there i was
reading a book (a quite boring book)
sitting solo at the diner.
i imagined myself like they do in movies
(dont say a thing)
just there to lunch with myself
utterly content.
another girl wanders in. "un tavolo per uno"
she says bashfully.
i look up and grin--im alone too, my smile whispered.
Monday, April 19, 2010
on another completely irrelevant note
these pictures just came to my attention, and i thought i would relive some glory days.
APEX 2009 IM Soccer Champs
APEX 2009 IM Soccer Champs
Sunday, April 18, 2010
ps/oy
for the next week, my mom and i are keeping a blog of our time in roma. so, if you want to know about that part of my trip check it out :
http://therootsearch.blogspot.com/
http://therootsearch.blogspot.com/
my last couple days in florence
well. I made it through finals week, with the help of Jordan of course who came out to visit me (yay!). we went up to Fiesole and looked out over Florence..which was incredible. Mostly we ate delicious food and talked and slept. We actually made a bunch of super good food, you guys would be proud. Poor man's caviar (eggplant, not fish eggs) and toast with frutta di bosco jam and mozzarella buffalo were definitely the best that we created. ask either one of us for the recipes, we may or may not give them to you for a small fee. or a quick massage. I would do anything for an Olivia Jones massage right now.
Seeing Jordan made me pretty home sick for my friends back in the states. I MISS YOU GUYS. COME TO ROME. but, I am going to live my last week abroad up and to the max because now I dont have to worry about hw or having to go to class. Speaking of Rome, I was initially going to meet my mom in Dublin...earlier today...but the Iceland volcano caused serious problems for the European airlines.
aka, they are all still closed. RyanAir is closed until Wednesday..Lufthansa (germany) is closed until...who knows. My entire program was supposed to leave on a group flight tomorrow morning, but it was canceled because no one can get to paris or frankfurt.
It has been pure chaos as everyone is trying to get home. Luckily everyone's landlords are letting them extend the lease for a couple days while we are all stuck in Florence. Not that it is really like being "stuck"...who minds being stuck in a beautiful european city for a couple extra days? im not complaining. i was only really worried because my mom was coming in and i didn't want her to be in dublin by herself. but it all worked out, as it always does.
For now, I am staying at the most excellent hotel in florence. I feel so unworthy of it, I had to dress up and take a shower to even enter the place. But I love it. My shower doubles as a sauna. I have a handwritten note from the hotel manager welcoming me to his hotel (Dear Ms. Hockett Alden haha). and I have a bed that I can lay both hot-dog and hamburger style on and nothing hangs off. I could stay here forever. But until Tuesday will be just fine :)
It was beautiful and sunny today so Melinda, Katie, Winnie and i all got gelato, sat in Piazza Repubblica, and listened to a guy playing guitar and singing simon and garfunkel tunes. he even played radiohead's creep. it was the best afternoon. I was in dire need of some vitamin d and some chillage with a gelato (soy vanilla and dark chocolate, best combo ever).
I want to put up some pictures, but haven't gotten them off my camera yet. The last pictures I have on iPhoto are from Easter. So i'll put those up. Every year Florence has this whole to-do for Easter in the Piazza del Duomo inbetween the cathedrale and the battista. This is prime because my living room window looks out over that very piazza. Anyway, they have a parade with music and everyone is in costume from the 1700s and it is incredible. The grand finale is a huge barge which explodes with fireworks. 2 oxen bring it in and while they set up the fireworks part, ladies all dressed in bonnets hand out white flowers to the droves of people that show up to watch.
Seeing Jordan made me pretty home sick for my friends back in the states. I MISS YOU GUYS. COME TO ROME. but, I am going to live my last week abroad up and to the max because now I dont have to worry about hw or having to go to class. Speaking of Rome, I was initially going to meet my mom in Dublin...earlier today...but the Iceland volcano caused serious problems for the European airlines.
aka, they are all still closed. RyanAir is closed until Wednesday..Lufthansa (germany) is closed until...who knows. My entire program was supposed to leave on a group flight tomorrow morning, but it was canceled because no one can get to paris or frankfurt.
