Time's flying

I'll have been in Italy for an entire month tomorrow, I still can't believe it. To think, just a month ago, I was packing my suitcase, practically freaking out and now I'm here and used to everything.

In this last month, I've:

• Learned so much about myself as a person. I've tested my patience, my abilities to adapt, how I handle drama, traveling on my own, and how fast I can think on my feet when put in crazy situations. I can definitely say I've grown up a lot and this experience, so far, has changed my outlook on so many things.
• Met a ton of amazing Italian people (Giulia, Lorenzo, Andrea, Lucas, Valerio, and my conversational partner Elisa, whom I met yesterday), along with Giulia's mom, who was a total sweetheart. She said some of the sweetest things to me, it almost moved me to tears, as corny as that sounds. 
• Booked my trips to Munich, Amalfi Coast, Barcelona, Sweden, and Paris! 
• Changed my work habits by starting assignments ahead of time.
• Had almost 5 jars of Nutella...it's becoming problematic. 
• Witnessed the joust and all the insane outdoor parties related to it. 
• Stood wide-eyed in front of the Coliseum, threw a coin into the Trevi Fountain (while dying inside), sat on the Spanish Steps (cliched-ly so), practically cried while staring up at the Sistine Chapel, and couldn't believe my eyes when I stepped into St. Peter's Basilica. 
• Been a lot more happier with myself, which is something really important to me. It's one of the reasons behind my love for traveling. Along with that, I've gained quite a bit of confidence as well!

And now for the dramatic and overly cliched, "I think I've found myself here" study abroad line that almost everyone uses to describe their experiences. It's absolutely true. How can you not expect to find out who you are when you're thrown into a million crazy situations, in a country you've never been to (that you've always wanted to visit), with a language barrier? If any of you are thinking about going abroad or are given the opportunity, take it. If you think you can't do it, trust me, you can. You won't regret it. I wake up every morning extremely thankful that I'm here. It was raining today and after I finished my Dante paper, I stood out on my balcony and just watched the rainfall over the Duomo (church) and the hills in the back and I suddenly missed this place, as if the next three months had already happened and I was back at home. Strange right? To miss a place while you're still there. It's hard to describe but it's how I felt. I've fallen absolutely in love with this place. 

Bitten by the travel bug

• Rome this weekend (September 6th to the 9th)! My train (the train ticket kiosk is picture above), Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica, Colosseum, etc tickets have all been booked.
• Munich at the end of the month for Oktoberfest (September 21st to the 23rd). Long story short, one of my roommates, Maddie went back to America and she had booked her trip to Munich with Olivia, my other roommate, well in advance. Since she left, Olivia couldn't go by herself, so I'll be tagging along! 
• We're currently working out the kinks for our trip to the Amalfi Coast, which we're planning for October 5th to the 7th. 
• We (Olivia and I) booked our flights to Barcelona last night, for October 12th to the 14th! I didn't know whether to scream or cry out of excitement (I'm sure it was an awkward mixture of both), because I didn't think I'd ever see that day come. We'll be staying at the HelloBCN Hostel and we've been reading up on how to use the metro system and what places to visit. Since I've wanted to go for a while, I already have everything laid out and Olivia was like, "Girl, this is your trip, we'll do whatever you want!" She's down to see the Camp Nou stadium too, because her close friend is very much into soccer like myself. 
• Cinque Terre is on the list as a day trip (or a one night stay) for the weekend of October 26th or 27th. It's about an hour away from us, thank goodness, because traveling is not cheap!
• Paris will probably be the last place I visit, if not London or Austria, and it's probably going to be torture trying to plan that one (it took us around 3-4 hours just getting Barcelona planned). Some of the kids who've went through this study abroad program were able to visit as many as 9 countries while they were here, but they went during the spring and had spring break. I would love to visit that many, but with my course load, I'm not so sure it's doable right now. Flight prices are also a little higher in the fall, with Thanksgiving and Christmas being major holidays. 
• I'm so excited to finally be able to see all of these amazing places. It's so strange to know that 2 weeks ago, I was boarding a plane to Italy and now I'm all settled in and getting used to life here. I'm so thankful for this opportunity and I'm impressed with my own abilities to adapt to new places so quickly (especially considering this is my first time living on my own), because I was worried I would be really homesick. So far, so good! 

** I've been pretty swamped with school work and sight seeing, but the joust festival was yesterday and it was absolutely amazing, I cannot wait to post details and pictures about that!

