Buon Giorno di Ringraziamento!

My first Thanksgiving abroad was a success! We spent all day cooking wonderful things, it felt and smelt like home. We had a 5 kilo turkey, moist and roasted to perfection...mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (patate americane) with marshmallows of course! Green beans with pancetta, creamed spinach, mushroom gravy, stuffing, panzanella, biscuits with honey butter, garlic mozzarella bread, pear/cherry bread, and pumpkin pie! John made us awesome headdresses and names (I am Wild Belly!)

We had a wall of post-it notes....things we are thankful for :) I stuffed myself silly. And now it's time for a brief nap before tuning into the California Thanksgiving fest via skype. For more pictures, go here!

Bologna!

I went to Bologna on Saturday with Sara and Avery for a shopping mission. We discovered the hugest outdoor mercato we've ever seen (and with the best prices too!) I got a scarf for €1, and a purse for €5...we walked around the freezing cold for 2 hours and barely covered half of it...We also saw the massive San Pietro Basilica, and stumbled upon an awesome chocolate festival which was almost too overwhelming. We tried some hot chocolate to die for...and then did some shopping for winter clothes at H&M...
Go to my shutterfly for more pictures! And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone tomorrow! We are going to have our own little feast here :)

Roma! (part fine)

After the Galleria Borghese, we saw an exposition on the Etruscans and a really cool video artist Bill Viola. I had a lovely dinner/lunch with Heather and Avery. We ate Aranchini (fried risotto--piccante and tartufo), lasagna (my first time here so far) and vino!





We hung out in Piazza della Republica for a bit before heading back to the hotel via metro to catch our bus back to Firenze. It was an exhausting but beautiful trip with amazing things stuffed into every nook and cranny. Here is the link to the rest of my pictures again!

Roma! (part...?)

Laura and I were the sleepiest roommates ever! The hotel was so nice...I slept like a baby...On Sunday, a group of us went with Domenic to the Galleria Borghese to see some Bernini statues and some Caravaggio paintings (amazing!!)
I think one of the reasons I loved Rome so much...there were trees! and grass! It was so open and full of greenery...it felt a little more like home. Plus ruins.
Some of my sketches from the Galleria. We could only spend two hours there...I want to go back!

Trevi Fountain and The Spanish Steps!

After our wonderful Roman dinner, we went to see some of the necessary sights...it was so beautiful at night. We made a wish at the fountain, but didn't stay long on the steps since it started to rain!

Roma! (part tre)

Cena! After a full day of sights and walking, we were ready for a nice dinner...We had stuffed fried olives for our starter, and excellent spaghetti carbonara for our primi. I also shared a marvelous funghi pizza with my friend Mark (I was starving!) I tried samples of everyone else's desserts...the Tiramisu was very yummy....

Roma! (part due)

Early next morning, we set out to the Colle Oppio, and had our first view of the Coloseum. We saw the Foro and Palatino....they were absolutely amazing. We had a really great archeologist tour guide who was very knowledgeble.


We has a short lunch break before seeing the Colloseum and the Pantheon. Our guide also took us to a great gelato place. Al 90 of us crammed in there somehow....Then, I tagged along with Domenic to check out some Caravaggio paintings in the church of San Luigi dei Francesci. They are so so amazing in person..

(more to come...but check out my shutterfly for more pictures!)

Roma! (part uno)

We started our exciting Roma field trip at 6 am....We watched Gladiator in Italian, and made our first stop at Tarquinia where we saw underground Etruscan frescoed tombs! Then to the centro di Tarquinia for lunch and a visit to the Etruscan museum...

Our next stop was Cerveteri, a huge necropolis that we were able to explore for a few hours. It was amazingly peaceful and beautiful...


After frolicking in flower fields and exploring dark cavernous tombs, we hopped on the bus and continued onto Roma! We had a lovely dinner (which Laura and I almost missed due to sleeping) at our very nice hotel. After dinner we got gelato!

Tripa!

Yesterday I tried...tripe! Gaby and Avery and I all split a panino (just in case we didn't like it) but it was actually pretty good! Grammy will be so proud of me :)

This little cart is right by my apartment, I pass by it all the time on the way to the Sant'Amrogio mercato. There's always a crowd of hungry Italians.

Roma!

So Rome was amazing. It really was eternal, it was vast and magical and full of antiquities and art and good food and it was also very peaceful (for the most part)I will post more pictures and details of my journey later...buona notte!

rainy day!

It's been getting colder here in Firenze! Last night we had a real storm, with thunder and lightning (and I went out anyway to get gelato of course!) After a busy morning of Grammer (ugh..) and etching (yay), I walked around with John.
We stumbled upon some kind of food festival on our way to the mercato and we sampled cheese and bisocotti...marveled at the marzipan....
We bought some anrancini--a treat from southern Italy--fried risotto balls! One had creamy vegetables inside, the other cheese and prosciutto...sooo good for a rainy day! There were also tons of sweets--fresh cream and choclate filled donuts. Maybe I'll go back tonight for dessert!
Tomorrow we depart for Roma! (at 6 am...) I am very excited, this week has been a whirlwind..

this week's happenings

On Tuesday, we went to a big election party on the other side of the river. We were patriotic and ate free McDonalds and watched the big screens anxiously. We stayed until past 2 am, and none of us got much sleep...but yay!The next day we started our etching ("incisione") class at the Accademia...at 8:30 am! Our teacher is very nice and patient with us. He's been teaching for more than 40 years, he knows his stuff! The lessons are entirely in Italian, I feel like I'm getting so much better in listening comprehension already. I made my first print that day, it was pretty exciting!

I'm in the class with Avery, Gaby, Mel and Jackie, plus the Italian students. It's been amazing seeing their work. I am definately going to like this class :)

Belated Halloween!

Our friends threw a Halloween party tonight, since everyone was traveling last week for PLP break, and missed out on the festivities. We threw our costumes together rather last minute with things we had lying around, .99 euro cent store finds, and some handmade creations!



Avery is a star-catcher, Gaby is a flapper, John is a bee, Sara is a pirate, and I am the Virgin Mary! It was a lot of fun, even if there wasn't any candy....but I am so excited for the weekend!! A million possibilities, and no obligations yet. I am going to take my time, clean, study, paint, hang out...see what comes my way. This week has been so stressful...time for some rest :)