En route to Florence! This bus trip is off to a good start. Except, our friend Colleen is sitting up front with the driver and a plastic bag because she
p.s. Molly just fell asleep. I am not surprised.
Friday
Bus Trip to Firenze
January 27,
En route to Florence! This bus trip is off to a good start. Except, our friend Colleen is sitting up front with the driver and a plastic bag because sheis hungover has motion sickness. Molly is watching Pride and Prejudice next to me - down grade. I would rather watch paint dry... no offense, Jane Austen, just saying. Maggie is sitting in the row in front of us next to a boy wearing a sleeveless tee, hoodie, and golden cross. If you know Maggie, you would think this situation is just as hilarious as I do. No Jersey Shore pun intended. We have about three hours left until we get to Florence. I am ecstatic about seeing Adair and getting settled in to our apartment! I can't believe this is my life. Multa bene Ciao, bella!
p.s. Molly just fell asleep. I am not surprised.
En route to Florence! This bus trip is off to a good start. Except, our friend Colleen is sitting up front with the driver and a plastic bag because she
p.s. Molly just fell asleep. I am not surprised.
Roma!
Ciao! Last night was our first night out in Roma. Twenty (I'm not exaggerating) of us went to dinner at a restaurant in Campo de Fiori. That could be spelled wrong; my Italian spelling is sub par at best. The restaurant gave us a student discount: one meal, one drink, 10 euro. Half way through our meal, a bartender came over to the table and told us about Sloppy Sam's next door. Side note, his name was Zach- how weird would it be to go through life with a z in your first name, not to mention a capital Z? Too weird. He was a cutie from Cali and said all shots would be 2 euro... Okay, twist my arm, I'll go.
Spotted: Cat's Italian Cousin
Today, ISA scheduled a three-hour guided walking tour through Roma. We saw what seemed like a million things- the Coliseum, the Arch de Constantine, Roman Forum, etc. The Coliseum is absolutely huge and so beautiful. Our guide, Pearla (spelling?), told us a man was donating 25 million dollars to restore it and make it look like it did in its glory days. I hope this doesn't happen; I love the character of the crumbled hole on one side and the cracked arches.
I must admit my favorite part was seeing Cat's Italian cousin walking around inside the Coliseum. So cute, and just as feisty as Cat. I got a picture from about ten feet away but he wanted nothing else to do with me. Another moment worth mentioning: while walking through a square in Rome, Maggie wasn't paying attention and ran into a lady. The lady came back with a quick "f*ck you".
Later in the day, after we got home from lunch (caprese salad pizza cut in half and folded into a sandwich) and an hour-long bus tour, Maggie and Molly went back to the hotel to nap. After waking up last night at 4:30am and not being able to sleep anymore, I have learned napping is not for me... at least until I'm completely over my jet lag. Instead of napping, I took a walk around the city with my iPod. I visited the beautiful Basilica de San Pietro and lit a candle for all my friends and family back in the US and those studying abroad.
Tonight we plan on going to happy hour for wine and a light dinner at a cozy restaurant near our hotel. Rumors are also circling about an Ice Bar and Karaoke! I am a very lucky girl :)
Locked Out
January 24,
So I realized that while on our flight I emptied my American change out of my wallet to donate to a charity named Comic Relief. Little did I know, I was donating the key to my luggage too. Oops, I forgot I had put it in my change purse for safekeeping. Fail. Molly, Maggie, and I are now plotting a way to break into my baggage. Plan A, Molly's nail file. Plan B, pull on it until it breaks...
Both did not work so we moved on to Plan C: try Molly's key to her luggage lock. The first few times it did not work- the key just wiggled around in the lock. Five minutes later, after the bobby pin I was using suffered its last bend, I tried Molly's key again. It worked! Praise Jesus.
So I realized that while on our flight I emptied my American change out of my wallet to donate to a charity named Comic Relief. Little did I know, I was donating the key to my luggage too. Oops, I forgot I had put it in my change purse for safekeeping. Fail. Molly, Maggie, and I are now plotting a way to break into my baggage. Plan A, Molly's nail file. Plan B, pull on it until it breaks...
