A Weekend with my Parents!

Surprise! My parents came to visit me in Italy. It was a very welcome visit, as I'm missed them a ridiculous amount and had just begun to feel really homesick. Considering that I am spending the semester studying in Florence, you might assume that they stayed in Florence this past week. That would be an incorrect thought. They chose to return to San Gimiagno, the small town in the Tuscan countryside, right outside of Siena. Luckily, they were able to stay in the exact villa at which we stayed six years ago!

They came into Florence to see me last Monday (October 25), and we had a fantastic lunch together as well as a delicious dinner at Il Gatto e La Volpe! It was so nice to be able to share one of my favorite restaurants in Florence with my parents!

They next returned to Florence to see me on Thursday (October 28). We shopped San Lorenzo Market for a few hours (I got a killer cute brown leather jacket!) and then I went back to Il Cornetto with them. We stopped at the cutest little trattoria (coincidentally it was the only one open) where I had pasta and pizza, a very balanced Italian meal. I was in awe upon returning to the villa; it was just as I remembered it, but more beautiful! As much as I adore my apartment in Florence, the queen-size canopy bed I slept in at this villa certainly was an upgrade.

Friday afternoon, we went into San Gimiagno for a half hour of so, stopping at my favorite restaurant from years ago, as well as a gelato shop which boasted that it was "The World's Best." We then made the drive to Siena for our cooking class!

Our cooking class was absolutely amazing! We made pappa al pomodoro (tomato bread soup), pepe e calcio (a super cheesy/peppery pasta that I can't remember it's name in Italian), a potato souffle, a slow-cooked beef dish, and almond cantucci with orange essence. SO DELICIOUS.

On Saturday, we journeyed to Venezia for the remainder of the weekend. It was fantastic to be able to share my mother's first visit to Venice! It's such an awesome (I use this word in its traditional sense, meaning inspiring awe) place and I know how fortunate I am that I've been able to return so many times! We walked all Venice, eventually stopping for dinner at a fancy little restaurant where I had the extravagant meal of filet mignon. Yes, I ate red meat... and I enjoyed it! Who have I become?? St. Mark's Square was beautiful and bustling with street vendors and slow-walking tourists. I was able to buy a few souvenirs for friends, which was nice, since my prior trip to Venice was overtaken by issues with my eye!

We stayed in a modern hotel right outside of Venice. Sunday, we traveled to Murano, the island of Venice known for it's glass. While in a store picking out glass jewelry, we had the fortune to see an artist blowing glass to make cute little Halloween figurines! The water bus system takes a bit of time, so we had to venture back to the train station so I could travel home to Florence. After retrieving my bag from the luggage holding center, grabbing a quick bite to eat, and saying a long goodbye to my parents (who I'll see again in 3 weeks!), I was on the train, headed for Firenze.

It was a fantastic weekend with my parents, and I'm just so happy that I was able to see them during their visit to Italy!

Fall Break!

I fully intend on doing a few posts about my fall break. Patience is a virtue!

An Unfortunate Series of Events

It has been a few days since I wrote a proper blog post. The reasons/excuses are as follows:

THE EYE INFECTION:
While in Venice, my right eye developed a super nasty infection due to my contact lenses. Saturday night was absurdly fun, as we celebrated Elsa's 20th birthday... but upon returning home, my eye was ridiculously irritated. Fast-forward to Sunday (October 11), and I'm going to the hospital with Dr. D'Amato. Dr. D thoughtfully picked up the medicine I was prescribed.

Monday, I skipped my two classes, and hoped my eye would heal itself. Tuesday, I was convinced I was going blind in that eye, because I could only see blurry color. That day, I went to a general practioner who said the medicine I'd been using was the absolute worst thing and the definite cause of my blurred vision. This Australian (!!) doctor prescribed a new antibiotic and insisted that I see a specialist. Awesome.
Wednesday, I met Edy at 9am, and we traveled to see an opthamologist. There, I was prescribed two additional antibiotics and told I'd need to be seen two more times over fall break. No thank you.

THE DEATH OF MY LAPTOP:
During my super fun time of blurry color vision, I managed to knock over a glass of water while using my computer. Guess where the water went? Right where it shouldn't have gone. Womp womp. There's goes that!

THE BREAKING OF MY GLASSES:
I resolved to only wear glasses. No more eye infections for me, thank you very much. Clearly, it was necessary for me to break them our first night in Athens while we were on the painfully slow taxi ride home from "I have no idea where we are." 10 euros later (thank goodness the taxis are so cheap here!), I was back at the hostel, and a pair of ghetto goggles.

THE STEALTHY STEALING OF MY WALLET:
Today, I stopped at the ATM to withdraw some cash. I wanted to take out 250 euro, but struggled doing so, and I ended up taking out only 180 euro. I next went to get my glasses fixed. It took a good hour and a half to find someone who could fix my glasses, but I managed! Hurray, I can see again! I asked the woman how much I owed her for fixing my glasses, and she said it was free. I tucked away my wallet in the little zippered compartment of my purse, and zipped that up too.

