Day 27 - July 26

 I cannot believe I am in my last week!! I have a feeling this is how all my entries are going to start until it comes down to the day I come home. It seems like I have been here forever, but at the same time it is weird that it is coming to an end. Anyways...Tuesday morning and I am excited to go to my last cooking lesson before our finals on Wednesday and Thursday. Oh my god. I had no idea what I had coming my way. Seafood day. When I walked in, I knew it was not going to be pleasant because of the smell. We had mussels, which were alive and we learned that we had to kill them by ripping off the beard that allows them to breathe. That so was not even the worst of it. Then shrimp, luckily without the heads on them, had to be cracked open, peeled and the little legs had to be ripped off and it had to be opened up to pull the vein out of it before cooking. Awesome. Then came the anchovies. Luckily they were also beheaded before we got to them. My teacher wasn't happy but I was thankful. He held it up...stuck his thumb down where the head would be, split the body completely open then pulled the bone out and twisted the tail off. I thought I was going to be sick. And finally the calamary. Squid. Full bodied, eyes and tenticles and head and guts all still intact. I was unable to watch at this point and I was literally sick to my stomach. My teacher laughed at me but kept explaining how to cut off the long tenticles and twist the head off and pull the brain/guts out in one piece, then cut out the eyes...or squeeze till they pop out sometimes. I wanted to throw up. I was so appalled by what he was telling me that I couldn't even look in the same general direction as the rest of the class. Luckily there were a few others that felt the same way I did, so I wasn't alone in my disgust. After the massacre of fish was over, he explained the other things that will go along with the fish. Pasta...my specialty, a sponge cake, and zucchine flan. The pasta was cut into little, tiny chunks where I then took a knife and pressed down to curl it around the edge until I could unravel it to make a cute little circular pasta! It was really cute...but was such a long process. There were 4 of us doing it, but it still probably took the longest out of everything else to prepare. It was cooked with brocolli, which is something I miss. Pasta and brocolli, but it is not the same as home of course. It was boiled down and sauted until it was basically mush. Then anchovies were added to the sauce, against my will. The zucchine flan was not my favorite and the cake was way too much over kill with the ricotto cheese. Needless to say I did not eat very much at all today.
 I didn't feel good for the rest of the day and didn't even eat until after photography class around like 8pm. Photography was good because we edited our pictures, sent them in, learned about our final more which is going to be big. We have a written test, a 10 picture portfolio to be printed out, along with another 10 picture assignment having to do with Italian culture. My emphasis is going to be on food I believe, since that is basically what my entire trip has been molded around. Lorenzo de Medici (my school) put on a farewell dinner for us tonight as well. I went into it expecting what we got for the welcome dinner...basically appetizers that were not filling whatsoever. Instead we get a full blown meal. Best part...for free!! We got lasagna that was the best I have had this whole trip, risotto, salad with grilled chicken (no dressing because they do not believe in salad dressing), grilled garlic/butter potatoes, and not one but two helpings of teramisu. I was stuffed beyond belief because of course I did not let a single morsel of food go to waste. I ate everything and was miserably happy the rest of the night. We eventually went home and I had to study for my final in Food class in the morning. We have to know 3 different regions, and about 12 recipes. So studying is what I should do the whole night. Too bad I have ADD and JJ was online and there were people in and out of our apartment. I didn't even start to write my paper until after midnight and begin reading the information 45 minutes after that. I decided though that I would be better off going to sleep and reading in the morning instead of staying up now. Goodnight!!!! 4 days left!!