shutters. The weather was perfect all day, and then we got into the train station and it started to rain!
The train comes every hour, and of course we missed then train we wanted to take by about 3 minutes (literally), so we had to wait another hour. But we didn't mind: we could talk just as easily in the train station as on the train. :) But only we could get so caught up in our talking (this is after talking non-stop the rest of the weekend) that we almost missed the next train and had to stand almost the whole way back because we didn't come soon enough to get a seat. Sanguines in a train station together...
By the time we got back to Bologna it started pouring rain. I had booked (or thought I had booked...) a hotel that was right next to the airport because her flight was leaving very early the next morning. We needed to cross the street to get into the taxi to take us there, but the rain was pouring so hard that we had to wait under the portico and let the rain die down a little just so we could cross the river that minutes ago had been a street. (Yes, this is an exaggeration.) But even after waiting for several minutes, we sill got soaked crossing the street! When we made it to the hotel, we were soaked. And it just goes to show that living in Europe for 2 months (can you believe I've lived in Europe for two months?!?!) doesn't not equal adult capability, as I utterly failed at booking the room. Maybe next time I should check what day I am booking a non-refundable room for. :/  But we survived, got ourselves some delicious italian food and beverages, and almost didn't make it to sleep before my mom had to get up and catch her flight.
I know this post is long, but I'm actually leaving out a lot. Mostly because they aren't stories so much as really happy moments that can't be described over a blog. I am one lucky girl!!

School days, school days, happy old school days

I am now half way through my 6 week semester here in Bologna. At least, I think it's 6 weeks. You would think I would know when my classes are going to end, but I'm not actually sure. And it's not just me-- I've asked other people in my class and they don't know. It's not just because we haven't looked at the syllabus-- I have, it's not there. It's that the University system here is very different and confusing for someone who isn't used to it.
To give you an idea, in the Lettere department, you can take a class for either 6 units, and finish the class in 6 weeks (I think), or 12 units, and finish the class in 12 weeks (I think). How is it ok to take just half a class?? I don't really know, but that's what I'm doing!
And while it's true that I might be able to find out when my classes end, I definitely can't find out when my final exams are because they haven't been scheduled yet! (Coming from UCLA where you might not be able to take a class because you know months in advance that there might be a final conflict, I have a hard time grasping this concept.) I went into a Professor's office hours to ask if I could take the final exam before Christmas. I got the vague reply that he would probably schedule something Dec 16,17, or 18., or sometime that week. There seems to be a bit of a scheduling phobia here.
Then there is the aspect of punctuality. "Quarto d'ora acacdemico" is an italian term that means class starts 15 min after it's supposed to start. So if class is scheduled for 1, we start at 1:15. And the professor might even announce this at the beginning of the term: "We are going to observe the quarto d'ora accademico".  cool.
And then there is the fact that you don't always have to attend lecture. I'm not saying lazy students can get away with not going to class, I'm saying that it literally is not obligatory. The syllabus for one of my classes says. "For students attending lecture, do xyz. For students not attending lecture, do abc." But the lecture halls have been full. I don't get it.
My favorite class is by far my class on Dante! The odd thing is we are still on Canto 1 of Inferno. Half way through the semester, and we have done 1 canto. I'm interested to see how my prof. is going to play catch up...
This is just a small glimpse into the UNIBO world. In some ways, it's nice taking a break from the everything-scheduled college system of UCLA.
Just a few more non-academic things to add.
-I don't think I've said it (and if I have, I haven't said it enough) I love prosciutto!! And I can have it ever day here! What a wonderful thing! I rarely eat ham sandwiches in American because I find our  sandwich meat so repulsive. But if you can put prosciutto in your sandwich... with a piadina instead of bread!
-A few days ago, I heard the italian version of the song "I like to move it, move it" from Madagascar. I think I like it more than the American version! And speaking of songs-- I must live in a bubble because my roommates know way more American songs and movies than I do. It's a little embarrassing.
-A huge, wonderful shout out to my Daddy, my Grandmamama, and my Wee-oh! You made my week!

These are a few of my favorite things...

