Il fine.

To summarize my four months in Italy, I thought I'd make a couple lists:

Places I've visited:

Sicily

Cinque Terre

Greece (Corfu, Athens - non mi piace- and Aegina)

France (Paris and Versailles)

Tuscany (Siena, Montepulciano, Florence, Pisa, Chianciano)

Pompeii

Foligno

Montefalco

Tivoli

Objects I have lost or destroyed:

2 Cameras

1 Phone

1 lamp (which I never got replaced now that I think about it)

My permit to stay which turned out to be not a big deal at all.

And one tragic loss of a previously healthy bank account.

Creepy Italians I have come across:

There were many interesting characters I came across, but the one who asked to makeout with my feet needs to be mentioned for sheer dominance over anyone else who would make the list.

My rank of classes:

ITALIAN ITALIAN ITALIAN!!!!!!

Drawing

Painting

History

Ok. Now if you choose not to read further, you at least got some highlights. And to all those who have been reading this from the beginning - really just Steph and Kait - sorry for not writing for over a month!

My last month in Rome was by far one of, if not THE greatest month of my life. It was like I got hit in the face with the reality of my one-of-a-kind friends, the beauty of Rome, and the extraordinary life I was living there. As I mentioned in my last post- I really didn't want to leave. The last 2 weeks were particularly hard because myself, along with many of my friends came to a sad realization. We would be returning changed people. However, we knew we would be returning to the same life - completely unchanged. Nervousness couldn't even begin to describe my emotions. I was nervous, excited, worried, fearful, etc. etc. Part of me wanted to stay longer, but the other part of me knew I needed to go home. They were an amazing four months which I will never forget, but that's all the time I am going to get to live in Rome. Four months. Well, for now at least ;)

Enough with my nerves of leaving, however. I need to write down some memories before I lose them. The last month of my travels were filled with many guests from back home. First, I got to see Meaghan Holloran. She visited from Paris for easter weekend. (I don't think I wrote this in my last post.) Secondly, I got to see Johnny and his girlfriend, Katie. API bought everyone opera tickets which of course was the one night Johnny would be in town. It was 12:00 when I got back that night and I called to apologize for not getting to see him. Well 30 minutes later I was hugging him in piazza Venezia. Next I got to see Erin Horan. I was only supposed to see her for one day as well, but the one and ONLY good thing about that damn volcano was that I got to see Erin's lovely face for three days more days. I'm still not entirely sure that Erin thinks even remotely highly of that volcano considering her epic adventure home. Last, but not least, I got to see Keara and Joe in Paris. The three of us went the second to last weekend before I left. We went to Versailles, the Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, the gardens of Luxembourg, and we even had a baguette fight. It was infinitely better than the last time I went to Paris. Maybe sleeping in until 10:00 had something to do with it...

As for my adventures in Rome, I spent my last few weeks soaking up the sun at Villa Borghese, getting to know the trail mix guy at Campo di Fiori, splitting dinners with the lovely Mor, and visiting every last sight I could. I also visited the ever beautiful hills of Tuscany and even saw the place where Twilight was filmed!!!! Oh, wait, I don't really care about Twilight. But it was breathtakingly cool to see that clock tower in Moltepulciano. You know, the one Edward walks out of in the movie. Ok ok, so I've seen the movies. Shoot me. And for the record, there is no epic fountain Bella so gracefully runs through to save her beloved. And the movie isn't filmed in Volterra, where the movie is set. However, the town itself was by far one of the most stunningly picture perfect towns I have visited in my life. Then again, I say that about every town I visit. In this town, however, there was this beautiful wine cellar we visited where we got to sample some of their wine. Yummy. We also went to these thermal baths which were pretty relaxing.

Other highlights include:

-Going to an Italian spoken mass with the always charming Mr. Larkin and actually understanding parts of the homily.

-Hanging out in Trastevere.

-FINALLY visiting the Galleria with Mor.

-Having a picnic in Villa Borgheses with all of my loves.

-The last night before I left which included a farewell dinner, a last goodbye to Trastevere, and an epic goodbye bash in my apartment with literally everyone in our apartment building. Totally worth the 2 hours of sleep I got that night.

-My EPIC journey home which included a 2 hour delayed flight, a missed flight, a 5 hour delayed flight (which I never made it on), 8 hours at JFK, and a memorable ride home from Mr. Alam. All I'm saying, is most Americans turn 21 in a bar or club. I turned 21 in the back of his car.

Finally, what would a blog post be without one last mention of my Italian class? After our course ended (molto triste), our Professor invited us over to his house to cook dinner with him and have one final night with all of us together. "We" made pesto, eggplant parmigiano and tiramisu. I say "we" because really Claudio cooked most of it and we helped when we could. Grazie mille, Claudio. The best part of the night, however, was when we gave him the scrapbook we made. We each had a picture and a note written in Italian in the book. He loved it. We also got him a t-shirt which he put on right away. :) It was a pretty memorable night which I don't think any of us could ever forget. That class is the reason why so much of me misses Italy right now. I left behind a family and a home which I will never get to see again. Sure I'll go back, and of course I will see my friends again, but we will never live or learn together as we did. But I'm not gonna live in the past. I'm bringing my memories with me into my future because truthfully, my Italy experiences are still happening. I'll always be growing from what I learned there. I'm just not gonna be blogging about them anymore. You'll just have to trust that I am a better person for having lived in Italy for four months, and I will continue to be a better person because of Italy. La vita è bella.

