August, how I love your long days!

Sadly, there just aren't enough of them before school starts again! I've been so busy learning a new job and attempting to keep up with life that this summer has passed by in a blur! Of course, I'm sure part of that had to do with the fact that I'm used to my summer officially beginning at the end of April, whereas this year I got home almost in the middle of June. But anyway, life has been busy and fun this summer, though it's almost over. Well, summer anyway. Life isn't almost over, though with some of the classes I have to look forward to, I'm not quite so sure.

In vacanze

Ah, lovely Florida in the summertime. Well, besides the cloud cover and humidity, at least. I'm enjoying my little family vacation and my time with my brother before he goes off to California and with my family after being gone for about nine months. I'm also going to try to see some other friends in the area and some of my extended family in the area, too.

I got in a conversation with my brother's roommate and his girlfriend (who happens to be my roommate from high school and a very good friend) last night about anime, and now I've got an anime-watching project to last me for the rest of the summer, hooray! Well, I just wanted to write something since it's been a little while since I last wrote, even if it's not anything important or groundbreaking.

The family in Florida, taking a walk on Park Avenue

Library Work

The library is an enormous mess right now. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is being torn apart! Quite literally, actually. They're renovating the ground floor this summer, which is where I do most of my work. The carpets have been pulled up, the walls have been torn down, dust is everywhere--it's not a very nice place to spend a lot of time! Unfortunately, I spend the majority of most days here! However, I think the final product will be worth the trouble.

That's all that's going on with me right now. I'm afraid my blog entries won't be very interesting this summer if this one is anything to go by!

Here I am

Home again. Back in the United States. I guess I'll have to stop calling this a travel blog now, sadly. I'll still try to write, though, maybe as much as I wrote while I was in Italy! Pretty sad record, I know, but maybe I'll even write more now that I have so much more uninteresting stuff to write. That's usually when I write the most; when I have absolutely nothing to say!

I was very excited, though, that one of my teachers from the school in Italy was here in Tennessee for a bit. She's still here, actually, but she leaves tomorrow. That made it a little easier to come back since I knew I'd have at least one connection to Italy at least for a little bit. We love you, Milena! Now, I just need to watch Italian movies and listen to Italian music and try not to lose what I've learned.

Italia lost!

I don't know if anyone out there is a fan of soccer, but I just watched the game between Italy and the Netherlands for the European Cup. Man, what a brutal defeat for Italy! Netherlands won 3-0. We were all together in the TV room watching the game on the projector, groaning and yelling and cheering for the poor Italian team.

I have to say, though, the olandese (Netherland-ish...how do you say that, anyway?) goalkeeper was pretty incredible! Even Simona, the Italian girl sitting next to me, said that. What made me laugh, though, was that every time the camera would pan to him, he'd have this huge frown on his face or he'd be yelling at his team members or something. Why so angry? You're apparently unbeatable! Well, at least by the Italian team. Silly goalkeeper.

Back in Florence

And a bit relieved to be here. I hadn't thought about how stressful it would be to fly back from Malta only to have to be ready to fly again within a few hours. I'm glad I decided to come back earlier because now I have this week to figure out how I'm going to get to the airport and whether I'm going to try to pack that extra kilogram or not risk it.

It's kind of funny how much we worry about packing. In fact, if I were afraid of flying, at this point I'd probably be more afraid of getting through the weighing of the suitcases than that. I'm not afraid of flying, but I'm definitely worried about my suitcases! I wish it was easier than it is! I'm even considering just paying the extra money for my suitcases, but since I'm so close that would be pretty pointless. Right now I've already packed my suitcases and they're at a friend's house, but I've still got a few things I need to fit in somewhere, and they're not fitting in my carry-on! Anyway, that was a pointless little discourse about the petty worries of packing.

So, in more global news, Hilary Clinton has apparently finally given up her bid for president. I'm curious to see how the elections will pan out. I suppose I'd better get back to getting my stuff ready. I'll worry about the elections in November!

No sand, too much sun and broken bikes!

Yep, so I'm in Malta. Quite a gorgeous place, actually, though the title might fool you. The beaches are mostly rocky and I think I got too much sun today when I had to walk back from a bay with Erin and our bikes. Her gears kept slipping on her bike, so we couldn't ride back to the hostel. It wasn't too bad, just a bit hot and sweaty. Now we're back, though, and tomorrow we'll meet some friends from Villa Aurora at the Adventist church here. So...that's my impression of Malta so far. No, just give me a couple of minutes of coolness and I'll give a much more positive report! :) Ciao everyone!

L'esame è fatto!

As the title says, the exam is done! The conversation exam was this morning, the last part of the PLIDA test for international certification in Italian. I think I did well, but I'm just relieved to have it finished! Now I have to wait until October or November to find out how I did on the tests and whether or not I passed. I won't be anticipating it because waiting that long with anticipation would probably kill me! So, I'm going to put it out of my mind. Now I have a few days left here in Florence before I'm off to my island vacation in Malta, which sounds a lot more glamorous than it probably will be.