Both did not work so we moved on to Plan C: try Molly's key to her luggage lock. The first few times it did not work- the key just wiggled around in the lock. Five minutes later, after the bobby pin I was using suffered its last bend, I tried Molly's key again. It worked! Praise Jesus.
EAT, PRAY, LOVE
January 23,
As cliché as it sounds, I thought it was a great idea to watch Eat, Pray, Love on the plane ride to Italy. Maggie said she fell asleep while watching it, but I loved it and found it to be the perfect start to my trip.
What I learned from the movie, and I think what I've been discovering in the months building up to now is: wear what you want, eat what you want, buy what you want, do everything you want- as long as it makes you happy. I am only on this Earth once, and this opportunity will never come again. My uncle, Charlie, told me I will never be the same when I come home. I don't want to be afraid of letting this experience change me. I've been here for maybe twelve hours and I'm already starting to believe him.
I hope I can remember Eat, Pray, Love throughout my travels- especially when my jeans fit a little too closely for comfort. Julia Roberts and her friend decided to throw caution to the wind and “leave no carb behind”! Whether its pizza, or gelato, or pasta don’t worry about the repercussions on your waistline. I’ll will do enough walking to make up for it, and there's always leggings! Just embrace it! Don't waste your time and energy planning every second of your itinerary or counting the calories in your delicious spaghetti.
Also, Julia Robert’s character is taught the "beauty of doing nothing". I hope to find a great place and plan (or I guess not plan) to do nothing- either alone, or with friends. Almost anywhere in Florence is a great place to fill up an afternoon sitting, reading, chatting, or sharing a bottle of wine... or two. I've heard some of the best times have been during the unplanned days spent wandering the city.
Side note, I also watched social network. I don't know how I feel about Mark Zuckerberg, but his business cards are badass. First thing on my list when I graduate: get some "I am the COE, Bitch." business cards. Well first thing is become a CEO, but second is definitely getting some of those cards.
As cliché as it sounds, I thought it was a great idea to watch Eat, Pray, Love on the plane ride to Italy. Maggie said she fell asleep while watching it, but I loved it and found it to be the perfect start to my trip.
What I learned from the movie, and I think what I've been discovering in the months building up to now is: wear what you want, eat what you want, buy what you want, do everything you want- as long as it makes you happy. I am only on this Earth once, and this opportunity will never come again. My uncle, Charlie, told me I will never be the same when I come home. I don't want to be afraid of letting this experience change me. I've been here for maybe twelve hours and I'm already starting to believe him.
I hope I can remember Eat, Pray, Love throughout my travels- especially when my jeans fit a little too closely for comfort. Julia Roberts and her friend decided to throw caution to the wind and “leave no carb behind”! Whether its pizza, or gelato, or pasta don’t worry about the repercussions on your waistline. I’ll will do enough walking to make up for it, and there's always leggings! Just embrace it! Don't waste your time and energy planning every second of your itinerary or counting the calories in your delicious spaghetti.
Also, Julia Robert’s character is taught the "beauty of doing nothing". I hope to find a great place and plan (or I guess not plan) to do nothing- either alone, or with friends. Almost anywhere in Florence is a great place to fill up an afternoon sitting, reading, chatting, or sharing a bottle of wine... or two. I've heard some of the best times have been during the unplanned days spent wandering the city.
Side note, I also watched social network. I don't know how I feel about Mark Zuckerberg, but his business cards are badass. First thing on my list when I graduate: get some "I am the COE, Bitch." business cards. Well first thing is become a CEO, but second is definitely getting some of those cards.
