:D

This past weekend was really, really pleasant.

An acquaintance of mine from MICA, John, visited Florence over the weekend (he's studying animation in Bournemouth, England this semester) and stayed with #10. We had never really gotten to talk much before this visit, and I was excited to get to talk to him more. I was stunned to hear how much we have in common (aside from our unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter)! And best of all, he said that he'd been excited to see me on the visit too! It was flattering and nice to have a new person to get to know. :)

And he said I was beautiful and have a "fantastic voice". That helps. :D

ANYWAY, I got some more work done for my crit with Kevin today, and Mel and I oversaw some awesome cooking that happened in our apartment this weekend! Saturday night we made roasted red pepper (vegetarian) chili, and last night we made baked mac and cheese (using fontina and pecorino instead of cheddar). SO. GOOD.

I also got to talk to Emily, which was a very, very pleasant surprise! I'm so excited for our trip!

Okay, I have to get to my crit! I hope you guys are having an awesome week so far!

Love you, miss you!

-A.

Ciao, Venezia!

So, this weekend was a sometimes-fun, sometimes-obnoxious foray into Venice Carnevale!

Me, Mel, and three of the four members of #10 (Noel, Morgan, and Emma) caught the train out of Florence at 8:30 AM on Friday morning, and made it into Venice, and into the hotel by noon. Once good thing I can say about the cheap-but-should-have-been-cheaper hotel was that it was WARM. Venice was freezing! Naturally, being near all that water.

Friday was really amazing--we got the obvious gondola ride (but at 20 euro less than usual! Score!). We had the privilege of having a cute gondolier, Thomaso, who informed us that one needs over 6 YEARS of training to be a gondolier! Holy EFF.

After the ride, we hit the market at Piazza San Polo, where we saw the hot Catholic priest calendars that make me want to weep--the cover priest should not withhold his glorious genes from humanity! Interestingly enough, there was also a hot gondolier calendar, and we started joking around about Thomaso being in it, and lo and behold! He was Mr. August! That was pretty fantastic, to say the least. :)

That night, we got all gussied up in our masks, and hung out in one of the piazzas with live music, apparently cobbled together by three drummers, a sax player, a trumpeteer, and a tambourine. Fun, but all the shoving and bumping kind of made me want to smack a bitch. We poured ourselves into bed around three AM.

Saturday was okay--a lot more people in the city, that's for sure. The density must have tripled overnight! Mel and I went separately from Noel, Morgan and Emma, who decided that sleeping was more imporant than being in VENICE. WHATEVER. We met up with the missing member of #10, David, briefly, then with our other roommates and our building-mates (who came to Venice with SACI), and hung out at Piazza San Marco for the afternoon, tooling around in our masks and feeding the pigeons, who are not shy and WILL land on you if you prompt them.



BAM. (My new profile pic, naturalement.)

Melissa and I made it out of Venice after an HOUR of shoving through the crowd, but we made it to the bus, met up with our oversleeping travel buddies, and caught the train home. We. Were. EXHAUSTED. To say the very least. But that didn't stop Me, Mel, and Emma from staying up 'til 3 AM to watch Green Wing, which is the UK's solution to Scrubs, but BETTER.

Sidenote: I've been making a ton of allusions to how awesome "Hey Arnold!" was this week. Like, a TON.

Sunday was lazy--Mel and I just lounged around, made a big breakfast, then got a pancake dinner. :) I had a mini-freak out about money and my art and the future, and I was reminded of how lucky I am to be friends and roommates with Mel. Once again. :) As if I could forget!

Today was fine--went to Santa Maria Novella and sent my belated V-Day gift to Robin. I have to run, actually, I'm making dinner for my roomies tonight and I need to pick up a few things!

I love you guys, and I'll try and be less of a lame about updating! (Although I must say, I'm keeping up the best out of all of you! Save Ab-Fab, who seems to be on-par. Ab--how are you and G? Everything good?)

Have a great day!

-A.

P.S. Did I mention my mom is OFFICIALLY ENGAGED?! WOOOOOOOO!

Okay, everything is fine.

