Il luogo Unico nel suo Genere: Venezia

The Only Place of its Kind: Venice

In domes of dim and ancient gold,

In cloisters, where the lightning plays,

Where gleam the gorgeous saints of old

In aisles of jade and chrysoprase.

-Herbert Asquith "Venice"

...Ciao!

Buda, Buda, Buda, Buda Rockin' Everywhere!

Library of Parliament on Pest

When was the last time you experienced an entirely sincere smile? You know, the kind that can only be generated by a sense of absolute contentment?

It was one of those weekends. I don’t think a minute passed by where I was not smiling. Without exaggeration, this past weekend was one of the most blissful weekends of my life.

I went to Budapest, Hungary. Jared, Kristin and I missed two buses to the train station Thursday night. This delayed us 2 full hours, but surprisingly, it didn’t faze us. Once on the train to Brescia, we had to make a switch about an hour en route. This didn’t dampen our spirits either. Once our second train arrived in Bergamo, Italy, we walked close to two miles to Jackson and Ryan’s hotel they had booked. We woke up at 6am and caught a taxi to the Bergamo aeroporto and took Ryanair flight into Budapest. From there we caught a taxi to our hostel. It took trains, planes and automobiles, but we made it to our final destination and let me assure you, it was worth every bit of the hassle.

I’ll back track and explain myself. Our flight was out of Bergamo, which is just outside of Milan. We didn’t exactly put forth our best effort when researching the detail of our trip. You see, our flight out of Bergamo was at 8:15 am. Bergamo is about 2 hours away from Verona by train. The unexpected news—No trains left Verona for Milan/Bergamo until 7am. This complicated our process. So on Wednesday night, we made this realization (we’re in college, we sometimes don’t think things through) and immediately began to brainstorm how we were going to make it work while spending the least amount of money. I’m broke FYI. That’s when Ryan and Jackson came into the picture. They had a flight out of Bergamo booked for Friday too. They were headed to Barcelona. Anyway, they also booked a cheap hotel in Bergamo since their flight was so early. CHEAP being the operative word. We sketchily walked 2 miles in a foreign city at 11pm lugging our suitcases. After about an hour of navigating street signs, we arrived at the sketchiest hotel I have ever seen. Ryan and Jackson snuck us in the back door and we crashed on the floor. No pillow. No blanket. No shower curtain. No working toilet. Just Jared, Jackson, Ryan, Kristin and I packed into a small hotel room in Bergamo, Italy. It was all part of the experience and coincidentally, the best 5-hour rest I’ve ever had.

Our "quaint" Hotel Post. This is the front of the building by the way. Nothing says "Welcome!" like quality graffiti!

When we arrived in Budapest, we met Lynnie at the airport. She had flown in from France to meet us. Lynnie is Jared’s girlfriend who goes to KU. We had our hostel arrange our transportation and we showed up at Boomerang Hostel around 11:00.

So naturally, as spontaneous (or stupid) college kids, we explored! We had no plans, no knowledge of the crazy Hungarian language, no idea of where Budapest actually is, no clue what attractions are there…We literally just picked a place on the map and said, “Andiamo!”

We started walking and asked locals where we should go. The Hungarians were some of the nicest people I have encountered while abroad. Everyone knew English and seemed to be thrilled when we said we were from America. We felt like celebrities. Over the weekend we saw the cathedral, crossed the bridge to the castle, saw the Fisherman’s Bastian, the library of parliament, the cave church and enjoyed the most to-die-for Hungarian goulash. We even hiked to the top of Budapest and looked over the Danube River and the entire town. I love Budapest.

The highpoints of the trip cannot be highlighted. Why? Because the entire weekend was one of the highlights of my life.

Budapest was originally two separate places: Buda and Pest. Don’t feel badly, it was news to me too. Anyway, the Danube River separated the two and eventually they were merged into what we know as Budapest. The term “Pest” meant furnace or cave. This is pretty interesting because if I understood correctly, the cave church we went to was one of the reasons behind the name of the town. It is a church that was built in a cave in Budapest in 1926. Despite seeing the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica, cave church was one of the neatest churches I’ve been in. Chiseled rock formed an exterior entrance to the church and the low ceilings and textured floor and walls made me feel like I was in a movie or something. It was unreal. There were hardly any ornate decorations or add-ons. It was simply rock walls, tunnels and crosses here and there. I think there was one stained-glass window. Conceptually speaking, the church was meant to show/embody the greatness of God’s natural creation here on earth. What better way to emphasize this than to build a church literally within the earth? The church served as a refuge during WWII and was shut down a few years later by communist secret police. It was reopened for use about 20 years ago and run by Hungarian Paulite monks. They hold mass there to this very day. How cool would it be to attend mass in a church that is inside a cave?

