lovely spring weekend

Okay so this is a blog that I started to write on Monday, March 29th...... Better late than never??? Unfortunately I never wrote more than the following list:


bros bday (also talk about monday)
saturday getting work done
tea house
sunday
vacation


I can't quite remember everything I wanted to say so I will say this:

Monday, March 22nd was the twins' birthday but we celebrated the following Friday. On Monday I gave them party hats, birthday candles and silly string and also brought home their favorite cookies from the bakery. 


Then came the rest of the week. I'm sure it was a lovely week.


Friday night the twins invited 20 of their friends and some of their parents out to dinner at this fabulous pizzeria. I sat with the adults downstairs and all of the bambini sat upstairs and made a ruckus. Dinner was GREAT! Really good pizza, great wine, etc. etc. The usual. 

Saturday.... hmm... Saturday I.... oh, I went to study with Breana in the center. First we went to Moyo, where we often have aperitivo, but it was a little strange because they made us sit at the high table right in the front, facing the bar where all the workers were just standing around, so we couldn't really chat without feeling funny. Therefore that didn't last long... So we headed over to Lion's Fountain for bagels and cream cheese and cider. Only then I decided to have a Bloody Mary instead and it was delicious!!! One of the best drinks other than beer or cider I have ever had! It will be happening again soon! 


Satruday night we went to Mago Merlino's tea house. LOVED IT. A cozy room of tea and floor pillows and lamps and other great things. Breana, Alayna, Lenora, Christine and I just sat and sipped tea and chatted and ate little tea snacks made by the owner (Rocco) until 1am. It was my kind of night, thats for sure! 

Sunday. Not sure why I wrote Sunday on the list.... I couldn't even begin to tell you what I did....


Vacation. I was getting VERY excited for vacation at this point!!! See next few blogs!


xo

independence and a visit from the boy

I think I just completed one of the best weeks of my life. I'll let you know.


Gaber left today after spending one week strolling my Florence streets by my side. We stayed in a little apartment right in the center by the sede, cooked dinner, came and went as we pleased, slept in, watched tv together, and chatted until 4am. It was the definition of perfection.


Wednesday - went to happy hour at a Mexican bar called Tijuana with Christine, Breana, Anna and Claire, then went to a yummy little trattoria called Gusto Leo (I think?) where we ate pizza, then home to snuggle and watch tv (by way of gelato, of course!)


Thursday - introduced Gabe to the wonder of kebabs in this city (he ate 2 in about 2 hours I believe), then strolled and did some grocery shopping, tv watching and snuggling since it was chilly and dreary, came home after class and made heart-shaped pasta with oil, garlic and hot pepper - so good!! I'm going to guess we got gelato afterward?

Friday - wandered ALL day, went to the History of Science Museum, checked out some cute churches, the building that I want to buy to start my restaurant and hotel (where Napoleon's brother lived and died I might add... its a stretch but its abandoned and beautiful.....), walked up the hill over the Arno, ate more gelato and kebabs, met the crew for aperitivo at Moyo, headed to karaoke and then spent about 20 minutes at 21, a discoteca, then headed home for the night.

Saturday - after not sleeping well at all (we decided there was Red Bull in the free mixed drink shots we got for singing karaoke....) we took the bus over the Arno and up to San Miniato, a beautiful little church on the hill, took lots of pictures, then wandered through Florence to the Duomo, ate gelato, stopped by my host family's house to introduce everyone and pick up all the stuff I sent home with him, then wandered home to cook roast beef, thinly sliced bistecca fiorentina and roasted potatoes (pretty successful, I must say!!). I am tempted to say we had more gelato after dinner.... (In case you hadn't noticed, Gabe was quite taken with the gelato!! Especially the lemon!)

Sunday - tried to go to Villa Demidoff in Pratolino.... after successfully figuring out the bus and wandering until we found the entrance, it was closed for restoration, but we found some snow and a "Gigantic Adventure Park" which was a huge ropes course up in the woods, then we went back into the center, strolled through the San Lorenzo market, stopped for gelato by the Duomo and then headed home to make a feast of amazing meats and cheeses and breads and beer, then tv and chatting til late. 

