Monday, April 22, 2013

Vignette # 6: The Big Twenty-One





My birthday was the week after we got back from Paris (wow, so long ago!) and it was strange, not celebrating back at home, with the usual crowd. The people here are wonderful, though, and they made my big 21st birthday so much fun, despite the fact that it was on a Tuesday. I had a day of over-eating and then a night out with the girls. We went to get aperitivi, where I had a tiara on my head and a giant pink tie to wear around my neck that screamed “Happy Birthday!”, all courtesy of the amazing people here and the Asian Market across the street from the gym. After drinks, our group of ten went to dinner at Osteria dell’Orsa before returning back to Forni, where Marta was waiting for us with a Pan di Stelle (chocolate cookie) and chocolate mousse cake that she had made from scratch for me. My room also was completely filled with balloons and a “Feliz Cumpleanos” sign (for some reason the Asian Market only had Spanish birthday decorations). The night ended with music and talking and cake and cake and cake…until the wee hours of the morning, in which Viola taught us all traditional Albanian dances and Skyla tried to teach us Hawaiian hula dancing.
            The fact that I ordered a drink on my twenty-first birthday was not nearly as special here as it would have been in the U.S., since I’ve been drinking wine with dinner since the first night we got here. But it was still really nice to have such a big group to go out with to celebrate, especially being so far from home.



No comments:

Post a Comment