TUMBLR.

yes, follow me on tumblr.

www.latenighttruths.tumblr.com


yes. do it. i'll follow you back.

it is the art of reblogging & spreading the newsssss.

i suck.

i suck at blogging nowadays. i attempted to begin blogging regularly again but really all i'd be talking about is my journey at IDJ & i don't want to spill all their secrets to my public online blog.

also, this blog reminds me so much of everything thats happened over the past few years and i miss so much of the things i did. i miss the places i've been. i miss the people i've met.

i'm aching for europe. i need to go back as soon as humanely possible. i miss having a paying job. yes, i always complained but it sucks to be THIS broke. i'm always too tired to truly hang out & have a fun day. whenever i have a day to breathe, i spend it catching up on rest so my body doesn't give up on me.

in extremely good news, i'll have 6 blissful days in mexico for Christmas break with all my family. i'm looking forward to traveling again. i know i'm going to be a giddy schoolgirl when i sit in my seat in the airplane. it'll be more than 6 months since i've been on a plane. i'm excited right now!

i'm also in the middle of applying to a gabillion magazine internships. i've heard back from 1 & am going in for an interview next week. it's definitely scary that i applied to more than 15 internships and have only heard back from 1 but i'll take what i can get.

i love the christmas season. everyone's just plain ol' merrier.

this entry turned into an a.d.d. rant. sorry.



PS. i'll be changing the link title very soon. goodbye of an era, lenelilove.

ball-sack.

so, i'll give it to Target for giving tourists and cheapo college kids like me Free admission on Friday nights. but waiting in line was ridiculous. i didn't even have to wait this long in line at the fuckin LOUVRE!

but after that, we zipped through the museum (i'll go back and experience it all correctly another day) before it closed.

one of the most heartwarming pieces was the replica (bcuz i believe the original is the one i saw in paris) of Rodin's Balsac. Yes, you reads it right. Rodin's Balsac.

I miss art history in Paris!

900 Views Later...

So, for a small personal blog, & it being up and running for the past two years...I'm actually kind of surprised to see it had 900 views today. Granted, about 1/2 of those views must have been mine, but it's still sort of cool. Even if you read my entries, kinda stalker-ishly, that's cool. Just please don't cause me any harm. And to my friends who actually read this shit, thanks. Just a quick insight into my mysterious life...lol, yeah, ok.

In other news, for those who haven't kept up, I've spent the last few entries catching up on my missed months of blogging: the remainder of Europe and some summer months. I'm up to the month of August, but really...nothing happened. After a whirlwind of seven months being a busy bee, August was truly boring. The most exciting thing was being able to see Honor Society after a whole month (I'm pathetic) outside Z100 & truly have the greatest conversation with Mike. Then right before school started, went to my first Arthur Ashe Kids day (Honor Society, Justin Bieber, Jordin Sparks).

Now September...

September has always been a love/hate month for me. I love it because it's my birthday month! I hate it because it's when classes begin again. But this September was different. I began one of my first days in September with a response from Island Def Jam Publicity Department about an internship and I got it! I jumped and screamed and knew things were looking up. The minute I got the internship, I knew my life had to turn around. I'd spent most of the year enjoying my youth but now, I realized, I need to come to terms with my future. After a hectic trial of trying to get credit for the internship, I began on a Wednesday.

The IDJ offices are really cool. I can't divulge much, in fear of them finding this and suing me or something, but I'm working in a pretty cool atmosphere. Legends have walked these halls and future legends will work here. People dream of being up in these offices, either working for the company or being signed to the label. I haven't taken that for granted. I'm lucky enough to work under some of the biggest publicists of our day. These people have made the legends and definitely taken the fall for anything bad that's happened. Every time I need to go do something in one of the big offices, my knees go weak. These people have some of the greatest views of Manhattan and I can only dream of working in a room like that. One of the biggest things, in my opinion, that I don't know if I'll get used to in my stay with the label, is simply going up to LA Reid's office, or even walking past him. He's discovered some of the biggest talent out there in popular music today. For instance, yesterday he came up to our department and I was basically starstruck! Call me crazy but a person with that much power and influence is something to be in awe of, whether or not you believe he's done anything substantial (but how could you not?).

With classes and the internship, which have me up and at 'em from 7AM to 10PM four days in a row, I'm always exhausted. I don't really 'hang out' like I did during the summer. My idea of a great day is one where I get to watch a few good movies and eat some delicious food on the comforts of my couch.

But I did pull my ass off my couch to go to Fashion's Night Out 2009, which was, contrary to what people thought, a world event. All participating fashion retailers all over the world basically kept their stores open late for throw a party. Seriously, I walked away with champagne and a cool NYC FNO'09 tee. All proceeds of the t-shirt sale went to the 9/11 Fund. I don't really like candied apples, but they gave some of that away at 7 For All Mankind (they ran out of chocolate covered apples!), some mini hot dogs, LIVE male models (insanely Ken-perfect), performance at Tommy Hilfiger, and a live photo shoot at Marc Jacobs. I loved it.

Then I turned 20 this year, no longer a teen, and I celebrated with the friends that were able to come out at S'Mac (Sarita's Mac and Cheese). It was seriously the bomb. I KNOW good mac and cheese and that was some damn good mac. Then we had dessert at The Lite Choice, LOL & hung out in Uniong Square soaking up the NYC autumn weather. Then the following day I had to take my brother to the hospital where he was treated for a concussion and kept overnight. A very trying weekend for me. My boyfriend was nice enough to take me to Max Brenner's for dessert on Monday after work and we had the s'mores. Delicious! Then on Tuesday, Sept 29, my actual birthday, Dolce Bites (look em up on Facebook) delivered my birthday cupcakes (S'mores, Red Velvet, and Chocolate Molten) and 3 girls basically devoured it (with the later help of 2 guys). It was a really nice birthday and a great way to end the month.

So all in all: August was thumbs down, September was THUMBS WAY UP! October just began and I'm hoping for just as good month. I need to work on not being as stressed and tired and find time to work out.

Hope blogger world is holding up ok, too.

blink & you miss it.

July. Oh, July.

I can't remember half the things I did but it was the busiest month since Europe all summer. I did more exciting things in July than I did in June and August combined.

I went down to Virginia, possibly for the last time (for a while), for vacation. My cousin asked us why Virginia for vacation? Well, to put it simply, my cousin's house is like a freakin resort house. A huge backyard with a pool, an outdoor fireplace, tons of seating, a coy river/pond, & volleyball net. Inside has a billion rooms, all majestic in their own right & it's away from the hustle of Virginia Beach, literally tucked away in the middle of nowhere just minutes away from the North Carolina border.

i have gotten really attached to my family down there so it's always a big reunion when we go down there. the only family i have in new york city is my auntie & uncle. that's all. but when we're down there it's a huge group! i love it. & my aunt (the rich one) LOVES to shop & has great style, so i always enjoy whenever she takes me to the mall. we went to the big one in virginia beach, then went to the actual beach around night time (missed that), & spent tons of time with my little cuzzo, Camille. I miss that crazy girl! we went to waterland usa? fuck, i dont remember the name...but yeah, went there. went to this place called 'cool stuff' and had a ton of ..you guessed it, cool stuff. buncha dvd's i love & my bro scored some videos games.

one day we went to ocracoke, north carolina. now that was an adventure. imagine being in a car looking at coastline or brush for like 5 hours...=[. but it's actually a quaint little town in north carolina. very nice. & then we went to my, now uncle-in law's, beachhouse. he's some kinda millionare...collecting vintage cars and shit. but i didnt get to go to the wedding =(. anyways, then we celebrated my brother's birthday in a mexican restaurant! haha, we always eating my mexican.hm, damnit, what else...then we went to a plant nursery & bought some plants & then had dinner at my uncle's place. he made some KILLLLER tortilla chips & salsa. he's an authentic mexican chef. love it.

after leaving mexico. i mean, virginia, we stopped by Sonic (only my 2nd time ever having it) & i loved it. i wish we had some sonic in new york. a few days later i hung out with Anj&Aud in soho and bumped into the gossip girl set & totally said 'love you' to penn badgley. but i'll admit, i realy only loved penn in john tucker must die.

a ton of honor society stuff happened in the month of july. i reunited with marie in long island to see our guys perform at the crazy donkey. it was epic. during the meet & greet, i made sure they remembered us from the summer previous, & thankfully, they did. alexander makes us laugh. the next day we went out to a verizon in-store event & they remembered us again, & even told us to check out special news from them on twitter. an acoustic set with the boys in union square. unfortunately, it being marie's last day on the right coast, we could not go. so after sadly saying goodbye to marie, i went home to queens.

the next day i was exhausted but then BAM, i find out i won tickets to the Jonas Brother's concert that evening. marie & i cried over the fact that she couldn't make it because of her flight so i contacted my dear friend Paula. it's funny how fate works. rie & i were trying to buy tix earlier in the year but since of my time difference in europe & just not really being that big a fan anymore, we didnt put a lot of effort. & then it was like joe saying, "coomeee on! ill give you free tix!". actually, i won the tickets because i entered a contest for honor society. rotfl for irony.

i went to the show early & actually accidentally snuck into soundcheck. that was awesome because you have to pay up to i think 400 bucks to get into soundcheck. then i watched honor society rock the FUCK out of nassau col. i was the ONLY one dancing & screaming the lyrics in my section. then we rushed off to the honor socety meet & greet & the guys welcomed us with hugs even though they were not allowed. we watched the rest of the concert from our amzing seats & then got skeeted on by joe & kevin. go on & ask. the one thing i hate about nassau col is that it's in the middle of nowhere & getting back to the city is a bitch.

