Pocket-full of Posies

a passing thought.

2012-01-14T00:53:00.004-07:00

do you ever walk the same path...
on a regular basis?
almost daily.
but then one day,
have you ever walked on the other side of the sidewalk?
it's a completely different perspective.
the light falls differently between the buildings.
your feet trip on new cobblestones.
the view of your surroundings
becomes unfamiliar.

jet lag.

2011-12-28T23:58:00.003-07:00

so there is this wonderful thing called jet lag. it makes me want to eat hummus and m&m's at 2 am while sipping on a diet coke. even after a 12 hour work day. what the?! i wanna know why. but nevertheless, it's been an enjoyable couple of late night hours. even if i regret it in the morning (and tomorrow night at work...ugh).

i decided since i was up i might as well document some of my trip home for the holidays. it was fabulous.
need i say more?
probably not. but i will anyway.
one of my favorite days was when my mom and i drove up to Sundance to take my little brother Konnor snowboarding.
since we were lucky enough to sneak away alone, we decided to make a little date of it.
we ordered a turkey bacon avocado and perused the catalog store.
it was delightful.
i kind of love my mom.
a lot.
she is my bestest friend.

can you tell i am homesick already?

{photos from my phone on our little adventure up the canyon.}

Sunday Brunch

2011-12-12T20:32:00.003-07:00

so last sunday lauren and i decided to have sunday brunch together. can i just say that it was delicious?? church was bright and early (8 am!) and let me just tell you folks, that is really early on a sunday. hopefully no one noticed the glass baking dish, butter, and syrup i had stashed in my purse (ok, maybe it is the size of a small suit case. i like a big bag!) we made a mad dash to lauren's after church and enjoyed yummy german pancakes and fresh blueberries. i loved cooking again. my kitchen has been getting remodeled for 6 weeks now, and i have really been missing it. there is something so therapeutic and rewarding in cooking. anyway, after a little nap we headed out to a christmas concert at the daughter's of the american revolution building in DC. welllllll, after looking for a parking spot (and being kicked out of one because we weren't "military personnel"...how do they know?!) for 30 minutes we gave up. we decided we should take advantage of already being in the city and ended up driving up to the national cathedral. it was breathtaking! there is something so incredible about old cathedrals and temples. it just amazes that they were built with someone's hands. we also found a really cool school behind the cathedral that i just had to have a picture with. i just love lauren, and i am so grateful i got to spend the day with her! we had a blast just having girl talk and exploring the city together. hopefully more days like this to come since we will live within walking distance of each other come january! yay!

Lucky 100.

2011-12-04T20:31:00.004-07:00

So it's randomly my 100th post. and it just so happens to be a post about one of the most

incredible
epic
amazing
breathtaking
beautiful
floaty-moment
timeless

nights of my life. I really can't find the words to describe it accurately. But, I will try. It started out lovely as I met my sweetest friend Kendis for an Italian dinner near McPherson Square. It has been three years since we have been home from Italy, and not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about it. After dinner Kendis had a surprise event planned. Based on her excitement I knew it was going to be something wonderful. But I never imagined what was in store. When she handed me my ticket and I saw the name "Andrea Bocelli" I literally jumped up and down and screamed. I am sure everyone around me thought I was an idiot for not knowing where I was and what I was going to. Let me tell you, my ears and soul have never been happier. It was a night filled with utter beauty. What a talented, humble, sweet person Andrea is. It was the most perfect night with my girl. I am so sad she is leaving the District, but I am happy for what life has in store for her next. My little heart just might not be able to handle life without her, but I am so happy we got to soak up Andrea Bocelli together for a night. I will never forget it.

Giving Thanks.

2011-11-27T22:35:00.005-07:00

So this year I spent Thanksgiving away from family. I have done this once before (when I was in London for a couple days before flying home from my study abroad...but was able to spend it with my lovely friends Kendis and Lynzie and Kendis's sweet family). But this time it was different. I live away from home now. As in I have to fly home to visit for the holidays. I'm trying not to think about that return flight on December 27th too much. Anyway, I wanted to take the opportunity to share some things I am thankful for this holiday season. I happen to love this time of year (it's what keeps me excited working in the retail world...).

celebrating the birth of our Savior
soft scarves
family
caramel apple cider
helping people buy gifts
mistletoe
homemade desserts
christmas music
good books
fireplaces
linking arms to stay warm
long phone conversations with friends far away

And lastly, I am so thankful for sweet new friends that let me and Lauren spend Thanksgiving with them. Dinner was fabulous and tasted like it came from Martha Stewart's kitchen. Then to top it off Mackenna made the.most.delicious.pies.ever. The crust was buttery heaven and the filling was incredible. Homemade pumpkin and apple-cranberry from scratch. I even witnessed the apple peeling. Thanks for a lovely evening girls!

My best friend...

2011-11-18T07:13:00.003-07:00

So this one time (a couple weeks ago...) my best friend Alexia Allred came to visit me in Washington D.C. It was the biggest slice of heaven I could have ever dreamed of. I loved having someone to share the city with. The weekend was the perfect mix of site seeing, talking, and relaxing. Some of the highlights include: seeing the White House (don't mind our big heads blocking the house, you want to us anyway right?), touring the monuments along the Mall and Tidal Basin (I have a better picture where her finger is actually on the very tip, I just can't tell which one it is), Mount Vernon (we spent all Sunday here and it was absolutely lovely), getting a tour of the Capitol by our dear friend Kendis (she did a very great job!), and getting burgers at Good Stuff Eatery! We had such a great time, I am so thankful for such a sweet friend.

Rubbish.

2011-10-16T16:48:00.002-06:00

Remember how I live on the 18th floor?

Well. Wanna know my favorite thing about being up so high up?

Apart from the amazing views and incredible sunsets...

I love taking the garbage to the "rubbish" chute.

I even have to wait for it to drop all.the.way.to.the.bottom.

It makes a delightful sliding, falling, crashing noise. It is wonderful.

While I'm at it I should also share something kind of neat. Sometimes when I am in the elevator going down, my ears pop. That means I live really really really high. Just thought you should know.

Rooftop Magic

2011-10-14T14:14:00.004-06:00

The last two weeks have been heavenly. I got to fly home for my gorgeous cousins wedding and spend some time with family back in Provo. Unfortunately, the garden reception they had planned had to be moved inside due to rain and temperatures in the 40's. Luckily their neighbors offered their ultra chic, modern house for the event and it turned out lovely! I will post some pictures soon.

Well, I got back to DC late Wednesday night. It had been two weeks since I had seen my friend Kendis, so naturally Thursday nights plans revolved around us getting together. We went to Dupont Circle to Panera for a bagel and hot cocoa. It was delicious. Our night got a little interesting when we got off the metro and rode the escalator out into the pouring, monsoon style rain. We were soaked in .2 seconds. (We are both brilliant and left our umbrellas at home. I know, we are ridiculous.)

After we dried off, ate our snacks, and waited for the rain to stop we decided to pay a visit to our friend Ryan. Ryan is way cool, and happens to have the most amazing rooftop view at his apartment. The three of us sat on a park bench playing random songs we pulled up on youtube. We listened to this, this, and this to name a few. The moon was to die for, and we even figured out that Jupiter was the bright shiny ball next to the moon in the sky (thanks to my handy googlesky app!). From his roof we had a view of the Capitol dome, and the Washington Monument. The night was delightful and just what I needed. I fell a little bit more in love with DC (and felt kind of at home since one of my most favorite places in Provo is the top of the Wells Fargo Parking Garage. Turns out I kind of have a thing for rooftops.).

Life lately...

2011-09-29T21:34:00.004-06:00

It turns out a lot can happen in a day. Life has become so unexpected since graduation...I have never had my life feel so open ended. Don't get me wrong, it is pretty wonderful. I'm just not used to it. I am used to structure, deadlines, responsibilities, schedules. Especially over the last three weeks, I have felt like a walking question mark.

Anyway, that's enough of my serious thoughts. I want to tell you about my day yesterday! Oh my goodness, it's kind of out of control. and kind of a lot, feel free to skim if desired. i won't even be offended.

Part-one. My morning started early as I showered, dressed and got ready to head to Silver Spring, MD (just outside the DC boundary...) for a job interview at APHL (Association of Public Health Laboratories). My interview was scheduled for noon, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time to metro over and find the building. Naturally this meant catching the 8:35 am shuttle. I arrived, found the building, then scoped out the area for the closest Starbucks. I ordered my hot cocoa and pulled out my laptop. 10:00 am. Luckily, I had nerves to calm and paperwork to fill out for the next two hours. Me being the classy lady that I am put on my make-up in the bathroom. Yes, you read that right. I spent all morning make-up less because I am that awesome. or lazy. or just can't ever stop snoozing. and I always run down the hall to catch the shuttle regardless of when I wake up. I know, I'm ridiculous. 11:45. Interview begins and I felt really good about how it went. It lasted about 45 minutes and required a lot of repetitive questions about what kind of employee I am, why Public Health, blah blah blah. But the two women I interviewed with were wonderful and would be great to work with. After the interview I felt I deserved some lunch so I treated myself to Chipotle (conveniently located around the corner! yay!). I didn't expect to hear back from them for a week because they told me they were still doing a primary interview on one last candidate and then they would decide who to call back for second interviews. 1:20. My phone rings. It's APHL offering me a second interview!! Oh my gosh, I cried. Literally. I am sure everyone thought I was crazy. Unfortunately it's not until October 17th because they are going out of town (again.).

Part-two. On my way home I decided maybe I would follow up with Anthropologie (I interviewed there last week but they are staffed right now, but may have temp openings for the new store on F street that opens next week...). I asked for the manager but he wasn't there, so I got his phone number and left the store. I passed JCrew and on a whim decided to go in and look around at all the pretty clothes. Again, on a whim, I asked one of the girl's for an application. She gave it to me and told me I could fill it out there if I wanted to. I decided I might as well, and plopped down in the shoe section to fill it out. When I finished I asked for a manager to hand it in to. After introducing myself and the manager taking a 10-second glance at my application she asked if I had 5 minutes? She thought the hiring manager was still there and felt like she should grab him. I agreed and she left to find him from the back of the store. I anxiously waited for about 5-7 minutes and then out she came with Andrew. We hit if off instantly (he loooooved my handshake! asked where I was from and said I was glowing!) and after explaining that I had never lived close enough to a JCrew to work there he jumped straight in to asking me if I would pass a background check. I said yes and he handed me a waiver. From there he went to get the store manager and we talked for a couple minutes about where I was from, etc. and then she went back to the back. Andrew then asked if we could just chat for a few minutes and he asked me to explain why I liked JCrew. I explained how its classic, timeless and not trendy. And that I just loved the aesthetic of the store. He g u s h e d about the word aesthetic. He went on to talk about the position a little bit, the dress code, and invited me to orientation TODAY! Ah! I walked out of the store in complete shock. Ijustgotajobatjcrew. Dream come true? Yes. To end my day with a bang, Georgetown Cupcake didn't even have a line. Best carrot cake cupcake I have ever tasted.

