Life in Lockdown

March 16th 2020: This extrovert is getting tired of isolation! What a week. I’ve taken advantage of this time and tried to be productive. I’ve watched Mamma Mia! many, many times. I’ve listened to Mamma Mia! as I read, did core exercises, and lounged on the couch. I’ve enlightened myself on the history of each song performed by ABBA, especially the ones featured in Mamma Mia! For anyone who doesn’t know me super closely and this blog was shoved in your face by a proud parent, this might be the time to say I LOVE Mamma Mia! I’m sorry if you feel like you were missing something through my previous posts, but now we are all on the same page!

While I am missing people, I have actually had fun! I started: doing yoga on the terrace, setting goals, reading books by the Obama’s and other leaders, learning about financial literacy, cooking, studying the US Women’s National Team’s fight for equal pay (#equalpayforsuperiorplay) and finally talking with loved ones via FaceTime, Skype, Hangouts, and WhatsApp. It’s true, I have too many communication mediums.

Today was a veryyyy special day for a couple reasons! First off, I’m back in school! Not IN school physically yet..sad! But we have moved our courses online…hence all the communication mediums! It was a small group today, just me and one other student but we learned a lot! Here comes the future tense! Andro’ a Perche No presto! (statement is Nonna approved!)

Nonna is hard at work on her book. I keep telling her that the people want to read about her spectacular second grandchild, so if any of you want to second this, be my guest! This lockdown is really speeding up the current book so I’m hopeful that if the interest is there, she can have a series about Adventures with Abbie out by mid April!

Another reason today is special: one month in Italy!! The time is flying by, not in the way I expected, but it is still crazy! I can’t believe it! I’m excited for life to return to normal so I can do all of things that I have been planning while hanging around the apartment! But I am so impressed with how much Italian I have learned in my short few weeks of classes!

We are about two weeks ahead of all my people back home in the sense of corona measures so I prescribe to you all: some serious Mamma Mia! time. But actually, wash your hands and practice social distancing! Schools and workplaces are putting measures in place for a reason so hopefully it doesn’t get as drastic for you all as it has here.

In other news: today is also special for a third reason! I made lasagne this weekend, with béchamel sauce and it was amazing. But like Pad Thai, it is better the second day! When I was younger, Nonna’s nickname for me was Madame Lasagne because I always requested it when we were together and I could eat more of it than some would expect out of a five year old. Finishing class today was that much better because there was lasagne waiting!

Get ready for my return, more gluten free Italian food than Vermont can handle.