Hai Dao and Jen So's great adventure throughout Europe!

Hai Dao and Jen So's great adventure throughout Europe!

I must admit I was a bit overly ambitious when making this trip but we did it! We went to 5 different cities in 11 days! Sure it was a bit stressful here and there but the weather was wonderful and it was great having a travel buddy. I did feel quite horrible about Hai having to help me with luggage. Honestly I was not the best travel buddy because I was so worried that I wouldn't get to show him everything. I was pretty much stressed out every time we got to a train station or airport. For that I'm sorry Hai! I know I was cranky here and there too. It had been a month of not having a real place to reside for longer than 3 days. Traveling is truly a tiring adventure. I know that sounds like a spoiled comment but it's true. Either way when we were actually exploring we had a good time in each beautiful city being silly.

I'm sure you all have seen ton of pictures of Rome and since Hai is still in vietnam with pictures of Rome, I'll start with Florence. We did manage to see just about everything in Rome besides the spanish steps. I tried making up for it but showing him a postcard of it when we ran into at a local store. We did get to go to some of my favorite places to eat, drink , and relax. =] Plus we ran into a few gladiators along the way. Rome was fantastic but our hostel was blah. We didn't even have hot water for like 2 days haha. Nonetheless we ended up staying out all day anyways and enjoyed  gelato and wine throughout the day.

Florence:

We totally loveeeed our hostel here. It was really close to the train station and we explored so much of the city that I hadn't even seen before. We also got to try duff beer together! yes.. they have duff beer from the Simpsons. We enjoyed our beer on top of Michelangelo's Piazza that overlooked the entire city. There was live music and a lot of people hanging out listening to a pair of musicians that were so fun to listen to. They were just jamming out and we just laughed at how many times they said, "alright last song guys!". 

During the day we were able to hit up a lot of spots, and we came in time for a gelato and wine festival. Unfortunately we couldn't find the wine festival, and we actually preferred to just go to one particular gelato place. When we arrived to the gelato place called Vivolis... it was closed. Who knew everything was closed on Mondays in Florence? This includes the academia with David in it. BoooOO. Oh well. We still found good places to eat and enjoy our time in this fun city.

The key question in Florence has always been... Dove' il Duomo? It's such a great landmark to help you find everything else. haha

This was the view on top of the Duomo. Over 500 steps to a fantastic view. 

<3

Still hanging out on the Duomo.

Hai Dao strolling through the peaceful streets of Firenze.

We soon found out how much Italians like steps. We made sure to thank Michelangelo everytime we had to march up a ton of steps whether he made them or not. =P It was a pretty big work out to  get places at times. The view was always worth it though =]

Venice:

I was so thrilled that it was sunny. Later on it rained but at least we got to see this romantic island under the sun. It was kind of a bummer that we couldn't take a gondola ride though because of the rain. Nonetheless, I didn't mind too much. We just ended up having nice dinners instead of spending like 80 euros for a ride. =] I'm okay with that! haha. 

These are the taxis in Venice.. there aren't any cars so they make up with boats!

Sometimes on such a vacation island people forget that real people live here! We were just creeping on this person drying laundry.

A grand day on the Grand Canal!

This is a horrible place to bring strollers. Those poor children always having to be rolled down steps! I hope it at least felt like a nice massage.

GONDOLE!!!

Moments before HD almost fell into the water. 

Our appetizer of seafood.. yes it was deliciousss! So fresh!

Our first plate !nom nom nom!

My swordfish! With a strawberry and pineapple drizzle down the side!

We were both attacked by mosquitos at night. Unfortunately I became Quasimodo with my enormous bite on my eye. I guess they wanted to get me ready for Notre Dame in Paris. We also missed our flight that day. thanks ryan air for your airports that are always so far away. 

.. either way we did arrive in... Barcelona!:

This was more so our relaxing portion of our trip. We hung out at the beach where many don't worry about being topless and explored the markets. It's a bummer prices were raised but it was still just as good! Check out these chocolates! They were bomb-dot-com! 

SOooo good! They totally melted though because it was so hot out. 

This was our taste of seafood Paella in the middle of Las Ramblas (the main street).

I love how many different colors there are in this picture.. Guess who Hai was running after.. haha can we say.. short shorts?

