Attraversa Milano e Svizzero in treno, e poi Germania per il compleanno della mia amica Laura

I uploaded some fall break pictures!

You can find the pictures from the train trip from Rome through Milan & Switzerland and on to Germany here. Connecting trains in Zurich was epic: we got off the first train, found the ticket office, bought our tickets, and hopped on our train in maybe seven minutes.

When we got to Germany, we checked into the Schwarzwälder Hof and got a hold of the birthday girl - my friend Laura, who turned 21! We went out to dinner with her and some of her friends from school. The next day - Monday - we took a day trip to Baden Baden, which is north of Freiburg in the Black Forest. The highlight of the day was using the Roman-Irish baths. So relaxing! That night we took Laura out to a really cool restaurant where we could see out over most of the town.

Pictures from Freiburg and Baden Baden are here.

Next up: Paris!!!

una sera a milano

The fall break adventure begins!!!

I met up with my dad early this afternoon, we grabbed due panini and caught a train to Milano Centrale.

He keeps beating me at cribbage - probably revenge for my string of wins right before I left. Oh well. I maintain that I'm merely out of practice.

We found our hotel with no trouble (it's very close to the train station), checked in, then walked down the street to find some dinner. We both got risotto - his with seafood, mine with saffron. Of course, no dinner with my dad is complete without a Life Lesson, so here's tonight's: Never lose the sense of wonder you have at the world. Oh you know, I'm sitting in Milan eating great food discussing my upcoming trip to Germany and France - no big deal... Basically, life is awesome and don't you ever forget it.

Tomorrow we depart for Freiburg to see Laura (on her 21st birthday!) and the Black Forest.

i put the PRO in procrastination

I've done a really terrible job of keeping this thing up-to-date! From the looks of it, it's been about a month since I posted. Sorry!!!

Look for backdated updates soon on the following:

9/25 Catacombs of St. Callixtus
9/25 Vatican Museums
9/30 Cooking lesson
10/4 Amalfi Coast (Sorrento, Capri, Pompei)
10/7 My friend Nicole's 21st birthday
10/11 Barcelona
10/16 Assisi
10/18 Venice


Meanwhile, I may as well give you the current scoop:

I'm halfway through the semester now, which means I just finished some killer midterms. Fortunately, it also means I'm about to leave for a week of fall break!

My dad is in Italy now (he spent the past week at cooking school in Sorrento). We're going to be traveling to Freiburg [Germany] and Paris, then finish the week with a night in Lucca visting cousins Rinaldo, Georgia, Daniele, Daniela, and Eleonora!


More posts soon. I'm determined to get good about this thing.

buon compleanno, amore mio!

Just a quick post to wish my boyfriend, Andrew, a happy 22nd birthday!!!

Tanti auguri a te
Tanti auguri a te
Tanti auguri a Andrew
Tanti auguri a te!


I wish I could be there for the celebrations :( At least I've found him some cool presents so far.


Anyway... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREW! I love you!

Assisi: pace e bene

Today we took a day trip to the Umbrian town of Assisi with ISA (my study abroad program).

You know, Assisi. As in "Saint Francis of." Saint Francis was a pretty cool dude. He was all about living in poverty, preaching to the birds (and all of God's creatures) and encouraging peace.

We spent longer on the bus (total) than we did actually in Assisi, but it was still cool. We got a guided tour of the church and the main part of town, then had free time to wander around. Smrithi (my roommate) and I got some lunch, bought a bottle of Orvieto (Umbria's signature wine), walked the streets, and saw the Temple of Minerva.

Click here to look at the rest of my pictures from the trip!

Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.
-- Saint Francis of Assisi

sorrento, capri, e pompei

This weekend, ISA (my study abroad program) took us on a trip to the Amalfi Coast.

We stayed in Sorrento on Friday and Saturday nights, and took day trips to Capri and Pompei on Saturday and Sunday (respectively).

In Sorrento, I got my first taste of limoncello and wandered the streets window shopping with my friends. We found an awesome (and cheap!) restaurant whose owners were very friendly and had a dog wandering around and chilling out with the customers. The next morning, as we were waiting for our boat to leave for Capri, we noticed that an entire soccer team was boarding. Turned out to be Massa Lubrense on their way to a match! We took pictures with them, of course. In Capri, my friends and I rented a boat to take us around the island for two hours. It was beautiful! Saturday was my roommate Smrithi's 21st birthday, so we felt extra bad for her when she got seasick during our jaunt around the island. After we returned to shore, though, she was fine. When Massa Lubrense was on our boat back to Sorrento and sat right next to us, I sort of let it slip to one of the players that it was Smrithi's birthday. They made the whole boat sing to her! That night, a bunch of us treated her to dinner at that same restaurant, and then my friend Rose and I took her out on the town. We had an interesting night and were out until 5:15am, which made the trip to Pompei the next morning kind of a drag. Still, Pompei was amazing to see. I couldn't believe how well the ash had preserved the remains of the people it killed; you could even make out the expressions on their faces. Anyway, overall an exhausting but wonderful weekend.

Pictures of the trip can be found HERE.

il cucinare

Tonight I had a cooking lesson at the ISA office. I learned how to make pasta alla norma (a Sicilian eggplant pasta dish) and tiramisu - delicious! Definitely bringing home those recipes.