Exterior of Cave Church

Cave Church Sanctuary

So clearly our daytime was full of exploration of the city and history, but you just can’t experience a foreign city without checking out the nightlife. So that is exactly what we did. Side note—we met this guy, Michael, in Verona. He is part of the Erasmus study abroad program and he happened to be in Budapest that weekend with his group—Michael let us know about a pub crawl happening that night so we decided to stop by and check it out. Hungarian bars are nothing like bars in America, or Italy. There was really neat graffiti all over the walls, a DJ playing house music and lots of little rooms with couches and chairs for small group mingling I guess. So mingle we did. We met some Italians! Funny how while we were in Hungary, we felt like these Italian guys were a slice of home sweet home! We realized we have grown more accustomed to Italy than we thought. So we all immediately bonded and went out with them to a couple of bars and met up with some Erasmus kids from Boston, Massachusetts. They were studying in Milano. It is truly a small world. The night was a lot of fun. We made new friends and got to see what kids our age do for fun in Budapest.

Our Italian Amicos from Milano- Antonio Guissepe and Sabian with Jared

I found Waldo in Budapest!

Nightlife is exciting, but this blog post would be nothing if I failed to mention the Hungarian food. We made it a point of the trip to eat local, Hungarian food at all meals. We were “success—full”! We ate delicious goulash and some sort of pasta thing. We had no idea what the Hungarian menus said so we closed our eyes and pointed. Whatever our finger landed on, we ate. Our little decision-making game never failed us. On our last night we went to a neat restaurant where there was live Hungarian music. The specialty on the menu was your choice of raw meat on a hot stone plate that you got to cook yourself and enjoy. I enjoyed every last bite! To my surprise the Hungarian wines were better than any I had ever tasted in Italy. Budapest is unlike the rest.

Delicious Hungarian Goulash

Chicken served on our hot stone plate

Our Hungarian musical performer who charmed us with a little John Denver while we dined

I dropped a couple thousand forints while in Budapest. Forint is the Hungarian currency. Don’t worry Dad, one thousand forints is close to $10 U.S. dollars. It took us a while to get used to this new currency, that’s for sure. We were in shock for a solid five minutes when we got our bill at dinner one night for 4,000 HUF. As broke college students, it’s hard for us to pay for something with two digits before the decimal point. So four digit numbers were close to incomprehensible. However we felt like millionaires! Budapest is the best.

We woke up Sunday morning to catch a cab at 4:30am to the airport. It was early, but once again, nothing could bring us down while in Budapest. We caught our taxi, plane, trains and bus and made it safely back to Verona before noon.

Budapest is an incredible place. It is absolutely charming, beautiful and interesting. It was great to see that part of Western Europe. However, I think the real reasoning behind the perfect weekend getaway had to do with the people I was with. Jared, Kristin, Lynnie and I made the perfect team. We took our time. We enjoyed the present. We harnessed our inner spontaneity and all agreed the most important part of the trip for us was to explore the city and culture. It wasn’t about meeting cute boys, going out until the wee hours or seeing just how loud and obnoxious we could be as American tourists. We were all on the same page and no one could find any reason to complain about anything. Budapest brought out the best in us. It’s crazy how something so random can cause such impact. This past weekend is one to be savored.

I’m still smiling and I’ve been home for a couple hours now. Budapest was bliss. I’m not sure another weekend can top it.

Lynnie with her Budapest bird

View of the Danube River

Near the Fisherman's Bastion

Matthias Church (the coolest tiled roof)

Budapest :)

P.S.- Thanks to Kristin for the pictures!

Have a great week!

…Ciao!

Vita Aggiornamento

Life Updates

-The glass is now officially 2/3 full-- our Renaissance/Counter-reformation Art and History class came to an end. To celebrate it’s coming to a close, Tony decided to give us a final essay exam where we traced the artistic, philosophical and political transitions in Florence and Rome from the Middle Ages to the Counter Reformation. Three hours and a cramped hand later, I whipped out a pretty decent in-class essay. I still can’t decide if it’s fair to give a 3-hour time limit when you’re instructed to write an essay over a period of 1,000+ years. Time waits for no man, and apparently, neither does Tony.

