Home Sweet HOME (ciao, home sweet rome)

The last night in Rome was a huge success. I accomplished 2.5 of my 3 goals. Yes, I somehow managed to pack everything into 2 suitcases and a backpack. Yes, I did not sleep (well, I took a 45 minute nap, but other than that nada). No, I did not swim in the Trevi Fountain. I did dip my hand in, though. It was definitely worth the police blowing whistles at us. Here’s what went down the last night in “The Scip”.

tour of roma!

We all got back from the lunch and were pretty tired. We rested, rehydrated, then decided we HAD to get pizza from the pizzeria across the street one last time. It was just too good not to have. I’m definitely going to miss having delicious homemade pizza 10 steps away. SO Debbie got 4 pizzas, and we all ate and were happy. Ashley and I split one (saving room for the gelato later). Yummmm I miss it already!

After dinner was our Tour de Roma. We wanted to visit all the major sites one last time and take pictures in front of all of them - I mean, it’s a MUST DO. Tara had the incredible idea of us all wearing our “I (heart) Roma” shirts to make the trek. We had each bought one during our time here, and we decided it was perfect. It would be absolutely hilarious to walk around with identical shirts (except for the background color being different - teal, black, pink, and white) because we would look like the typical tourists. We had to re-live our first few weeks here, and this was the ideal way to do it. We all looked hilarious walking around, like a mini tour group all together. But instead of the usual matching-shirt tour groups of little children or old people, we were 5 girls in their 20s. Debbie and I started a count for how many times we got cat-called at. It seems that the obvious tourists get cat-called even more than any every-day girl. Who would have known? We encountered some interesting moments (“I love Roma, I love YOU,” etc). It was worth the goofy t-shirts fo sho.

Our tour started at Piazza del Popolo, then to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and ending with Piazza Navona. We had tons of fun being really awkward asking people to take our picture, playing along with the vendors trying to sell us blinking sunglasses or laser pointers, and just being all together for one last night. The Spanish Steps looked beautiful with the flowers set up! We considered trying our plan of swimming in the Trevi, but there were hundreds of people there that night and police were everywhere, so we just threw in a coin one last time and dipped our fingers in when we though the police weren’t looking. At the Pantheon we took a little detour back to the 40+ gelato flavor place. This time, I got limone and grapefruit. Mmmm. Great last gelato stop.

Once we made it to Piazza Navona, we were pretty beat. We sat on the fence around the fountain and reminisced, people watched, and talked about our plan for the rest of the night. It was such a beautiful night, and I really love Bernini’s Four Rivers Fountain in the middle of the Piazza. That’s the one I sketched for class when the group of little Italian kids stood around and watched a few weeks ago. This night, there were so many cute little kids running around. One little boy and a girl were flirting and playing - it was sooo adorable. They were probably only 2 or 3 (the boy was a little older - 4?). Precious.

After awhile of taking in every last feeling of Roma, we slowly made our way back to the apartment. The plan was to stay up all night, so we started the movie Beastly (the modern day ‘Beauty and the Beast’ movie). Tara and Ashley went to bed pretty soon after we started, so Kaylie, Debbie, and I finished it. Afterwards, we wrote a goodbye letter to Louise (our doorman) since we loved him and didn’t get to say goodbye! I still wasn’t tired and I had a lot to do still, so I stayed up while Kaylie and Debbie passed out after the movie.

making pancakes at 5 am - last meal in the scip :(

By this time it was a little after 2, so I closed my eyes for about 45 minutes to get a little power nap in, then got up and did my last yoga practice in “the scip” in Rome. It was a really great practice, I’m so happy that I got up to do it because my body haaaates the soreness that comes from traveling. If I do a little yoga and meditation before it is always a smoother traveling experience. After I finished it was about 4:30, so I took a nice long (and much needed) shower and finished packing.

At 5am, everyone’s alarm went off. After slight mumbling, everyone started moving. Debbie blasted some music from GLEE (our apartment’s favorite show), which helped get us going. Deb and Kaylie headed to the kitchen to start our last breakfast together - a pancake feast! Tara and Ashley were moving a little slow while I finished packing, but by 5:30 we were all in the kitchen enjoying a wonderful last meal together. I love my roommates. I miss them so much already. Too TOO much. My flight was the first to depart, so I had to call a cab and head to the airport alone. The rest of them were taking a shuttle together in a couple hours. It was SO SAD saying goodbye. I was a mess. We all were. While I waited for my cab outside, Debbie kept checking on me out the window of our apartment. When the taxi got to the apartment, I got in the cab and waved goodbye as everyone waved out of our apartment window.

goodbye hugs

Usually it’s about a 45 minute drive to the airport, but my cab driver got me there in 20 minutes. Not going to lie, I was a little nervous haha. At least I had plenty of time to get to my gate, and good thing because it took an hour and a half to get there! Checking in was crazy and slow and disorganized (typical Italians), but I made it with about 30 minutes to spare. The cab driver probably thought I was crazy because my eyes were all teary when he picked me up, and on the way to the airport I kept getting emotional in the back seat...sorryi’mnotsorry. I waited at the airport for my flight, saw a few people that I knew and had semi-comprehensible conversations with them (everyone was deliriously tired), then boarded the plane. I slept pretty much the whole flight to New York.

In Newark I had a few hours layover, so once I got through customs I got my first American snack -  A SMOOTHIE! Yum. I called a few people, made sure India and my dad would pick me up at the airport when I landed in Richmond, then watched a movie while I waited for my second flight. In the airport, there was a place to get "Italian Food".. when I passed it I almost gagged. It's gonna take awhile to get used to America's version of Italian food (super oily, not very appetizing looking, etc). Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back to Italy SOON!

My second flight was quick. I got into Richmond around six, and India and Dad were there waiting for me! India drove me home from the airport because she got her learners a few weeks ago. I was a little nervous, but she actually did a great job! My first night home consisted of dinner at Chipotle with India, a stop at Target (I missed it so much), unpacking, and doing laundry - with a dryer! YAY!!

It's so weird being back home, it's almost like having a reverse-culture-shock. Everything seems so different. It's weird seeing buildings that aren't super old and pretty looking haha. I'm so happy to be back and to be able to see all my loved ones :) BUT Roma has definitely not said goodbye to me forever.

Thank you so much for reading my blog! Hope you enjoyed all the stories and adventures. Love and light to you all, can't wait to see you in the upcoming weeks ! ( I hope!)

packing up - last few days in ROMA ETERNA

i don't think they'll
ever learn what
is and what isn't
a parking spot.

Oooooh goodness. I can't believe it! Only a few days left here in Rome. This week has been a whirlwind. I thought that the past few weeks had been flying by, but just the past few DAYS have been like a blink of an eye.