SUNNY fall days. The air is crisp, but you aren't cold because you are all bundled up. And then you feel the sun on your face-- it is one of the best feelings in the world!
When my roommate makes crepes for "merenda"! (That's 6pm snack because dinner isn't until 8:30!)
When we order a meter long pizza! Actually, 2 meter long pizzas. And we still set with table with a tablecloth for this pizza dinner! And the toppings are prosciutto, arugula, and zucchini.
Dante, in italian. Yeah. I'm cool.
The new drinking song I learned. ;)
My crazy roommates!
Bacon-- FOR DINNER!! I can honestly say I have never had bacon as a dinner food, but it was served as the meat for the dinner the way you eat chicken or steak for dinner.
Playing taboo in Italian... yeah.... (For those of you who don't know, taboo is a game where you have to describe a word without using certain words to describe the word. For example, if the word was spring, you couldn't use the words fall, winter, summer, and season. It's a hard game in English. In Italian...)
When I understand an Italian conversation.
When the italians roll their own cigarettes, which is almost every time they smoke. And they smoke a lot.
When they put the cigarette behind their ear because they rolled it but aren't ready to smoke it.
When we listen to 80s Italian music!
When it's 2pm and we still haven't have lunch, but I'm not hungry yet because my stomach has finally adjusted to italian meal time.
When I find out that BOTH my grandmas read my blog!
When I get to skype with my two older siblings! I love you Ginny and John!
When I get to skype home!

The bus

I have no idea if my bus experiences are particular to Italy, because I have taken the bus only twice in America. Regardless, almost every bus trip has a new experience. There are some huge buses, which are more like a combination of two buses. But then there are some tiny buses. I went on one bus that had only 12 seats... the car I drove to high school had more than that! (Yes, I understand this is unusual.) But it was such a tiny bus by any standard. And it was old. As we drove along the cobbles streets, I thought the bus would fall apart it was shaking so much.

And then there are the times when no matter what size the bus is, there are too many people. I'm not one to insist on personal space- growing up with so many siblings, that was often a luxury we could not afford. BUT, when there is the possibility of giving a stranger their personal space, it seems like a good idea. The other day I was in a very full bus. I was standing next to a man who was standing next to the door. When the door opened, he had to move in a little closer to me, understandable. But when the doors closed, he didn't move back away from me. Ummm, hello. (No way to be sure, but I don't think he was a creep, I think it just didn't occur to move back.) The thing is, I didn't want to move to another spot because I was leaning against the back of the bus and it was so warm from the motor. :) In the end, I decided to be cold rather than have a stranger leaning up against me for no reason- I moved to a different part of the bus!

I don't mean to complain. It's true that these experiences are new and sometimes uncomfortable, but I love taking the bus.  It gives you time to think, or read, or eavesdrop on Italian conversations. Although it might seem strange, I really love taking the bus.

My first cigarette!

Just kidding. But I bet I made some of you have a little freak out. But this will be a real statement before I leave Italy... ;)

I actually have nothing to write about. I just want you all to know that I'm still alive. It has continued to rain and rain and rain. I finished the book Persuasion and so had to start reading the Divine Comedy. It's a good read, but slow, like 60 lines in two hours. That's lines, not pages.

Today I saw bus #20 (my bus) pass by me as I was walking to the stop and I sprinted to get on it. I got on right before the doors closed... such a satisfying feeling. But the good feeling only lasted for a few stops until I realized that I had to take the right bus... but going in the wrong direction. fail.

Shout out to Jordan Hart, the reason this post was written!!

Fall and San Patronio

I love fall because it means cardigans, football, and Halloween. But here in Bologna. it means none of those. Cardigans, yeah, under the sweatshirt , scarf, and coat! It's is October 5th and I've already pulled out the warmest clothes I own. I foresee wardrobe issues in the next few months. Football, highlights on ESPN, just not the same. Halloween, we'll see. But given the weather, I doubt there is much door to door anything. And yet, fall here isn't going to kill me. Last night for dinner we had tortellini in a kind of chicken broth that just warmed you up from the inside out! It does rain here (and rain and rain), but rainy days aren't so bad as long as you get to be inside reading Dante-- or you should be reading Dante but your roommate had an english version of the book Persuasion.. what are you going to do?? It's just hard when you have to go outside in the rain. It adds a whole new level of discomfort to waiting for the bus. Well, at least it hasn't started snowing... yet. :/ This Californian girl might not make it.

