Italy and France :)

It's way too complicated to go back and write every single detail about my trip - so here goes... the jist!

- The first day I was in Rome, Italy... we rented vespas! (well, little honda mo-ped's) It was SO much fun. Since we rented them overnight, we went to the beach the next day. There were 6 of us who got them, so it was totally fun! One of the guys wrecked his 20 seconds after he got on it... hilarious!

- While in Rome, I saw pretty much everything I wanted to see. The spanish steps, Colloseum, The Vatican, St. Peter's Basillica (Actually went to the excavations at st. peter's basillica and that was SUPER cool), etc. It was much more fun just riding around on the mo-ped's instead! We went to the Piazza Navonna, hung out by the river, ate chinese food (haha!), ate a TON of italian food, ate gelato, etc etc. We also saw the Opera, Pagliacci, and that was really cool, too!

- On the way from Rome to Florence, we stopped at a winery and had a wine tasting. This was really awesome - to actually see the wine fields and everything. This was one of our company visits for the program, so we were there for _hours_.

- When in Florence, we went to the original Buca di Beppo (or where it was originated from) to eat the first night. A boyfriend of one of the girls on our trip surprised her with a ring in her room when we got there. It was really sweet and he stayed with us for the rest of the trip.

- The BEST gelato in the entire city (or perhaps even what I had in Italy) was at La Carialla (not sure about the spelling). It was AMAZING! I had mint chocolate chip :)

- We toured Santa Maria Novella, another perfumerie, and a few other companies. On Sunday, we had a free day and I was pretty much over being around everyone for 7 days straight, so I went shopping! I got this pair of jeans that is oh-so-awesome. A shirt, some italian leather sandals (at the market), and a whole bunch of souvenirs for everyone at the street markets. It's really awesome there! They wouldn't let you rent a mo-ped without a motorcycle license... so that was out of the question! Oh, and we ate Mexican food in Florence!!

- Between Florence and Milan, we went to Pisa (to see the leaning tower!) and also to a winery or two in Montolcino (spelling?). There was a castle there... pretty cool. We also went to the oldest castle in Tuscany... over 900 years old! the Pacci family lived there waaaay back then, and they killed a very famous family - it was quite interesting.

- Before we got to Milan, we went to tour the Ducati factory. THAT was cool! We also went to Turin and toured the Fiat factory (the Chrysler/Fiat merger is going to be a fucking disaster, by the way. We had a session with their marketing manager - and I'm seriously worried about the billions of dollars we're paying in to this. Oy.)

- In Milan, we saw the sfortzesco castle (damn, I wish I had all of my papers with me, cause then I would spell this all correctly!), the Il Duomo in the center of town, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff. We went to an italian bag maker called "i santi" and that was super cool. How could I forget that we also toured Lamborghini :)

- Rome, by far, was my favorite city. My fave stores over in Italy were OVS (Oviesse), Promod, and Sisiley. Fab!

Then - I left the group a day early and met my mom in Paris. We had a TON of fun and saw a lot of incredible things.

- I went STRAIGHT to the eiffel tower after getting there. :) Oh, my love!

- We went on a boat cruise down the seine, ate lots of yummy food, saw a piano being lifted through an apartment window, saw the Louvre, the Arch de Triumph (and climbed all 275 stairs), rode the metro everywhere, took a bike tour, went to a wax museum, saw the Mona Lisa, Gardens at the Tuilleries, The Notre Dame, and MUCH MUCH more. All in 4 days...

- I woke up with a small ear infection on Saturday and was MISERABLE. I'm sure I was the biggest biatch to my mom while I was there - I was irritated about everything and I feel INCREDIBLY bad about it. Going to the French pharmacy was crazy. I didn't know what anything was and they don't know what Benadryl is... so we were kinda stuck. They wanted to give me something for "circulation" hahahaha... it ended up being congestion in my ears and by the end of Sunday, I was feeling better.

- We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower on Monday after our bike ride. We took a few pictures and also saw it do its little light show the night before. We ate crepes, had croque monsieur's (I'm sure I'm totally botching the spelling, but whatever!), and all kinda of fun stuff :)

- Coming home was crazy. I was over there 2 days shy of 3 weeks and was semi-ready for it. We left at 2:30 am, Paris time and I got home 10:30 pm EST... that means I traveled for 26 hours. F'in crazy!!