Part-three. So I went to orientation, filled out some of the paperwork (but unfortunately my passport wasn't in my wallet like I had thought, and my roommate couldn't find it anywhere to text me a picture to prove I have one, so I have to go back to orient the rest of the way on October 18th). Like seriously, this is my life? I can't believe it. I am super bummed that I didn't have my passport, but I didn't realize I had to have it with me 100%. He asked if I had one but never told me why it was relevant. I figured it was for the background check or something. Stupidstupidstupid me. But that's ok, he said they will be calling as soon as my background check clears to officially offer me a position. Now what do I do if I get the job at APHL? Someone please make that decision for me if I come to that point. I don't think I can choose. Maybe I will do both!

The places your feet can take you.

2011-09-26T21:32:00.004-06:00

Sometimes its fun being a full-time tourist for a while. Today was one of those amazing, "I live here!" kind of days. I sort of love my life. My little legs carried me all over the the city today. Here is a little adventure log:

1) Took the metro to the Smithsonian stop (about halfway through the "mall")
2) Walked towards the Washington Monument
3) Continued to the WWII Memorial
4) Stopped on a park bench to rest up and enjoy a Diet Coke
5) Walked along the river to get to the Thomas Jefferson memorial via:

Martin Luther King Jr. Monument (breathtaking.)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (might be one of my absolute favorites)
George Mason Monument

6) Finally reached the Thomas Jefferson. It was incredible. I could see the white house, the capitol, the washington monument, MLK Jr., and Lincoln all from my little spot on the steps.
7) I decided to walk back sort of the way I came via Ohio Ave.
8) Korean War Memorial
9) Lincoln Memorial. This is my favorite. I got to listen to a park ranger spew off facts about it for 20 minutes. It was neat. He kind of talked in circles and was so anxious to move on to his next sentence he would often leave his current one dangling with hand motions in stead of words. Quite impressive.
10) I just love the Lincoln Memorial soooo much. I was a little tired from walking and the humidity so I snuggled into a column and read Jane Eyre for a while. It was a.m.a.z.i.n.g to say the least.
11) Then on my way to the metro I stopped by the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.
12) Continued up 23rd street to the Foggy Bottom Metro Station and onto my little blue line train home.
13) Kendis texted me mid-trip, so I got off at Crystal City to meet up with some friends for 1/2 off burgers at a nearby pub. Kind of different, but I was starving so it tasted delicious!
14) After dinner, which I am sure they were shocked all 7 of us ordered water with our meal, Kendis and I walked to our lovely friend Shannon's house for a Redskins party. Great company, and delightful Korean popsicles.

Needless to say it was a great day in the District.

What was I thinking?

2011-09-25T22:43:00.003-06:00

Well, today marked my third Sunday in the District. For those of you who don't know, that is what locals call Washington D.C. It makes me sound more official...I guess. It's been great, don't get me wrong. But sometimes I still have moments where I think to myself, "WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!". I have made it a goal to start documenting my life here, because it is pretty incredible. I know it is going to be the most amazing adventure ever. I have already learned so much about myself. Like how I try really really hard to not revert to my inner shy personality. But when a stranger from my new ward acts like a wild animal and sniffs me, I kind of freak out. Personal bubble?? I would love to share more in this post, but really should get to bed. I have been horrible at adjusting to the new time zone. But maybe it has something to do with the fact that all my friends and family seem to think 10 pm their time is a great time to call me. Never mind that it is midnight here in Alexandria and I would really like to start my day at a reasonable hour. Of course, I also answer, so it is equally my fault.

*picture taken of the Capitol building via my phone+retrocam app

Magic

2011-06-19T13:54:00.007-06:00

A couple weeks ago I entered a giveaway on the cutest blog love and photographs. I started reading Stacy's blog when a friend of mine had it open in class a couple months ago. I quickly discovered that I loved it, and I think you will too. Anyway, she had a giveaway for a free Brazilian Blowout...and guess what? I won. Ya, I know. I screamed for 5 minutes. I got it done this week from Kristi at Stewart Palmer Salon in Provo. I am in love. Below are some before and after photos. The straight hair was achieved with only a round brush and blow dryer. No flat iron needed! My curl isn't gone all the way, but it is much shinier and way easier to manage. No frizz on this head!

Incidentally, Thursday was also the day I officially finished school at BYU. I have loved my time there, and I have to admit that I was feeling a bit nostalgic when I was studying in the library for the last time as an Undergraduate student. I snapped a few photos on my way through campus Wednesday night:

And last but not least, I will NEVER have to stand in line at the testing center ever again. Now that is a happy thought!

Cookies.

2011-06-14T00:10:00.002-06:00

Today was a good day. I got fresh hot cookies, not only once--but twice. A batch made by my mother, and a batch made by my grandma. Both delicious and comforting in an indescribable way. My mom's taste buttery and chocolatey and rich. My grandma's taste like sweet cinnamon and oatmeal. Both chocolate chip, but completely unique. What is it about a cookie that makes us {in "us" I mean I am hoping there are others that are in love with cookies as much as I am}. I think this clip from Stranger Than Fiction displays how I feel when I eat a hot cookie perfectly. Its like love is baked right in.

(please excuse the poor quality, it is the only one youtube had of this clip!)

Studio.

2011-06-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

Tonight I embarked on a homework trip with Alyssa. We went to the studio on campus. Late nights usually aren't my most productive times. All I want to do is play.

Alyssa is amazing and helped me and some friends with a group project earlier. She helped us morph our idea of a mock magazine cover into reality! Her magic photoshop and illustrator fingers impressed us all. Here is the inspiration for our idea:

Here is our idea made a reality:

The project was to create some sort of poster or visual image of an argument from one of the member's research papers. Our argument is that the media is not the only source to blame for young girls developing anorexia/eating disorders. I think it turned out pretty well, thanks to Alyssa! Our group owes her big time!

p.s. If you want a good laugh, read this article Alyssa and I discovered the other day. We have been laughing ever since.

Can't sleep...

2011-06-04T03:48:00.002-06:00

It's been one of those days. One of those days when your eyes tear up for no reason, there's not really anything tangible to put into words to explain why you feel kind of down. Have you had one of those? Well now to top it off, I'm homesick for Italy. It feels like a lifetime since I've walked those cobblestone streets and listened to the melodic rhythm of the language. I miss Siena. I miss it always, but I'm always a little surprised when I start missing it as much as I do now.

Spontaneous Rendezvous.

2011-05-29T01:10:00.007-06:00

{please excuse the horrible photo arrangement...blogger is sooo frustrating!}

Timeline:
12:15-my english class starts
12:30-Gavin: hey what are you doing at 2?
12:35-Me: getting out of class and eating lunch, why?
12:36-Gavin: my parents aren't using their les miserables tickets, do you want them? show starts at 2.
12:38-Me: Mom!!! wanna go to les mis right now??
12:39-Mom: YES!!!
12:40-Me: Gav! We want them!

and so begins the day of spontaneity and wonderfulness. i booked it out of class so fast, but realized i was still in scrubs from my morning shift at work. mom raced to my house and i ripped off my clothes, found the first skirt and shirt that matched and ran out the door with my boots in hand. we drove as fast as we could to salt lake city and got there right at 2. {we had to drive 70 mph the whole way, despite our rush because we got stuck in the oldandgutless car.} we still had to park so we missed the first ten minutes, sadly, but the remaining 3 hours were incredible! it was opening day, and it was fantastic. i have wanted to see it for sooo long! the music was absolutely amazing.

after the show we walked a couple blocks over for an early lunch at MARKET STREET GRILL. they have delicious fish and chips, and i hear their clam chowder is todiefor {according to my mother}. my personal favorite is the market street house dessert. its comprised of vanilla bean haagen-dazs, sabayon sauce {bitter rum custard}, and fresh berries. Delicious!

then we stopped over to Gateway for some Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters goodness. I snagged a cute $20 skirt at anthro, and my mom got a really cute light switch cover. overall, the day was a success. great entertainment, good food, wonderful atmosphere, and delightful company. i loved exploring SLC with "the mama".

Sometimes you just need mom time.

2011-05-26T00:23:00.004-06:00

Tonight I was craving some mom time. It seems like this past two weeks I haven't gotten nearly as much of her as I have wanted. Today I got to meet her at the hospital for lunch during her break...there is something so wonderful about my mom. We have a ritual of getting cheeseburgers from the cafeteria, because we know the salad bar would be a healthier choice-but we also know that we would never be satisfied unless we have those delicious battered fries. Even when we don't talk about anything in particular, we connect on such a deep level. I love my mom. Tonight, she came to get me a little bit after ten just to go on a drive with me. We ended up going to get a reese's shake at JCW's. Delish. She even shared the chunks with me at the bottom. I think that is what is so great about mom's, they are so good at sharing. I love going on drive's with my mom, talking about the fun new design blogs I have discovered, and thinking of ways we can be creative together. Tonight was perfect. Just some quality mom and daughter time that I desperately needed.

{this is my cool mom jumping my car for the second time in two days. she even knows how to do it without shocking herself. she is pretty awesome like that.}

"i'm bored...fix it."

2011-05-24T02:06:00.010-06:00

This weekend was filled with lots of wonderful events. Friday I got to hang out with some of my bestest friends, Gavin and his wife Lacey. We went on a big group date and had a wonderful time! What can be better than good company, La Jolla Groves, and Yogurtland all put together in one night?

Saturday was all sorts of craziness. I woke up early in the morning and went to our Stake Relief Society Day of Service. We were reminded that as we serve we forget ourselves and increase our happiness. Afterward, I raced up to my good friend, Heather's, baby shower. She has little boy Cohen on the way. I am so excited for her and Kevin to be parents! {Kevin just finished the MCAT so luckily he will get to enjoy the last few weeks of Heathers pregnancy before Cohen comes!}

{cutest "wish" tree at Heather's shower}

After the shower, a bunch of us went up to the National College Rugby Championship game. We got to watch BYU battle it out with Cal for the title, unfortunately we lost. There's always next year! The game was still a lot of fun and the boys played hard. We set a record for largest college rugby crowd in the United States with 13,000 fans in attendance!

{my roommie Karen and I at the game!}

A couple days later, I made another trip to Yogurtland. It was heaven. This time my lovely friend Alyssa came. She always knows just how to make me laugh. She just got her mission call...to Anchorage, Alaska! I'm so excited for her, but I will miss her terribly.