Monday - after Translation class we wandered all around in the sun, visited my favorite church and sat in on Mass for a little while and then went home to get ready to go out to dinner at an ADORABLE and delicious restaurant that Gaber found called Trattoria da Tito - SO GOOD! We took shots of limoncello with our waiter and the busser and then strolled home... by way of gelato. 


Tuesday - had class on and of all day long, Gaber played computer games, did some work and ran some errands, we made some lunch at home with the leftover meats and cheeses and some tomatos and then for dinner we went to my favorite restaurant in Florence, I Tarocchi, over the Arno where we had pizza, salad, bistecca fiorentina and then topped it off with gelato (we did stop by the apartment to pack for Wednesday first!!) Then there was a minor catastrophe (which we avoided very well!) Gaber left the keys in the apartment.... and the cell phones.... so we couldn't call ANYONE to let us back in.... and other than the owner, there isn't anyone else to let us in anyway! So first we found the woman in the neighboring apartment to see if she had access to the courtyard so maybe we could get in the window, but she didn't.... so she asked someone else.... but they didn't either (very teary and upset Sera on our hands at this point..... very covered in mascara and sniffly and pink....) Then I had an idea.... So we walked to Hotel Maxim, the first hotel we all stayed in when we first got here in September and, looking as sad and pathetic as possible, I explained our problem to the man and he let us use the internet to get the woman's number and then the phone to call her and BOOM! She came in less than 20 minutes! And said we were lucky because she usually turns her phone off at night! THANK GOODNESS! Tragedy avoided! Good thing we also had some strawberries waiting in the apartment to eat in bed as we watched House Hunters! 


Wednesday - a sad day... but we made it! Had some (VERY OVERPRICED) pastries at a famous pastry shop (they were pretty good I suppose!), hopped on the bus to the airport, said goodbye as bravely as possible, and that was that! Then I went to the sede to study for my opera midterm, took it, and came home!! Phew. 


Host family update: It's so nice to be back with them! I missed them! We had an amazingly yummy dinner of chicken, roasted potatoes and salad with tomato and avocado! Then we brought out all the Easter candy that my mom sent with Gabe. The Reese's eggs were a hit among the host parents and the Jelly Belly's were a HUGE success with the host bros. Especially the buttered popcorn ones. Yuck. I think I might have to request some more. And Harry Potter beans because the bros are very intrigued. I am going to miss it here. 9 weeks from today and I will be in my house in Vermont... how did that happen?? Scary, exciting, sad, and very different.... Vermont is going to feel awfully small..... 


Life update: As of right now, while my restaurant dream is still fully in tact, I have a new plan that will help my future in the food biz. There is a graduate program in Gastronomy at BU. And I can concentrate in business. While Gaber goes to school at MIT or works there..... And Alex will live down the street. It's a great life plan. I love being young and falling in love either everything and wanting to do everything. It's so invigorating. Did I mention that I am also considering finding a job/internship/something in cookbook/food book translation? It exists! I just need to find it! It would be AMAZING! 


Anyway! Time to go browse dresses online for my 21st birthday and my lovely best friend Isadora's bridal shower that I am throwing as well as her rehearsal dinner! 


Amore a tutti!!


P.S. Countdown to Barcelona, Madrid and London = 13 days and 19 hours!!!!!

lovin' the host mamma

really.... love her. a lot. its going to kill me when i have to leave. its like having an aunt or a big sister! 


this afternoon we made bomboloni (like really amazing homemade donuts) together. she fried and i sugared. then we had some people over to eat them and we chatted with them and played with the guest dog.


then she complained to me about the twins and how she needs to scappare (escape). all night she was on them about how they always say, "no, mamma, i'll do it later, no later! one minute!! wait! hang on! in a little bit!!" especially when it comes to preparing their zaini (backpacks). lord only knows why its such a pain to pack a backpack..... i think i must be missing something!! 


just now after i swept the floor and scrubbed all the sugar off the counter, i explained that i should go upstairs to finish some homework, to which she said, "oh yes me too, i'm following you and getting away from these little boys!" as she was walking up the stairs she yelled to them, "ragazzi!!! gli zaini!!" to which i said, "un attimo!!!" (one minute!) and then she said, "aspetta!" (wait!) and then i finished, "DOPO!!!" (after!!!). then we cracked up and went our separate ways to relax and read and do some work.