When in Rome, do as the Romans

But in my case, when in Arezzo, do as the Aretini and go to Prada. Here are the pictures I promised from the trip! The store is around 35-40 minutes outside of Arezzo and Giulia took us in her little Italian car. The drive there was absolutely gorgeous! I haven't seen hills or mountains since I moved away from California, so it was very comforting; I felt at home. The villas on the hills were beautiful, I envy all of the people who live up there (to a certain extent, of course).

The outside of Prada.

The inside; and this was just one area of the place, it was crazy! I also took these before the ladies came up to me and told me no pictures allowed. Apparently people come in here, take pictures, and try to make replicas?

"Whenever I feel shitty, I go to Prada."

That was the line of the day by my Italian friend, Giulia, as she drove us to the nearest Prada store. Prada is her favorite brand (she has 20 Prada bags, ladies) and she told us it only takes one visit to fall in love. And she was absolutely right. We walked into this humongous all glass store and were completely in awe. It looked exactly how I imagined it would and once it registered in our heads that we were actually in a Prada store in Italy, we scoured the place like little kids let loose in a candy store. I thought the bags were enough to fawn over, but I may or may not have died inside once my eyes hit the shoe area. And the best part is that everything in the store wasn't as ridiculously overpriced as it would be in America. You're getting everything straight from the source, so it's not as bad. I started off simple and went with a cream colored leather cardholder and that was enough to make me want to come back later on in the semester! If you follow me on instagram (zaharaplease), I already posted pictures, but I'll be sure to get some up on here after class tomorrow! In other news:

• My roommates, Maddie and Olivia, and I just booked our hotel for our weekend trip to Rome from September 6th to the 9th ahhhhh! We're getting our train tickets tomorrow and then buying our tickets to see the Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, etc. I've read about all these historic sites my entire life and in about two weeks I'll get to see them in real life, just the idea of it is giving me the chills. 
• We're going to start planning for the Amalfi coast and Barcelona in the next couple of days.
• My classes finally start tomorrow.
• I found out Giulia knows Chiara Ferragni; I saw the martini leather bag at Prada and went, "Chiara has that one. Do you know who she is?" and she said she's been to her house. Giulia studies in Milan and has a best friend who is a fashion major (who got her tickets to see the upcoming Prada fashion show (oh my god??)), so I shouldn't be surprised, but what are the odds?!
• There's a parade going on outside my apartment for the joust festival at the end of the week.
• I've had gelato almost every single day since I've been here. 

In conclusion, I guess you could say I've fallen completely in love with this place. 

What a crazy first week

An Italian flag I saw in one of the neighborhoods during our visit to local shops.

Piazza Sanagostino!

Joust festival decorations! Our neighborhood's flag is the one in the picture. 

The Piazza Grande.

The other side of the Piazza Grande. 

The left of the Piazza Grande.

One of the streets (I think it's Via Corso Italia, but I'm not sure since they all look similar).

This past first week here in Arezzo has been quite eventful! My classmates and I have been busy filling out paperwork for our resident cards, sitting through orientation lectures and presentations, and spending time learning about the various shops here. In Italy, there isn't a Walmart where you can buy many things all in the same place (they have a Walmart-esque store called Billa, but it's definitely not the same). They have specialty places. A rosticceria, where you can find roasted meats and vegetables. A pasticceria, where you can find pastries. A gastronomia, which is kind of like a deli, where the chef creates food you can take home and prepare yourself or he can warm it up for you right then and there. Lucio, our student affairs director, told me that Italians prefer to go to various shops for things, instead of going to one giant store.

Speaking of all these specialty food stores, I've enjoyed almost every single meal that I've had here. On Wednesday night, we had a welcome dinner at this restaurant called Anticafonte. There are no menus because they just bring out a ton of food and you can pick what you like. When they say Italians love their food, they are not joking around. It was dish, after dish, after dish. At one point, Jessica (a classmate) asked one of our directors, "Does this ever end?! How many more dishes?"We started off with an antipasto/aperitivi (appetizer, hors d'oeuvre) and it was Tuscan bread with various toppings and a spinach quiche in the middle. Then we moved onto the primi piatti (first plate or course), which was this amazing tomato linguini. Words will never do justice to describe how delicious the food here is. And this is coming from a very picky eater. We then had a gnocchi dish, followed by a meat dish (which I didn't eat because I don't like meat), and finally, a lemon tart cake. And gelato? American ice cream has nothing on it. So far I've had coffee, cheesecake, and nutella and there is a gelateria on almost every corner of the town. I've found my newest addiction! The pizza here is also to die for and you get one as big as a table for around 5-7 euro.