{Alyssa wearing my glasses. <3}

Now back to the monotony of the week. Looking forward to another weekend. Hopefully it brings as much happiness as the last one.

sunday nights.

2011-05-16T00:37:00.009-06:00

I have a pretty wonderful family. We get together every Sunday night at my grandparents house. Tonight was my cousin, Lily's, birthday.
She turned 4! Luckily she decided she could wake up from her nap and take some birthday pictures and enjoy her cake.

I also went on a Sunday walk with my mother and grandma. I snapped a picture of my grandma but she wasn't very happy with me for it. I told her "to consider it blogged" and my mom laughed. Hence the laughing picture of my beautiful mother. Sometimes she thinks I am funny. Usually she is the only one. To stay in the will (family joke...), I refrained from posting the picture of my grandma. It was a lovely walk with delicious lilacs.

can't stop.

2011-05-10T23:14:00.005-06:00

I have a confession to make. I have an obsession.

Nothing sounds good anymore.
{especially on the days I have my cadaver dissection class}
All my taste buds want is some cold, refreshing
frozen yogurt.
It sure does cleanse the pallet.
Nothing quite as delicious as some plain and blueberry tart twist.

i love you.

2011-05-10T02:33:00.003-06:00

my sweet alyssa posted about me on her awesome blog. complete with an awesome picture that makes me look like a medieval floating madonna with a crown on. why did photoshop have to be invented? I guess we are even now. although i'm not sure if i have convinced her of this yet. i just had to share the piggy face picture. it was too good to keep to myself.

alyssa.

2011-05-10T02:10:00.004-06:00

photos of my favorite alyssa girl. they don't do her justice. i just love her.

rainy days and late nights.

2011-05-10T01:46:00.003-06:00

Sometimes I forget to blog. But tonight, as my roommate alyssa was reading my posts out loud to me I decided I should start blogging again (i didn't want to tell her the name of my blog but she discovered it anyway). I have to say that it is weird having your old thoughts read to you. I kind of feel silly. Please forgive me. But as she read to me she stumbled upon a post from when I was taking spring classes last year. I talked about how hard it was to focus. Well take that and times it by a million and that is how I have felt today. School just shouldn't be allowed after walking for graduation. Especially when one of the necessary courses to take is freshman english. Really? Don't get me started. (I have to take it because grad schools won't accept my AP score to fulfill the requirement. Why did I even take it then??!?!?!) Anyway, here is to making it through the last month of undergraduate life. Days like today will make it possible. Here is a list of my days events to give you an idea of how awesome my life is sometimes:

slept in (not telling you how late)
put in some laundry...still needs to be folded 12+ hours later
ate a bowl of captin crunch berries (i know its sugary and bad for me...but i still love them every once and a while)
showered
lounged in my robe and did some more laundry and blog stalking
decided to get dressed
plopped on the couch with my computer and a heating pad (my house is freezing sometimes)
got some necessary things done online
ate lunch with my roommate kendis
went to my marriage and family class with alyssa
laughed the whole night with alyssa
went to a church activity (alyssa and i continued to be awkward and laugh the whole time there)
diet coke run
more computer time
late night trip to grandma's for delicious rice pudding

yup, pretty much an ideal rainy day to put off actual productivity a little longer.

p.s. today one of my teachers said that my writing was a little stuffy. awesome.

Fall

2010-10-29T20:01:00.002-06:00

Today as I sat on my couch working on homework, I looked out the window and saw the most beautiful orange and pink sky. I immediately grabbed my scarf and jacket, hopped on my scooter and headed up to the nearest high point I could find. I found myself perched on a street on the bench of the "Y" mountain just a couple blocks from home. As I drove to my destination, and as I sat on my scooter overlooking the view, random sentences filled my thoughts. I quickly took out my phone and started writing down the words that came to mind. By the time I was done I had written a little poem. Here it is:

Rear view mirrors filled with the

colors of yesterday.

Smells of burning wood

wafting through the streets,

tired tree's leaves

whistle in the wind.

Cover the pavement.

Dimming lights welcome the night,

make the crickets sing slow

and melodically.

Tall dark mountains

line the horizon saying,

"Welcome Home".

change.

2010-07-28T00:20:00.002-06:00

i started my applications for grad school today.

talk about scary.

part of me wishes i don't get in so i can have a year off....shh. don't tell.

the process is a little intimidating, but i think i can handle it. lets just hope i don't fall to pieces this week trying to get midterms, work, family events, and application requirements finished. i find things like this and this to be comforting.

something to look forward to this weekend: my little sister isabelle is growing up and getting baptized! i never thought she would be 8 years old, it seems like the past 8 years have flown by.

summer

2010-07-22T16:55:00.004-06:00

last weekend my roommates and i planned a themed get-together.

theme: "sophisticated night out"

details: everyone dressed like rich/preppy kids (think white pants with polo shirts, cardigans and popped collars).

activities: badminton (complete with regulation lines on a grass court, surrounded by lush vegetation) , lawn bowling, and croquet.

food: burgers (with healthy all wheat, cracker thin buns), chips, cookies, fresh cherries, homemade ice cream

overall success: a-m-a-z-i-n-g night with lots of fun people and laughter.

i will admit however, i did come home with a couple sore muscles (that i hadn't known existed before) because of the intensity at which the badminton was played. there were some competitive spirits to say the least.

my wonderful roommate kelsey was behind the whole night, and threw together a fantastic summer evening.

there may be round two this weekend.

date night.

2010-07-06T16:37:00.002-06:00

my mother and i had a date this last weekend. we went to the symphony at sundance resort up provo canyon. we met up with some longtime friends that were in town from california and had a lovely time! it was my first exposure to the utah symphony, and i have to say i thoroughly enjoyed myself. we had a delicious treat of some buttery popcorn and yummy rice crispy treat (thanks to kate...it was the only thing that made the fact that there wasn't any diet coke available bearable for my mother. we both panicked a little when we saw that sneaky little pepsi sign). they played some classics as well as some beautiful and patriotic songs. the scenery couldn't have been better--we spread out our blanket and made ourselves comfortable, listened to the soothing music under the evening blue sky and soaked in the good vibes. the temperature was perfect and one bright star just above the horizon line of the mountain tops made it quite picturesque. we laughed, we cried, and we even got a glimpse of the sundance kid himself (that would be robert redford if you weren't sure ;)).

nap.

2010-05-26T14:59:00.000-06:00

just woke up from a fantastic mid-afternoon nap. i am trying to motivate myself to climb out of my clean comfy sheets and into the livingroom to study for a math test. i have already procrastinated to the worst degree for this chapter in my college algebra class...but i think i can pull it together by saturday. hopefully. that is really the only point of this post--to give me an excuse to procrastinate a little bit more.

i spent last weekend in bryce canyon and it was amazing. i will post pictures soon and tell of our fun adventure.

rotten.

2010-05-21T00:12:00.000-06:00

i am a rotten person. just like this dilapidated apple. you know when you are talking to someone, and you think you are keeping things lighthearted but then someone gets offended? and even though you try to fix it the phone call ends and you still feel rotten about the situation? that just happened. and now i feel awful because i upset a close friend. and then to make things worse i rubbed my bad mood onto everyone around me. i think i must go to bed and try to erase this night. hopefully i will be forgiven and everything will return the way they were. i fear, however, that our friendship will forever be changed over this silly quarrel, and not for the better. i think a little time away from provo this weekend will be good. i need to get out.

rain.

2010-05-18T23:20:00.000-06:00

tonight i went for a run--in the pouring rain. i listened to this and this. and can i just say that it was one of the most liberating experiences? i felt like i was "sticking it to the man" by just putting on my running shoes and getting drenched without a care in the world. i ran up to the byu bell tower and had a really wonderful experience. it was amazing and hard to put into words. but i loved the feeling of looking up at the tall tower with the rain drops glimmering in the spotlights and gently hitting my face. i think i will do it again sometime.

upon returning home i stumbled on these photos i took with my little sister in november when we headed up the canyon to cut down our christmas tree. we were bored as we waited in the car for the rest of the family to run into the grocery store--so we had an impromptu photo shoot. i must say i love that girl more than anything.

bike rides in the summertime.

2010-05-18T00:49:00.001-06:00

this is a bike on the beach in italy.

Tonight I went on the most delightful bike ride. The air was fresh like summertime and it felt good to be back on pearl...she treats me well. I am excited for the summer to be here so that I can continue the nighttime cruises. Next time I will hopefully remember to take a camera so I can document the experience. I am also dying to go to my favorite parking garage on byu campus and feel the wind in my hair as I coast down the perfect sloped cement.

The other night I saw this movie and I have been homesick for Italy for days. Tonight I opened up an Italian textbook and just started reading the dialogs. I am sad that I have forgotten so much, but glad that I can at least still read with a pretty decent accent (at least I think so? haha). Riding bikes tonight made me miss Lucca especially.

alpine

2010-05-16T23:48:00.001-06:00

beautiful alpine mountains in may.

I went to Alpine today for a church activity--I decided that if I stay in Utah to raise my family, I would like to do so in Alpine. The mountains were breathtaking. The view was heavenly. I love the way the houses are nestled in the mountains...it kind of feels like one big hug. Love it.

productive.

2010-05-14T10:45:00.000-06:00

Am I still being productive if I am reformatting my blog while instead I am supposed to be studying for a math test? I want to say "yes" but I feel like the answer is definitely NO. If my mother knew that I was wasting time like this should would be all sorts of bothered. I think I will keep it to myself until she reads this post weeks from now and finds out the truth.

The truth is--I HATE SPRING CLASSES! I find it really hard to study when all I want to do is play with my family and friends. I really need to find a better balance but don't really have the inner desire to-because deep down I know that means spending less time being unproductive (such as now...) and more time with a structured schedule and discipline. Oh well. That's life I guess.

This week has been a great one--a special highlight included a trip to smashburger with all my favorite people. My grandparents joined (my grandma loves it because they taste really similar to my grandpa's famous homemade "Jed-Burgers") and my mom and dad. As I sat there in between my grandma and grandpa, my parents across from me, and a whole table of the most unhealthy but delicious food (burgers, fries, shakes, and diet coke) I thought to myself "this is what its all about". Let me clarify--life isn't about greasy food. Life is about spending quality time with those you love. As I sat and enjoyed my delightful mid-week break I had such a grateful heart. I have so many things to be grateful for, especially recently, as I have learned (again...) that the Lord does hear and answer prayers--even if it takes a while. We must learn patience and faith in His plan. I have learned that it is when we doubt Him the most, we should pray the most.

one of those days.