it feels good to be here.


i am making penne with vodka sauce this week! but shhhh, don't tell the boys! the vodka part is a secret or else they won't eat it!!! 




xo

part two of random ramblings

Saturday
Fabulous day!! I wore a tiny little light sweater thing and flats and walked around all day in the 60 degree sun! It was incredible!
After breakfast and such, I headed into the center to go to the San Lorenzo market where I bought my very own leather jacket!! Its gorgeous! And yes, it was probably overpriced initially (350 euros) but after talking with the man for awhile and impressing him with my Italian and telling him all about what I study, etc. he sold it to me for 130 euros! AKA $177 when it should have been about $476 - not too shabby right???

After dinner host mamma and I looked through some more maps and photos and magazines and things and talked about movies and more places we would like to go. Then I went and watched the soccer game with the twins and host dad while looking through some really cool magazines (have I mentioned that we have HUNDREDS of house and travel and vacation and architecture magazines????) These were my primary findings: 

http://www.graftlab.com/

http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=aqua+tower+chicago&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=_I-JS-DuCs7__QazjOzpBg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCgQsAQwAw

http://ammos.it/web08/pagprova.htm

I love being with my host parents.... maybe I will go to mass with them in the morning.... after I make pancakes of course!!!! 

So far today

No mass! We didn't make it..... as usual! I did make pancakes though! And we used up the last of the mix.... I guess I will have to start making them from scratch! After breakfast Silvia invited me to go for their usual Sunday passeggiata (little walk) to the Piazza where their church is and then to get coffee and pick up chicken for dinner. Filippo stayed home to do homework (yeah right....) so it was just me and Lorenzo and the host parentals. We stopped and talked to just about everyone we passed on the street, walked to the church, greeted some more people, got some cappuccino, and headed under the train tracks to another piazza I didn't even know existed to go to the rosticceria (rotisserie) to buy some chicken parts. Yum. In a few minutes I am going to do my translation homework then make some more lists, finish planning Isadora's bridal shower, dream about life a little, and then watch the amazing 1999 version of Alice in Wonderland and possibly Nine! Perfection! (Did I mention that the NEW Alice in Wonderland is coming to Pistoia - about 40 minutes away - on Wednesday and Thursday and therefore after class on Thursday we are SO going to see it!!!)

Baci a tutti!! I miss you all!!! 

a bit of random babbling

I don't really have anything in particular to share but I am in a blogging mood and therefore I am just going to go for it and chit-chat about various things.


Friday
Friday morning I had my university class (which remains continues to be amazing I might add) and then I headed home for the afternoon (after picking up magical medicine at the pharmacy). I did some homework, watched some tv online, organized my room, etc. Nothing particularly amazing. Until! I had a fabulous night with my host family! 
After dinner, host mamma and I made some chamomile tea with orange zest and honey (amazing by the way!)  and looked through some magazines together. She told me about all sorts of cool places to go in Italy and all the beautiful hotels they have stayed at and all the therapeutic natural hot springs nearby. I must say.... it would be awfully nice to live the life they live!! They've been so many places!! Fiji, Bali, Hawaii, all sorts of other islands, Morocco, Egypt, France, Spain, the U.S., Switzerland, Mexico, Greece, everyone you'd ever want to go - they've been there! 
Then I meandered into the living room to sit with host dad and broskies who were watching the History Channel. There was a show all about the Air France flight, the Concorde, that burned and crashed in 2000. It was very sad..... I didn't really even know anything about it but now I am pretty well educated and it pretty much broke my heart to see interviews of people who were minding their own business and driving to work when suddenly there was a plane in flames 30 meters above their car.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_4590
Speaking of flights, we are working on fixing my flight home. When I came here, we bought a round-trip ticket from September to the summer, but we weren't sure when I would be coming home so we booked the flight as far out as we could which is April 14th or so. Unfortunately, all the cheapest seats (equivalent to what we bought at first) for all the flights for the week of May 17th (when I would like to come home) are sold out. All of them! All week! So not only do we need to pay the $200 fee for changing the ticket, we need to pay almost another $300 to cover the price difference in tickets! How absurd!!!!! 
I am feeling funny about going home.... I want to be home and I want to work and be with friends and family but I am going to be so heartbroken to leave here..... I told my host family when I was thinking of leaving and they all looked so shocked because they thought I would be here until June..... I am torn!! I wouldn't have anything to do here because I won't have much money left.... and I want to be home in Vermont... I guess no matter when I go home I will be heartbroken..... I think I will come back to Florence for a month or so as a graduation present to myself in a year and a half (WHAT?!?! Can you believe that?!?! A year and a half!!!) Or maybe I will come work here for a bit!! Only time will tell I suppose! 
As for jobs at home... I am hoping to work at the Reservoir a decent amount like last summer and I am looking for other options just in case I can't get enough hours there. I have emailed probably close to 20 restaurants with my resume and cover letter and so far I have one option and a possible interview in May. Sigh. Real life. Yuck. On another job-related note - Gabe accepted a job working in the Lincoln Labs at MIT!!!! Congrats!! Its a pretty incredible opportunity.... even if it does mean he will be living in Worcester for the summer.... a little upsetting, but worth it in the long run!! (He will be here in Italialand in precisely 10 days!).
I think tomorrow I will do some futzing and some shopping.... It's supposed to be AMAZING. And I want to think about something to cook for my host family for dinner this week..... And I want to find some dresses for my birthday and Isadora's bridal shower which I need to finish planning.... Oh the to-do lists!!!! 


