there's no crying in business class

I can’t believe I'm sitting in the JFK airport writing this post…because that means it’s over. Some of the best months of my life have come to a conclusion so very much the way they started. I arrived to and departed from Venice in fog so thick the water taxis could barely navigate. I was as anxious to come in the first place as I was to leave. I had to contend with hundreds of pounds of baggage. My first and last official meals in Venice were with all 19 of my housemates at our favorite restaurant. I had to say some incredibly difficult goodbyes in order to leave for Venice and some even harder ones when it was time to leave from the city. And just like I left something in the Charlotte airport on the way there (my favorite black perfectly fitted cardigan), I left something in the Venice airport on my way back (this time a little bit of me). But like the post says, there’s no crying in business class : )

It was, without a doubt, harder to leave this time. That’s not to say I hated my first group or experience at Casa Artom—if that were true, I never would have returned. But, this was just a completely different semester thanks to both David and the group he compiled. I’ll be the first to admit that I was questioning my decision at the beginning when I thought the group was crazy and that I wouldn’t make any friends. Four months later, I can safely say the group is crazy, but, in that good way that makes you want to constantly spend time with them. And David made the experience everything it should have been and more for the group—something I wish my original spring 07 group could have had. It was also so hard to leave this time because it had more of a sense of finality. Last time when I left, I had this feeling I’d be back (and was right, thank goodness). But this time, I have to be more realistic. I fully plan to study abroad again IF I go to law school, but that’s obviously not set in stone, plus, it wouldn’t be in Venice, so I knew this was the last time (at least for a long time) that I’d be living in Venice.

The time between second break and the time we left positively flew and I’m already struggling to remember exactly how I spent my days, especially after Thanksgiving. The week after Thanksgiving was exam week for the students, so I instituted “bake-a-palooza” (inspired by Tom’s proposed “drink-a-palooza” that was set to start immediately after exams concluded). Bake-a-palooza involved my experimenting in the kitchen each day they had exams (to give them something to look forward to or get them through studying)…Tuesday was chocolate chip cookies, Wednesday was banana bread, Thursday was lemon pound cake, and Friday was tiramisu…and clearly I stood to benefit from this, too! And of course we did the obligatory things like our last few nights out in Santa Margherita, our last slices of pizza al volo, our last cones of gelato, etc. Kayla and I like to refer to it as “hugging Venice goodbye”.

Despite all of that, I think I’m still in denial that it’s over. I actually haven’t really cried (yet?). Not at our last dinner, not at our departure ritual, not when everyone said goodbye. I’ve come close twice…once in Bar da Gino (which, appropriately, is when I got sad last time I was leaving) and once at JFK (where I had a flat out breakdown last time I was leaving)…mostly at JFK because it’s SO overwhelming for everything to be in English and to have rude New Yorkers yelling at you when you’re clearly jet lagged as anything (sorry my Northern friends). It’s probably just because I don’t want it to be over. I don’t want to go see every doctor in Cornelius (which I skipped out on last minute back in August). I don’t want to drive. I don’t want to get my coffee from Starbucks. I don’t want to fight the crowds at malls. I don’t want to stop cooking and baking. I don’t want to not be living with 19 of THE most amazing, talented, hilarious, entertaining, fabulous people I’ve ever met. I don’t want to not be able to get on a train to wherever I please every weekend. I don’t want to stop speaking and hearing Italian.

But clearly I don’t have a choice, because I don’t think Laura and Roberta would’ve looked too fondly on my staying on at Casa Artom. So, I’m trying to think of things I won’t miss from Italy or things that I’m looking forward to at home. I definitely won’t miss how revoltingly disgusting our kitchen got every single day somehow. I won’t miss the laundry machines that do a number on your favorite clothes. I won’t miss my teetiny little student assistant room because it’s like an inferno in there (or the not so comfy bed/pillow). I’m looking forward to seeing my girlfriends again, to being able to pick up my American cell phone and call them when something crazy happens, to seeing my family again. I’m also excited to start working out again, to give my liver a break, to have a closet again, to have my entire wardrobe at my disposal, to figure out where my life is going, to see little Gracie, to not live out of a suitcase every other weekend, to not converting every price from Euro to USD in my head. Oh, and, good LORD, I am definitely looking forward to a respite from the drama factory that the house naturally became (I mean you put 20 college kids together and what do you expect…MTV knew what they were doing when they copyrighted that as a TV show). And right now, sitting in the Delta lounge in JFK, I am dreading the heck out of my next flight, but, I am so looking forward to seeing Mom and Dad in baggage claim in Charlotte and having them drive me home to my own bed, where I will sleep until approximately 9:35 AM tomorrow (giving myself just enough time to get to my eye doctor appt…what was I thinking??). I’ve been up since 8 AM Venice time Monday morning (most kids left at 4am Venice time today (Tuesday), so we all pulled an all nighter), eaten next to nothing (nervous traveler), and taken some drowsy Dramamine, so, staying awake for the next 2 hours until that plane takes off is going to take Herculean effort.

So I think that means this is the last time I’ll ever bore y’all via my blog. My life is about to be so so so much less exciting that I wouldn’t dare post anything outside of my European adventures! Hope it’s been at least a little entertaining…if only I could’ve posted half the drama that went down…


OH! PS-If you’re kind enough to still be reading, I forgot to mention David’s gifts were a huge hit (we framed a big group pic of all of us and signed the glass and also gave him a journal full of our pictures and our own personal messages to him) and at the final dinner (where we gave him that gift) the students gave me THE most beautiful leather journal EVER. I was so surprised!

the things we do for coffee

This is officially the strangest holiday season of my life! It all started when I was charged with making Thanksgiving happen for 65 people in a foreign country. It got even weirder when I did things like cart half my body weight in bird around the canals of Venice, actually COOK for the big meal, and dress up big time for a holiday my family usually does in jeans. Oh, and going out to bars after the meal went off without a hitch? Yeah, that was just plain bizarre. When I then had a midnight meal at a kabob stand with half the house, followed by coming home to the remains of a pumpkin pie fight started by one of Ana's brothers, I decided I was definitely in a parallel universe. Sadly I didn't get a black Friday or Saturday in Florence, but, I saved a ton of money by not buying a train ticket and got to have a great few days with everyone in the house and visiting families.

Friday night, Kayla, Rhianna, and I joined Elizabeth's and Ana's families at San Trovaso, which was hilarious. There was a "kids" end of the table and I was basically hazed by Juan (Ana's older brother) and Rhianna with the house wine, which is probably why I was convinced to go on to Santa Margherita with all of them despite getting about 3 hours of sleep Thanksgiving night. It's probably also how I ended up buying 2 rounds of drinks at Duchamps for everyone, but it was fine because in doing so, I introduced Affligem (my FAVORITE beer on the face of the earth) to Ana's brothers and got a major discount on Spritzs (sparking wine plus Aperol, the traditional Venetian drink) because we bought so many. We went from Duchamps to Cafe Noir, where the boys got more beer and Kayla, Rhianna, and I decided it was time for Jack on the rocks. What can I say? Some life decisions just make more sense at the time! After that, I was ready to go home and our entire group (David, Rhianna, Kayla, Ana, her brothers, and I) walked back, but we ran in to the entire house on their way out and they convinced everyone but Juan and I to go back out (I was definitely ready for bed).

Saturday I woke up way too early but ended up being able to say goodbye to Ana's family (whom I adore after spending a few days with them), do some laundry, and then watch a movie with the girls. After lunch, Kayla and I went to the Christmas Market with McKinley and her sister before parting ways (they went on to San Marco). Kayla and I went towards Rialto to do some shopping. I planned to buy just gifts for friends and family back home, but also ended up with more black shoes (very cute and comfortable) and another little black dress on top of presents for a few people.

Sunday I went to San Marco for mass with Kayla and Zach, his family, Jen and Charlotte also showed up and sat with us. By the time mass was over, San Marco itself and the entire square were calf-high in water and it was pouring down rain-lovely. Kayla and I ended up taking a serious detour to avoid any acqua alta (neither of us had rain boots) and spent most of the rest of the day in the house because it POURED all day and even stormed pretty badly at times. Which half explains...

Monday. Oh my gosh Monday. So Kayla and I agree to go for coffee around 9am and walk out the door only to see water as close to Casa Artom as the Peggy (right next door). So we dash back inside to grab rain boots and cameras to take on what we assume will just be your typical acqua alta. By the time we round the corner past the Peggy, it's already ankle high (which we've never seen before). By the time we cross the bridge that leads to Bar da Gino, the water is almost to the top of my rain boots. We probably should've stopped there, but, as the post says...the things we do for coffee. As we were standing at the bar, the water started to seep in to the coffee shop, which was really creepy and Titanic-esque. I decided I really wanted to walk to San Marco, because it's the lowest lying area in Venice and I figured acqua alta would be even more intense there. So Kayla and I set out at about 9:30 and encounter increasingly deeper water as we approach San Marco...it sloshes in to my boots, drenching my jeans and feet, we walk on temporary sidewalks that are already starting to float away, Kayla has to give me a piggy back ride at one point, we get almost stranded in San Marco before decided to just risk it and trudge back, and get soaked practically to our chests on the walk back, because high tide, my friends, is around 11am, so the water just kept rising as we were walking! On the walk back, most floating sidewalks had floated away and we were on our own, but we had to get back, so we just dealt with it. It was SO incredibly creepy to see garbage and other random stuff floating beside us, to see water knee high in stores, to no longer be able to see the barriers of the canals, to feel yourself being pulled along by the wind and currents, to see water creep up in to your home inch by inch. We had no idea at the time that we were part of history, because the water reached heights of 5 ft 2 inches (taller than me, if you're keeping track), for the first time in 22 years. It was only about 30 or so centimeters lower than the historic floods in the 1960s. Apparently acqua alta was predicted, but not at unusual levels, so people were definitely caught off guard. It was amazing to see and literally be in the middle of history, but, I know it adversely impacted a lot of people and was much more dangerous than we realized, so, I'm glad Kayla and I arrived home safely and were able to wash our jeans and take long, hot showers (canal water is pretty polluted).