Last night I went to the mass of St. Patronius, the patron saint of Bologna, in San Patronio, the church that was going to be bigger than St. Peter's in Rome (see previous post), because yesterday was the feast day of St. Patronius. And the Bolognesi take their feast days seriously as everyone had the day off yesterday! The church is huge and it was packed with people- I think there are many Bolognesi that go to church for Christmas, Easter, and St. Patronuis' Day. There were over 40 priests and a beautiful choir. But the craziest part of all- only in Bologna do you see your professor at church!

How is my italian? Mucho mejor (shout out to Will!). Yeah, it's not there yet. I now have lots of italian words floating around in my head, but I don't always use them in the right way. For example, today I wanted to ask my roommates where the frying pan was. The word that came to my head was pancetta (sounds like pan, right?), so I asked them where the pancetta was. Wrong. The word is padella (close...ish), and pancetta means bacon. darn. I want to be able to communicate again!! But shout out to my awesome roommates who are so patient with my italian, or lack there of.

And one last shout out to my Grandmamama who sent me Bisquick!! Definitely one of the highlights of my time here in Bologna!! And my roommates love you! ;)

First Day of School (and more)

I finally had my last, first day of school, and, as you can imagine, it was unlike any other first day of school I've ever had.
I started class at 9am and sat through my first 2 hour lecture. I spent the first 20 minutes hoping it was the right class. Once I decided that it was, I spent the next hour and half switching off between really trying hard to listen and understand, and looking out the window, thinking about what I was going to wear tomorrow, what I wanted to be when I grow up, what would happen is the US government shut down, when I was going to go to the grocery store, etc.
After a short break, I went to my second, 2 hour lecture. This one was much better as about 1/4 of the students are exchange students; so the professor speaks fairly slowly and clearly.
Then, without any break, I went to my last 2 hour lecture. Needless to say, by the end of the day, my brain was fried. It's like doing an intense math problem all day without taking a study break. How do you think your head would feel after that?!
My last lecture was the hardest, because my professor would say things like, "A good example of this concept (which I had been desperately trying to understand) is in the book called [fill in some Italian classic that every Italian knows but no American would be expected to know]." It would be like saying to an Italian, it's just like To Kill A Mockingbird, which almost every American has read in high school, but probably no Italian has ever heard of. Interestingly, I discovered that Italians read a translated version of Robinson Crusoe in high school.
Our UC study abroad coordinator assures us that in 3 weeks, we'll be able to understand everything in the lecture. The problem is, lectures only last 6 weeks here! So what happens when the professor asks me something on the final from the first 3 weeks. "Oh, sorry prof. That's from the first 3 weeks when I was still learning italian. Can you ask me something else." (Luckily, I have both American and Italian friends in all my classes, so I think I'm going to be ok. But still...)

Some other funny things have happened. I can remember if I've blogged about this before, but I live with a group of Catholic Italian students who all live in apartments near each other. Every year at the end of September, they switch apartments and roommates to reorganize as people graduate and new students come in. So, I just switched apartments and roommates this past weekend. I miss my old roommates a lot, but my new roommates are also lots of fun. And it is hard starting all over again, getting used to new roommates, new apartment, new buses, ect. (Someone get me a tiny violin...) And because of this switch, the most embarrassing thing happened to me the other day. I live in an apartment where there are 2 sides that are exactly the same. I went to the one that I thought was my side and began to try to open the door with my key. Of course, my key didn't fit. And of course, at that moment, the guy who lived in that apartment came and asked me what I was doing. The worst part was, he wasn't a stranger: I had met him earlier that day at lunch because he is part of the same Catholic group. I obviously wanted to sink into the ground, and the only thing I could think to say in Italian was, "Where do I live?" And of course, he didn't know. The truth is, it was so awkward at the time, that it wasn't even embarrassing for me, it was just really, really funny. *cringe*

