i just watched twilight in italian with giancarlo and giulio (with no subtitles). the sad thing is that because i've seen it so many times, i knew exactly what the characters were saying. like word for word.

at any rate, they seemed to enjoy it. and maybe it will help me recall what little italian i've acquired since i haven't had a lesson in three weeks (my prof apparently has some kind of flu).

someone is blasting music downstairs.

giulio and i are both sick and marilena keeps bringing me warm milk with honey and cookies. i love my host family.

ugghhh i actually have work to do so i should probs stop procrastinating.

ciao ciao.

ciao amici!

i know it's been a while, but i wanted to wait until i was fully recovered from spring break to update. i think i last posted the day before my family arrived so i'll pick up there.

my family came to visit me the week of midterms (three weeks ago). it was awesome having them here, but i definitely felt jipped because if they had come any other week i would have been able to spend much more time with them. midterms themselves were relatively pain free, except for a minor catastrophe that resulted in my professor writing "complex and thoughtful answers, but a complete lack of any historical sense whatsoever; emily dickinsion 1945??????" on one of my papers.

oops.

anyway, my favorite part of the week was probably when my family took my host family out to dinner. we went to a restaurant called il latini where we were served more food than any human being could possibly consume in one sitting... and then like 3 after dinner drinks and 5 desserts. i'm not exaggerating. i was so happy that my family finally got to see where i've been living for these past few months and finally got to meet my host family.

after midterms were over, kathleen and i took a train and met my parents in venice. that trip was a series of epic fails that resulted in us arriving four hours late (midnight instead of 8 pm). basically, we got off at the wrong station, got back on and backtracked three stops, and then, finally in venice, missed our stop off our water taxi altogether and rode around the venice waterways for 45 minutes. a more detailed account can be found on facebook under my videos. we were in venice from approximately 12 am - 6 am (but did have a great dinner and the hotel was pretty cool).

after venice, we took a train and went to lugano, switzerland with my family. lugano is where my mom studied abroad and is also probably the most beautiful place i've been in my entire life. our hotel was right on the lake and you could see the swiss alps in the distance. it looked totally unreal. the first day we saw where my mom lived while she was there, climbed the side of a mountain, and explored the town. the second day we shopped, got massages, and relaxed in the pool. this might have been my favorite part of the break just because it was so relaxing.

on sunday my parents left and kathleen and i parted ways for the first time in two months. she went to cork to visit tommy and i went to leuven to see ali and missy (and jedidiah was there too!!). leuven was a blast and it was so much fun to be with tons of loyola kids again. as a city, i loved it - so quaint and cozy. i think if i had to have chosen another program, leuven would've been it. the waffles and PLETHORA of beers alone were enough to make me swoon.

after four days in leuven, kathleen and i were joyfully reunited in london, where we met up with my friend meghan from high school. we saw tons of sights and went to tons of pubs where we were hit on by tons of creepy guys (particularly those from dubai and quebec?). also, we witnessed a particularly entertaining dance-off between an undercover professional and a middle-aged dubain. london wasn't quite as exciting as the other two places only because i'd been there before and a lot of the places we went to i had already seen, but it was still nice to go back.

we arrived back in florence on march 15th totally exhausted. we managed to rally on tuesday, though, and go out for st. patrick's day for a few hours. by the time we finally made it out, the pubs were out of everything except green beer and snake bites. after an unsucessful attempt at finding the secret bakery (there is apparently a secret bakery by our house that opens at 2 am instead of 5 am and sells freshly baked goods to drunk kids) we came back, i changed into pajama pants, and then we went back out (me in my pajama pants) for another hour.

since then we've been laying pretty low. last weekend we FINALLY saw the david (pathetic, i know) and it was actually pretty cool.

i'm getting really anxious, because time is FLYING and my weekends from now until the end are basically numbered.

this weekend: venice (for real this time), florence
next weekend: rome (with leuven & spain)
april 11/12: leuven (& tommy) come to florence
april 18/19: florence
april 25/26: cinqueterre, florence
may 2/3: amalfi coast

and then i fly home may 4th. YIKES.

i'll try to update as much as possible since i'll be around fairly regularly from now on.

love and miss you all.

baci!

robert?

update: kathleen and i have spent approximately 2 hours today (and most other days) watching youtube videos of robert pattinson (and other twilight cast members). we have midterms this week. AKA THIS NEEDS TO END.

me: would you really set me up with him?
kathleen: i've actually already thought about it!

my family comes to florence tomorrow! and we're going out to eat with my host family on wednesday.

cooking class, roma, cose

ciao ciao!