A domani!!! Baci e abbracci! 


P.S. Booked a flight to London to see Alessandra!! The day I get home from Barcelona and Madrid with Breana I am turning right back around at the Pisa airport and heading to England!! 

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!! 

a day spent with dinos and rocks

aka the greatest day ever.

around 2pm, breana and i met alayna and lenora at san marco to go find the dinosaur museum, otherwise known as the museum of geology and paleontology. we could not find it. anywhere. we even knew the general area it was in and asked three different people: the first two looked at me like i was abosolutely insane and the last guy says, "OH! We have a GREAT paleontology museum.... where is it? oh.... well i don't know...." and then proceeds to look in the phone book and find nothing. at which point i call my host mother who says she will call me back after looking it up online.


guess where the darn museum is. on the street i take to school. every day. i pass this museum not once, but TWICE a day. we knew it was affiliated with the university of florence but we didn't realize it was  IN the academic building. whoops. anywho. we got there. finally. AND! that great pass we bought the other day for 4 euros which we thought was only for the four special exhibits at the science museums is also for all the university of florence affiliated museums (anthro, zoology, minerals and rocks, etc. etc. etc....) AND it was for sale for 10 euros here...... meanwhile we bought it yesterday for 4! 


needless to say, we wandered amongst huge dinos, most of which were FOUND IN TUSCANY!!! and the more complete ones were named - pippo, marta, linda and pietro..... very cute. 


then we strolled across the courtyard to the rock and mineral museum which was AMAZING! and beautiful. and sparkly. (there are about 1 million pictures of said dinos and rocks on facebook.... how embarrassing! http://www.facebook.com/album.php aid=379250&id=500755531&l=23c5298291)


anyway! at this point i am in bed with warm milk, mostly packed for SICILY in the morning! how grand!


my next update will be from down south nearby the ocean and basking in weather 10 degrees warmer, although perhaps rainier, than here!


ciao a tutti! baci e abbracci!

a brief rundown of a grand friday adventure (which runs a bit into today)

after waking up around 11am (so nice.....) breana and i attempted to make some delicious plans for the day. upon deciding to go to the zoological part of the natural history museum over by pitti palace, we realized it closed at 1pm and it was already 12:30pm. whoops! we then decided we would go to the history of science museum instead. i hopped on the bus, naturally giving breana directions to the wrong bus stop, so i got there a little before here, only to find out that most of the museum was closed except the "florence science" exhibit in the basement. it was pretty cool, all sorts of instruments and galileo-y, newton-y things. we had not a clue what anything was and the little labels such as "electrical apparatus" didn't really help a whole lot. we did find a huge spark chamber, a large electro-static machine and a model of squash fertilization though! the cool thing about this exhibit is that it is linked to three other science museums in florence and you buy your one ticket and can get into all three until may! after spending all of an hour in this charming basement, we headed elsewhere.