The rest of the day we again just kind of hid out in the house waiting for the water to recede before running some errands, etc. It's going to be a slow week for me, because everyone has exams and papers, so I'm doing awful, sad things like packing up, cleaning, and generally preparing to go home. I'm not ready to leave AT ALL! I just have to keep NOT thinking about my upcoming flights and reminding myself of all the things I'm looking forward to back home (shopping with Nina, getting my hair cut FINALLY, the Christmas season, movies in English, seeing friends, etc).

PS-There are a few pictures in this post, obviously, but, if you want to see more, there are a ton on my picture site (and CNN/NY Times, if you want professional ones!)

Turkey-Gate '08, Resolved

It's the day after Thanksgiving here in Venice and I should be enjoying my first ever black Friday in Florence, but my girlfriends crapped out on me and the weather is awful, so, I'm watching movies all day instead! I deserve a break, though, because Thanksgiving went SO WELL! I mean of course I was running around like a crazy person all day helping people cook and clean, picking up last minute stuff, setting the tables, etc. I didn't really sit down to eat with everyone because there was always wine to refill or coffee to be made or something like that, but, I was too happy to care. Everything went off without a hitch--people followed my lovely oven schedule, nothing exploded or caught on fire, all the food tasted great, the flowers Mom and Dad sent looked amazing on the tables, people were very complimentary, etc. After dinner, we had the concert, which was just amazing. I sometimes forget that I live with such talented people! As if this already wasn't a strange enough Thanksgiving in the sense that I had to organize it for 60+ guests, we decided to go out afterwards. I guess that's the one upside of Thanksgiving in a country that doesn't celebrate it--EVERYTHING is open! We all had a great time mostly because everyone was exhausted, but relieved that the dinner and concert were over. Plus it's fun having new faces to join the group (various people have family in town). Still, it felt more like a big dinner party and less like a major family holiday, mostly because it's my first Thanksgiving in my entire 22 years not spent with family!

Wednesday was also crazy (as I like to say, until dinner yesterday, I hadn't sat down in 48 hours). It started when I accidentally woke up at 7am (which is a feat of nature based on the extent of the house party the night before). I wasn't supposed to leave until 9:45 with Tom and Brian to get the turkeys from Rialto, but, they were not so enthusiastic about helping and I was anxious, so, I decided that I could handle 40 pounds of bird on my own as long as I had a rolling cart. I walked to Rialto dragging the cart and began to realize they were setting up the acqua alta elevated sidewalks and thought to myself "hmm, what could make THIS day more fantastic? definitely high water." Normally I legitimately love acqua alta and will go out looking for it, but, it was going to throw off my plan . Luckily the vaporetto was running as usual and I dragged the turkeys from the butcher to the boat and took a quick ride back to Casa Artom. Later a few of the girls helped me take the butcher turkeys AND the turkeys from the army base to the restaurant that agreed to cook them for us. (I guess I never updated that the girls made it to the base on Tuesday and got 3 10lb turkeys?). We took them to Taverna San Trovaso, where they immediately greeted us with a slew of Italian, the only phrase I understood being "TACCHINO!!" After some debate, they sent us to Ristorante San Trovaso around the corner, so we headed that way. At Ristorante, we met one of the most devastatingly attractive Italian men ever (a guy who works there) who was also very excited about the turkeys and called the chef out. The chef decided we needed to go BACK to Taverna, so we dragged our body weight in turkey BACK to the first location--highly comedic. But, the turkeys were off my hands for at least 24 hrs and I was happy! The rest of the day was a blur of cooking and cleaning and preparing and by the end I was exhausted but dragged myself out with the group anyways.

I can't believe how little time I have left in Venice : ( I have a ton to do before I go, so I'm off to watch a few movies and then do some shopping if it stops raining!

Mom, Dad, and Nina sent me flowers (on behalf of themselves AND everyone at OBKB lodge because I'll be missing Thanksgiving for the very first time in my entire 22 years AND I'm stressing like mad, which you know if you read my last post). Basically, it made my day when a man rang the bell and had a delivery for me and then I realized it was flowers : ) And so now they're sitting on the side table on the mezzanine right outside my room (because my room is consistently above 80 degrees and thus flowers die right away) and everyone keeps asking me who sent them and telling me how pretty they are and I just love them! The arrangement is massive and very fall-colored, so I think I might separate it out in to a few flowers for each of our many tables on Thanksgiving day. Anyways, a big thank you to the extended family for my beautiful flowers...I miss you guys a LOT and I hope you have fun at the lake and I'll be calling you after dinner (presupposing I survive). Love you!

Turkey-Gate '08

So, I think last time I posted, I was very optimistic about Thanksgiving in Italy. Let's just say my optimism has been deflated a bit by what I'm now (fondly?) referring to as "turkey-gate '08." I think the simplest way to explain this little adventure is just to say that the Italian women who run the house DO NOT understand this very American holiday. The tension first emerged last Wednesday when I went with Laura (one of the Italian ladies) to a paper wholesaler and to Rialto market. The paper wholesale shop was where Laura intended for us to buy table cloths, paper products, plastic utensils, etc. So I meet Laura near the shop in the FREEZING weather, which did wonders for my lovely cough, but whatever, the show must go on. We go in to this shop and a burly man probably 3 inches SHORTER than me starts bustling around to "help" us. And by "help," I mean "show Laura 500 things we never knew we needed that are ridiculously overpriced." So Laura's just throwing stuff on to the counter like it's Christmas, and our burly little friend adds it up and announces that it's 197 Euro, but he'll knock it down to 190. Hey thanks, bud. Laura takes this all in stride and writes the man a check, meanwhile I'm slowly dying inside, because our ENTIRE Thanksgiving budget is 600 Euro...you do the math there. Adding insult to injury is the fact that I had looked in to buying all of this from the Italian Wal Mart (Panorama) and it would've been at least half as expensive and not all that much of an inconvenience to transport.

Before the ink was dry on that check, Laura dragged me to her personal butcher so we could order turkeys. Now I did some intense guest-list calculations and predictions and realized we're going to expect around 60 people. And the rule of thumb, or so I've been told, is to get 1 to 1 1/2 lbs of turkey per person, so I was aiming for 75lbs of bird....also known as 35 kg. Laura refuses to listen to this logic, and initially orders 4 separate 6 kg turkeys, but I use my excellent powers of persuasion and convince her to order a 5th (which STILL isn't nearly enough). As I'm already fretting about this, I learn a)this will set us back 50 Euro PER FREAKING TURKEY and b)the restaurant that agreed to cook the turkeys might cook them Tuesday or Wednesday. So now I'm thinking "great, I'm going to be serving cold, insufficient turkey to a bunch of grumpy, homesick kids." When I express my concern to Laura regarding pre-cooking the turkeys, she says to me "but Jenny, it is winter. We will cook the turkeys and just set them outside until Thursday." Lord help us all...luckily at this point we had to go our separate ways, or I might've hurt her. Also, if you're keeping tabs, this means Laura and I spent about 450 Euro in a matter of 1 hour, leaving 150 Euro to prepare every last remaining item for 60 people...

Later that day, as I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with this, especially since the students are now freaking out (I made the mistake of venting with them), Laura, Roberta, and Massimo (our handyman) call me in to the office. Like a little firing squad, they rapidly inform me that every prior year, 25 kg of turkey is PLENTY and we will only be getting that much. Have a nice day. At this point, I'm really just ticked...I'm sorry, but this is an AMERICAN holiday and I'm pretty sure that automatically makes me more qualified than any of them to assess our turkey needs. On the other hand, I've never done this before (not for 4 people, not for 60), especially not in ITALY, so, I'm pretty inexperienced, and if they don't think I'm qualified, they shouldn't have gotten me involved in the first place. So, I go downstairs, and end up realizing that we can get turkey from the army base in Vicenza since Caroline and Charlotte mentioned it. Done. Trip planned for the upcoming weekend. Whew.

If only it ended there. So, Charlotte and Caroline get stuck with a HUGE list of requests from people for American ingredients from the base to make typical dishes. Which wasn't supposed to be a problem because Jen and Karen were supposed to go help. Well, they overslept and decided not to go, so the girls couldn't get all the items on the list, not to mention 30+ lbs of bird. No big deal, they planned to go Saturday for a second trip. Caroline was too hungover. Not a problem, how about Sunday? Oh, well, Charlotte had a friend in town. Eh, they'll skip class Monday and go then. Oh wait, it snowed, so the grocery store on the base was closed (which they discovered only upon arrival). So, now, we have a mere 3 6kg turkeys on order from the butcher (the most he will give us, not to mention the most we can afford), and the girls are attempting to return to Vicenza tomorrow, however a)it is 2 days from Thanksgiving and Lord knows if any turkeys will be left, b)it's supposed to snow again, c)they can't even leave here until after lunch and it's a 2 hr trip each way. OH MY LORD. Honestly, if I had my way, I'd have just not worried about offending Laura and Roberta from the beginning (not using their butcher is a faux pas apparently) and sent enough people with the girls to the base to get all our turkeys there, especially because it's significantly cheaper (1 USD per pound), but now it's too late, and we'll be lucky to even get enough turkey to supplement the turkeys coming from the butcher.