I've spent my time soaking up as much of Rome as I can, as well as spending some time recouperating from the nonstop craziness that has been the past few months. Now that classes are over I can sleep in later (well..until 9 instead of 6), so that's been nice. I've been spending a lot of time with my roommates, too, which has been fun. Sunday night we all walked to dinner in the Jewish Ghetto since we had never eaten there before. My mom, Dave, and Becky ate at a famous place there so we tried it out. It's called Da Giggetto (or something along those lines). The Jewish Ghetto in Rome is famous for their friend artichokes, and apparently this place had the best of the best. We shared a couple of them, and they were amazing!! It almost tasted like a really really yummy potato chip. As my entree I got a new type of pasta I'd never tried - spaghetti with tuna in red sauce. Wonderful, wonderful. On the way home we stopped by a gelato place.

my newest addition to my photo purchases -
the picture of the picture doesn't
do it justice.

Sunday and Monday were crazy (as well as a few days before then) because it's the Beautification of John Paul II. There were sooooo many people in town! Even in Prati, which was so weird to me. When we walked home from dinner Sunday night at like 10:30, there were still loads of people in St. Peter's Square.

What other exciting events have happened this week? Monday I had the last yoga class of the semester and was so used to having photography after that I wasn't ready to go home yet when I left the gym. I decided to head back over to the Jewish Ghetto to see if the photo store was open since that's my #1 favorite place in all of Rome. Lucky for me, it was! I spent over 2 hours searching through all the old photos again. This store is so neat, I wish I could explain it. All the picture are so different - all from different parts of the world, geographies, types of people, ages, rich and poor, still lives, portraits, moments in lives..it's really beautiful. I think that is my favorite part - the moments. Every picture was taken for a reason, to document a special moment in the person's life. Sifting through the thousands of pictures, I get to dive into their world even if just for a moment and relive that feeling that they felt as they snapped the shot.

I couldn't leave without buying something, and when I handed the old man who owns the shop the pictures I chose, he spent a few moments on each one, observing them and critiquing my choices. I got a "bellisimo", a humored laugh, and a "magnifico". Looks like my choices were successful! Then he asked me if I studied photography, which I was really excited about because I'm hoping that means I have a good eye haha. He was a cute little old man, I'm going to miss that shop!

I took a long, slow walk home since it was such a beautiful day. It's been really pollen-y so my allergies have been acting up like craaaazy. I decided to walk down by the river, which was more covered so the wind wasn't as bad. It was so nice to meander down by the river and soak up all the sights! I'm going to miss it here.

attempt at ship-like mini cakes

Tuesday was my one exam for art history and it went really well! I studied some for it but not too much, since I have an A in the class so I don't necessarily need a good grade on the final haha. (Don't worry mom and dad, I'm pretty sure I still got an A on the exam anyways). It was really easy, so that was good. I came home and baked a cake for our "Scipmates" dinner - the last planned family dinner we were having together in our apartment on Via degli Scipioni! We each volunteered to make something, and of course I offered my baking services haha. I spent all afternoon making little miniture cakes for each of us that looked like ships (since we live on Scipioni - pronounced SHIPioni - get it??). They were so cute! Not exact replicas of ships, but hey...they tasted amazing so that's all that mattered.

 Debbie made pesto chicken with mozzarella melted on top, Tara was in charge of the bruschetta (tomato/mozzarella and pesto/prosciutto/mozzarella YUM), Kaylie made a salad, and Ashley made pasta with veggies. It was soooooooo good, and so nice to hangout with everyone while they cooked. I planted myself in the kitchen while they cooked since I had finished my cake earlier. That was an awesome decision because they let me be the taste tester! :)

beach time

Other than that I've been packing up (so weird), napping, relaxing...it's been so nice. Wednesday I spent the day at the beach in Ostia which was suuuuper nice and relaxing. Thursday I had to run a few errands. I'm trying to get reimbursed from the insurance company for my doctor's appointment so I filled out a claims form for that and picked up my last paycheck for yoga.

Serafino wanted to meet with all his photo classes one more time, so we met for an hour on Thursday. We talked about just random stuff - he decided he wanted to take the last meeting to talk about the philosophical and deeper part of photography as opposed to the technical stuff. We discussed Osama's death and why no pictures were out yet / how someone could easily photoshop him into a picture and make it look real, so why did we need to SEE it if we knew things like this were possible? Then we went around the room and talked about our work, what we learned about ourselves through our photography, etc. It was really nice to meet once more with him. He is definitely one of my favorite teachers I have ever had.

I came home after, and Debbie, Tara, Ashley and I began the celebrations for Cinco de Mayo. When Kaylie got home after her exam at 7 the party was already hopping. Around 8 we went to dinner at the Mexican restaurant around the corner to celebrate some more. Quite a night. Debbie and Kaylie participated in the "tequila cart race"... and it went downhill from there. Haha it was a successful (?) last night out in Roma.

Today is our last day. INSANITY. It was absolutely unreal to check-in online for my flight tomorrow morning. Pretty much everything is packed up. API threw and Arrivederchi lunch for us at this super nice restaurant outside of Rome. They had a gorgeous garden where we got some awesome pictures. Unfortunately my camera has decided to die completely from the sand from the Sahara, so I'll have to post pictures once my roommates put them up on Facebook. We had a yummy lunch, then came back to the apartment.

The plan for the night is to go to all the big monuments one more time, swim in the Trevi (if there are no police around so we won't get arrested), eat at the pizzeria across the street, clean the apartment, finish packing, and bring Tara and Ashley's mattresses into our room to hangout all together for one last night. AKA: no sleeping. At 2 am we have a pancake "breakfast" planned (in quotes because, well, it will be 2 am) to get rid of our syrup and pancake mix. After breakfast I'll probably shower, do a little wee-hours-of-the-morning yoga, then catch a cab to the airport. AH!! this time tomorrow I'll be on a plane home. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown. It seems like every day sped up more and more. I'm soooo excited to come home and reunite with everyone, but I don't think I realize how much I'll miss this beautiful city and the lifestyle here. Oooh goodness. It'll be an interesting transition home.

I'll probably do one or two more posts to let you know when I get home safely! Thank you all for reading this blog, I'm so glad I could keep you up to date with my crazy life in la citta eterna:)

Raphster's in the HOUSE

the completed fresco!

