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.

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.

Two picture-perfect afternoons.

I don't quite know what it is, but something about when the weekend rolls around things go from fantastic to stellar. Our weeks are always amazing and, because I'm nerdy like that, I actually really enjoy going to class, but there's just something about our weekends - they always bring really exciting adventures.

For the past few weekends in particular, it has just been awesome. I've been going into the weekends with just a few plans and not too many expectations and they have just been turning out like a dream.

On Friday night we did something that we hadn't yet done, and that's to go out at night in our particular area of Rome. It's a really hip, young area with lots of bars and hot-spots that stay open late at night/early morning yet my roommate and I hadn't yet been out. So Friday night we went out to this bar with a group of our friends and it was sooo amazing!! It was super small and crowded upstairs but then we discovered that there was a whole downstairs with tons of seating, cool tables and awesome patterns and prints on the furniture and walls. They had TVs playing music videos of popular songs but then the DJ from upstairs was blasting all downstairs too. It was so amazing and we had such a blast.

Then, the next day, we slept in and when we woke up we decided to get some lunch and explore our area a bit more, being that going to that bar opened our knowledge up to a whole different part of our area. So we went over there and what did we find? A little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant!!! Now, while this may not seem all that exciting, you have to realize that here in Italy like 98% of the food is pizza, pasta or panini so when we saw a Chinese restaurant it was so amazing!

We went in and it was far from a hole-in-the-wall, by the way. It was very large, so nice and the food was soooo good!! It was only $4.50 for my chicken with cashew entree and they even took the meal vouchers we get through our program that pays for some of our food and groceries! Score!!

Then today we went back to that same piazza and ate pizza for lunch while sitting on the steps of the fountain in the middle and then went to this adorable coffee shop down one of the adjoining streets. It was so peaceful and truly was an "I'm in Rome" moment.

Such a lovely day, and might I add, one of the best study environments I could ever ask for! Ahhh [contented sigh] :)

Love and Style,
L.M.

My roommate and I at the adorable bar!

The awesome Chinese place! A total gem of a discovery. :)