Thursday
Rollinglobe Internship
January 19, 2011
One of my close friends, Katie, studied abroad in Florence last spring. While she was there she interned for the company Rollinglobe, a student oriented travel guide and a great place to find fantastic bars, restaurants, clubs, etc. in cities all over the world. She wrote blogs about her personal experiences traveling and adjusting to the Florentine lifestyle as well as several reviews about the different hot spots in Florence every week. What a gig?! Naturally, I wanted to try and do the same thing. Let me just say, Katie has been fabulous about helping me prepare for Florence. In addition to the five page Word document she sent me, she set me up with all the contacts and information needed to apply for the internship. What a pal.
After a few games of email tag, I had a phone interview with Michael, the president and co-founder of Rollinglobe. It was my first phone interview and I don't think anything could have prepared me for the stress of counting down the minutes until our scheduled phone call. The interview was painless, except for when we said something at the same time, paused to wait for the other person to continue, then when the other person didn't say anything started talking at the same time again. I couldn't help but laugh; thankfully, he did too.
I am really excited to get started with this project! The majority of students working for Rollinglobe are journalism majors sprinkled with marketing and/or public relations majors. I am a Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism Management major. Apples and oranges, ladies and gentlemen. On the bright side, I'll bring a totally different perspective to the table. Other students will be writing because they love to write while I'll be writing because I love what I'm writing about. Thumbs up to both. I've been studying what makes a great business in the hospitality industry for the better part of three years and my high school, Georgetown Visitation, prides itself on five paragraph essays, thesis statements, and grammar. I am pretty confident I can play journalist for a few months... with all that in my back pocket, how hard can it be?
This is a link to my Rollinglobe Page.
http://www.rollinglobe.com/RGWeb/profile/default.aspx?uid=83
One of my close friends, Katie, studied abroad in Florence last spring. While she was there she interned for the company Rollinglobe, a student oriented travel guide and a great place to find fantastic bars, restaurants, clubs, etc. in cities all over the world. She wrote blogs about her personal experiences traveling and adjusting to the Florentine lifestyle as well as several reviews about the different hot spots in Florence every week. What a gig?! Naturally, I wanted to try and do the same thing. Let me just say, Katie has been fabulous about helping me prepare for Florence. In addition to the five page Word document she sent me, she set me up with all the contacts and information needed to apply for the internship. What a pal.
After a few games of email tag, I had a phone interview with Michael, the president and co-founder of Rollinglobe. It was my first phone interview and I don't think anything could have prepared me for the stress of counting down the minutes until our scheduled phone call. The interview was painless, except for when we said something at the same time, paused to wait for the other person to continue, then when the other person didn't say anything started talking at the same time again. I couldn't help but laugh; thankfully, he did too.
I am really excited to get started with this project! The majority of students working for Rollinglobe are journalism majors sprinkled with marketing and/or public relations majors. I am a Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism Management major. Apples and oranges, ladies and gentlemen. On the bright side, I'll bring a totally different perspective to the table. Other students will be writing because they love to write while I'll be writing because I love what I'm writing about. Thumbs up to both. I've been studying what makes a great business in the hospitality industry for the better part of three years and my high school, Georgetown Visitation, prides itself on five paragraph essays, thesis statements, and grammar. I am pretty confident I can play journalist for a few months... with all that in my back pocket, how hard can it be?
This is a link to my Rollinglobe Page.
http://www.rollinglobe.com/RGWeb/profile/default.aspx?uid=83
Getting A Visa
December 15, 2010
My departure is quickly closing in so it's time to check off somethings on my to-do list. Most importantly, getting a visa. If you ever want to feel like you don’t belong in your own country, try getting a visa. I got to the Italian Embassy ten minutes before the gates open because I've been told if you get there any later the place is a zoo. Turns out, I was not the only early bird. The people around me in line compared the papers we brought, trying to figure who had the most appropriate documents. I had a packet from International Studies Abroad, several bank statements, my passport, and who knows what in the packet my mom compiled.
