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.

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. :)

Viva Roma!

Anyone who might know me would know that I, of all people, am not a sports person. I'm much, much more on the side of music and arts rather than sports. I've been to a few sporting events in my life, but it's never been something I get really excited about.

However, coming to Italy, I definitely wanted to see a soccer game, since soccer is so, so popular here, and yesterday was my chance! My school put on an outing to a soccer game at the Olympic Stadium here in Rome and tickets for us were only 10 Euro! 

The game was Roma versus Palermo and I was, I can't believe I'm going to say this, extremely excited to go! My roommate and I got Roma shirts with the team colors on it and wore them proudly yesterday!  Of course, I had to keep it stylish, so I also rocked my new brown suede Italian boots and Louis Vuitton tote bag, but that's beside the point. :p

There was just such an energy about it all. The fans were so supportive of their home team - much more than I have ever seen in my (be it little) sports experience. They were so passionate and so involved, it was wonderful.

By the end of it, I was even humming the Roma chant song in my head, though I couldn't really make out the words with the -what seemed like- thousands of people singing it all together.

And soccer is a good sport for me I'm realizing. If I had to choose one to watch, I think it would be soccer. Games are only 90 minutes without stopping the clock, plus some added time at the end, and then that's it! I can totally handle that. :)

My roommate and I both said we would love to go to another game while we're here, so we are now on the lookout for a guest team we would like to see Roma play. 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really loved that soccer game yesterday! It was so much fun and the atmosphere was out of this world. I can't wait to go again!!

Love and Style,

L.M.