& then my final honor society day ended with an emotional bang. the boys sold out irving plaza & i watched from the back while all the screaming fans went crazy for 'em. the lights blinded me, mike's voice made me smile, & the energy was ridonk. their dream had come true. & i was lucky enough to know em even just a little bit before they blew up. when i read that they shed some tears after the show, i shed some, too. they're amazing men & i wished only the best for 'em. so i gotta thank the JB for that. that was the only day i didn't get to see the guys, but they had a few hundred other fans to see...i knew i needed to share 'em & so i did.

i can't remember much of july from that point on...

the adjusment period.

my room turned pink. immediately upon arrival, my parents showed me that they had taken the time to fix up my room. the floor was no longer this nasty maroon colored carpet but a pretty bamboo wood and they painted the walls...pink. lol, extremely sweet gesture but it took some getting used to.

the week following my return was spent catching up with friends. literally, i tried to see EVERYONE in one week. i couldn't believe i was finally back in the arms of my beloved friends. but i knew i was becoming a broken and annoying record.

"oh, in europe...."
"in europe they...."
europe this. europe that. i couldn't stop talking about it. although, by this time, many of my friends read my blog and looked at my pictures on facebook so they knew most of what i was talking about but i couldn't stop blabbering on. for instance, the united states needs to learn how to be more eco-friendly. i paid extra money in all three countries for plastic/paper bags whenever i went shopping. and food? i'd forgotten how insanely unhealthy the US was and esp. ny jam-packed was with fast-food places.

truthfully, i knew i was becoming a snob & i did try to hold back as much as i could. to the point that when i was asked about my trip, i'd only reply that 'it was fun'.

eventually the questions dwindled and i fell into an extremely boring schedule. my job hunting was proving to be difficult and since many of my friends were finishing up classes, i sat on my ass at home...doing nothing. gah, i wanted to shoot myself. the boredom was killing. i decided to bike ride.a lot. (LIKE IN EUROPE, i had to say it) but then good ol' june came and it rained 22 of all the days in the month. lucky bored me.

but actually, june wasn't too bad. i saw taylor swift with harold, dave matthews band with my dear AZ friend marie, and got into a free JB show with paula (fate's return). harold threw a 21st bday bash which was really cool. & fota performed a few shows. a crappy weather month but i did have some good days.

it was july that took me by storm...

one of the easiest & hardest goodbyes i've ever had to make.

the last few weeks spent in dublin were the hardest. you can ask my two closest friends on the trip how i'd basically fallen off the radar. i was spiraling into a dark hole. i had gotten a taste of home when harold visited me and now i missed it more than ever. i cried for days . i spent almost all my time in my room watching movies. i'd even skipped out on days of biking (which i told myself not to do) because i was just so down.

first weekend back from spring break, i spent every night dancing. with some good unmentionable juice in me, i spent hours just dancing into the wee hours of dublin's night. the funniest memory i had was getting on the bus, completely glassy-eyed , going to a bar, going to one club, then running over to another club in the heaviest rain i'd been in, & then dancing to an empty dancefloor. thinking about it, i had more fun doing that than when people actually came. some of those irish guys are too much. then we ran to mcdonalds (which i absolutely DESPISE) and bought food, caught a cab, sat in complete silence, get to my friend's room and sat on the floor eating. lmao. it might not seem funny now, but man...the next day, we were crackin up. we spent 3 nights in a row doing that.

then, for a change, we went to go watch some Gaelic Football. now, what the fuck...that game was intense. i wasn't exactly sure what was going on but basically everything that you couldn't do in regular football (soccer to us), you COULD do in gaelic football. man, those men were beasts.

later that week, we had a 'beauty night' with the nuns who lived below us. it was so cute: manicures, massages, goddess card readings. my goddess card reading was so dead on it scared me. then practically all of the stj girls went into one room, piled all of our make-up into a huge pile and gave each other make-overs.

classes were finishing up & as the last few days rolled around, corners in my heart brightened up. i no longer had a massive paper to do, all my classes were registered for the next fall, a majority of my last few nights were spent packing. i was ready to jump into a plane right then and there. i was DONE with europe.

but on my last full day in dublin, i went to hoath, which is a short train ride from dublin and a small fishing village. i remember the day perfectly. it was sunny with slight wind but still fairly warm. coming out of the train station and finally reaching the wharf, we turned around and looked at the beautiful little bright houses perched up on the mountainous green terrain. the waves danced with the wind and families walked their dogs and old couples sat on the benches overlooking the picturesque view.

i stood there realizing what an epic journey i'd been on. how many other people can say they lived and studied in Europe and not just 1 country but three and all of this in a matter of almost 4 months. 4 MONTHS!? it's still unbelievable to me. i knew God brought me to Hoath on the most beautiful day in Ireland for me to reflect on the gift i was given. i cannot thank Him enough.

that night, we threw a surprise thank-you dinner for our Ireland 'mother', Ann, who was completely in shock. she thought she was just going out for a quiet Friday family dinner. but she said, 'we were family now' and that's just how it went. the night was spent in laughter and a RIDICULOUS amount of food. i mean, hell, it was our last night in dublin! we ate and drank to our hearts desires that by the end of the night, the only thing we could do was sleep and hope to never wake up from this dream come true.

on departure day, it rained as i tried to sell back my bike. the man wasn't there but i wasn't disappointed. i left my bike as a gift for future STJ DTW Dubliners. i hope they enjoy it. we brought down our belongings and i said an almost tearful goodbye to my beautiful room. i hugged camay goodbye, who was getting in a later flight, and crammed into a minibus with 1/2 of the dtw crew. i wanted to cry some more when they began singing 'Molly Malone'. it was the song that began Dublin for us. we unpacked our over-stuffed suitcases from the van and checked in. saying good-bye to our den sister, Claire and Ireland mother, Ann was extremely difficult. it really meant that i was leaving. leaving Ireland for good, leaving EUROPE for good, & leaving the dream behind.

the group sat there knowing that in less than 12 hours we'd be home. our real homes. but also that we'd be leaving a home, too. for someone that had been counting down the days till her return home in such vigor, i was the one who tried not to cry the most (well, as far as i could tell). we boarded the plane and in an hour later, we landed in heathrow and met up with all the rest of the DTW people from the other cohorts. it was really nice seeing people i hadn't seen in 6 weeks and hearing their stories. but almost as quickly, we boarded the plane and the rest is history.

----


approximately 9PM, NYC
JFK International Airport

we touched down and it was the sweetest feeling in the world. everyone on the plane clapped but little did we know the terror had just begun.

we got off the plane and was greeted by an hour-long Customs line. almost as instantly as I was glad to be back, I wanted to be back in Ireland. NYC, i love you...but i don't miss this shit. other foreigners came in Swine-Flu masks, which we never had to deal with before. The whole Swine-Flu thing had all of us scared because we were entering 'sick' territory. but after going through customs & retrieving my two suitcases (which felt like they had gained weight since i last saw em in Dublin), i dragged myself to the gate and saw all the crowd and people hugging and screaming and welcomg back and signs. the most important to me wa seeing my parent's face when they saw me. i felt like crying when my mom and dad hugged me. it had been the longest time EVER that i was away from the both of them. my brother just said 'hey', that was our kinda relationship, lol. the last person from DTW that i actually got to say good-bye to was Alice, and from then...the drive home was almost surreal.

the feeling of being back in NYC was great. seeing my dog, Manny and cuddling with him on the couch that night was wonderful. sharing stories with my parents made me proud. if you asked me if i wanted to do it all over again, i would say FUCK YEAH. but i wouldn't change anything. i have no regrets.