Some fun stories about my new roommates:
Italians don't eat leftovers, at least the ones that I know. Coming from a family where extra food is made precisely so that we can have leftovers, this is a very strange thing for me. But it has its benefits. My roommates were about to throw away a whole pot of delicious pasta. I begged them to let me keep it, and they finally agreed. As I was packing it for my lunch the next day, one of them asked me how I was going to heat it up and I told her I was just going to eat it cold. I was thinking that I was so lucky that I was going to have a delicious, cold, pasta salad for lunch. But instead my roommate told me that I couldn't eat cold pasta. What was I thinking?
And then there is the dinner time. My roommates and I all have dinner together every night-- this is so Italian. Dinner starts usually around 8:30 (or whenever everyone is done making their food, which is a bummer when you finished first and your food gets cold waiting for the last person) and doesn't finish until closer to 10:30. It's very different, but it can be really fun. It gives us lots of time to talk and talk and talk. They are very excited that I'm going to bake them chocolate chip cookies, pancakes, and zucchini bread (shout out to Grandmamama!). Fun fact, did you know that the word for zucchini in Italian is actually zucchinE. We also talked about Thanksgiving, and they asked me about the traditional Thanksgiving food. It was impossible to describe stuffing. It's hard enough to describe in English, considering I have never made it before, but absolutely impossible to describe it in Italian. Another funny food story is when my roommates went to McDonalds (which they call Mac) and ordered a quarter pounder. I first had to explain to them what quarter pounder meant, and then we went around the table each one trying to pronounce it correctly. After a good 20 minutes, only one of them had it, sometimes. My new roommates... :)
Happy Birthday to my dear, dear sister, Therese!!! Buon compleanno e tanti auguri! Ti amo!!

SPAIN

This post is embarrassingly late, as I left for Spain over a week ago!
I had a week off between my UC Italian class and starting my University of Bologna (UNIBO) classes.  I left Bologna, and in less than 2 hours, I arrived in Barcelona! Shout out to the best family in Europe, the Gallo Family! They sheltered me, fed me, gave me wine to drink ;), and even clothed me (if you count shopping at Zara!).
To give you the best idea of Barcelona, I'm going to start where I ended. The last thing I did was go on the top of one of the tallest buildings in Barcelona where you can see the beautiful sea on one side of the city, and small mountains on the other 3 sides. So everything in Barcelona is contained within these four walls. There is the Park Güell, the Futbol Stadium (Go Barca!), the beautiful Gothic Cathedral (a must-see!), and the Sagrada Família (by Spanish architect Gaudí), and all the apartments and villages in between. Barcelona is a wonderful city to walk around in; within 5 minutes you can walk from one little old village to another. And as you walk around the old cities, you will be sure to see several statues and mosaics of saints and the Virgin Mary. (I'm pretty sure that would be illegal in Los Angeles.) There are some modern, high-fashion, fast-paced parts of the city, and some more quiet parts that make you feel like you've stepped back in time.
Barcelona is located in the catalonian parts of the Spain. The politics of whether Catalonia will separate from Spain is very hot right now (and sometimes a touchy subject), but for a tourist, it makes things very interesting. Most things are written in Spanish, Catalan, and English, and almost everyone in Barcelona can speak all three of these languages (and sometimes also French, Italian, or German)! There are many Catalonian independence flags hanging from the beautifully designed metal balconies, which depending on where your political views lie, can be inspiring or frightening. I thought attending church in Italian was hard to understand, but mass in Catalan, all I got was the "Amen". :)
In Barcelona, everyone lives in an apartment. I asked if anyone ever considers living in a house, and I was told that usually only poor, newly-wed couples live in houses because they can't afford an apartment. It's kind of like that in America...
But since they are all in apartments, everyone is very close. Cousins gather at their grandparents house on Sundays to be together and eat delicious Spanish food. Speaking of Spanish food...
I know it's impolite to talk about food, but I have to comment on the AMAZING food: tapas, paella, croquetas, jamón, jamón, and more jamón, and the best, croquetas de jamón! Every bite was a delight to my tastebuds! But the funniest food story was when we went out to eat Mexican food: the Spaniards had a very hard time as they tried to eat their fajitas with a fork and knife! ;)
But now I'm back in Bologna and have already started school. Some good stories for another post, but I have to go to class!
But before this post ends, I need to give a shout out to the best Grandmamama in the whole world! I got your letter!! And I would imagine that a package takes a little longer to arrive, but I'll let you know when it comes. A HUGE ITALIAN KISS and GRAZIE!! And for any curious readers, let's just say zucchini bread is going to be my roommates new favorite very soon!! xo