GRRRR the signature face!

Quite the sticky situation eh?

Barcelona was basically filled with a lot of metro rides, the beach, a bunch of Sangria, clubbing at a place called Razzmatazz, and tapas galore!

Paris:

Paris was great and the weather was fantastic. There were so many people here exploring the museums and such because it was the first sunday of the month with meant that entrance in the Lourve was freeee. The line was enormous but even though I didn't get it, at least Hai did later on after I left for my flight. One of the cool places we found was this restaurant that we just happened to see. Before arriving in Paris I kept compiling a bunch of dishes we would have to eat while there like French onion soup, crepes, duck, escargot, chocolate mousse and more. This place we found had a great mix of these things and the only things we didn't get to try were duck and escargot. Oh well.. next time right? 

Next we went to see the Notre Dame which was fantastic and beautiful. They were having service inside and the echo of everyone singing was amazing to witness. The rest of the night was spent getting late night food and going on a journey to the eiffel tower before the metro shut down. We thankfully made it back because that would have been a really long walk home back to our hostel. 

Yes this was the luggage that we had to bring everywhere with us. SOoo sorry Hai! 

Typing emails can be quite challenging in different countries.. keys are in different places!

This statue was just hilarious. That's some kind of peel someone threw on it. 

fist pump triumphant arches!

Inside the Notre Dame

Behind the altar in the Notre Dame

Our view from our hostel room! What an amazing city.

At this point I ran out of memory on my camera but Hai Dao probably has a ton or pictures in his camera to share with you all. I'll definitely post up a link to all of our pictures so you can view the full extended adventure around Europe!

Anywho.. It is wonderful to be back home. Travel was an amazing experience and I know I'll miss it a lot. Something I did find at home that I missed terribly was my bed. =] It's nice to be back home with a place I can return to each night. 

I won't ever forget the places I've been to, the things I've learned, the people I've met, the crazy moments on my trip, the disasters that ended up being figured out, and the way it felt to be welcomed in every city I visited. I can see why some people always want to give back to the world. It's a beautiful place that we all call home may it be on any continent, and I was just thankful and lucky to have met so many that allowed me to be their neighbor from America. 

traveling before Hai came over!

 So I finally am back at home! I arrived on the 7th after a pretty long flight. Thankfully they fed me a lot which kept me happy. Nothing like waking up and having someone ask if you want cognac or baileys. hahaha Thank you air berlin.

It sure has been a while since the last time I got to blog. I have been up to a lot but for some reason finding internet was harder than figuring out a way to wake up my row mate on the flight so I could use the restroom. I'll give you a short recap to avoid another extremely lengthy blog though haha.

Cinque Terre:

Absolutely a gorgeous place composed of 5 villages that have been linked together. I did a hike through each of them and made it through the hike in 3.5 hrs. Here's a picture of one of the villages:

One of the streets you pass up will be the via l'amore which is the street of love. Totally covered with padlocks. The story about the locks is that women that were single and looking for love would go on this street and leave a lock. Then when they find their love, they are supposed to return with that person to the street, unlock the padlock, and chuck it into the ocean. =] Cute huh?

This place was amazing and I learned that the reason why all the villages were the same color was because by law they could only use those colors on their houses. The water was crystal clear and as I walked across the hiking trail I swear the water looked like it had gold in it. Probably from the reflection of the sun and rocks. There were great little spots during the trail where you could walk down some steps and chill along the water. Like you're own not-so-private spot that you could climb down to every now and again. 

I did happen to meet some locals when I was asking for directions, and I ran into these two dudes named Luca and Diego. They were totally nice and after my hike I met up with them again by coincidence! Here's one of them:

They were so cool and I got to practice my Italian with them while they practiced their English with me. They were two older dudes around like 40 that lived like 25 year olds. They taught me a lot about Italy and had me over for dinner for two nights. I met their parents, their neighbors, and learned that all they had to do to get wine was go ask their neighbors for some haha. It's amazing how they could just go to their buddy's winery and come back with bottles of wine. They do live a highly relaxing life. The next day they showed me this little place called Portovenere which was equally if not more beautiful than the other cities that I saw in cinque terre. Just full of breathtaking views and a bunch of people soaking up the sun along this castle like church. I basically couldn't have asked for a better time. Meeting locals and seeing how they live. It was awesome being able to speak to them all and be one of them. =]

Next up! Bologna:

Bologna was yet another beautiful city that was much easier to navigate in than in Rome. It was also a lot more modern. Unfortunately the hotel I stayed at was quite far from the city center. Nonetheless I made the best of things and found my way by asking for help from bus drivers =]. The city itself was cool and the countryside was lovely.