Pizza and spaghetti from one of my favorite restaurants so far!

Piazza Sant'Andrea, I believe, with live outdoor DJs!

Let's move away from the subject of food before I'm tempted to run to the nearest gelateria. Earlier I mentioned this week was eventful. Let me touch base on that for a quick second.

First day in photos

Boarding passes for my flights!

One of the nifty shops inside the Rome airport.

The bus ride on the way to Arezzo, the town I'll be living in.

A town right outside of Rome that I managed to snap a picture of on the bus.

We made a pit stop to take a break so we could grab something to eat and of course, you know me, I went with Nutella & Go! Except the ones in Italy also come with this amazing lemon iced tea portion. Lemon and Nutella, who would have thought?! Such a weird combination, but so amazing.

The view from the train station once we got to Arezzo! My apartment isn't too far from where this picture was taken. How European are all the Vespas on the left hand side?

 What you see when you walk into my apartment.

 A little note the housing director left for my roommates and I with these popular Italian cookies.

And last but not least, the view from my terrace on the 5th floor. It's even more breathtaking at night when it isn't so hot. I'll definitely be getting more photos up soon, I've taken a gagillion others since Monday. I also had the craziest night tonight and will go into more detail tomorrow, it's around 2:30 am and I should be asleep but my sleeping schedule is off key!

Greetings from Italia!

For starters, the plane ride was horrendous. Before departing, I said "I really hope I don't sit near screaming babies," and what do you think happened? I sat behind and in front of screaming babies. They yelled and cried for the entire nine hours, so I didn't get any sleep and it was the longest flight of my life. I sat next to a really nice woman and this Asian guy traded me seats so I escaped being stuck in the middle and got the aisle seat. The airport was really humid and our charter bus was late, but the ride to Arezzo, which took 3 hours, was absolutely gorgeous. There are hills with houses every where and it reminded me so much of California. I really wish I could post pictures, but the wifi in my apartment is really choppy and flickr wouldn't work, but I'll try at the campus.

As for my apartment, the decor is amazing. It looks so stereotypically Italian, too! There's old fashion furniture everywhere, a glass chandelier, and old italian paintings, books, and tea cups everywhere. Our view is also insane because we're on the highest floor; you can see the churches and the Piazza Grande from my terrace. It feels so homey and I can't believe I'm getting to call it my own for the next four months. My place is also the closest to the train station, bank, and supermarket, which is really convenient. But there are also plenty of downsides. There's no air conditioning and we just happen to be on the highest floor where the heat hits. We were told we'd get fans and we were ecstatic to hear that but of course with my bad luck, they didn't work. Along with that, our shower didn't have any hot water (not that we were actually complaining because it was hot as hell and the cold shower was heaven) and our refrigerator refused to cool down so we had to drink warm water/soda. All of that stacked together on top of jet lag, fatigue, and heat lead to agitation and homesickness (I even got a cold sore, wtf?). Everyone missed the easiness that came with living in America for sure. It definitely taught me a lesson and made me appreciate my family, my house, etc. I missed my family so much, it was really difficult.

So far, I've learned/experienced the following:

• The food is amazing and relatively cheap no matter where you go. I had a mozzarella, basil, and tomato panini for 2.70 euro today, gelato for 1.80, and a one liter water bottle for 27 cents.
• Some of the stereotypes are actually real. For example, there was a couple that grabbed each other today, in the middle of the street, and passionately kissed for about 10 minutes. Totally a scene out of a movie! Another example is of the drivers here; they actually are insane and you don't have the right of way because my roommate and I almost got hit by a Vespa yesterday. Another is of the women. Most of them do indeed walk around with designer purses and they strut. Even 14 year olds. We all definitely felt inferior for a few minutes lol. 
• Electricity is very different; you can't have multiple things plugged in at the same time or it'll blow the fuse box. We were told to wash our clothes with the washing machine at a certain time because if everyone in the building has their washer running at the same time, the electricity will go out. 
• I've taken four semesters of Italian and I'm still intimidated to speak to people. Ordering food in Italian has been such a challenge. I have to form sentences in my head and it takes quite some time and I'm always nervous I won't understand what someone will say back to me. 
• A huge percentage of people smoke and there's no rule for smoking in restaurants. I practically choked at the pizza place we were at last night. 

