Rome sickness

I've been feeling really homesick lately, except not for home but for Rome. I cannot tell you how much I miss Italy. Okay, there are a lot of things I don't miss about Italy, but the things I do miss, man oh man. A picture of St. Peter's in my Boss's house almost brought me to tears the other day. So in honor of my Rome sickness, I will give you my top ten favorite things to do in the Eternal City

1.Go to the Borghese Gardens at sunset. Well, you should go to the Borghese gardens anyway, they are absolutely gorgeous (beware scantily clad, sunbathing Italians), but the view of the city at sunset is utterly breathtaking.

2. Go to the Villa Borghese. I mean, as long as you're in the gardens, you might as well drop into my absolute favorite museum ever. Why is it so great you ask? One word: Bernini. The Borghese houses two of Bernini's most beautiful statues, the Rape of Persephone and Apollo and Daphne,  which are probably two of the most amazing statues in the world. Michelangelo's David is just lame in comparison. There's also a great collection of Carravagio's work, including my favorite work ever- Sick Bacchhus.

3. Go church hopping. There are so many great churches in Rome; even the ones that aren't famous are absolutely beautiful, so just have a day where you stop in every church you pass. Sure, you probably won't get very far, but you get a good feel of Rome this way.

4 . Go to Piazza Navona when the sun is shining. It is the most colorful place, filled with art vendors and, of course, scarf sellers. There is also a fantastic fountain, designed by, your guessed it, Bernini. 

5. Get gelato and coffee near the Pantheon. The Pantheon is probably the coolest building ever. I mean, it was a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods (possibly designed by the emperor Hadrian), but it was taken by the Christians and turned into a church. It's absolutely spectacular. It also helps that the Pantheon is located near some of the absolute best cappuccino and gelato shops in all of Rome. 

6. Climb the Cupola of St. Peter's. True, it's a lot of stairs, but it is one of the most breath-taking experiences you will ever have. There are two levels, first you are inside the dome itself, with a stunning view of the high altar and the baldacchino. Then you climb some more stairs, and suddenly you're on top of the dome, looking out over Rome. This was one of the first things I did in Rome, and I have never regretted it (it's much easier the second time). 

7. Go to the Colosseum at night. Sure the scarf/rose/light-up-toy salesmen won't leave you alone, but the beautiful view will be worth it. It is such a cool building, and when it's illuminated, it has an eery beauty to it. And since you're so close, you should walk over to the Roman Forum at night. 

8. Go to the Trevi Fountain. Okay, so it's nearly impossible to find, and it's not exactly the greatest piece of art ever, but it's worth the trek just to have that Lizzie Mcguire moment. Just a warning- not all the wishes you make come true: I wished for a handsome Italian boyfriend with no results. 

9. Eat eat eat! Italian food is amazing! So you should go out on a limb and try everything. Even foods that are gross in American are delicious in Italy. For example, I spent four months living off of egg plant and zucchini. You should also try Pasta Carbonara; It is my absolute favorite, and I guarantee you will love it too! Oh, and, of course, you have to drink a lot of wine with every meal. It's just the way this works. 

10. Wander! Just soak in the city. Every town has its own vibe, and the best way to discover it is simply to be there. You don't have to rush from museum to museum or try to see every single famous site. The most important thing is that you come away 

Summer

Summer has never been my favorite season. I'm much more of a fall girl, personally. I love the crisp back-to-school smell in the air, the leaves changing, the cool weather, which is obviously why I moved to Texas, because, as we all know, fall is a season they have there (sarcasm, sarcasm). In case you wanted to know, summer in the south is just gross- humidity, 100 degree weather, etc, etc. It doesn't really help that the economy in Littleton is sort of shot, and I'm having to patch random jobs together, so I can, you know, eat next semester. But this means that I have a lot of random free time, which means that I'm rather bored.

This summer, however, I am trying really to do something productive with my free time. Okay, I admit it, I still spend far to much time on Pinterest, but I have actually succeeded in getting somethings done. For example, I started on my Junior Poetry project. I may not have chosen a poet to obsess over (read all their works, make a presentation on them, and what not) for the next six months, but I have crossed some off the list: not Shakespeare, not Ben Jonson, Donne is right out. Hey, it may not be actual progress, but at least I'm making my job next semester a little easier.

I played my violin for the first time in about six months! Obviously I was not about to haul the most expensive thing I own overseas where it could easily be stolen, so I hadn't played in ages, until the other day. Recently I've had a love-hate relationship with music. I love having the ability to play violin, but I really hate not being good and not having the time to actually get good. It's always a little awkward to play really badly and then have to explain that you've been playing for 11 years. But today, I realized that I really should be proud of myself. I have stuck with violin for 11 years, which included 6 teachers, 3 majors moves (one of them transatlantic), and through some of the hardest semesters of my life. I may not be very good, but, dangit, I'm persistant.