now that the school week is over, i have time to update about last weekend:

thursday: i was sick, so i skipped class and slept 12 hours straight. when i finally woke up at 1, nonna made me warm milk with MASSIVE amounts of honey. as giancarlo says "it was fantasteek." that night kathleen and i took a cooking class at school. we made two different kinds of risotto, one with saffron and sausage and one with vegetables and artichokes (is an artichoke a vegetable?) my favorite was the saffron and sausage. we also made what was essentially turkey cordon bleu (breaded turkey breasts rolled around ham and cheese) and CREME BRULEE for dessert. they didn't have a kitchen torch though, so we had to use a plumber's torch to burn the sugar on top (???).

friday: we woke up at 7 and took the train to ROMA with our school. we spent the whole morning and most of the afternoon at the vatican and saw most of its muesums, the sistine chapel, and st. peter's basilica. the vatican was probably my favorite muesum (if you can call it that) thus far as far as the types of art, the way it was laid out, etc, etc. also, the weather was GORGEOUS. rome was muchhh warmer than florence.

after that we had the rest of the day free, so kathleen, kristen, colleen and i got lunch and gelato and checked into our hotel. that night we went and saw the spanish steps (pretty, but somewhat anticlimactic) and went out to eat. after dinner, we ran into some of the loyola people including charli taibi, who flew from CHINA to visit his friend for the weekend (now that's dedication). they still needed to eat though, so the four of us wandered around, got more gelato, and then went to the campo di fiori, where we planned to meet them later. unfortuantely, we wimped out and left for our hotel around 12 because we were so tired and they hadn't even finished dinner yet.

saturday: saturday we woke up early again (like 8) and, assisted by our owen-wilson-look-alike-tour-guide, saw "ancient rome." we went to the colosseum, the roman forum, capitoline hill, and the parthenon (definitely my fav). while we were chilling in the center of ancient rome listening to niall (owen) say things like "and if a vestal virgin had sex, she was buried alive. which really sucks... i'm really claustrophobic..." i had this moment of clarity. i was basically sitting on the place where julius caesar was murdered - an event that i read about in shakespeare's julius caesar last semester - and i finally realized why it is relevant for me, an english major, to be studying in italy. do you know how many great works of literature are set in italy? i'll tell you: a LOT. and i'm actually getting to live in the setting that inspired these texts! how cool is that?

anyway not to get too deep on you all, after the parthenon we just had lunch and then more gelato (yes, that makes 3 in less than 24 hours... nbd?) at the favorite gelateria of the author of eat, pray, love. we quickly hit the trevi fountain and the mouth of truth (i think that's what it's called?) before catching our train home.

saturday night we planned to have a quiet dinner and go to sleep early.

instead, we went to this brilliant sushi restaurant a block from my house where the sushi is made right in front of you and they place it on this little conveyor belt that goes around the bar and you just choose whatever you think looks good! you can tell the price by the type/color of the plate it's on. after sushi we went to this place that had a 3 drink for 10 euro special and then to a disco where we danced... a lot. we finished the night off at eby's (where else?) for the usual late night mexican snack.

so much for a quiet night.

sunday we had breakfast at this "american breakfast" place. i had chocolate chip pancakes and (really awful) american coffee. then we just wandered around like we usually do on sundays. i bought a couple of pashminas and a pair of much-needed gloves.

this week has been pretty uneventful (though last night at dinner, kathleen thought for a brief period of time that nonna had had her possessions repossessed... when really she was just telling us that her other daughter works in a law office). i actually had a lot of work to do, so that was lame sauce.

this weekend we're staying in florence, so we're going to try and see some things around here that we haven't yet (boboli gardens, san miniato) and then my family comes on monday!!! they're flying into rome on saturday, but since i was there last weekend i'm just going to hang out here.

next week = midterms (vom) and then spring break starts friday (YESSS). i'll try to update at least once more before the break!

molti baci!

AHH

i know i said i would try to be better, but i never want to post until i can actually sit and write something substantial. which is not now. haha. this is the first week where i actually feel like i'm in school (which isn't too bad, considering i've made it this far) but it's so NOT FUN realizing that you actually have to do work when you feel like you're living in a vacation.

anyway, here's a quick update:

- last weekend i was in roma, which was bellisima! i'll write a detailed description of it later.
- we returned on saturday night, and apparently saturday and sunday were the days of anti-italian food. we went to this awesome sushi restaurant sat night (the sushi rolled by on a conveyor belt that framed the bar... SO COOL) and then sun morning we went to this american breakfast place where i had chocolate chip pancakes and (really terrible) american coffee.
- tomorrow i have to give a 45 minute presentation in my cinema class. i don't think i've ever talked for 45 minutes straight before. AHHH.

