Il Grande Ritorno
So I’ve been asked by at least 4 people to come back to tumblr. Turns out it took John to make the shift first before I would. I just get a kick out of his insight, so here’s just another way to gain access to it.
Really though, I’ll have a lot more time on my hands in the next few weeks & I hope to tackle some exciting projects, and I really miss having a creative outlet. I’ll post some pictures and write about fun things that I do & try my best not to be boring.
I never finished posting about Italy, maybe I’ll type up some notes from my journal so I can have this page to remember the end of my trip. Other than that I’ll probably play around with the look of this thing so it’s more than just my old scrappy travel blog ….. if I ever get around to that.
Well, thanks for taking me back. Ciao kids! :)
one forty plus.: Twitter Isn't "Over", I'm Over It.
Last week in Los Angeles I participated in a live Q&A as part of an ASCAP expo on songwriting. When the topic of Twitter came up, I explained my waning interest in it being part of my daily life. By no means do I think it’s over as a medium altogether, but I do think that the days of “Twitter: The…
Can’t get enough of the JM.
Fun Fact
Just went on a site-visit with my Italian teacher. We saw this old orphanage in Piazza Santissima Annunziata, & the place where there used to be a wheel to send unwanted babies inside. Che triste! Anyway, on the way home, we drove past the hospital I went to after the accident that first weekend - Santa Maria Nuova. She told me it was founded by the father of Beatrice! (That was Dante’s sidepiece, for those of you not in the know….)
Just thought that was cool. I wonder who founded Mountainside … ? ;)
She also gave me a recipe book of a bunch of recipes we brought in for an assignment, and she threw in a bunch of her own too! I’m so excited !!
View high resolution
This is a little late, but this is what I made that day I volunteered with Vittoria. From start to finish! :)
President of Procrastination Club
Just realized I haven’t posted anything since spring break! The pictures are taking a lot of time to get through, but here’s an update of what’s been going on.
Went to the Amalfi Coast a few weeks ago! Colleen and I booked the trip through another one of those companies that we’ve been using a lot this semester, so everything was all taken care of. Bus transportation from door to door!
We stayed in Sorrento for the weekend, but we didn’t see much of it because we didn’t really go out at night and they had us traveling every day. Our hostel was set up like campgrounds. It reminded me a lot of the kinds of places where we stayed during lock-ins and retreats and stuff …. but whenever I looked over the lemon and orange trees growing outside my door and saw the gorgeous water I remembered where I was ;) We all had private cabins, 4 to a house, with a patio, a kitchen, and everything. We were paired up with these two girls from NYU who we really liked and hung out with the whole weekend.
The first day we took a boat to Capri and our first stop was the Blue Grotto. When I came here in high school this was the NUMBER ONE thing on the top of my list to do, and it was closed for bad weather! But it was open the morning we went, so even though it was a little bit overpriced (10 euro for roughly 5 minutes .. AND the boat man asking for a tip. really?) I couldn’t pass it up. We realized afterwards that it might have been better if we went later in the day when the sun was in front of the cave, but it still ended up being as cool as I had hoped it would be. If you’re not familiar with the Blue Grotto — google it! Seriously, I didn’t bring my camera in with me because I was nervous about it getting wet, but Google images should give you an idea of what it’s like. Its a cave in the water that used to be attached to an old Roman villa. The stone at the bottom of the walls reflects the sun and gives the water this electric blue color, and other than that it’s completely dark. We went in groups of 3 and 4 in small boats. The guy rowing pulled us through the tiny opening to get into the cave and rowed us around twice while singing and spitting out facts about the grotto. I’ve heard that sometimes they let you swim … but it was a little chilly so I just dipped my hand in. ;)
After that, we toured the island by boat and on foot. We saw the green and white grottos, the gardens, and beautiful views all the way around. We went to a factory to watch them make sandals and to taste limoncello and chocolate! I bought lots of good stuff to bring home from there. Who knew lemon chocolate could be so amazing? It was so refreshing, the perfect thing to have a little taste of after dinner :)
After that we walked around for a while, but didn’t have enough time to actually sit on the beach even though the weather was GORGEOUS! We caught our ride back and had a group dinner in Sorrento that night.
The next day we went to Positano. It was cloudy, but we sat on the beach for a while anyway. Then we found this great restaurant (amazing seafood & fresh pasta) & sat for a few hours while the sun came out. The view was amazing - wait til you see the pictures!
