Kiss me, I'm Irish

So I'm at the airport in Dublin, it's 4:44 am, and I have to get to class by 2pm to give a presentation. I already know this is going to be a long day.

            Airports are so interesting. They are a hub of activity. Right before you go through security there are all the families and couples saying goodbye, acting like they will never see the other person again. When you come through customs you see all the families and lovers reunite with kisses, hugs, flower, just love in general. Now these are the things you see during the day. You may even see them at night. What most people don't see, however, is what goes on during the hours surrounding “stupid-o'clock.” That's when the really interesting people come out.

            I got to the airport some time around 11pm. I tried to do the normal things, like watch a movie and listen to music, but there is only so much that you can take of that. I was done by about 1:30am.

            Then came the Latvian boys. The Latvian boys are two guys around my age who live in Dublin, but who go home to Latvia to see their family on the holidays and such. They are quite amusing...I felt like Jane Goodall with the monkeys. They got their hands on a luggage cart and it all went downhill (or uphill depending on how amusing you find it) from there. One would ride on the cart and the other would push it...and of course, being 20 year old boys, they would crash into stationary things. It was hilarious. After that got boring they started delivering me “mail.” They would roll up on their luggage cart to where I was laying down going through pictures and we would just stare at each other knowing something amusing was about to happen, but trying to hold our laughter in. I would be the first to break the silence and say “hi.” Then they would say “hi.” Then they would hand me a piece of paper, an advert for beauty products or something like that, and roll away. I would end up in a fit of laughter. Then they would roll up behind me to see what movie I was watching. The next time they rolled up right behind me and finally we had a full conversation (i.e. 10 lines or so about where each of us were going). I wonder where they went. I kind of want to go find their gate and go play with them. Oh Latvia...

            Then there was the guy at the Soho organic coffee shop. I noticed him because he had this awesome style so I got behind him in line. He walked up to the counter with 2 Stella Artois. Yeah, he knows how to start his morning off right. As it turns out he's over at gate 66 going off to Edinburgh so I can't find out his life story. Too bad.

            Next, there were the two people sitting on either side of me. The girl to the right of me is Italian and plays guitar. She asked me to watch her stuff while she went to the bathroom. Then the guy on my left sat down. He asked me if I was Italian. I was hoping that if I said “no” then he would bugger off (I've hit that point in the early morning where I'm done with people who actually want to have a conversation). He proceeded to question me about my writing habits and asked me if the guitar was mine. I told him it was my Italian friend's. He went on to tell me that he is a composer and plays so many instruments. He is working as a graphic designer secretly in Dublin and going to Italy on “business” for two days so it looks like he isn't working here illegally. Yes, this is exactly the kind of stuff you tell people at the airport at 4 in the morning. So then the girl on my right comes back and he proceeded to talk to her in Italian. She actually just moved over to next to him so they can Italianize together. Glad I could help with that.

            And then there's me. I guess that I can be considered one of these weird morning people. Around 2am I was done with sitting around waiting so I walked around the entire airport and filmed random things so I can put it together in a music video about what it's like living at the airport at God awful times in the morning. I have become one of these airport people...and I love it.

My knight in foreign armor

I know that I have been slacking off and not writing as much and about what I should. And I promise I will get to all the great adventures I have been having around the world, but I just needed to post this first. Tonight I went out with a friend from Northwestern and one of her mates who is studying with her in Spain. I needed to let the world (well, the small amount of people who read this ....and me so I remember it someday) know that chilvalry exists. Tonight when I was cold a guy gave me his jacket. Yes, this may not seem like a big thing, but it is huge. Common courtesy and manners has been lost. We've accepted the fact that nice guys finish last, but that simply isn't true. It's silly, but all those stereotypical things (bringing a girl flowers, opening the door for her, and giving her your jacket when she's cold) makes a HUGE impact. My inner feminist may reel at the thought, but I really love it!
So thank you, for being a gentleman and making me feel like a princess.

Go fly a kite!!!!

SO, I'm currently in Amsterdam trying to book a flight for Thanksgiving break. Over the past week and a half I've been to Brussels, Bruges, and Amsterdam....all while only living out of a backpack. I leave in two days to go back to Rome and although I've fallen in love with all of these cities, I am excited to go back "home."


This is our fall break trip run by the school (Well, Brussels and Brugges was). They wanted to show us the EU, NATO, the European Parliment, and so on. It really was a great trip and I'm going to try to convince my mum to go with me to Bruges as soon as possible.