So that's it folks. That's my Italy. Basta.

Rome, mi amore.

To all of my dear friends, family and other loved ones at home, I'm really really sorry to say this, but I want to stay here. Three years ago I watched my sister come home and I listened to her talk about how much she missed this place. For the life of me I couldn't imagine how she would ever want to be anywhere besides our home in Rhode Island. Yes, that's right, my little brain couldn't imagine why she wouldn't pick Johnston "Home of the landfill" RI over Rome, Italy. Clearly any sane person would pick Johnston, right? Quite honestly though, even 2 1/2 months into my trip here, I would have picked the home of the dump. But now, I get it. Rather, I get the withdrawals she was going through. Despite the beautiful month I have left to enjoy here, I am already missing this place. This change of heart came about a week and a half ago when I skipped class.

Ok mom, I know you're reading this and honestly, I'm a college kid- what did you expect. Everyone skips class. I have her voice in my head saying, "Well you're not everyone, don't skip class, Marie! She calls me Marie, in case you're wondering. But anyway, I feel I had quite a legitimate reason for skipping class. First off, I KNOW I am not the first person to confuse Piazza Vittorio Emmanuel with the Vittorio Emmanuel monument. So, when we had to meet at the piazza and I went to the monument, you can imagine my ponders over whether or not I should make the trek over to this piazza I have never been to for my least favorite class. Well, yours truly was a good girl and tried to get there. I walked to the Colosseum to get on the metro so I could get to the piazza. For some reason I couldn't find the metro - not that I tried uber hard, though. So, I just stayed around the Colosseum and decided to explore a couple churches I had been wanted to check out. First off though, allow me to explain how entertaining hanging around the Colosseum is. I got asked in english if I speak French and would like a French speaking tour. I had this gladiator guy try to say hello to me in every language he could think of. When he got through about 7 languages - non of which being english - I turned to him and replied "Hello." He gave a defiant sigh of why-didn't-I-think-of-that. As I continued my stroll, I came across a jogger who was lost. She spoke english with an accent I couldn't place. This was our conversation:

Dumb woman: "Do you mind if I borrow your map? I'm lost."

Me: "Sure!" *points to the Colosseum on the map* "This is where we are right now."

Dumb woman: "No, no, you're pointing to the big Colosseum, but we're at the small Colosseum right now."

Me: *gives her a look of stupidity* "Nope, we're at THE Colosseum."

Dumb woman: "No, no, there is a big Colosseum and a little Colosseum. You're pointing to the big one on the map but we're at the small one, look. *points to the Colosseum*

Me: "There is one and only one Colosseum in Rome, and this is it."

Woman: *pauses to look around* No, no, you're wrong. *pauses again* Are you sure?

Me: I would bet my life on it.

Woman: But its so small.

She then just accepted the fact she was lost and ran away. I stood in utter amazement for a few moments before I continued my church quest. I finally came across San Giovanni in Laterano. This church has the head of Peter and Paul. It is also one of the four major basilica's in Rome. One is St Peters (obviously), another is St. Paul outside the Walls, and the last is San Maria Maggiore which I visited after San Giovanni. After my beautiful self guided tour of San Giovanni (included it's gorgeous cloister), and before I head over to St. Mary Major, I decided to visit the Scala Santa (the sacred steps). The was a last minute decision, but going there, I realized it was Holy Thursday. I subconsciously picked a good day to go, huh?. I just went to look at them, but I decided that I wanted to kneel up them. A small history lesson for all of you in slight confusion, you ask? The sacred steps are the steps that Jesus walked up before he was condemned by Pontius Pilate. There are 28 marble stairs that are now encased by wood to protect them. Christians kneel up them, saying a prayer at each step, as a sign of devotion. Now, I have not had the strongest faith these past few years, but I still wanted to have this experience. Boy, was it worth it. And boy did it hurt. At one point, though, I joking prayed for a pillow so my knees wouldn't hurt. Then they suddenly stopped hurting. Thanks, God. As you kneel up them, you can see spaces in the wood where allegedly some of Jesus's blood fell. There are also spaces where you can touch the marble underneath. All in all, a very worthwhile experience and for where I am in my faith right now, it was definitely something I needed to do.

