I mentioned that my birthday was last Sunday, and that Filiberto had ordered spumante for after dinner Saturday night in Rome. Apparently that was not enough celebration. Monday after our weekly group meeting, Angelica had a cake and spumante waiting (thanks to BSU student Jackie for the pictures).
There's no way to adequately thank
them for all they do. Each semester a new American professor arrives and they have to do everything it takes to accommodate them. I think we're fairly "low maintenance" compared to some, yet we still interrupt their lives. For Angelica, this is only a part-time job (her first job is teaching at the university) but she's just as attentive as if it were her only job. This is probably the reason that almost everyone who has taught here has had glowing reports about the town the program and the people. Having experienced another consortium's program, I can tell you that it's not like this everywhere.

Twelve days until we return to the US. We leave Macerata next week. We're having the same pre-departure feelings as always, whether from the US or Italy. We hate to leave and we can't wait to go, both at the same time. Of course there's a grandson we haven't met yet back in the US and I've been away from my daughter for three months, but who knows when (if) we'll get back to this place. All the walking has been tough. Kim's fibro means she's almost always in pain, although she rarely lets anyone know. All the walking in Rome even got to me. My psoriasis caused a small crack in the arch of a foot - just enough to make it painful to take a step. I hobbled most of Sunday.

The news this week reported how inflation in March (3.3 %) was the highest it has been since 1996. Specifically, energy prices are up 9.8 %, food 5.5 % and transport costs 5.8 %. The increased value of the Euro compared to the dollar is a good thing for Italians who want to visit the US, but it's hurting tourism from the US to Italy, and it's harder to sell Italian products to the US. While in Rome it seemed to me there were a lot of Spanish tourists. Filiberto said that Spain is doing well economically.

My colleagues in the BSU Digital Policy Institute might be interested in this article that describes the digital divide in Italy. It's getting better but still exists. Surprisingly it's not necessarily the poorest areas that lack broadband.

I have noticed a marked increase in convenience foods. I mentioned earlier that the grocery stores seem to have more frozen "ready-to-serve" meals. Now comes this story that one of Italy's quality coffee producers is partnering with Coke to release a canned drink.