So far, it's been a crazy two days, especially regarding emotions. We were disappointed and agitated the first day and things were the complete opposite today once we got out and took our tour, had dinner at the campus, and explored the town. There's a music and popular dance festival going on right now, a running marathon throughout the town, and a jousting festival is taking place next week where all the neighborhoods of the town compete with each other and then party in the streets after. The town itself is beautiful and the old churches and buildings are breathtaking. I can't wait for classes to start and the heat to die down next week so we can actually enjoy being in our apartment!

Goodbye America, Ciao Italia!

After a grueling week of putting things into my suitcase, taking things out, weighing, and rearranging, everything is finally packed (still bitter about the 50 lb weight limit, guys). My important documents/ converted euros are also ready to go and my Mom cried once (I'm pretty sure the airport's going to be flooded with tears tomorrow). It's really late and I should be asleep considering I have a flight to catch, but sleep is hard to achieve when your siblings are forcing you to watch The Lizzie McGuire Movie omg. It's so crazy to see all the famous monuments in the movie and know that I'll be on my way to see the same things--minus the Italian popstar imposter-- in less than 12 hours! How am I supposed to sleep?! I've had plenty of sleepless nights due to restlessness or anxiety but at this point, I'm really excited to travel and just see all the places I've always wanted to see. I'm also kind of looking forward to see if I can understand Italian when people are speaking it at a million miles per hour. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I plan to take advantage of it and not allow any worries to bring me down.

I hope everything goes smoothly when I go through security and I'm crossing my fingers that I won't have to take anything out of my suitcases, even though I've weighed them a million times. As for the plane ride? Praying that I'm not seated next to any screaming babies or awkward people. I haven't been on a plane for about four years (a trip to Canada) and that time my ears popped so badly, I thought I went deaf and it took two hours for them to go back to normal. I also almost broke my toe and was, unfortunately, seated next to a drunk guy who stepped on it twice. I may or may not have wanted to jump out of the plane that time. Tomorrow, I'll be connecting to Rome from Chicago and when I land, staff from my school will pick all the students up and we'll be taking a three hour bus ride to Arezzo, which is in Tuscany. Since it's clear I won't be getting much sleep tonight, I'm hoping to catch some zZz-s on the plane and bus (let's be real, I'll probably be too excited/anxious to sleep). As for this blog, I'll find out how strong my internet connection is once I land, but I'll be updating about my travels and experiences through instagram (zaharaplease) and my twitter :)

Ahhhhh I still can't believe it asdgkjshgh! Italia, sto arrivando presto, non vedo l'ora!

Let the packing shenanigans/stress commence

With a little over a week left until I depart (I am internally screaming!!), the time has finally come to figure out what will make its way into my suitcase and what will sadly stay behind. Do you know how hard that is to accomplish when you have a 50 lb weight limit hanging over your head? It looked like a hurricane destroyed my room once I threw everything on my bed in an attempt to see how much I could fit into my suitcase. It's apparent that my love for shoes will not allow me to follow the packing "advice" (using that term loosely) that was given to us by the study abroad advisors, which was "don't pack too many shoes." You can never have too many shoes. My goal is to take one giant suitcase, a carry on, and my backpack. So far, I've been able to fit all the clothes I want to take, a few pairs of shoes (lol yeah right), and two of my books and my total weight came out to 35ish lbs. So far, so good! If my toiletries and other personal items bring it above 50 lbs, I'll transfer some things over to my carry on. Adding another bag is the last resort and I'm hoping I won't have to do that.

Along with packing, I realized I'll have to make sure I have room for anything that I may bring back with me. And there's a pretty long list of souvenirs I need to get...oh boy. I, for one, am not a huge fan of this 50 lb rule. Girls should be given an exception and have a 70 lb limit instead. How much better would the world be? Cramming four months worth of things into one giant suitcase so you don't have to take another, so you can avoid paying a useless fee, while having it weigh 50 lbs or less? Get out of town.

Just seeing all of my clothes and shoes inside of the suitcase was a roller coaster of emotions, though. I was excited, anxious, and restless all at the same time. I'm having a hard time grasping that I won't be living at home, but will be living in an apartment. In Italy. And this is all going to happen in about a week. Who would have thought I'd ever reach this point? This entire journey has been my biggest accomplishment. None of my other awards or scholarships can measure up to the drive, perseverance, and hard work that came along with making this childhood dream a reality. Moving along from my touching monologue, I still have a million things I need to take care of regarding my departure, along with trying to fit in time to see all of my friends and family. I slept over at Theresa's (old co-worker from my summer job) new place on Friday night, have a dinner with the girls from my Italian class on Thursday night, and my Dad's trying to fit in breakfast the morning I leave. Speaking of my Dad, he came up to me today and had this huge smile on his face and went, "It's coming! My baby's going to Italy! Buongiorno! (insert words he made up that he thinks are Italian)!" It threw me completely off guard, because he usually stresses out about things being in order instead of getting excited. My heart melted at the sight of it all. See how easily I can get off topic and just go on these tirades?