What a great few days with Raphi visiting!! It's been absolutely gorgeous in Rome (well, for the most part). Raphi got in around 3 on Thursday. She was sooo tired after her month-long travels around Europe. She is studying in London, and they have a month-long break between the end of classes and finals. So she went skiing in the French Alps, hung out in Greece, then finished her month with me in Roma, Italia:)

We rested and chilled most of the afternoon since she was pretty beat. Thursday night was our Art Exhibition at school! Since Debbie and I had finished our frescos by the last class (Wednesday), Pettit let us go early as long as we came in to help set up the next day. So we walked over and got there around 4:45 to help out. We organized the fresco materials, Raphi got to meet all my art professors, and just hung out for a little while before the show. I (sadly) had to give my camera back to Serafino since he was just letting us borrow the cameras from his personal collection. When he asked for it back he said "You want to keep it, I can tell." Haha yes, Serafino, I really did. I'm definitely putting a Minolta camera on my birthday wishlist!! He said he almost let me keep it, but his cameras mean so much to him that he couldn't bear to let it go. Haha oh well!

Deb and I attempting to organize
the fresco room

Right as the exhibition was starting, Flaccus (my painting teacher) realized that we weren't going to have enough drinks. He sent me, Debbie, and Raphi on a mission - apparently we were the "perfect candidates" - to buy 11 more LARGE bottles of water, coke, and fanta. We found the Despar down the road and somehow (barely) made it back to the show without dropping any of them. Raphi struggled a little bit haha, balancing isn't her strong point. The art show was really amazing. I loved being able to see everyone's work from all the different classes! Debbie and I explained to some people of fresco-ing works which they thought was really cool (when in my life will I ever be able to do frescoing again??). All my roomies except Tara are in studio classes, so they were all there and I got to see all their stuff. Fun fun fun!!

After the art show we headed to Le Fate for a roomie dinner. That's the place where they have the awesome student's menu (bruschetta, pasta, dessert, and wine for 10euros!). We had homemade gnocchi for our main course YUM. Raphi loved the Italian feast! Halfway through dinner we looked to see what the meal was for Friday - chicken parm! We all had been craving that ever since we came to Rome and haven't had it yet, so we decided to come back the next night again haha. And dessert was tiramisu, so it was perfecto! After dinner, Raphi and I came back to the apartment and watched a movie then passed out. Whew! It had been a long day.

STRAWBERRIES YUM

Friday was our beach day. Ostia is about 45 mins of public transportation away, and it's a nice beach right on the Mediterranean. Debbie, Raphi, Raphi's friend from London/home Cady, and I headed out around 11:30. Raphi and I had gone to the market in the morning and gotten some food for the week as well as lunch for the beach, so I was glad that I got to show her that. I was excited because when I went to the mozerella man to get my weekly bufalo cheese, I walked up to the stand and he pointed at me and said, "Bufalo!!" and smiled. He remembered me! YAY! (best mozerella ever ps). Sam was meeting us at the beach in a couple of hours.

raphi and i at the BEACH!

We got to the beach and had a wooooonderful time - laying out, reading, napping..it was just what I needed. Debbie and I got snowcones from a man walking around and selling them. He literally had a square block of ice that he used some shaver thingy to shave off some and put it into a plastic cup haha. Debbie and I made friends with him. He told us his name was "Sheriff", then pretended to pull guns out of his pocket and shoot them haha. He was from Egypt! Sheriff had visited the USA - Denver, Florida..when he said Florida I told him I went to school in Miami and he freaked out. Oooh goodness. He poured a bunch of different flavors into our cups and was happy when we told him we liked it. Oh what an experience.

YUM

Around 4:30 we decided to head back to the apartment. We all took showers when we got back, observed our slightly (if not more than slightly) sunburnt skin - the sun is WAY hotter here than you'd think!! - rinsed off in the shower, then headed back to Le Fate for round two. Yum yum yum. Katie and Allie met us there, so we had a big group. Raphi and I spent most of the dinner catching up some more which was really nice. The food was wonderful, as always! That night we came back to the apartment, watched the highlights from the Royal Wedding, and finished the movie we started the night before.

Saturday was the Tour of Rome day. In the morning, Debbie, Kaylie, Raphi and I made an AMAZING breakfast of french toast and pancakes. We even found Aunt Jemimah syrup in the international store!! We were all missing having actual breakfast (and not just pastries and coffee), and it was SO. GOOD. I can't wait to get home and have real breakfasts again all the time! Dad - looking forward to your chocolate chip / fruit pancakes (perhaps we can do it next Sunday morning...? haha :) ).

Cady, Raphi, and I at the Pantheon - my fav!

I took Cady and Raphi all around to see the sights. Raphi had been here before when she was younger, but it was Cady's first time in Roma. We went to the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi, Spanish Steps - we hit it all! Unfortunately it was raining and drizzly and a little chilly all day (we picked the right day to go to the beach), but it was okay because we had a great time.

We even checked out the other best gelato in Rome (besides Old Bridge). It had 40+ flavors of gelato, including Kinder Bueno, Kit Kat, Cannoli, etc etc etc. YUM! It sort of turned into a tour of the sweets in Rome, because I took them to the cannoli place as well. MMmmmm. It was nice because I got to check off a lot of things off of my "list of things to do before I leave Rome"! Around 3 we had an amaaaaaazing pizza lunch as That's Amore - a little restuarant that Ashley had told me about. We got 2 pizzas to split - spicy salami and blue cheese& apple. THEY WERE SO GOOD. I can't believe I haven't gone there before!

gelatoiloveyou

We came back to the apartment, I did some yoga and meditating while Cady and Raph watched a movie. Everyone took a nice long late afternoon nap, then we figured out the plan for the night. Debbie and Kaylie were going to a concert, but I didn't have the money to do that (my bank account's struggling. alot.). Raphi, Cady, Ashley and I decided to make dinner at home then have a nice night out on the town. We made chicken pesto pasta with fresh bruschetta and wine on the side. Yum!! Oh how I love Italian food - I could never get sick of it. Raphi and Cady got Grappa at Billa to try. It's a famous Italian alcohol that's SUPER strong. I guess I didn't warn them of how strong it was, because they were like "HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DRINK THIS???" once they tried it haha. Don't worry, they pushed through.

We played a bunch of games on the floor of the apartment, talked, and had lots of fun. Ashton Herbert was passing through town coming home from London (she had a long layover between her flight to Rome and her bus out of Rome), so she stopped by the apartment for a few minutes for some dinner and a glass of wine. It was so good to see her and catch up! I helped her figure out how to get to the bus (she's studying in Tuscany-ish area so she was taking a bus back) then she was on her way.

home made bruschetta! with my fav
fresh mozerella mmmm

We ended up having so much fun hanging out together in the apartment (slash a little too much wine and grappa) that we stayed in and kept the games going well into the night. Finally we passed out and got a good night's sleep. At 7 am I woke up to Debbie and Kaylie JUST getting home from the concert! CRAZY girls!! The concert went from 11pm - 7am!! AH! I would have loved to go just to dance the night away (one of my favorite hobbies), but oh well haha. I don't think I could have lasted that long!

