17 June, Day 41, “Che Carina!”

I’m fascinated watching convection traced by soot particles floating in my candle’s liquefied wax.

I got back from karma after dawn and collapsed on my bed until the afternoon.

Valeria invited me to go with her, Paula and Matteo for an aperitivo at Sio café –another trendy joint on the outskirts of Milan. I first met them at lingua bar a few weeks ago and have hung out once or twice since. But this is the first time I’ve seen Paula outside of lingua bar. She’s like an Italian version of my friend Kristin from Stanford. Only she says “che carina” about every 10 seconds.

I rolled up in my flipflops and jeans with a growing hole over the right knee, but the bouncers didn’t say anything. Maybe they thought I was Brazilian. At one point the girls asked how many Italian girls I’d conquested. I don’t know if they believed my answer (zero) and then proceeded to tell me how enviable it would be for them to have a boyfriend from Miami. I guess this is a non-so-subtle hint that they might like me. Too bad I didn’t meet them 9 months ago. A lot of things might be different. But I have one more job interview in Italy, so maybe I’ll be able to get to know them better if it goes well….