Roman McDonalds.

Ciao tutti!!

Words cannot express how amazing Rome has been thus far. We arrived on Saturday and it is now Tuesday, but it already feels as if we have settled in a lot. Classes started yesterday and have been absolutely wonderful so far! My Rome Through the Ages and Intro to Renaissance and Baroque Art classes seem like they are going to be so fascinating and I find myself feeling more intersted than usual in class. I always enjoy classes and learning, so much so that sometimes I think I'm a bit odd... However, there's something about learning about subjects while being in the city in which it all happened that is fascinating and I truly cannot wait to learn more.

I knew I would love Rome because I remembered how I fell in love with it last time I was here, however, the moment that feeling hit me again was so fantastic. We were in the cab going from our drop-off spot to our individual apartments and just driving down the street it all came back to me. Seeing the city, how it bustles with modernity yet is surrounded by antiquity and history, it's so amazing. There's just something about this city that I can't put my finger on now to describe it...maybe I'll eventually be able to pinpoint it, but it's just fantastic.

However, no matter how amazing a place is, sometimes you just long for what you're used to - a taste of home. And my roommate and I found that on our first night in Rome. We got to our apartment, unpacked a little bit and then headed out to explore. When it came time for dinner, we both agreed that we were actually kind of tired of eating paninis, pizza and pasta for all of our meals. We wanted something different, and we wanted something like home. What did we find? A sign saying that McDonalds was five minutes away.

Thus, we went on an adventure. We walked for close to an hour trying to find the McDonalds that was somewhere five minutes away. Grant it, if we would have had access to our smart phones, with their Google maps and other apps, we probably could have found it in a matter of seconds. However, that's another interesting aspect of being abroad. It's a total change from what your used to, even down to the detail of cell phones. Being without my iPhone for uses such as a camera and iPod has been interesting, and, in cases such as this one, where it would have been so helpful to be able to Google where the McDonalds was, it certainly makes you appreciate it while you have it and realize how dependent we truly are on technology.

None the less, the hour-long adventure to McDonalds was soooooo worth it. We eventually found it and it was one of the nicest McDonalds I have ever been to. (Second on the list would have to be the Rock n' Roll McDonalds in Chicago!) The menù had some different additions to it...such as a sandwich called "toast" and fried olives... not sure how I feel about that last one. However, I stuck to my usual when I head to Micky-Dee's: chicken McNuggets, fries and a coke. A six-piece meal cost about six Euro, and then each container of katsup cost 20 Euro cents. Yes...they charge for katsup. It's really rare here, so I suppose maybe that's why. :)

It was so nice to have a taste of something familiar. Even though I don't go to McDonalds all that much back home, it was just the same as in the States. I can easily say that I have never appreciated or enjoyed McDonalds as much as I did that night. It was wonderful. :) And it's good to know that it's there waiting for me if I ever need a reminder of home again.

Love and Style,
L.M.

Contrary to pop culture belief...

One more thing about Venice while I'm thinking of it...you always hear that Venice smells bad and I just want to say, we were there for three days and we walked all over the island in the course of those three days and it definitely doesn't smell like it's rumored to smell.

Every city has it's few feet of bad smelling area due to trash or things like that, but overall, Venice totally doesn't smell bad! I think it's actually quite refreshing. :)

Love and Style,
L.M.

One of the best compliments ever.

This past weekend while in Venice, I had an extremely cool experience and received one of the best compliments ever. I was standing in the doorway of a shop while my friend was inside looking around. An Italian girl who looked to be just a few years older than me came up to me and asked if she could take my picture.

At first, I had what I assume would be a typical reaction, and asked why she wanted to take my picture. After all, it's a bit of a strange request from a stranger. She said she really liked my hair (my big, poufy hair) and that she would like to take a picture. At that point I figured it was pretty harmless so I said it was o.k. and she took the picture.

After she took it, though, she then told me she studied fashion and was out looking for cool things and inspirations. I thought about that for a second and realized how much of an awesome thing that was! I think it's so cool an Italian fashion student liked my hair and wanted to use it as an inspirational piece. Such an amazing compliment and I felt truly honored. :) 

Love and Style,
L.M.

Italian yogurt.

I just wanted to say that Italian yogurt is amazing. And European yogurt in general for that matter. I don't know why it tastes so much better, to me at least, than yogurt from the States, but it's so much thicker and it's just so perfectly sweet. It makes yogurt eating even more desirable than it already is.

Off to Venice tomorrow! I can't wait to see what fun this weekend will bring. :)

Love and Style,
L.M.

London is amazing.