Sunday I dropped Raphi off at Termini and we said our goodbyes. I'm hoping she can come down to VA for my birthday this year! We'll seeee how it goes:) It was soooo good to be with her again though. Getting me excited to go back to Miami!!! Today is the Beatification of John Paul also, so it is absolute INSANITY in Rome. Usually Prati is a ghost town on Sundays, but EVERYTHING is open today. Even in our little Roman neighborhood people are invading everywhere. Apparently there are 2 million + pilgrims in Rome today!! Later this afternoon Ashley, Tara, and I will probably walk over to the Vatican to see how crazy it is over there (I can't even imagine). I can't believe it's less than a week now until home! The countdown is going crazy fast. AH!

sunshine & pink. GREECE

Hi everyone!

sooo much traveling

Goodness me! Everything is winding down so quickly, so of course I've gotten behind again. Over Easter, all of my roommates and I went on a Grecian adventure to the island of Corfu. It was so nice to have a trip all together, especially since it was our last trip of the semester. It was a loooooooong trip there, but definitely worth it once we finally made it to Greece. Here's the account of our time! :

Thursday morning at 8am we left the apartment to meet Bus2Alps (the program that we were traveling through) at Termini. Bus2Alps was taking 2 groups this weekend - one from Rome and one from Florence. So there was a HUGE group of people waiting at Termini, probably around 200 people. I was really tired, so I grabbed a coffee and some snacks for the bus ride. When I got back to my bags, someone called my name. I turned around and it was COURTNEY KUGEL - my roommate from Miami 1st semester of freshman year!! It was sooo crazy to see her! She was studying in Barcalona, but her semester ended a couple weeks before so she had just been traveling around with friends. I couldn't believe it!

ciao, italia!
on the ferry to greece

We checked in with Bus2Alps then headed out of Termini towards the buses. All the roomies and a bunch of our friends (we knew lots of people going on the trip from John Cabot and API) sat on the same bus together which was nice. The bus trip was 5 hours long (ugh) to the port for our ferry. We watched a couple movies which was good to keep us all entertained, and a stop for lunch. We got to the ferry in the early afternoon and boarded for our 14 hour overnight ferry ride. YUCK. Our beds? Airplane-like seating. We all put our bags and pillows on our "beds" and then explored the ferry. It was a cruise-like ferry with shops, restaurants, and even a dance floor and bar! We made some drinks to celebrate our travels and sat outside on the top deck for a few hours. It was such a sunny and pretty day!

view from our room

A few hours later we headed inside, and had some fun in the bars and club. We met some guys and taught them how to play Thumper - a favorite from high school. It was one of the girls on the trip's birthday, so we celebrated and danced the night away! After a few hours we headed back to sleep. I attempted the chair for a few hours, falling asleep to the playlist Zach made me, but that failed miserably. It was SO HOT in there and a headache was already coming on, so I went outside in the middle of the night and lay down on the ship's deck. There was no one else out there, so I'm sure I looked silly, but at least it cooled me off! It got too cold outside very quickly, so I went back inside but stuck to the floor as opposed to the chair - WAYY more comfy.

At 6am, a loudspeaker came on announcing breakfast. Ugh. No thanks. We all woke up anyways and headed upstairs to line up for the second ferry ride. We wanted to be sure that we got on the first one, so we wanted to be the first ones off of the boat in order to get it. We fell asleep waiting to get out, and woke up to a lady screaming in half Greek half English "THE PORT, THE PORT WE ARE HERE WAKE UP"!! Quite the morning of wake-ups.

We made our way to the final legs of the trip - 1.5 hour ferry, then a 30 minute bus ride to our hotel. YAY FINALLY WE MADE IT! 27 hours later. We got our rooms (I was with Debbie and Ashley), changed into our bathing suits, and headed straight for the beach. Our hotel was so cute! It's called the "Pink Palace" and is all painted bright pink. The rooms were really nice and we had a gorgeous view of the ocean. Magnifico.

a bunch of JCU/API girls at dinner!

The beach was gorgeous! It was rocky near the top, but sand and beautiful water everywhere else. There was a nice beach bar with really yummy food, too. Mmmm. We stayed on the beach allll day long, 2pm-6pm. I got a Greek Salad which was soooo yummy. I missed Feta cheese too much!!! I was sad when I asked for a milkshake (they had a sign for them) and they said they weren't in season. WHAT?? Lame. Being in the sun and on the beach made me miss Miami so so much! I can't wait to be tan again nonstop next year - especially with a pool right out of Raphi, Courtney, and my back door:)

Friday night we got ready for the night, then went to Happy Hour before dinner. We had some drinks then headed up to dinner. It was soooo good! Greek salad, chicken, potatoes, soup...mmmm yum. After dinner we went back downstairs to the bar/club area and danced the night away. It was a blast! Tara somehow ended up with the hotel's dog in her room, and had to call reception because it passed out on her floor and wouldn't budge haha. Crazy crazy. It was also really nice that everything was on site - the Pink Palace had their own personal restaurant, beach, dance club, bar, etc. so we never had to worry about transportation. A perfect relaxing and fun last trip together!

the roomies in our pink togas!

Saturday we got up early to hit the beach. Kaylie, Debbie, and some of our other friends went on a kayaking trip, but Tara, Ashley, and I decided to just soak up some rays and relax all day. And that's exactly what we did. It was a gorgeous day once again, we had the perfect weather! I spent the day napping, reading the Bhagavad Gita, and relaxing. We jumped in the water a couple times, but it was pretty chilly! For lunch I got the pita wrap with chicken. Once again, incredible. I miss Greek food already! Hopefully I won't miss the Greek Festival in Richmond this summer.

Saturday night was the Pink Palace Pink Toga Party. Oooh lala! We all got our pink sheets and the front desk and then headed to our rooms for some fashion designing. It was so fun! Everyone made their togas differently, but we all looked quite cute:) We took lots of pictures, had a yummy dinner, then danced the night away again. It was Kaylie's birthday at midnight, so we told the DJ and he played some special songs for her (I'm sure you can guess..). Wee! There was dancing, plate smashing, and ouzo galore.