- As we were eating breakfast at the airport, there were news cameras everywhere outside. We just thought that was typical. I got on my flight to Rome (had to come back through the US via Rome because that's where I originally booked my ticket) and landed there - had to RUN across the airport and barely made the flight. As I was sitting there, waiting for take-off, I decided to check cnn.com and look at the news. I hadn't in 3 weeks. The top headline... "Air France flight missing over the Atlantic". HOLY FUCKING SHIT. Ummm... it was WAY too late for me to get off the flight, the door had already been closed. I was stuck. And petrified.

- I arrived at JFK and had to wait for 5 hours for my next flight. This is where my realizations about the differences between Europe and the US set in. If I write one day that I'm moving to Europe, please don't be surprised by this!

Anyway, all in all, it was an awesome trip. Going with 14 college kids when you're post-college age and maturity level isn't something I would recommend, but it was fun nonetheless! Perhaps I'll write a post about all of the "unprofessional" things that happened... haha!

Well, there's your update! :)

Writing my paper... then updating!

Oh how I've missed writing in this blog for the past few weeks. Traveling in Europe was absolutely amazing... and it might just force me to move somewhere over there one day. The culture is fabulous - and I loved being there. I have SO so so so much to write about... and kept a written journal of bullet points.

There are many differences between Italy and France... as well as between those cities and the US. The food, by far, is better in France, but the people are better in Italy. I dunno, tons of differences!

I got to see the Eiffel Tower every single day that I was there - and got to go on it the last day. I'm so happy my mom went with me - cause we had a blast!

I did have an ear infection while I was there, and it made me a bit bitchy. I just hope I didn't ruin my mom's trip to Paris because of it. I was fine after I took some meds. Speaking of... we went to this pharmacist and asked her what I could do for my ear and her first response... it's "circulation". HAH! So, we thought about it, talked about it, and meanwhile someone else came up and asked about something else. She said it was circulation for them, too. So we nixed that idea and got a decongestant and that worked just fine. Perhaps that's their cure-all? Circulation? Hmmm.

I'm working on getting all of my pictures re-sized so I can post them somewhere for everyone to see. I've also got a 10 page (single spaced, nonetheless) paper due tomorrow sometime. I have a clear idea of what I want to write, I just need to sit down and write it.

Michael is still here for the summer - he's not moving to DC until the day I graduate (fabulous, right!?) and I'll probably go shortly thereafter depending on living arrangements, etc.

His son is in town for the summer and then some. And his other son will be here in a few weeks for the rest of the summer. It's so very exciting - cause they're both really cute kids!

After I write this paper, I'll have plenty of time to write all kinds of good stuff in here about my trip :) Huzzah!

Viva Italia!

Ahhhh... I have wanted to write in this blog SO badly... just as much as I'm sure you're curious about my travels. But, getting to a computer has been somewhat challenging. Between the endless days that allow for at most 4 hours of sleep... to the crazy adventures I've been having, it's just not been happening. I have to write a blog for my class - and I haven't even been able to keep up with that!

There are SO many things I've experienced that I want to share and I'll probably just have to sit in front of the computer when I return and write all about them. Luckily, I've been writing bits and pieces on paper to jog my memory.

At this point, I've got over 400 pictures on my camera and have a week and two days left of this trip.

*sigh* I wish I had more to leave you with right now, but I'm exhausted... and we're leaving for Milan in like 8 hours. Yikes! (PS It's after midnight here right now...)

Anyway, I look forward to sharing my trip :)

Hooray!!!

10 Things... just an update

I'm going to need to learn how to update this thing from my Blackberry... then, maybe I'd update it a whole lot more! I always think of interesting stories to tell - hilarious ones at that - and other things to share, yet never have time for it. So, in lieu of posting for the past month... I'll give you 10 things. :) Enjoy!