-Since Tony’s class is now over, we’ve started the second block of classes. This includes a course on German politics/the Holocaust and another on Global Contemporary Issues. The German politics/Holocaust instructor is from UGA and I really enjoy his class. The Global Issues teacher is from Rome, Italy originally. He has an incredibly stacked resume. He’s fluent in several languages and has done work with the United Nations. He’s impressive. To go along with his incredibly stacked resume, he has an incredibly thick accent. I’m not sure if it’s more of an Italian accent or a French accent. Sometimes he sounds German to me. Regardless of its derivative, the language of the professor is foreign, even when he is speaking “English.” He’s really energetic though and he’s very knowledgeable. I would love to find out more about his career and background, but for now I’ve just got to hone in on what he’s trying to communicate. #Saywhat?

-I took a day trip to Milan to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” this past weekend. It was extremely interesting and worth the hassle. I had to make a reservation to see the fresco because they only allow groups of 25 at a time to enter the exhibit. I had to book the ticket 2 weeks in advance. The voyage to Milan was more complicated than I had expected. Since it was a Sunday, the normal bus that I would take to the train station wasn’t running. Therefore, I had to take a bus that was headed for Trento then looped around back towards Verona’s airport. Did I mention I caught the bus around 8 am? Verona is essentially a ghost town at that hour on a Sunday. Anyway, I got to Milano and went straight to the exhibit. It was fascinating to see Da Vinci’s work so large and up close. He used a “dry” technique when doing this fresco. Because of his use of this technique and several damaging historical events, “The Last Supper” has required a lot of restoration. The colors of the paints were nowhere near as vibrant as those found in the Sistine Chapel. Da Vinci depicted the initial shock of the disciples when Jesus spoke, “Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me…” He captured each disciple’s personality and specific reactions through not only the facial expressions, but also the hand gestures. The hands intrigued me. Even Da Vinci’s depiction of Jesus Christ’s hands in the painting caught my eye. In the painting He has one hand upward and one cast downward. I wonder if this is any sort of allusion to the Mosaic in the Florence Baptistry of “Christ the Judge” in which Christ is seen doing the same hand gesture. I think the fresco was particularly neat to me because it depicted a religious scene I have heard so much about throughout life. I was so intrigued. The fresco was stunning.

-I gave Ryan a hair cut yesterday. Perhaps I could make a living cutting hair…

-In other news, Fat February has officially come to an end. No more eating whatever I please and drinking useless calories of divine wine. We’ve now entered Modest March. Time to “think thin” again with portion control. Gelato, however, deserves an exception.

-I hate to resort to talking about the weather, but the weather in Verona has been thawesome! I went from wearing a pea coat, scarf and gloves to wearing shorts and soaking up sun on the back balcony. My excitement with the wardrobe change up may be misleading. I said the weather was thawsome. That means in the mid 50s. But as a Southern gal, I’ll do anything to wish warmer weather upon us! I’ve really enjoyed the sunshine.

-We ran into John in Rome! Crazy huh? I was walking by Capitoline Hill and I heard, "Angie?" from behind me. It was John! What're the odds?

-By the way, I booked a weekend trip to Budapest!!!!! I’m excited to say the least. I had to ditch the idea of going to Greece. It was just not a smart move economically, so I made other plans to go to Budapest. I wasn’t considering the idea until Jared called me earlier this week: “Let’s go to Budapest!” I guess it didn’t take much convincing. So I talked Kristin into going and we’re meeting Lynnie over there too. It’s going to be so neat to get to see a different side of Europe.

-Just to clear up confusion—I’ve been without internet connection for quite some time now. That means I’m way behind on the blog. I’ve got so much to spill about Florence and Rome that it may take a while. I’ll keep posting as I can. They may be a little out of order. I send my apologies!

Happy Wednesday!

…Ciao!

Ho trovato Firenze. Ho trovato l'amore.

I have found Florence. I have found love.

Florence, Italy is to great works of art, as Athens, Georgia is to college bars. Art is everywhere. In this single city lies the majority of the work of some of the greatest Renaissance artists of all time—Michelangelo, Botticelli, Donatello, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, and Vasari etc. etc. I pretty much had one reaction during the entire trip: Awe.