Tonight is our closing ceremony where we will receive our diplomas and have one last meeting together. Tomorrow is the closing ceremony of the theology students, and I'm going to try to go to that, too. This afternoon I'll spend some time shopping for souvenirs! Anyway, these are my last few days in Italy, and I hope I can enjoy them as I have enjoyed this year!

Ho finito! Ho finito! Ho finito!

Title = I have finished! I've finished! I'm done! :D

Yes, I have just finished my last final exam (how's that for an interesting phrase?) for this school year! Of course I still have the PLIDA test, the international certification exam, which is nothing to sneeze at, but that's not for school! And boy, am I excited about that! Well, about the fact that it's not for school, at least.

Anyway, I'm off to eat lunch since I just had a few minutes here to mess around, but that was enough time to say what I came to say. I'm done!

Malta, here I come!

I've been trying to figure out where to go after the school year ends, well, at least for a few days. I think I already wrote about that, but now I've found my solution! I'm heading to Malta!

In case you don't know, Malta is an island in the Mediterranean, though don't ask me anything beyond that!

Well, just an update, and now I'm off to eat some lunch.

After School Ends

Well, I've got plans for the end of the school year, whether I want to or not! Oh, and I am finally updating after another long period of time with no updates.

Okay, about my most interesting travel plans for the end of this school year. I had thought about going to the northern part of Italy again and seeing some of the towns around Venice such as Padova (Padua), Vicenza and Verona. Sadly, I'm not going to be doing that. Of course, I'm still pretty excited about my plans, but I really did want to see some of these places. Maybe I can just take a few day trips to the cities, though the train tickets are a bit pricey. I'll figure it out, I suppose.

So, after all of that suspense, I will tell you all what I'm doing! I'm going to Malta for ten days! I hope I don't get bored there, which I don't think I will. Uh oh, I just had a bad thought. I'm traveling with Ryanair and can only take a carry-on bag. Which means that I can only take liquids and gels in tiny amounts. Which means that I can't take my sunscreen. I'm going to be in trouble! Let's hope that I can buy some sunscreen there for a lot less than 16 euro! So, those are my plans for the end of this school year! The end for now, I suppose. It's way past my bedtime!

Lazy Spring Days

I just got back from doing cartwheels down the hill outside. I went down there to do them because I hoped to be out of anyone's eyesight, but I quickly realized three things. One, the gardener could easily see me from where he was, and I'd be highly embarrassed if he saw my little childish display; two, there were two random strangers wandering around near where I was; and three, I really need to stretch because I think I pulled a muscle. Not that I'm going to let any of this stop me from doing it again next time the sun comes out.

So, I again meant to write about some of the things I've done in the past few days, but I again forgot to do it. Yesterday I went to Pisa with my friend, Erin, and we had a good time wandering around. A lot of people don't like Pisa because they're disappointed with it when they go there expecting a bigger city with more tourist attractions than there are. However, since I'd gone before and only ended up spending half an hour or so in the Piazza dei Miracoli where the cathedral and the leaning tower are, I was happy to return again. I'd actually found an anime and manga store on the way to the piazza the first time, which is why I left the area rather quickly. That and it was raining that time, too.

Anyway, yesterday was a perfect day for a day trip. The sun was out, the sky was nearly cloudless, and the temperature was almost perfect, just a little bit on the chilly side. I got to see the inside of the cathedral and wander around the city, plus eat at a Chinese restaurant where Erin and I were the only non-Chinese (or at least non-Asian) customers. We got some stares, but we wanted our Chinese food! After our busy day, I took the train home by myself since Erin was planning to stay a few days there. I was definitely ready to be in bed by the time I got home!

The Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral (Loved the ceiling)

Erin and the Baptistry

Eating lunch on the grass in the Piazza

The Cathedral and the Leaning Tower

A Day in Church

This is so cool! My roommate just pointed this video out to me. This was taken this past Sabbath in our church here in Florence, and my roommate (the only girl playing) and some other students were playing the special music. They did really well; in fact, it sounded a lot better in person, not that this sounds bad. The guy on the far right is also an ACA student, and then the other two are both high school students, I believe. Anyway, so I hope you all enjoy, and you can also get a tiny view of the church I go to most every Sabbath. I was actually sitting two rows behind the guy videotaping this up in the balcony. Pretty cool!

Bomboloni caldi

Bomboloni caldi. What a lovely phenomenon! Bomboloni are fresh, hot doughnuts made in the afternoons at four o'clock. They're balls of dough fried and covered in sugar, and they'll even fill it with cream if you ask.