On top of that, we still don't have very much of the budget left to buy ingredients for the remaining dishes. Eeek. I knew this would be complicated, but, I figured the oven logistics and that sort of thing would be more problematic than literally having enough food. In the grand scheme of things, I realize this is one day, one holiday, but everyone is so homesick, plus, we have a)Italian guests who I want to show a real Thanksgiving and b)families of students here who willingly flew across the ocean and gave up a holiday with their whole, extended families, so I want this to NOT be a pathetic train wreck! Cross your fingers for me...

The rest of the time since my last update has flown...I've mostly been making a serious effort to get over my horrible cough/cold (a success, I think), doing as much pre-Thanksgiving organizing as possible, and hanging out as much as possible with the kids here because I'm going to miss them terribly when we leave! I did some shopping in Padova on Saturday and got really tall black pumps (a necessity, I say), another little black dress (emphasis on little, but whatever, I'm short), and a great sweater (highly useful this time of year, no?). We've also been doing a bit of a restaurant tour to hit both unique places (like the Indian restaurant near the Frari) and Italian places we've never tried ("Sport-rant," "the good bread restaurant," etc), which has been GREAT (then again my enthusiasm about eating should surprise no one)! I'm also running around like crazy to get David's gift together on top of weird Thanksgiving errands like buying enough flour/eggs/sugar/milk/butter/foil baking pans/etc, but, I LOVE being busy, so, I promise I'm not complaining! OH and I sent in my last official law school application today...so, unless I add a school in the DC area or an off the wall place (California??), I'm DONE with that and I'll hear from places starting as early as December (but as late as April for some, unfortunately). Also cross your fingers there...

Ok, the novel-length crisis update is over, but, just fyi, the pictures are my attempt to capture what the driving snow looked like this morning when I woke up : )

p.s.

I forgot to mention that I've gotten a lot of mail in the past few days...a Halloween card from Nanny Carolyn and Grandpa Bob, a Thanksgiving card from Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Mike, and a letter from Scrolfes and it has MADE MY DAY! I'm serious...I'm such a huge dork, I know, but we all know this by now and I've never claimed to be anything to the contrary! I just love getting mail...every letter I've gotten this semester is tacked to this cute bulletin board they put up in my room and it makes me so happy to be able to look up there and see all the love in the form of cute stationary : ) It's always nice to know there's a package on the way (thanks Mom and Dad) or a letter that should be arriving soon (thanks Nina!), but surprise mail is great, too, and so I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has sent me something--I hope you've all gotten my postcards!

Also, the Christmas decorations were a big hit : ) It makes me happy to see everyone get a little Christmas spirit, even if all it took was a few twinkle lights and some sparkly ribbon. I'm definitely a lot more excited about Thanksgiving now, because I was worried that people would be a little down since we aren't at home and that no matter how hard I worked, it just wouldn't be special... BUT, based on the reaction to just a few small decorations, I think that I don't need to worry about that. Don't get me wrong, I have an obscene amount of logistics to work out (oven schedule anyone? no...maybe you want to help me divy up the paltry collection of pots, pans, and serving dishes? or, you could help me compose the "common ingredient" list to figure out how much flour, eggs, butter, and sugar we need...), but, I'm definitely the girl for the job (after all, "organized" might as well be my middle name) and I'm dorkily excited to figure it all out (there may or may not be a color coded, multi-tabed spreadsheet called "Thanksgiving" already in the works...). Oh and I get to do some fun, slightly secretive house-gift buying today, which is always exciting (when it comes to Christmas, am I my mother's child or what? ps-Mom, you'd have died at the ribbon/gift wrap selection at Panorama yesterday...). Anyways, I included a few pictures of our little decorations-the lights, the little ornaments on everyone's door, and our little Christmas countdown snowman : )

I love mornings, I hate winter

I forgot how much I like waking up early and not having to rush off somewhere. I don't mean summer internship 5:45am early. I mean waking up at 7am because I've slept enough and having time to, oh, I don't know, decorate Casa Artom with a little Christmas cheer before heading off to the gym. Yesterday Kelly and I took a stealthy trip to Panorama after our house meeting and I bought as many Christmas decorations as my wallet could handle (not as much as I would have liked, unfortunately). So I got up early today before the kids woke up and added a few wreaths, ornaments, etc around the house and wrapped Christmas lights and ribbon around the banisters. I definitely didn't have enough ribbon or lights, but it'll just have to work because Panorama is not exactly a quick trip AND Christmas lights just aren't as cheap here as back home! Still, I'm really excited to have a little holiday decoration in the house and I hope the kids like it...people are kind of homesick right now, especially as Thanksgiving gets closer and while I know a few twinkle lights aren't going to completely fix that, maybe it'll improve morale just a little?

On the other hand, I HATE WINTER! I started this rant in Vienna, where I began to freeze my butt off, and it's cold in Venice, too, so, it continues! I hate having to wear tons of layers and look like a marshmellow and having a Rudolph red nose all the time. Plus, I hate getting sick (always happens in the winter) and never being warm (especially problematic in constantly chilly Casa Artom). Even though the Christmas season (my absolute favorite) happens to fall in Winter, I'm still pretty anti-winter.

Other than that...things are pretty normal around here...we played a very interesting game of house jeopardy last night (basically a roast of everyone's escapades all semester), but other than that, it's been laundry, cleaning, homework (for the kids), essays (for my last remaining applications), etc. Oh and most everyone doing a "I can't wait to come home" countdown and me being sad every time they mention that!

Misery in Munich

We got to Munich around 10:15 on Friday and quickly got our luggage off our hands at our nearby hostel. After that, we had lunch at the train station before catching an S train (kind of a mix between metro and regular train) to Dachau (the concentration camp about 30 min outside Munich). It was one of the most haunting things I have ever seen. The remnants of the camp today are much, much smaller than the site was when it was in operation, but it was still plenty to give us an idea of how it used to be. We entered the camp through the path and gate that prisoners would have entered, then found ourselves in the "roll call" area in front of 2 reconstructed barracks (there were approx 30 at one time). The barracks showed the progression of the camp as it eventually help over 30,000 people (while it was intended to hold 6000). We also saw several religious memorials constructed after the camp was shut down after the war. The original barracks holding the crematoriums are also still in place off to one end of the camp and that was probably the most disturbing for me to see (I'm sorry, but there are just some things you can't even take pictures of, you know?). We also walked through the prison within the camp where horrible things were done to people who disobeyed even the most mundane of rules. At least for me, I left with this horrible chill that had nothing to do with the weather. Nevertheless, I'm glad I went and saw something that was such a major part of modern history.

We then took the S to the U to the Olympic Park, where we walked around until it got dark. Then we came back in to the main part of Munich for dinner at a traditional beer house. Elizabeth and I had amazing soup while Kelly and I tried one of the five famous beers from Germany. All day I had been feeling a little sick...my cold that I had a while ago seemed to be coming back...so I barely ate anything. We went back to the hostel and got cleaned up and ready for bed and I just felt progressively worse. I thought a solid night of sleep would help, but I ended up tossing and turing all night because my throat and head hurt so badly and I was alternately burning up and freezing. Oh and my stomach staged several revolts. Pleasant. I decided that 4 or 5 more hours outside in the cold on my feet was not going to help matters, so I bit the bullet and paid way too much money for a new ticket back to Venice from Munich at 7am instead of 4pm. I had a not so pleasant train station interaction with a very sketchy German man, but managed to evade him and catch my train. Don't get me wrong, I was very, very happy to be heading back to Venice, but, I was miserable. My entire body just ached and the stiff train seat was doing nothing to help that. Plus, my head was still pounding and my stomach was still NOT happy. By the time I finally collapsed on my bed that afternoon, I could've cried tears of joy but I was too exhausted.

Today I've been very, very lazy. My only successful endeavor was getting groceries and since then, I've just been watching good old American TV in bed and drinking tea like it's my job to try and make my throat stop hurting long enough to either eat or cough-two things I definitely NEED to do, but hurt too much! I have SO much to do in the last few weeks here that I can't afford to be laid up for too long....

Sound of Music in Salzburg

Salzburg was great, although a little rainy and cold! It was too bad that we couldn't do the whole make our own dinner thing, but, dinner at the hostel was great. We just hung out until Elizabeth joined us around midnight and walked her back to the hostel (to avoid another Vienna-esque disaster).

We got up nice and early Thursday to be downstairs in time for our 9am Sound of Music tour. Our guide, Peter, was a bit of a character. His accent was really hard to place, which is apparently due to his combination of American dad and Austrian mom. He kept making bad jokes, but, his knowledge of Sound of Music sights and trivia was perfect. The 3 of us zipped around Salzburg and the foothills with 2 couples in a tiny little red van. It was absolutely beautiful and I loved seeing sights that I had only ever seen on a tv screen before. After the tour, we walked around Salzburg a bit, but finally gave in to the rain and headed back to the hostel to rest and have an early dinner since we also had to get up early Friday to walk back to the train station to catch our train to Munich.

Ambivalent about Vienna

We got in to Vienna around 10:30pm and started the adventure to find our next hostel. We took a tram to a relatively major street and found the hostel with basically no trouble, despite how questionable the neighborhood seemed. Too good to be true, right? Well, Elizabeth wasn't at the hostel despite having arrived at 1pm. She texted us to let us know she was at the local train station and was lost. So we tried to text her directions, but that didn't work, so we set out looking for her at midnight in a bad part of town. It took us almost an hour to find her because our text messaging was so delayed but luckily we eventually met up and made our way back to the hostel.

Monday we headed to the main sights inside "the Ring," poked around the snack market and had lunch, then met up with Ana and Rhianna (who had come in via night train early Monday morning) around 5:30 to take the U out to the Flow House. Kelly's friend Katie is studying there this semester, so she gave us a tour, then joined us at Fischerbraue (a local restaurant that my friend Will recommended). We hung out at Flow House for a bit after, then Elizabeth and I headed back to get some sleep. It was interesting seeing the Flow House (the third and final Wake house I've seen) ...it's probably the nicest of the three in terms of decorations, however it's location is less convenient than Casa Artom. Nevertheless, it feels the most home-y and the group has a totally different feel (much less dramatic) than ours.