It has been pure chaos as everyone is trying to get home. Luckily everyone's landlords are letting them extend the lease for a couple days while we are all stuck in Florence. Not that it is really like being "stuck"...who minds being stuck in a beautiful european city for a couple extra days? im not complaining. i was only really worried because my mom was coming in and i didn't want her to be in dublin by herself. but it all worked out, as it always does. For now, I am staying at the most excellent hotel in florence. I feel so unworthy of it, I had to dress up and take a shower to even enter the place. But I love it. My shower doubles as a sauna. I have a handwritten note from the hotel manager welcoming me to his hotel (Dear Ms. Hockett Alden haha). and I have a bed that I can lay both hot-dog and hamburger style on and nothing hangs off. I could stay here forever. But until Tuesday will be just fine :)
It was beautiful and sunny today so Melinda, Katie, Winnie and i all got gelato, sat in Piazza Repubblica, and listened to a guy playing guitar and singing simon and garfunkel tunes. he even played radiohead's creep. it was the best afternoon. I was in dire need of some vitamin d and some chillage with a gelato (soy vanilla and dark chocolate, best combo ever).
I want to put up some pictures, but haven't gotten them off my camera yet. The last pictures I have on iPhoto are from Easter. So i'll put those up. Every year Florence has this whole to-do for Easter in the Piazza del Duomo inbetween the cathedrale and the battista. This is prime because my living room window looks out over that very piazza. Anyway, they have a parade with music and everyone is in costume from the 1700s and it is incredible. The grand finale is a huge barge which explodes with fireworks. 2 oxen bring it in and while they set up the fireworks part, ladies all dressed in bonnets hand out white flowers to the droves of people that show up to watch.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
weekend adventures
OHHHK! Vespa riding was just about the most fun thing, ever. I want one so bad. They just go! I hadn't gone that fast in a while, and totally needed the speed rush. Super bonus, after we finished motorini-ing, we headed off to lunch next to a lake in the hills. This was no ordinary lunch though, it was a 5 course lunch with wine and strawberry mousse. After, we went wine, olive oil, and honey tasting at the Castello Monteriggioni. Needless to say we all passed out on the car ride home :)
Saturday I went to Bologna with my art history class. Our final Helen trip! I was not that excited to go because I had heard bad things about Bologna, and because we had to meet the bus at 6:50 in the morning...ew. It was amazing, however, and I loved the atmosphere. There were tons of outdoor markets and a huge sport-court type thing set up in the center town square for kids to play soccer, volleyball and dance. There were games and performances all day. It didn't hurt that the weather was superb and that I had 3 espressos. I WAS PUMPED! My favorites were the Santo Stefano church created to mimic the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and the Pinacoteca. Both were beautiful, and the Ludovico Caracci Annunciation would be worth going all the way back just to see it again.
PLUS, the church's gift shop had homemade chocolate spread, which I just cannot get enough of.
Today's adventure? I'm not sure. Right now it is finishing a 15 page museology paper. It's gonna be a really cool paper though, so I dont mind writing it too much. Hopefully something cool will happen later though. I'll tell you about it tomorrow!
Saturday I went to Bologna with my art history class. Our final Helen trip! I was not that excited to go because I had heard bad things about Bologna, and because we had to meet the bus at 6:50 in the morning...ew. It was amazing, however, and I loved the atmosphere. There were tons of outdoor markets and a huge sport-court type thing set up in the center town square for kids to play soccer, volleyball and dance. There were games and performances all day. It didn't hurt that the weather was superb and that I had 3 espressos. I WAS PUMPED! My favorites were the Santo Stefano church created to mimic the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and the Pinacoteca. Both were beautiful, and the Ludovico Caracci Annunciation would be worth going all the way back just to see it again.