As I left the Scala Santa and looked at my map to see where I had to go to find St. Mary Major, I noticed Piazza Vittorio Emmanuel... a block away. Whoops! I guess it wasn't so hard to find after all. But it was almost 12 by this point and that was when my class ended. So I just kept my eyes out for my class who I later found out had moved far away from that piazza anyway. When I arrived at St Mary Major, the first thing I wanted to do was find Bernini's tomb and his famous statue The Ecstasy of St. Teresa. Well, after walking around the whole church and finding neither, I went into the gift shop and tracked down a tourist booklet. I discovered Bernini's tomb was hidden on the floor at the front of the altar. I also discovered that Bernini's sculpture was not at this church, but at a church near Termini. Regardless, after seeing his tomb and enjoying the rest of the church, I walked outside and realized it was almost 1:00. That meant that the market at Campo di'Fiori was about to shut down and I still needed my make-your-own trail mix fix! Well I booked it on over there and found my friend Manuel. He knows me by name now and lets me try the fruit and nuts before I put them into my bag to make sure I'll like them. He also gives me discounts. I strolled around there for a bit longer, when I came across a fresh fruit smoothie place. I ask you, what's a better lunch than trail mix and a fruit smoothie? Nothing, that's what. It was when I was walking over to the Vittorio Emmanuel monument to go to the Capitoline Museum that I realized a.) I could NEVER do any of this in Johnston, and therefore b.) I didn't want to leave. There is never a dull moment here. Never! But the thing is, my family and friends are not here. Four months without seeing them is tolerable, but to never see them in unfathomable. If they would move here, I would move here in a heartbeat. But that itself is pretty unfathomable, so I just have to enjoy this last month and go back to my friends, my family, and my landfill.

I especially missed the family on Easter, though. Don't get me wrong, spending Easter at St. Peters sitting 20 rows back from the altar listening to the Pope say mass was an incredible experience. But I would have traded it for Easter with my family. It was my first Easter away form home and I got really homesick after mass. That, or I was just really cranky for waking up at 5:00 to sit in the rain for 2 hours.

Speaking of sleep, I'm gonna go get me a large serving of that. Stay tuned to hear about the most beautiful place in the world!

Greece Spring Break!

For the past 20 years my life has been molded, squished, reshaped, smashed again, and formed again once more. I have been thinking, lately, though, that I am developing into a more stable human being. Finally, I am coming to terms with who I am, who I want to be, and what I want to do with my life.

Then I ship myself off to Rome. Smashed once again.

Now I want to travel. I have been exploring and learning my whole life, but only in the small little bubble of southern New England. Do you know how cool it would be to jump off a canyon in Interlaken? Or ride a camel in Cairo? In my eyes, there are waaaaay more than seven wonders of the world. I want to see everything earth has to offer, and experience every culture I can find. I want to visit every state and every continent. Actually, I want to visit every country. This dream, while quite unfeasible, has been taking shape mostly since my return from my spring break in Greece.

My roommates and I booked our spring break trip to Greece back in January. Spring break in Greece with my roommates? What could be better? Then I found out that smelly little Mor was coming along- JUST KIDDING!!! I promised I'd make a verbal shrine to her, so I better talk her up, huh? Well my darling friend Mor bought one of my roommates tickets who couldn't go, so you can imagine how pumped I was to find out she would be joining. (I was indeed very excited, this isn't sarcasm here.) You could probably also imagine my screams over seeing Hillary after I found out she was the surprise Mor had for me. I mean, c'mon, the trip was already off to a great start. Not to mention Greg was also along for the ride as well. As a matter of fact, he is sitting right next to me, writing in his journal about Greece which made me kinda jealous that I wasn't blogging. You can thank him for this new post. Anywho, as I mentioned before, I am in love with my Italian class and to have THREE of them with me really made my whole spring break. I even loved the 16 hour ferry ride! ...not. Well, I did love Mor, Hillary and I toasting the spring break with a bottle of wine. And I loved the dinner. Ferry food is actually delicious... but highly overpriced.

Once we finally arrived in Greece, we had to take yet another ferry to Corfu. But let me tell you, watching the sunset that night over the Ionian Sea was absolutely worth it. And that food, oh dear Lord the food was well worth the ferry rides. We were staying at this hostel called the Pink Palace. It was painted completely blue. No, just kidding. It was completely decked out in Stephanie Martone pink. Everywhere. My sister would LOVE it there. But anywho, back to the food. That night for dinner we went down to the banquet hall area for one of the best chicken, potato and green bean dinner's I've ever had. Greek food, you ask? Well... not exactly, but it was still heaven on a plate. The next day we walked out of our room and were greeted by shiny helmets and keys to a four wheeler. We spent the whole day riding around Corfu, finding scenery that pictures couldn't do justice, tasting one-of-a-kind liquor, and pulling Mor out of a ditch. Yup, that's right. Faith and I were waiting for Hillary and Mor to catch up to us, but when they weren't coming, we turned around to look for them. Well, I saw Hillary, and she just pointed down... off the road, where low and behold we found Mor!! All she did was shrug and giggle. We managed to get her out of there, and continued along our journey. We stopped at this cafe where we found this liquor only distilled in Corfu. Its made with the branch of a Kum Kwat tree, and one you're finish drinking the bottle, you pour vodka back into the bottle (because the branch is still in there) wait 10 days, and poof! You have the same liquor again. You can refill the bottle 3-4 times. Coolest thing ever? I think so. Of course I bought some. All I need to hear for my wallet to come flying out is, "There is no where else in the world you can get this." We drove around for a few more hours until we realized that we needed to head back soon. Except we were half way across the island. With no idea how to get back. I admit, I have a good sense of direction, but not good enough to get us back to the Pink Palace. But somehow - I don't know how - we took EVERY right turn. And shortly enough, we were face to face with our barbie pink buildings once again. That night was the toga party where we wrapped ourselves up in shiny pink fabric and hit the dance floor. Faith, Mor and Hillary were thoroughly jealous of my sweet dance moves. Why else would they be pointing, staring and laughing, right? The next day - and our last day - at the Pink Palace we went on the booze cruise. It's pretty self explanatory. You go out on this rickety old boat and drink all day long. Let me back up for a second, though. At the Pink Palace, every day you have three options of things you can do: rent ATV's, go kayaking, or go on the booze cruise. The ATV's were a must, kayaking was pretty interesting, but the booze cruise offered jumping off a 50 foot cliff. So, we hiked into the ice cold water to reach a ladder leading us up to a pink (a little overplayed if you ask me) boat. The first stop we made was to the cliff jumping. Very smart, considering most people probably arn't too drunk that early into the ride. After we jumped off the boat into the colder than ice cold water, we climbed up the cliff. All the way up I was thinking, 'Ok, I'm gonna turn around, just one more step and then I have to turn around.' But I got to the top and realized there was literally no way I could get back down. In fact, no one has ever turned around because it is impossible to climb back down the cliff. You would slip and fall trying to get through the cracks and crevaces you jsut limbed up. So, I watched Hillary jump, Faith jump, Mor jump, and then came my turn. I was scared out of my mind, so much so that I couldn't even enjoy the view of the island. But all of a sudden, I was falling. How I got to falling, I don't even know. But when I tried to begin to think of what made me jump (or really walk off the cliff), I hit the water. Genius me didn't have time to think to tuck in my arm so I had a nice big water welt on my left arm for the rest of the day. But to begin to describe the jump would be impossible, so I'll just leave my recommendation for all of you to one day, jump off a cliff. Don't think, just do it.