Anyways, crunch time has arrived and hopefully I don't drown in stress!

Everything is slowly coming together

All of the books I'll be taking with me have finally arrived. Thankfully they're all pretty small, hopefully they won't weigh down my suitcases too much! 



The hunt for all of my make up/toiletries/etc officially began yesterday. 



My mom gave me her luggage set not too long ago (I squealed forever) and since they're sitting across from my bed, I wake up to them every morning and it's daunting/exciting to know I'll be packing them in less than two weeks. 



I also decided to take on an internship while in Italy, so I've been attempting, lazily so, to get the paperwork finished. It will enhance my language skills and will boost my resume (and we all know how obsessed I am with my resume looking polished). Fingers crossed that I get one of my top three choices!

It's about time

After what felt like an eternity (seriously, pretty sure I have grandkids already), my housing assignment finally came in! I nearly dropped my phone when I checked my e-mail at work, I couldn't contain myself. I'll be living in a small, quaint apartment in the historic center of Arezzo, five minutes from the university and the train station, with three other girls. The decor of the apartment totally screams European and I'm in love with our entry way and dining area. Although I had requested a single room, I'm looking forward to the learning experience that will come along with having to share a room with someone else. I've been living at home since I was a child and I've had my own room for as long as I can remember, it's going to be such a drastic change (the idea of having to wear pants in my room is daunting). But I'm going into this with optimism and the hope we all get along and don't have to deal with any conflicts, but I'm pretty sure that's setting the bar high in terms of expectations, no? One can always...dream, right? Just kidding, my roommates are texting me right now about what we're going to pack and if we want to meet up for coffee before we depart, so far so good!

Being on my own is going to be the most exciting and uneasy part. Although I've been pretty independent a majority of my life and can take care of myself, it's going to be strange not seeing my mom every day. The first time I move out would be to another country. If I leave something behind that I'll absolutely need, I can't just call my mom and say, "Hey mom, I forgot so-and-so, can you bring it to campus?" I won't be able to indulge in her home-cooking either, but I'm sure Italy will graciously take care of me in the food department. And the exciting part to this conundrum? No crazy curfews or third degree regarding where I'm going or with who. It's going to be the ultimate test to see if I can take care of myself, manage my time properly, and handle adult-like affairs such as finances/bills. This semester is going to be a roller coaster of emotions, ranging from exhilarating to stressful to eye-opening. I've booked my flight, picked my suitcases, and gotten my housing assignment and I'm still in denial about all of this. It's definitely going to be a life-changing experience and with 29 days left to go, I'm getting restless, nervous, and excited all at the same time!

"See you in Rome! Wait...oh my god."

That's the line that stopped everyone dead in their tracks Tuesday night at the getting-to-know-everyone study abroad dinner I went to. It his us like a truck and our facial expressions were priceless, I wish someone had taken a picture. I was a nervous wreck before I left for the Italian restaurant (how appropriate) because I was worried it would be one of those painfully awkward dinners with dry conversation and unpleasant moments of silence, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. Everyone who showed up got along nicely and there was a variety of personalities present. There was an incredibly sassy guy named Kyle, who asked some of the funniest questions, "What kind of shoes do they wear in Italy? You better not wear Vans, because I will burn them, I hate them." There was also this hilarious guy named Craig, who joked around about being our bodyguard if we ever went to Amsterdam. As for the girls, one of them, Jenny, is a total party animal who's sarcasm is parallel to mine, I can tell it's going to be the start of a beautiful friendship. It was nice to be around people who will be experiencing the same things I will: edginess, excitement, packing/flight stress, all that fun stuff. Many of us came in that night with worries of not having others to travel with and we left with informal plans of places to visit together. Jenny already told me she'd be down to see a soccer game in Barcelona and we all discussed going to Germany, France, and possibly Morocco (I didn't even know we'd be able to do that). I'm definitely not as anxious as I was before and the linguini I had might have been the reason (lol let's be real, food can make any situation better).