This city wasn't one of my favorites but that could just be because I was traveling alone and finished exploring the city in like a day. haha. There were some things I didn't get to see like the Ducati and Lamborghini factory. What I did like was finding little secret spots. It was like going on a treasure hunt! One for example was finding the Rhine river that flows under the city. I found it!

Like many other cities, they had a lot of graffiti. It was a bummer seeing it on monuments but there were fun ones like these:

I wanted to visit a family of a friend that I went to school with. Unfortunately there was a gate that didn't let me get to their home. Bummer. Either way I had a good time and found a lot of cool parks to relax at while people watching =]. A good ole' italian past time!

Roma:

I actually ended up getting to Rome a day earlier and it was really nice being back home. I had two days to kill before picking up Hai at the airport. I ended up giving tours to a few people. I figured I should practice before Hai comes haha. I think my fastest time was 5 hours to give someone a tour of the entire city minus two squares. =] Pretty good huh? I did get to see a few things that I had never seen before like the Capuchin crypt church which was made of 4000 bodies of friars... creepy!!! I also saw the spanish steps at night which is booming at that time!

I soon found out that no matter how much I practiced, there is just way too much to fully experience in only 2 days. I just had to cross my fingers and do my best to show Hai Dizzle Dao all I could including all the wonderful favorite food places I had listed in my noggin =]. I think I'll make a separate blog for the experience Hai and I had. 

game plannnnn

For those of you that know me, I love being spontaneous but there are plenty of times that call for planning ( which I love to do as well) . :) This is one of those times. So here is my game plan that I've figured out as I travel Italy before Hai arrives in Roma on the 28th.

1. Leave Roma on the 20 or 21->Levanto
-arrive in the bigger town of Levanto and take hikes through the famous cinque terre region of italy. It's a bigger place so it'll be easier to find a place to stay apparently. The hiking trails are amazing and you even have to pay to go on them . Insane! I'll just be hanging out at the beach and chilling with locals.

2. Leave Levanto on the 24th ->Bologna
-I have no idea what to do yet. This is where the spontaneous side comes out. I'll probably ask for some recommendations from my buddy Josh who has family out there! Maybe I'll meet his nonna lol! I would love that!

3. Leave Bologna on the 27th-> Tivoli
- Check out the famous villas that are amazing I hear and witness the blooming of the city that is also known for its fountains. I'm sure the gardens are going to be great by then.

4. Leave Tivoli on the 28th -> Roma
- Pick up my suitcase, meet Hai at the FCO airport, and shuttle our bums to the center of Roma where we will find our hostel!

I definitely still have to figure out where I'll be staying in each of these cities but I think this is a good start. So much can be done in just an hour. AMAZING!

I'll keep you all posted!

I love sunny Rome!

If you couldn't guess by the title, Rome is officially sunny again!! wahoo!! It's absolutely beautiful out and if weather keeps up, I'll be doing some major exploring tomorrow in a dress! I can't wait! I finally got to go on a run since it wasn't raining today, and boy did I work up a nice sweat.

Lately I've been watching some movies as the rain has been coming down, and I got to finally watch all of "Wedding Crashers" till the very end! What a fun movie! So I suppose some good came out of the rain. I've also been cooking at the apartment. Josh and I annihilated a bunch of pasta last night since one of our buds didn't come over till later that night. It was gooood! I'm pretty stoked to get some recipes from him though. Apparently he has some up his sleeve that he learned over the years. Italian recipes + italian dude = legit stuff! I hear we have to hit up some of the local markets to get some ingredients. Hopefully those will be ones I can find in California so I can make it when I get back home. We'll seeee!

