I think that my spring break trip messed up my brain; subconsciously I think that it had decided I was going to be going home to Boston at the end of it, since it was more like a trip than a living-somewhere-and-taking-classes. I was excited to come back to Italy because I can speak to people, I can get around on my own, I know what things mean, ( Read more... )

Steph and I tried going out into the Paris night life, but found our lungs werent up to the challenge. I was reminded how spoiled I am living in a country where smoking has been outlawed in public spaces, thank goodness, by the intense stinging in my eyes after only ten minutes under the haze in the bar. It was fun while it lasted tho, as they were ( Read more... )

I love Paris! Aside from it being the closest thing to a real city Ive been in since January (and I didnt realize how much I missed it until I sprung to life upon arrival here), but theres just something about Paris that makes me happy. The weather hasnt been particularly nice, but it hasnt mattered. The only tourist site that made me jump was the ( Read more... )

Ryanair: definition of low budget, though it is nice of them to provide a bus service to their out-of-the-way airports (not free of charge, of course). You dont get a seat number, everyone just runs for the airplane and fights for seats. Thank goodness they didnt make us check our backpacks, what a mess the baggage claim must be =P ( Read more... )

well waddya know! there's more to rome! tarah julie and i walked around saturday and i got to go to the spanish steps, trevi fountain, piazza navona, and at one point we were trying to go from one place to another and turned a corner onto a big round building... julie "hey, what's that?" me looking at the map "oh, that's the pantheon" julie "oh... ( Read more... )

went to scambi lingua dinner (americans and italians helping eachother speak) and became rakella for the night; i actually like it better when i'm speaking italian because it's almost painful to break form from the flowing vowels and smooth consonants to say 'ray-chel ( Read more... )

this weekend was the most unproductive one ive had since i've been here. it consisted of sleeping, reading (for pleasure!!!), eating and watching movies. with erin away for the weekend i found myself spending a lot of time with anne and lindsay. they actually sought me out to invite me to dinner, we borrowed movies and sat snuggled on the couch ( Read more... )

let's see ( Read more... )

the skys opened up, and the town was swallowed whole by snow. the flakes were as big as my palm. the stone streets weren't cold enough to catch the snow so an inch of mush slopped around my feet as i walked down corso vanucci. all of the stylish italians were reduced to penguins as they waddled down via dei priori, trying desperately, often to no ( Read more... )

We wanted to take the train to Venice. The train workers went on strike for 24 hours. We decided to rent a car. You have to be 25 and know how to drive stick to rent a car here. They let us take it anyway and we invited someone we knew how to drive stick =P It took us about 45 minutes to figure out how to drive away from the train station and onto ( Read more... )