Then, came the final goodbye dinner and we were off on an overnight bus to beautiful Athens!!!! I mean, one would think Athens would be beautiful... right? Hmm... well either someone lied to me or I ended up in a different town... that happened to have the Acropolis in it. Let me just start by saying Athens is not worth the hype. Unless you're a history major who loves not feeling safe and loves being constantly surrounded by sketchy people, you won't like Athens. It's good for a day trip. Actually no, it's good for a few hours in the day, and thats it. But you know what is worse than walking around Athens? Walking around Athens after just having had the worst night sleep of your life on a bus and waking up with a cold on top of it all. Hillary was in the same boat as me. So we were two grumpy gills that day. Well, two sick grumpy gills. My favorite part of the day though, was when we finally got a chance to sit down at the Acropolis. Hillary and I were lounging when I asked her what the building was in front of us. Neither of us knew. It wasn't until we left and were walking to lunch that Mor told us it was the Parthenon. Just goes to show how non-exciting it was. Then again I will always and forever find the ruins of Rome ten thousand times more interesting than the ruins of Greece. One thing about Athens, however, that I give an A+ to would be the food. We went to this unbelievable dinner that night where we had traditional greek food complete with taziki, greek salad, baked feta and moussaka. How do you say delicious in Greek? That night Mor, Hillary and I walked home because we didn't feel like going out. It was the greatest 20 minute walk ever - largely thanks to Mor. But it was also the scariest. In Rome, there are sketchy guys left and right. They give you the I'm-undressing-you-with-my-eyes look, but never anything more. The guys in Greece gave us the look of I'm-gonna-follow-you-down-a-dark-alley-where-there-will-be-no-witnesses look. I never thought I would actually prefer the skeezy Italian creeps.

The next day was significantly better. I felt a little better, and we were going to Aegina!!! Off we sailed on another ferry (surprise, surprise). Mor, Hillary and I spent the day eating Greek food, laying on the beach - well, actually THEY laid on the beach while I searched for pina coladas. Anywho, we then got some baklava, and departed back for Athens. That night, we spent in the bar of the hostel and ordered dinner and ate over a lovely chat. Friday morning we got up and left for Rome. Saturday night we arrived back home. Travel fail.

The moral of the story is that Mor, Faith and Hillary are the loves of my life. And I want to travel to every country. Il fine.

Mia famiglia!!!

Friday, March 5th, 2010: Current status of my family: Mom can barely keep her eyes open as she strolls over to her bed. Auntie is yelling at her to not play with the thermostat when she goes to bed, Nick and Steph are bickering about whether or not she should smuggle a wreath into her suitcase. (Steph is for against it, Nick is for.) Ahhh…. It’s good to have them here.

I have been visiting the “anticipation building” all week which finally led to today! The day they arrive!! I woke up to a bright and sunshiny day. I went to the catacombs of San Callisto and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls with API. It was so nice outside that I didn’t even need a coat! How excited was I to walk on over to see my family? Uber excited. So, after going back to my apartment, packing, cleaning and getting ready to meet the fam, I planned on no rain. Although, I figured I would pack my spiffy knew umbrella that I bought from the guy at the Piramide Metro stop yesterday. Oh wait a minute, where did it go? That’s right, I left it in Italian class last night. My umbrella count is up to 3. My mom just brought me a new one. I give me a week before I lose it.