Sunday we spent the morning on the beach once again. I got the Greek Plate for lunch, then headed to the market down the beach to stock up on snacks for our 27 hour trek home. It was Easter, yay!! (ps I hope you all had a fabulous Easter, I missed being with you!!). I headed back up to the hotel around 2 to shower and pack, then we checked out at 4. By 4:30/5 we were on the road for the long travel home. We took the same transportation, but this time no dance club on the boat for Kelsey. I slept as much as I could (I gave up on the airplane chair again and took to the floor), then read and rested the rest of Monday on the ferry. We got off around 2pm, then had our bus ride back to Rome. Finally we made it back, and got a good nights sleep in Roma after a long, fun, and relaxing weekend in the Greek sunshine.

kayakers heading out to sea

I definitely want to go back to Greece again to visit all the sites, and check out Athens and Santorini, but this was exactly what I needed after all my crazy, planned out travels of the past few months. Now I'm rested and rejuvinated for the last 9 days in Rome! AHH. I can't believe the next trip I go on will be to America. Insanity.

This week I've been working on my art, preparing for the exhibition that is tonight. Raphi is coming to visit (YAY!!) from today through Monday, so that'll make the days fly by even faster! I'm excited that she's coming 1)to see her duhh but 2) because I'll be able to visit all my favorite sites, restaurants, etc one last time before leaving.

Happy belated Easter! I can't believe I'll be home soooo soon ah! Missing you all tons and sending love and light always.

nonstop art-ing

Hello all!

This week's been pretty nonstop with classes ending soon. Our art exhibition is next Thursday, we don't have school Monday, and our last day of classes is Wednesday! SO I've been in the art studio for 6+ (usually closer to 8) hours every day as busy as a bee so that I can get all my work done before Greece. I won't have any time to finish things up next week since we get back late Monday night, I have class all day Tuesday, then only a few hours to work in the morning on Wednesday! AH. So it's been a week full of paint-filled clothes and chemical-smelling hands.

final - not the full effect because of the
lighting, but you get an idea

The week's kind of blurred together because I've been either painting, fresco-ing, or printing pictures every day haha. So I'll try and remember highlights, but this post will be short and sweet:) I finished my portrait of India! I mean...painting real life things aren't my FAVORITE - I'm more of an abstract kind of girl, and quite a messy artist so abstract fits more than the straight-edges and fine-lined realistic form. Every day this week I've come home COVERED in paint head to toe. I really don't know how it happens. All my teachers make fun of me for it. They've started not telling me that I have paint all over my face before I leave, so I get home and realize it's on my nose, forehead, chin, cheeks - you name it. Hooooowwwwww does that happen??? Whatever, it's just my style:)

detial of west lodge!

The painting looks good, I think! I did it in my more rough-edged and thick-painted style, and my professor commented that it worked for me which was good. I think it's more of a based-on-India thing than actually India (yes, that's an excuse for being terrible at realistic stuff haha). BUT it's at CMS on the athletics field with West Lodge in the background, and she's wearing Buff clothes! Her little yellow tutu. Perfecto. In portraits, it's important to put the figure in a setting that describes them and gives the viewer an idea of who they are. I thought this was perfect:) Painting it made me miss camp so much though, I listened to camp songs all 7 hours of the painting process! I can't wait to be back at cms this summer with the loves of my life <3

Photography has been going really well. Serafino offered to pay to print pictures for people, but when I showed him my photos that I self-printed, he told me that I was too good to get them printed at a store. SO he assigned me 8 more pictures to print before the exhibition next week. AH! I love printing, so it wasn't awful that he's getting me to do it, it's just lots and lots and LOTS more time. I finished up all the pictures today (Serafino even gave me special shiny paper to use) after a total of about 11 hours of working in the dark room this week. SUCCESS! Maybe some day I'll get this stinky smell of developer and fixer chemicals off my hands. I'm excited about my pictures, though, and I printed lots of extras to make cool mixed media pieces when I get home. Yippee! Note: the photographs on the blog are ones that I scanned into the computer and photoshopped (most are from Morocco and Turkey) - I haven't scanned in the ones that I've printed this week yet.

The fresco is officially COMPLETE as of liiiiike 4 hours ago. So. Exciting. A semester of work all came down to this. (I forgot to take a picture of the final thing, but I'll put it up next week). I completed the sky today, did the top of the big tree, and worked on touch-ups using egg tempura paint. It was really cool to learn to paint with tempura because I've learned all about that type of paint in my art history classes, but never was exactly sure how (or why) people painted with it/made it. It's made from the yokes of eggs, although you can use the eggwhites if it is a delicate color (like whites, lighter or pastel-y colors, etc.). Mixing the yoke, water, and dry paint and voila! You get tempura. We did touch ups with this kind of paint because the egg-y parts make it thicker so that the paint actually stays on the wall. Since you're supposed to paint frescos while they're still wet (hence the meaning of fresco = "fresh"), just water mixed with paint wouldn't do the trick. The egg fixes it all! So I finished up everything today - for fresco, painting, AND photo! It was a productive 8 hours there today.

The mornings I've been doing longer yoga and meditation practices since I had been slacking with all my travels and visitors. It feels really good to be back in the regular routine. That's something I'm really looking forward to about coming home - the schedule and dedication to my practice. There are more and more things that I'm excited about coming home for...I can't believe it's almost 2 weeks now! I'm definitely ready to be back. I've missed everyone too too much!! I'm looking forward to my last couple of weeks though.

Last night, all the roomies sat down together and made a list of things we wanted to do before we left Rome. We crossed off one thing yesterday - group piercing in the Eternal City! Haha we found a clean/polite/very friendly place right near school so we went for it. I got a little stud in my nose (although I wanted a hoop - they didn't have them there so I'll have to switch it out when I get home) and two other roomies got piercings also (another nose and a part of the ear - I can never remember what it's called). Before the piercing excursion, though, we got pizza at an incredible place around the block from John Cabot called Dar Poeta. Mmmmm Mmmmm. Their motto: "We are neither thin and crispy nor thick and softy". Haha aka PERFECTO. (pictures to come!)

Soooo that's about it for this week! I'm excited tonight because GLEE was new last night (for the first time in tooooo long) so I'm gonna watch a little glee and pack for Greece! We're leaving at 8am tomorrow and be back around 7pm on Monday evening. I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing Easter weekend soaking up the sun on the Greek island of Corfu:)

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter filled with love, friends, and family. Know that you have my love from across the ocean! <3

tuscany, then palm sunday with the nuns!

Ciao ciao ciao

Claudia, Mara, and my wall! (I'm the center)
All that's left for me is the sky!

I hope you've all had a great weekend:) Wednesday went well, I worked some more on my fresco and it's almost finished! I'm planning on finishing it up either Monday or Wednesday of this week so I can do touch-ups before our art exhibition at the end of the month. On Thursday, I worked in the art studio aaaaallllllllllllllll dayyyyyyy. I printed lots of pictures to prepare for our exam (pretty much a portfolio and an artist statement) and worked a little bit on my portrait for painting.

