Bambinos and Cheese

Okay, I know the title may throw a few of you off. Well, maybe all of you. But I figured I needed to write on two pressing issues on my mind.

THE BAMBINOS -- As you know, I am staying on the campus of St. Hugh's college at Oxford. Most unfortunately, we are not the only ones staying here. There is a rather large gaggle of Italian students (middle and high school age) who also regularly stay here every summer for a "language school" program -- and every summer, they act exactly the same: loud and obnoxious. Normally, we just refer to them as the Italians, but this year's program students decided to call them the Bambinos ("babies") instead. The Bambinos run around the campus, randomly yelling and, at times, cursing in Italian and other languages at all times of the day and night. They swing from the trees (literally), they yell from the balconies, they steal street signs (there is one proudly sitting in broad daylight on one of their balconies), and they break windows (they broke one in our building two days ago -- we think it may have been one of their soccer balls). We have yet to see them reprimanded -- actually, we have yet to see ANY adult supervision whatsoever for them. There was one plan, mentioned by one of our teachers, that perhaps we should lie in wait with pellet guns and pick them off, one by one. Ok, not that we would really do that, BUT you should have been here the year they were competing in the World Cup. I was hearing Italian in my sleep for days.

CHEESE -- I spoke with Greg on the phone yesterday, and I told him that I miss macaroni and cheese. Actually, I just miss cheese. For those of you who may not know, my favorite food in the whole entire world is cheese. Of any kind. Except Roquefort. I put it on everything. Greg even gave me cheese for Valentine's Day one year (in a heart-shaped box, of course!) because he knew I would like it better than chocolate. Anyway, the English do not consume nearly as much cheese as I would prefer. So today, I was in Marks and Spencer, in the grocery aisles, and much to my delight, I came upon snack-size packages of different English cheeses! I couldn't very well buy a whole block of some random English cheese and risk not liking it, so the snack packs work perfectly for me. I bought myself some mature Cheddar (as opposed to the slightly childish kind), a bit of Wensleydale with cranberries, some Stilton, Red Leicester, some Brie, and some cheddar with chives and onions, as well as a suitable package of red and green grapes to go alongside them. I don't think I can quite emphasize HOW EXCITED I am about this. I tried the Wensleydale with cranberries today, and I was extremely delighted at the combinations of a different texture, flavor, and perfection. Anyway, my foodie sensitivity could only wait so long to write something about food. So there it is :0)