Tuesday we got up and met up with Ana and Rhianna to head out to Schonbrun (a palace outside the city). The grounds were beautiful and we found a zoo!! We spent a few hours being entirely captivated by the adorable animals before giving in to the cold and heading back to Vienna proper for a light lunch at Starbucks. After Starbucks, Elizabeth went to visit a few music-related museums while the rest of us shopped (a lot) before dinner.

Wednesday Kelly, Rhianna, Ana, and I went to the Belvedere, then for one last stop at Starbucks before meeting up with Elizabeth for lunch at this cute Austrian cafe. Elizabeth went on to another museum while Kelly and I ran a few errands (grocery, camera shop to put my pictures on a CD since my camera couldn't hold all of them, etc) then caught a 2:45 train to Salzburg.

Vienna didn't do much for me (sorry Will D)...it wasn't as charming, colorful, or pleasant as Prague and I just didn't love it. I didn't hate it either, and I had a great time with the girls, especially on our little Starbucks and shopping adventures, but it wasn't a place I'd visit again.

Charming Prague

As I mentioned, I slept a ton on the night train to Prague and thus the trip was already off to a great start! We had a bit of a struggle finding the ATM and lugging our bags on to the metro, but once we found our stop, finding our hostel was really easy. And in case I haven't gushed enough...the hostel was AMAZING. It was the most expensive place I've stayed, but even at 45 USD a night, it was a relative bargain and totally worth it. We had our own double with two twin beds, a fridge, and our own bathroom. The only downside was that the light in the bathroom was motion activated and for some reason, it would cut off after you were in the shower for more than 5 minutes. Still...it was really cute, internet was free, and I am so glad Allie recommended it!

Our entire time in Prague, we didn't really have a well-planned agenda...Kelly had been busy with classes/exams before the break and I was in a particularly bad/apathetic mood leading up to it, so neither of us did a lot of research. Luckily our hostel gave us a great map with all the must-see sites illustrated, so each day we just picked an area with a lot of sites and poked around. We had all sorts of luckily finds--a castle that was way better than the acclaimed Prague Castle, STARBUCKS!, and the famous Astronomical Clock right before it was set to do its thing on the hour. The weather was pretty mild-cloudy our first day, rainy/gross our second, but sunny and beautiful the third. We stuck close to the hostel when it got dark out--after all, we were two girls alone in Eastern Europe! Luckily there was a great local pub (where we tried Czech beer and got chicken and potatoes for about 6 USD) and a Mexican restaurant near the hostel. Really the only bummers of the trip were when we walked ALL the way to the Prague Market only to find it closed and the sketchy taxi ride we took from our hostel to the train station. It was really hard to leave Prague and it didn't help that our train ride was a little rough since we spent the first hour or so sitting on these tiny little "extra" seats in the hall of the train until a compartment opened up.

starbucks and shopping

So Kelly and I are safely inside of our lovely hostel in Salzburg, waiting for Elizabeth to join us (she stayed longer in Vienna to see a few more sights). Sadly the hostel doesn't have a kitchen, so the pasta and sauce we bought in Vienna and lugged all the way here is USELESS! Nevertheless, we sucked it up and had dinner here at the hostel (some sort of potato concoction for me and a burger for Kelly) and it wasn't too bad (except that we'd already paid for other food that we couldn't cook!). Our train ride was uneventful, thank goodness...I LOVE German/Austrian trains...very clean, efficient, and thoughtful (as in, there was a compartment on our train reserved specifically for women...genius!). We haven't seen much of Salzburg because it was dark when we got in, but, tomorrow we're going to see a TON...starting at the bright and early hour of 9 for our Sound of Music tour, followed by an afternoon of sightseeing in the actual town of Salzburg.

Vienna was a whirlwind...kind of like with Prague...when I'm back in Venice and NOT paying a ton for internet, I'll give more detail (for anyone who cares to listen to my rambling). It was good, though...not nearly as beautiful or enchanting as Prague, but, still a great, interesting place. Thankfully my friend Will lived there when I lived in Venice last time, so he told us what was worth seeing, what wasn't, etc, which saved us a lot of time and money. Fear not, friends...I put that money to good use at Starbucks (yes, again, shhh...it was essential for my sanity) and various Viennese shops (mostly H&M and Zara). I would feel guilty, but, I just got the second half of my salary in Euro (cash) and I have to spend it before I come home. Yes, have to (also essential for my sanity!) Starbucks, shopping, and the lovely zoo made Vienna worthwhile, but, as Kelly so kindly put it, "if my parents were doing a tour of Europe, I wouldn't tell them Vienna was an obligatory stop."

I'm excited to see the cities we still have left, but, my suitcase is positively bursting at the seams (I know, I have only myself and consumerism to blame) and I'm getting a bit tired of the constant packing up, moving on, trying to find a new hostel in the dark every third night, etc. But, then I sit back and think "oh yeah, I'm in EUROPE" and promptly force myself to stop complaining, because despite being travel-weary, this 10 day break has come at a great time and this semester has been one of the best EVER! Anyways, I have a mere 10 minutes of internet left, so I suppose I should be a grown up and check email. Miss you all-can't wait to see everyone in less than a month!

Ciao, Eastern Europe

Hey y'all. So the clock is ticking on my very expensive internet time here in Vienna and therefore I don't have time to bore you with a total recap of my past 4 days (lucky you!). Mostly this is intended to prove to Mom and Dad that I'm alive and well :) But, if you happen to be interested in my final hurrah, read on!

So, my final hurrah is in the form of this last 10 day break and I scheduled a very ambitious trip... 4 cities in 9 days, 5 separate train trips ranging from 2 hours to 15 hours, 4 separate hostels, 2 languages I cannot speak ONE WORD of (Czech and German)...you get the idea. Plus, as I had mentioned earlier, last week I was in one heck of a weird mood, so I wasn't exactly eager to get on a 15 hour night train bound for cold weather and sketch (I was starting in Eastern Europe, after all). Well, Kelly and I have our first mishap when we can't find our train at the Venice station. The only train leaving at our scheduled time was supposedly headed to "Vienna" according to the board announcing departures. After checking with two different TrenItalia sources, we were assured our train would go to Vienna, then our car (and many others) would head on to Prague. Ok cool. So we get on the train, where we knew we'd be in a 4 person sleeper car (the 6 person cars were sold out). Now, I'd had a great night train experience on my way back from Nice last time I was in Venice, but I knew that was an anomaly AND I'd heard some real horror stories. This guy maybe 4 or 5 years older than me is the train car attendant, takes our ticket, and leads us to an open sleeper car. He announces that it's his birthday, and just HOW happy it is depends on us. Dude clearly didn't get the "don't mess with Jenny" memo and I quickly set him straight (amazing what an eye roll/ice queen look of death can do for you, huh?). Then he lectured us for not reserving an all female sleeper car, since it was a night train and sketchy boys get drunk and ... So, he kind of mumbles something about how no one else will be in the car with us and I'm thinking "this is too good to be true," so I make him say it again, very clearly, that we will be alone and no drunk scary boys will be joining us in some random city. Our little birthday friend then implied some sort of favors might be in order for the having our own car set-up, and I quickly issued another eye roll/death look combo before shoving him out and locking our door on him. After an hour of bonding over boy traumas and family stories, Kelly and I settled in for what we thought would be an AWFUL night of sleep. I tossed and turned for a while, but apparently fell in to a really deep sleep, because I woke up to check the time, telling myself "don't be too excited, it's probably only 1 am"...um, it was 9 AM. Yes friends, I slept 12 hours. ON A TRAIN. This is big news (and the key to my trip getting off to a great start). Kelly and I ate a little, talked a little, and actually fell back asleep for a good hour before getting to Prague.

Once we arrived, we took the metro to a stop very near our hostel and checked in. The hostel was AMAZING. More like a hotel than hostel. So clean, pretty, quiet, chic, etc. We were over the moon at landing such a safe, comfortable place in a somewhat sketchy city. Things only got better from there. Despite cloudy and sometimes rainy weather, we walked around a TON and saw so many beautiful buildings. I took about 200 pictures. And the exchange rate was definitely in our favor...I've never eaten (or drank)so well for so little money. Basically, we couldn't have started our 9 day adventure in a better way and when we had to leave on Sunday night to come to Vienna, we were sad :(

That's all for now (only 10 minutes of internet left!), but, please believe I'll be flooding you with details and pictures when I get back to Venice next weekend!

ps-shameless plea for mail/packages...I have LESS THAN 30 DAYS left! Send me mail, especially because I'm going to be very homesick as Thanksgiving approaches! Honestly, it will make my week!

