Lidl

Ah...I'm in a really good mood right now. I just finished watching Erin Brockovich on DVD. What a good movie! And after two hours of movie watching, it finally occurred to me as the credits were rolling that the guy who played opposite Julia Roberts (the lawyer) was Albert Finney. Y'all know Albert Finney. Daddy Warbucks from the movie Annie! (If you didn't already know, Annie is easily one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time - I used to drive my family crazy, watching it all the time when I was a kid...well, even as an adult, for that matter...apparently my niece got the bug too b/c she also loves Annie...forget resemblance, the love for Annie is what officially made me claim her...hehehe).
Anyway, today was very laid back. Our team met at noon to work on the project, and of course folks were nice and slow trickling in. Kathleen was there when we arrived, and a number of folks didn't even show up (if they did, I didn't see them). About an hour into our meeting, Sook and I went into a study room and worked on the section that the two of us are splitting. We decided to show our findings using visual diagrams, since it lends itself easily to that. Besides, I'm guessing the rest of the presentation will be a lot of text (translation: boring), so I'd like to spruce it up. Just when I thought I was done with Wharton, here I go putting together another perceptual map. Sigh. I still have another section to work on (I am working with Carmen on that section although we have yet to consolidate our research). We worked together until about 2:20, then I got my stuff together to go to Italian class. We decided rather than working over the weekend, we will send our tutors what we have as of tomorrow, so they can provide feedback over the weekend. Then we will meet with them on Monday (Stefania responded today that she is willing to meet on Monday).
Italian class with Stefania was at 2:30, and we basically picked up where we left off yesterday with adjectives, and conjugating verbs. We reviewed the three basic verb types: -ar, -er, -ir. And we reviewed the rules (there are several, and some of them are tricky). Then she basically quizzed us by throwing out different verbs and making us conjugate them on the spot. It was a fun way to learn, and the repetition helped make sure I really understood it. Susanna also mentioned that she knows someone who works in the industry and sells Gucci bags for 200 euros. We looked at her like she was crazy. Then she clarified. She wasn't talking about the purses, she was talking more along the lines of the clutches that normally cost 600 euros at retail. Whew. For a minute I was thinking, wow, that's some hookup! We told her we are going to the outlets in Switzerland tomorrow and she was very excited. She has never been. She asked us to take notes and tell her all about it when we return.
After class, we headed to the German supermarket that Susanna had told us about yesterday, looking for some "American food" - peanut butter in particular. The supermarket is called Lidl. It was about directly down the street from the Bocconi MBA building - about 3 blocks. We had never walked in that direction though, so it showed us another part of the city that was new. Lidl is not very big, and has a Costco type feel, with cartons of items laid out in a row from the ground up. I was a little disappointed because they didn't carry many familiar brands, and besides, I didn't find any peanut butter. But, I still purchased quite a few things. The most exciting thing I bought was turkey sausage! Yeah, I know...the things I get excited about these days. Seriously though, whenever I see sausage in the supermarket, I can never tell what its made of. And call me picky, but I'm not trying to eat sausage from some random animal. Beef or turkey are preferred. Lidl had turkey sausage clearly labeled (di tacchino means made of turkey - I learned that one quick!), so I snagged it up. I don't even know how much it cost (wouldn't have made a difference anyway). I also got strawberry sorbetto, a 6 pack of peach iced tea (some brand called Sorello or something like that...hey, it's not Snapple, but it will have to do), a pack of parmesan rice, spices (oregano and basil), and a few other things I can't remember at the moment. After talking about cayenne pepper for the last three weeks, I thought Rita would have purchased it (they're the first place we found that actually sold it), but all she bought was some onion powder. I guess she wasn't feeling Lidl. On our way to the bus stop, we passed Pam - one of the other supermarkets we frequent. We stopped in there so Rita could get some potatoes, and I picked up some Frosted Flakes (or "Frosties" as they are called here) and turkey breast for my sandwiches. I couldn't carry much else.
Since I was bogged down with bags, and we were a good 25 minutes from the apartment, I was not trying to walk home. So we went to catch the tram. We had just missed a #3 tram when we got to the stop. Then, five minutes later, as we're chitchatting about the project, I look up and across the street is a #59 tram. Now, the 59 is even better than the 3 b/c the last stop is two blocks from our apt. However, since we've never ridden the 59, we had no idea it stopped there. We ran across the street to try to catch the 59 but it pulled off before we could get there. Ayayay. I wanted to scream. I was hot, tired, sweaty, and bogged down with bags. So we waited another five minutes for the next 3 tram. Then another five minutes to transfer to the #9 tram, which put us about 4 blocks away from our apartment. When I got home, I was exhausted, and my shoulders were sore (could've really used a massage at that point). I passed out for about an hour (that seems to be a popular activity for me when I get home), then woke up and cooked dinner (turkey sausage and my leftover pasta salad, with corn). That sausage was so good! Mmmmm....just nice and tasty. The sausages here are also kinda odd b/c its much longer than the links we're used to in the states - about twice the length. So I had the equivalent of about two sausages. I know. Just ruining all that tae-bo work. After dinner, I watched my movie, and now I'm about to go have dessert (sorbetto!). Ciao for now.