PLUS, the church's gift shop had homemade chocolate spread, which I just cannot get enough of. Today's adventure? I'm not sure. Right now it is finishing a 15 page museology paper. It's gonna be a really cool paper though, so I dont mind writing it too much. Hopefully something cool will happen later though. I'll tell you about it tomorrow!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
wow
well. it's been almost a month since i last BLOGGED!, and there is no way i can even begin to catch up on everything that has happened. I don't believe I could even recall everything i would have written had i not been busy every second of the day.
how about some highlights?
my family came to visit! minus my brother, plus my grandma. It was so wonderful to see them and wish they could have stayed longer. We ate amazing food, drank wine up the wazoo and enjoyed being with eachother. OH! we also saw La Boheme the opera in Italian. It was funny and tear-jerking and I have found a new appreciation for opera. I think my dad should take lessons.
two friends from whitman came to see me the day and the day after my parents left. Oh my gosh I cant even express how fantastic it was to see familiar people and talk about what has been going on in our lives the past semester. We all agree that Whitman is the best place in the world. We went to a Beatles cover band show and had gelato (a lot of gelato) and explored the city. Plus, Matt kept my apartment-mates happy by cooking us the most delicious food. He certainly earned his keep (not that I was MAKING HIM COOK! NOW! or anything). Really, I could have been doing absolutely nothing and still would have been having fun just being with them.
We climbed to the top of the Duomo, which (sheepish face) sadly was also my first time in the Duomo this semester. I live 15 feet from it, but had yet to step inside. The view from the tippy-top over Florence is sweeping and makes you want to sit and stare for hours, which of course you cant because people have to move through. It was definitely one of the highlights of Florence touristy things so far.
Top 3 so far: (in no particular order)
The Stibbert Museum
Chanting monks at San Miniato
Seeing the Firenze soccer team play (and kill it 4-1)
moving on.
It is finally getting warm and sunny and delicious out. I am beyond ready for some nice weather, the gray skies and cold windy rain-y-ness was starting to get to me. I've spent as much time as I can out here in the garden, soaking up the sun and trying in vain to do my piles of homework for finals next week.
finals next week. it's weird to think that I only have 10 more days in this amazing place. I am going to try and do something fun EVERYDAY for my last ten days. and i'll blog about the fun thing. OK! good, and it will keep me bloggin.
Today counts as one of the 10 days, so I'll have to do something fun for dinner and dopo cena. Melinda is having the worst week of her life (seriously everything is going wrong) so we are going to take her out and try to cheer her up a bit.
Tomorrow is already set up. I am going VESPA RIDING IN CHIANTI. jealous did you say? yeah, I know.
how about some highlights?
my family came to visit! minus my brother, plus my grandma. It was so wonderful to see them and wish they could have stayed longer. We ate amazing food, drank wine up the wazoo and enjoyed being with eachother. OH! we also saw La Boheme the opera in Italian. It was funny and tear-jerking and I have found a new appreciation for opera. I think my dad should take lessons.
two friends from whitman came to see me the day and the day after my parents left. Oh my gosh I cant even express how fantastic it was to see familiar people and talk about what has been going on in our lives the past semester. We all agree that Whitman is the best place in the world. We went to a Beatles cover band show and had gelato (a lot of gelato) and explored the city. Plus, Matt kept my apartment-mates happy by cooking us the most delicious food. He certainly earned his keep (not that I was MAKING HIM COOK! NOW! or anything). Really, I could have been doing absolutely nothing and still would have been having fun just being with them.
We climbed to the top of the Duomo, which (sheepish face) sadly was also my first time in the Duomo this semester. I live 15 feet from it, but had yet to step inside. The view from the tippy-top over Florence is sweeping and makes you want to sit and stare for hours, which of course you cant because people have to move through. It was definitely one of the highlights of Florence touristy things so far.
Top 3 so far: (in no particular order)
The Stibbert Museum
Chanting monks at San Miniato
Seeing the Firenze soccer team play (and kill it 4-1)
moving on.