EUROPE, j'aime, ti amo, Gráím thú !
GRAZIE, MERCI, 'TANKS, & THANK YOU.
i cannot wait for the day when i can get off the plane and breathe in your air again.

knock knock, london's calling.

do you remember, when you were a little kid, all the times you watched a movie and that funny foreign accent had you absolutely intrigued you? now, don't laugh, but the movie that provided that intriguing accent for me was james bond. yes, Mr. double-oh-seven. something about him being a bad-ass international spy with a sexy UK accent. what's even funnier was that the first one i ever saw was 1964's Goldfinger starring Sean Connery. so yes, blame Sir Sean Connery for my love for all things UK.

now my point for bringing that up was that after that film, my head would always turn towards the direction of a scottish/irish/british accent. as if i could really tell the difference at my young, tender age. then harry potter rolled around & bam, instantly in love. all things british became my obsession. my best friend anj & i had our moms planning an actual trip to london together when we got out of high school as a graduation present because we couldn't stop talking about. i was actually going to go but God had other plans for me.

then this opportunity came: going to europe with Camay for an entire semester. this OF COURSE meant i was going to London. if anything had been planned, it was this specific side trip. i had booked tickets way before i was even on a plane to my first city, Rome. Camay's uncle was so kind enough, and i mean like, an unnecessary super kind, to buy our round trip plane tickets to London for our Spring Break. it would be 10 days of absolute GLORY (insert very obnoxious Hallelujah!) so it was settled. way before i even knew what the hell else i was doing in europe, i KNEW i was going to london.

fast-forward to the end of february & in complete secret, harold's sister bought a plane ticket for Harold to come visit me IN LONDON for his 21st birthday. it was hard enough talking to harold because this whole long-distance thing was killing me and putting a serious strain on our relationship, but then to keep this ENORMOUS secret from him was unbearable. when i finally got to share the good news with him, it all seemed to be falling into place. i was going to the country of my childhood dreams, where i could meet rupert grint and we'd fall in love and live happily ever after in a cottage not too far from hogwarts. well, since harold was coming, that last bit couldn't happen but going was such a blessing.

the days leading up to spring break were killer. classes dragged on, i was a lazy bore watching movies when i was tired of exploring for the day, and i realized i was spending way too much money at Penny's (for anyone planning on going to the UK, penny's is the PLACE TO BE for cute, cheap, UK fashion. the brand to look for is 'primark'). but the day it came for me to leave for the airport, my excitement level was non-existant. hah, it's like my body turned the off switch for it.
people saw me dragging my enormous suitcase down the hall wondering where i was going and when i replied, 'London' they were like, 'Oh hey, cool, I'm going with so&so next week. How long you stayin?' I couldn't help but smile and say 'Next Saturday.' Camay and I were the only ones going away for the entire Spring Break.

i blinked and suddenly i was in the glass airport called Heathrow and it was around 11pm. i vaguely remember the moments leading up to seeing Harold outside my gate, but i do remember that i was suddenly nervous. i don't dress up for flights. i never have. but i was kicking myself this time for not putting some effort into my appearance. i mean, helllooo, it's been months since i've seen my own boyfriend! but everything disappeared after that. all thoughts went into happy mode when we walked out of the gate doors and there's my awkward boyfriend holding a sign that said my name. i mean, there was only like 30 people on this flight and only 20 people outside the gate greeting other passengers, but it was the cutest thing.

the rest of the stay was the epitome of relaxation and adventure. harold's hotel was in an area of north london, 30euro/night (SUPER CHEAP). i recommend that if you want to save a buttload of money to get a hotel outside central london and just buy an oystercard (like an even more expensive metrocard because you pay per zone you enter) to travel. the first night we found our way around london with my little london map from my tourist book and headed to see SPRING AWAKENING. met up with camay & stephanie (from DTW Spain). seriously, UKSA changed my life. i don't think i could've appreciated the USSA as much as I did the UK version. even stephanie (who's seen SA over 50 times in different countries) thought the UK cast was the best. we went around after the show & met with some of the actors. & hey! even met someone from harry potter. unfortunately, not rupert grint.

one Easter Sunday, we got in our Easter Sunday best and walked over to the Catholic church nearby for mass then decided to go to Westminster Abbey for their celebration. what an honor. there were hundreds of parishioners packed like sardines inside this church. i did not stay the whole service because i knew Harold was getting restless. but now he can say, 'I celebrated Easter Sunday at Westminster Abbey!' Mind you, hes's not even a practicing Christian and I'm Catholic but God does not discriminate! (Lemme know if I talk about God too much, ok?) Big Ben is pretty awesome. The whole Parliament itself is an architectural insanity. The details of that building is ridonk.

we went to go see the 'famous' & big letdown called London Bridge. The Verrazano is prettier looking than that thing. But it's the Tower Bridge you see in all the pictures. we walked along the beautiful river then came to the Tower Of London, London's most haunted place. Now that was pretty cool. i love old buildings because you walk back into another era when you're inside 'em and this place was no different. Sure, the refreshment stands and little kids running around picking their wedgies only screamed TOURIST but I couldn't leave London without doing it! Then around Sunset we crossed the Tower Bridge. This was where I learned that Harold was afraid of heights, haha.

Buckingham Palace is beautiful! Changing of the Guards was pretty epic but they're not kidding when they say get there early. I mean, you need to camp out there for hours to be in front of those legendary gates for the ceremony.But really? It's just the guards walking back and forth and shaking hands or something to officially 'switch'. It was cool though. Then we walked through the famous St. James Park, so cute. We found our way to Trafalgar Square and climbed up to the lion and whispered my secret to him so that he could hold it forever in London <3. style="font-style: italic;">Broadway (and I've seen a lot of Broadway) West End seems to put on better productions. we had dinner that night with her and her mom and parted ways. it's so cool to be in another country just 'meeting up with friends'. my boyfriend was kinda amazed by it. after another night around the Leicester Square area, I met James McAvoy (Wanted) who was doing a show, as well. what a sweet man. &then spent another day at a vintage magazine shop. that was heaven.

& who could forget Abbey Road! A must for those Beatles fans! We, ironically, got off at the metro stop called St. John's Wood , and walked around till we found the street. To the naked eye, it's obviously just another crosswalk but wow! You knew instantly what it was if you were prepared. Others were taking photos and cars politely waited. I'm sure the smarter drives found ways around Abbey Road to avoid the constant hold-up my rabid fans. Abbey Studios is quite a wonder, too. Many people scribbled love notes, lyrics, and praise for Mr. Lennon & the fellow Beatles. So many countries, so many people. Music reaches all souls.

harold & i couldn't pass up an opportunity to watch some live music in London so we went to this band's (forgot the name at the moment) CD single release show. it was pretty damn cool. it's the same club where coldplay used to play and it's rinky-dink atmosphere showed london at it's super-trendy best. & of course, the London Eye. we ended our trip by going up for a sunset-night ride on this enormous ferris wheel. the entire ride is about 30 minutes and it casts a wonderful view over the Thames river. we ended our last full day together going on this super romantic egg-ride. afterwards, we walked along the river, next to Salvador Dali replicas & the stringed lights turned on, casting a shadow on the river. it was the most amazing trip of my entire life (& harold's too! it was his fist time out of the country).

i know this entry is ridiculous but it's mostly for me. i know i've still forgotten A LOT of things, but i cannot bear it if i forgot it all. so to round up the trip, some other little notes are that fish&chips are amazing, the tube is too expensive, the red phone booths are disgusting, & despite it being a busy BUSY city, it was so romantic.

saying goodbye to Harold was tough, but getting back on the plane to Dublin meant I only had 3 more weeks left. I had to live it up.

fair ol' dublin city

sorry for that unofficial hiatus. things have been moving back and forth for me while finishing up my semester abroad and finally adjusting back to home life and then almost instantly wishing i was back in europe.

from my last entry, i said goodbye to paris and said HELLO DUBLIN and in ENGLISH! although i wouldn't have minded going to salamanca, spain as my last country, i hold no regrets for choosing ireland as my final home before home.