we first stopped in the sede to try to cheer up all the ladies still writing papers and grab a yummy hot cocoa from the macchine, and then we popped in to our favorite panini place, i fratellini (which for some reason we always have called due fratellini but theres nothing really about there only being two little brothers.... i guess we just say that because there are always two men working there?) anyway, we had some yummy goat cheese and spicy salami sandwiches and wandered off in the direction of the photography museum. 




very cool. old cameras, old negatives, super old photo albums, tons of black and white photographs, lots of cool pictures of italy in the 1800s. very neat. 


at this point we still had over 2 hours until we needed to be at a little book reading/immigration literature/aperitivo thing at a cafe over the arno so we stopped by one of the other museums with a science exhibit. this one was way cool: one of the medici palaces whose science exhibit was kinda funny, mostly architectural sketches and portraits of science-y dudes. but regardless! the palace was great! we got to see many many chandeliers and couches and tapestries and a tiny little marble museum full of marble statue heads. it was pretty great.


with at least an hour still to go we first wandered around rinascente, a big department store, looking at all the things we didn't need that were on sale. then we went over to the old stove pub in piazza del duomo and had a pint of strongbow cider. at which point we were much more ready to face the oh-so-exciting book reading thing.....


which had no aperitivo i might add. only a bowl of potato chips. which we definitely took advantage off. but it was hard to hear what the speakers were saying, and it was loud and crowded and we were hungry and worn out. after waiting for an hour and a half we finally parted (after chatting with giovanna and two of our adorable professors who were there, naturalllyyyy) and headed over to dante's trattoria for dinner. it was decently good and well priced, the free wine was gross, and there were a lottttt of dumb americans. 


after dinner, breana and i were not quite ready to head home so we popped into kikuya, the english pub, where we a) saw (but didnt bump into, thank god) antonio, a creeper from week one in italy, and b) met two really cute american girls from south carolina and their way less cute annoying friends from tennessee and worcester, MA. we exchanged numbers with the cute ones and vowed to teach them things about florence, etc. in fact, we are inviting them to hang out at braumeister this evening! 


i would say we had an extremely successful day! 


this morning i woke up at 9 to make pancakes for my family, very cute as always. 


as i write, i am chatting with breana and making grand plans to go to the dinosaur museum later! after packing and painting my nails of course. packing for what, you ask.... SICILIA!!! we leave tomorrow. the taxi arrives at 11:30am, flight at 1:30pm, arrive there at 3pm, drive somewhere and proceed to spend 6 nights in various places around sicily - two hotels RIGHT ON THE OCEAN! and if not sunny, it will at least be about 55 degrees the whole week, far better than our 43 tops! i absolutely cannot wait! pictures and blog will be updated as much as possible! 


for pictures of lovely friday (and i think some of , check out the facebook album! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=378979&id=500755531&l=2d9201d064


i hope everyone has a FANTASTIC DAY! i think all this relaxing is doing wonders for my whole person - try it out!


baci galore! 

un giorno worth a blog

today was my first full day off without any commitments, assignments, classes, appointments, or any other kind of require thing. it was grand.

9am. wake up (unfortunately to an alarm but it was soooo very worth it)


10.30am. head over to the stazione leopolda to meet claire and breana to go to a trunk show of sorts, all different italian vintage stores showin' off their goods.


11.00am. find a chandelier that i absolutely must have in my future apartment..... 3,000 euros....


11.20am. explore all sorts of wonderful vintage things including crazy sunglasses, gorgeous felt things, bright patterned dresses and funky homemade pins (i bought two as presents.... you better hope its for you!)

1pm. wander over toward santa maria novella with miss breana to find some lunch. 


1.30pm. munch said lunch in the freezing, brisk air of the piazza, sho-ing (how do you say that?) away the vile pidgeons.


2.30pm. hop on bus 17 toward home.


3pm. sip some tea and share a delicious italian donut-thing with silvia.