It is finally getting warm and sunny and delicious out. I am beyond ready for some nice weather, the gray skies and cold windy rain-y-ness was starting to get to me. I've spent as much time as I can out here in the garden, soaking up the sun and trying in vain to do my piles of homework for finals next week.
finals next week. it's weird to think that I only have 10 more days in this amazing place. I am going to try and do something fun EVERYDAY for my last ten days. and i'll blog about the fun thing. OK! good, and it will keep me bloggin.
Today counts as one of the 10 days, so I'll have to do something fun for dinner and dopo cena. Melinda is having the worst week of her life (seriously everything is going wrong) so we are going to take her out and try to cheer her up a bit.
Tomorrow is already set up. I am going VESPA RIDING IN CHIANTI. jealous did you say? yeah, I know.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
alicante--no pasa nada
so it's been a little less than a week (have you noticed how everytime i start a new paragraph it's with the word 'so'? i'll stop that now) since i left, most unwillingly, alicante. after spring break i had about a week and a half in florence to chill and get back into the groove of speaking italian again before i launched myself into another country to get by in a new language. luckily i went to visit a very good very old (as in ive known her forever, not that she is 90 years old) friend of mine who speaks spanish pretty much fluently so it was no biggie getting around or doing anything (dude, TMI, but even finding lactaid). to get to alicante i took the fast train to bologna, couldn't figure out the bus system, so nabbed a taxi to take me to the airport (which was AWESOME. he had a tv on his console and we watched an italian game show. so stupid and so funny), was felt up by the lady in the security line who also guffawed at my mismatched socks (at least they were CLEAN, jeez), finally landed in spain after my ipod died halfway throught Easy on Joanna's new album (yes, we are on a first name basis) and the pilot made the sketchiest landing EVER.
anyway. jordan picked me up from the airport and we did one of those romantic movie scenes when you run at the person waiting for you and get the biggest hug ever...it was like that.
jordan is living with a host family that includes her madre Mabel and her little sister Paula. both are some of the biggest characters iv'e met. especially Paula, she has the whole 12 year old attitude, but she looks like she is 19. one evening we took paula, her cousin, and a friend out to go bowling. the bowling place ended up being kind of like chuck-e-cheeses, but in spanish. there were little kids everywhere! one thing we noticed while just chillin and watching the kids was how well they all dress. Like, they are put together little children, thier hair is all done and they wear boots over their jeans and jeez. i was into tiger t-shirts and jynco's when i was that age. boots? psh.
one of my favorite things there was eating dinner with her family and just listening to the conversation. i could understand what was going on most of the time which was soo cool and jordan would translate what i said or details/topics that i couldn't catch. she was our translator, english-spanish-english-spanish. when we weren't eating amazing mabel food, or pigging out on chocolate con churros, we climbed up to the high point that looks over alicante. the high point also happens to be a huge old castle with never ending switchbacks and stairs to the top. it was well worth the climb to see the view of the ocean and the colorful city below.
did you say "so what was the nightlife like?" yeah, i though you did. well before i went i thought i was kind of a badass going out at 10 and staying out until like 2:30in the morning. turns out this is nothing, and if i had a spanish madre she would ask me if i was sick and be thoroughly dissapointed if i came home anytime before 5 in the morning. soooo. my last night we stayed out until the sun came up at 8, hanging out at the beach, falafel in hand, friends by my side. we stumbled into bed and crashed until 2 when it was time to eat lunch (dinner is at 9, you talk for a couple hours, digest, call your friends, and go out again at 11:30). going out with jordan and her friends was so fun and comfortable and i felt completely able to relax and have the time of my life. we danced and met tons of people and jordan (as always) knew eveyone so were able to get in everywhere (ok, except one club that we had to sneak into when the guy was looking the other way) and talk to the bartenders and the djs and jeez. i did not want to leave.