from the moment we landed, the air was crisper, fresher, and...well, colder. apparently it was the windiest and coldest day it's been in dublin in a very, long time. we met Ann, who was to be our lovely SJU coordinator at All Hallows College. she has got to be the sweetest and most warm woman i've ever met. she greeted us by saying, "you're very welcome to be here." and right off the bat, i knew my stay would be no less than amazing.

it was sort of surreal as we drove out of the airport in our little mini-buses to the college. it was exactly how i'd pictured it to be: little houses, lotsa green, and an mesmerizing blue sky. despite the freezing wind and leaving paris @ 7am, it was a great morning. we all ooo'd and ahh'd as we pulled into All Hallows. it's seriously one of the quaintest colleges i've ever seen. enclosed by a stoned-wall, the trees open up to reveal a boastful church and a few small buildings. very modest. the weekend went on without a hitch with the perks of our single rooms, the allowance of drinks within the dorm, and freedom because i only had ONE class this rotation!

walking into my room for the first time, i felt like squealing. i love my best friend, camay, but damnit, i loved having a room all to myself. which brings to believe that this was why God did not let me receive that full scholarship to the school in Wisconsin (yes, I was planning on going to Wisconsin. don't judge me). i settled in almost immediately into the comfiest comforter and warmest sheets ever. i had a view of the church which was probably there to remind me not to do anything 'bad' but as the days pressed on, i grew to LOVE the orange sunrise and the pinkest sunset ever night (except on days where the weather was bad at the wind always pushed my windows closed and slammed the doors). having my own closet was exciting but i'll never understand why europe insists on having a sink in your private bedroom.

dublin...thinking of you now makes me want to cry. i miss you so much dublin was the most relaxing city out of my whole stay. i went in for 1 class which only demanded a few readings and 1 major paper. i'd spent the rest of my time, shopping, traveling...and more shopping. seriously, i'm not joking folks. dublin had the cheapest (well, maybe next to rome) steals in all my travels. then i spent 2 major weekends of my stay in ireland in other cities: galway, killarney, blarney, cork, drogheda, belfast, & glendalough. woah, reading that now...that's crazy! (it's also cheap). i felt bad that i never went outside of paris (except for disneyland! haha) so i decided i couldn't miss out on this. out of all of them my two favorite have to be galway and belfast. galway, i fell in love with an irishband (reminiscent of the band in ps i love you), had a discussion with an aussie & new zealander, and slept in a hostel with 9 other people in my room all in one night. & i especially loved belfast because it was my only solo-trip & it's ping-pong christianity warfare history is so recent (& is still happening) that i couldn't pass it up. i'm in touch with my religion on a very specific level. i cannot tell you a certain verse or passage in the bible or which prophet is my favorite but i am very religious. the thing about belfast is that it is still divided by catholic and protestant. & i did go see the murals, the wall that separates the two communities, and heard the stories. all of which broke my heart to pieces. i felt like crying on my tour because of the hate these two groups have for each other. in the end, they are both still CHRISTIAN and in the end, God does not hate! so why do they? it was one of the more somber aspects of my travel. now, onto something happy...

within the first few weeks, i decided to buy a bike because, unlike paris & rome, there was no major train system and well...buses & i don't agree with eachother. but i'll give ya one thing: i loved sitting on the top deck of the double-decker bus, right by the front window. you could see the dead bugs from the wind on the glass and we'd occassionally hit the top of a branch from a tree. always delightful. now back to my bike rides...

camay & i rode everywhere. eventually another one of my friends joined us, borrowing a bike for herself. we'd gotten to know the back neighborhoods of dublin, something tourists would never ever get to see. i know we pissed of the locals by riding on the sidewalk or riding too slowly on the street out of caution. we stumbled onto what became our favorite parks and eventually the water. yes! we rode out all the way to find water! you could ride along that strip of path for a good 30-40 minutes before it turned into highway. i could bask in the sun and breeze forever, i think. one day, we even stumbled onto the beach. biking on sand is rough but then we sat and stared at the water, just talking.

that's one of the things i pride myself on doing while i studied abroad. yes, i did my share of 'going out'. i've gotten caught in the rain running from one side of dublin to the other just for a cheaper cab, walked around sketchy roads just for a good 'disco', bought cheap wine for a cheap thrill. but i got to know dublin, truly know it. which is why i truly miss it.

hm, this is a long entry. almost too long. i guess this is what i get for not posting for MONTHS. i'll update on london & my last few weeks in dublin in my next post.

to whoever reads this, thanks. i hope you comment & keep on reading.

i'm sorry.

i'm sorry i haven't blogged in months. it's been a mix of a hectic and slow summer.
my entries on london, dublin, and back to new yawwk will be up at some point.
find me on facebook to see pictures.



updating FORREAL real soon.
thanks for sticking around.

parisian goodbyes.

credit: fashionista.com

i love this. of course it's parisian. oh, those trendy rebels.
(i plan to dedicate an entire post to graffitti i've found in my travels very soon. i'm excited.)

i left paris weeks ago but since i refused to blog, even during downtime, this wasn't updated. je suis desole, blog.

leaving paris was so bittersweet. personally, coming from rome, paris did not impress me. hm, does that make me sound like a brat? i know people would die to come to this city, but it wasn't (at first) all it had been cracked up to be.

then it began to reveal itself slowly: graff (like the one above) hidden behind dumpsters, shoes that must have been made by goddesses worn by everyday folk clicking in front of me, the occassional sunny day perfect for park naps and sailing toy boats, wine on the grass at montmartre, and finding my beloved straw fedora right next to a strip club. little things like that made me realize i had been approaching this city the wrong way.

the last few weeks in paris had been spent exploring every nook and cranny i had missed in the first 3 weeks. the catacombs of paris is a sight to see. you walk along for literaly maybe 15 minutes of desolate, tiny paths until you reach a doorway that literally says, "stop! this is the empire of the dead." i mean, come on, how enticing is that!? once you pass under it, you are immediately thrown into walls and walls of bones. this mass graveyard goes on forever with bones stacked neatly upon eachother. sure,walking along it is morbid, but we're not the ones who made it a tourist attraction. now that's morbid. and on another day, i climbed the arc de triomphe on one of the more sunnier days in paris. it was breathtaking. the view of champs elysees all the way to the river and in the far distance stands the eiffel tower in its glory. i could have laid up there for hours soaking in that sun. some other notable attractions are the monde du arab institut (arab institute) where you have a view of notre-dame to die for and the pantheon where many great philosophers have been laid to rest (hugo, rousseau, and even marie curie!)

when not in art class visiting museums (musee d'orsay, pompidou centre, and rodin museum) or in french class (...learning french? lol), i was roaming the city alone with my ipod. i've spent quite a few hours sitting by the river listening to music or going into record and book stores and just being amazed by the everyday-ness that i'd fallen into. it would be a walk to a local attraction, grabbing a gyro and fries, and walking until i couldn't any longer. i'd come back to the big green doors, swipe my key, and then walk up the five flights of stairs to my 5th floor dorm room.

on one of my last few days in paris, i finally climbed the eiffel tower. the third floor (the top-most floor) had been closed for renovations for a long time. but i was lucky enough to head up there just a few days after it's re-opening. and it was so worth the 12 euros. the wind and bitter cold was killer but so was the view. i went up around 9:30pm and the city was aglow. i had fallen in love with the city of love and this view only affirmed it.

on the very last day, i went back to my beloved seine river and waved to tourists on the boats and they happily waved back. it was the perfect way to end my stay in paris. paris, je t'aime.