I headed home to wash up before dinner, then took a bus with Debbie and Ashley over to Le Fate for a roomie dinner. It was so great to hangout with all of my roommates again. I feel like it's been so long since we've all hungout because we've had lots of visitors and traveling the past month or so. The bus ride took FOREVER because of all the traffic coming in for holy week and the Beatification of John  Paul that is right afterwards. Plus the bus driver got a little lost due to all the traffic. It was okay, because we caught up with each other and got serenaded by an Australian tour group dinner every Disney song imaginable..that was fine with me!

the roomsters spa-ing it out

Le Fate has an awesome student menu - 10 euro for bruschetta, homemade pesto gnocchi, a pitcher of wine, and dessert. Yum yum yum. We had some great conversations (figuring out how to make pancakes here in Rome, finding Chex for puppy chow ... looks like we're missing American food!) It was wonderful wonderful.

Friday was our Tuscany overnight with API (the program I'm studying through)! We had to leave our apartment at 6:15 in the morning. AH. Too early. After 3 hours on the bus and a nice watching of Tangled later, we arrived at the Thermal Baths at Fontverde Spa. It was definitely my favorite part of the trip. There were huge pools of thermal water with mineral in them that were sooooo good for your body. You could sit under a waterfall and it would massage your legs/back/neck..whatever you put under the fall. Soooo lovely. It was the most relaxing thing ever. And my skin is STILL so soft from it!! We were only supposed to stay in for 15 - 30 minutes, but I was in waaay longer than that. Afterwards I took a nice hot shower, had a fruit smoothie, and drank some of the thermal water from a fountain. It helps cure liver problems and helps with digestion. Sam and I hung out a lot and caught up which was gooood!

BEST BREAD EVER

After the spa, we headed to our hotel in Chianciano Terme, a small town in Tuscany. There wasn't too much there, it was just a good place to chill out. We dropped our stuff off really quick, then got back on the bus for a local product and wine tasting at Fattoria Pulcini (a famous winery in Tuscany). We were all really hungry and the local food was INCREDIBLE. They had this amazing home made raisin bread that had cinnamon sugar melted on top - kind of like Panera's cinnamon crunch bagel but WAY BETTER. I probably ate a whole loaf of it all together haha. I asked about buying some so I could freeze it and bring it home for you all to try, but they said they made it as a special occasion for our group and didn't sell it. Dangit. The wine was great, and I bought a couple bottles to take home to remind me of my lovely Italian life:)

just being a vampire

We took a mini tour of the winery, then left for Montepulciano. This is where they filmed the part of New Moon that's in Italy (the Twilight vampire series that's so popular)!! They book says it's in Volterra, but the actual filming was done in Montepulciano. We looked around an underground cellar there in the little city, then wandered aimlessly around until we met at the meeting point when it was time to go. The meeting point was conveniently where the main part of Twilight was filmed, so we took some silly vampire pictures in front of the door haha.

It was sooooo cold, so once everyone (finally) made it to the meeting point, we hurried back onto the bus and went back to the hotel for dinner. We had some traditional Tuscania pasta (called Pici), chicken, and salad. It was pretty good, not my favorite meal but definitely worth it because it was free! For desert we got some sort of almondy cake/pudding thing.

kaylie turning tara into a vampire

After dinner we had a little bit of free time before an optional viewing of "Under the Tuscan Sun". There was nothing else to do in Chianciano Term plus we were exhausted from being up since the break of dawn, so Debbie (my roommate in the hotel) and I headed to the movie early to get good seats. OH I forgot to tell you! Our hotel hadn't changed decor since the 1970s. It was so funny. It was like a time machine back to the 70s hahaha. Interestingggg. Anyways, we got front row seats for the movie, which was really cool to see because it was filmed in lots of places we'd visited! Rome, Florence, Montepulciano, etc. I can't wait to go home and re-watch all the Italian movies so I can say "I've been there!!" and know EXACTLY where they are!

After the movie we passed out for the night. We had to be up early to pack up and head to Siena for a few hours. It was about an hour away, so I sat with Ashley and we talked and reminisced about how our time in Rome has flown by. I can't believe there's less than 3 weeks until I will be home! So crazy. In Siena we had a guided tour and then freetime. I really loved this city. It was so quaint and cute and really stone-y...they had all kinds of cool stones all around haha. The buildings were made so differently than in Rome! Kaylie pointed out that every city is so exciting to visit because they're all SO DIFFERENT. True dat.

the roomies minus tara!

At the end of the tour, we went to a little family-run restaurant that API recommended for lunch. It was realllyyyy yummy! We had a big group for lunch - Kaylie, Debbie, Ashley, Tara, me, Katie, Sam, and Kate. We all tried some homemade pasta. I tried ravioli with butter and sage sauce. Mmmmm. We had a few hours to kill and Sam and I had seen a cute looking piercing place while we were on the tour. I've been thinking about getting my nose pierced (don't worry parents - it actually comes out without leaving a mark, unlike tattoos!). We thought we'd wander over and just see what the prices were and if it was a sterile place. Our idea caused quite the excitement at the lunch table...by the end of lunch we'd convinced 3 of my 4 roommates to get something pierced too! Now, only to re-find the shop. Putting all our brains together, we somehow made our way back to the store without getting lost. Insanity! It was meant to be! Until we walked up to the door and it had closed 10 minutes earlier. Oh well, it's a sign I suppose.

"New Moon" tower

Excitement gone, we walked back across Siena to our meeting point to head home. The trip was loooong, but it was okay because we watched Ice Age and then BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!!!!! (Guess which one I was more excited about?) It had been sooo long since I'd seen Beauty and the Beast, so I was absolutely ecstatic to watch it. It ended perfectly, just as we were pulling into Rome. Now I'll have those songs stuck in my head for weeks! Since we got home around 7 it was still light out so we walked the 30 minutes home. It was so great to be all together again, it just made me so happy! Saturday night I did a lot of research for my big paper due in Art History and went to bed early so I could be productive on Sunday. And boy, was I!

Saturday night when I got home, I had an email from our nun friends that we went to dinner with when Dave, Becky, and my mom were here. They told me that they found an extra ticket to Palm Sunday for me! Yay! The only condition: I'd have to be at their house at 7:45 the next morning. Yikes. I decided it was totally worth it and a once in a lifetime experience, so I finished researching for the night and went to bed. I woke up early early to do a little yoga and meditation, then scrambled to make it to the nuns' house on time. I got there at 7:45am exactly and called them to let them know I was there. They were running a little behind, so they buzzed me in and let me sit and listen as they did their morning prayers. It was really special to see the sisters praying together for such a special day. Palm Sunday is the beginning of the Holy Week for them, so it was a big day!