Theraputic Tiramisu

Oh y'all...it has not been my favorite week. The house mood in general has been a little blah, people are getting snippy with each other, I certainly have plenty of my own drama to sort out, and the weather (until today) has been absolutely revolting, so, as you can imagine, that's not exactly the best combination. I think part of the problem, too, is that I'm experiencing this weird combination of homesickness AND sadness about having to leave so soon. I miss my family, my dog, my room, familiar things, Wake friends, etc and so I'll be happy to get home to all of that. At the same time, as my professor (David) so appropriately put it tonight at dinner, "I do my very best living in Venice." Now, I'm not trying to be all downer and cynical and say "heck, this is as good as it's gonna get and it's all down hill from here," because I know better than that. But, I live in a palace on the Grand Canal with 19 of the most amazing people who let me cry on them, make me laugh, cook for me, eat my cooking, teach me new things every single day, surprise the crap out of me every time I turn around, regularly sit down and play music of concert quality, and so many other things that I can't even remember right now. Add that to the fact that, on any given weekend, I can get on a train with a half dozen of them and find myself in Switzerland or Slovenia or Lord knows where else in a few hours for a weekend-long adventure ...I really am living the dream. Let's face it, at home, I'm not nearly this cool ; )

Anyways, enough with the little sappy rant there! Yesterday Kayla and I got up kind of early, got coffee, and got to the gym right as it was opening, which was nice because we kind of had the place to ourselves. I tried this weird cardio machine that is kind of like an elliptical, only instead of moving your feet front to back, you move them side to side (you look absolutely ridiculous, in case you were wondering, but it's a great workout)...good times. I got ready while the kids had class, then "helped" Kayla make salsa (and by "helped," I mean "sat on the counter and gossiped") and ate our leftover fajitas from Monday night (amazing). In the afternoon, I packed a little for my trip and did all the boring pre-trip stuff (printing out maps, directions to the hostels, etc). After the afternoon class, Kayla and I went to Bar da Gino AGAIN because the weather was just so miserable and we were kind of dragging a little and it was the perfect day to just hole up in a corner table and people watch. A group of the girls and David went to a local restaurant called Ai Sportivi (know affectionately as "Sportrant" by our group) and I managed to impress/amaze/disgust everyone by finishing the most gigantic plate of spaghetti alla bolognese EVER. Mind you, I was still hungry afterwords...love my metabolism. We had a house party and somehow I got roped in to playing about 300 games of beer pong, all of which were a total disaster because my beer pong skills have totally abdicated. I swear to you once upon a time, I was good. Now, I literally make people laugh. And y'all know how I feel about NOT being good at something... So, I was over it pretty early and ended up spending a good bit of time hanging out in the kitchen talking to Brian's parents/brother who are visiting.

This morning Kayla and I planned to go to the gym early again, but, got as far as Bar da Gino (in our lovely exercise clothes, mind you) and decided that wasn't going to happen. She was exhausted, I was exhausted and in a not so fabulous mood, so, we decided to just go tomorrow. I dragged her with me to Billa instead because I had agreed to make tiramisu for dessert for house dinner. It ended up being a wee bit more expensive than I thought it'd be, bringing me to spend all but my last Euro (before I got paid later in the day today), but, that's ok because it turned out SO WELL. I'd try to be modest, but, I'm just too surprised! I spent a LONG time in David's kitchen...tiramisu is such a process...so many different things to whisk until "stiff peaks form." David's kitchen looked like an absolute war zone...egg yolk and sugar concoction all over his fridge (don't ask), whipping cream all over me and his toaster, cocoa powder on the stove/me/the counters/the floor, espresso dripping all over the place...it took me almost as long to clean it up as it did to prepare everything! I don't even mind, though...I've been craving tiramisu, plus, I didn't want to do practical things (write essays, pack, etc). Probably the best benefit, though, is that cooking and cleaning are some of my favorite ways to completely distract myself, and like that bartender said, "don't think, lady, it's bad for your health." Later in the day, I helped Brian's parents get set up in the kitchen (they generously offered to make our house dinner tonight), then Zach and I went on a "friend date" to have a little chat over gelato and hot chocolate (he's got a lot on his mind, I've got a lot on mine, and nothing says "everything is going to be ok" like a rant while on a sugar rush, right?). Then we stopped by Billa to pick up a few last minute things for dinner and came back to help with final preparations. It was quite the dinner...caprese, fresh bread, chicken marsala, and tiramisu...amazing. Plus, my absolute favorite part was when Brian's dad got us started on "toasting," which involved one person standing up, saying something sappy and sweet about how happy we are to be here and know each other, then calling on someone else to make another toast. Everyone was surprisingly sincere given how impromptu it was and I am already thinking of how much I'm going to struggle when it's time to say goodbye : (

Now everyone is studying (they have a music test tomorrow) and I'm so hopped up on caffeine (I drank a lot of espresso during my 3 hour stint in David's kitchen) that I can't even think about sleeping (despite being pretty sleep deprived and about to start a marathon 10 day break coming down off a cold...sweet). I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get a solid night of sleep and wake up in a better mood tomorrow, because tomorrow at 8pm, I've got to get on a train for 15 straight hours and you just can't be anything but chipper to make it through that! I'm not taking my laptop on the trip, but, please believe I will be making one serious post when I get back to let you know how AMAZING Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich are!

P.S., I Love You

So I haven't given y'all an update in over a week, and while I'm sure no one is all that worried, I like posting because it helps me remember how I spent my semester here! Speaking of which, the semester comes to a close in a month and six days (imagine my pained expression as I type this). I have done SO MUCH in my time here and made such great friends and I do not regret ONE SINGLE THING, so I really shouldn't be sad, but, I think that's exactly WHY I'm sad (if that makes any sense). I've just had so many "how did I get here??" or "is this really my life??" moments this time...not in a bad way...just in the sense that I'm more conscious this time of how lucky I am to have an opportunity like this and I like to acknowledge that as often as possible (typically in the form of probably obnoxious statements like "guys, I just LOVE trains...you can go anywhere and you don't even have to lift a finger" or "I am at the top of a Swiss Alp and I climbed all the way here all by myself" or "I get to walk around in this Disney-esque city every single day and I love it"..yep, I'm a dork). It's not that I don't want to go home (I miss everyone, really I do), but, I really like the lifestyle and attitude here...so much more relaxed, healthier, more fun, more travel and culture-oriented. Bottom line, I like living in la-la land :)

Anyways, here's my attempt at recapping the past 7 days without entirely boring you to death:

Last Monday-lots and lots of productivity...coffee, laundry (my Switzerland clothes were a wreck), essay and application editing, cookie baking, house bonding

Tuesday-gym in the morning, and then I really can't remember after that (the days fly by and are really busy, and yet somehow a week later, I can't recall a single thing I did..., but that's ok, because I DO remember that this past week was one of my favorite so far!)

Wednesday-Coop with Kayla before their 11am class, bbq sauce making (thanks Nanny for the recipe...which I got from you last time I was here, and is as big of a hit this time as last!) extreme adventure in an attempt to find the American store that sells brownie mix (for our American themed house dinner), epic failure of extreme adventure that ended in me walking around Venice for 3 hours, chocolate cake baking, house dinner preparations, house dinner

Thursday-honestly can't remember...probably rested because I'm recovering from a pretty icky cough/cold!

Friday-rested pretty much all day because I was feeling pretty miserable AND the weather was positively revolting...I watched P.S. I Love You with Tom (he hadn't seen it, I'd only seen it once, everyone else went to this really expensive restaurant for Ana's birthday dinner and I was feeling poor and still sick), then Caroline and I played beer pong with the boys who were home (Chris, Tom, Eugene)...very entertaining and enjoyable

Saturday-Kayla and I went to the gym and then on an adventure to find acqua alta (high water caused by frequent rain) and I had such a great time (I really love sporting my rain boots and splashing around in the rain)! I watched P.S. I Love You (again...) and did some organizing and cleaning. Later I made lasagna for a the girls, then a group of guys went to the Casino and banned girls, so the girls went out and had an "I hate boys" angry night, which actually ended in the girls finding the boys at Pizza al Volo and making nice. Oh and I broke a wine glass (by setting it down way too aggressively at Blu)...no big deal...the bartender thought it was funny : )

Sunday-got up after a mere 4 hours of incredibly awful sleep, went to mass with Tom, had leftover lasagna for lunch, then headed to Padova with Kayla and Elizabeth to sight see and shop...shopping didn't really happen because EVERYTHING was closed :( but, we totally plan to go back (it's a mere 30 min train ride away), and the scenery was beautiful and it was just such a great last minute little adventure that kept me from thinking of how exhausted I was!

Today-coffee, laundry, train station (where I spent...oh 260 Euro on my tickets from here to Prague, Prague to Vienna, Vienna to Salzburg, Salzburg to Munich, and Munich back to Venice...so 2nd break is planned at quite a price!), lunch at Pizza al Volo, trip #1 of the day to Punto, Thanksgiving invitation-making while the kids had class, house meeting, gym, Punto trip #2 of the day, gelato plus whipped cream (Kayla decided my mood needed a serious boost), and now cooking dinner

I'm exhausted because of my lovely 4 hours of sleep Saturday night, BUT, I'm finally feeling better (knock on wood) somehow! I have SO MUCH to do before I leave Thursday for the 2nd break and to prepare for Thanksgiving, but, right now I'm in complete and total denial! I've actually been fairly productive today, but, I'm neglecting my one remaining law school app in lieu of hanging out with everyone before we all disperse on Thursday.

PS-pictures are of Kayla and I playing in acqua alta

Living the Dream

So I spent this past weekend in Gimmelwald and Interlaken, Switzerland and it was AMAZING. It was absolutely one of my top 3 trips ever out of this semester and my last semester here...maybe even my favorite ever. It was just so devastatingly beautiful and peaceful and perfect.

Thursday night Allie and I had dinner at Ai Cugnai (so much fun), then went to buy art (an adventure), and hung out a little before bed. We got up painfully early Friday and made a final stop at Bar da Gino before heading to Piazzale Roma (Allie) and the train station (me). It was really hard to say goodbye because I'd had such a good time with Allie and she did a great job of keeping my mind off things! Plus, the fact that she had so little time here and leaving was so sad made me really aware of how little time is left in my semester (about a month and a week). It's not like I'm trying to rush it away (quite the opposite, actually), but it is just FLYING by and I can't do a thing about it! I've had such a great time this semester and it's going to be even more difficult to leave this time because I know the chance for another experience like this is slim. Maybe I just won't come home this time... (kidding, Mom and Dad...well, maybe).