some little highlights: 6 euro boots. yes! falafel falafel falafel. eating lunch while watching people play volleyball on the beach. meeting jordan's friends. wandering the city...street art. not having to wear my big jacket. seeing the sun. mabel's pizza. trying to explain that i didn't eat meat. not even chicken. teaching the kids about the slow clap. being jealous of paula's cousins hair. oh man. and so much more.
my next adventure? family! my mom, dad, chelsea, and my gma bonnie are flying in saturday morning. i am beyond excited to see them, and i wish mat was coming too (stupid work!). all my friends want to meet chelsea and are so curious to see my twin. "there are TWO of you?!" yes, but we aren't identical. "but TWO?!"
i know there aren't any pictures on this post, cause im on the school computer, but i
OH! last night was St. Patrick's Day. Holy cow the entire city was up all night, the beer was green, and if you weren't wearing a tall floppy hat that said "stPATRICKS DAY 2010" you just weren't getting into it. i have no green things. not one. the weirdest part (and probably the best)? i didn't get pinched!
anyway. jordan picked me up from the airport and we did one of those romantic movie scenes when you run at the person waiting for you and get the biggest hug ever...it was like that.
jordan is living with a host family that includes her madre Mabel and her little sister Paula. both are some of the biggest characters iv'e met. especially Paula, she has the whole 12 year old attitude, but she looks like she is 19. one evening we took paula, her cousin, and a friend out to go bowling. the bowling place ended up being kind of like chuck-e-cheeses, but in spanish. there were little kids everywhere! one thing we noticed while just chillin and watching the kids was how well they all dress. Like, they are put together little children, thier hair is all done and they wear boots over their jeans and jeez. i was into tiger t-shirts and jynco's when i was that age. boots? psh.
one of my favorite things there was eating dinner with her family and just listening to the conversation. i could understand what was going on most of the time which was soo cool and jordan would translate what i said or details/topics that i couldn't catch. she was our translator, english-spanish-english-spanish. when we weren't eating amazing mabel food, or pigging out on chocolate con churros, we climbed up to the high point that looks over alicante. the high point also happens to be a huge old castle with never ending switchbacks and stairs to the top. it was well worth the climb to see the view of the ocean and the colorful city below.
did you say "so what was the nightlife like?" yeah, i though you did. well before i went i thought i was kind of a badass going out at 10 and staying out until like 2:30in the morning. turns out this is nothing, and if i had a spanish madre she would ask me if i was sick and be thoroughly dissapointed if i came home anytime before 5 in the morning. soooo. my last night we stayed out until the sun came up at 8, hanging out at the beach, falafel in hand, friends by my side. we stumbled into bed and crashed until 2 when it was time to eat lunch (dinner is at 9, you talk for a couple hours, digest, call your friends, and go out again at 11:30). going out with jordan and her friends was so fun and comfortable and i felt completely able to relax and have the time of my life. we danced and met tons of people and jordan (as always) knew eveyone so were able to get in everywhere (ok, except one club that we had to sneak into when the guy was looking the other way) and talk to the bartenders and the djs and jeez. i did not want to leave.
some little highlights: 6 euro boots. yes! falafel falafel falafel. eating lunch while watching people play volleyball on the beach. meeting jordan's friends. wandering the city...street art. not having to wear my big jacket. seeing the sun. mabel's pizza. trying to explain that i didn't eat meat. not even chicken. teaching the kids about the slow clap. being jealous of paula's cousins hair. oh man. and so much more.
my next adventure? family! my mom, dad, chelsea, and my gma bonnie are flying in saturday morning. i am beyond excited to see them, and i wish mat was coming too (stupid work!). all my friends want to meet chelsea and are so curious to see my twin. "there are TWO of you?!" yes, but we aren't identical. "but TWO?!"
i know there aren't any pictures on this post, cause im on the school computer, but i
OH! last night was St. Patrick's Day. Holy cow the entire city was up all night, the beer was green, and if you weren't wearing a tall floppy hat that said "stPATRICKS DAY 2010" you just weren't getting into it. i have no green things. not one. the weirdest part (and probably the best)? i didn't get pinched!
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