-- i have been in dublin for quite a while now and spent spring beak in london. more on that in the next entry.

ps. escargot is amazzzing.

sun, sand, and sangrias.

man oh man. i am WAY behind on updating this.

i want to to write down as much as possible on my short but AMAZING weekend in barcelona. mostly for me, of course, but just in case any of my diligent readers wanted to know...

barcelona is my favorite city in spain. sure, granted it was the only one i went to, but i already can tell that it's my favorite.

thursday, march 13th, we arrived super late and caught a taxi from BCN airport. that was the first time i'd been in a car since my last day in New York! it was so relaxing because we were driving through the city at night and it was quiet and the man was playing spanish radio and he offered us gum. yeah, maybe not the smartest thing to do, take candy from a stranger, but hey, i'm still kickin' and breathin'. once at the hotel, we settled in and passed out from the day's events.

friday morning was a blur. met up with some other sju kids (notable fact: our entire hostel was taken over by sju. there had to be close to 40-50 sju people there). walked down the las ramblas and to the port and soaked in this amazing sun. i overestimated the weather and brought my scarf AND sweater, both highly unneccessary. after taking in some sun and breeze, we walked back and dropped our winter clothes off and headed back out in search of a place to eat. as we deciphered streets and turned corners, we stumbled upon a ...FILIPINO RESTAURANT. i'd never felt more at home. barcelona was becoming more and more comfortable by the minute. originally, we wanted a real "spain-ish" restaurant. but as we saw that the spainard place next door was really flimsy, we opted for the real pinoy food.

i think i forgot to mention that i gave up pork AND beef for Lent so i was definitely suffering as i watched Camay eat lumpia (beef for her) but they called it something else...not exactly sure what they were named. but it was comforting to hear the language being spoken in such proximity to me. after that we headed to st. josep's market and got this really awesome euro smoothie.

walked around for a bit before heading to the Cathedral of Barcelona which was stunning. said my prayers and my petitions and went off into the music of the streets. as we began searching for the water again, we stumbled onto a cute street with lots of little stores. i was tempted to buy this long dress just 'cause for 25 euro but camay convinced me not to.

the sun had set and night had fallen onto barcelona. we found the water and passed boats and overlooked the mont juic from the port. breath. taking. being the courageous people we were, we were adament about finding the beach and so we took off for the other side of the city and nearly an hour later found the beautiful, sandy shore. even in darkness it was amazing. we settled down, boots first, into the sand and watched the black waters crashing while listening to our ipods.

the next day consisted of an early wake-up call. since we stayed in a hostel (my first!), the 9 other people we didn't know in the room were hustling and bustling around at like 7am. it was, undoubtedly, annoying, but we got up and began to hustle for breakfast not too soon afterwards. we headed outside and literally 5 steps from our hostel was a gaudi house! i had always been fascinated by his architecture, especially after seeing them on the travel channel. then we decided to go to his unfinished materpiece, La Sagrada Familia.

camay and i have become pros at navigating through cities. we've gone around all of rome, florence, pisa, venice, sort-of paris, and barcelona all on foot. all we need os a trusty street map and we're good. and so that's how barcelona went. we located La Sagrada Familia and were on our way. one of the highlights of the walk was seeing a huge owl on top of a building. upon arrival to la sagrada familia, i was taken aback by its architecture. this was one landmark i did not remember watching on the travel channel, so it was a happy surprise. we waited the long line to enter an unfinished cathedral (supposedly will take 50-70 more years to complete) and to climb all the way to the top. the view was ridiculous! a hot sunny day in barcelona with a killer view! then we took a break for lunch at a place called donde jorge (forreal) for some paellas. my first time havin' 'em and they were goood!

after a hearty meal, we trekked up towards 'arc de triomf' listening to jason mraz the entire time. i must admit, this arc is prettier than the one in paris. then we bump into katie from our cohort! crazy and random. we walk through the major park (i forget the name) and then along the edge and cross train tracks to get to the beach. o.m.g. the beach during the day was the best. i definitely felt spoiled because it was freakin' march and i was at the beach. i took off my sneakers, switched to my flipflops, and happily walked along the sand. we went to the edge and walked along this rock dock and sat there listening to more music, sunbathing.

to get some food before our trek back, we stopped by this restaurant and as camay went ot the bathroom i literally closed my eyes and let my finger point out my meal. it turned out to be little fried fish. i don't normally eat that stuff when my dad cooked it so when it arrived i sucked in air and had to tell myself that i was paying for it. it ended up being decent and i got to keep my liter water bottle that the waiter provided us.

we found ourselves walking back to the cathedral of barcelona and caught the WHOLE SQUARE joined together in hands, dancing the famous 'sardona' dance. there was a live band outside playing and the young and old were in many circles just dancing. it was incredible! i can't believe that happens all the time. we need stuff like that in new york.

after i finished recording videos of the dances, got some sangrias and chocolate and churros and we were on our way up to mont juic and the "magic fountain". after sadly realizing the airtram didn't work past 6pm, we found ourselves somehow getting to the magic fountain on accident. it was incredible! it was an entire show matched to music and lights and afterwards we climbed up the steps and had a whole night time view of all of barcelona. it was the best way to end my stay in the beautiful city.

viva barcelona!


i promise to update about my last few weeks in paris and my first week and a half in dublin ASAP because I will definitely be blogging while in grand ole London over spring break.

inbox wisdom.

"Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don’t all have the courage to confront our own dream.

Why?

There are four obstacles: First: we are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. … If we have the courage to disinter dream, we are then faced by the second obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. …Once we have accepted that love is a stimulus, we come up against the third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. … Then comes the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.… But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here."


a part of the introduction from the alchemist by paulo coelho.i love it.and for some reason what you wrote reminded me of it.
&
esp. the love part.
love never enslaves us, it supports us.


this was in my myspace inbox after i posted a bulletin in the wee early hours of the morning, alone in the computer lab. i read it the next day. it is probably the most comforting ( and substantial ) literary piece of work that's been shared with me in a while.



thanks greci.

a weekend in barcelona.

off to barcelona. pray for me!
p-p-peace.

happy hour and jazz nights.

another successful week in paris. sure, i love rome to pieces but paris is definitely growing on me.

this week i had my usual classes. i went to the louvre twice for art class on wednesday and thursday. i went to a theatre class, which was super fun. try and memorize this: cows graze in groves on grass where grass on grooves on groves. and then try to walk quickly around a dark room with 6 other people without running into eachother. i attended a self-defense workshop and looked a handful of trusty manuevers. i can surely kick your ass now while i say, "prends ca dans ta geoul!'" (take that in your face!).

i went to versailles on friday and basked in louis 14th's (the sun king's) palace of wonders. i cannot believe how much dough this guy had. later that night, a group of us went to the eiffel tower and caught it RIGHT as it began to sparkle. this only happens on every hour. then camay and i, of course, took jumping pictures. we were headed to a jazz club and then the longhop and didn't want to go on the metro so we opted for the long walk. we kept trying to walk by the river, under the bridges, but it was either all roads or cut off. it was becoming the longest walk of my life! i didn't realize how long the river seine was. i caught the louvre pyramid at night and the obelisk at night, as well. as our feet began to lose feeling and our bladders began acting up ("guys, i gotta pop a squat."), we finally reached cafe universal. we sat down and then unfortunately were told we missed the live jazz music. had some drinks and then began our long trek home.

saturday, i woke up relatively early (for someone who got home 3am), and bought some breakfast. then my aunt, from here in paris, called me up and said that she'd like to meet me! so then, i met up with her and she kindly took us to sacre coeur (sacred heart basilica) in montmarte. it had an incredible view of paris. she bought us OUR souvenirs, which was ridiculously kind of her and then took us out for some food. she showed us around to where all these painters were and then we departed. we headed for the moulin rouge, only to be taken aback by the amount of sex shops/bars that led up to it. i mean, sure, duh, moulin rouge = sex. but i wasn't expecting some of the things that were right out in the open! the moulin rouge was a huge disappointment even thought i'd been warned by my book and others. seeing it for myself was lame. so then we went to cafe oz in tha area and enjoyed happy hour while watching a football game (soccer game): paris st. germain vs FC lauriant (i believe?). we were surrounded by a bar full of extremely good-looking french men. it was hard to leave, lol. after getting back home and resting a little, we headed back out to catch some of the jazz music we missed from the night before and it was a success! 3 more stjohns kids joined in and then after the music was done, we sat there listening to jew jokes (told by a jew, of course).

my sunday began with a wonderful phone call from my wonderful guy back home where he left me in surprise by saying that he basically set up audio for jesse mccartney! i was officially jealous. he apparently stole me a set list though. =]. he described how the party mr. jmac was playing at was for a girls batmitzvah! this was at the mandarin hotel! ridonkulous! then i had breakfast and headed downstairs in the quiet cafeteria, made some tea, ate a banana, and read through the first 3 chapters of slumdog millionare. i'm officially sad that the book is nothing like the movie. or should i be mad that the movie is nothing like the book? hm. then we headed to the flea market at the end of line 4, porte de clignancourt, and i went cuhrazy! i bought some boots, some sneakers, a shirt, a dress, and a beret! all for around 50 euros! then we headed back to the latin quarter, got some gyros, and headed for les deux magots for desserts. we attempted to have a philosophical conversation. i guess talking about robert de niro lookalikes and where albert einstein was from could count as philosophical? and out of nowhere the rain and wind came. i think that's where my headache is from.

anyways, that's all i can remember.
oh and by the way, my laptop is dead.
thank you computer labs!