After the prayers, we headed out. They just finished renovating their apartment so they apologized for the mess (I didn't notice any) and told me about all their visiting sisters that were coming in for Holy Week as we headed to St. Peter's Square. There were SOOOO many people there! I love Palm Sunday. It's definitely my favorite Christian holiday beside Christmas (of course:)!!). People were selling palm leaves on the street, but the sisters hurried me along to the back entrance of the Vatican so we could sneak through the crowd. The Swiss Guards just smiled as we walked by, no questions asked. How cool! I met one of the Vatican policemen who was super nice (though only spoke Italian), then we made our way to our seats.

On the way, a tiny little old nun came up to the sisters and greeted them. They talked to her in Italian, then introduced me as their American friend. She lit up like a lightbulb and gave me a big hug and kiss, and said something in Italian with lots of emotion. I thanked her and smiled big, then we continued on our way. Sister Raphaella told me that she said, "Take your bright smile back to the United States youth there, they need that light". It was really touching. Sisters Raphaella and Judith told me that she was an extremely high up nun who was very enlightened and known for being kind and big hearted. I was really happy I met her today.

so many people in the square!!

Our seats were incredible - up on top of the steps of St. Peter's about 9 rows back. We could see everything! It was still early (about 8:15 when we found our seats), and the square was already filling up quickly. The front half of the square had seats that required tickets and the back half was left open for people to pass by and watch if they pleased (but no seats). As the service went on, the back half continued to fill up until there was almost no room at all! It was a long mass, about 3 hours in total - ending at 12:15 - but we got there at 8:15 so it was a very long morning! I got a lot of sun, so now I'll have a funky looking tan for Greece this weekend. Oh well, at least Greece will fix it! It was really cool to see the Pope so up close, and especially to attend the service with the sisters. They answered all my questions (I was clueless since I'm not Catholic) and gave me a booklet in English that I could follow along with all the readings to. Definitely a worthwhile and unforgettable experience.

crowds out the wazoo

After the Palm Sunday mass, I headed straight to the library at school to WRITE MY PAPER. My goal was to finish all my research and write the entire paper today (dream big, right?). One of my friends from the class, Kate, was there, so we sat together and researched away. I had done a lot the night before, so I was pretty set. After a little over 4 hours I had finished the paper, bibliography, and image sheet! YAY!! That was the last schoolwork I had before exams (well, besides art stuff but that's fun for me!)!! Now I just had to get through my art history exam, but that's in 2 and a half weeks so I had time to kill. Perfecto.

So it was a very successful weekend! Tonight I'm going to work on my painting a little bit (I brought it home so I could get more done), and tomorrow my goal is to try and finish up my fresco before yoga. I don't have to plan yoga since I'm just using last week's lesson plan, so that's good! I hope they like the class - I'm really excited about it.

Well, that's all for now! I MISS YOU ALL LOTS AND LOTS. Can't believe I'll be home sooner than soon!

Love love love and light :)

Nearing the End

Hello all!

I can't believe we only have two weeks of classes left. Twenty-five days from now I'll be in Richmond, Virginia for the first time in 4 months! It's been a pretty exhausting week after nonstop visitors and traveling. I definitely miss everything, but it's nice to have some down time in these last few weeks in Roma! This weekend I'm only going to Tuscany for one night, so it'll be a quieter next 2 weeks travel-wise. School-wise, it's getting to the end so I have lots of finishing up to do with projects, pieces of work, and papers.

view of the basilica from a vatican window!

Monday morning I got up at the break of dawn (actually, pre-break of dawn) to get back into my yoga routine. All the craziness recently has gotten me off track, which I HATE! I've only been doing a few minutes of yoga or meditation when I can fit it in, so I've made a goal for myself to get back in the swing of things for the last month. I finished the 2 hour practice around 7:30, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then headed over to the Vatican Museum. Dave and Becky are patrons of the Vatican, so they emailed and asked if we could get a tour of the museum early morning.

Our tour was at 8am inside the museum. We got these special pin thingys so that we wouldn't have to wait in the line that was already forming outside the museum. I met my mom, Becky, and Dave with the tour guide, and we were on our way. We got into this ginormous elevator - literally it was a small room. It was as big as liiike a nice sized bathroom I would say (I'm trying to think of a comparison haha), with benches all around for you to sit and rest on the way to your floor haha. We took a seat, rode up one floor, then started the walk down the long hallway to the Sistine Chapel.

the last judgement

I was so excited because I hadn't been to the Chapel yet!! The lines were always too long, and it costs money..I knew when my parents visited they would pay so I was holding out haha. Also, since we were going soooo early in the morning it wouldn't be too crowded. We walked down the hall while the guide told us about all the paintings and artwork along the way. So neat!! At the end of the hallway, we walked into the Sistine Chapel. It was stunning. There were only about 5 or 6 other people in the room, so we could see EVERYTHING. We walked over to a side bench and took a seat, staring in awe at everything around us while the guide told us some cool stories about the chapel, different meanings behind the frescos, etc. It was so neat!! My favorite thing that I learned that I didn't know before was that in the Last Judgement (the big fresco in front of the altar), there are no women in hell (the bottom right of the piece). This is because Michelangelo believed that Love was the epitomy of heaven and goodness, and maternal love was the ultimate love. Therefore...no women in hell! Niceeee.

something i discovered while looking up -
"god created the sun and the MOON"
(if you will)

Our guide went to make a phone call about the next area we were touring and left us to stare at the ceiling. We looked around for about 20 or 30 minutes, moving around the room and pointing out new things that popped out. It was gorgeous. As the time passed, more and more people started piling into the room. By the time we left, it was getting pretty packed! I'm SO excited because Dave and Becky left me a patron pin so that I can come back to the Vatican Museum (including the Sistine Chapel) for free whenever I want! And I get to skip the lines and just walk right in!! My mom told me I have to come every morning at 8am...I don't know if I'll be able to handle THAT haha but I'm definitely going to take advantage of this awesome opportunity.

We left the Sistine Chapel and walked through different parts of the museum. We got to see sooo many cool things! Lots of works by Raphael since he painted a good portion of the Vatican, including his famoous School of Athens ( Philosophy) - one of my all-time favorite frescos. After touring that part of the museum, we headed to a little cafe outside in the courtyard where we met some other tour people who were going to take us on a tour of the restorations of ceramics and sculptures in the Vatican Museum laboratories! So cool. We sat down for some coffee and got to talking, and by the time I checked my watch it was getting close to yoga-class time, so I had to go. One of the guides shuffled me and my mom through the sculpture part of the museum so that I could see some things (like Lacoon and Sons!!!!), but I had to rush out and didn't get to do the restoration part of the tour :( Oh well, my mom took lots of cool pictures, you'll have to ask her about it!