But let me start at the beginning (I warned you already, I’m bad about jumping the gun). We took a four-hour bus ride to Florence. The landscape we passed seemed all too picturesque. Think unlimited green farmland and hillsides. I felt like I was watching a movie as I looked out the window. It was that captivating. Little did I know what beauty I had yet to encounter.

When we arrived in Florence we checked in to Hotel Donatello (only appropriate right?), which is located about a 10-minute walk away from the Baptistry. The hotel was more of a bed & breakfast and was really quaint. Kat and I were fortunate enough to get a room with a balcony. I love the distinct charm European bed & breakfasts provide. After checking in, Martin showed us the route to town and as we turned the corner and took sight of the beautiful Santa Maria del Fiore, Giotto’s campanile and the Romanesque Baptistry I couldn’t hold back my amazement.

The Baptistry

Giotto's Bell Tower

Santa Maria del Fiore

My pictures hardly do the architectural detail the justice it deserves. I guess my main enchantment wasn’t only due to the beauty of the Baptistry, but more so to the fact that I was actually seeing the building itself, in real life. There, right before me, was the building that housed the mosaic of Christ the Judge. There, before my eyes, were the Doors of Paradise that Ghiberti so intricately designed after competing for the right to create the masterpiece against Brunelleschi. These masterpieces were no longer just photographs in textbooks, but actual buildings surrounded by casual everyday life. It was like time had preserved these buildings and despite our evolving world, the great works of art remained absolutely intact and unaltered. It was surreal. Bellissima.

Left: Ghiberti's Doors of Paradise (model) Right: Florence's duomo

"Traveling is the ruin of all happiness! There's no looking at a building after seeing Italy."

-Fanny Burney

Alongside the incredible architecture and artwork, Florence is also known for its appeal to tourists, Americans in particular. In Verona I walk the streets and am forced to use my broken Italian to communicate. In Florence, I did not encounter a single storeowner, bystander or server who was unable to speak English. There were a lot of Americans in the city. How do I know this? We stick out. We’re undeniable. The stereotypes are absolutely true. We talk loudly, we wear loud colors, and we whip out our cameras to take pictures of peculiar things (pigeons, peace signs, McDonalds restaurants, etc.). We’re far from subtle, but street vendors and local businesses thrive off such easy prey. Florence’s economy revolves around tourism, so locals are more than happy to please guests and speak fluent English.

One place where I felt especially targeted was while walking through the street leather markets. Florence is known for selling fine Italian leather goods and they have purses, wallets, belts, jackets and briefcases lining the market tables and racks. After haggling with a vendor I am proud to say I am now the owner of a beautiful genuine Italian leather jacket!! I talked his selling price down a couple hundred dollars! So far it has been my only real purchase on this trip and probably the best buy I will make. It’s been worth every last euro so far. I love it!

The nightlife in Florence was more familiar to our group than the nightlife in Verona. Although Verona’s night scene is incredible, it’s also very international. Florence has a much more Americanized bar scene. In fact, as we were heading out one night, we met up with some guys who are U.S. Rangers. They had spent a little time at Fort Benning which is a few minutes from where I lived/interned this past summer. Small world huh? Anyway, they showed us to a local bar where the walls were lined with graffiti. It wasn’t just any graffiti though. The interior of the building was covered with mascots and symbols of American colleges and universities. Tons of college kids had visited this spot over the years and left their mark on the walls. We couldn’t find UGA anywhere so I decided I’d do the honors. I sharpied the Georgia “G” on the wall with our ever so southern saying, “Go Dawgs! Sic ‘em!” We all signed the wall that night. I know Florence left it’s mark on me, but now it’s kind of cool to be able to say, I left my mark on Florence. My “artwork” now is on display in the same location as the great works of Michelangelo and Donatello. Hah.

My international commemoration to the Bulldawg nation

Our first night out in Florence

I loved Florence. Of course the art was my initial attraction, but as time went on, I found myself loving every element it offered. We were fortunate enough to tour the Academia, Uffizi, San Lorenzo, and Santa Croce. I spent an entire day wandering the city by myself. I was on my own exploring for nearly 6 hours and I still wish I could’ve seen more.

Italy, my friend, you continue to outdo yourself.

…Ciao!