Anyway, I have impeccable luck and it DOWNPOURED the whole trip over to see mia famiglia. My pants were soaked, toes were frozen, and my jacket was drenched. I was in a foul mood, as Whitlee would say. But then I got a dozen massive hugs from Steph and my mom, held back the tears reuniting with those two, hugged Auntie, and hugged Nick. After yours truly got dry and significantly happier, we went out to dinner, found mom her pastry, and are now sitting back here, listening the Cheryl and Susie stories from their pastime. Auntie just got to the story of when my mom locked my auntie’s dresser draw and threw the key down the sewer. My mom is sleeping, but she just said, “I can hear you!” Now it’s the story of how my mom put a small, small braid in her hair in the middle of the night and she played dumb in the morning when she found it. (My moms just said, “What did I do?” She still plays dumb quite well.) Side note: Nick has a LOT of energy at night. My sister, on the other hand, is falling asleep. He is currently flying around the apartment, trying see what he can take home.

Besides the joy’s of my visitors, I have had a pretty good week. I was the first foreigner that a little boy on the tram ever met which I’m pretty sure was as fascinating to him as finding big foot. (We’ve moved onto the game where Nick and Steph are timing themselves to see which one can get themselves unlocked from the bathroom the quickest.) Other than the boy, I saw a movie crew in Santa Maria in Trastevere. Wouldn't that be cool to be watching a random movie and suddenly see that piazza? I think so. (I think Steph may have won, due to significant cheating on Nick's side.)

Unfortunately, no internet. Therefore, I shall save this and post it later.

Saturday, March 6th, 2010: Today was a very eventful day of filled with laughs and smiles. We went to the Vatican and got literally mobbed by a thousand tour guides asking if we speak English and want an English speaking tour. One guy even asked Nick in english if he spoke spanish and would like a spanish speaking tour. We got sick of it after the first two, and there were at least fifteen more. Steph and Nick went to the Sistine chapel because Nick had never seen it before, and mom, auntie and I stalked just about every market we found. We found this open market that my mom went into for the sole purpose of buying oranges and cheese. We walked out with oranges, cheese, bananas, meat, pesto, balsamic vinegar glaze, sun dried toamatos, olives, bread, eggplant, nutella, and ricotta cheese. Lets just say we had an amazing lunch. After we ate, we went BACK to the Vatican to walk around the basilica.

We went into the side museum were we saw what? Two thorns from Jesus’s crown of thorns and 6 fragments of wood from The Cross. No big deal. Now how they autheniticate that, I have no idea, but it is believed to be true. Afterwards, Steph mentioned to Nick that we could walk up the cupola, but the mere thought was more than enough heights for him. So instead, we went down. Under, actually, to the tombs of the Popes. Let me preface by saying there were NO signs saying no pictures. I had no right to get yelled at for that. Anywho, as it turns out, all those sarcophagus’s, (sarcaophagi?) upstairs in the basical don’t have any bones. St. Christina of Sweden is actually buried down in the tombs! All this time I thught I was taking a picture of her bones. I saw the burial sight of Pope John I and Pope John Paul II which I am sure Cory Larkin would love to see. Look at that, ANOTHER blog mention.

After our lovely excursions, we went back to the room where I slept like a baby for a whole 45 mintues. I woke up and my family already went through a bottle and a half of wine. We departed for the Spanish Steps, and Steph, Nick and I climbed to the top. As it turns out, the Spanish Steps has only 3 more steps than it takes to get to my apartment building. Fascinating, huh? We went to a FABULOUS DINNER at a lovely restaurant. I got an articoke pasta dinner and after we all shared 2 bottles of wine, I left with a big smile and the phone number of our waiter, Kamal (You're welcome, family, for getting you all a free bottle of wine).

We had a lovely stroll back home and after a drink of limoncello, I said goodnight to my mom and aunt as they went to bed and find myself back here, sitting with Steph and Nick – the exact same way we ended our night last night. Now, Steph is trying to teach Nick Italian. She is trying to get it out of him that “Molto bano” does not mean very good, but very bathroom. Now, he combining bueno and bano to bu-AAAH-nyo. It’s quite hysterical. And now it is waaaaaaay past my bedtime. Buonanotte.

Alright, so maybe I only made it to posting Friday and Saturday night, but I'll fill you in of the rest of the week as well:

Sunday was known as "Christina day." I took them on over to Trastevere where they saw my apartment and we went to the open market. Steph and my mom were a little rusty with haggling, but Nick completely made up for the two. I think he was about to bust out his Italian curse words when the guy wanted 10 euro for a belt. He stormed off, and found a guy who custom made a belt he wanted for only 6 euro (Nick's price). Afterwards, we went to dinner at this place called "Spaghetti." They're famous for their meat. Just kidding. They literally had 50 different kinds of spaghetti, and delicious pizza. I got an eggplant spaghetti dish (surprise, surprise), and we all split a pizza as an appetizer.

Monday was Tivoli day... which could have gone a lot better. For the record Steph, my friends just went to Tivoli and said they loved it. We arrived three hours after we left our apartment to a beautiful swamp in the middle of nowheresville, Italy. After walking around for a bit, crossing the bridge, and asking for a bathroom, we found ourselves in a lovely place for lunch which my mom claims was worth the ride over there because she had the best calzone of her life! My pizza was delicious as well :) Then we walked around for a bit only to stumble upon a breathtaking view of the Italian countryside. We did, however, realize that we only had about 15 minutes left before we had to go and catch our train back, so we left.