BRUSSELS
Brussels was like NYC, there were lots of buildings for doing business (unlike Rome where people never work) that we frequented. We lived in a nice residential neighborhood with a little crepe place down the street. We were only 10 minutes by subway from the downtown area. The downtown area, especially the Grand Place, is older and has some of he most beautiful architecture I've seen. There's the one statue, Manikin Pis, of a little boy peeing into a fountain. It's one of their most famous attractions and they make little outfits for it and such.

Most nights we went to this bar called Delirium. It's become my favorie bar. They have about 2,004 kinds of beer from all over the world and the bartenders are great, especially the Australian. There are tons of beers on tap upstairs, but it's downstairs where everybody goes. We met Canadians there the first night and Americans the second.

So this is where I have to explain how I got punched in the face by a Canadian. Well.....we met him the first night at Delirium. He was totally stuck on one of my friends and wanted to meet up the next day. So we had lunch with him and hung out for a bit. We met up with him at Delirium again that night. He basically got rejected by my friend, was a couple of absinthe shot and beers in, and was a frisky Canadian. I understand the aggressiveness in Canadian hockey now from players and fans alike. Somehow we started play fighting (this always happens). Neither of us were landing hard punches; it was all really soft stuff. However, all of a sudden he gets through my gard and lands a hard one right on my nose. It wasn't hard enough to break anything, but my nose did start bleeding a bit. So yeah, did I deserve it? No. Did I start it? Maybe.

GIddy Up...er sbrigati!

SO...this has been a long weekend/week already.

We're gearing up for midterm week (next week). While I write this I am also simultaneously doing my Religions of the World midterm, writing about the little raft and the big raft of Buddhism. Fun.

I broke my school computer. Well, I didn't break it. Really the backlight just burnt out. I think it's because of the electrical current here. Even though I have a converter everything tends to make a buzzing sound when I plug it in. It's kind of freaky when the straightener does it.

I'm a brunette now. I have been for the past week or so. It's wonderful. I missed brown hair. Being a blonde is not what it's cracked up to be.

Being here makes me realize how much I miss home...or, if not home, the people at home. I miss my friends so much, but it's good that I can talk to them all the time on skype. They are so open minded and I like them 100% of the time which is a feat.

My chosen family

Anyway, back to life in Italy. So this past weekend we went to Florence (a.k.a. Firenze) to go horseback riding in Tuscany.

 Overall it was amazing. We has a 6:20 am train so I didn't sleep the night before. We got to Florence and then went to the markets to do some really cheap shopping....well as it turns out not so cheap. I bought this really fierce black fall coat and some scarves for myself.

 

Here's all of us in the farmer's market after eating prosciutto and mozarella sandwiches.

Then we went to the Duomo and saw the Gates of Paridise (or rather the replicas). We got some hotel rooms right by the Duomo and then Steph & I went on an hour+ search for the police so she could get some form of identification.

Around 4 we got into a van that took us to Tuscanny. We rocked out on the way to music from the 80's and 90's. When we go there we were quized on our hourse riding abilities. Since I had only been riding a few times I got the docile horse. He was a chill horse. He didn't try to eat everything on the way like everyone else's horses.

We walked and trotted through the woods and vineyards. I got some great photos that I will put up on my photobucket later thiss week. I have more to say on this all, but I am extremely exhausted. I think I will revise this tomorrow...

Bises.

University Service Day

Wow...it's been a long weekend. I will tell you all about it in the next post. Right now it's 5:30 in the morn and I have class at 9am. I've been up working on this video for University Service Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8pg37W5plo


Bises!
-Chace

What I Like About Rome

So....we get bored at 2 am....and make videos now.

My craziness continues...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PRRpIbjmd4

<3 Chace

A Buldging Bag of Biscotti

So, silly Chace moment of the day...

After acing my Italian test (no, not really, but I think I passed) and after a well deserved nap, I set out to buy provisions for the week (Read: chocolate croissants, prosciutto, and chocolate chip biscotti). SO I went up to the pastry counter and asked for about 15 biscotti (in Italian). The guy who was working there asked me if I wanted 15 grams worth of biscotti or 15 something else. I don't know how to say "pieces" in Italian so I said it in English and picked the second option assuming it was the right one. So he gets this big bag and starts piling biscotti in. I'm mentally counting in my head and thinking "That is WAY more than 15 (quindiechi)." But you can never have too much biscotti, especially with tea! So he FINALLY fills up the bag and it comes out to about 13 Euro. Apparently the second option that I didn't understand was 15 Euro worth of biscotti. Of course I was too proud to correct him and, like I said, you can never have too much biscotti, so I took it.