2010-02-20T02:34:00.000-07:00

so it was just one of those days. one of those weeks really. it started off nicely with having a monday holiday--although as i became more and more distracted by the olympics, and less and less productive with my school work, the stress began to mount. maybe it was the fact that my tuesday became a monday, or my break on wednesday was filled with a pointless test review leaving me starving til 5:30...i'm not sure. but whatever the reason, i was in quite the nasty mood this afternoon. it was one of those moods where you just want to smack those happy smiley people you run into in the head? you know those? well nevertheless, not good. i found myself being horribly sharp to my mother, who i love dearly and who always helps me solve my stressful woes. i usually however just end up trying to throw my stress onto her which doesn't help either of us and gets me nowhere. while studying in the depths of the library for my icky chem test i realized what an awful mood i was in but still couldn't quite shake it. in the middle of studying i realized i hadn't turned in a portion of my lab--great. there goes my grade. normally it might not be a huge deal, but considering my teacher might as well be satan, i am not expecting any mercy. as i sat there with tears welling in my eyes from the frustration i notice mr. smiley at the table across from mine. i know he was probably just trying to be friendly, but as i looked up at him i was half tempted to shout some awful blurb like "what are you smiling about?" or "get lost" at him. what a horrible person i am. luckily i restrained myself and left the library shortly thereafter just in case something slipped out. thank goodness that after my test was over and i came home to my delightful roommate alyssa, things changed for the better. as i discussed the events of the day with kendis, we were both thankful that we aren't subject to blurting out every thought that passes through our head. its days and weeks like this that make me especially grateful for private thoughts.

i feel like i should end my night on a happy note, so the following is a list of happy moments/things i liked from the week-

1) jamba juice apple cinnamon oatmeal. warm delightful heaven in a cup. even better on $1 wednesdays.

2)delightful roommates who laugh with me when i need it most

3)mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies. its amazing how comforting they can be.

4)olympics. even if they do distract me.

5)smiles. especially when i am in a rotten mood and dislike them the most.

everything.

2010-01-28T23:18:00.001-07:00

so the past couple weeks I have been trying, key word trying, to be more fit. The first couple weeks I made it running once a week--good start right? But then this week I have already gone twice! With plans to go at least one more time. I am feeling pretty good about things--my legs and lungs are starting to agree a lot more with me. I was able to run a whole 2.5 miles! Woohoo! I am really hoping that I can stay motivated and actually, seriously, for reals get in shape this year. Another thing that I am really proud of doing-----ready for it?----I went to the dentist! Its been about 5 years, I know what you are thinking..."thats a long time!". I agree with you, it was a long time. But I just for some reason could not bring myself to go because the last time I went didn't go so well and ended in an anxiety attack and tears. No fun. But this last trip, although not enjoyable, did go well. I love my new dentist.

Tonight was wonderful. For the first time since I have been home I tasted authentic italy! Oh goodness was it magical. We got a group of girls together and all went here for dinner. I cannot describe the memories that came flashing back as my taste buds went crazy for the familiar tastes they have missed for so long. I cannot describe the feeling, and the pizza probably wouldn't be quite as amazing if you haven't had the real thing before, but it was delightful. I will go back. Not only was it authentic Italian Pizza but the pictures, people, and atmosphere were delightful as well. I can go to sleep happy and satisfied tonight with Italian pizza in my tummy and my legs feeling strengthened from my run. I think I can face tomorrow.

communal.

2010-01-08T00:09:00.000-07:00

i am blessed with delightful roommates. i love them all, each for their own unique personalities. tonight i got to go on a date night with kendis and alyssa. we enjoyed a delicious, although rather small portioned, dinner at communal. it was warm and cozy and filled with exquisite local artwork. i sat across the table from the girls and felt so lucky to have such great friends. as conversation transitioned from one topic to the next i found myself loving them each more and more. i love that kendis and i are on the completely same wavelenght most of the time, and as we blurt out secret confessions at the same time- they always manage to be the same things. for instance, we both share a loathing of the phrase "i have to go to the little boys room." a) who says that? b)who says that when they are no longer a little boy, and haven't been for a while and c)why can't you just say something like, "excuse me, i'll be right back. or "i have to use the restroom...". it is moments when we look at each other and unexpectadly realize we are thinking the same thing that i know that in some other life we were meant to find each other. we were meant to be friends. i don't know what i would do without a sweet girl like her in my life. and then there is alyssa. alyssa's hugs are unlike any on this earth. no matter what the day has been like i automatically have a good day when i see her and get to share a snug embrace. i love belting out beyonce shamelessly in the car together just because we want to. i love seeing her and getting so excited i just have to jump up and down a little, and maybe let out a quite squeal of excitement. after we came home from dinner the gorgeous kelsey was at home anxiously awaiting our arrival home. kelsey's fun terms of endearment, and delightful ability to know just how to say what is on her mind and to tell you how much she missed you and what you mean to her uplift me everyday. we have only known each other for a short time, but i feel as though we have grown up together. talking into the early hours of the morning until our lids are heavy never gets old, no matter what the next day brings. i love these girls with all my heart. i am so greatful i get to live with them, and share this time of our lives together.

disconnected thoughts.

2009-11-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

today i feel like blotting down all the words floating around in my head in an unorganized, very haphazard way. here it goes:

technology. disappointment. friends. ignore. boyfriends. time. errands. mom. family. mission. school. test. thanksgiving. gospel. love. marriage. happy. laughter. sarcasm. yellow. ice cream. cookie dough. strawberries. laundry. clothes. fancy. pasta. loneliness. abandoned. forgotten. siena. longing. piano. pandora. enthalpy. distraction. confusion. stress. desire. passion. paint. drawing. hammock. caramel steamer. physiology. blah. pearls. tired. exhausted. tears of laughter.

well now that i have had word vomit all over my page i feel like i am ready to express thoughts in a more formal way. today began with a very confusing hour of chemistry. i really have no idea what is going on, and quite frankly i am terrified for me next exam. i must dedicate some time to learning the material over thanksgiving break. however, this semester i have had my eye on mr. rayban which keeps things a little entertaining, even when i want to rip my hair out from the confusion and frustration. RayBan is cute and intriguing...we've talked a couple times, run into each other at a party, and actually have two classes together. however, after 3/4 of the semester he still hasn't initiated any contact. of course there are the constant glance backs, and smiles when we do make eye contact. the occasional small talk. but nothing of any substance. it is starting to get a little old, and i'm losing interest. anyway--after an hour of chemistry it was off to a physiology review. after another hour of feeling somewhat lost i was off to the wilk for a delightful treat and some study time. i treated myself do the most delightful treat in a cup ever to appear on campus. a caramel steamer. i by chance tried it last week...hello new favorite. its creamy rich goodness is the perfect friend for study time. i found myself a little cozy chair on the upper level of the wilk and dedicated the next two hours to physiology and an occasional cat nap. while studying i had an ah-ha moment. i love byu. its kind of strange that i am in my junior year...it kind of makes me sad to think that i only have 3-4 semesters left of school. what will i do without this in my life? yes there are the frustrating things of byu, like the only-creeper-mustaches allowed and no caffeine sold on campus situations, but overall its a great place. after my fairly unproductive study session it was off to run errands with my mom. it feels like we ventured into every store in utah county. we were searching for numerous items including a children's book, clothes for the anniversary party tomorrow night, christmas presents, prescriptions, and a birthday present. it started with old navy then followed with ross, tj maxx, walmart, toys r us, barnes and noble, down east outfitters, cafe rio (we had to have some fuel at this point...), jc penny, and ended with a delicious round of yo zone with the boys (gib and kon). needless to say, the 11 hours were exhausting. it feels good to lay in bed, listen to some soothing tunes and blurt out my thoughts. sometimes i forget how good it feels to have my fingers type away as i process thoughts in my head and type things i didn't even know i was feeling. it can be very therapeutic. why do i go so long between posts? i really need to be better about it. i am currently listening to my new favorite song...."strawberry swing" by coldplay. its just a little bit magical. i just finished a roommate chat with kenken. she is a very delightful girl. i love when she cozies up next to me in bed and we chit chat for a bit...laughing about the funny, horrifying moments of the night that she had to endure, but as usual endured well. tomorrow is filled with exciting events. the opener will be a fun game of byu vs. airforce with kenken, mike, me and my plus one. i don't exactly know who my plus one will be...but hopefully i find someone worth taking. after the game the night will be filled with family, good times, memories, tears and laughter as we celebrate my grandparents 5oth wedding anniversary! i cannot believe they have been married for 50 years, the thought is unimaginable to me. but they seem happy, and as in love as ever. i look forward to the good times tomorrow will bring, but for now i am off to bed to recharge before the festivities. love you all.

mmm

2009-09-20T01:10:00.000-06:00

i'm just heading to bed but felt the need to post again. i wanted to mention how fantastic it is to hear the rain tinkling outside my window as a cool breeze blows in. i love the change of seasons and the wonderful colors dotting the mountains. fall means great things in my book. for example, fall includes: my birthday, sweaters that you've been dying to wear since you bought them in july when everyone starts changing their clothing lines, beautiful sunsets that creep earlier and earlier into the day, last epic end of summer social events, football games and barbecues, and the feeling that something big is going to happen "this" fall. i absolutely cannot wait until the aspens above sundance have turned all shades of gold and yellow and i get to take a meandering drive up the alpine loop. oh how i wish fall could last forever. but for now i must succumb to the soft, fluffy sheets that are calling for me to snuggle into them and close my eyes for a good nights sleep. buonanotte.

too long.

2009-09-18T22:31:00.000-06:00

so as i sit here in my living room at my apartment hangin out with my newly purchased gossip girl season 1 dvds, symphony bar, smart water, chemistry book, and laptop i am trying to stay on task and get some studying done on this f.r.i.d.a.y night. but then i decided i needed a break. as i sat refreshing fbook for a few minutes i decided i needed a more creative outlet. then a little thought sparked in my brain. i need to blog. it has been far too long since my last post and my fingers miss spilling my inner thoughts onto the blank canvas of a new blog entry. school has started and is in full swing. someone made a comment the other day that they feel like the rest of their life will be studying whats on the "next test". i decided that it sometimes feels that way. whether it is for chemistry class, or a test in life, we are always preparing for what comes next. i recently turned the big 2-1. strange. i never really thought the day would actually come when i would be twenty one years old, a junior in college, living on my own, working, etc. etc. etc. now that i am here i don't really feel that old. i think when i was little i had this illusion that i would be this smart, no-it-all adult at this age. that somehow i would magically be mature and know how to do really grown up things. come to find out i still feel like i don't know much about anything. but i do know that i am beginning to find out things about myself that i never noticed before. some things are pretty significant, while others are silly, somewhat trivial things. like i love love love vanilla-lavender laundry detergent. agh. well this has felt good, i am a little out of practice and the creative tracks in my brain seem to need some oiling, but stay tuned and hopefully things come out smoother in the future.

hiatus.