Several of our teachers had mentioned i bomboloni, but I hadn't had a chance to go get them yet. Today was a perfect day, the first sunny day in over a week, and it seemed the perfect afternoon to walk down to Piazza Dalmazia and eat some fresh doughnuts. Becky, Sally and I ventured down through the afternoon rush hour, maneuvering between crowds of children and their parents as they poured out of the schools and onto the sidewalks. After a few errands, we went to the pasticceria (little shop where they bake pastries) for our afternoon treat.

First we were astonished to find enormous chocolate eggs in the windows along with piles of other sweets for Easter. Now, these eggs were not just really big Easter eggs, they were amazing! They had pictures painted on them with frosting, and everywhere was written, "Buona Pasqua!" (translation: Happy Easter) Once we got inside the pasticceria, we were all a little dazed by the assorted pastries calling to us through the display windows. Then a man who worked there walked past us and asked us what he could get us. He started listing off various types of sweets.

Then he said the magic words, "Bomboloni caldi!" We jumped to agree, and he pointed us to a spot on the counter where they had fresh ones sitting on a paper and uncooked ones waiting to be fried. They asked if we wanted cream, and after we agreed the lady squeezed some into each of the doughnuts with a big icing-bag-thing. Then the man got a little plate and they set them on it for us. We each took one and took the first bite. They were warm and perfect! I had sugar all over my lips by the end. Afterwards we looked at each other and agreed to get another.

I very much enjoyed my experience with bomboloni, but I'll definitely have to be careful that I don't start resembling one!

Marzo pazzo

"Crazy March." That's definitely the right name for this month! Sally, one of the volunteers here and a friend of mine, was telling me that she heard a couple of women in the store talking about "marzo pazzo" because of the strange weather we've been having. Then in one of our classes we learned a little phrase for it: "Marzo pazzarello, esce il sole e prende l'ombrello!" I know it doesn't go exactly like that, but it's close. It roughly translates as "Crazy march, out with the sun and take the umbrella," but don't put any faith in my translation skills! After a couple of translation classes and learning the dangers of mistranslating, I'm frightened to translate anything!

So my March has been pretty crazy so far. The weather has been pretty strange; at the beginning of this past week it felt like spring for sure with sunny days and very mild temperatures (I even went outside with short sleeves). Then in the middle of the week the temperature suddenly took a sudden plunge. The days since then have been cold, cloudy and rainy. Oh, and extremely windy! How could I have forgotten the wind? It's quite impressive wind, actually. When we're sitting in our classes, we can hear it whistling around the corners of the building pretty much constantly. Actually, it's more than whistling. Closer to screeching! One cool thing about this weather is that the clouds always seem to look incredible, even when they're dumping rain on us. Plus for a couple of days this past week, when it first got cloudy, underneath the cloud cover the horizon was extremely clear! We could see clearly some of the mountains (or hills, whatever they're called) around the city, which are normally seen through a haze of what I assume is probably pollution.

View under the clouds

The sky trying to decide whether to be cloudy or sunny

Besides the weather, we started a new trimester at the end of February, and I'm still getting used to it! I'm taking a lot of classes this time since most of the classes I need are available only this trimester. Besides the normal grammar, composition and conversation courses, I'm also taking History of Italy, Translation and Interpretation, History of Art, Literature, Italian Culture, Geography and Mediterranean Cooking. Of course, a couple of these classes only meet once a week, but it's still a pretty busy schedule.

In two weeks, we're taking a two-day trip to Rome, and the day we get back from that, our three weeks of spring break begin! This is my crazy March, though not so crazy when I'm writing it down.

Soon I'll put more pictures on my picture site, I hope, though I haven't been taking many pictures lately. I think the most recent ones (besides a couple I took of the sky this week) were from the Valentine's party. Those are pretty fun. Well, I suppose I'll save some of my motivation for writing for the next entry.

Shame on me!

Ha ha, once a week. I should have known better! :) So, here's my shameful first blog after about two months. Almost exactly two months, actually. And I really don't have anything else I want to say in this entry, either. I have one planned out, but I'll do that later today. Though I'm not going to promise since I know how well that works for me! Happy Sabbath, everyone!

Once a week...

Okay, so I'm running a little late for this week, but I wanted to try to post on my blog at least once a week as often as I can, and so here is my post for this week.

Not much new going on here, just started classes again this week. I did have a test on Friday in my grammar class, and it wasn't my best performance! I blame it completely on the fact that this was our first test since getting back from break.

Besides that, not much else to tell; this might be how some of my posts go sometimes! I hope everyone is doing well in their first few weeks of the new year.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the new year, one and all! It's 2008: a leap year, the year that I would have been graduating had I finished in four years, and the year in which I will attempt to write more often in my blog! :o) Right now it's going to be time for lunch pretty soon, and the cafeteria is finally reopening for this meal. So, I'm waiting in anticipation for this exciting event. Otherwise it's a pretty normal day. School starts again next week, and I guess I'm looking forward to classes starting again. I'll feel better about having a routine again, but I also rather enjoy being lazy. Anyway, hope everyone will have a wonderful new year!