Lesson learned: I need to work on my Italian.

A woman with a GPS, some horses, and a picture of a picture

So, how is it that a woman with a GPS in Michigan cannot find a restaurant to eat at, but a girl with a computer in Italy can find one and then give her step-by-step directions on how to get there. Hmm....oh my mum and my GPS...how incompatible you two are.

So I think plans for Tuscany this weekend are set. We are going to go horseback riding, go to a wine tasting in a 13th century castle, grab dinner, and go dancing all for a reasonable fee. Sounds like a fun weekend....but I'm not telling you where in Tuscany because God forbid someone sets up a sting. :p haha

Interesting day. Went to Giancolo Hill with Jeff to check out the view at night. We had a very interesting and deep conversation about thing. He gave me the most amazing memento: a photo album pf all these beautiful black and white shots that he took of Italy and of me when we were at the hill the other day. I wish I could put up the prints, but alas they were taken with an old school film camera. This picture of a picture doesn't even do his skills justice.

Cheated by the Devil

Cioccolato di diavolo is NOT the same thing as Devil's Chocolate in the US!!!

I just had a rude awakening. I felt like expanding my gelato knowledge adn decided to try some new flavors tonight...BIG MISTAKE!!! Cioccolato di diavolo is dark chocolate gelato with a secret ingredient...peppers. It is a spicy, jarring flavor that I was totally not ready for. I know it is common to put pepper in chocolate for sauces, hard chocolates, and chocolate drinks, but in this gelato it was too much!

I also decided to try the Zuppa Inglase...basically trifle gelato. It really didn't taste like any trifle I have ever had. Basically it was a bust. Maybe I will just stick to my reliable Canolo and Nutello. At least they taste like what you think they are supposed to taste like. ;p

True Religion My Ass!

So...it wasn't actually Mackenzie's birthday yesterday...it was another Mackenzie's birthday. I didn't know that at the time when I called her and sand "Happy Birthday" to her answering machine....oops. :p

Small rant: Thank you uber-militant Catholic side of the family for nit-picking at every part of my life and making me never want to see you people again. Have fun with your "true religion" and your mild mannered clothes. It is no wonder that all my cousins on your side of the family have either run away or gotten pregnant. I don't blame them. I don't care if you end up in heaven, hell, or somewhere else...just stay the fuck away from me.


Now that I've calmed down,
Last night was fun. We wanted to all go out to this club called Fake in Testaccio, but a few people in the group started to complain about the price of the cover charge. So we changed our plans and were going to go to Trastevere instead, except on the way to collect everyone I ended up getting separated from all the girls. I looked high and low, but they were nowhere to be found. So it ended up being me, Jeff, and Greg. We went to the Little Devil, basically the bar on the corner where everyone from my school goes. We got a shot on the house and then my favorite flaming absinthe shot. After that we ended up in Trastevere at a bar that we now call Moe's due to the fact that they sell Duff beer and the bartender was wearing a Duff shirt. He made me the best Mojito with ginger ale. It is definitely a place I will be revisiting...

Lights, Camera, Passion!

First order of business...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACKENZIE!!! I wish I could be there to celebrate it with you, but unfortunately I am far, far away in Roma. Love you honey.

Now onto more about Rome and life at college.

Another week down and another weekend of nothing to do. Originally I was planning on going to Cinque Terre to hike through the 5 villages, but as it turns out it's 40 Euro each way on the train. I cringed a little bit at the price, but I would do anything short of taking a flight back to the US to get out of Rome for a weekend. Everyone else is using the "I'm broke and would rather spend my money on Italian boots" excuse. It seems like everyone here is being supported by their parents who put money into their accounts for the week. I'm sorry, but that's kind of ridiculous. Usually when you're in Europe you travel through Europe and you kind of need more than a weekly allowance to do that.

Well it's not their faults really....I'm just frustrated at being stuck and being a girl and thus more "rape-able" (in the words of the great Noah) if I travel alone. That's probably what I'm going to end up dong though, which is fine. I feel I can make it through most countries on my own. I'll probably do Ireland, Amsterdam, and maybe France on my own. Meet up with a friend in the UK. School trip to Brussels and Luxembourg. Drag people to everywhere else maybe. We'll see. It will probably get better when everyone has been in Rome a few more weeks.