Now that tourist season is kicking in, so many parts of Italy are now done with their restoration process, and they also have more music and shows going on around the city. Buildings that were nicely lit are now even more lit, and I can't wait to get lost in the eternal city. It looks like it's going to be a beautiful summer! I'll soon be planning the rest of my travels in Italy before Hai comes. It looks like.. cinque terre will be on the list, as well as Bologna since I live with one Bolognese right now. I figured he could give me some good recommendations and I could possibly meet his friends/family while I'm there. For now, I get to enjoy some random parts of Roma I haven't seen yet, and I'll be brushing up on some Italian until the 21st comes along :).

Anywho, Jen is off to get some more stamps to send out post cards! Hope you all are doing well! I hear California is nice and warm right now! Have some avocados for me and get a nice tan!

LOve love love love LOVE,
Jen

Rainy Roma

For the past three days in Roma, it's been rainy on and off. Earlier as I was walking to school, on the way to use some internet, I heard thunder I thought oh crap. Next thing you know, it's pouring. I kind of just giggle to myself as I scramble to get inside the school. I saw a bunch of people all dressed up. Today is graduation day for the little grad class of 2010 at JCU. I was told a large class for them would be 50. Hot dog! That's small. Sometimes I forget that this school is mainly made up of study abroad students. Hopefully things run smoothly even with the rain.

Lately, I've just been relaxing in Rome as I hang out with two of some of the funniest people I've met in Roma. Josh and Anthony who both were kind enough to let me stay with them for the next week. I'm hoping we'll get to see our friends from the play perform again. If you haven't heard yet, they're kinda awesome and their group is called "Qunita Giusta". Look them up! They performed on x-factor dun dun dunnnnn!!!

I can't wait to post up these pictures from London and Dublin but I can't really do so just yet without my camera, which is stationed at Anthony's pad. I'm also crossing my fingers for internet so I don't have to keep roaming onto campus for the next few days as I conjure up my game plan as I travel Italy by myself in a few days. I'll definitely let you know when I know though!

Till later gator!!

London and a bit more of adventure... story time!! caution.. it's long

Okay so to fill you in I only have limited time to type this because I'm in my hostel in Dublin and I have a time limit on this internet access. I just figured that this part of my trip was just that interesting and I HAD to fill you in on it..

First off,... London was great and I learned how good I was at navigating in general now after exploring so many new places in the past new months. wahoO! I'm no longer map challenged! I ended up staying at a cute place called Ashford, Middlesex? hahah I know it doesn't sound too cute but the city was adorable and the houses looked like gingerbread houses ! It was beautiful in the morning too. So nice I had to go out and take a run! I'm pretty sure running in Roma messed up my body though. I felt like an old person running with leg pains. Perhaps the uneven cobblestones in Roma ? iono. hopefully that gets better.

London sure was chilly but nothing I couldn't handle after my experience in Paris. The metro system thankfully was awesome and we avoided the cold by using our day passes. Josh and I definitely found out how expensive things were but we still found ways to explore and have a great time. We basically hit up all of central London: soho, oxford circus, the south side of the river like shakespeare's globe theatre, the tower bridges, the london bridge, the columbian district, and also the east in Notting Hill. anywhoo.. to go on with the limited time...they love elephants there, the parks are awesome, shopping is wonderful yet expensive, they have MEXICAN FOOD YUM!, the double decker buses are cool, and day passes rocked my world.

Unfortunately.. here's where story turns. I definitely had quite the evening and .. here's what I sat down and wrote that night in the airport:

It's 11pm here in London and moments closer to 11:11pm when i secretly hoped this silly wishing game of "it's 11:11, make a wish" really worked. Update: Jen missed her flight to Dublin even after leaving 4 hours in advanced. She then searches frantically on an internet site in the airport while paying 1 pound (1.5 dollars) for ever 10 minutes. After about 1 hour she finds a flight (this includes time spent assisting 4 other families that for some reason decided to ask me for assistance). I suppose at least someone got some good out of this chaotic time. I then find that I can't pay for my flight because my credit card company decided to finally do their job and put my credit card on hold. Two nights ago, I emailed them about my itunes situation again, specifically telling them that I was overseas and they still put my card on hold. Thankfully my awesome boyfriend graciously helps me so that I can continue on this trip. yes, he's my angel. I then get asked for helped again by Italians! I was secretly thrilled to hear the language. It was comforting for some reason. Maybe because for once in that past hour , I was able to understand people. Even though we all speak English in America, how come things like this happen?oy miscommunication.. I don't know.. boh!?


