An up and a down.

One thing I keep being thankful for every time I go to the grocery store is the price of food. Grant it, I've only recently started doing a lot of hard-core shopping at the grocery store, but I generally know the prices of things and food at the grocery store here in Italy is so much cheaper than in America! If I want to buy a box of Barilla pasta it will be about 50 cents, a single hamburger will be about 75 cents, a loaf of Italian bread also 75 cents. There are so many things you can get here for cheap! It's so wonderful and I could definitely get used to this! 

One down I ran into (yet again) today that really stuck out in my mind is the pace of pedestrians on the sidewalks. The pace in Italy is certainly a lot slower than somewhere like New York, and this is quite evident whenever you walk on the sidewalks here. People often stroll, rather than briskly walk, which is wonderful but I must admit when you're trying to get somewhere on a time schedule, it can be a bit difficult to weave in and out of all the leisurely strollers. Today, I was booking it to class near the Colosseum and no one else seemed to be in near the hurry I was. That slower pace is certainly a good thing in the big scheme of things, but it definitely is something that I've had to get more used to.

Anyways, just some random thoughts for the day. Buona notte, tutti!

Love and Style,

L.M.

An Italian Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving yesterday was a lot of fun. It was incredibly sad being away from family for the first time on a major holiday, but it was really great to be amidst the company of friends. And while Thanksgiving isn't a big holiday here in Italy, our program took us to an exquisite restaurant where we had turkey dinner with an Italian twist and it was so posh and wonderful. A really great evening indeed.

Today, however, would normally be a monumental day for me, as it is Black Friday in the States!! Being that Thanksgiving isn't a big holiday here, definitely neither is Black Friday. This makes me sad, as it is a true experience and such a fun thing to go shopping on Black Friday, in my opinion. 

But oh well, there is always next year! It's crazy to think that now it's past Thanksgiving and one step closer to Christmas. Time really does fly.

Love and Style,

L.M.

Gonna miss this.

It has become our "thing" to cook rice for dinner pretty much every night here lately. It's delicious, fast and it is so easy!! Our local grocery store sells these packets of rice, each packet has two servings, and there are about 10 flavors total. Each one is under €2.00 and all you do is add the packet's contents to two cups of water and boil for 15 minutes. It is so good!!! For something so cheap and so easy, it is absolutely delicious rice. It even has the classic Italian texture of being "al dente," meaning firmer and chewier than fully-cooked pasta.

Today they were on sale at the store so I got four packets for us to eat for dinner and I bought three packets just to bring home to the States. I am sure going to miss those things. I'm pretty sure they're in one of the sub-definitions for the word perfect. :)

Love and Style,
L.M.

In the midst of history.

It's so interesting being here in Italy during the economic and political change that is going on. I believe it was three days ago now that Burlusconi resigned and two days ago that Italy got a new government, which is absolutely monumental. Sometimes you don't even realize all that is going on because you get so wrapped up in school and your daily activities and seeing the city that you forget to envelop yourself in the true culture around you - the establishments of the country in which you are living.

Walking around Rome, you see political buildings with guards outside of them all the time, and we would always walk past Burlusconi's old palazzo when passing to a certain area. When you really stop to think of it, there is so much that goes on that you don't even realize and here in Rome we're fortunate enough to be right in the center of it.

One has to realize, however, that with political and economic change comes unrest and this is also something that I actually feel very fortunate to be witnessing here during my time abroad. As you may or may not know, the Euro currency is facing much difficulty right now - Greece being arguably the most affected and Italy being one of the next most.

This issue, along with all of the political issues taking place right now cause many riots and protests. We witnessed a demonstration on Thursday during our Italian class. We paused class to open the window and watch the protesters that were right on the street outside, along with police and many, many journalists. They were all university students our age, which made it all the more fascinating. Here in Italy there seem to be a lot more public demonstrations regarding social, economic and political issues and I, personally, think it's fascinating to see. Below are two pictures I took outside of our classroom window, overlooking the university-students' demonstration.

I don't know what the future holds for anything regarding politics or the economy, but I know that I truly feel lucky and privileged to be witnessing so much history in the making.

This past weekend.

It was amazing. I could go on and on about it but, in short, it was phenomenal. It was my second time going to both Verona and Milan and I felt basically the same way about both as I did last time. Verona melted my heart, yet again. There's just something about that town, it's so romantic and adorable. The way the street lights light up orange at night makes the setting so cute and makes it look like it's straight out of a love story. I don't fully know how to describe it but it is just fantastic.

Milan was awesome - so cool to be in such a renowned city, but I got the same vibe I did last time. It truly is a city and, in my opinion, it kinda makes New York look clean. There are beautiful sites like the Duomo and, of course, all of the shopping, but all in all the city was very dirty and I really didn't fall in love. But that's ok because Sunday made up for it!

Sunday I went to Cuggiono, and my article this Thursday will tell all about my trip there. It was, however, an experience that is impossible to ever forget. The family friends I met were so kind to me and basically adopted me into their family for the day and meeting my distant aunt was so much fun. Truly amazing indeed.

