and the world gets even smaller.

this weekend my best friend from home (alessandra, who is studying in london this semester) came to visit me in florence with her best friend, kaltra. they stayed with kaltra's friend from home, eileen, who is spending this semester here. we spent the whole weekend with my best friend from smith, breana. kaltra and alex's good friends from london were also here. along with about 15 other people that we knew from various other places. it was a weekend of best friends. 

it was almost surreal to have my best from from vermont and my best friend from smith with me in italy of all places. surreal and very fantastic. 

friday afternoon i wandered around with alex and kaltra and eileen, looking at piazza signoria and the duomo and the smith sede and various other things. we ate some delicious gelato and then headed home to get ready for the night. we met up with breana and lots of other smith girls to have aperitivo at moyo. i had a delicious fruity drink (turns out it was not a good idea....) and yummy snacks. afterward, we wanted to go sing karaoke at the american bar called the red garter but no one was there yet. breana, alex, kaltra and i headed back to eileen's apartment to hang out for a bit before trying again. when we got back to the red garter, we snagged a strawberry daquiri and sang two songs: first the spice girls with some other american girls and then n'sync with some american boys. after we had enough of that, we met up with kaltra and eileen and went to 21, a discoteca, where we danced our bums off til 3:30am.... oops! 

saturday, after sleeping in of course, breana and i went and met up with alex and the others to wander around the san lorenzo market before dinner. alex and i bought very cute rings (after MUCH haggling) and breana and i bought little flower-printed scarves like we've always wanted. oh, and alex bought a little leather bag just like mine and breana's so now we all match! for dinner alex, breana and i wandered over to my FAVORITE restaurant in florence, i tarocchi (the tarot cards) where i had a greek salad followed by AMAZING roast beef and roasted potatoes. so good. alex had carbonara and breana had delicious penne in spicy tomato sauce. after checking in and stopping by various places to see all the various people we knew in florence, we headed to braumiester for the usual saturday night beer (well in this case, raspberry lambic - yum!) 

this morning, the three of us met up to have american brunch at the diner. soooo good. i had eggs benedict and they each had chocolate chip pancakes. we spent the rest of the day wandering florence, going to the socks and tights store, popping in the anthropology museum, and wandering to santa maria novella and over the arno to see pitti palace. finally we had t say goodbye and watch everyone pile into the cab and head to the airport to go back to london. it was very sad..... good thing sometime in the next 6 weeks or so i will be heading over to london to see them all again!!!! 

overall it was a FABULOUS weekend! and it made the world feel very small in the most wonderful of ways!

off to do some translation! baci e abbracci as always!! 

after almost a week.....

This week absolutely flew by..... and two weeks from tomorrow we will be heading to Sicilia! I can't wait!


Things were very hectic given we have a billion assignments as I explaine last time, but the good news that my fashion paper is almost done! I am about to finish it and start doing some literature! Has anyone read Io Non Ho Paura, or I Am Not Scared in english? It's a great book! I have to give a presentation on why is was written, for what motives, for who and speculate on its purpose as a literary work.... Hmmm.... Aiuta? 


I haven't had time to take any pictures for ya'll but you should all know that its gorgeous here this week.... Chilly but clear and very sunny! 


Also, everyone should check out the Putumayo Italia CD (grazie, Breana - a little motivation!!) 


Last night I went out to Be-Bop (http://www.myspace.com/bebopflorence) with Breana and some other girls and we had the pleasure of seeing a Janis Joplin cover band - The Rose (http://www.myspace.com/therosetribute). It was pretty much incredible. The lead singer had an incredible voice! None of them could dance, but they were GREAT! So much fun! Tonight we are thinking of going to the German bar, but we'll see what happens! 


Anywho. I'm sure I will be back soon. 


Baci e abbracci a tutti! 


P.S. At this point it appears I will be taking either Social or Economic Geography at the University of Florence and it will be Mon, Tues and Wed from 9am-11am...... And since its kind of in the anthro department here I am hoping it will kind of be in the anthro department at Smith.... But regardless! The latest I should be home in June 4th!!! Then again, we're in Italy, so things could change in 30 seconds!!! xo

Almost home!

I am a terrible blogger. I am so terribly sorry!


As you can imagine, spending three weeks at home was crazy! Appointments, dates, visits, things to do, people to see, places to go, errands to run - it was just go go go the entire time! And of course we got a Wii, so that had to be scheduled in as well!! Needless to say, I guess I didn't put blogging on my list of priorities where it should have been! But fear not because I have returned with full-force blogging!!


I am now sitting in the airport in Zurich, waiting for my gate to be announced. They changed my flight to Florence from an 12:15 flight arriving in Italy at 2, to a 2:55 flight arriving at 4:05.... And I got here at 11.... So I am just sitting. And waiting. And they have created this great little "Transfer Zone" which happens to be a random cluster of 15 chairs placed in the middle of the hallway in front of security. My gate should be announced soon... which would be great because I am hungry and would really love to get through the gate and find a sandwich!!!! 


Leaving home was hard..... saying goodbye to Gabriel was very hard.... but the GREAT news is that he is most likely visiting in 8 weeks for his March spring break! And these next 4 weeks will fly since I have so many papers to write and exams to study for, followed by a week in Sicily! And then second semester, which I am very excited for! History of Cinema, History of Opera, Translation and hopefully an anthropology course at the University of Florence! And once I know that course, I will know when my final exam is and therefore when I will be at home! And upon returning home, I will most likely be back working at the Reservoir in Waterbury, and perhaps a restaurant in Stowe as well! Then senior year..... WOW. 


Time flies when you spend a year in Italy, thats for sure!


Love to everyone! BACIONE!