Mi piace. Non mi piace.

When you want to say you like something in Italian, you say, "mi piace xyz" which literally means, "xyz is pleasing to me". So then, of course, "non mi piace xyz" would describe something you don't like. I am tired and tired of thinking in a thematic, logical way, so here are some things that I piace and some things I non piace.

Mi piace hot apple cider
I've had some amazing varieties of this wonderful seasonal beverage lately. The Scholars Inn Bakehouse on 3rd has a lovely one, with caramel syrup. I had some at a party over the weekend that incorporated some sort of--bourbon? something from Kentucky anyway--which reminded me of glögg. I'm drinking some hot apple cider from a packet now, which is not quite as great but reminds me of my first year roomate, who introduced me to it. When we were very stressed she would boil up some water in our illegal water heater and make the cider, and I'd turn on the Christmas lights and we'd stop doing work and have a Harry Potter reading night. I miss that a lot.

Non mi piace being so far from home
An ongoing thing I dislike, nay, hate, but it's usually ok. I will fly home for Thanksgiving, which I am SUPER excited about, and otherwise I haven't been so homesick. But then this weekend, the father of one of my best friends from college was in a very bad car accident and things are a bit better than they originally thought, but still not good, and I hate that I can't be there for her. I think we're all sort of dealing with this, now that our college group of friends is spread out, and this is the first major crisis that we can't all be there for, and we're not quite sure how to emotionally handle it. And it's horrible. And I haven't met my baby cousin yet. I keep missing my families birthdays. I want to walk around Chautauqua when all the summer people are gone. I miss Prospect Park. There are many other examples.

Mi piace rain hitting the window when you are cozy in bed
Yesterday morning my alarm, which is NPR, went off and I didn't have to get up right away, so I lay there for a bit, listening to soothing British voices and listened to the rain and leaves smack on the window.

Non mi piace when the rain hitting your window turns out to be a tornado
So either I'm deaf or was in the shower, but I missed the tornado sirens, but I did hear my phone beeping a text alert, which told me to go to the lowest level of my building and "take safe shelter". Which I ignored, seeing as how I'm on the first floor and although the sky was a creepy pewter color, it didn't look too awful. And it wasn't, as the warning lifted about 20 minutes later.

Mi piace the fact that midterms are done
Self explanatory, really. I've got my seminar presentation in 10 days, which might actually be worse, but I will enjoy my mini-break while it lasts.

Non mi piace the fact that I made annoying mistakes on my midterms
So, I had an Italian test last night and an Islamic test today, about 15 hours apart. I'm quite certain I passed both of them, but mixed up some verbs on the Italian, which is annoying, and mixed up some dates on Islamic, which is even more annoying. I was 400 years off on a mosque, which then meant I wrote the wrong dynasty, and confused my brass basins (because, let's be honest, they sort of look the same). This is not a genuine problem, nor are midterms in general. Art history professors always tell you that they want the content right, and the dates don't matter as much, but something deep in my knit-picky nature is bothered by this.

Mi piace my friends here
After the exam today we met up outside the classroom to compare notes and console one another, and one of my fellow grad students had made Funfetti Halloween cupcakes, which is really what everyone needed! Over the weekend the Art History Association had a Halloween party (I was Nancy Drew) and got to hang out with some of the older students, which was really nice. And one of them (the only other NYer, which doesn't really count, because he's from Long Island) had brought his fiance, who got her MA in NYC and was from Rochester, so we had a good chat about Pinkberry and WEGMANS. An hour ago I somehow sliced my hand on my wall (sidenote: I just told this story to my father, who said, "that is the lamest thing I have ever heard") and didn't have bandaids. I prevailed on my upstairs neighbor for one, and we talked for awhile about England and how much we love it. All really sweet people.

Non mi piace missing Das Rheingold because I had to run errands
Actually, I don't mind missing Das Rheingold, as such, because I'm not in love with Wagner enough to want to listen/watch his operas for 3 1/2 hours. But anyway, I was supposed to go to Met at the Movies tonight with someone and was trying to think how to beg off, because my apartment was a disaster (one thing about midterms that I had forgotten is that you just eat whatever you can, whenever you can) and I needed to do dishes and pick all the papers off the floor, where I had shoved them off the bed before I went to sleep last night. Fortunately, the person I was supposed to go with is also stressed and bailed first, so I didn't have to feel guilty.

Mi piace the smells of Fall
Wood smoke. Musty leaves. Mud. Clear air. You know what I mean.

Non mi piace the current smell of this apartment
What is smells like is burnt, because I was attempting to toast an English Muffin in the oven for dinner and burned it (how?? why?? who can say).

Mi piace ALL OF YOU
Good night!