But not before my mom bought half a leather store. The man working there was apparently a fabulous salesmen because at one point I looked at my mom and she had four purses and 2 wallets in her hand. Nick chased her around saying, "I gotta keep an eye on you so you don't get screwed by this guy!" I also found my sister torn between three different colors of the same bag. The guy was finessing her as well. When we left, my sister and mom were 2 purses, a wallet and a belt richer, though their bank accounts were a bit feisty the rest of the day. What you ask, did we do for the rest of the day? Not much except I GOT TO SEE KEARA!! Again :)

Her and Joe left from Rome for their spring break so they came out to dinner with us and spent the night in our apartment. We had oodles of fun. Though I felt awfully bad about the amount of candy in the apartment and how Keara could have absolutely none of it. Sorry again, love!

Tuesday it rained. I walked outside and had my umbrella open for a solid 2 minutes before it broke. Why have I not just been wearing a rain coat this whole time? So after we walked over to Guiseppe's meat and cheese place and Campo di Fiori I parted ways with my mom and auntie while Steph and Nick went to the Colosseum. I went to class, and after I joined back up with my now tipsy family again who enjoyed 2 bottles of wine while I learned curse words in my Italian class. Whose 2 hours were better spent? I find that one arguable. We went to the glorious Antonio's where we had glorious food and glorious wine and a glorious waitress- oh wait, no we didn't. She was the most unpleasant person of our life. But other that her the meal was great!

Wednesday *sigh* was the most amazing day spent in my entire time in Italy. We took a lovely train ride over to Montefalco, where we went to Antonelli's wine vineyard. After driving through quite a few acres of their vineyard, we arrived at the main building and had our own private tour with Wendy, an Australian-turned-Italian who is just the sweetest thing. After the tour, we sat down for the most delicious meal I have ever eaten in my life. I will repeat this, because I am not lying. I ate the MOST delicious food ever! All thanks to Teresa, the chef I wish I could take back to my apartment. We had saltless bread that she topped with literally the best olive oil I've ever tasted and salt. Saltless bread sounds strange I know, but it was heeeeeeeaven. Then we were served a scrumptious array of meats and cheeses with sun-dried tomatoes and homemade jam. Then, the pasta. Oh the pasta. Oooooooooh dear, that pasta was amazing. It was this thick, spaghetti like noodle (Steph, what's the name again?) that she tossed in sausage, mushrooms, truffles and cream. My taste buds are still on cloud nine from that pasta. The sad part came next, when I couldn't finish all of the prosciutto wrapped lamb with roasted potatoes and turnip heads that I was served. My taste buds were NOT happy to hear they could wrap themselves around all of that wonder. The dessert was a traditional Umbrian dessert that was this thin pastry dough wrapped around raisins, apples, and I forget what else but it was good. Not heavenly, but merely good. Oh shoot! I forgot about the wine! Hence the whole part of us going to a wine vineyard, duh. The wine was fabulous. We were served 1 white wine that I later bought, and 3 different kinds of red wine. The dessert wine that we were served was by far my favorite, though. It was so think and sweet it was almost like drinking syrup. After the vineyard, our plans for that night were to go back to the restaurant that I got our waiters number (where I would avoid the waiter) to eat dinner, but we were filled to the brim. So we settled for a dinner of wine and gelato at Giolitti's which - dare I say - is BETTER THAN OLD BRIDGE! It is seriously phenomenal.

Thursday was a shopping day. We went to the kitchen store, as the family calls it, and walked around piazza Navona a little bit. We sat down for a drink and got the WORST tasting beer I have ever had. Then I parted their presence for Italian class and rejoined for the last supper at Baffetto's, aka the best pizzeria ever. We sipped our wine, enjoyed our pizza, and found our way over to the bakery with a mortadella wheel almost as tall as me. We polished off their last remaining desserts and we back home to enjoy them. After a couple intense rounds of rummy, it was time to say goodbye. My mom had told me earlier in the week that I was already too dehydrated so she didn't want to see any liquids coming out of my eyes. Well, that was hard for me, her and my sister to do as I said bye to them. BUT I have my special chamomile tea that I am ordered to drink only when I am very stressed and want my mom their to calm me down. My loving mother also bought me a murano glass heart shaped necklace that she told me I can wear and know that for how close that glass heart is to my heart, that's how close we'll always be, no matter the distance. And this woman really expects me not to cry? She also brought me Hersey's Hug's kisses because I told her I miss hugs and kisses. So whenever I need a hug or a kiss, I can just have one and it'll be like getting a hug and kiss from my mom. :) But I'm only allowed one a day so that by the time the bag is gone, it'll be time to get a real hug and kiss from her. The greatest mom ever? Yes, yes I would have to agree 100% with that statement. But as I was saying, when Steph and mom walked my to the taxi, there was not a set of dry eyes. Well, I guess the taxi cab driver didn't cry. I was really hoping, though, that I would be sick of them by the end of the week so it would be easy to say goodbye. Really though, the second after I hugged them hello I had to hug them goodbye. A week wasn't long enough. But at least I got to see them. Unfortunately, my dad couldn't come at all. Which - despite the absolutely glorious time I had - made me still a little homesick. But I suppose having two of my three pillars in life come to visit is better than having none at all, right? Right.

Minus my whole being sick deal and losing my camera, I've had a pretty good week.