2008-12-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

so i recently felt really guilty about not finishing my posts from the final experiences italy had to offer. as well as the things i ran into during my last week traveling with lynzie in paris and london. so i will change that soon. i have been working on some entries with lots of stories and tons more brain pushing moments. my heart is beginning to long for italy. it has started to sink in that it will never be the same again. even if i were to go back to visit, the circumstances can never be recreated. i will never be with the most wonderful set of 24 girls. never will Peter serve as a teacher, father, priesthood figure, protector, philosophical discussion leader, etc. all at the same time. never living, actually living in siena. attending school with crazy italian, yet lovable teachers. as annoying as it was, crappy internet found at a contrada fountain in the middle of a busy street. so many nevers. yet, i hope that some day i will get to revisit the places i grew to love and feel the connection i have to them stronger than ever. my heart grew in italy. as i reflect on my time spent there i realize how much i changed, yet how much it just reinforced the things in me i already knew were there.

2008-11-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

this is my friend cailey and I overlooking the beautiful san gimignano scenery.

Under the Tuscan Sun

2008-11-12T09:32:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen this movie and thought- holy cow! I wanna go there? Well if you have, because I thought the same thing, it is possible. The movie is filmed in the city of Cortona and I was lucky enough to spend the day there on Saturday. The morning started off early with lots of fog and an early train departure at 8 am. I know it doesn’t sound that early but I had to wake up at 6:30 to be ready to leave for the train station at 7…so still not miserably early but for a Saturday it is a lot earlier than I like! Allora, we had one layover in the most adorable tiny little city, I don't even know what the name was, but it was so cute. We walked down the street and caught a lot of attention. 10 pretty American girls walking down the street at 9 am on a Saturday morning all with backpacks on. Through multiple store windows I saw old men shaving other Italian men, they actually still had barber shops! It was wonderful. The café's were filled with many Italians just waking up to their morning coffee and croissant. We found a grocery store and bought many delicious treats for lunch and made it back just in time for our train to take us on our last leg to Cortona. We arrived at the bottom of Cortona about 10:51, only to miss the 10:55 bus to the actual city of Cortona that is about 3 km up a massive mountain from the train station. Since when does public transportation leave early in ITALY? Never. But wait, this one time it does of course. Just our luck. Our options were to either wait til 12, call 3 taxis for the 10 of us which would cost about 15 euro a taxi to take us up to the city, or walk. Hmm. We decided we would be adventurous and walk to the top. It definitely was a hike, but allowed for us to be right in the amazing scenery of Tuscany. As we made the winding hike along the small paved road to the ancient walled city we passed many locals gathering their olives in their groves. All of them waved and greeted us nicely as we continued on our journey up the hill. When we arrived I felt very proud that we made the massive trek. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking and the colors of fall were spanning the countryside. We walked around the quite city and were serenaded by middle-aged Italian man playing his guitar and harmonica in the streets. Everything about the day screamed Italy and I tried my best to soak it all up. We ate lunch at a warm, cozy trattoria. We all got Pappa al Pomodoro--a tuscan soup with tomatoes, basil, garlic, and pieces of bread soaked in it. Even though I'm not much of a fan for tomatoes, it was pretty yummy with some olive oil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top. It was warm both in physical taste and soulful taste. Afterwards we went to an overlook behind the city, walked through the streets some more, and popped into some little shops. Before catching our bus back down to the train station (as much fun as it was to hike the 3 km up to the city we decided that a bus for the way down was a little more appealing….) we treated ourselves to some gelato. The price was low, the portion perfect, and the flavors delicious. When we got to the train station to head for Firenze for the night 4 minutes before our train was to arrive they made an announcement saying there was a 1 hour delay in arrival time. First our bus leaves early and now our train is an hour late. I think Italy is out to get us sometimes when it comes to planning out our transportation routes and schedules. As we anxiously awaited for the train to arrive we stood on the assigned platform (there were only two at this particular station, it was quite small) and entertained ourselves. Kendis, Alyssa, Lynzie, and I parted our hair down the middle like the 90's and laughed so hard we were crying. In the middle of this whole scenario we heard a train coming and excitedly thought it could be ours. We were wrong. Very wrong. It was a speeding cargo train that when it came flashing by us created such a wind current that I thought I might just be sucked into the train or thrown to the ground at any moment. Our hair was whipping around and as I looked around at the other girls I could see that they were laughing hysterically too in addition to the very stunned look on their faces. We were unable to hear each other over the loud train so it made the whole situation that much funnier, seeing but not hearing everyone's freak out moment. When it was over we were pretty much doubled over in laughter and all expressed the same feelings of shock we had just experienced. Our train eventually came for us and we were then on our way to Florence for the night to be able to attend District Conference on Sunday and spend one last afternoon in the city. The train ride was pretty much uneventful other than the girl that sat across from me with the strangest haircut I have ever seen. Unfortunately she got off the train before I could sneak a photo. Getting off the train was like walking into a whirlwind. The Santa Maria Novella Station in Florence is an absolute madhouse. There are endless platforms with trains coming and going and piles and piles of people and luggage racing from here and there all over the place. It was such a contrast to walk into that station after being in such a serene place all day. The rest of the weekend brought many startling as well as spiritual experiences but I will write about them in a separate entry, for they deserve to be separated from my lovely Saturday journey.

dance partay!

2008-11-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Monday night held the most magnificent FHE I have ever experienced. It included the following:

14 girls
Music
Darkness
Laughter
No-shame dancing

Having a dance party in the art room in the uppermost classroom of Dante Alighieri was such a blast. We played all our favorite songs, including some that have been labeled our "theme" songs. We had countless circles alternating who was in the center showing off their unique, original dance moves. Each girl brought their own spunkiness to the room and we had so much fun laughing and enjoying all the different styles of dance. We decided that it was a good way to celebrate our good times here in Italy and it definitely was.

tuscan fieldtrip

2008-11-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

Today brought a most wonderful trip to two beautiful Tuscan cities. The first stop was Volterra. Yes, all Twilight fans, this is where the Volturri live and where Edward threatens to reveal himself in the sunlight. The town was small and quite and there were many threatening rain clouds overhead. We walked through the small streets, surrounded by golden colored stone buildings. As we stood outside the old church it began to drizzle slightly, so we took cover in the baptistery for a few minutes so we could all situate our things and get out our umbrella's. Afterwards, we made a little journey to the opposite side of the town-which only took about 5 minutes- to see old ancient roman ruins. As we observed from above the ancient amphitheatre and the charming Tuscan countryside, massive dark rain clouds came rapidly rolling in and over us. As they reached to valley we were overlooking they automatically moved to fill in the space and it began to rain. The city was dark and cold fast. We decided to find a café and enjoy a nice delicious cup of hot chocolate together. After our yummy treat we explored the quaint boutiques and shops that filled the city. Volterra is know for its Alabaster so many places were filled with different items carved from the soft, white stone. After a lovely afternoon we were off to see our second destination of the day, San Gimignano. This ancient tuscan city was founded in the middle ages and has 17 remaining towers throughout the city. The main piazza was beautiful and picturesque. It radiated images of Tuscany and in the middle was a very large, very old well. We visited the church in the city and were able to see many magnificent and well preserved frescoes from the 1320's. My favorite was a fresco done in one of the private chapels by Ghirlandaio. I love his color palate of warm gold's and reds. After seeing the frescoes we had about and hour to explore the city. It turns out that San Gimignano is the home of the worlds most famous Gelateria so we of course had to try some, even though it was quite bleak and frigid outside. The gelato was delicious and did not disappoint. Afterwards we hurriedly walked down the main street and ducked in and out of shops. The last one I stopped in was the cutest little antique store filled with things that resemble Shabby Shic and endless amounts of old jewelry and household items I wish I would have been able to purchase everything and bring it home with me. I came away with a special treat that I cannot name because it is a gift for my mother. After my purchase the day was over and we all went to get back on the bus to head home to Siena. We were all crammed in to a little mini tourist bus and every seat was taken- even the lonely one that folds up next to the stairs in the front. Alessandro, our humanities teacher who accompanied us on the trip to give us tidbits of history along the way, was the lucky one who got to sit there. All the turns and bumps made a great majority of us sick the whole day, which was unfortunate cause it made enjoying the gorgeous scenes of the Tuscan countryside a lot harder to enjoy. Nevertheless, the day was a magnificent one and it just made me wish I could stay in Italy forever. Tuscany is a wonderful place with a somewhat slow and relaxed rhythm to it that I love. The rolling hills are patched with green pastures, fields of grey clay-like dirt, and now, golden yellow vineyards. My eyes drink up the warm scenery happily and I long to be surrounded by this beauty forever.

final projects

2008-11-01T14:52:00.000-06:00

As our time here in Siena is winding down, the art projects are piling up. Luckily, I was productive today and got the first of a three part series done for my drawing class. I had a hard time trying to figure out what I was going to do and finally decided I would do a series of value-only drawings. Meaning, that I only use shading to represent an object and no lines. I went to the fruit store just down the street from my school to pick out a few items and my eye was caught by some pretty intriguing peppers. I purchased two and I am very pleased with them. My first picture is of only one of them nice and big and I have yet to arrange how I will do the next two. I spent a good 5 hours working on it and I am finally satisfied with the outcome. It feels good to have a start on them and hopefully Peter likes them, considering these final three pieces are worth a huge chunk of my grade. Now I only have 4 watercolors, 8 garlics, a critique/analyses of a work of art, and the 2 remaining pepper drawings. Not to mention any extra credit I might work on or re-works. I don’t really know where I am going to find the time to fit this all in on top of studying for my Italian and Humanities finals as well as doing some last minute traveling, sight seeing, souvenir shopping, and a whole list of various activities yet to be crossed off my to-do list. Obviously they will all get done, I am just going to have to utilize my time efficiently during the next 2 weeks. I sometimes wish I could freeze time, or at least slow it down a little. But even when I tell Time to slow down he doesn't obey ,turns out he isn’t a very good listener.