SO yeah, besides that it's been pretty chill. I went out to Gianico Hill with one of my friends the other day and we took some crazy black and white shots...mostly of me and a rose sitting on the wall overlooking all of Rome. It's really beautiful here. I think I'm warming up to Rome, but I'm still not in love with it. I really don't know why I haven't fallen in love with this city like everyone else has. Every time I tell someone that they look at me like I'm crazy.

Speaking of falling in love... (No, not me! Italian men smell of heavy sweat and cigarettes...not my thing)

Paris may be the city of love and lights, but Roma is the city of passion. There are people making out everywhere here. It's beautiful. Every movement, every touch is filled with this heavy, purposeful romanticism. I can't even try to explain it in words. I would take pictures of it, but I don't want to be that creepy tourist/photographer hiding behind a bush with a telephoto lens. :p

So yeah, it's almost 3am here and I still have some Theology to finish up.

Bises!
-Chace

The Rain in Rome Falls Mainly on the Cobblestone

It rained today for the first time since we have all been here in Rome. We all went out into the courtyard and danced around like little children. It's been so hot here...we really needed the rain.

Thank God it didn't rain last night though. Jeff (a fellow classmate) and I went out for some amazing tiramisu at Pompi and went walking around Rome to see the monuments in the dark. We ended up taking a 7 hour trek, getting lost for a few hours in the windier parts of Trastevere. I got home at 3:30 am...but it was an amazing, spontaneous tour of Rome. For part of it I was afraid that we had walked out of Rome completely.

So yeah, it's a rainy Saturday. We might be off to Pisa and Florence tomorrow if we choose to get up and buy train tickets. We shall see.

Oh! We went to Tivoli yesterday too! It's this beautiful town outside of Rome that has a beautiful villa with dozens of fountains. They town itself was a lot calmer than Rome (which is one notch down from a NYC pace). We walked along the winding cobblestone streets looking into shops. We found a delicious little bakery with cannolis and tiny fruit pastries. It is definitely somewhere I would travel to again.

Impulsive and Explosive...like fireworks

I may have just done something very silly.....or another of the hundred adjectives that are hiding behind these blushing cheeks.

Burn baby, burn

So here's some excepts from my journal that I brought to the beach:



Taking the train to S. Marianella (the beach). I never know what I'm going to see when I look out my window. There's the bustling city, the beautiful green hills, the dry towns. It reminds me of so many places as once, yet it's unlike anywhere else I've ever been.

It took forever to get to the train this morning. We took the A to Termani, accidentaly took the B one stop, had to go back to Termani, and wasndered around the station attempting to ask in Italian where to go. We finally found the train and go on the 12:09 towards Pisa.

It has been a 2-day process trying to get to the beach. We tried to go yesterday, but we were so tired from dancing the night before that we slept right through until the late afternoon. So instead of laying out on a beautiful beach I made Fettucini Alfredi which I found out is only netive to one restaurant in Rome, D'Alfredo (Thanks Dan!). All in all it was a good day regardless.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It's September and I am lying out on a beach in Rome. Sant'Marianella to be exact. With eyes closed I can hear the soft lapping of the waves on the hot sand and the murmuring chorus of a dozen Italian voices. They don't scream or shout; they express themselves vividly with their hands. Their voices are soothing like the sound of the sea. You can taste the salt, rich in the air. It burns my lips. It's wonderful.

To my left there is an Italian couple playing paddle ball. They are pretty good. There is no diving into the sand to save the play; only the gracful twisting of their bodies under the glaring sun.

This beach has a different feel from the islands [Read: U.S. Virgin Islands]. Where the islands have color blooming everywhere, the Italian beach has a singular tone like looking through a tinted lense. It reminds me of sepia or old photographs of the beach. There is no pressure to do anything, anything at all. I'll probably end up burning, but that doesn't matter as much as the warm sun on my skin. There's a letter I want to write while I'm still awake.

One more thing: although I usually don't like guys in speedo-type bathing suits, I'm not adverse to them here...



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm red. Not bright lobster red, but still red enough that it's probably going to hurt tomorrow. It was worth it...

On a side note

ALright, so to see all my pictures here's the photobucket link:
http://s769.photobucket.com/albums/xx331/savetheworldcomplex3/

Something that I was just talking to my dad about that I found interesting:
There isn't a drinking culture like we have in America here. A "bar" is actually a cafe where you can get espresso, paninis, and such. There is alcohol everywhere, but they don't drink to get drunk like a lot of Americans do. It is acceptable to have a glass or two of wine for dinner, but no one pounds back 12 beers in a row here.