While we were in Milan (October 15th and 16th), one of my friends made a big deal about how I wasn't dressed properly to go to this caliber of bar/club. I hate packing, because I never seem to pack the right things! I wanted to go shopping yesterday, but most stores are closed in Greece on Sundays. So... I went to H&M today! I love how cheap and cute everything they carry seems to be!

I picked out a few things (including an outfit appropriate for Jen's birthday in Milan), went to check out, and realized I didn't have my wallet. I proceeded to frantically search the store. At this time, my wallet hasn't been found, and I don't think that it will be. Yes, I lost around 190 euro, my debit card, my drivers' license, metro card, and various other things... but they didn't take my camera, or phone! Small successes, right? It's definitely time to start counting my blessings.

Venice (Oct. 9-10, 2010)

Venezia: a city of romance; a city of canals; a city of gondolas; a city of alleyways; a city in which to get lost. Venice is truly a beautiful city, and I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to visit. 


I first visited Italy in 2004 with my family, yet we did not venture to Venice. We had plans to do so, but were so taken with the beauty of San Gimiagno that we decided to stay longer at Il Borgetto, rather than travel to Venice as scheduled. 


I next visited Italy with EF Tours in my sophomore year of high school. This time around, we did visit Venice! The most distinct memory I have of that trip is one my friends being attacked by pigeons in St. Mark's Square. We were doing a whirlwind tour (as I'm sure I've mentioned an annoying number of times), and didn't spend nearly enough time in the city. 

I was absolutely determined to visit Venice one again, and was given ample opportunity to do so during my semester in Florence. I was first given the opportunity to go through the student travel agency (FlorenceForFun), but due to timing issues, that didn't work. I was next given the opportunity to go with my school; that definitely worked! I was later given the opportunity to visit Venice with my parents, but more about that later.


Going to Venice with the Accademia Europea di Firenze was so easy. Like all school-planned trips, we simply met at the train station, and our transportation was waiting to whisk us away. We were all amazed at the city on the water, and took pictures every step of the way from the train station to the hotel we were staying at (Hotel Basilea). After settling into the hotel, we went as a group of 40 to several museums, including one on Leonardo da Vinci! It was really interesting to see his sketches turned into actual inventions! One hot chocolate later, we entered an amazing museum (Sala delo Scrutino) which had breathtaking paintings all along the ceiling of the second level. My neck began to hurt from craning my head backwards for so long!

It was Elsa's birthday on October 9, so we just had to celebrate it. I bought a bottle of Bellini to split with Elsa before our delicious dinner at improntacafe. I am still salivating (gross, I know) at how delicious that meal was. I had spaghetti carbonara (only one of my favorite pasta dishes ever), accompanied by vegetable tempora. There is nothing like coating and frying something to turn something from healthy to fattening, aka delicious.

After dinner, we went out to a bar and met up with the rest of the people in our program. It was a lot of fun, and I talked the bartender into giving Elsa many free shots/drinks, including a flaming shot of absinthe! She really wanted to go to a club for her birthday (it was only her 20th birthday), so we began the journey to find a club in Venice. I later found out that there is a grand total of TWO clubs on all of Venice! Luckily, we were able to find one, Piccolo Mondo. It was over-priced to enter, empty and dead in the beginning of the evening, too crowded by the end of the evening, and just not my scene. I would've left, but I promised Elsa that I would 'take care of her.' I say that in quotes because at the end of the night, Elsa was the one who led us home! She has an amazing sense of direction (direct contrast to me!).

As the evening wore on, I began to grow more and more weary of getting hit on by random Italian men, and my eye began to feel more and more irritated. I sat in a chair by myself waiting for my friends to grow tired of their new 'friends.' Eventually, one of them found me and said that she was ready to leave. Elsa's navigation skills are unparalleled and she led us home without any issues. Well, without any issues other than the increasingly painful sensation in my right eye.

By the time I got back to my hotel room, the pain was unbearable. I immediately took out my contacts and tried to flush out my eyes. I inspected  (I use this word because I was intensely looking at the contact lens for any rips or debris that would've caused the pain) the contact lens but found nothing. I tried to go to sleep, but the pain kept me awake. When I got dressed for Sunday's activities, the pain was simply unbearable, my eye was horrifyingly red and incredibly sensitive to light. If you're thinking what everyone else was thinking... I'll repeat myself, No, it didn't feel like 'pink eye'/conjuntivitis. I've had that in the past and know what it feels like. This was something entirely different.

I've had a ridiculous number of eye issues in the past, but this was without a doubt the most traumatizing.  My friends insisted that I show Dr. D my disgusting looking eye, so I did, with the intention that we could make a pit-stop at a pharmacy to pick up some eye drops. He agreed that I needed some eye drops and that a pit-stop could be made. Rather, a pit-stop could have been made, were pharmacies open on Sundays! I truly miss the convenience of 24/7 CVC & Walgreens. We rejoined the group and got on a water bus to head towards one of the islands of Venice... or so I thought! Dr. D had other plans, and when the water bus made it's stop at the hospital, I was informed that this was where I was getting off.