hAlLoWeEn PaRtY

2008-11-01T14:51:00.000-06:00

Today we had the most magnificent Halloween party at the church, all planned by Kimberly. It was complete with orange and black streamers, candy corn, chili and baked potatoes with the most divine cheese sauce, chocolate chip cookies, and caramel popcorn!!! We played some really fun games like bobbing for apples- yes, I bobbed and I won! It was such a blast. My face got drenched with water but it was well worth it. We had a fun wrap-the-mummy relay race with toilet paper. I couldn't suppress my laughter when Anziono Welch was wrapping Anziono White with toilet paper and he was making him spin around and around and A. White kept saying "I'm getting really dizzy man!" As he hopped to the finish line I really thought he would just topple over into the wall instead of actually crossing it. After the relay we had an eat-a-biscotti-from-the-string race and needless to say Antonio, the only boy in the competition, blew everyone else out of the water. He ate his biscotti in two huge bites. If you are wondering why we were eating biscotti instead of donuts its because they don't have donuts in Italy, so we used the only thing that we could think of that would stay on a string nicely. After that we played another relay game that consisted of running down the hall, popping a balloon, eating the candy inside, then racing to tag the next person in line. All the games were so much fun and got all of the members that were there involved and interacting with the rest of us. There were some very creative costumes that spiced up the night as well. To name a few were: sale & pepe (salt and pepper, very clever), witches, lauren dressed up as a garlic (quite hilarious, she even had a sign on her back that said "draw me"), elizabeth was a piece of contemporary art, a referee, angels (whose wings were white purses with silver sequence and their paper halos were held up by a wooden spoon…), and eve-peter's 7 year old daughter- was the cutest little red riding hood you have ever seen. As you can see most of the costumes were very resourceful and quite entertaining. I lacked anything special and dressed up in black and orange--I know I am pretty lame in comparison but there were two others that followed suit so we all fit in with each other. After playing games the BYU girls all split up and went into different classrooms so that the members and all the little kids could trick-or-treat to the 5 doors. It was fun to give out candy to them and I think they all enjoyed it very much. Kimberly's mom had sent her little grab bags of american candy to her that she graciously handed out to the rest of us. Included inside were warheads, pop rocks, chup-chups, starbursts, and caramel apple suckers. We made Antonio (a very attractive, single, Italian guy about 25ish, dressed in the sexiest black and orange outfit- complete with Levi's, who is studying in Florence but lives in Siena, who just happens to have just started taking english lessons at the church on Tuesday nights and wanted to come to our sweet party…) try some of the warheads and pop rocks. Priceless faces were produced. He was shocked of the level of sourness the blue warhead brought to his mouth and even more surprised by the popping of the pop rocks on his tongue. Gotta love american candy! Afterwards the missionaries shared a nice spiritual thought and the clean up began. It surprisingly only took about 10 minutes to clean up, which I guess makes sense when you have 50 pairs of hands all working at the same time in such a concentrated area. The rain was pouring and Autumn and I were not looking forward to the 40 minute walk we had ahead of us. Then the most magnificent thing happened. As we were standing and talking with Antonio (or Italian Hottie as I would like to refer to him as…) offered to give some of us rides home. None of us really responded for fear of what Peter would say but as he walked away to say Ciao to the Elders and other people at the party, Autumn and I took the initiative and asked Peter how he felt about it. The second miracle happened of the evening and he said yes!! It was a great moment. Upon returning to our area of the building he asked again if anyone needed a ride home and the two of us took him up on the offer. Not only was this going to save us tons of time and getting soaked from the rain, but we would get to ride in a car with Italian Hottie! It was so great. The three of us ventured out in the rain, which he so graciously shared his umbrella with us on the way to the corner where he told us to wait for him while he went farther down the street to pick up his car. A couple minutes later he pulls up in a black VW bug and let us in. I cannot express the excitement I felt when I saw his cute little bug. I miss mine tremendously and very enthusiastically told him that I had the same car as him back home. He got a kick out of that and kept saying "its true?!" The smell inside was similar to mine and he even had a flower in his vase (a red rose if you were curious…). He asked me what kind of flower I had in mine…I love that the vase is a universal "bug" thing. We listened to some pretty sweet house-techno music as we drove through the wet and winding streets just on the outside of the old city wall. The drive was fast and only took about 7 minutes. We thanked him very graciously and hurried inside when he dropped us off 5 feet from our door. I was so grateful when I walked into our bedroom after only 10 minutes of leaving the church, dry, warm, and completely and utterly happy. The night was a blast, the food delicious, company delightful, games exciting, and the ride home- bliss. Autumn and I immediately changed into our comfies and climbed into bed to work on our journals before bedtime. After about 30 minutes there was a knock on the door and Giuseppe informed me, "sibley", that I had a phone call. It was none other than Peter calling to check on us. He wanted to "make sure we got home safely after sending us off with some strange italian man". Haha it was so funny. He is totally a worrier and completely fills the role of father for all of us here. He thought it was pretty funny they call me Sibley, I wish I could have heard the conversation that he had with Giuseppe while trying to get one of us on the phone. Overall it was a great halloween despite my lack of costume and I am going to bed one happy, satisfied girl.

walking

2008-10-30T11:46:00.001-06:00

I walked around Siena the other day just to see it. The scenery was breathtaking and the colors warm shades of fall. Each street brought a new view of Italian life. Sheets and clothes hanging to dry, the delicious taste of lunch wafting through the air. It is amazing to me how connected you can feel to a place. I feel as though Siena is a part of me now. I never thought the winding, seemingly similar streets throughout the medieval town would make sense to me. But now as I journey to school every morning I see familiar faces, hear familiar sounds, and feel the familiar rhythm of the city. Each street is unique and offers its own personality. Over the last couple days I have begun to feel somewhat panicked that I am leaving this place I call home in less than 3 weeks. I anticipated coming here for so long and now it is almost over. My time here feels warped as I think of the people I love at home and how I long to see them and feel their warm embraces, but yet I also yearn to stay here and continue my life changing experience in Italy that seems like it has just begun. I know the contours of the sidewalks and the cracks in the cobblestones. The smooth music of the language fills my ears when I walk the streets.

tragic death

2008-10-30T11:40:00.000-06:00

So I have some unfortunate news to report--Pipo has died. It was altogether a quite horrible experience. His health began to decline on Saturday with an intestinal blowout downstairs while everyone except Autumn and I were home. We decided to ignore the mess considering it isn't our house or our dog, and I barely had the stomach to side step it to get outside, let alone clean it up. We didn't eat dinner with Fiorella and Giuseppe on Saturday night because we had gone bowling and they had gone to Giuseppe's mother's 80th birthday party. Sunday night at dinner they informed us that Pipo was sick. Obviously the language barrier caused our discussion to be limited but we were able to find out that he was upstairs in the bedroom and wasn't walking around or eating. Apparently he wasn't doing too well. Fiorella was convinced they would have to put him to sleep on Monday and Giuseppe had a little more faith that the doctor could make it better. Upon arriving home from school on Monday I was greeted by a horrible sick dog smell. Unless you have experienced this yourself words cannot describe the stench. Luckily, it was confined to the hallway and hadn't seeped under our door and into our room. It was quite sad that he was so sick but I lacked the vocabulary to find out what was wrong with him. The doctor put a stress collar on him and put him on about 6 different meds for Fiorella to give him. Tuesday night, before Autumn had arrived home, Fiorella knocked on my door to get me for dinner. She had been checking on Pipo and I got my first glance at him since Saturday. He looked like death. He was laying on a blanket on the floor, his collar on, two blankets draped over his body, and he shook all over. Fiorella bent down to fix the bandage on his leg that was covering a wound I am assuming was from the doctor for blood work or something of the sort, and stroked his shaking head. It was such a sad scene and I wished so greatly that I could express any sort of consolation, but I knew that even if I could speak Italian I would probably not be able to say anything that offered comfort. During dinner she periodically went upstairs to check on him and she barely touched her food. After she finished dessert, which consisted of roasted chestnuts, her and Federica went upstairs. After about a 2-3 minutes hysterical sobs funneled down the stairs. I instantly knew the reason for the cries. Giuseppe hollered up to see what was wrong and confirmed what I already knew. Pipo was dead. It was horrible. What do you say to a family who just lost the eyeless black dog that they have loved for the last 14 years? He was like a child to them. Autumn and I cleared the table and tried to think of what we could do for them. We were about to clean off the dishes but Giuseppe stopped us and told us that they would get it later. We decided the next best option would be to retire to our room for the night and let them mourn. We passed by the extra room and there was Pipo, laying lifeless on the floor. What do you do with a dog's body? Wednesday night at dinner we found out that they buried him in Giuseppe's mother's backyard. That is the end of Pipo. No more clinking of his nails down the stairs during dinner, no more coaxing him out of our bedroom with wrapper noises, no more feeding him the chicken bones off my plate.

Poggibonsi

2008-10-30T11:31:00.000-06:00

Over this last weekend we had the opportunity to travel to a nearby city called Poggibonsi to go bowling with the missionaries, branch members-both active and inactive, and even a few investigators. The experience was a wonderful one. The bowling alley was actually very similar to the ones in the States which was nice to have some familiarity. Many of the Italians we were with had never been bowling and they all watched attentively as all the American girls went to see how it was done. There was a flurry of high-fives and other hand and facial expressions to express congratulations to each person that went, no matter how insignificant their success had been. For those two hours the language barrier seemed to be lifted as we all grew closer together unified by the spirit of excitement that filled the air. My face hurt from smiling so much. It was so fun to spend time with the members outside of church and get to know them better. The Spirit was present even in the busy setting of the bowling alley and helped us all to feel unified. I am sad that we only have two Sundays left with them and find it hard to believe how fast the time is going here. Being involved with a ward has never felt so natural or desirable. I look forward to every interaction I have with the faithful members here in Siena. I know that part of me will stay here with them and hopefully I have been able to give them even the tiniest bit of what they have given me.

eurochocolate '08

2008-10-27T08:47:00.000-06:00

Have you ever been to the chocolate capitol of the world? Cause I have. Perugia, Italy!! Let me tell you about it--
The morning began with a jump start when I glanced at the clock and read 10:27. What, 10:27? I jumped out of bed and frantically threw off my pajamas and put on the first pair of jeans I could reach. Why was I in such a hurry you may be wondering... Well my bus was to arrive at the top of my street, Porta Pispini, at 10:40. I proceeded to toss the essentials into my purse, twist my hair in a bun on the top of my head, not even taking the time to make it look cute with my bangs pulled back first or anything. I found a clean shirt in my drawer, grabbed my sweater in case it was cold and made a mad dash for the kitchen. The usual croissant, bread, jam, and juice was awaiting me at the table. I hurried and dumped some jam onto a slice of bread, tossed a croissant for later in my bag, and didn't even bother to clean up like I usually do. In fact, I noticed at last minute that I dripped a little bit of marmalade on the kitchen table cloth but I didn't have time to clean it up--don’t worry, the table cloth was gone when I went down for some water later that evening. Anyways, at this point I am so stressed that I would miss the bus that I grabbed my purse in my hand (to prevent any obstruction while running, leading to unnecessary slowing…) and sprinted up the massive hill. I thought I might die. I don't remember that hill ever being so long but the thought of not making it on that bus kept me going. I reached the bus stop with 3 whole minutes to spare. Record time right there. The rest of the day was a nice one spent in the beautiful city of Perugia, surrounded by massive amounts of chocolate. Lunch was a delicious pita sandwich with freshly grilled zucchini and ham. We were even lucky enough to split a side of fries with ketchup!! It was a great day to say the least. The first stop was at the Milka booth--we all got a purple cow-spot painted on our cheek and a cardboard headband complete with cow horns. Needless to say we were looking quite sexy all day long! We watched a game of chess played with huge knee-high chocolate chess pieces and we even rode on a carousel. The scenery was magnificent, the chocolate divine, and the bus ride there and back filled with philosophical discussion.