"please make my dreams come true!"

what a first week in Paris.

i'll be honest. i'm struggling to remember what i did but i will give you as much as i can remember.

i began my week with no classes. i love mondays because i have zero zero zero classes to go to. but then on tuesday, i attended my first french class (yes, in france!) and my professor is truly epic. he laughed and made faces at our attempts to speak the language and our accents when saying words. this is the best class because he rarely speaks in english, so you have no choice but to listen and grasp the language (like you're supposed to).

wednesday was my first art&architecture class and, although i was sketchy about it at first because of previous comments about it, its turning out to be pretty ok. like, for instance, i've got a free pass to the louvre until september and i basically get in free to practically all museums in paris! that first day, we went to the louvre to get our passes done and so i've got this nifty cool pass. it's pretty damn legit.

thursday, i had french again then art where we went to notre-dame. notre-dame is breathtaking and not at all like i had expected. no, i wasn't expecting the hunchback and esmerelda to pop up and start singing but it's decor is much more intense and somber than i had depicted.
friday was spent exploring the area 'round the eiffel tower. i took a plethora of pictures of the damned thing and i didn't even get to climb it! in the winter time, the eiffel isn't really anything. what brings out the eiffel would usually be the leaf-ridden trees lining up the sides and its big, green lawn which draws your attention to le tour eiffel, but i wasn't quite feeling it. it's just a big hunk of metal anyway, right? (lol, ok, don't shoot me. i know it's more than a big hunk of metal) i didn't realize how close the campus is to the tower, as well as arc de troimphe! the arc is quite intense, too, because it overlooks champs elysees and the obselisk at the end. walking down champs elysees was surreal, especially as i passed the huge louis vuitton flagship store (hm, is that the original one?). instead of heading towards the over 3,000 year old obelisk, we turned and headed to le grand palais and le petit palais and crossed pont alexander and then looked at hotel de invalides which had this sort of military exhibition goin on. then it was straight down boulevard invalides back to campus. we found these drawings on the side of buildings of the same woman. i have named her, Elizabeth.

saturday was super exciting because i went to DISNEYLAND PARIS! EuroDisney was so much fun. after a bit of a rough start, the large group of approximately maybe 15-20 of us caught the train to disneyland. more showed up to this than anything the school actually tried to put together, lol! anyways, so we couldn't get a student discounts even though we begged and i spent a ridiculous amount of euros (you don't even want to know the conversion to dollars). despite my desire to cry over money, i made sure i was going to enjoy myself. the first ride was space mountain: mission 2 and it 'rocked my world'. then did a bunch of stuff in fantasyland, then headed to disney studios to grab some lunch. went on the tower of terror, rock'n'rollercoaster with some fastpasses, back to disneyland to do a few more things and caught our last rollercoaster at around 8pm. we rode into the dark night filled with stars and overlooked the park all lit up. it was awesome. did a mediterranean buffet for dinner then ran for a train back to the heart of Paris.

on sunday i woke up and didn't eat breakfast. stupid me. i walked back to the grand palais, expecting it to be open. but alas, twas not. went to the petit palais instead and bullshitted some time there and then went back for a tour of the college of bernardins (i think that's what it was, lol). the tourguide was this super cute old french man with this hecka stylish little paisly scarf around his neck. he was the coolest. and apparantly we were the first ever english tour of the college! pretty damned cool. then i rushed back to campus, starving, but needing to go to mass. then had to find out the priest who served the english mass was called away to taiwan. of course. so i walked to a church called st. germain de pres (which is right across from the famous les deux magots!) and had my first french mass. it was beautiful. walking paris at night is such a treat.

and finally, today, i did my first morning of service in paris at a pre-school. i opted for little children rather than a soup kitchen again, lol. we all know how that went down in rome. the children are the CUTEST things EVER. forget the brats in America, i'd rather be a pre-school teacher here in paris. they are way more behaved and not causin' a ruckus everywhere they go. i love the way they say my name. hopefully, i can get a video of them saying it. haha. i spent most of my time with the youngest of the class which are 3-4 years old. they are the sweetest little darlings. sure, they love to pick their nose and sneeze on your face and cough on your hand as you pass them a green marker. but i love them to bits already! i can't wait for next week.

so here are some pictures because i'm being really nice this time:

au revoir for now!

"bonsoir? that sounds too sexy."

to make 2 weeks short (because I know I've already forgotten much of what's happened and am currently too lazy to think about it): my last two weeks in italy was spent cramming/studying for classes, going to venice, having my family visit me, and enjoying as much pasta/pizza as i possibly could before i left.

leaving rome was harder than expected. i was depressed most of the bus ride to the airport. it hit me the hardest as i had to say good-bye to my family for the SECOND time in a 5 week span. then it gradually kept hitting me as i left the building, then went down the street away from campus, then saying goodbye to dominico at the airport!

the flight was...bearable. i stuck my nose in my paris guidebook to avoid conversation with someone. we arrived at the airport and dragged my ridiculously heavy luggage to the bus where there was actually not enough room for everyone's bags! we had to stuff the bags in the back of the bus and some people didn't have seats =/. was this a bad omen?

as we drove the streets at night of paris, i wasn't initially impressed, unlike my first ride through rome. but then I saw the eiffel tower at night and felt a little better. the campus is very...rustic. especially the dorm rooms. in comparison to rome (which i'll be doing a lot of), the rooms are ridiculously small. but i do have a view of the Eiffel Tower which is really cool! i spent the first night unpacking and then passed out.

the second day was spent in orientation with the staffpersons here in the Paris campus and then going on a boat ride on the Seine! It's very gloomy and foggy here in Paris, but being on the boat was really cool. i came back to the dorms and passed out once again and woke up around 9:30pm and that's REALLY late in Paris to go find food in the area I'm located. we had to search for a McDonalds (yick) since it was the only thing open. then we went to this club/bar called Cafe Oz and had some fruity drinks which basically lacked any alocohol whatsoever and did some dancing. the french guys are hilarious. we couldn't take the metro home because it stops at 12:45am and doesn't restart until 5:30am, so we basically had to fend for ourselves as we walked home with the helpful advice from a very friendful french girl from cafe oz. what was supposed to be a 25 minute walk turned to 40 minutes because we definitely did not know where we were going.

i woke up the next day and went on a historical tour of paris (with my future art&architecture teacher) and learned a couple new things like why the streets are Paris are now paved and have very few cobblestone streets, where the center of paris is, and the concept of flying buttresses. After the tour, we went to go find food and were unsuccessful and spent too much money on more italian food! haha, i definitely missed italy as I ate the pasta. later that night, we went to go see slumdog millionare at the theatre near the campus and we definitely defined ourselves as the 'loud americans'. i mean, howcould we not! the movie was amazing. i'm so glad it won all 8 oscars it was nominated for.

i don't have classes mondays or fridays and internet sucks here. i need a street map of paris. 'till next time folks.

Paris-Bound!

I am eternally sorry my ever-patient blog. I'm missing my last 2 weeks of Rome and I'm already headed to Paris, I know, I know.

But expect a hefty entry soon.

To Rome: Ciao Roma, I'll be teary on the plane tomorrow. See ya soon! <3

WARNING:Extremely long, detailed entry ahead!

What a week. I'm sorry my dear blog, I've been absent for a week & I think it's a great time to sit down and blog on one of the more quieter nights here in Roma. It's been quite a ride, so, hm, I think I left off on Tuesday? Yeah,Tuesday...

On Tuesday, I woke up early because I thought there was a walking tour of Giancolo Hill but it was actually cancelled. So, instead, I went to go buy our AS ROMA vs PALERMO soccer tickets. I walked to Via del Corso and found the AS Roma store and got my tickets. I was by the Pantheon and decided to check it out in the rain (as suggested by my trusty 'When in Rome' guidebook) and found it to be quite spectacular. The rain falls through the opening right in the middle of the Pantheon and hits the marble floor beautifully. I can only imagine it during a serious rainstorm. Afterwards, I came back for our 2pm theology class (shoot me) and then went out to buy icecream at Standa. A concoction to die for was made, including various ferrero and twix chocolates and bananas.

