its been awhile how are you all? =]

first off...let me back track with just some fun photos!

the roommates had to go get some pizza after a day of walking arounf the city =]

me and maribella

me and nicole

me goofing off or something =]


this is a little trip to the antique market i did again a few saturdays ago. it was lovely, very cute! i got a beautiful mirror and a little map of florence from the 30s that was done in water color. i will have to grab some photos of those for you, because i just realized that i didnt take any! =[
market sign







that saturday night, my roommates and i had a little dinner party! it was very cute! i made baked ziti =] which everyone apparently liked a lot becuase the two HUGE trays of it were GONE! so i was very proud of myself =] it was lots of fun to have everyone over!! i really loved it!
girls getting ready!

nicoles little dress =]

luca (maribella's fiance) & leo (nicoles boyfriend) eating appetizers

alex mcissac (my friend jons brother who happens to be studying here too) and his rommate

peggy and gina

luisa and melissa

maribella (who borrowed my shirt!! haha) and sarahjane

lisa and nicole doing dishes

group photo (some people are taking the photos)


alex, his buddy, gina, me and maribella

lica and lisa

me and gina

then after dinner, a few of us went to Twice which is a little club in florence. it was fun to get out of the house after all that cooking!!

me and nicole

me and ricardo


for spring break this past week Tony, a good friend of mine who lived here in florence 2 years ago with me and sergio and alex, came to visit. we had a great day on the beach one of the days (in Viareggio, which is about 20 min from florence to the west coast) because it was so beautiful out! and the other days we were really just bumming around the house. and went out a bit. all in all it was a very relaxing spring break =] he left on monday morning very very early, but it was a great time!

vicky and nicole on the train =]


vicky and nicole

beach! (la mare)

we were practically the only ones there! it was so nice


tony =]

vicky

foot prints =]

my feet ;)

vicky

nicole fell asleep

so pretty

i got some new sunglasses at the 99 cents store!


me =]

me and vicky, nicole snapped this while i was taking one myself haha



well, i love you all so much!! i will write soon again i promise! i am sorry it took me so long this last time. exam weeks just finished and so now my head it much more clear. easter i will spend here with nicole, we are going to church and then to the explosion of the cart, which is a fireworks exploding cart in the front of the duomo easter morning. they have been doing it for centuries. its very cool =] (but sounds like the city is under attack!) then on the 17th i will go up north to visit everyone up there.

love you all




ps - patrick, i found this and wanted to show you.

just a little note =]

so i know i have not written in some time now and i am SO sorry! i have been studying so much for my exams which are this week. so far i have had two: italian and drawing for conservators. they were both very good i am pleased to say. the drawing class was just a critique, and i actually have to re-do a drawing and give it to her on thursday becaus ei messed up a bit =\ but thats ok.

nothing really is going on. this weekend however TONY IS COMING TO VISIT! tony is my old neighbor from italy the last time i lived here, hes from california as well and he is coming to visit for the week! i am so excited and i wish everyone (shap, zach jon, serg..everyone!) where coming with him too =] but ill see you all in may! and please know, you have a standing invite for a comfy couch bed, home cooked meals by moi and all the nutella you can eat ;)

i might go up to the lake garda with luca perhaps this weekend or next. he works for a company where he scouts out reality for the US in italy. pretty cool job. anywho, hes got friends up there we can hang with. could be fun to be by water =]

alsoooooo....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA! i love you so much and i wish so badly that i could be there at Fiddlers tonight to give you a big birthday hug and celebrate with you, but Patrick will be there for the both of us. your card went in the mail yesterday (sorry its late!)

love you all, off to my next exam!

xoxo

ps - it might snow tomorrow! nuts!

weekend in conegliano

so friday afternoon i hopped on the train and took it 4 hours north to a town called Conegliano. it is about 40 min (by train) north of Treviso in the Veneto region of italy. this is where my friends live. michele invited me to stay at his house for the weekend, which was super nice, so i packed up and left. his mother is from england and his father is italian. he has an older brother that speaks perfect english though.

anywho, so i arrived on friday at about 9pm (since the train wasnt on time). i was picked up by michele, mattia and alberto c. it was so cute that they all came and were all excited to come get me! we went to a bar called The Garage. which is a very chic bar in conegliano that used to be a service garage for trucks that was recently converted into this posh space. we had a glass of proseco and then all went home. michele put me in a very cute little room (my camera died, but i will upload those photos later) and i fell right to bed. whenever i sleep in a new bed i always pass out right away and sleep through the entire night. its great! and needed...since i have influenza right now =[

i woke up in the morning around 930. and you know me, i spazzed out and didnt know if i should shower, or ask first, or go downstairs for breakfast in my pjs, or if that was offensive, or what. and michele (the little prince) was still asleep. soo....i finally just threw a sweatshirt on and walked downstairs to the kitchen. his mother, Miriam was already down there and greeted me with a huge smile and said 'oh sit sit, lets get you breakfast!' she prepared me a wonderful breakfast and was saying it was so nice to see someone eat a real breakfast since italians only have a sweet for breakfast. they eat a pastry or something. we talked for so long and also with his father, and then michele finally got up sometime around 1. we then got showered, dressed and were out the door by 1 for the boys soccer game =] it was fun, just against each other for some practice. there was much yelling and fighting and hand gestures a flyin, but it was all in good fun =]

michele
mattia

our friend davide

mattia (excellent photo if i do say so myself!)

alberto c

mattia, getting a little aggressive!
alberto c

mattia

alberto c goofing off for the camera!




then michele and i went into town and walked around for a bit. it was really nice. we had an apparativo at a little wine bar and then went back to his house for lunch. which was unbelieveable! his mother really went all out for me =] after that and hung out with his brother and mom and dad for a bit. we went with mattia to get some shoes because that kid has more shoes than anyone i know! bless him... anywho, then we all got changed and then went to mattia's house because he was having a dinner party =] they had SO much food there it was insane! there was pasta with TONS of seafood in it, crab, every type of meat you could possibly think to have on the table, wines, breads, cakes. you name it! everyone was so happy to be there and see each other =] and as mattia was grilling everything it was pretty funny to see all the boys get up one by one at separate times to check on him to see if he was doing it right. it was very cute.

mattia having himself a little drink with dinner



then we freshened up and went back to the garage (the bar) everyone has a little apparativo.
the bar (alberto steffan looking into the camera)
michele and alberto

michele, mattia, alberto


then we drove into Pordenone to the disco.the whole way, mattia played the song 'california' by phantom planet for me. (BIG fan of the OC haha) it was really fun and i met some really nice girls there too! it got to be very late so we went back home after dropped everyone off and said our goodbyes.
they made me open the champagne because they said it was the honor of opening it that they wanted to give me...whatever that means....but it was really cute and ast took these photos:

couldnt really manage to open it on the first try!

finally! and then i poured everyone a glass =] (dont you love mattia's pink shirt)

=]


the next morning, i woke up on the dot at 10 and walked down to the kitchen. micheles mom and i prepared lunch and chatted about EVERYTHING =] it was really nice. she asked if she could adopt me seeing as how shes always wanted a girl. after a big lunch with homemade quiche! mattia called and asked if he could bring me to the train station too, so we went and picked him up and they dropped me off. i miss them so much! they are my little italian family! i plan on visiting them again soon, maybe in like 3 weeks after all of our exams are over. i wish my school was up there so that i could spend more time with all of them. im trying to get them all to come to florence soon =] that will be fun! also, they really want to come back home to california some day with me. maybe next summer they can come for a month and we can do a road trip down the state and show them everything. just thinkin'....