I'm also trying to justify my hours wasted on Pinterest by actually doing crafts. I finished one, and i have a couple more in mind. I started this cute little pillow a couple of weeks ago and finally finished it yesterday.  Okay, it's not actually something I saw on Pinterest. I saw a pillow in a shop in England with the same saying, and I thought, "I need that, but it won't fit in my suitcase, " so I made my own when I got home.  The embroidery took me a long time, but I'm very pleased with the results. Perhaps I shall post a tutorial.
Another thing I'm doing is catching up on all the movies I haven't seen and that all my friends tell me I should have seen ages ago. So far, I've watched Ocean's 11 and Skyfall, neither of which I really would have thought to watch, if everyone wasn't constantly telling me that I should. So I watched them, and, yes, guys, I liked them a lot. Maybe I'll vary up my chick flick movie diet. Maybe. Speaking of chick flicks, last night I watched He's Just Not That Into You (recommendation from the Orthogals, not because I was feeling broken hearted, don't worry). It was hilarious and really really embarrassing ("Oh gosh,I have totally done that before!"). While it's not a movie for my younger readers, it is definitely a movie I'd recommend to anyone who is having some boy problems. It could also be titled "Dumb Things Girls Do When They Can't Take a Hint" and basically shows all the common mistakes girls make in the dating scene. Anyway, perhaps this shall be the subject for a later post.

I've even seen some recent movies, albeit kids' movies, but, hey, everyone my age went to see Monsters University, right? Right? Well, anyway, I went to see it last Sunday with my younger siblings, and we absolutely loved it. Little Mike was probably the most adorable thing ever, just sayin'. We also had the most hilarious awkward moment at the theater. We found our theater, and I saw a bunch of people crowding into one door: "What silly people," I thought, "There's a perfectly good door opposite it." So I pull open the other door and try to usher my sister through. She looks up at me and says, "Um, Pip, that's the janitor's closet."And, of course, lots of people would be watching, so with the utmost dignity, I close the door and usher my giggling midgets through the correct door. I was a little abashed, but I felt much better when the movie theater embarrassed itself by playing "The Internship" instead of the G rated movie we had all been expecting. They did eventually fix it, but not before several small children had learned some great new vocabulary words. Ah, well...

Finally, I (along with the rest of the staff) have started prepping for my next actual job! I am beyond excited to be staffing the summer program that I once attended at Ye Olde University. It's going to be the best thing ever, and I absolutely cannot wait!

Coming Home

"Why do you go away? So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. The people there see you differently too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving" -Terry Pratchett

This quote was on the program for our final convocation in Rome, and it has been bouncing around in my head ever since. Coming home is always hard for me. It's hard to readjust to family life, and most of all, it's hard to readjust to Littleton's laid-back pace. And by laid-back, I of course mean, nothing has changed in at least the past fifty years. I am really not cut out for small town living. I just really do not like it at all. I absolutely love big cities with all their convenience and, honestly, anonymity.

I'm a fairly quiet, shy person, and it's much more comfortable for me to just blend in with the crowd. In such a small county as this one, I am constantly plagued with the terrifying idea that everyone knows who I am. I was on the phone in Wal-mart the other day, and when I hung up I realized that half the county (who were, of course, all in Wal-mart because it was a Saturday) now knew everything about my life. I'm sure that in small houses all over the county, gossipy elderly ladies are worrying all about my problems, which is nice of them, but really, they don't need to bother.  They're nice people and everything, but I miss the ability to slide into the background.

I notice this particularly in one specific circle. When I was in high school, my family was still settling into Littleton, and our social circle was very limited. This was all fine and dandy until my senior year, when things suddenly went bonkers, and the drama level became unbearable. Now, most of my memories of the parish have a distinctly unpleasant flavor to them. I wish it weren't this way, but when you're sixteen, and you feel pressured to conform to some standard that is not your own and which is not something your parents are not sure that they are 100% comfortable with, you start to rebel. Now, let me make this perfectly clear. I am not the rebellious type. As a matter of fact, I am about as unrebellious as a person can be, but, like most people, I do not enjoy being told what to do, particularly if the person doing the telling has no right to do so.

So I rebelled- that is, fled. I graduated a year early, went to college, studied abroad for a semester, and was as generally smug about all my accomplishments as it is possible to be. For a very long time, I nursed a lot of anger and resentment towards those whom I thought had hurt me. Now, I suppose that most of the hurt was in my head, but it always gave me an unpleasant little prick whenever I'm with these people during breaks. I would always try to play up my own importance and accomplishments, so as to distance myself from the offending parties and unpleasant recollections. I would always think, "Don't they know that none of the stuff they care about is important?"

But coming home after a semester of historical, life-changing experiences has taught me one thing. That my own injuries are very small, and that in such a small place small things get blown out of proportion. And I also came to realize that these small matters are as important to these people, as my big, world-renown matters are to me. The lives of people here in Littleton matter as much as the lives of the trendy Italians, the Pope, and all the other people I admired on my travels. Littleton may not be much, but to some people, it's their whole world.

In Which We Are Young and Spontaneous

Well, here we are in Munich, having a lovely time, as could be expected. We were going to head up to Berlin tomorrow, but due to a complicated variety of circumstances (read, no planning) we are now going to Salzburg. It's not usually a thing I would do, but since we left booking tickets until the night before, I'd say we're doing pretty well. In less than a hour, we managed to get train tickets and a hostel. Not bad. Not bad at all.Go, team, go!

Sure I'm disappointed about Berlin. I was really excited about it, but I wouldn't say that I'm €300 disappointed. As it is, I'm getting to go to a city I was interested in visiting anyway.

I'm not a very get up and go kind of person. I like planning. I like when other people plan, and we're not doing it the night before. But, hey, we're in college. This is what college students are supposed to do. We're supposed to have spontaneous adventures, right? So that being said, we've really enjoyed our time in Munich, and I'm sure we'll have a blast Salzburg.

PS- in case you couldn't tell, this whole post was basically a "Hi, mom, we haven't died yet" kind of post.