BUT before I delve into the details, I forgot to mention one AMAZING night a couple weeks ago. What, you ask, was so important that I must retell events from a fortnight ago? Dinner with Cory Larkin, that's what. And just so we all know, I am definitely not typing this because he yelled at me for not putting him in my blog. That would be FALSE, as Dwight says. Anywho, in all seriousness, I did mean to mention dinner in my last post, but completely forget. Cory, his roommate Paul, and Chloe came over for dinner with my roommates a couple Tuesdays ago. Chloe made amazing garlic bread, my roommates and I made dinner, we discovered how much Cory loves cheese, and I think Paul went deaf sitting between Whitlee and Kelsey. After dinner, Chloe, Paul, Cory and I strolled on over to the bar next door for a beer. I got a surprisingly delicious beer (because usually I hate beer). We hung out there for a couple hours, watched the olympics, and heading back to the apartments. It wasn't until I was back in my room ready for bed that I realized I lost my phone. After searching literally everywhere, I figured it could only be in one of 2 places: Either Chloe picked it up accidentally thinking it was hers, or Cory picked it up jokingly to steal it and forgot to give it back. ...Cory had it. Thanks again, buddy. Though apparently karma almost literally bit Cory in the butt as he was chased home/ almost eaten by a dog. Was that enough of a mention in my blog, Jersey?

Jess just walked in and said that she wanted a blog mention as well... as she is eating a bowl of cereal. Surprise, surprise :P:P

Did you know there is a pyramid on Rome? Smack dab in the middle of Testachio, there's a pyramid! That's where I had my drawing class, and that's where I lost my camera. Let me just preface this story by saying that most things that happen here, I do not want to blog about because I don't want my mother reading them. Get your mind out of the gutter, I'm not talking about drinking or partying, I'm talking about my debate over whether or not I should tell my mom I lost my camera, or whether or not I should tell her I'm sick. Let's be serious people. If you haven't met my mother, you should know it doesn't take much to get her nervous. Especially since I'm an ocean away. There is no way, however, that I can go a week without skyping her, and the second I did skype her, the first question she asked was whether or not I was sick. Secondly, I needed to tell her I lost my camera so she could take money out of my account to by me a new one and bring it here next week. I would buy one here, but it would be a lot cheaper in America. Besides, if I have any questions, I would like to not have to decode the manual book with my Italian-English dictionary. Anyway, now that I have gotten sufficiently off course from my story, let me back up and continue with the pyramid. It's located in front of the Protestant cemetery which holds the resting place of many famous artist, poets, philosophers and authors. The big ones are John Keats, Percy Bysshe Skelly, and Goethe. I thought that THE Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, was buried there, but as I looked up what Skelly's first name was (because not gonna lie, I never heard of him before I saw his tomb), I saw that it was actually THE Goethe's son, August von Goethe that is buried there. As creepy as this sounds though, this cemetery was one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I've ever been to in Rome so far. It smelled like spring (yes, spring has a very distinctive smell), it was quiet (well ok, that word doesn't really exist in Rome, but relatively speaking), and it was just so peaceful. I loved it so much than I spent three hours drawing there. Then I realized I lost my camera. And it was absolutely no where to be found. I checked high and low, gathered other recruits to help look, went to the front desk, went back to where I was sitting because... I had to go back! I mean, I had to go back to look, of course. But alas, after a lecture on how I should hold on to my belongings by the British woman working at the cemetery, and a small chat with skechy foreigners who I think took it, I left. Defeated. On the bright side, I did get all of my Florence pictures off that before I brought it to the cemetery.

Ciao!

For all my fellow science nerds...

Exam in 2 days means new blog now. If there is one subject I can pass it is procrastination.

I just got off skype with my mom and she said I have 2 months to decide what dinner I want to be waiting for me when I get home from the airport. Eggplant is my obvious choice for all those who know me, but she quickly jumped in and said that we will have eggplant on Mother's Day, after dinner. Which doesn't make sense, I realize, but Mother's day is my birthday so after we all go out for dinner to celebrate the moms, we're coming back to my house to celebrate me! And I love eggplant. And everyone will be full. So I can have lots of leftovers for the rest of the week. Really it is quite an ingenious plan. Way to go mommy Martone. The point of this story is that I am open to suggestions for my meal.

Anywho, not too much to report on except that it's raining. I kinda feel like I'm back in New England with this weather, I walked around with a heavy coat yesterday, a t-shirt today, and tomorrow it's going to rain. I really hate when it rains on Wednesdays. It's my outdoor drawing class day and when it rains, we don't draw :( It's my second favorite class - Italian being my first. Painting is slowly not becoming my least favorite. I have been getting a lot less frustrated with the course than I was a few weeks ago. And I have to say, painting a nude model is not as awkward as I thought it would be (though I am sure Kait would have a few giggles to spare). And Kait- it's a woman model because I know you're wondering.

I've actually come to a strange realization this semester. You see, I'm only taking art and Italian classes. No science classes. I truly thought this would be such a great semester and that I would LOVE the break from LB broth and impossible multiple choice questions on my Bio exams. I have to say though, I miss my Biology!! I've always wondered whether making the decision not to go to art school was the right one for me, and now I know without a doubt that I am a full fledged science nerd. This was also reaffirmed when Katie was reading my purple Chem/Biochem club shirt yesterday. After she read the "You know you're in Biochemistry/Chemistry club when..." on the back of my shirt, we had the following conversation"

Kaite: You habitually was your hands before and after using the bathroom?