1. I leave for Italy on Friday... I am STOKED. Not really for the Italy part - mostly the Paris, France part at the end of the trip. Holler!
2. I made STRAIGHT A's this semester. Mmmmmhmmm. I never thought that possible... ESPECIALLY not at the school I go to - shitty University, at best. Although, Straight A's does not translate to a 4.0... because if you get a 90, you've got an A-. :) Either way, I made the dean's list and I'm incredibly excited that I made all A's. Go me!
3. Michael was supposed to move to DC while I was gone in Italy, now that may not happen. I think he's going to be here for the summer.... and leave in August. That's more along my time frame lines. Interesting ;)
4. I have so much to prepare before I leave on Friday. PLUS I have class for the trip all week. Lovely, right?
5. I think I'm getting sick. Last night I had the worst stomach ache ever... and this morning, one of my lymph nodes were swollen. I feel like sha-poopie.
6. Rae and her boyfriend are "engaged" now... so happy for them!
7. I have ONE class left and I'll be a college graduate. Hooray!!

Ok, so maybe only 7 for right now. I have a feeling there's SO much more to share but I just can't think of it all right now :) Have a good day!

Sham-bam-a-lam...

My birthday was fan-tabulous, as always. I've been secretly afraid of turning 25... but I am. It's really weird now. I don't know how the days make a difference, but they do.

School is nearing end... I've only got 2 1/2 weeks left of class, essentially. That's with the 1/2 being the two days I have to go for a presentation and an exam. This semester has flown by, and I'm excited about that.

I leave for Italy/Paris on the 15th of May (only a little over a month away!) and I'm super excited. I have a lot of things to plan (a hotel or something in Paris) Oh, before I forget - Odette, I really would LOVE some pointers from you on what to do there... so send them my way!

Michael got the job promotion and will be moving to DC at the end of May/beginning of June as well. I'm really sad about this because I have to be here for ONE stupid class this summer :( Which means I won't get to move there until the beginning of August. That's two WHOLE months without him!

Speaking of - we've had some crazy times these past few weeks - but everything is somehow working out just perfectly. I suppose that's what is supposed to happen when God's the center of your relationship. He has been the sweetest bf ever :)

Carrie is in NOLA for the weekend and as happy as a pea in a pod... Blaire arranged a little surprise thing for me on my birthday with Michael. We had SO Much fun and I love her for it!!!

I'll be so excited when all of the craziness is over and I can feel normal again. I've got the itch to buy a Wii and Wii Fit. An itch that's lasted at least a few weeks (that's how I know I REALLY want something...) It's only $350 for everything... but then again, I AM going to my favorite city in the world in just a month and am going to need all the funds I've got to make it happen. Ohhhhh how I just loooove being responsible.

Hope you guys are doing well. Hell, maybe some of you have stopped reading because I write so infrequently. Please bear with me, I PROMISE it'll get interesting again!!!

10 Things going on right now...

Ohhhh my how long its been since I've updated. And there are a ton of things to update as well.

1. School is ONE MONTH from being done for the semester. Hallelujah! (and FOUR months from being done altogether!!)
2. I leave for Italy on May 15th and am tacking on a few days in Paris until June 2nd. I cannot WAIT!
3. I am so incredibly busy right now, it's absolutely ridiculous.
4. Because I'm so busy, I've decided to quit going to my small group. I know, I was SO excited about it before, but right now I don't have the time - and I don't think that I get that much out of it.
5. Michael may or may not be moving in :)
6. Michael and I may or may not be moving to Washington, DC in August.
7. It's my birthday on Saturday. I'm old. :(
8. I filed my taxes yesterday and, surprisingly, I'm getting something back from this lovely government. Who would have thought?
9. annndd... the baby is up... back to my nannying duties!

Small rant

10 [exciting] Things about this week...

1. You know that study abroad program I've been talking about for, like, ever now??!? WELLLllllll... I had an interview (impromptu, might I add) with the sponsor of the trip and he wants me to go!!! So that means I'm accepted into the program and I get to go to Italy for Maymester!!! This also means other great things for my school stuff. I only have to take ONE class this summer and I'll be done! Which means I'll technically be able to start working as much as I'd like and that'll be fabulous! I'm going to need it to pay off the cost of this trip, but it's so worth it! I got the good news yesterday and I couldn't be more excited.

2. Carrie comes to see me in exactly 27 days. OMG, it's finally here!! I cannot WAIT!! We're going to go see Confessions of a Shopaholic (I'm so glad she's waiting to see it with me - you have NO idea how big of a deal it is for her to actually wait to see a movie!)