So after this little adventure, I attempt to withdrawal money from "Barclays" to see if it would let me pull out cash even if I couldn't use it online like a credit card. Little did I know the damn machine would retain my card. My heart sank and I felt like all of the water in my body ran up to my eyes as my eyes started to water. The only sympathy that ATM machine could give me was "you should try contacting your bank". The next two people that were supposed to help me turned out to be just like that machine saying, " you should try contacting your bank." Too bad I can't, seeing you how my source of income was gone!


I thankfully had my discover card, that I assumed wasn't accepted in many parts of Europe. The pay phone nearby had "discover" written on it. I thought *fist pump* my luck is turning around. I called my credit card company (LBSFCU) and although the rep found that she couldn't do anything for me , she was so kind I would have just blamed her for my next cavity because she gave me a toothache! She was so sweet! The next call was to discover and that rep was equally as awesome. His questionaire to verify my ID was like a game show. He was extremely helpful and informed me that I could withdrawal 300 dollars from my card at ATMs labeled "link". I was so pumped because that would have been perfect for my time in Dublin. I'd be set until I got back to Rome where I could get money from my school account. 


I grabbed my things and head on over to an ATM where I try to withdrawal money. Accidentally asking for more than 300 dollars in pounds, I had to try again. The bloody machine took my card AGAIN!


So... I have a backpack, a suitcase, tickets to Dublin, 20 euros, no cards, and a headache. I try to once again go to the info desk and the woman just could care less really. I tried figuring out what to do as I walked away. I start crying unwillingly.I wipe my tears and go to her again to ask what the code to call collect was. I could tell she was starting to feel a bit bad for me. Finally a real person came out from her eyes. She didn't say anything but "100". I thanked her for the third time and went back to the pay phone. I call the first person that came to mind, Hai. My parents would have been if not for my pride ,and my foreshadowing conversation of confusion and worry on their part because their baby was stuck in the UK without any money. 


I must admit, I didn't call him for anything but to hear his voice. I didn't need money. (well I did but that's besides the point) I just needed comfort and someone familiar to calm me, and someone to keep me from crying. I just needed some love. I know he said it sounded like I was disappointed in him for not figuring out what I should do, but I was just upset in general. I know I 'd find a way but like I said.I just wanted to hear his voice. Unfortunately he had to hear mine after this fellow that embarrassingly enough connected my collect call. I can only imagine what he was thinking then. Or now at this moment...


I now find myself sitting on a cold stone floor on the airport floor with my luggage to keep me company. My tears have subsided and I'm now merely the narrator rewinding the past few hours in my book. What a night and it's not over yet. My flight leaves at 6:30am and I'll be pulling an all nighter. I suppose I could sit here thinking about who to blame. Was it the server that was super slow? The late underground that took forever to get me to the station? Or the shuttle that took 2 hours to get me to the airport instead of 1 hr and 10 min? Or was it the damn ATM that had no mercy on me? The help desk that wasn't so helpful?  Meh, what's the point? Finding out that answer would take up a lot of time that wouldn't be able to be given back to me. Much like that ATM machine. I'd be shredding something important, precious time. Time as a person with adventure, aspirations, joy, feelings, friends to think about and all that other mushy stuff. I refuse to be a machine... so here I come Dublin with nothing but 20 euros and my camera. .. that I'll use to zoom across a rainbow and find a pot of gold!!! haha Or at least a four leaf clover. =]

.. To end this story (for now) I ended up making friends with some Russians that were super sweet and fun. They made my night better and even taught me some Russian along the way. The rest of the morning went smoothly and I ran into Californians too who made me super excited to hear "my dialect" of the english language. haha . As for the rest of my trip to Dublin.. I'll fill you in later because I'm running out of time on this internet timer!!

PEACE!

Time to say goodbye.

I know it's a disgusting habit but I have to admit... I have been biting my nails. Yes , not the first thing you'd want to read in a while but I am really nervous that this trip is coming to an end. I have to go back home soon? I have to move back to a fast paced life? I don't get gelato anymore? No more fun old people to talk to in Italian? No random 3am strolls to the Trevi fountain? No more RENT cast outings? I have no idea how to feel right now and a lot of thinking is all I've been doing.