Anyways, I got to the train station in plenty of time and started the whole getting to Gimmelwald adventure. I took a train from Venice to Milan and edited my essays and applications (I suppose I'll never be entirely ready to send them off but it's definitely high time I do and I wanted to have one last glance over them). I caught my train in Milan with plenty of time and it headed towards Spiez, Switzerland. I meant to do more work but ended up sleeping almost the entire time (I blame the dramamine and extreme sleep deprivation)...I woke up just in time to see the suburbs of Milan turn in to the foothills of the alps. My train to Spiez was almost half an hour behind, so I missed my train from Spiez to Interlaken, but it's a short, frequent route, so I took a later one, landing me in Interlaken with 15 minutes to jog to the train station, buy a ticket to Gimmelwald, find an ATM, and get back to the platforms. Getting to Gimmelwald involved taking a train for about 20 minutes, a bus for about 12, and a cable car for 5. I made a whole bunch of friends on the train part of the trip and they were also on the same route, so we kind of joined up to figure it out together. They were hilarious...a whole huge group of Londoners who reminded me so much of the Casa Artom crew...made me miss them! It was a pretty uneventful trip despite the various forms of transportation and the fact that everything was in German (Interlaken and Gimmelwald are in the German part of Switzerland). It was beautiful, though...Gimmelwald is about an hour outside of Interlaken and almost directly north, so I got progressively further into the Alps on each form of transportation. I got off the cable car and our hostel was RIGHT there (so easy and convenient!)...I poked around a little bit and took a ton of pictures before I went in. Inside I realized reception wouldn't open for a few more hours (and the rest of the group was still en route), so I checked email and made some friends who were also hanging out in the hostel. The first group was about 20 people from Ohio and the second group was 3 kids who are a few years older than me and decided the current job market wasn't worth working in, so they're backpacking for about a month. One girl is from Mooresville (which is about 10 minutes from my house), which was cool, and the 3 of them ended up following us to Venice, so we're meeting up with them today. Anyways, the rest of the group arrived around dinnertime and made the best dinner ever (mostly because I was FAMISHED...I'd eaten nothing but a granola bar and some trail mix all day) and I crashed after a few card games.

We woke up around 8 on Saturday and had breakfast (gigantic chunks of yummy bread & some fruit) while selecting a trail to hike (with the help of the lady who runs the hostel). Instead of the original plan, we opted to do this really intense, 6ish hour hike that started and ended in Gimmelwald and involved hiking to the top of this little peak on top of a mountain. We started hiking around 9 and the path took us through what I believe passes for a town? (I say this not in a mean way, but only because it was a series of barns and pastures with goats and cows, but that's the most we saw for the entire hike) It was downhill for maybe 30 minutes (clearly too good to be true) and the lowest portion was this bridge over a river at the bottom of the valley. Then it was straight uphill. For approximately 3 or 4 hours. Over incredibly intense and constantly changing terrain. I say this as if it was a bad experience. It was quite the opposite. It was probably one of THE most rewarding things I have ever, ever, done. Superficially speaking, the weather was perfect, the pictures turned out well, and the company was so enjoyable. On a more serious note, it was a really intense hike that was very physically demanding, especially for someone not exactly in superior shape (at sea level, not to mention a few thousand feet up) and who has an irrational fear of heights/sliding down a rocky cliff side. But I stuck with it despite the fact that my lungs were screaming at me and my heart was thumping harder than ever before and I never took a break before our fearless leader (Eugene) announced one. I didn't even ever fall completely down (although I slipped and slid quite a few times...) or cry or freak out or complain (well, not more than a couple times). Eugene and Kayla are both really experienced hikers (and most everyone else is much more experienced than ME!), so they did a great job of helping me find places to put my feet (to avoid the sliding down the cliff scenarios) and making me feel like I wasn't going to die hiking. I couldn't make it all the way to the top of the extra peak thing (the path became more rock-climbing than path-esque and I was too scared), but I got almost all the way there and then just sat on a ledge and listened to the silence of the mountains punctuated by the occasional helicopter or airplane sounds while the rest of the group went to the top. The walk back down to the bridge was almost more intense than the straight uphill climb because it was so steep and slick that we had to go really slowly. Then once we got back to the river, it was all uphill back to the hostel (I was never so relieved to see UPHILL terrain). I wanted a nice, long, hot shower when we got back, but, the showers only took 1 Swiss Franc coins (1 CHF for 5 minutes of hot water was the deal) and I didn't have any, so we made an early dinner (and by dinner I mean feast) of roasted chicken, fried potatoes, pasta, and green beans. I finally got an amazing 15 minute shower (worth every last penny)and played cards until bed time.

Elizabeth and I got up at what we THOUGHT was 6:45 the next morning (we were planning to catch the 8am cable car to start the cable car-bus-train trip back to Interlaken). Well, Elizabeth remembered seeing signs in their hostel in Interlaken (from Thursday night) about daylight savings time, so we used the superslow hostel computer to google a few sites and figure out what time it ACTUALLY was. 5:45 AM, we discovered. We decided to stay up because neither of us had been sleeping well that night anyways, so we read, had breakfast, got the rest of the crew up, stripped and re-made our bunks, and headed off from the perfect, idyllic little town of Gimmelwald. We got to Interlaken at 9am and had breakfast at this place called Coop restaurant (Coop is a grocery store and this particular location was a Coop supercenter that involved a restaurant among other things). I got a cappuccino and THE best chocolate chocolate muffin ever (followed by some cereal because I was famished). Then we managed to fit ALL our backpacks in this little locker at the train station before heading off to explore the town for a few hours. We poked through a few souvenir shops, took a ton of pictures, and ended up back at Coop restaurant for lunch (everything else was too expensive...i.e. even the quickie burger place was over 8 Swiss Francs and sit-down restaurants were 20+ whereas I ate for 5 at the Coop). I also bought a baguette, an apple, and granola bar at the grocery for dinner on the trains home. We caught each of our trains with no incident, although our Spiez-Milan train had a mother and son on it and the son was NOT happy. He screamed and cried and squirmed almost the entire time and while we all knew the mom was doing her best, it put us on edge in a very real way and none of us were sad to get to Milan and go our separate ways. We all read/slept/listened to music for most of the trip, but towards the end, all 7 of us piled in to 1 compartment, shut all the drapes, turned off the lights, and told ghost stories (we were pretty slap happy after nearly a day of traveling on top of a superlong hike and some serious altitude changes). We were so happy to get back to Venice...Ana and I elected to skip the Pizza al Volo/Doge gelato stops and booked it home, where I proceeded to take a very long, very hot, very free shower, unpack, and finally get a good night's sleep!

Today I got coffee with Kayla, and have been hanging out working on my massive Thanksgiving to-do list while they have a marathon 2 hour Italian class, then it's off to Billa (yes, again), more time-killing while they have an afternoon class, our weekly house meeting (always an experiment in how long we can make 18 college kids sit still), the gym (if my muscles can handle it post-hike), dinner, and some very serious second break planning (since it's in, oh, 2ish weeks...). Eek. But, the girls and I decided to skip Vienna next weekend (to save money and not spent 15+ hrs on a train again) and go during 2nd break instead, which I think is a good decision because I haven't spent as much weekend time in Venice as I'd like to, PLUS, I really missed everyone this weekend and we don't have that much time left to live together as a little family!

busy week

So as I may've mentioned, this past weekend was a bit of an adventure and the week didn't exactly get any less crazy. And oh wait...I'm going out of town this coming weekend...good plan, right? Can't complain, though...I'm meeting a fun group in Switzerland tomorrow to see Interlaken and Gimmelwald and hike and see glaciers and other such 100% out-of-character things in an attempt to keep my mind off things.

Anyways, Monday Allie and I began the tackling of the Venice "bucket list" that we jointly comprised when she first got here. We hit Bar da Gino and decided it was a good day to go up in the campanile (bell tower) of St.Marks. It was INCREDIBLE. Hands down the best view of the island itself, the nearby islands, the lagoon, etc. Then we stopped by the post office to mail a few things and headed to Rialto to do shop (souvenirs for Allie, a hat for me) and I got yelled at in United Colors of Benetton for using the kids' dressing room (lame). We had lunch at the house, then while the kids had class, Allie went to Billa to get tons of food to make dinner for over half the house (quite nice of her, if you ask me!). We had a marathon house meeting (also kind of lame), then Kayla and I went to the gym, which is good, because I really want to get use out of my stupid 80 Euro membership AND it's kind of nice to have that level of sore that says "yes I might be eating my body weight in gelato, pizza, and pasta on a daily basis, but by God, you aren't going to be able to tell when I get home." When I got back, I "helped" Allie make red wine pasta with broccoli rabe and chicken for dinner (including a last minute dash to Billa for extra food for the dinner (bread and salad) and wine and pasta sauce for Tom...notable only because it was SO busy that there weren't any baskets so I was holding 2 bags of bread, 2 of salad, 2 jars of sauce, and a bottle of wine in THE longest Billa line ever). After that, she and I went to St. Marks to see it at night, listen to the classical music being played by the various cafe bands, look at some art (Allie wants to buy some to decorate her apartment), and just wander because the house was a little wired for sound (the kids had just finished one midterm and were studying for another). Perfect example of how wired the house was? I get back, head to the kitchen for a snack, and proceed to find myself being bench pressed and curled by Tom in some attempt to prove his strength to everyone. Fortunately there is no documentation of this because I was yelling (in slight fear of being dropped on the dirty kitchen floor) the whole time.