After our long day trip to Positano, we returned to Sorrento with every intention of showering, getting ready, restocking on wine & meeting the group to go out downtown. Instead, we walked through the door, changed into our jimjams, cracked open the Pringles and M&Ms and sat around talking all night. It was just as fun and a much cozier way to spend four or five hours …
That was also right around the time that I found out simultaneously that I (bad news first) lost $200 but got an internship offer for the summer! The $200 was from the Jason Mraz tickets I wasn’t able to sell …. I’m bummed about that but determined to put it out of my mind. And for those of you who still haven’t heard — I’ll be working at Time Inc. this summer as a Public Relations intern for the Lifestyle Group. I’m so excited - but more nervous.
Anyway, on our last day we packed everything up, moved out of the cabins, and headed home, but not before stopping for the day in Pompei. We took a 2 hour tour and saw all the old ruins. Lots of cool stuff.
*NOTE* - I’m going to post these in installments because I’m multitasking and trying to write a paper at the same time. Oh .. and I’m in class.
I’ll post later about the visit from the fam … for now it’s back to The Political Implications of Feminine Beauty in Contemporary Italy. F-U-N !
Pics soon! There are definitely a few that are desktop worthy, so take a look when they’re up! I’ll really really try to make that happen soon.
Terremoto
Just wanted to sign in & say hi. If you were worried about the earthquake, don’t be! It was a few hours away from us, so I’m fine. Just got back from an amazing weekend at the beach, and I’ll be back soon to tell you all about it. Unfortunately, schoolwork still exists. Ciao for now.
<3
Spring Break Etc.
Hi everyone, sorry to keep you waiting so long. But here’s everything!
Spring break came and went. I would say I can’t believe this is halfway over, but now it’s even less than that. I studied my butt off for midterms, did really well, and saw some incredible places. Now I’m back in Florence and I can feel the time running away from me. I’m sure you don’t want to hear me complain, so I’ll get to the goods. Here’s a recap of every city I’ve seen in the past few weeks, as succinct as I can possibly force myself to make it.
Amsterdam: We spent 6 days here. We planned for extra time because we wanted to make our way to Belgium, but it didn’t work out. It ended up being the perfect amount of time to fit in a good mix of craziness and relaxation. The city is huge, but since we were there for so long it wasn’t overwhelming at all.
Colleen, Caroline (Colleen’s best friend from home) and I stayed with Keith (Colleen’s boyfriend) and saw lots of our other Loyola friends. Each day we did a little exploring. We saw the Red Light district, Dam Square, Centraal Station, the Ann Frank house, and the new ‘I Am Amsterdam’ sign. We also went to the Heineken factory, the Holland Casino, and the coffeehouse where part of Ocean’s 12 was filmed. Lauren was in town for the weekend too, and we met up to do a canal cruise together.
The city was so much bigger and so much more beautiful than I had expected it to be. It was a lot of fun but it’s so historically rich too. It really has something for everyone. It sounds cheesy (like a nosedive into the old gorgonzola, as my crazy British writing teacher would say) but it’s really true!
Cork: This was the perfect pit stop between two major cities. There isn’t a whole lot to see or do in Cork, but I was just thrilled to be in Ireland. 3 days mid-week was just enough time to get a feel for the lifestyle and experience the country without an itinerary. One of Loyola’s biggest study abroad programs is in Cork, so it felt more like a regular visit to a friend’s school than a tourist stop. It was really great to see so many familiar faces. The first day we got there, we sat in MB’s (my roommate next year!) living room for 3 hours just talking and catching up – it was perfect! That night we took advantage of the kitchen in her adorable apartment. We bought chicken, potatoes, and veggies from the local market and cooked a nice feast for ourselves! The next night we had a big (American) pancake party for dinner with everyone. I hadn’t realized how much I missed them!!
During the day we walked around the tiny town, saw MB’s GORGEOUS campus, and took a trip to kiss the Blarney stone! Do I seem extra eloquent lately? ;)
London: I always knew this would be one of my favorite cities in the world, and it absolutely was. The long weekend there with Morgan (Loyola friend) was the perfect way to end Spring Break. Colleen and I did a double-decker bus tour and a cruise on the Thames, so we saw absolutely everything there was to see! We also saw a musical on the West End (Billy Elliot) and went to Harrods …. three times. If a sunny beach is my outdoor heaven, Harrods is its indoor counterpart. It’s a giant department store that has anything you could ever want. I LOVED IT. Some other highlights were going out for fish&chips&pints, and meeting J-Vill (Bloomfield friend) for teatime!
One of the days we went to Notting Hill in hopes of recognizing scenery from one of my favorite movies. We didn’t find anything familiar, but I loved it anyway. We found some adorable antique shops and an amazing hole-in-the-wall café where we had farm-fresh bacon and eggs for breakfast. I also loved Hyde Park – we spent 2 hours under the sun on our last day. I didn’t see any royalty, but the abundance of English people was more than enough to hold me over for the whole weekend.