Step one: Make your case to the guard and they wave you in or not. Oh ps, I forgot my drivers license at home which didn't help calm my nerves. I walked up to the window and fumbled around for some paper to put under the glass with my passport and started explaining that I was studying abroad in Florence and leaving in January and blah, blah, blah. He put his hand up. Oh shit, I thought, he is turning me down. “Whata are yous here for?” “She wants to get her visa,” my mom interjected. “Okay, go.” He gave me a little badge and we headed down to the consulate office. Or as my mom liked to call it, “walking on the road to Oz.” She’s so cute!
Step Two: Take a number please. Down in the consulate office, we started filling out my application for an “over 90 days” visa. My mother and I were having a hard time deciding what to put where and had to rewrite the application. Being the smart women we are, we decided to keep my first page from App. 1 and start on page two of App. 2 to save time. This worked well until my silly mother crumpled up my perfectly filled out first page because “there was just so many papers I didn’t know what to do!” This is not exactly how I would have dealt with the clutter of papers, but okay. So that’s when filling out the third and final application came into existence. Our number was called shortly after that and we made our way to the “visa” window.
Step Three: Let me give you some brief history of my mother. She owned a successful landscaping company with my father where the majority of employees did not speak English. My mom does not speak Spanish, but she is really good at speaking English in a Spanish accent very loudly. I have seen this tactic used many times, the majority of which I have smiled and laughed, but when she pulled it out in front of the Italian Consulate I was down right embarrassed. This man speaks English and Italian fluently but for some reason my mom starts talking to him like he’s a deaf baboon. As soon as he isn’t listening, I remind her that speaking unnecessarily loud English with an Italian accent like that does not make it any more Italian; it only makes you, and me by association, look ridiculous. She was able to cool her jets and speak normally, thank goodness.
Everything was smooth sailing until he asked for my passport-sized photo to put on the visa. Well hell, we missed that memo. Luckily this guy wasfed up with us nice and said he would hold my file until I got back from my impromptu CVS passport photo shoot. Not my best photo to say the least, but let’s not dwell on the negative. I walked back into the visa room, and the line had tripled. WTF? So I waited very closely to my man’s window and pounced on the next opening. Call me a line cutter; I don’t care.
Moral of the story, you never know when you will need a 2x2 photo of yourself so always shower and look your best. Also, note to self: don’t try communicating in Italian by loudly speaking English in an accent. And finally, when filling out an application, do it right the first time and keep all excess papers away from your mother.
My departure is quickly closing in so it's time to check off somethings on my to-do list. Most importantly, getting a visa. If you ever want to feel like you don’t belong in your own country, try getting a visa. I got to the Italian Embassy ten minutes before the gates open because I've been told if you get there any later the place is a zoo. Turns out, I was not the only early bird. The people around me in line compared the papers we brought, trying to figure who had the most appropriate documents. I had a packet from International Studies Abroad, several bank statements, my passport, and who knows what in the packet my mom compiled.
Step one: Make your case to the guard and they wave you in or not. Oh ps, I forgot my drivers license at home which didn't help calm my nerves. I walked up to the window and fumbled around for some paper to put under the glass with my passport and started explaining that I was studying abroad in Florence and leaving in January and blah, blah, blah. He put his hand up. Oh shit, I thought, he is turning me down. “Whata are yous here for?” “She wants to get her visa,” my mom interjected. “Okay, go.” He gave me a little badge and we headed down to the consulate office. Or as my mom liked to call it, “walking on the road to Oz.” She’s so cute!
Step Two: Take a number please. Down in the consulate office, we started filling out my application for an “over 90 days” visa. My mother and I were having a hard time deciding what to put where and had to rewrite the application. Being the smart women we are, we decided to keep my first page from App. 1 and start on page two of App. 2 to save time. This worked well until my silly mother crumpled up my perfectly filled out first page because “there was just so many papers I didn’t know what to do!” This is not exactly how I would have dealt with the clutter of papers, but okay. So that’s when filling out the third and final application came into existence. Our number was called shortly after that and we made our way to the “visa” window.