Tuesday Allie and I again started at Bar da Gino, then took a vaporetto to the Giudecca (island across from Venice). We walked down the main calle and poked through a few churches but it was absolutely freezing and gross, so we took the vaporetto back to Venice and had lunch. While the kids were in class, Allie read and I worked on essays, then we walked towards this AMAZINGGGG chocolate shop past Santa Margherita that Allie found. It's so cute and chic and classy and, y'all, I could just LIVE there. I couldn't settle on one of the hundreds of beautiful, fancy pieces of chocolate, so I got this giant, steaming cup of hot chocolate made with milk. Basically, it's barely liquid because it's so thick and the taste is just perfect. I rushed back to switch my laundry because angling for space in the washers and dryer here is like a sport and I knew I needed some socks before heading straight in to the Swiss Alps. We were so full from the hot chocolate and day-long snack fest that we decided to walk more and ended up exploring this area off of Campo San Stefano...we found great views of the Grand Canal at dusk (beautiful) and a really cool apothecary-esque perfume shop (I think both the perfume shop and chocolate shop were so appealing because they look nothing like the 9000 other souvenir shops on the island). Then Allie made me dinner (huzzah) and we hung out until about half the group was ready to go out to Santa Margherita for a while. We decided to sit at Duchamps (for old time's sake) and Eugene bought me an Affligam (a type of beer I'd never heard of before this semester, but that the guys here LOVE) and Allie got wine and we all just hung out and talked before heading back to partake in/watch the house party (legendary not necessarily for its level of fun, but because of the presence of hard alcohol in mass quantities...an "experiment" on the part of Dr. Hagy as it's technically against the rules unless he allows it, which he did in this case). Then Allie and I went BACK out for pizza and ran in to Tom, Brian, Megan, and Megan's visiting friends and walked back to Casa Artom with them. It was an interesting night...some people had a little too good of a time and so dealing with that wasn't so fabulous, but, Allie and I got to do a lot of catching up in between, so I can't complain!

Wednesday we opted to sleep in (we were up until 2ish), then got coffee (popular with us, obviously) and visited the Peggy (which we've both been meaning to do since last time we were here). Modern art really isn't our thing, but, it was really cool to see inside the palazzo and take pictures from the dock and we felt good for finally having gone (for free!). We had lunch with David at Bar da Gino, then hung out while the kids were in class, followed by yet another gym adventure and a trip to the train station to get Switzerland tickets. It was a little stressful and I'm (still) so sleep deprived (can't turn my brain off at night) that it wasn't the most enjoyable experience, but, we have train tickets so that's that. Then I got gelato (yes, again), which ruined my appetite for house dinner (chili), but that's ok because the kids had to eat the dinner while watching a marathon opera. While they watched the opera, Allie and I were both too tired to even MOVE, so she read and I caught up on some American tv (don't judge) before going to bed at a decent hour for once!

Today we slept in again and got coffee before heading to San Giorgio (the small island across from St. Mark's square). It was really small, but the church on it is beautiful and the views of Venice were amazing. Then we took the boat back to Venice and walked down to the Gardens...it was SO HOT! That calle gets a lot of sun, but even still...for late October, it was a little ridiculous (and by ridiculous, I mean amazing...I love warm, non-wintery weather). We came back in time to have lunch here (we're so economical) and watch the kids do improv presentations in their lit class. Oh. My. Word. They were insanely funny and entirely innapropriate. So different from what would EVER happen when Allie and I were here! Then we got MORE coffee and went back to the same chocolate shop as Tuesday (at least this time I got a baby cup of hot chocolate) and wandered to Rialto where I was successful in the "find a hat so my ears don't fall off in Switzerland" department and Allie bought more gifts for back home. We're about to have dinner at Ai Cugnai (can't wait for the little old lady's antics and the brothers' joking around) and then go back to St. Mark's once more so Allie can officially buy some art for her apartment.

I can't believe she has to leave tomorrow : ( It's been so great having her here and the time FLEW by. It was definitely good to see her for a lot of reasons, especially because I feel like sometimes I take Venice for granted and her excitement at being back and seeing everything again made me appreciate it more than I do on a day to day basis, if that makes sense. Anyways, I'm excited about Switzerland AND sending my law school apps off next week (the Halloween deadline WILL be reached) AND getting a lot done before the 2nd break, because Thanksgiving will be here before I know it (and apparently I'm expected to basically run that whole shin dig)!

"don't think, lady, it's bad for your health"

Oh y'all. This weekend. It was epic, crazy, intense, amazing...there are just not enough adjectives to describe it. It all started on Thursday when housemates' friends started to show up. I lost count, but there were at least 7 to 10 non-Casa Artom residents hanging out here this weekend, which was fun, but made for a really interesting dynamic (especially because only 4 people traveled this weekend from our group, but it felt like more). I hung out with the kids after the finished class for the weekend, then Kayla and I walked McKinley as far as the gelateria on the way to the train station (she was headed to Florence), making it basically the first time I'd eaten in a while, which was nice. After that, we took yet another trip to Billa to load up on fruit, eggs, etc for the singles breakfast for dinner extravaganza. I caught up with Alicia and showered while the girls made the dinner (I was forbidden from helping, can't complain), then we sat down to such an amazing meal. Fried potatoes, eggs, fruit salad, pancakes (regular AND chocolate chip), SYRUP (if you know me at all, you know how much I miss syrup), mimosas (with red oj...my favorite). Then there was a pretty intense house party, but a handful of us weren't really up for a big beer pong tournament, so we sat around, talked, and then I crashed in Rhianna's bed until the house party ended (since they play beer pong in the dining room, trying to sleep in my room is entirely futile, but Rhianna's room is a lot further away). I slept like a dream, but somehow ended up with a slew of new mosquito bites running from my collarbone up to my chin...they match really well with the ones on my forehead...

Friday Kayla and I got up and decided to put to use our sweet 80 Euro gym memberships, so we walked allll the way to the gym and she ran on the treadmill while I attempted a weight machine circuit, then we did some painful ab stuff. My stab at Italian weightlifting was hilarious. All the machines are pretty different, so the guy who works in the gym would see me head to a new machine and immediately come over and adjust it for me, no speaking (because, see, he spoke very little English and my Italian isn't exactly fabulous, so he goes "weight?" and I said "44" and that was that). I'm sure I looked like a moron, but I have that perfect level of sore going on right now...I'm determined to get back in shape! After that, Kayla and I walked to the train station (very close to the gym) to see what was up with the planned train strike (to see if we could still hop a train to Vicenza to shop). The info people told us the fast trains were running and that we could catch one in about an hour and a half, so we practically jogged home, got cleaned up, picked up Ana, and jogged back to the station. Shopping while upset is not the best life plan, let me tell you. I don't regret anything I bought, but I probably could've been a little more conservative...doesn't help that Ana and Kayla were being super nice and telling me how great EVERYTHING looked...! I got 2 scarves (fun colors), a brown bomber jacket from Zara Kids, a perfect tweed blazer from H&M, and a black going out shirt from H&M. Oh and something that is described in 3 words that can make every girl's eyes sparkle. That's right. THE perfect little black dress. There are just no words, but essentially, it's seemingly simple but has seams and a fluted hem that make the dress look like I was meant to live in it. Clearly I'm still a little pumped. We got home in time to make some dinner while the rest of the group went out for Chinese, then we all eventually met up in Santa Margherita. Which is where I was told the phrase that is the title of the post. The bartender at Cafe Blu (our 3rd stop, complete with live jazz, I should add) saw me having an internal debate with myself (another glass of wine? no? yes?) and goes "lady, don't think, it's bad for your health." Brilliant. Words to live by, I say. And so I stopped thinking and good Lord, I had a great night. Kayla and I spent most of the night making funny faces at each other as we had stupid thoughts and immediately cracked up. The walk home included being approached by a few cruise workers who "just wanted to hear English," Kayla and I waiting for Eugene outside a bar and singing "Eugene Shyu, where are YOU," and Kayla and I having to stop and sit down multiple times because something or the other was just that amusing...don't worry Mom and Dad, I behaved myself.

Saturday Kayla and I went to Bar da Gino and ran in to Kelly, Kelly's guest Jenny (other guests' names included a Jen, a Jennifer...on top of the Jen and Jenny we ALREADY have in our group), and Caroline. We all talked about our Friday nights and exchanged stories over cappucini and brioche, which was priceless. Kayla and I watched some tv and rested (we were all still a little tired from Friday), then Mom helped me edit my personal statements. Then ALLIE GOT HERE! I was so happy to see her that I basically ran out and tackled her when she got here. We caught up, then had dinner with a big group (cooked by Zach, Rhianna, and Rhianna's guest Virginia), went to Doge for gelato, then came back to get some sleep. On my way upstairs, I was talking to Stephanie and Virginia and Jen (all guests of various people) and I had been trying so hard to figure out why they looked so familiar. Then someone said Stowe's name and it was like this instantaneous light bulb for all of us... we had met at the theater house this one unfortunate night back in January. We spent about 20 minutes (I'm not even exaggerating) exclaiming over what a coincidence that was...I love how small of a world Wake can be!