While there is not a big drinking culture here, Italians are facing new drinking problem with their youth. All the best clubs are right outside of Rome and the transit systems shut down relatively early so the youth of Rome drive there. At the clubs they pound back a few drinks (the youth are more similar to us in their drinking habits) and then proceed to drive back to Rome drunk. There have been a rise in alcohol related accidents/deaths. Hopefully the Romans will do something about this like open their transportation systems later or start a drunk driving/designated driver campaign. Needless to say I'm not getting into any cars with Italians any time soon.

Week 1 in Italy = Freshman 1st semester

It's been only a week, but it already feels like home here!

After unpacking and showering off the airplane grime I met tons of awesome people and we decided to go out to Campo di Fiore. Campo is basically the American clubbing and bar area where all the tourists and international students go at night. It's so alive! We had no idea how to get there so we called my roommate's friend in the US and he gave us vague directions to the other side of the river. We followed the river ALL the way down for about an hour...definitely the wrong way to go. We thought we were lost so we talked to these girls who looked American. As it turns out they were from University of Washington in Seattle and they were really awesome.



They showed us to Campo and we ended up going to The Drunken Ship, a VERY VERY American bar where they play beer pong and the drinks are twice as strong as normal. It was really crowded the first night and a lot of fun. As the night went on we ended up meeting up with one of the guys from University of Washington and crossing the bridge to Trastevere which is the Italian version on Campo, but less rowdy and with more wine. We went to a wine bar and just chilled out for the rest of the night.

The next day we had orientation where they warned us against Campo di Fiore and showed us around the neighborhood and the historic parts of Rome. It was amazing. We stopped by the Piazza di Popolo (sp?), the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain...basically everywhere. BRING BANDAIDS!!! If you ever plan on coming to Rome you will need bandaids for your feet.

The Piazza di Popolo was fun. There's a giant Egyptian monument in the middle of the area and street Performers were located all around it. The Trevi Fountain is very beautiful, but I think I would like it better if there were no people there. I think we're going to go visit it around 2am one day this week when it will be less crowded.







We ended up in Campo again that night because we told the University of Washington guy, Cee, that we'd meet up with him. The University of Washington housing in Rome is so much nicer than ours. They get their own apartments in Campo and the surrounding area, although they have to share facilities with more people. We amassed a large group from U of W and then ran into a bunch of students from our group and ended up going to some small bar/club...Il Sorrentto, or something to that effect. It reminded me of a more stylish Trads. They played American music and the whole lot of us were singing along to it. Eventually it got really crowded and the creepy Italian guy to American girl ratio go out of hand so we left for another club. We lost some people along the way, but eventually we made it to Mood, a crazy dance club with strobe lights and little corners with couches that you could sneak off to. I danced with this really nice/cute boy from U of W in the strobe light room. We danced for what seemed like hours and ended up busting some moves on top a table. All in all it was a terrific night!



The rest off the week passed by normally. Of course we walked around and went to Campo for paninis, but we had classes too so we didn't get too crazy.

As for classes they all seem really good and interesting, although there are some things that could be better.

International Business – This class is pretty interesting, though admittedly with a lot of reading. The professor is Italian and has a bit of an accent, but is still mostly understandable.

Italian – Our professor is very energetic and likes to move fast. Right now it's only basic Italian that we are learning; how to get around, the days of the week, numbers.

International Relations – I think I like this class? I'm not sure yet. Our teacher talks way too much and likes to flit around from topic to topic like a humming bird, but she really does enjoy her subject. We've only had to read one article on “Thinking Theory Thoroughly” so far.

Religions of the World – Our professor is a priest and he only knows his own religion. This is quite a disappointment since the class in going to be about a number of religions outside of Catholocism. He didn't know why the Hindus thought the cow was sacred and explained a Buddhist story incorrectly. The first class he basically told us we were all wrong. He's a nice guys though. We'll see how this class goes.

So yeah, that's been my week. Everyone went out last night to the club on the river under the bridge by Castle Sant'Angelo, but I elected to stay home and get some work done. If I'm ever going to travel to other countries on weekends and actually experience them I'm going to have to get work done now.

I think we're going to the beach tomorrow. I'll definitely take pictures!