right. so now i need to go actually DO the presentation and stop procrastinating.

ciao amici!

it's about time.

ciao amici!

so i'm pretty angry with myself, because i used to be WAY into this blogging thing (we're talking every day, sometimes multiple times a day, throughout all of high school) and now, during perhaps one of the most interesting periods of my life (more interesting than high school, at the very least) i'm wimping out. LAME SAUCE.

i couldn't decide whether or not to actually start this, because a good month has passed since i arrived in florence and it will probably be hard to catch up on everything, but i finally decided better late than never. plus, i don't want to forget any of this, so i need to start writing it down somewhere! i still have a solid 2.5 months to go, and i'm sure at least SOME of that will be worth recording.

i'm going to try and re-cap january as concisely as possible (obv this means bullet points):

- kathleen (my roommate/partner in crime) and i arrived in florence on january 13th (after a particularly enjoyable flight - free drinks, TONS of food, and people just hanging out/talking/singing in the aisles), stayed in a hotel for two nights, and then moved in with our FABULOUS host family. that whole first week was pretty much a jet-lagged haze during which i mainly napped and chased down various syracuse administrators in an attempt to solidify my class schedule (read: MAJOR HEADACHE). honestly, the first two weeks weren't all that exciting. we kind of just soaked in the scenery, watched a lot of OC, and tried to adjust to our surroundings (which are so beautiful that most of the time i still don't believe i'm really here).

- my class schedule is as follows:
mon: italian I 8:45 - 10:45; creative writing: prose 3:05 - 4:35; italian cinema screening 5:00 - 7:00
tues: italian I 8:45 - 10:45; classical mythology 3:05 - 4:35
wed: italian I 8:45 - 10:45; italian cinema 1945 - present 3:10 - 6:10
thurs: italian I 8:45 - 10:45; classical mythology 3:05 - 4:35
fri: FREE :)

the 8:45 italian was a total bummer at first, but my professor is really sweet and an excellent teacher, so that makes it slightly more bearable. my creative writing professor is this fabulous sarcastic british woman who i totally adore. my other two professors (cinema and myth) are OK - nothing too special. cinema is the kind of class that isn't exactly enjoyable, but i know i'll learn a lot... and we watch some totally bizarre films. myth alternates between interesting and dull depending on my mood (i.e. if i feel like learning; if it's gorgeous out and i want to skip class and go for a gelato).

- our host family is TOTALLY AWESOME. we have a host mom and dad, marilena and giancarlo, a host brother named giulio who is 18 (and who i walked into a door in front of on our first day here. typical.), and a nonna. giancarlo and giulio speak english fairly well, but marilena and nonna don't at all, so that's sometimes hilarious. last night, for example, we told marilena we vacuumed our room; she thought we said we wanted to iron our clothes and told us we could borrow the iron whenever; we, however, thought she told us we could drive their smart car whenever. oops? giulio's favorite past times seem to include going to discos, watching soccer on TV (pronounced TEE VU) and posting videos of himself lip-syncing cyndi lauper on youtube. nonna always tells us we are "bella" and cooks the best desserts i've ever had. giancarlo always tells me "you are disaster" (NOT TRUE... only when i try to speak italian.) and marilena comes to my defense. marilena and nonna love soap operas.

- during these first few weeks we learned that it's best to seek out bars with primarily american students. italian men = totally sketch (though often quite attractive. it's really a shame.) on our first night, we found ourselves (read: i found myself) initially smitten by the locals (read: he told me he was a calvin klein model?) until we realized that they were probably lying ("katie, that is such a line") and abandoned the scene for more promising horizons.

- we spent our first two weekends in florence exploring the city and, more importantly, SHOPPING. the shopping in florence is incredible - it's like nothing i've ever experienced. i am truly like a kid in a candy store. (actually, this could also be taken literally as on our second weekend there was a HUGE CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL two blocks from our house). you would think after a month here i would be desensitized by all of the fabulous shoes and bags and jackets that litter the shops' windows but i'm not. i think i probably annoy everyone by my incessant need to go in EVERY SINGLE STORE, but really, you never know! that perfect pair of boots might be lurking just one store away!

favorite purchases so far: tweed-ish winter jacket that i wear every day; grey suede ankle boots; brown leather boots; silver semi-sparkly post earrings; brown leather jacket; black turtleneck with built-in cinching belt

currently on the prowl for: the perfect handbag; lightweight spring jacket

- though the shopping in florence is incredible, i guess the historical aspects of the city are pretty cool too. so far i've been to the duomo (and climbed to the top!), the ponte vecchio (a mixture of history AND shopping :)) and the pitti palace; i've yet to frequent a museum but there's plenty of time left so i'm not too concerned. also, because we're students we have free access to basically all the museums in florence!