Well, the title basically gets to the point. My study abroad journey has officially started; today was the first day of our orientation classes in Florence. However, as of last week, we were in London!

We were only in London for two days, and both days we were catching up on jet lag and getting to know the 58 other students we were going to be living and studying with for the next few months. Thus, the two days felt oddly disoriented. Yet those were the most amazing two days!

Knowing we were coming to London, I was excited to be able to see it, yet I didn't really have any expectations about what it would be like. Yet, when I got there, I was absolutely amazed about how fantastic it is.

The first day we just explored on our own, in small groups we happened to meet on our journey from the airport to the hotel/when checking in to the hotel, but then the second day we went on a bus tour throughout the city and saw everything from residential areas to Big Ben to Buckingham Palace to an actual guard change at Buckingham Palace! That was so cool, to see the classically-ensembled soldiers dressed in red uniforms and tall, black bearskin hats marching from the Palace to their barracks, some playing their instruments and others marching with rifles, and the new soldiers coming the opposite way, from their barracks to the Palace to switch.

London just has this aura about it that I still can't fully put into words. It has so much elegance and it has history, such as Westminster Abbey, juxtaposed right alongside modern pieces, such as the London Eye Ferris wheel. And to think about how old the city is, about 2,000 years, is incredible as well. History books are filled with knowledge about London's past - things such as the industrial revolution and history of the royalty. All of that took place there and yet the city is in fantastic condition. They even have the absolute cleanest mass public transportation system I have ever been on: their subway, or, the Tube as they call it. :)

Not to mention the amazing pubs and shopping! Everyone in London has this look about them - effortlessly chic and the style is impeccable. I especially like the style because I'm a boots and jacket person (I love trench coats!) and the weather there allows for that attire even now during the late summer. London clouds hovered thickly over our heads both days we were there, making it all the more intriguing - like it is a world of its own. Most definitely going back there sometime soon!

Love and Style,
L.M.

Success.

Just wanted to post an update regarding my last post/rant regarding suitcases and weight limits - my suitcase at the airport yesterday was exactly 49 pounds of the 50 pound weight limit. Success indeed!

I am now in London! [Excited scream!] I didn't fully know what to expect when I got here, but it is simply unbelievable and so incredible! Everything has a special touch to it making it cuter than the normal, everyday find. We mosied on out to find somewhere to eat lunch today and it turned out to be the cutest place I have been to in a while! It looked like the clothing store Anthropologie, only in restaurant form!

And the accents?! Superb! I love it. I could completely live here. Then again, that's not the first time I've said something like that. But it's true!

Now to cure the jet lag as much as I can tonight and then the big sightseeing day starts tomorrow! More to come!

Love and Style,
L.M.

Suitcases and airport trips.

Hi friends, 

Apologies for my vacancy in the past couple of weeks. I feel like life is spinning on turbo speed, which is not a bad thing at all, but it certainly makes for some fast-passing days.

I can hardly believe that I leave for Italy tomorrow. I've spent the past week and a half after my fantastic Boyfriend left getting all of the details together and making all of my stuff fit into one, not two, but one suitcase that must be 50 pounds or less.

Needless to say, this has proved to be quite the difficult feat.

All of my fellow style mavens will understand when I say that packing is always one of the most fun, yet most difficult and frustrating parts of traveling. :/ It's always so fun to think of where you're going, what outfits would best fit there, etcetera, etcetera. However, when you're so limited, it's so difficult!!

For instance, right now as I write this I'm sitting in the terminal on my way back from Las Vegas for a three-day weekend trip. Packing for this trip was easier than a sinch! I simply picked out five outfits, even though I only need three, in case I didn't feel like wearing one on a certain day, got my toiletries together and voila! Even with the extra outfits, I had to put a pillow in my suitcase so that it wouldn't cave in from being so empty! Now that's awesome. 

Yet, fast forward to my trip on tomorrow? No. At an average of $60 for a second bag to fly with you over seas, there is no way I'm spending my precious travel money on a suitcase. I'm determined to make it work, no matter how hard that might be.

So far it's working out well - I weighed my bag the first time and it was 40 pounds, but that was without shoes, toiletries and jewelry. Thus, I had to take out my precious long, brown winter trench for the sake of removing at least three pounds and I added in the rest of my belongings. My scale at home said 50 pounds...I'm hoping the airport scales agree. :/

At any rate though, the point is, I have successfully fit all of my stuff for the next four months of my life in one 50-pound suitcase and a large backpack carryon. I have never done that kind of an efficient packing job in my life! I'm pretty proud. It's a whole other story once I buy anything at all abroad, however, but I'll worry about that later. :D

Love and Style,

L.M.