Step Three: Let me give you some brief history of my mother. She owned a successful landscaping company with my father where the majority of employees did not speak English. My mom does not speak Spanish, but she is really good at speaking English in a Spanish accent very loudly. I have seen this tactic used many times, the majority of which I have smiled and laughed, but when she pulled it out in front of the Italian Consulate I was down right embarrassed. This man speaks English and Italian fluently but for some reason my mom starts talking to him like he’s a deaf baboon. As soon as he isn’t listening, I remind her that speaking unnecessarily loud English with an Italian accent like that does not make it any more Italian; it only makes you, and me by association, look ridiculous. She was able to cool her jets and speak normally, thank goodness.
Everything was smooth sailing until he asked for my passport-sized photo to put on the visa. Well hell, we missed that memo. Luckily this guy was
Moral of the story, you never know when you will need a 2x2 photo of yourself so always shower and look your best. Also, note to self: don’t try communicating in Italian by loudly speaking English in an accent. And finally, when filling out an application, do it right the first time and keep all excess papers away from your mother.
My Last Night in South Carolina
December 8, 2010
Tonight is my last night in the Kappa Delta House. Weird. I remember moving in with such high hopes for the semester. Fall 2010 did not disappoint. Now, I am leaving with amazing memories and friends I will miss so, so much. Yesterday, I was sitting in one of my friend’s room chit chatting. When I said goodnight and went back to my room, there was a present waiting for me on my desk! My room was a mess and my desk was so cluttered that my first feeling was embarrassment because she saw my room looking like a bomb went off. Fast forward two seconds and all I felt was excitement and appreciation for one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received! Garner Leigh had bought me a leather journal just like the one she writes in (which I have been jealously eyeballing for weeks)- with sharpie pens too! How thoughtful!? But that is just how GL is- so genuinely thoughtful. The cherry on top was the note she wrote. Her note is now rightfully wedged in the front of my journal… loves it!
Earlier tonight, we all went to a dinner at Monterrays. After a cheap, spicy, and relatively delicious dinner with the whole gang- we rolled ourselves back to KD for some quality TV time downstairs. I will miss that couch… and the DVR. (CONFESSION: we went to Krispy Kreme, but bitches’ ice cream machine was busted so I couldn’t get a Donut Sundae. Buzz Kill.) After getting back to the house, I was presented with a whole picture album full of goofy, unflattering, and hilarious pictures of the Kappa Shmelts I will miss so much. I plan to bring my journal and photo album to Italy with me and proudly show all my new foreign friends just how lovely Americans can be! I will miss you Gadsden Street, stay classy.
Tonight is my last night in the Kappa Delta House. Weird. I remember moving in with such high hopes for the semester. Fall 2010 did not disappoint. Now, I am leaving with amazing memories and friends I will miss so, so much. Yesterday, I was sitting in one of my friend’s room chit chatting. When I said goodnight and went back to my room, there was a present waiting for me on my desk! My room was a mess and my desk was so cluttered that my first feeling was embarrassment because she saw my room looking like a bomb went off. Fast forward two seconds and all I felt was excitement and appreciation for one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received! Garner Leigh had bought me a leather journal just like the one she writes in (which I have been jealously eyeballing for weeks)- with sharpie pens too! How thoughtful!? But that is just how GL is- so genuinely thoughtful. The cherry on top was the note she wrote. Her note is now rightfully wedged in the front of my journal… loves it!
Earlier tonight, we all went to a dinner at Monterrays. After a cheap, spicy, and relatively delicious dinner with the whole gang- we rolled ourselves back to KD for some quality TV time downstairs. I will miss that couch… and the DVR. (CONFESSION: we went to Krispy Kreme, but bitches’ ice cream machine was busted so I couldn’t get a Donut Sundae. Buzz Kill.) After getting back to the house, I was presented with a whole picture album full of goofy, unflattering, and hilarious pictures of the Kappa Shmelts I will miss so much. I plan to bring my journal and photo album to Italy with me and proudly show all my new foreign friends just how lovely Americans can be! I will miss you Gadsden Street, stay classy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)