Today we got up kind of early to meet Ana's new little Italian pal, Giulio at the train station at 10:30ish to go to the wine festival (called Ombra Longa)in Treviso (he studies in Venice, but is from Treviso and was supposed to basically hold our hands through the wine festival since we knew NO details). Well, we go to buy our train tickets while we wait only to learn there's no train at 10:56 like he told Ana...it's at 11:56. And so we go ahead and buy the tickets, but see no Giulio, so we go wandering around until 11:30, then go to the platform to wait (assuming it'd just been a mistake). No Giulio. STILL no Giulio at 11:53...so we decide we're going to get on the train and see what happens when we get to Treviso...worst case scenario, we have a great lunch, poke around town, and come back. Whew. If only that'd been how things went. Instead, the train gets progressively more packed as we approach Treviso, and we get let off in Treviso with hundreds and hundreds of people. Downside...I kind of like personal space. Upside...we were now surrounded by people who knew what to do and where to go. We stumbled upon the main square where we bought a "kit grande"...an apron, a plastic wine cup, a spork, and a map of the 20+ "stops" on the wine festival tour. Having no clue what to do, we just kind of wandered, bought our first glass of wine, and got some tiny little sandwiches. Then we started up the wandering again and I probably won't do the scenario justice, but I'm going to take a stab at describing it. So, first of all, there are basically zero tourists...the only English we heard was our own...AMAZING. Second of all, I don't even know to what Ombra Longa can be compared back home. People were in big groups which were denoted by things like specially made tshirts or crowns of leaves or airline lifejackets or chain mail costumes or pope-esque hats (I'll post pictures soon). And each group would often just burst in to some sort of patriotic sounding song in Italian. And random people (and by people, I mean guys) would stop us about every 20 steps to say something they deemed flirtatious (not like we knew, we don't really speak excellent Italian) and we'd play along then move along. Sometimes people would want to just do the whole "chin chin/cheers" thing and so if we were out of wine, they'd pour us a tiny bit of theirs and we'd cheers and on we'd all move in our different directions. We made all sorts of friends. Just as we were getting ready to leave, we ran in to Giulio and his friends. Giulio and one friend were tied together with some sort of plastic stuff (apparently they were looking out for each other today) and they were all very friendly. They brought their own (very strong) wine and were more than happy to share (slash make us drink some). Oh and I met a friend named Daniel who lives in Vicenza while I was in the line for the porta potties...stealthy little bugger put his number in my cell phone (don't worry, y'all, calling him is pretty far down on my to-do list). Finally we had to get going because Allie is still a little jetlagged, I'm exhausted, and Ana has 2 exams within the next 24 hours. Nevertheless, it was SO MUCH FUN...we spent the day walking around wearing Ombra Longa aprons, eating Italian appetizers, drinking wine out of adorable cups (that fit conveniently in this little pocket sewn onto the apron), taking pictures (I have approximately 200...yeah...), and just being all Italian. After we got back, Allie and I ran in to (and joined) Caroline and Charlotte at San Travaso, which was so funny... it's just weird to be eating with my old group and new group all at once and the waiters were totally trying to get Caroline and Allie's attention, so we got a pretty nice discount and then we met a couple who has a daughter who goes to Wake (and knows my friend Tristan)...such a small world.

Anyways, my apologies for this little novel I've got going on here. Hopefully it was at least entertaining. It was such an unexpectedly great weekend...I'm so pleased and I'm glad that it seems like Allie is having fun so far!

Oh and the picture is Allie, our new friend Giaccopo, me and Ana in our amazing aprons. Blame our other new friend, Sergio, for the whole not quite horizontal quality...

blessings in disguise

So apparently I should be a little more careful about announcing good moods, because I think it has a way of jinxing them! Yesterday ended up being a bit of a whopper when I got some news that caught me off guard, so I found distraction in the form of gelato. Roberta first cajoled me out of the house and took me to a gelateria on the Zattere, then to an outpost of Ca'Foscari where her boyfriend studies. She told me the story of she and her boyfriend, which was pretty funny, I thought....they'd been dating over 10 years and she kept (semi jokingly) asking him why they didn't just get married already. So he proposed....and it was that point at which she realized she didn't actually want to get married, so she said no and he said "ok, but if/when you decide you DO want to get married, you have to ask." So, they still live together, happily UNmarried, at least for now. Anyways, so then I opted to take a shower and get dressed while the kids had house dinner because I wasn't hungry in the slightest, but Tom hustled me out of the house for yet another gelato and some talking time after dinner but before the house gondola ride. The gondola ride was amazing. It included the 20 of us who live here, Jaimie's parents, Laura and Roberta (the Italian ladies who "run" the house), Massimo (our handyman) and his daughter, and Lucianna and Marissa (two former housekeepers here). The weather was cool but not freezing and everyone dressed up so nicely and we walked around the corner from the house to pile in to 6 gondolas (we'd normally take them from the dock, but the tide was out and so the water was too low). I rode with Kayla, Laura, Elizabeth, Chris, and Eugene and they were hilarious...they took a ton of pictures and it was so cool to be gliding along the Grand Canal and side canals near St. Mark's Square at night. Towards the end, it wasn't so pretty as my stomach started really, really hurting as we were approaching Salute (and thus maybe 10 minutes away from Casa Artom). As soon as we got off the gondola, I took Elizabeth's key and RAN back to the house, ducked away from Tom & Megan, who had gotten back first and were trying to scare people who came in the house, and barely made it up to my bathroom in time. Pleasant, I know. But hey, at least I didn't ruin anyone's gondola ride by losing it BEFORE we got back, right? Apparently my body was just on overload from the stress and the sugar. I haven't really eaten much since then, but that's ok, better safe than sorry, I say. Anyways, everyone here has been so, so nice to me (more than I deserve, I keep telling them, but they won't listen). I've gotten more hugs and cuddles and pep talks than I ever thought possible! And today, Caroline came back from the weekly art visit toting a bunch of pink gerber daisies for me...hands down one of my favorite flowers ever (and what the picture is of at the beginning of the post). But that's kind of the whole point of this little ramble...yeah, life sucks sometimes, but I think I was taking my friends, my real family, and my family here in Venice for granted maybe a little bit and so this helped me remember how great they are and how lucky I am to have them! Plus, they won't let me dwell...there's way too much to do... singles dinner tonight, hopefully shopping tomorrow (although there's rumor of a train strike), planning a trip to Vienna and my 2nd 10 day break, seeing Allie finally (!!), the wine festival in Treviso, finishing up law school applications, hunting down a job for when I get back, etc...and besides, I'm in VENICE for goodness sake, currently holding a job that half the people my age would kill for. There's no way I'm going to not take advantage of the time I have left here...and even if I try, there are nineteen other people in this house who aren't going to let that happen. Bless them.

post-vacation adventures

It's hard to believe that it's already Wednesday...the time since the break has flown by! The ship got in really early Saturday morning, so we walked to Piazzale Roma to take the vaporetto back to Casa Artom and after I validated our tickets, there was a ticket-checker who saw that I was using IMOB tickets for myself and Mom and Dad and she asked (in Italian) "do you all have the IMOB?" and I said yes and acted way too in a hurry to prove it (thank goodness, because we don't all have IMOB cards). Anyways, we all got ready at Casa Artom, then ran some errands to buy a few gifts for people back home. We got lunch and brought it back to Casa Artom to eat on the porch since the weather is nicer now than it was even in September, then Mom and Dad checked in at the hotel and rested for a while. We went out to dinner at San Travaso that night with everyone back home-Jen, Carolina, Rhianna, Charlotte, and Charlotte's parents. My parents and Charlotte's went on to their hotels as they were both leaving the next day and the girls and I went to Madigans to hang out for a while, which ended up being so much fun! Sunday was perfect...I managed to do laundry, hit the grocery with the girls, and spend some quality time with the handful of people back home while we waited for everyone else to get back. I felt like such a Mom pacing the downstairs hall waiting for the kids to get back, but I missed them all so much and couldn't wait to see them again!

Monday I worked on essays while the kids were in class, then Kayla and I went to join the gym, which was an adventure. The lady who registers people was positively in a horrible mood and so we basically had to force her to take our 80 Euro and our paperwork. Then I bought milk and baked cookies for the kids for our 9pm "what I did on my break" meeting. The meeting ended up lasting a couple hours, but was hilarious as we all told stories about our adventures. Yesterday I was exhausted for some reason so I took 2 separate naps (highly unusual for me, obviously) and finally dragged myself out of bed in time to shower and eat before going to an opera with the group. The opera was really strange-very different from the one we saw in Verona-we barely made it on time and initially all ended up sitting in separate areas in the theater...Kayla and I got perfect seats in the front, but got lonely, so we went upstairs to the very top to join everyone else. At the end, Kayla, Rhianna, Tom, and I left pretty quickly while the rest of the group went out for drinks. I ended up staying up way too late just hanging out, so today I'm exhausted...again. I woke up early (thanks, internal alarm clock) so I tried to go to the gym only to be forbidden entry for reasons at the time I couldn't understand. Apparently it's because I didn't wear flip flops (or something) and change in to my tennis shoes. Lame. I definitely kind of already woke up on the wrong side of the bed and that didn't help. I haven't been sleeping well since break for a myriad of reasons, one of the more obnoxious being the return of the mosquitoes. I was barely bothered by them way back in August/September, but now they're awful for me...they keep me awake buzzing above my head and I have bites all over my right arm and around the perimeter of my face and now in the dead center of my forehead. NOT cute. SO anyways, I tried to rest on the upstairs couch, but there's some sort of crazy intense protest going on in Venice today that's both on foot and on boat, so there were a lot of sirens and whistling that kept me up. I finally crashed for a while, then had lunch with the girls in between classes, and now I'm being totally unproductive and watching Gossip Girl. Tonight it's house dinner, gelato, and house gondonla ride, so it's going to be a busy night. I'm so glad everyone is back home, at least for the weekdays...I really did miss everyone... the hugs, the late night gossiping, the hilarity...this group is great!

I think a fair number of people are sticking around this weekend, so we're planning a "singles" dinner tomorrow(the house couples keep having dinner just the six of them, so Caroline decided we need to have a dinner for everyone who is just plain old single!)...I think we're doing breakfast for dinner, which is AMAZING. Then Friday I think at least Kayla and I are shopping in Vicenza, then Allie gets here Saturday and I think a group of us might go to Treviso for a wine festival Sunday. Huzzah...my post-vacation bad mood is destined to turn around with that line up : )