3. Michael invited me to go HOME with him to meet his parents, etc. (yes, HOME is a different city and state and timezone...) This just happened today. Ummmm I kinda freaked out for a second but I'm really excited! We had actually planned this for the Christmas holidays but it didn't end up working out like that. So, he wanted to go for a short weekend in two weeks for his son's birthday and wants me to come. That's $180 round trip for a plane ticket. I feel like it's worth it, though. :) This is a huge step in our relationship, by the way...

4. I called my credit card company (the one I have with the whopping almost 6 grand in fun money on it) and had my interest rate lowered from 18.9 (who the fuck has an 18.9% interest rate with my credit score?!) to 3.99.... fabulous!! I don't know why I never thought to ask for a lower interest rate before. I just thought that's what you had to pay. I've been hearing from other people that they've called and now have been able to pay off their card - instead, I feel like I've been paying them a shit ton of interest these past few years. :)

5. Blaire is moving back to the city THIS WEEKEND!! I'm SO excited for her! She'll be closer and I'll be able to see her more often :)

6. Rae moved out a week ago and I'm still looking for a roommate. I've posted an ad on craigslist but haven't found anything just yet... gotta keep looking!

7. My Nutrition class was supposed to have a test on Tuesday. My teacher sent an email (that I didn't get) and said we were going to have it next week instead... this means I get more time to prepare for it. MUCH needed, thank you! I absolutely LOVE this class. I give Carrie the good scoop every Tuesday once I get out.

8. I start my nanny job on Monday. I'll be making about 300 bucks a week for about 20 hours (FABULOUS!!) and then I have Thursday mornings and Saturday nights at the restaurant. That should make up the difference for all of my bills. :) I can't wait to start this nanny job - I'm going to have so much homework time - I'll actually be caught up with all of my classes.

9. I finally have all of my W2's and can go get my taxes done. I'm a bit timid about it because of the work I did for one of my marketing projects over the summer. I made about 3,000 with them and didn't pay taxes on it at the time - I hope it's not a huge whammy this time!

10. I went to my small group thing (DEFINITELY going to love it... not what I thought initially) on Tuesday night. The girls are really nice and I think I'm going to connect with at least some of them. I volunteered to host the next one on Tuesday at my house, so hopefully that will go well! :)

Wow. It's been such a great week... I love it! I can't wait for all of this fun stuff to happen! I've got to go ahead and get my passport (yep, almost 25 and don't have a passport yet...) so I'll have it for my trip. That's another hundred bucks right there!!

I hope you all have had a lovely week and have a fabulous weekend! :)

Italy is close to France, right?

Today I met with the International Business department to talk to them about studying abroad. Turns out the only program they offer in France is heavily a financial one... and the one I should go to is in Italy. It's 6 credit hours of a Strategic Management course... AND, all that's required is an open book essay test here... and a project while i'm there... and blog writing while I'm there. Well, damn. That's easy enough.

The price tag? Glad you asked... a whopping $4500 bucks on top of school tuition (which I can't seem to find anyone who knows what tuition is for maymester yet). I'm assuming it's around a grand, which is easily affordable.

Am I going to do it? Perhaps. I've got a lot to think about...

1. I'll be leaving Michael for two weeks to explore a new country. Exciting and scary all at the same time. (Had a VERY interesting conversation about this with him this afternoon... I'll have to share that in another post, though.)

2. This could be the ONE positive thing I get out of this school. All the other bullshit might actually be worth it in the end.

3. Even though I won't get to go to Paris for the study abroad, there's a full week between the time classes start and the time I get done with the program there. I could go there on my own or have Michael meet me there for a week or weekend.

4. Doing a project for two weeks in another country sounds a hell of a lot better than taking two full classes on top of the other marketing class I already have to take for this summer. The grade is mostly participation, professionalism, and this group project. Piece of cake (hopefully)!

5. It'll cost me a pretty penny, but fuck it. I've already given this school a ton of money, what's a few grand more to actually have a good time?

I think I'm gonna go ahead and apply for it. There are a few scholarships that apparently every enrolled student already pays for in fees. I could get up to a whopping $700 bucks off the cost depending on how long i've been here. For me, I've been enrolled in a gazillion semesters that add up to about 5 years, I believe.

Cross your fingers for me - cause this could be really exciting. Seriously, if this happens... I'll be in Italy in 15 weeks. That's not so far away...