hooked on phonics

2008-10-23T02:49:00.000-06:00

So apparently hooked on phonics when you are in college, learning a new language, and in a foreign country is the new modern thing to do. Today all 21 of us in Italian 101 had to take a 3, yes 3, hour "lection" (all the words I place in "" marks from here on out will be words used from Giovanni Beve l'Acqua-drink the water in italian fyi- an italian actor from Rome that came to teach us 3 phonetic lessons while we are here in Siena…) to learn the sounds of the italian "music" (language). The "lection" (his combo for lesson and lecture that I feel is a good addition to my vocabulary…) consisted of the strangest combination of meditation/yoga style exercises to teach us 3 different vowel sounds during the course of the lesson. Wow. I had the chance to visualize myself as a "bland of grass" (blade…) blowing in the wind when making the "eee" sound, a dark, stormy cloud for the "ooo" sound, and a calm sea for the "aaa" sound. Each of my sounds have their own color, and their own movement. At the beginning and end of the "lection" we had to lay down on the floor and feel our "birth" (breath…). Feel the air coming in and out, and the movement of our body. "Feel it in your "ends" (hands…) to your feet" mr. beve l'acqua says. Then we had to visualize in our abdomen a ball that would suck up the air when we inhale and let out the air when we exhale. We needed to visualize the color of our sound filling the ball and feel the change of the color when we switched sounds. It was a very very strange experience. I really wish I had a video camera to tape us all "blowing" in the wind like little "blands" of grass singing italian vowel sounds in unison. During the "lection" we would "play" with each other--making a motion to each other that represented one of the vowel sounds then the other person had to make the sound. We frequently mirrored Giovanni's actions and repeated the sounds he said. We jumped, we sang, we made strange hand motions, we swayed, we laughed-a lot- and we "birthed" a ton. I hope that the above description carries with it to you at least some of the strangeness/ridiculousness of the whole experience. I am off now to practice my sounds while I visualize their "color". I think I will work on my golden "bland" of grass first...

taste buds

2008-10-23T02:39:00.000-06:00

So since arriving in Italy my oober sensitive taste buds have been exposed to a wonderful array of foods. Some of them new, disgusting, divine, sweet, bitter, etc, etc. I decided I would compose a list of memorable things I have eaten here, many of which fall into a category of "never eat again" or "refuse to eat unless in Italy" sections. This particular entry might only have significance to those closest to me that know of my troubles with taste and texture, as well as my preferences when eating. The list is as follows:

1)Finocchi-this definitely lands the spot of #1. The best way for me to describe it is an onion on steroids with celery-like shoots coming off the top of it. What about that sounds appetizing? It is one of Fiorella's favorite vegetables to include in dishes, she even makes entire appetizers containing finocchi and only finocchi. One gem of a dish was a finocchi lasagne--baked finocchi and a cheese sauce. The cheese sauce was actually pretty good, the finocchi on the other hand was not.

2)Tomatoes. This particular confused red fruit/vegetable lurks in everything I eat here. I even ate it on bread and didn't gag. Mother-you would be so proud. They are starting to grow on me, to the point of tolerance not quite to the point of like, but I am afraid this won't carry on to my taste back home in the states.

3)Beets. Yes, beets. As in the magenta-bleeding vegetable. Not half bad with oil and pepper on top. Definitely wouldn't choose to eat it ever, but I can force myself to eat it to please Fiorella.

4)Cheese of every sort. Italian cheese will change your life. Enough said.

5)Fruit. The fruit in Italy is of the highest quality. Peaches are wonderful, clementines tangy with the perfect amount of sweetness, and apples crisp and delightful. Dinner is accompanied by a piece of fruit almost every night. The only let down is the fact that "seedless" doesn't seem to exist. Who knew grapes had such large seeds? They can create a huge inconvenience, but the fruit is still always juicy and divine.

6)Roasted chesnuts. They have the texture and taste similar to that of mashed potatoes, surprisingly. When they are hot and fresh of the fire it is the best. I actually ate them by choice the other night and got seconds. Yes, grandma, I know you are in shock right now. I was too.

7)Pumpkin. Apparently this orange member of the squash category has more uses than being carved into a scary Halloween face or being added into yummy holiday treats. We have pumpkin risotto frequently (typical rice dish that has variations of added vegetables…Fiorella prefers pumpkin in hers). We even had a dish of olive oil and pumpkin heated on the stove in a pan. I never imagined dishing up spoonfuls of plain pumpkin- it was a little strange if I must say.

8)Raw meat. Like I mentioned before, we have the wonderful blessing of having a meat slicer in our kitchen. Fiorella finds it very useful and our table is quite often blessed with thinly sliced raw meat options.

9)Gelato. Magnificent. Delectable. Creamy. Smooth. Rich. Delicious. End of story.

10)Foccacia. I am not one to just eat a slice of bread when hungry, but man- italians know how to do foccacia well. My favorite was pesto topped foccacia in Cinque Terre--so satisfying.

11)Normal every day bread. Hard as rock on the outside and completely flavorless on the inside. I do feel that my jaw has grown stronger from all the gnawing. Bread and my gums are not friends.

12)Chocolate. The chocolate here is life changing- I think it’s a European thing. Hershey's will never again be completely satisfying. Dang.

13)Pasta. Pasta is life. The pici is wonderful and only found in Tuscany--a thick spaghetti type noodle.

14)Pesto. Who knew that a green creamy sauce made from pine nuts and olive oil could be so delicious?

15)Olive oil. They put it in everything- and I mean EVERYTHING. If something doesn’t taste quite right, just add some oil!

Well I feel as though the above 15 will be good for now, but I will continue to add more as I experience new things. Like I said before, this is just a list of the most memorable, there are a ton of other potential candidates, but if I were to include all of them I might as well write a novel.

art and pop quiz.

2008-10-20T06:40:00.001-06:00

so today we had a pop oral exam in italian. let me just say that stress levels were slightly elevated. luckily we all made it through alive and as enzo, our teacher put it, "it is only a conversation!" as i frantically looked over all my notes from the past month of lesson's i started to feel ok about having a "conversation" with him. my partner and i decided to go up and of course when we got up there he decided to have a break and told us that we would have to wait. we waited. the anticipation was killllllling me. it took forever. when we finally got done and took our seats at the front of the classroom in front of him. he asked us (all in italian of course...) to describe our family and what our parents did for occupations. then he asked each of us how to conjugate verbs into the past tense. then we were done. that was it. finished. i couldn't believe it! i had almost had an anxiety attack and crammed all my italian into my brain and then it was fine. no harm done (well maybe a little but i think i will recover from it. )and i am very very pleased with my grade. i don't really know how he came up with it from the short amount of time i spent talking to him but i won't complain. i will admit that if i had known about this oral exam before the fact i would have been so overwhelmed with school work that i might have had a melt down. i spent the last week working on hours and hours of art and i am still not completely done. i have no idea how my art major friends do it. art projects take forever--pretty much a standard amount of time is 5-6 hours. and that is diligent work with probably not a lot of detail. i have totally lost count of how many times i have said "peter" out loud the past weekend due to my lack of any other way to express my utter frustration with some of the homework assignments. for example- i spent an hour walking completely around siena to find the perfect spot to draw atmospheric perspective. "i want you to have the experience of sitting outside" peter says. well thank you- i sat outside. hopefully i get a good grade because my poor little bum got really sore sitting on that park bench for 6 hours and my stomach was pretty hungry afterwards (only to be greeted by not to yummy leftovers from fiorella...). well needless to say the experiences here in siena are always changing and leave me quite frequently out of my comfort zone.

once upon a day...

2008-10-20T06:32:00.001-06:00

Once upon a day 11 girls were shuttled by their Professor to the Tuscan countryside to a village by the name of Celssa. The winding roads, sometimes paved and sometimes not, took careful maneuvering of the Professor, but was done so nonchalantly with the window rolled halfway down and the aroma of fall enveloping all inside for the ride. Thick woods and medieval rock walls lined the path to the ancient house awaiting it's anticipated guests. Upon arriving to the villa the smell of mexican style food welcomed deprived senses and triggered instant hunger. Cozy, comfy couches in the living room provided the temporary feeling of "home" and allowed for complete and utter relaxation. Lunch was served on the outside patio and all enjoyed the colorful taste of familiarity. Afterwards, with filled stomachs and satisfied souls, the group set out on an adventure. They followed a path through thickets, pastures, and trees to discover ancient structures scattered throughout the hills. They passed a cemetery, long since abandoned, where Italian bodies lay resting. A castle visible on the neighboring hilltop sparked playful fantasies of princes and royalty. A manor with a long gravel pathway and acres of gardens and groomed woods provoked stories linking to wealth, fame, ritz and glamour. Rest was found at a well outside an old Pope's residence where he banished his unrighteous brother to years of repentance. Eventually the feet of the girls' found their way back to where they delightfully found warm rice pudding waiting on the table just outside the front door of the house. The sweet cinnamon taste complimented the view of the rich fall leaves and the smell of Italian October blowing in the breeze. Reluctantly, with lingering desires to stay in the Tuscan fantasy they all found themselves wrapped in, Professor piled them in the car group by group and once again embarked on the winding journey back to reality.