Fermati e Annusa le Rose

Stop and Smell the Roses

Sometimes think we get so caught up in the final destination that we forget the here-and-now. I’m certainly guilty of it. Perhaps its due to my type-A personality (I am a PR major after all). Or perhaps it is because the human race is constantly evolving, it's only natural for us to live a progressive lifestyle equipped with a mindset (somewhat) propelled by the future. No need for me to get in too deep…

It finally hit me today. I’ve been here three weeks. That’s nearly a third of my program already completed. Where did the time go? How did that happen?

I suppose I let stresses of life start to cloud my vision of the present. Things have been insane lately. But isn’t insanity inevitable? I guess I’d prefer pandemonium to boredom anyhow.

So first things first—I starting feeling a little under the weather last week. It started as a head cold, then an eye infection and came full circle with a little allergic reaction. No big deal, or so I thought. After a fairly successful attempt at communicating with the Italian pharmacists for the eye infection ointment, I thought my chances of having to reenter the tower of Babble were slim. Boy was I wrong. In fact, I had to take on the Italian emergency room. Want to talk about insanity now?

Earlier that evening, I was feeling bogged down from my cold and decided it would be a good idea to take a Nyquil and get some good rest. For most anyone else, this would be normal. For me, it was abnormal. I rarely take any sort of pain-relievers or over-the-counter medications. I am pretty particular about allowing the natural healing process to occur in my body. I don’t like using medications unless necessary, however, since I knew our study abroad program is fast-paced and draining, I wanted to get better as soon as possible—hence why I thought Nyquil could help.

Bad idea Angie. Within the first 30 minutes of taking the Nyquil, I started to have difficulty breathing. My chest was really heavy and my throat was closing up. I had no idea what was going on and continued to lay in bed thinking that it would go away with a good night’s sleep. It got more and more difficult to breathe as time went on. About an hour later I was gasping, and loudly. I kept thinking, “C’mon Nyquil...kick in already!” Little did I realize, the Nyquil had not only “kicked in,” but it had performed a full on roundhouse kick to my respiratory system.

I have a high tolerance to pain of any sort. As a diabetic, you teach yourself to be numb to it. Besides I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. It’s kind of early on the trip to be having weird freak accidents right? I didn’t want to disturb anyone else anyway. Therefore I was not about to take a breather—pun intended—to let anyone know I was having trouble. It wasn’t until I woke Kat up in the other room from my intensifying gasps. Thank goodness she’s a light sleeper! I tried to communicate with her what was going on, but the more I tried to talk, the less oxygen I could inhale, so communication was limited. I told her to call my parents (I’m hoping they’ll think this fiasco was worth the price of international calling…) and let them know what was up. They told me to go to the hospital. So we called Martin, an advisor who lives outside of Verona. He instructed me to take a taxi to the hospital and he would meet me there. Did I mention it was 1 a.m.? Embarrassing…

I went into the ER and had to try to communicate (between gasps) what was happening inside my body. The room was pretty full, so my wait time was about 2 hours. I remember it being scary to not be able to fully communicate with the doctors. I’m sure my pantomime only led to more confusion, despite my involvement in theatre in high school. By the time I was admitted to the on-call doctors, I was feeling fine. It was easier to take breaths and I was calming down. The doctors thought otherwise. My status was immediately changed from “neutro” to “emergenza.” Instead of worrying about my condition, I was too busy worrying about how I was going to make it to my train to Milan on time in the morning. I obviously spend way too much time thinking the about the next step...I mean, I'm in the hospital and my mind still can't relax!

I thought I would be freaking out as they injected me with things and started drawing blood and hooking me up to an IV, but surprisingly, I was relieved. I prefer to be very much in control of my body, my health and myself. I don’t trust many others. It takes a lot for even a hometown doctor to win me over. But for some reason, I was completely trusting of these strangers who knew nothing of my medical background or family history. They didn’t even speak the same language as me, yet I felt comfortable. Now this feeling of contentment could’ve been from whatever was in the two shots they gave me, but I like to think of it as more of an epiphany of the compassion of mankind. Despite my being foreign with swollen eye lids and less than attractive breathing patterns, these doctors felt compassion towards me. I know it is their job, but I also know they could see I was scared and wanted to make me well. We may have been lost in translation verbally, but as I’ve come to realize, the human species will never really encounter a communication barrier. We’re all alike and communication flows freely from movements, eyes, sounds, touch-- our very existence. Too deep for this early in the morning? Maybe. But it's true.

Anyway, the doctors laid me out on a stretcher and told me they had to keep me over night. I didn’t understand the severity of my condition until that point. As they rolled me into the hallway, I called my parents again. It was 4 a.m., I was in a foreign hospital, and I was all by myself.