One funny experience was after we all had lunch and the mom of our family friends offered me Italian coffee, which is basically espresso. I said yes and then she asked if I wanted milk - I said no and she asked if I wanted sugar - I said no again, to which she said to the others "Che strano, che strano! Che le piace il caffe come questo," meaning how strange that she likes her coffee like this! I thought it was funny because that's how I always drink my coffee, yet to them who usually have either milk or sugar or both, I suppose it's a bit of an odd notion. :) It was really cute.

And Cuggiono is so adorable!!! Oh my gosh, such a cute, tiny Italian town!! Just like something straight out of a movie, both the city and the whole fantastic situation as a whole. It's such a rewarding feeling getting to know the town of your ancestors. They say you can't know where you're going until you know where you've been and now I know where my familial history began.

Love and Style,
L.M.

C'è il weekend!

I am sooo happy! Three out of four of my midterms are done (I'm just just going to be happy about that for now and not think about research papers that are due soon...) and tonight we leave for our weekend trip!

Two of my friends and I are taking an overnight train tonight to Verona and are going to spend tomorrow in Verona, then Saturday in Milan and Sunday the two of them are going to Torino while I venture off and go to Cuggiono!! If you're from the Southern Illinois area, maybe you know this town!

My ancestors on my mom's side immigrated from there and I'm so excited to go and see the town of my heritage! :) I associate completely with my mom's side of the family since my father left Mom and I when I was 10 and I've never met his side. I love my Italian heritage and I'm so excited to see the home town and maybe I'll even get to meet some distant relatives!!! :D

Love and Style,
L.M.

Caffè Americano.

One thing that I miss most about the food in America is the coffee. Here in Italy, if you order "un caffè" it's a shot of espresso. Which I must admit, is actually awesome because you can get them for around 80 Euro cents and they're the perfect start to a morning or pick-me-up in the afternoon.

On a side note, did you know that tiramisù is actually Italian for "pick-me-up?" The word tiramisù is the opposite of an Italian saying "sono proprio giu," meaning "I'm so down." :) Funny, huh?

But back to coffee. So you only get an espresso shot when you order a plain coffee here which is awesome in its own way and is a super popular thing to do. If you go into any little cafe or coffee bar at around 2 p.m. there will be somewhere around 20 espresso cups sitting near the sink needing to be washed from the rush hour.

However, as awesome as espresso is, I really miss American coffee; an actual cup of coffee. This is something that us coffee lovers on the trip have been talking about and my roommate and I have finally found a solution. There's this little cafe near our apartment and it's absolutely adorable. The decorations are red and black and super trendy and eclectic and they even play awesome music. Last time we were there they played "Hey Jude" by the Beatles and then today they played Nirvana's "Teen Spirit."

But why we have gone back twice now: caffè Americano. It's one Euro and fifty cents and you get an actual cup of coffee! Plus they even give you a little chocolate biscuit on the side. It's so wonderful and it's actually very delicious coffee. So now we have found the solution: just order caffè Americano. And this coffee shop we found is so adorable. It's the perfect place to sit on a Sunday afternoon with friends, chill on the couch with a cup of coffee and talk. Life is good.

Love and Style,
L.M.

Red carpets and wonderful films.

Buona sera!

Oooh my gosh we had such a fun time last night at the Rome Film Festival. I've never been to a film festival before, but the atmosphere was so cool and the film we saw was phenomenal. It's coming to the States eventually, so keep an eye out! It's called Too Big to Fail and it was absolutely fantastic!

The festival was on the other side of the city, a side I hadn't been to yet, so we got to venture out to a new area, which was awesome, and then when we got there it was such an amazing experience. Everywhere you looked there were all kinds of trendy people and it was night-time so the big lights were shining on the red carpet.

Rai, one of the largest broadcasting companies in Italy who is in charge of holdings in both radio and TV, had a stand up where they were broadcasting live from the festival and the musicians were performing on the stage right there in front of us. The radio-show host was interviewing them from a chair to their left and they would perform live songs. The one guy even played the electric cello! They were so phenomenal - both groups we saw. It was good, chill Italian music and it was made all the better by the ambiance surrounding us.

There were heat lamps with the flames setting the mood and there was a resting/seating/relaxing area set up by one of the sponsors, a coffee company, and they were giving out free espresso shots in adorable little disposable cups.

Then, the red carpet. When we first went in we had to just walk on the side of the carpet because the main carpet was blocked off, however, after the show they opened up the main, center carpet and we got to walk on it! I'm posting a picture below.

All in all, it was one of the most exciting nights yet. We got to see a movie, something we haven't had a real opportunity to do since we've been here, we got to see an American movie at that, so it was extra fun to see an American film, all in English with Italian subtitles (I tried to follow along during the movie by hearing the English and then reading the Italian) and we got to attend the Rome Film Festival. That's not something you get to do everyday! Che fantastico! :)

Love and Style,
L.M.

Film Festival!

Tonight is going to be quite a fun experience! The Rome Film Festival is going on for two more days and for my cinema class we get to go for free! Tonight we're going to see a film at the main festival center with red carpet and everything! Celebrities have come for their films, so it would be awesomeeee if we could see someone tonight! Though there's no guarantee, so we'll just have to see.

It's quite a trek to get there, but it's going to be so worth it!! Ciao!

Love and Style,
L.M.