This past Tuesday, my friend Verena turned 21 and had a birthday party. Verena loves parties with themes and any opportunity to get dressed up. So, her birthday was a combination of both of those two things. The theme was 1950s Italy, where the local pizzeria owner had been murdered. She bought one of those party packs that comes with different characters and personality traits that are then assigned to the guests. I was the daughter of the pizzeria owner and was “hellbent on avenging my father’s death.” Everyone had their own role and their own motives to either help or hinder the investigation. I really loved this party because, aside from my friends Elsa, Zara, and Verena, I didn’t know anyone. I’ve decided there’s no better way to meet a ton of strangers than to go around and accuse all of them of murdering your father. During the game, I received three different marriage proposals and had to decide which would be the most advantageous. Unfortunately, I picked the person who had committed the second murder, but it was all to avenge my father, so it worked out in the end. We played a round of the game before we had appetizers and drinks, and then another round before eating dinner, and once we all voted on who we thought the murderer was, we had dessert. To carry on with the theme, we only had Italian food, and everyone brought something as a sort of potluck. Unfortunately, I ended up being voted as the secondary murderer and was voted out of the pizzeria in handcuffs, when, like I said above, it was my character’s fiancé. It was so fun to get dressed up and meet a bunch of new people.

The next night, I had a potluck with my flatmates, where I was still feeling inspired by the Italian food from the night before and I made Alison Roman’s caramelized shallot pasta, which is my favorite pasta dish ever. It was really nice to have a chance to talk with all of my flat mates because we’re all on different schedules and it had been over a week since I had seen one of them. Having this time with my flat made me realize that even when you live with people, it can be hard to stay connected, and this has been something I’ve struggled with while being abroad. I’ve found it hard to find time to call my friends back home and the ones who are also abroad. Between the time differences and just the general busyness of everyday life, it can feel overwhelming at times. This past week, I put a lot of focus on trying to be better about communication, even over texting. I managed to call three of my friends who are spread out all over the globe and texted a couple of others to let them know I was thinking of them. This was a reminder for me that even if I don’t have time to call each one for an hour or two, just texting people and letting them know that they’re on my mind and that I miss them is a good first step. Ciao, until next week!