Me: Yes.

Katie: You wish people a happy- what's that say?

Me: A happy mole day, and yes I do.

Whitlee: What's mole day?

Me: It's October 23rd and it celebrates Avogadro's number. We have a party too.

Katie: You have a party?

Me: Yup, with my Professors.

Kaite: Have you really sung a Kinetics song?

Me: Twice.

Katie: One more question, do you wear that shirt around school?

Me: Yeah, duh. As well as every proud member of the Chem and Biochem clubs.

Katie: Oh...

After telling her about me being president of the clubs last semester, I officially solidified my dork status in the house.

Alrighty, tea time with Whitlee. A presto!

A weekend of great company.

I know, I really need to update this more. Sorry, Steph and Kait.

This past weekend my roommates and I went to Florence with API. They set up a great weekend for us complete with a cooking lesson, a wine tasting and a tour of Florence. None of those things, however, compared to seeing my best friend. :D But I'll start from the beginning.

Friday morning I woke to the lovely pitter patter of rain. Wait, rain?! Yup, our lovely weekend forecast reported maaaany lovely reunions with the precipitation. It was only a drizzle when we left, however. At the rest stop, it picked up a bit more, and when we arrived in Florence, I thought we we drove into a giant waterfall. The good news is that it stopped pretty quickly. After the tour of Florence, I met up with Keara and Joe. :):):):) That was literally all I wanted this weekend. We chatted, walked around, chatted some more, and eventually made our way over to what Keara calls her apartment. I called it the mansion of apartments. It makes my cute apartment over here look like a pea. Later on we went met up with their friends for an appertivo. At restaurants, you can buy a drink for about 7-13 euro and then get an all you can eat buffet of appetizer foods. Keara and Joe's friends made their own appertivo for everyone. Mmmmm.... molto bueno.

Saturday I woke up and got to see my boyfriend, Dave! I have been dying to see him.

I just wanted to comb my fingers through his curly locks, and pinch his cute butt. Of course, I didn't because the security guard wouldn't even let me take a picture of him :( (I didn't take this picture of him to the right, I got it offline) Well, I mean, I would have to climb on a ladder to reach him, anyways. He's pretty tall, and he simply took my breath away. Silly Katie tried to steal him, we both agreed I love him more. In a side note, remember me talking about Michelangelo's Moses and how it was supposed to originally be composed of 40 statues? Well he started to carved 4 more of the statues, but he never finished them. When Katie and I walked in the museum, we saw those unfinished statues!! Neither one of us knew they were gonna be there, but we both flipped out in excitement.

After I parted from my love, I went on to devour a heavenly lunch. It was called ribollita. It's a Tuscan soup made of bread and veggies that is cooked for hours and hours until it smells like heaven and sunshine. Well, that's at least what I thought it was. After lunch... MORE KEARA AND JOE TIME! We went a Leonardo da Vinci inventions exhibit. It was preeeetty cool, as Keara says. Alright fine, she doesn't really say that. In fact, she hates when our friends say that. Anywho, we then walked around and got this waffle with nutella on it! Only after we finished them did the three of us remember that Keara gave up sweets for Lent. Then came the worst part of my weekend: saying goodbye.

However, my mood improved when I made the greatest gnocchi, eggplant, and tiramisu, EVER. I have officially promised my Papa, mom, dad, sister, Charlie and Meredith that I will make homemade gnocchi for them when I come back home. If you would like some as well, I am currently taking reservations. After dinner, my roommates and I went to grab a cider at a bar, and I literally ran into Kerri Soscia!! Totally unexpected and not planned. We had been trying to get on touch with one another, but kept missing each others calls. We had kinda planned that we were just gonna see one another next weekend when she visits Rome, but there she was! Standing in the bar! Celebrating her birthday! I was immensely excited to see her.

Sunday, while I woke up to the unpleasant sound of my alarm clock, I was happily greeted by a delicious croissant. I packed in 0.52894 seconds (I timed myself) once I realized that was the amount of time I had until I had to be on the bus.

The group and I went up to Piazza Michelangelo where we saw a GORGEOUS view of Florence. After that, we visited the small, but breathtaking town of San Gimignano. Imagine climbing up the cobblestone streets of a small, residential town, to reach a tiny hill where you look out onto the breathtaking Tuscan hills, watching the sun inch across the vineyards as you listen to the soft, soothing sounds of the harp playing behind you. Literally (as Kelsey would say), not kidding. I can die happy after visiting San Gimignano. It was everything I wanted to see in Italy.

We got back on the bus for about 15 minutes to travel to our wine tasting. About 10 of those minutes we drove through the vineyards of the winery were going to. When we finally arrived the place, we met the craziest, funniest guy.

We spent the next few hours with him as he explained the ins and outs of wine. He also served us food where I ate even more delicious ribollita than before!! I also tried truffle oil for the first time and I have to say I was not impressed. After I took my picture with the guy (below), we departed for home sweet Rome.