La Bella Vita

I call this one "pondering my Italian future"

     They say theres a first time for everything… Well, this is my time first time blogging…in Italy! I have been away from the states for 3 weeks now. Seems like just yesterday I was lugging my luggage through 6 different airports to make it to Italy. Yeah, 6 different airports: Santa Barbara to LAX to Denver to Chicago to North Carolina to London Heathrow to London Gatwick to Florence. If you've never trailed to so many airports you should, you get a cross country tour within 48 hours. Super exciting, you should really try it. 

     This semester I am very fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to spend a semester in beautiful, one of a kind, splendid Rome, Italia. The first two weeks of my program were spent in Florence. There we did an extensive, 4.5 hour a day Italian language immersion program. During the day we learned the language and during the night we attempted to tie together bits and pieces of any Italian we knew. Try asking a old little lady in a tiny market in a village for a few slices of prosciutto and she hands you a kilo of it. Atleast the prosciutto here is amazing so 3 pounds of it is the smallest of concerns. 

Early morning Florence on our walk to school

     My first night in Florence, my roommate/traveling companion/close friend/sould sister Antoinette and I somehow miraculously got into the Duomo in the center of the city and got into a sold out, one of a kind, Andrea Bocelli concert. They have been restoring the Duomo for years now (27 i think?) and invited Andrea a long time ago to have the big re-opening celebration. Antoinette and I seemed a bit out of place in our street clothes along the sea of gentlemen in black suits and women in cocktail attire but we savoured the moment and continue to remember the concert every day. Andrea's voice echoed beautifully through the cathedral, filling every arch and mosaic with the sound of his voice. The full orchestra and 3 mezzo sopranos completed the show. It was truely a once in a lifetime memory and experience. I have listened to Andrea Bocelli since I was a little girl, falling asleep to his CD playing in my room for years and never did I think I could see him sing live, in the Duomo, in Florence, in Italy, for free.

The beauty of Venice cannot be captured in pictures

      A week after that, I went to Venice for the weekend and quickly concluded that Venice is the most romantic city in the world. Its simply beautiful and the nicest part is that you don't have to worry about a single car. It really was like in the movies. Boats of all sizes line the edge of all the little canals. Every turn and alley way is a kodak moments. All the buildings are unique and charming and the crystal blue water completes a picture perfect moment. I took a 2 hour ferry to the island of Morano, which is the glass blowing town of Italy and got to see the craftsmen in action. These people can melt and mold glass into shapes and colors like no ones business. Venice is made up of almost 150 various islands and each island tends to be known for its own special quality. When the sun begins to set, you cant help but be equally awed by the beauty but also sigh in disappointment that you don't have a hand to hold to share the special moment. My tip would be to not come here alone. Come with someone special :) We also toured St. Mark's Basilica along with its square. The church will take your breathe away. Its a masterpiece. The only problem is that as you walk in you notice that you have to stand on bleachers. Unfortunately, Venice is facing a serious flood threat. The water levels are rising and officials don't know to do nor do they seem to care too much. By the time we finished our tour, there was a whole lake at the entrance. The water is slowly but surely erroding the beatiful cobblestone and archetural beauty of the basilica. So unfortunate. 

     It is currently day #13 of life in Rome. We officially moved in saturday into our apartments. I am living in Trastevere with 5 other very nice ladies. LIving in Rome is nothing like living in the US. Go Figure. Sometimes theres no hot water, sometimes our front door decides to unlock, grocery stores close in the middle of the day, it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to walk anywhere, and there is no concept of "customer service" here in Italy. But, none of that matters. I have completely embraced this trip as a huge learning experience. Apart from learning about Italy, theres a whole lot of other learning to do. How to live with others, how to buy groceries, how to delegate duties, how to conserve money, how to manage without electronics and cellphone service, how to control yourself around gelato…. There are so many life lessons being learned here, left and right.

Original Venetian hand-crafted masks

     I can say though that there are many times where I am homesick. I miss my family and friends beyond words. I wish I could teleport them all here right now and I could share all my experiences and memories with them. I know that they are all happy for me and the biggest lesson out of that going forward is that I quickly once again realized that you can be living in any part of the world but it won't be the same if you aren't with the people you love. There is just absolutely no way around this. The heart wants what the heart needs. My hope for the next three and a half months is to soak in every part of my Italian journey: the culture, the language, the people and also the people I am studying with. We all come from the states, but we are all very different. 45 very different people + 1 very unknown country = a whole lot of everything.

Are you hungry yet?!

    I am so excited to see how the next few months play out, I have given myself quite a challenge, a very exciting, thrilling, enriching challenge (a challenge thats just as hard as saying no to the gelato + pastries around every corner)! Stay tuned for Lydia's beautiful life :)

It's really hard to say no to the dessert here. Hello study abroad 15?!