- our third weekend here (i think) kathleen, megan and i went to PARIS and met up with tommy, matt, and kara! i wasn't sure we would make it there alive (ryan air = somewhat terrifying. turbulence, barrel rolls, & delayed departures are always good for the flying-phobic) but, thanks to the "priority boarding," that i was tricked into purchasing on the ryan air site (for future reference: make sure to uncheck ALL pre-checked boxes) we at least had extra leg room? on our first day, we walked along the champs elysses (drool worthy shopping), climbed to the top of the eiffel tower, and participated in my first (and maybe last, if this is what all pub crawls are like) pub crawl led by an ex-reality-televison-star with a pink mohawk. the crawl featured four bars plus free entrance into "paris' hottest night club." kathleen, megan, and i went back to our hostel after the fourth bar, cold and cranky. i think we probably spent more time outside walking than actually hanging out IN the bars. on a positive note, however, this crawl DID lead us to the best crepes with nutella we have ever experienced in our lives. the second day we hit to the louve and the musee d'orsay (which i LOVED) before our return flight. also, on the first day i had my first starbucks in europe (starbucks does not exist in italy).

- after paris, we spent the next two weekends in florence. the first weekend we did a day trip to assisi (where st. francis is buried) which was this adorable town on the side of a hill with a GORGEOUS view of the countryside. last weekend we went to ravenna (where dante of the inferno is buried), a former capital of the roman empire, to see some ancient mosaics. we also went to a wine tasting, where we tried four different kinds of wine (mmmmm) and then stayed after for an appertivo, which is where you buy one drink and then get tons of free appetizer-like food. ours had sushi (!!!) and, as you can imagine, i was thrilled. :)

i think this brings me to the present? this weekend we're going to ROMA friday - saturday with school and i'm really excited, despite the fact that my nose is a faucet and i've gone through 10 mini tissue packs in the past two days. to be honest, i'm just surprised i made it a whole month without getting sick.

what else?
oh. the food. i can't believe i haven't mentioned it yet. the food is probably my favorite part about italy. everything is incredible, even the "mediocre" stuff. i eat 1.5 to 2 x as much as i do in the U.S. but i don't care! whatever weight i gain will be so worth it. my and kathleen's apartment (besides being located right in the center of town :)) is exactly 1 block away from the oldest & best gelateria in all of florence, vivoli. i think my favorite combo so far is straciatella (vanilla/cream-ish with chocolate chips) and hazlenut. our other favorite gelaterias are grom and serafina.

in an average day, i usually eat:
1 cappuccino or caffelatte
1 pasta (i.e. breakfast pastry), usually chocolate or rice
1 panino (sandwich), usually caldo (hot) with proscuitto and formaggio
1 apple-pear hybrid fruit thing they have here at school that i've never seen in the U.S.
1 cioccolata calda (hot chocolate)

and then there's dinner. dinner is always EPIC, usually with a huge bowl of pasta to start us off, a main course, a vegetable, ham & cheese, bread with oil, and dessert of some sort.

sidenote: two weekends ago, i had the best mexican i've ever had in my life at a restaurant called tijuana which is, conveniently, right across the street from my apartment.

i think the only other thing i haven't touched on is the nightlife? usually, we buy these little bottles of wine at the shop across the street from our house and walk around drinking them (often on the steps of the duomo) until we decide where to go. sometimes we'll start at eby's, this mexican place near our house that has delicious sangria. (all too often we also END at eby's for drunk snacks like nachos or mini burritos) other places we can usually be found are:

1. the lion's fountain, an irish pub right by eby's
2. jj's cathedral, another irish pub by the duomo (do you see a pattern here?) -- this is where i discovered the snake bite, a beer cocktail that is 1/2 lager, 1/2 cider, and raspberry syrup, AKA incredible.
3. space electronica, una discoteca that has futuristic (think neon, think spaceship) decor, and plays techno and U.S. pop from like, the 90s
4. astor, a trendy lounge by the duomo
5. be bop, a retro bar that has a BEATLES COVER BAND every tuesday night (!!!)

we still have a lot more exploring to do, though. generally, i go out with kathleen and a few other girlfriends. we haven't met many guys at school yet and, as i mentioned, the local dudes are pretty sketch. beeooo.

OK, i think that's everything! if anyone actually read all of this, i'm seriously impressed. from now on the updates should be MUCH shorter and MUCH more frequent!

ciao ciao :)

t-minus 49 hours

this blog is mainly for my dad... and i guess anyone else who is interested.

i leave for florence, italy in approximately 49 hours. EEK.