Despite yesterday's repetitive post, everything is fine. Just has a little moment of "Oh Hai Alyssa, btw, you're a little retarded sometimes." It's sorted for now, so don't worry! :)

I'm having group dinner with Mel and #10 tonight--I'm making lemon/garlic/caper pasta! Wish me luck, because I'm pretty sure I'm executing this without a recipe. It's not a hard recipe, but I get a little nervous! :P

We're going to Siena and San Gimingano tomorrow, so yay! Hopefully the rain isn't too bad.

I love you guys, and I'll try to update more soon. :)

-A.

My sexiness is complete.

I've been having a lovely day!

This morning, Mel and I got up and Emma met us at our place, and we went out to shop the January saldi! (Sales.)

Mel and Emma were on the hunt for boots, and I was just tagging along really, and if I found something cheap, great! Now, my feet are far too big to find boots here in the EU (a 41 [the largest size I saw] was about the right length, but my feet are WAY too wide), BUT, I did stop into this shop called Goldenpoint, where I knew I could find some cheap tights. So, I was looking at the wall of tights, and I saw a particular package of sheer black, lace-topped thigh-highs. I was, naturally, smitten. They weren't in my size, so I had to dig around a little to find the right pair.

Then I saw a pair that were seamed, and my heart skipped, so I grabbed those in my size too. THEN, at the counter, I saw a small box with a picture on it. A picture of a gorgeous lace garter belt and matching stockings. And I think I died a little with excitement. (I was inspired by you, Em! :P) SO, I bought the seamed stockings and the garter belt set for about 25 euro, which isn't bad at all. AND, to satisfy my little girl side, I found a pair of bright red tights practically next door for 4,75! IT WAS AMAZING. And now, I am sexy.

So, the three of us crossed the Ponte Vecchio, still looking for boots (we were unsuccessful, as they were A. Very expensive or B. Not our taste), and we stumbled onto this awesome, cheap mini-supermarket. I bought 1,5 liters of Sprite for 1,60! (Very cheap, let me tell you.) And cereal! And butter! It was exciting. :D

Anyway, tonight, #10 is coming over to our place to make a yummy, communal dinner, and then me, Morgan, Emily and Christine are going to find this bar that's broadcasting the AFC championship between the Steelers and the Ravens! Hopefully we kick butt! Go Steelers!

I love you and miss you all. Hope you're all having a great day! Let's talk soon!

-A.

The Marcato.

Let me briefly describe a trip to the Marcato Centrale.

You walk past hundreds of street vendors, selling t-shirts and leather goods, and telling women that they'll give them a "deal for [their] pretty smile".

Then you get to the warehouse, and you walk up the steps and into a wall of raw meat smell, which isn't pleasant, but somehow amazing to see all of the butchers with their aprons stained with pinkish blood carving up chickens and pigs and cows. I even saw a whole rabbit carcass today, frozen in mid-leap, but on it's back, skinned and tasty-looking.

The first floor is all meat, cheese and bread (there's a cute bread stand with yummy baguettes where the workers wear straw hats with sunflowers on them). There's a candy stand and a few produce stands, but the good produce is on the second floor. You can get almost anything there. Dried fruit, nuts, blood oranges, delicious apples. God, so GOOD!

It's hard to order what you want initially, especially if you don't know the numbers. So you do a lot of pointing and holding up the right number of fingers, until you learn to say "Una uva moscotello" (a scoop of black raisins), et cetera. It's actually really rewarding once you get through a transaction by yourself, even if you use a little English. :P

It's always a bustle, and I like going, even if it is a walk to get there. :) And, bonus! There's a Bank that ACTUALLY changes money nearby! Pretty amazing.

I got to talk to my mom and Robin yesterday. Mom is doing fine, and KJ (for the brief time we spoke) seems just as silent on the phone as usual. :P I'm sorry I missed you Em! When I got off with Robin you had signed off! I'll catch you soon.

Me, Mel and #10 (what I call Noel, Emma, Morgan, and David's apartment) watched Hook and ate half-price gelato, which was TRES tasty. (Or MOLTO, my bad.) ALSO, I found out that David watches Gossip Girl! We totally bonded, and we have a date to watch the new episode tonight (Obviously not a real date, just a nerdy GG one)! He is the BEST. EVER. :P

I love and miss you guys! How are all of you? Update!

Muah!

-A.