Paris: Even though we were exhausted from traveling, we had to take advantage of a $30 roundtrip flight we found to Paris for the weekend after Spring Break. We stayed with Alyssa and Molly (Loyola friends) even though they were spending most of the weekend in Amsterdam. The very first night, on the way to their apartment, I caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. I was never the biggest fan of the thing because, compared to all of the other world-famous important structures, I just didn’t think it was pretty. But I never knew it sparkled! At night, every hour, it glitters for 5 minutes. Even from the cab window I was absolutely amazed. It was gorgeous.
On Thursday night we met lots more French people. I think I’ve decided that French people are my favorite of the non-English-speaking European variety. And all in all, that makes France the most surprising and underestimated country of this trip, I think.
Anyway, it was a quick visit. We walked around the whole city and saw everything we wanted to see in 2 days. We saw all the sites and shops and even found Harry’s Bar – owned by four generations of MacElhones!
The food was great, obviously. The nutella+banana crepe I had for breakfast on the last morning was one the most incredible things I’ve tasted in a while, in terms of sweets anyway. We also went to a fondue restaurant that serves wine in baby bottles! The food was mediocre and the service was terrible, but we think it was an odd intentional thing.
Florence: Back at ‘home’ the weather has been tricky. After spring break I thought it would be ‘fa bel tempo’ for good, but I was so so wrong. It lasted a week and then it went back to being rainy and cold. But other than that, what’s been up? Lauren came over for dinner one night. I’m so glad she finally got to meet the fam! I learned that I like eggplant and I learned how to sew (sort of). I went to a crazy Fiorentina game. In Italian, soccer = calcio and team = squadra. I finally stumbled across some decent Italian music. Also, I think I’m making some progress with the internship thing, and I’ve been doing lots of planning for the big parental visit in TWO WEEKS! Colleen’s parents are in town this week, we went out to dinner on Friday which was nice. That day I also walked up to Fiesole – up being the operative word. It was one hour uphill!!! The view was absolutely phenomenal; I felt like I could see all of Tuscany! Florence looked so tiny surrounded by the gigantic hills.
This weekend was otherwise fairly uneventful – I’ll never say boring, but I really didn’t do much. On Saturday night I went out with some friends to celebrate the fact that Tijuana didn’t burn down. Affectionately dubbed TJ’s, it’s the restaurant across the street from my friends house that caught on fire the other day. We rushed there for dinner as soon as it was back open for business. If the fact that my favorite restaurant in Italy serves Mexican food is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right.
Heading to the Amalfi coast this weekend!!! Sorrento, Positano, Capri, Pompeii, and whatever else I have time for. That was my favorite part of Italy back in high school, and hopefully I’ll love it just as much even if the weather doesn’t hold out. I’ll let you know how it is!!!
*Note – I was all ready to post this Sunday night but I lost the wireless connection that I was stealing from across the street. I realized that blogging via unreliable internet is a little bit like writing by candlelight when it’s windy ……..
Anyway, I’m posting this Monday morning before Italian class and I do apologize that it took so long!!! Miss you more than words can say!!!
Baci.
OOPS
« This was supposed to be at the end of my last post - didn’t realize it got cut off! »
The people in the Loyola programs in Amsterdam and Paris were here visiting, so we stayed here to show them around. My favorite part of the weekend was the Boboli Gardens – they are MASSIVE and gorgeous. The day we went felt like a real spring day, it was 65 and sunny and the perfect day to be outdoors.
Other than that, the daily life has just been busy with homework, editing the 400 pictures I take every week (see links above), seeing miss Lola when I can, applying for internships (just finished Food Network – ahh!!), and eating. Yes, I’m gaining weight, but Vittoria says that next week spring will really be here so I’ll be able to do lots of running! ….. We’ll see.
Heard about the snow at home .. I know most of you (that didn’t get off of school/work) hated it, but I wish we were in for something like that here because I’m about to leave for spring break (Amsterdam, Brussels, Cork, London) and I’m looking at 10 straight days of cold, fog, and rain. F-U-N.
I know there hasn’t been much to read lately, I hope you haven’t forgotten about me here!! I’ll be back Sunday night (March 15) so hang tight til then! I’m bringing a journal with me and I’ll copy lots of stuff over so you don’t miss a drop. J
Miss you all so so much – hope all is well at home.
Talk to you soon!
Love. Love. Love.
Kristen Rose