I realize that I won't be going home for another month, but all this business with my roommates leaving, us all packing, and cleaning... makes me so sad. I've been giving final hugs to some people that I've grown so close to this semester. It's rough. I even got my recording of RENT..I totally cried while watching it. I'm going to miss falling in love for 1.5 hrs and living for "no day but today". I absolutely can't wait to see people I haven't seen at home for the past half of a year, but I think the saddest part for me is that I know I won't be returning for a while. There are so many things that have happened here that would never happen at home and it's going to be weird to adjust to another style of living.

One thing that reminds me that reality bites sometimes is the fact that I'm still dealing with this Itunes issue. If you weren't aware,  someone hacked into my itunes account and ordered about 375 dollars worth of useless games and applications. Sucks. I'm stills trying to work it out through email and skype between my bank and itunes. I definitely did some retail therapy after this mess. It happened during finals week so that just wasn't fun to think about either while studying. Thankfully I feel like finals still turned out well, but we'll see when I get my final grades.

On the plus side, I've been going on outings with friends and taking some more pictures. =] Getting lost in the city has been fun and I can't wait to continue the insane picture snap shots once again. I figured that no matter where I go, I'm always going to look like a tourist. I should just go big and go nuts with my camera hahah.

Alrighty well it's about 2am over here. I should get some sleep since my roomies are leaving in the early hours of the morning. I should be up to say goodbye. Until my next blog I hope everyone is doing well and has warmed up hugs for me! Feel free to practice on others too before hand =] . Here are some pictures I've taken lately...

for more.. just venture on over to facebook =D

Love.

It's time.. to go back to a real school.

Once again, it's that time of the semester that everyone dreads-fInals week. Most schools normally wouldn't have finals on Sunday. Unfortunately JCU isn't one of those normal schools.. well actually let's just call it an institution. We do have finals on Sunday and I have my first one today at 6pm.

Not going to lie, I have no idea what to study for. Our study session for the marketing class consisted with the professor talking about two slides on her powerpoint. Just 2 slides.. I'm definitely ready to go back to a real school where professors don't give you final study guides until 2 days before your final exam and where they have reasonable requirements for when assignments are due. No way should a 19 page project and presentation be ready in 2 days.

Enough of my little rant. I need to get back to studying, but I have a new found appreciation for CSULB . I just want my amazing art professors back and on the plus side, I'll get to see them all next semester. =]

GO BEACH!

oh what a night!

Good Morning !!! =D

Today is, yet again, another breathtaking day in Roma. It's pretty hot outside and I can't wait to head out to the beaches sometime very soon. Most likely after finals are over wahoOO!

Yesterday night was yet again another epic night with cast of RENT. It was our "Joanne's" birthday aka.. Mary Rose Rideout and I was in charge of making sure things went perfectly. The night started off with a dinner at a wonderful place called Isola di Pizza. So delicious and our waiter was fabulous. He was a blast and we had so much fun singing happy birthday with him. =]

Next up we went to the Banana Republic, which is a bar! Not a clothing store haha. There we got our first sets of drinks and of course got the birthday girl her fav... cape cods. This was then followed by tequila, tequila sours, cosmos dropped into tonic water and much more =]. Yes we were a wild bunch, and I don't think anyone there will ever forget us. I must say, if anyone gets a chance to stop by here, please do. They have great drinks, the servers and bartenders are lovely . My favorite one was Lavigna and she sure can make some delicious drinks for you.

Following this, we were supposed to bake a cake but seeing how we took so long at our other destinations we had to head over to the romantic part of the evening early. =] We headed up to Giancolo Park to celebrate at 2:28am. Unfortunately things went wrong a bit and we couldn't find each other on the hill. Nonetheless, we broke open the bubbly and laid out on the grass looking up at the stars. I'm sure we sang "tanti aguri a te" over and over and over last night. The plan originally was to stay up there until the sun came up but...unfortunately we got a bit cold so we decided not to stay out there till midnight but we managed to hang out there until .. about 5am. =D

We then managed to get a bit lost as we headed towards my apartment, but thankfully we found our way back in decent time. We easily could have stayed up to watch the sunrise on my balcony, but everyone knocked out so fast haha. Plus we all have finals to study for, and some people had class the next morning too. Once again, it was a bed for four and of course breakfast was served in the morning. This time around it was chocolate chip muffins and we baked a cake to take to school later on muahahh. Delicious!