Wednesday morning rolled by quickly, and after class finished, the Giancolo hill tour was rescheduled for the beginning of the afternoon. We met up with Dominico, the student affairs coordinator/quirky italian man with an interesting singing voice, and a bunch of us boarded the bus and headed towards the hill. This was my first bus ride in Rome and it was sort of surprising. It flew through the streets and I was clutching onto the bars with all my strength. When we finally got off, we were in a neighborhood called Trastavere. We began our trek up to the top of hill, passing by another American University and avoided cars where we could along the trail up. We stopped at this great fountain (they have a lot of those here) and took some snapshots and saw a great view of Rome. But, Dominico said, "There's a better view up there. Let's keep going." And so, going we went. But not before he observed a couple by the fountain as we left by saying, "Ohp, looks like things are still going good." and laughed, adding, "We're very nosy." Lol, oh funny man. We climbed a few more minutes before we reached the top of the hill and what a sight! It overlooked all of Rome and the sun was shining quite perfectly. After relaxing and taking some photos, we headed back down (not before we all sat on three long benches overlooking the city and talking), and headed straight for a gelato place near the Vatican. If you decide to go to Rome, and plan to visit the Vatican, the BEST gelato place I've been in so far is called Old Bridge and it's right across the street from Vatican City. It's only 1.30 euros for a small cone and three flavors!

After the hill, I passed out, but then woke up again for ROMA vs PALERMO at the Olympic Stadium! You could feel the excitement as you walked through the streets all the way up to the Stadium. The closer you got the more crowded and crazier it got. This was my first soccer game, ever. I mean, ever. The only times I've ever watched soccer was if they broadcasted a D. Beckham game or whenever Ines would come over and she'd flip to the soccer channel. Unfortunately, Camay and I bought our tickets separately from the rest of St. Johns so we we were separated, but we weren't far. The only perk of sitting next to the STJ kids is that none of them would be smoking throughout the entire match. We had found ourselves encircled by smokers and no matter which way we turned, we inhaled smoke. If there's anything about Europe I'm not loving, it's the smoking. I'd prefer not to die of secondhand smoker lung. Anyways, Palermo (the other team) had a fan section all the way on the top, all by themselves, and were surrounded by over 20 policemen. I must admit, those Palermo fans got balls for coming to Rome and cheering for their team, which equals, risking their lives. After song and cheer, the game began, and I was definitely into it. Sure, I didn't know one thing about soccer except to get it into the goal, but it was amazing! Rome won, of course, and we jumped up and screamed and sang along with the Romans! We walked all the way back to campus and happily found our beds.

Nope, not done yet, folks. ;]

On Thursday, we recovered from the match by crying over a quiz. I don't like this theology class at all. So, to make up for broken hearts, we ate at this nearby restaurant and had pasta and wonderful desserts. I got this fruit cream thing and Camay got this tart thing. The name's were in italian. After our spirits were lifted, we headed down a different route and took some hilarious jumping pictures that Camay has yet to upload.

On Friday, we woke up around 1pm (ahh, bellissimo!) and cleaned the room because they were supposed to have room inspections but they never came around. We headed to Termini to buy our Florence and Pisa train tickets. Camay and I had been feening for 'American' food (like fries, nachos, etc) so we were in search of TBone Restaurant, the American-style restaurant. However, since all of Rome halts at around 3-4 and do not reopen 'till 6-7pm, we happily ran over to see some skeletons and crypts at Chiesa di Santa Maria della Concezione. If you watch the Travel Channel, or just have any interest in dead things, then you know about this famous Capuchin Crypt where hundreds of bones line the walls in an 'art-ful' design. The artist is unknown but he used over 400 skeleton's bones to create it. I've been wanting to see this place for forever, but once I walked in, I became absolutely terrified. Why the hell am I so morbid?! Why would I want to see skeletons on walls! But at the same time, it was thrilling. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but we snuck some in. Again, they're on Camay's camera. After we saw the bones, we walked back to Tbone and they STILL were not open. I couldn't wait anymore. We literally turned the corner and saw a Chinese Restaurant! I freaked out and we decided (since it took Ticket Restaurant) that we were eating Chinese instead. The chinese food tasted the same but the best part was the fact that the chinese waiters/waitresses spoke chinese, english, and italian. Awesome. For dessert, we had fried ice cream. So to sum up the day: saw some skeletons, had some Chinese. Good times.

Saturday morning was an early one since we were headed to Florence for the day! We got to Termini and didn't know where to go at all. We got to our train by pure luck. It was a great ride to Florence and being 'stuck in Rome' (oh, what a bother), it was the first time seeing really beautiful green pastures roll past the entire way. We arrived in Florence at 11:30am and bought a map and got lost for a good hour before we found David. (Please tell me you know who David is!) So we weren't allowed to take pictures inside Galleria d'Academia for some reason so, once again, we snuck pictures. David is absolutely breathtaking. You can see all the curves of the abs, the veins, and beatifully sculpted behind. Ah, gorgeous. After David, we got some grub, then headed to the Piazza Michaelangelo, where there is a copy of David. This Piazza literally overlooks Florence. After a good 1/2 hour of walking through the magnificent streets of Florence, we climbed a ridiculous amount of stairs, and arrived at the Piazza. It was worth it all. The sun on my face, the view, and a green copy of David was beautiful. After pictures, we trekked back down and headed straight for the train station to go to Pisa. We crossed Ponte Vecchio, a bridge with tons of little jewelry shops ON it. Then we got on the train. What I believed was an hour ride, took nearly two hours, and we missed climbing up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. First, we got lost trying to get to the damned overrated tower, and when we finally arrived, we spent a ridiculous amount of time with it, despite it not being as 'leaning' as I believed it to be or as tall as I believed it to be. We headed back down Borgetto Street and got to the train station around 9pm and were told the unfortunate news that the last train left at 8pm. And the next one wouldn't leave till 2am. I was slightly mortified, but even more annoyed. We bought the tickets and roamed back out to figure what to do till 2am. We headed to the movietheatre and caught the last 1/2 hour of 'Doubt' in italian and then went back to Borgetto Street and found this 70's lounge and got some drinks there. It was hilarious how it was all 70's themed but had New York landscape posters on the wall. We just happened to stumble upon the one lounge with NYC posters on the wall. Finally, we went back to the station around 1am and cried/laughed until the train came. Our night train surprised us by being very Hogwarts-train-like and we enjoyed it for a good 5 minutes before ultimately passing out. We arrived back in Rome at 6:45am and got back to campus 7am. What a long, long night.

The majority of Sunday was spent sleeping. We woke up at 5pm, bummed around a bit, and then headed to Standa for our weekly groceries. Note to self: always go early because all the stuff on sale is gone by 6pm.

Monday was spent in art class on site to Tiber Island, Theatre of Marcello, two churches, the Turtle fountain, and Bocca della Veritas. We had our weekly foodstamp meeting then talked about drinking and dying.

On Tuesday, I woke up and studied, then went to class till 7pm (gah! can't you see my hate for theology), then went out and found a "shortcut" to Barberini, stopping @ piazza navona at night. You know you're really becoming a local when you're searching for shortcuts. And we finally saw the Pantheon at night, watched birds, and headed to Suggestum Cafe for pasta. We had horrible wine and they gave us a free shot of horrible syrupy limoncello (go to my other entry about limoncello) then 8 euro desserts each! We cried about it on the way home and then blasted Hollaback Boy by Cobra Starship in the dorm.

Today (FINALLY!), was incredible! Today was the Papal Audience and I woke up early and made a dash for the Vatican. I wanted an incredible seat and I did! I was third row and I spent over one and a 1/2 hours waiting for the Pope. When he came out, I half expected someone to start playing 'We Will Rock You' because it was such a rockstar entrance. The auditorium was jumping and cheering. Pope Benedict XVI began the audience by delivering a speech in italian. Then a prayer was said in various languages by different bishops/priests. Then bishops/priests announced the attendees of the audience and when he said St. John's, of course, our group cheered. But, in comparison, our yelling was nothing to those who prepared songs and banners and cheers. Being in the prescence of the leader of the Catholic church was moving. I'm not sure if some people realize how big this is. Pope John Paul II (everyones favorite Pope) last came to New York in 1995. This was his last trip to the United States before he died in 2005. Pope Benedict XVI's first trip to the United States was early 2008. And he was in the New York area for a few days and I was not able to go to any of his appearances. The pope being in your area and being able to attend an appearance is usually a once in a lifetime experience. So, to say the least, I was disappointed last year. But now, not even a full year later, I am sitting right in front of His Holiness in the Vatican in Rome, Italy, with Catholics and other believers, from different countries who speak different languages, recieving his blessing. I was unbelievably moved that I was blessed with such an opportunity and for the fact that he acknowledged St John's University (even if he does this every week with different groups of people). That will probably be (although I will pray for more chances) my closest moment with a Pope.