I left the Vatican and headed back to my apartment. On the way, I stopped and picked up my rolls of film I got developed (the accidental color ones from Morocco and Turkey) so I'd be ready for photography after yoga. I ran by the market to pick out some fresh fruit, veggies, and mozerella, dropped it off at home, then was off to yoga!

I had an exciting class planned about Ayurveda that would lead up to Sirsasana (headstand), and I got to the gym early so I could warm up some. Sam was already there, so we were playing around like we usually do before class trying different inversions. After awhile I looked at the clock and it was time to start class, but Sam was still the only one there! We decided to just keep playing with different poses and catching up since it had been awhile since we had talked, which was fine with me - it just means I won't have to plan next week's class! I had a really nice time with Sam. It's always good to re-connect with people, especially if they have a lot of the same interests as you. It keeps your thoughts and actions in motion in a positive way when you're able to share stories and experiences that others may not relate to (ooooh the life of a yogini). So that was really nice and rejuvinating:)

I left a little earlier than usual to get to photography early. I had 2 rolls of black and white film I needed to develop, as well as the 2 color rolls I wanted to scan into the computer. Serafino was chaotic as usual, so I developed with Mary and Jess most of class. Near the end of class, Serafino got his thoughts together and taught me how to use the new and improved scanner he just bought. He was excited to see how my pictures would turn out, so he kept checking in and helping me. I ended up staying late because I was learning so much! He taught me a bunch of photoshop tricks that I'm going to work on later this week with my new pictures.

pretty roma!

Unfortunately, I was supposed to meet my mom at my apartment around 5, but I left my phone at the apartment! I didn't get home until 5:40 or so, and my mom wasn't there. I figured she hadn't left yet since she hadn't talked to me. I checked my phone and saw some missed calls from Dave, so I called him back. My mom was missing! They said they dropped her off near the apartment about 20 or 30 mins ago. Uh oh. I got my things together and right as I was about to go look for her, our doorbell rang. She had gotten dropped at the wrong Metro stop (one past mine) and didn't recognize anything, but ended up finding degli Scipioni (my street) and somehow made her way to my apartment. Perfect! We packed up all my stuff that I was sending home with her in a big duffel bag, then headed to her hotel.

They were staying in a new hotel for Monday night, and it was GORGEOUS. It's called Hotel Eden - the second oldest hotel in Rome (built in 1889...100 years older than me!). We walked into their room and it was THREE STORIES HIGH (yes, just THEIR room!)!!!! They had the lower level with Dave and Becky's bed and the HUMUNGO bathroom (full bath, separate shower, and separate room for the toilet), then there was a spiral staircase to the second level where a little study was with my mom's bed, THEN you go up the spiral staircase to the third floor where you open the door to a private terrace!! Haha it was crazy crazy. My mom and I took some pictures on the terrace, then we headed out to their last dinner in Roma.

I was practically still full from Sicily, but we went to a really cool place near their hotel called San Marco. We ordered a few pastas, a plain pizza, and some rice balls to share. It was soooo good. They're known for their pizza, which was definitely the best of the best (and we only got a margherita pizza). They told me about their cool experience in the restoration labs and archives (they had an archives tour that afternoon while I was in photo class). Apparently the tour guide pulled out a random document from a random drawer in the archives to give them an example of something, and it was the death warrent that the Pope sent out for Martin Luther - pretty much one of the most important document in history (that was so important in the Reformation). CRAZY!!! Their stories from their tours are so cool - definitely ask them about it.

For dessert we split some panna cotta, gelato, and tiramisu with strawberries. Mmmmm:) I was a happy camper. We grabbed a cab back to the hotel, said our goodbyes (miss you already mommy!), then I grabbed a taxi back to my apartment. I hopped in the taxi and was surprised that 1) the taxi driver was a woman and 2) she had a British accent. I asked her where she was from and got her complete life story - London, fell in love in Rome, kids, divorce, etc etc etc. I probably said 8 words the whole cab ride while she talked nonstop. She was excited because I was the same age as her daughter and my mom was the same age as she was haha. KEWL. She dropped me at my apartment and got out of the cab to give me a big hug, said some blessing thing that I didn't really understand (her accent got to me), then gave me her card in case I need a taxi again. Haha quite an interesting experience.

I got to bed around 1 (insomnia has been kicking in recently), then woke up Tuesday early for yoga (bringing back that dedication!) and class. We met at Piazza del Popolo, where we were supposed to meet last week before it got cancelled. We went ALL OVER today to make up for our class last week - started in Popolo, then Spanish Steps, Trevi, then took a 30 min bus to Janiculo Hill. The class was extra long (about an hour longer) to make up for last week - next week's will be too. We ended our class right around where I went to dinner with Dad, Zach, and India one night, called Antico Arco (do you guys remember??). How neat! The view during the daytime was just as beautiful as the evening/night.

After class, I walked home the same way the Zach and I walked home that night after dinner. It made me miss him, boo! But the view was incredible, and it was such a gorgeous day. I was listening to my new "yoga sunshine" playlist, smiling away as I strolled back to the apartment. I wasn't going to painting today because we're doing portraits (I'm doing one of India!), so I asked him if I could do this week's on my own time since my registration for Miami fall semester was smack in the middle of class time.

I got home and registered for my classes WITH NO PROBLEMS FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!! I switched my major (for the 5th time, yes) to art - I was most recently a double major of art and PR - with a minor in Educational Psychology...I don't remember if I wrote about that or not. This way I'll enjoy all of my classes a lot more, and I'll be able to graduate in a year! That's one semester early (since I took a semester off), which is pretty impressive considering I've switched things around so much haha. I have to take 2 summer classes (that are both 1 week long all day in May but count as 3 credits - so worth it) but other than that I'm all on track. Yay!

antico arco restaurant!

After registering, I went to Piazza Navona to sketch some for my art history class. We have a visual analysis due of the 4 rivers statue, so I planted down in front of it and started drawing. A group of kids touring (probably 4th graders) gathered around and quietly watched while I drew, they were so cute. The longer the stayed there, the closer they got haha. After a few minutes, one was even resting on my shoulder to check out the sketch! ilovekids. SINS. They waved goodbye when they left, which made my day. Cutie patootie Italian kiddies.

The rest of the day I forced myself to do some work. I worked on my visual analysis paper for the sketch, and started looking up some info for my other big paper due. I don't know how I'm going to get back into school-mode in Miami with the close-to-zero work I have here, but I'll find a way.

All in all, a great start to the week of recouperation! Love and miss you all dearly and dearly.

PS my camera's still sandy and not completely working from Morocco BUT I'll work on getting it fixed ASAP so that these posts will have more pictures next time :)