We've decided not to post up most of those pictures but I'll try and and get a few decent ones up for you to understand how awesome the night went. =]

Despite the beautiful weather, I must now be a good student and do some studying at school. Finals will definitely be no bueno seeing how our professors never seem to give us study guides until 2 days before our final exams. =P Thank you JCU.

Con Affetto,
Jen

long overdue updates

It's been absolutely forever since the last time I had blogged .. for that.. sry! Things have been so crazy with the play, insane nights of partying after the play, Earth day performances, big projects for school, and finals week. Things have basically been nuts and I'm totally bummed the semester is wrapping up in such a hurry. I did manage to go out two days ago and "get lost" throughout the city. It had been a while since I took time to walk aimlessly into the abyss of Roma. I decided to do so around the vatican area. It's quite nice and I found the CUTEST stores along the way! I loved it and the weather was amazing. Plus , I found some super cute anchor earrings for 1 euro! wahoo!!

Updates about the play,..

It went really well and although I was half naked in front of so many people, it didn't even matter. I did manage to flash everyone with my left cheek (no not on my face) on one of the other two nights that I wasn't performing. I did a tango dance and my partner's hands pulled my dress up as I sunk towards his leg for our ending pose. Erg.. oh well. The embarrassment only lasted for 10 minutes after when I found out. I realized that I possibly just added to the show and made it that much better.

My night as Mimi was unforgettable and I had such a fun time acting with the cast. One thing our Roger (my lover) said after the shows were over was... " I feel like I fell in love with each of the Mimi's each night". Awww what a sweetheart. He did get to kiss all three of us at one point or another. I'm sure that was exciting. lol We all really have become such a close cast and I think these people really ended my trip here in Roma well. We see each other everyday now and I love it.

School updates..

I should be doing some work right now.. but I'm blogging haha.

Actually one interesting update is that I apparently made a big boo boo. For those of you that saw my pictures on the roof of JCU.. ugh.. I shouldn't have posted those on facebook. Apparently a faculty advisor saw them and I'm supposed to be in big trouble. Lame. 1.5 weeks before the semester is over and I get to meet in the Assistant Dean's office this upcoming Wednesday. I hear the guy I'm meeting with is cool but meh, who know's what will happen. I'll be sure to update you on what happens after my meeting. who knows..

Any , I must get back to the ton of work that I have to do. Toodle loo! I'll blog to you all soon <3

Love Mimi

We're just a few days away from the show date. Our cast soon found out what "hell week" meant to the fullest. There were tears, yelling, frustration, and a lot of singing. It's crunch time and all I can think about day and night is RENT. I love this play and it makes me cry everytime .. no joke. Sometimes when I watch the cast perform I tear up.

Last night, some of our cast ran out to have chinese food together. We had a great time talking, laughing, and reminiscing about moments at practice. Everytime I look at each of them I think about how much I'll miss seeing them everyday. They all say they don't miss the states. I don't blame them. Italy is another world with a complete different lifestyle of working to live instead of living to work. My friend MJ was right. Reality is a bitch sometimes. I know I'll be leaving for home soon, but Rome will always be here. I'll be damned if I don't come back in my lifetime.

To my cast... "life goes on, but I'd die without you..."

Love,
Mimi

Rent rent rent rennnnnt rent!

It's been a long day at practice and things were nuts for a while. Near the end we finally were able to  be pretty productive. I can't wait for tomorrow's practice. It should be even better =] We'll have a set for the show finally! yay!! Today was did get to meet our band that will be playing during the musical. Thankfully they're amazing and quick learners lol!

Here are some random shots from today:

This is Ximena.. one of our Maureens 

we're not gonna payyyy ...

side practice .. yes we're pretty close

no comment. lol

*applause*

The show is getting closer and closer. I can't wait to see how things turn out. I must say, getting closer to these cast members makes me think about how much I'll miss Roma when I have to go back home. sigh.. oh well.. even more of a reason to have a blast with them while I can. =] I know we will the night after the show is totally finished!! WAHOO!