3.15pm. tidy room, change sheets, refold clothes in closet. get nice and comfy on bed, wrapped in blue snuggie.


3.30pm. commence afternoon of doing anything i want on the computer EXCEPT opening word to write or wordreference.com to look up words in english. talk with bestie from home, bestie from here, boyfriend, mamma and padre. think about spring break in barcelona, and other various little trips. order valentine's present for parents and have it shipped home. desperately try to think of boyfriend presents for 4th valentine's day.... still stuck on that one.


8.00pm. re-emerge from room for dinner. eat DELICIOUS fried schiacciata aka amazing dough fried into puffy little disks which are then cut in half and stuffed with prosciutto and various amazing cheeses. also broccoli and romanesco and cauliflower. and a kiwi. and some red wine. and a delicious almond cookie that i bought the other day.

9.00pm watch tv with enrico.... aka watch 20 minutes of soccer games and another 30 of grease. in italian. just me and him. it was fantastic.


10.00pm. return to the beloved bed and computer to settle in for a nice evening. load on episode of one tree hill, talk to boyfriend and bestie in florence while munching some chocolate with almonds and raisins.


11:20pm. after much distraction (what else is new....) get in pajamas after very merrily having decided to go on a science museum crawl with breana tomorrow. followed by a literary aperitivo with some other girls and giovanna. a nerdy day, indeed! how i cannot wait!


11.40pm. finish the list of muse-see museums for this semester including not only anthropology and archaeology museums but a carriage museum (by appointment only), the old pharmacy at santa maria novella, the porcelain museum, the synagogue, and the photography museum. it's on, florence, you just wait. 

11.44pm. find out from bestie that tomorrow is national lady gaga day... that must mean i need to find an outrageous outfit and tie my hair into a big bow.


11.45pm. finish blog, snuggle deeper into bed, and watch one tree hill. then fall asleep dreaming about valentine's gifts, museums and travelling.... 




it's going to be a grand semester.




bacione! 


11.54pm. find out that boyfriend is driving home to freshly-snowed-on vermont and even worse, he is stopping for buffalo wings in northampton on the way.... i miss you all... vermont, northampton, wings.... boyfriend.... too bad italy is divine! <3 

a beautiful performance

tonight as i was watching italian mtv with my family, i was hit by how absolutely incredible it is how the entire world is helping haiti right now. tonight mtv hosted a concert in honor of haiti and it was presented at the same time throughout the entire world in all the languages in which mtv exists. it was beautiful and powerful and uplifting... more than i can say for anything else i have ever seen on mtv. wyclef jean, who is from haiti, put on an especially wonderful performance. 

Wyclef Jean - MTV Shows

please watch this and consider donating anything you can

https://www.hopeforhaitinow.org/Default.asp

things you learn when you stay home and have a great night with your florentine family

1. your host parents, although they appear extremely young and beautiful, are actually normally-aged parents who were married at age 33. 

2. your twin bros, although they only weighed 4 pounds each at birth, somehow managed to be uber chubby and adorable as babies.

3. your host parents honeymooned for 25 days.

4. at which point, upon sitting down on the plane, your host mother starts feeling ill and realizes she is pregnant.

5. and then after the 25 days of san diego, san francisco, santa barbara, las vegas, los angeles and fiji, realizes she is a) pregnant with twins

6. and b) has been pregnant for about 2.5 months

7. your host dad was incredibly handsome and rugged as a 25 year-old.

8. your host mom, although gorgeous now, was stunningly gorgeous 15 years ago.

9. your little brothers, at the age of 4, used to be upset about the size of their penises and didn't understand why they were so different.

10. and your little brothers are still embarrassed about this and alude to the unfairness infront of 7 other people, not all family members.

11. and then you realize that you really missed your host family over christmas and you will really, really miss them when you leave in 4 months......

12. and therefore it is time to stop being so shy and embrace all of this wonderful experience for all its worth. starting right now. no more being timid with speaking italian, and no more hiding in your room working all day long.

[13. also nice to mention that before this grand evening, perhaps you left allllllll of your art history materials that you needed to study A LOT this weekend at the smith center and therefore will just have to deal with studying on monday.]