Despite my protests for hours on end, he maintained his position that I needed to be seen by a doctor immediately, and that he pulled rank and so I would be staying put. As a 21-year-old individual, it was fairly grounding to be told by an adult that I was to do something "because [he] said so." I thought that those days were long over. False statement. Long (yes, this story could be more drawn-out) story short, I had a massive eye infection from my contact lens in my right eye. The ointment that was prescribed to me by the emergency room doctor was later deemed to have been the worst treatment for my condition and the reason my vision had been reduced to blurred color. Two weeks later, and three bottles of antibiotic eyedrops later, my vision was all cleared up. Contact lenses will NOT be worn by me for the rest of my time in Italy.

Clearly, my time in Venice was dominated by my eye issue, so I felt it was necessary to return once more... with my parents. See this post for details on that trip to Venice!

The Italian Mail System isn't a Complete Failure!

The long-awaited package from my parents!

So ridiculously excited to find that the Italian mail system did NOT lose the package from my parents.  A month later... it arrived! Woo-hoo! I wonder what is inside? A little birdy told me there may be a ziplock baggie or two lurking within...

The beautiful birthday cards!

I also received a birthday card (the green one) from my grandmother today! I love how the celebration of my 21st birthday has spanned so many weeks! Everyone is spoiling me! Her card is pictured with the super cute birthday card my parents sent me earlier.





EDIT:

My birthday package!

After a particularly lovely skype session with my mother, I now know what was in the mystery birthday package! A warning: the spoiling has continued. Aside from some super awesome and amazingly beautiful birthday presents, my parents were thoughtful and included "some of life's necessities." 


"Some of life's necessities" meaning gladware, gallon-sized ziplock bags, cold medicine, eye drops, etc. Hey, those are necessities in MY life. Don't judge.

And then... there was the candy! If you're reading this, you know me (hopefully). And if you know me, then you know that I LOVE candy. I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate; I'm much more into sweet candy. However, when peanut butter is paired with chocolate, I make an exception. Reese's Cups are absolutely my favorite chocolate treat EVER. Like I said, I love sweets, and my mother did not disappoint on that front. In my birthday package, I received approximately 2,405 PixyStix. This amount of sugar makes me very happy.

On my blog a few weeks back, I mentioned how much I missed certain foods from the U.S. My parents took note of that post, and included the things that could travel. Example: Reese's Cups and Craisins! Yum.

I REALLY like pearls.

And now... the beautiful elements of my birthday package. No words. Just pictures. Which one is your favorite? Though it's really difficult to pick one, I like the third best.

I've had the best 21st birthday a girl could ask for! I spent it in Italy, with some amazing friends, had a delicious birthday dinner, received an amazing birthday package with all of my favorite things, and got to skype with some of my favorite people. Oh yes, I'm told there was champagne too.

Unnecessarily Stressed

Wait... you're telling me that I'm actually here to study? That I'm not just on one really extended vacation?


I'm only taking three classes this semester. What could possibly be stressing me? Oh... that's right: my first exam in Italian Politics. I tend to get extremely frazzled when I take essay exams, and am nervous that is going to happen again.

Tomorrow, I'll have Italian class 11am-12:30pm, then my Italian Politics class (where I'll take my exam (!!!)) from 1:30pm-3:15pm, and then my GST class (where I'll turn in my second paper on Nicolas Copernicus) from 3:30pm-5:15pm. A completely manageable day. It's really just the first hint of stress in my life in Italy.

Where are you, Wednesday?

It's a Beautiful Day

Take your pick: I'm either quoting U2 or Queen. I have to admit, I prefer the U2 version. Don't hate me!

I woke up obscenely early (for a Sunday morning) today. My alarm began sounding right at 6:45am. I really didn't want to pry myself out of bed at that time; I was warm and comfortable and was in the middle of a good dream.

However, I'd decided the night before that I wanted to spend more time out-and-about in Firenze. Specifically, I'd decided that I would wake up before sunrise, go up to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunrise, and then go on a run around the city before it got to be too bustling with action.

I'm so glad that I stuck to my plan and went for my early morning run! I'm not one to forgo sleep... so after I returned from my run, I went back to bed. I know, I know, that's disgusting that I climbed back into my bed after going for a run. It's my bed though!

This afternoon, I wrote my thing for ICLP (whoops, I know that was late!), caught up on my blog entries from last week, and did my Italian homework. I then went back to the Boboli Gardens to study for the exam I have on Tuesday in Italian Politics.

The gardens are such a beautiful place to study; I'm thankful that they're so nearby. The wait to enter the gardens (between waiting in line to get my ticket, and then to enter) was only about ten minutes long, which isn't bad at all! I love love love that I have a "friends of uffizi" card, so I don't have to pay to enter each time. Ten euros a pop would really add up. I think I'm going to try to go the gardens three times a week!