After the papal audience, Camay and I headed back to campus and recharged a little before heading to Pastarito for lunch. I had some, you guessed it, pasta and tiramisu. Afterwards, we went on an incredible tour with Fr. Reinert (a priest based here in Rome) of St. Peter's Basilica. Although, by this time, it had been my 3rd visit, I'm glad I went on this tour because I learned a lot. He was practically our own personal tourguide because we were the only ones who signed up. He showed us where Pope John Paul II was shot and took us to the crypts of those on their way to sainthood. I prayed before the tomb of Pope John Paul the II (once again, a very emotional moment) and then before the tomb of St. Peter! Fr. Reinert told us that the size of the letters near the ceilings were 6-feet-tall and that the reason there are monuments to Pope's inside the basilica itself is because their families were rich and paid for such a monument to be made. John Paul II's tomb is simple as well as a few other Pope's. I forget the name of the Pope, but his body was actually exumed and his carcass looks like he died just yesterday! Crazy. The original design of the basilica was actually to be modeled after the pantheon but Michaelangelo didn't want that kind of dome. Under the Holy Spirit window is believed to be the actual chair that St. Peter used when he was Pope. There is also an altar close to the spot where it was believed that St. Peter was crucified. I wish I knew where Fr. Reinert did mass so I could go visit him. I'm so thankful I went on that tour because I wasn't feeling it in the beginning cause it was raining and I was tired. So some notes about mass schedules: there's a daily mass at 5pm and every morning from 7am-830am, there will be always be a priest serving mass in the crypts, and there's like a gabillion masses on Sundays. Afterwards, we got gelato from Old Bridge and happily walked home.

After we returned back to campus tonight, we literally passed out. I woke up at 9:30pm and have been writing since then. It is almost 12:30am. Thank you if you read this. You're a real trooper.



PS.I'll post a separate entry just for pictures. I'm no longer updating my flickr. I'm just using this and facebook.

i can't remember anything.

truthfully. it's been that kind of week.
it's sunday, 5:30pm, & i just woke up.
all i have in my head are 70's songs.

an entry later.

The Pope, Rainy Days, and Cannoli's

Last Saturday was one of the many rainy days we've had in Rome since we got here. I believe it's going to be a nicer week. (Well, in comparison to NY right now, any day here in Rome is nice.)

The day was originally going to be spent by visiting the Pyramid. Yes, a pyramid in Rome. However, since it was raining, we decided to make it a study day.


We walked with our umbrellas already opened and braved the rain and headed down my favorite street, Via del Corso, in search of highlighters (haha, since ours are already dried up). We walked 'til we got to Via dei Greci where we found the oldest english bookshop in Rome, The Lion Bookshop. It was such a relief to walk into this quaint little bookshop. It was quiet and for once, everything I looked at was in english. I picked up a Dublin travel guide in the sale section, which is this little backroom with books piled up all against the wall. Camay found 'The Color Purple' and finished the last few pages of it since she didn't get the chance to back home. We sat in the little kid table and just read our books as the rain poured outside. Then, as we were getting up and beginning to walk around once more, they began to play The Tings Tings and James Morrison. It was really good to hear the soft hum of their songs playing while I left the store. It was definitely refreshing because I felt like I was back home in the States.


After, we headed to the metro and went to the metro stop Colosseo to study in a cafe that was suggested to us. When we got out of the metro, the huge colosseum unraveled itself from the rainy skies. I couldn't get over the fact that I was in front of the Colosseum. I had seen this structure in textbooks, travel channel, and on the internet since I was younger. I'm actually checking stuff off my life-goals checklist! Anyways, it's crazy how I was standing in front of ancient history. I saw "Roman" Guards in full get-up, yelling 'Photo!'. Then it began to pour like crazy. They scurried along the circle with us, one of them yelling 'Hey' to Camay and went to find cover. Even though it was still raining, the sun was out! This made for great pictures. But, it was also very windy. My umbrella is retarded and I'm probably going to have to buy one soon, but it flipped backwards in the wind and Camay wouldn't help me until she got a picture! It turned out to be my FAVORITE picture in Rome so far. We went to Cafe Cafe, ordered some frutella and desserts, and studied in low lights and to soft jazz music playing in the background. It was so relaxing. We stayed there all afternoon and then headed back to the Colosseum to get some pictures during the night time.


Then, we headed back to Lepanto, the metro stop near our campus, and went in search for a new retaurant that took TicketRestaurant, which is what the school has given us instead of meals. They are tickets that restaurants and tavola calda's (hot plate restaurants) accept. After a long and tiring search, we settled for this scottish pub that we saw had the sticker on the door. We walked in and were seated by the TV where everyone was watching the soccer game. Hah, we're in a scottish pub where romans are watching a soccer game eating hamburger and fries. Oh, Italy. So we ordered our pasta and our drinks and waited. Funny enough, our drinks came before the meal. And when I mean drinks, I mean Camay's drink called 'Grappa' and my drink called 'Limoncello'. Her's was about 80-100 proof while mine was sweet but wayyy too strong. Not too long after, we got our pasta and ate our fill. I had about 5 small sips of my drink and handed it to Camay. Way too strong for me. So, she mixed hers and mine and actually finished it. So, if you're ever in Rome, and want to try some drinks only found in Italy, try Limoncello and Grappa, you'll have a grand 'ol time.


The next day, we went to the Vatican for mass. Another check off my life-goal's list. We went through security and escaped inside to this beautiful basilica that I just couldn't get over. Everywhere I go, I am truly astounded at the detail and preservation of such buildings. I was late to mass, so there were no more seats available, but I happily stood and kneeled on the ground with no complaints. Just being able to attend mass in St. Peter's Basilica was enough for me. I was overcome with emotion as I walked in line and joined the hundreds of Romans and other pilgrims to receive the bread. As I got closer and closer to the altar and the huge orant statues atop it, I just couldn't believe how I was there. I'm a Roman Catholic in Rome celebrating a Catholic mass. I can't believe how blessed I am.


After Mass, we went into the piazza and low and behold...The Pope was at his window talking to the crowd in all different languages. He had many people cheering for him, whom I lovingly called, 'Pope groupies'. They waved signs and had pompoms and cheered every chance they could. He released 2 white doves at the end. It was very surreal. I didn't get to see the Pope while in NY, so wow, I got to see him in The Vatican. I'm also going to be a part of the Papal Audience next week, I'm so excited. We then went to go buy some souvenirs and I adored the fake/stolen Gucci's, Prada's, and Fendi's that were being sold on the sidewalk (literally, on the floor). That is, until the sellers grabbed them and ducked when the police car whizzed past. At least in chinatown there were stores! Camay made dinner (an amazing pasta with breaded chicken) and we slept.


Monday, monday, monday! Monday was our first on-site visit in our City of Rome art class. We went to Circo Massimo, the Palatine Hill, The Roman Forum, and finally, inside the Colosseum. Circo Massimo is the remains of an actual circus. The Palatine Hill is where Rome was founded by Romolus and from the Domus' (rich people houses) atop the hill, there were still remains of the marble on the walls and beautiful marble flooring. The Roman Forum was wonderful! It was strange stepping through the remains of what was the center of Rome before. The colosseum was breathtaking. I couldn't believe I was there! We watched Gladiator in class the previous week, so seeing it in real life was crazy! We tooks tons of wild and fun pictures in the Colosseum.


We headed to Pastarito near the campus and had calzones, which, once again, beat any calzone I've ever had. It would have been a really nice late lunch except for the fact that a bum man-handled me! Ugh, so we were sitting there about to pay, and he comes out of nowhere and begins speaking to me in Italian. I really didn't know what he was saying or what to say to him but then he grabs my chin (AH!) and then points to my wallet. 'Oh, he wants money.' Since none of the workers in the restaurant were doing anything about the situation except standing and watching, I gave him a euro and he pinched my cheek and patted my back. I was very shaken and completely annoyed. I was losing euros left and right (well, not literally, but laundry isn't exactly free). Then, to end the night, I got my food stamps (TicketRestaurant) and had 2 cannoli's. I don't think I've ever tasted something so delectible in my life! It was a great way to finish a long day.


I've already written a lot, so I'll write about Tuesday, today, everything else in another entry. So here's some pictures.

Tivoli, Italy

as promised, more pictures from Tivoli!

expect a written entry in a few hours.