14. finalmente. it is important to realize that sometimes, even when you are sad because no one will come out to aperitivo with you and your best friend because they are lame and "over-stressed," things work out for a reason and those pesky friends allowed you to have a PERFECT night at home with your host family who you love.

15. you get to go to spain for a week at easter. 

16. you will probably, after retuning from sicily, easily get to see milano for a concert, venice for carnivale, pisa with your best friend from home, livorno and cortona with your boyfriend, and hopefully some natural hot springs in there somewhere!! not to mention how you will face said best friend from home in london and will hopefully go to bruges and vienna before you leave in may!

17. and then you learn that you are a huge nerd and should never write another blog in this weird 2nd person narration ever again.

i miss you all, and i love you all, and thank you all for being so supportive and putting up with me when i was sick and had bedbugs and was stressed and homesick. i owe each and every one of you. i should just give a very profound and moving oscars speech..... speaking of which did anyone watch the concert for haiti tonight on mtv? it was great....... wyclef jean, who is from haiti, was incredible. maybe i will go donate some money right now...... 

baci e abbracci a tutti!! a dopo! 

p.s. amazing risotto con spumante tonight aka risotto made with literally an entire bottle of sparkling wine. plus spumante to drink with dinner. and dessert spumante. and not to mention the little fried bits of dough we ate, which were actually a little stale but i understood how delicious they could have been, with that cheese, stracchino, and some delicious prosciutto. FINALLY, and maybe the best part aside from the delicious spumante (a rare occurrence because my host dad has horrendous taste in vile red wine) was the dessert. orange soufflé!  delicious. served still steaming, fresh out of the oven, with the zest of three sicilian oranges in it! buon appetito! 

aiutami! (help me!)

I am struggling to come up with ideas for spring break traveling (march 31-april 7) as well as various little day trips and weekend trips! Ideas? Suggestions? Help finding good cheap accommodations/trains/flights? Here is my brainstorm:



SPRING BREAK
**spain/spagna
prague/praga
greece/grecia
egypt/egitto


WEEKENDS/MAY
brussels/bruxelles
bruges
austria 
switzerland/svizzera
paris/parigi


APRILE
**london/londra




<3 Baci! 

vermont cheddar.

Tonight Silvia made her delicious torts and used my Cabot cheddar that I gave to them as a gift! We had one with artichokes, cheddar and stracchino (still not sure what to call this kind of cheese in English..... but the dictionary defines it as a soft cheese from Lombardy..... ) and one with cheddar and prosciutto cotto (like sliced baked ham only a million times better!) And we had yummy beans. And then I ate a banana in hopes that the tryptophan will help me sleep before 3am tonight - also adding a mug of warm milk with honey to the agenda for later now that I think of it! 


This week started off nicely, nothing too exciting. Just working all the time.... At this point my literature presentation is done, my literature paper is pretty much done and my fashion paper has been turned in.... which leaves me with three exams and two more papers..... and a week to go! And then Thursday, Friday and Saturday off, followed by a week relaxing in Sicilia where it could be getting up to 60! Grand! 


Breana and I are planning great things for this weekend including aperitvo with all the girls on Friday and some raspberry lambic at the German pub Saturday night! Expect photos! 


I must return to literature.... but I will resurface relatively soon!


Baci a tutti! 

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

back in the saddle

smith really wastes no time throwing us right back into academic inferno.....


by 5pm yesterday afternoon, i was back in my apartment with the host fam. at 9:30am today i was in literature listening to presentations. and then in fashion studies.... and then 3 hours later, in stylistics. tomorrow i will find myself in literature yet again, followed by art history.


in the final 2 weeks of this semester i have to write two 8-10 page papers, and two 4-5 page papers. i then have two written exams, a presentation, and two oral exams..... plus a meeting with giovanna to discuss the class i audited at the university of florence..... 


but then!


i get a week in sicily. relaxing. and resting. in hopefully decent weather. so i guess i shouldn't complain too much. plus second semester is really exciting to me (and honestly, it will be much easier and less stressful....)


therefore i am sucking it up, hopping on the horse, and gearing up for this final stretch! 


in bocca al lupo! 


p.s. i promise more exciting posts as soon as something more exciting occurs! 

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!