I also ordered all of my books for my classes and they've been showing up on my doorstep! Not having to deal with accounting and math and fancy calculators and wanting to burn my books is going to be a breath of fresh air!

35 days and counting

Photo credit to Faz the Persian

until I board a plane (by myself for the first time, let's hope I don't take the wrong flight and end up in Australia or something) to Italy for four months. The reality of it all hit me pretty hard this week and the anxiety has set in. This will be the first time I'll be away from my family for more than a weekend and although I don't have a problem with that, it's going to be incredibly different being on my own. My sister came up to me and said, "You have 35 days until you leave and it's freaking me out, please don't leave." 35 days. Something I've wanted to do since I was a child is going to happen in almost a month and my stomach is doing cartwheels and a million questions are running through my head. What if I can't figure out how to get to the right terminal? What if I forget to pack something I really need? What if I hate my roommates? What if I can't visit all the places on my list? What if I'm so horrible with time management that I forget to turn in a major assignment? WHAT IF I GET PICK-POCKETED OR MUGGED?? We're talking about me here you guys, one of these is bound to happen, I have to prepare  myself.

I still have a difficult time comprehending that this is actually happening. After years of wishing, planning, and dealing with tons of setbacks, the time has finally come and my mind can't make sense of it. I guess these feelings accompany dreams coming true? It probably won't hit me until I get on my connecting flight to Rome from Chicago. In a few weeks, it'll be crunch time and I'll have to start getting everything ready for my departure. Packing (I still can't fathom how I'll fit four months worth of things into one suitcase and have it weigh less than 50 lbs, that's not easy challenge for a girl), making folders of important documents, calling airlines, and meeting with my study abroad group for dinner. So much to do!

Excited for school....what?

I finally have my schedule for the classes I will be taking in Italy when I'm not stuffing my face with pizza and gelato. You can tell from my unsteady hands that the classes in red are the ones I will be taking. I don't have classes on Monday and some Fridays (thank the heavens above)....do you know what this means? I'll have plenty of time to be studious and finish work ahead of time travel to all of the places on my list! I was worrying (let's be real, when am I not?) I wouldn't have many weekends to see everything I wanted to see, so all the squealing that resulted from seeing my schedule was totally warranted. I guess waiting to study abroad my junior year is worth it because if I had gone one or two semesters ago, I would have been in class much longer and I would have known less Italian. I remember being devastated each time I had to push it a semester back and now that it's finally happening, I'm excited to see how nicely everything has come together. 

I have yet to purchase any of my books because the idea of staring at expensive book prices and imagining my bank account shrinking doesn't sound so thrilling. And then comes the perplexing question of, "how am I going to fit these books into my suitcase along with four months worth of clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc?" Just the idea of packing leaves my mind in a whirlwind and the fact that I'll have to pack in 40 something days? Insanity (yes, exactly like the name of the workout I attempted where I failed miserably).

Student visa has arrived!

I was at work when my sister texted me and let me know that a package from the Consolato Generale d'Italia arrived and I'm pretty sure my heart jumped out of my body and onto the floor. One of my co-workers told me his friend was trying to study abroad to Argentina and his visa application was denied and ever since that moment, I had been apprehensive about my own visa. "What if they denied me? What if they said no? I mean I already paid for my ticket and paid my deposit, how could they do this to me?!! I am an outstanding member of society!!" After practically throwing my phone across the room because of my shaky hands (I love how dramatic I'm making this out to be), I asked her to open it and when my phone buzzed again I was preparing for the most profound heart break of my life but instead, it was a picture message of my visa and I had to refrain from screaming, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I couldn't contain my excitement and some of the parents noticed and congratulated me, it made my day.

The midsummer evaluation at work that I was brooding over also went exceptionally well. My boss didn't evil-laugh maniacally, there was no thundering/lightning, or any suspenseful/you're-getting-fired kind of music playing when I walked into her office. I was a nervous wreck (I peed like twice before I went in) that she would critique every fiber of my being, but she didn't have any recommendations on what I needed to improve and told me I was very pleasant to work with. Today has been amazing and you know what makes this day even better? I have tomorrow off!

Here we go

I decided to get an early start on my visa application for Italy today and as much as I love all things Italian, I am definitely not a fan of their complicated visa application form. It's been almost an hour and I have yet to get to the fourth page. There are so many confusing sections and although I managed to fill most of out it myself, I think I'll meet up with my advisor to help me finish. I'm still having a hard time believing that this is actually happening. I'm filling out my visa application form today and on Monday, my flight may possibly be booked.....can it be August already?