My beautiful views for the night. They were indeed breath-taking. : )

They released me the next day and I took a cab back to my residence. From that point onward, I haven’t skipped a beat.

Remember me telling you John was coming to Italy and was going to deliver medication to me in the meantime? Yes, I make him out to sound like a drug mule, but it’s not like that. He was more of a middle-man between myself and Rite-Aid. That sounds better right? So, despite my instructions to stay home, Jared and I got on a 7 a.m. train for Milan to meet John and get a chance to meet up with two of my sorority sisters, AJ and Dorothy. It was so good to see them all! It was especially great to catch up with AJ and Dot and hear about their study abroad experiences. While in Milan, we toured the Duomo, ate a delicious lunch and gelato, walked through the fashion district and (obviously) shopped. I can’t tell you how great it was to see the girls. Familiar faces in foreign places will always be a good thing.

Here are some pics of our trip:

John and I hopped on a train back to Verona with Jared and his sister-- whom he was meeting in Milan as well. The train ride was about 1.5 hours and full of good laughs. The day was great.

I showed John the city of Verona all day the next day. We went to Castel Vecchio, Piazza Erbe, Piazza Bra, the Arena, the Old Roman Gates, and of course, Juliet’s balcony. We walked around 20 miles that day. I absolutely should not have stretched myself so thin the day after being released from the hospital, but I kept thinking that I didn’t want to miss out on anything on the itinerary. Looking back, I should’ve taken time to smell the roses and not tried to push my limits. Anyhow, I started to get sick again. But to make things more entertaining, John started to feel sick as well. He took off his jacket and his arm was swollen the size of two clementines. Yep, that’s the analogy I’m choosing, and I’m sticking with it. Anyway, he needed to go to the doctor. I took him back to the hospital and turns out he has a staph infection (-ish). So since my immune system is already weak in the first place, I had to go back and sanitize everything and get John’s stuff together in order for him to take off to Venice that night. I hate that he had to deal with that right when he got to Europe, but sometimes that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. He made it safely to Venice and last I heard, is doing well. Still, keep his health in your prayers.

A few shots of Castel Vecchio in Verona

I guess it took going to the hospital for me to adjust my internal alarm clock from being constantly set on the future, to being temporarily “off.” It was nice to be reminded that while anticipation is exciting, the present should be appreciated. I disregarded my health and kept thinking of weekend plans to come instead of focusing on getting better at that moment, so I could actually enjoy the future plans. Does that even make sense? Strangely enough, it does in my mind. Maybe that’s telling of my mental state… Nevertheless, I’m glad for the realization. Time flies. I need to take absolute full advantage of every second. I don’t want to halfway experience something because I’m ill or too busy thinking about what's next on the agenda. I want to fully experience everything! So what if that means taking it easy for a week so I’m well rested? It’ll be worth it when I’m well again. Plans are great, but they’re always tentative. I am grateful that I now understand that Italy isn't the final destination of my experience, but the day-to-day journey is the exciting, ongoing destination in itself.

...Ciao!

Vita Aggiornamento

Life Updates:

-I have an addiction. Gelato. Whew, glad I got that off my chest.

-I’m headed to Milano this Saturday to meet up with some dear friends from UGA and home. I’ll get to see John in the morning and then meet up with two of my sorority sisters after that. I cannot wait! It’ll be my first trip all by myself and I’m going to a city I’ve always wanted to visit. Milan’s a major fashion capitol, which I studied in one of my fashion merchandising classes. It’ll be exciting to see the place in person, but mostly, I am excited to see familiar faces. :)

-We ate a Veronesi delicacy the other night. Hint- If “hay” is for horses, who are horses for? For all you “neigh”-sayers… It’s true. I ate a horse.

-We cooked dinner with room 802 tonight. We made seafood pasta and broccoli. We were all pleasantly surprised with the meal. I’ll be a mean pasta boiler by the time I get home—which is more than my sister Katie can say…Love you sis!

-Tomorrow I am staying in Verona for a parade near Piazza Erbe. It’s to celebrate Carnivale. Sounds good to me!