How do You Say Sleep Deprived in Italian

I'll never go on another airline. They will just never live up to SAS, the Swedish airline that flew me to Stockholm. Most of the passengers are Swedish, but there were four of us Americans all clustered together. As soon as we got on we were examining all the little gadgets inlaid in the seat ahead of us. There's a cup holder, a place for your glasses, a little mirror perfect for fixing eyeliner, and a little TV. The TV has a touch screen for movies, music, games, and flight information.

As I'm writing this I'm about three hours into my flight, placing me over the Labrador Sea, and I have just finished watching He's Just Not That Into You. I thought I was going to hate this movie. I hate the stupid self-help books about relationships because, although somethings about human behavior are predictable, you can never plan or protect yourself against emotion. Even if you do the situation will probably do the opposite of what you prepared yourself for anyway. I also really did not like what parts I read of the book at the time either, but that was probably because the harsh nature probably told me what I saw, but did not want to believe.

Either way, I liked it. It was very true and I enjoyed that not everybody found that Hollywood, picture-perfect happy ending. I like the non-perfect endings that are being made nowadays. I don't like them in the past (i.e. Gone with the Wind and such, although Casablanca was excellent.).

Anyway, I'm getting off-topic. Basically SAS is amazing. The best part was not all the gadgets, but the lack of people on the flight. I had a window seat with a lovely woman named Mara sitting next to me. We both ended up moving to our own aisles. :p Beat that!

It still hasn't hit me that I'm only my way to Italy for four months. After a week there maybe the culture shock will come closing in on me! Ha ha, yeah, right!

P.S. The food is fantastic too! I don't care what the say about Korean Airlines having the best food, the food on SAS was excellent compared to all other airline food.

_ _ _



Just got to Sweden! Everything here is very stylish. The airport has wood floors and there are glass walls everywhere. After going through another round of security I had to say goodbye to Mara who is off to another part of Sweden on vacation visiting her husband's mother's family. She was soooooooooooo nice. I wish I could have gotten her e-mail before we parted. It was actually rather emotional; we even hugged at the end. It's strange how Americans bond when they're far from home on foreign soil...or sky.



Just waiting for the next flight now. It's about 7ish in the morning here....around 1am in the states. I haven't gotten any sleep yet, but it's hard to when it feels like another day.

Time to go!!!

- - -

As much as I know I wouldn't want to drive in NYC, I know that I could NEVER drive here. I think the Italians believe there is a middle lane between each two real lanes. As my taxi passes each car I feel that if I wanted too i could reach out and graze my neighbor with my fingertips. I'm not afraid though. Don't get me wrong, it is a nail-biting experience, but I trust my cabbie to get me to Marcantonio Colona safely. I don't know, Italy just has a calming sense. It smells different here and just like Susan Oh said in Under the Tuscan Sun, they do have really creepy trees---but I love it!

I'm suprised at how easy it was to converse with the cabbie, not that we said much, just the address, that my bag was heavy, and that I was going to university.

Now it's time to look out the window.

- - -

I've been hanging out with some amazing people that I've met here so far and we're off to a piza party the admins are having for us.

Oh..and fate is a bitch. I go half way around the world and I still run into people I know. Not that it's neccessarily a bad thing...

Ciao

On this coldest of January nights
We drive out past the runway and watch the planes go flying by
The runway lights are the deepest blue like the colors of your eyes
So close them tight and kiss me one last time

If you could go anywhere right now
Where would you go?
And would you miss me when you get there?
There's no place that I would rather be
Please don't let me go falling from the sky
The "fasten seatbelt" sign just needs to go out
If only you could be right here by my side
Home wouldn't seem so far from here

Passport, customs, carry on, remember
To shut off all of your electronic devices
Fell asleep on Tuesday woke up Monday afternoon
I slept right through your International Date Line I

f you could go anywhere right now
Where would you go?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I am off to Italy in a week. I still have yet to pack, but some things are set aside. I went to NYC this morning for my visa appointment. After worrying for ages about my bank letter and getting jerked around by Bank of America I spent a total of 10 minutes in front of the consulate representative and my paperwork passed with flying colors. What a waste of worrying.

I hosted a dinner party tonight which went off without a hitch. Everyone was dressed up and the menu was as follows:

*Brie with apples, hummus, and crackers
*Strawberry salad
*Bruchetta
*Roasted potatoes
*Pork tenderloin with a plum sauce
*English triffle
*Fresh berries in limoncello with a honey yogurt creme


Scrumptious!!!

Everyone ended up staying till 2am and I cleaned in my evening gown until about 3 in the morning.


Now I think it's time to get a few hours of rest before work. :)
Bises!