-I have unfortunately picked up a head cold… bleh. And an eye infection (attractive huh?). As I stood in the farmacia speaking with the Italian pharmacist, I realized something. As we successfully communicated using my broken Italian and his broken English, it dawned on me just how capable I am of taking care of myself. Sorry Mom and Dad—I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. It’s actually a means of gratitude. You two raised me to be competent and independent. I cannot tell you how appreciative I am. I discovered I am growing up and I think I’m more prepared than I realized. Thanks for teaching me all I know thus far.

-April turned 22 this week. Happy Birthday Bella!

April's birthday dinner in our apartment

Nat, Pat and I at April's birthday dinner enjoying a night without any creepy Italian men

-In class we’re discussing Rapheal and Michelangelo. I’m entirely fascinated.

-Our professor, Tony (the one who is between an old 75 and a young 115 years old), enlightened us yesterday. We asked him what he did for Valentine's Day for his wife and he said they simply had a "lovely conversation." He said, "You know, my wife said, '"Tony, I sure am glad you exist." Tony replied, "I sure am glad you exist too dear." Thanks Tony, for teaching us the true meaning of loving your spouse. No gift is greater, nor should be celebrated more than the sheer existence of those we love. Valentine's day should be a day of celebration for having one another. Tony... what are we going to do with you, you sweetheart!

-I got mail! Not email, but the good old tangible snail mail. Mom and Katie sent me letters and I received them this week. Mail takes about 10 days to get from the states to Italy. It made my day to see letters in my mailbox. Mom even included some instant Starbucks coffee in her letter. Holy cannoli, how I’ve missed café Americana. Thank you!!!!

-It’s pretty nippy in Italy. I’m talking temperatures below freezing. We’re not in Georgia anymore. Kat and I decided to make the best use of the cold and utilize our balcony as an outdoor refrigerator. Yep, you will find our milk and wine chilling outside our sliding door. Resourceful right?

-We met some English gals the other night. It was such a relief to meet other folks who spoke fluent English. The only time we got lost in translation was when I said, "ya'll." They thought it was hysterical that Southerners actually said that in casual conversation. I'm proud to uphold our stereotype, ya'll! Anyway, we had a lot of fun getting to hang out with them and get to hear about their lives. They're all students at the University of Edinburgh, so since I've been there twice, we had a good bit to chat about. It was a good time.

Me, Harriet (from England), and Jackson in Piazza Erbe

Rachel (English) and I at Time Out

-John Jennings is doing me a huge favor and bringing me over some things from the U.S. that I need. He’s coming to Europe to do some traveling himself. Keep him in your prayers!

-Nathan Crumley made my Valentine's Day. Ah the little things! Thank you Nate!

I hope everyone is having a good Thursday!

...Ciao!

Where For Art Thou Romeo?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Verona LOVES love. It is famous for it actually. Verona, Italy is the setting for one of Shakespeare's most famous plays-- Romeo and Juliet. How romantic, right? Well, I hate to be the buzz kill, but apparently the characters are fictional. However, that doesn't mean Juliet can't have a house and balcony in real life. And that doesn't mean it can't be smack dab in the center of Verona. In fact, the house that supposedly belonged to Juliet, actually belonged to a 14th century Veronese family, who may have inspired Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet in 1594. Interesting fact huh? Anyway, Verona goes all out for Valentine's Day. The holiday is a week long celebration in this town. Each piazza has a different attraction set up. Events are on-going throughout the city. Groups perform dances, street vendors set up shop, wine is served and sampled, chocolate and roses are surplus and star-crossed lovers are everywhere. If you're a hopeless romantic, you're in heaven. If you're not a hopeless romantic, you're still on cloud nine. The city of Verona on Valentine's day is a beautiful sight to see. I decided to post photos to paint a picture of the last few days. Enjoy!

A street vendor was selling these little elephant figurines.

I went to GHS, I'm obviously not going to pass by without at least taking a picture! Adorable.

"Juliet's" Balcony

Couples come to Verona to write their names on this famous tunnel wall.

Bet you can't guess who's name I wrote!

Apparently it is good luck to touch the statue's breast. So... there's that.

But really, where are you Romeo?

Kat and I went shopping in Piazza Erbe for cool masks to wear this coming weekend.

We're going to Venice for Carnivale.

We may have found some winners. I'm feeline good about it. :)

Even the drinks were festive (& free!!)

Natalie and Ryan obviously enjoyed the celebration

One of the many displays set up in town. Cool huh?

Verona at dusk

Feel like you were there? I wish you could've been. Hope your Valentine's Day has been lovely.

...Ciao!