Assisi

2008-10-20T06:25:00.000-06:00

Yesterday brought a wonderful day of Italian sight-seeing. Half of our group traveled with Peter to the ancient town of Assisi to visit some old churches (which is pretty much a given seeing as how that is the vast majority of what we always travel to see…churches and the artwork inside them). The main attraction is the church of San Francesco. He is a Saint of the Catholic church, and in his lifetime during the late 1100's to early 1200's lived a life of humility and servitude. The church that was constructed for him just shortly after his death consists of two levels, the lower level is filled with magnificent frescoes by Giotto and Simone Martini. The upstairs cathedral is also lined with frescoes depicting many different ancient biblical stories and other scenes from the lives of generous saints. In the crypt deep underneath the church we were able to see the tomb of San Francesco as well as various other Friars that have the privilege to be buried with him there. It was very fascinating to go to Assisi because the main group of site seers consists of devout Catholics who feel a deep spiritual connection to San Francesco and the things he taught. The only equivalent that comes to mind (and I don't think that it even really comes that close to the actual relationship) is Temple Square for LDS members. The town was all constructed in a much lighter stone that contrasts the color of Siena drastically. We walked up and down the steep streets wandering in and out of cute boutiques and kitschy souvenir shops, stopping for some lunch that unfortunately turned out to be the saltiest thing I have ever eaten. It tasted as though the dough was soaked in the Mediterranean, topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella then baked in a brick oven. However ,the view of Tuscany from the village was unbelievable as we just sat and relaxed along the city wall and attempted to soak it all in. We all attempted to take photos and capture the moment, but somewhere between the closing shutter of the camera and the picture displayed on the screen all emotion was drained and the simple beauty was drained from the images.

the wonderful welcoming aroma

2008-10-14T13:46:00.000-06:00

First off I would like to thank Peter for the welcoming aroma of GARLIC whenever I enter my bedroom. Apparently he doesn't find the smell of 14 garlic cloves in a confined space that also happens to be a bedroom offensive. I, on the other hand, prefer not to walk into my only living quarters and be greeted by the reeking odor of garlic. You see, Peter gave us this long term art assignment the other day that consists of the following-

1) Each person in art and drawing is to purchase 7 cloves of garlic

2)Complete 4 compositions a week from now until the end of the program of the purchased garlic's

3)Each composition must be on high quality soft paper purchased from the art supply store in town, and not done in your sketch book that is already handy

4)The paper must be torn down to size and might be in the shape of a golden rectangle or a perfect square, whichever you prefer to draw in (no smaller than 16.1x18.0 cm)

5)The compositions might be placed anywhere in the square or also have a separate border drawn inside the sheet to provide extra structure to the piece. (one must keep in mind that presentation of the 'artwork' is taken into consideration when grading…)

So needless to say, my room will smell of garlic for the next 5 weeks and I pray that it doesn't permeate to everything else I own. I believe I will be quite the garlic drawing expert by the end of this and according to Peter I might even be able to draw them in my sleep! Who would have thought that I would leave Provo a useless artist and come home a garlic expert?! Well watch out Provo cause you have some real masterpieces coming your way!

genealogy work

2008-10-14T13:45:00.000-06:00

So I might have previously mentioned that our tiny branch here in Siena happens to have a database of over 600,000 names they need entered into another database so that their temple work can be done for them. Over the past couple weeks I have spent numerous hours at the genealogy center at the church building helping to input these names. We all fight for the opportunity to put our names down on the list when it gets passed around sacrament meeting every Sunday, and it is unfortunate that they only have 5 computers available for use and only 2 nights a week open for the work. But nevertheless, the work is pressing forward and we are making progress. Fertelli Rotelli (don't know how to spell his last name for sure, that is just a guess from how I hear his name spoken…) is the sweetest local man in the branch and is in charge of the genealogy center. This last Sunday he got up and bore his testimony to us and very sincerely thanked us all for the work we have done. He stated that on average each girl inputs 300 names per hour, and with around 30 total work hours being done each week we are really starting to make a dent in the huge amount of names. It feels so good to be able to give back to the branch in any way possible. I love when I have the opportunity to serve them and be able to show my appreciation for all that they do. The members here really go out of their way to accommodate us and with the language barrier it is often difficult to express our gratitude. I am so thankful that through doing this genealogy work we not only have the opportunity to show thanks to the branch members, but we are also able to bring the opportunity for eternal exaltation to many other Italian spirits that anxiously await on the other side of the veil.

scenes from my italian lifestyle

2008-10-13T14:10:00.000-06:00

this is the view from the top of an ancient wall in siena overlooking the campo and main clock tower.

the middle picture is after the 3.0 km hike from Corniglia to Vernazza.

this is the view from Corniglia overlooking the mediterranean on other coastal towns.

i am medusa...this is at the boboli gardens in florence.

and this is a kiss to my mother <3

alimentari lover

2008-10-12T14:33:00.001-06:00

I have an admirer. I don't know his name but he frequents visits to the fountain to talk to Autumn and I in broken conversations between english and italian. The other night as I was sitting at the fountain just before dinner he came out a few times to see how I was doing and just take a break from running his little grocery store that he has just a little bit up the street. We often see him in the morning spreading rose pedals outside his doorway which is just a funny little quirk about him that shows just what a sweet and sentimental guy he is. Anyway- he told me to come into the store before I left and he would give me something. Hesitantly I peeped my head in to say "buonasera". He kindly asked if I wanted something to eat but I told him no, so he gave me a pink rose instead and sent me out with a ciao bella! and a blow-kiss goodbye. I laughed all the way home and quickly put it in water on my desk. The whole experience was so italian.

cinque terre

2008-10-12T14:26:00.000-06:00

I went Here for the weekend. It was absolutely magnificent. We spent the weekend hiking and enjoying the wonderful scenery. I walked a total of 6 km along the coast of Italy with each path getting progressively more difficult and leading to a total of 5 coastal towns. We enjoyed delicious fresh fruit, pesto with traditional Lugano noodles called Trofie, and fresh baked foccacia bread. The road from Riomagiorre which is the first town to the second called Manarola is called Via dell'Amore (the road of love…). It was a beautiful and leisurely walk that only took about 30 minutes. Manrola was a cute town that was filled with yummy café's and restaurants. We all got a panini for lunch and walked down to the shore line to eat them and I have to say it was utter and complete bliss. The weather was incredible at about 80 with a slight ocean breeze to keep us cool. The next path to Corniglia was a little bit harder than the first and took a total of about 1 and a half but we made a little pit stop on the way. We found a beach area with big rocks and boulders lining the coast and spontaneously decided to take a dip. We were hot and sweaty from the hike and none of us had our swimsuits on but the water was much to tempting to pass up. We hiked down a dirt pathway to the beach and found a semi private area to strategically change into our suits. The water was wonderful and we even saw a small squid that provided a nice reminder of where we were. After our dip we laid on the nice hot rocks and soaked up the sun. The beach proved to be a complete Italian experience complete with a couple nude Europeans laying around and an older Italian man eyeing the 9 of us in our swimsuits for the duration of our time there from 20 feet away. He didn't even try to be discrete about it but blatantly stared for a good hour as he sat in his white nasty underwear that was a little smaller than a speedo on the rocks to the right of us. He even kept his stare locked on us as we made our way back up the steep hillside to the path on onward until he was no longer able to see us due to the vegetation. We arrived to the bottom of Corniglia and were surprised by the massive staircase that awaited us to take us into the tiny town. There were a total of 382 steps that seemed to last forever! We finally got to the top and looked around for a bit before catching the train back to town #1 to get some dinner and take the bus to the hostel. We found a nice Tratoria (family restaurant) and enjoyed some typical pasta for the region and pesto. Absolutely delicious and the man that served us was absolutely sweet and got a kick out of all of us ordering the same dish. 22 of us girls stayed in the same hostel in a city just up the mountain from Riomaggiore about 20 minutes. It was clean enough with the sheets smelling strong of vinegar- but at least we knew they were clean! We got up bright and early- before the sun even- to head back down and continue our hikes to the last two towns. We took the train to Corniglia and again hiked to stairs of death to the top and found the path that would lead us to Vernazza, the fourth town and also my favorite. The hike was strenuous but worth every step. We crossed multiple valley's and got the most breathtaking views of the cliffs, towns, and many vineyards to say the least. Words fail to describe the beauty there and it was even more wonderful to enjoy it at sunrise. Vernazza was the most lively and colorful town we went to and we enjoyed some great foccacia for lunch. From there a few of us road the ferry to the final town and were met by a delightful sandy beach and gorgeous blue sea. The water was refreshing from the morning hike and the sun felt good on my skin. I enjoyed delicious fresh peaches for lunch and tried to enjoy every minute of the beach. We headed home about 4 o'clock and of course were delayed unexpectedly due to a train car getting detached from the train in the middle of the final leg of our journey. We made it back home to Siena around 10:00 pm and headed home. After a quick shower to rinse all the remaining sand away I instantly fell asleep exhausted from the most wonderful weekend getaway anyone could ask for.

conference the italian way

2008-10-06T11:16:00.000-06:00

Sunday brought a wonderful morning of sleep followed by a fabulous feast at the church building. Autumn and I arrived to find a row of tables set up in the main hallway of the church and mixture of investigators, members, and other byu girls all awaiting the wonderful meal we were about to partake in together before settling in for a spiritual feast that would follow. The local members provided the lasagna (which I have to say was to die for…) and us girls all brought either salad or a dessert. The atmosphere in the church was warm and filled my soul with spiritual nourishment. The words that were spoken in the Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday morning session were all words that are applicable to my life. This October was a very different conference experience, usually I spend it at home bundled on the couch with a blanket and family surrounding or occasionally up at the conference center. Being in Siena at the Chapel is not something I ever would have envisioned in my life, but nevertheless I am so grateful for the opportunity. The members here get a kick out of us I think, one made the comment that "you are still eating?!" when she found us still gathered in the kitchen for over an hour snacking on leftovers from lunch between sessions. Nothing makes a conference experience better than a bunch of girls and snack food! The missionaries shared fun stories with us and we all enjoyed watching the film about Pres. Monson's life between sessions and it was fun to get to know him better. His words in the Sunday morning session were so wonderful and sweet--I just love him so much. It is so apparent that he is a Prophet and receives direct revelation from our Heavenly Father. Another exciting experience on sunday was that Kendis and Alyssa brought their host family to eat with us and watch the first session! It was so fun to have them there and such a great day to have them be introduced to our church. The dad, who is so nice and friendly and always remembers me and shakes my hand, seems genuinly interested and the missionaries are going to teach them the first discussion soon as a fhe activity with them. I hope that he is able to feel the spirit and realize the truthfulness of their words.

spiritually fed

2008-10-06T09:26:00.000-06:00

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to spend 4 hours at the branch meetinghouse in Siena and listen to our Prophet and his counselors and other church leaders. The first hour and a half was a re-broadcast of the general relief society meeting. The words that were spoken were so uplifting and comforting. It is so amazing how much love is poured out to the sisters of the church. The relief society blesses and enriches so many lives of not only the women of the church, but others that benefit from the service the LDS sisters give. I loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talk and his words of encouragement. It is so easy sometimes to underestimate ourselves and let that hold us back from accomplishing great things. However, I loved his instruction to use our creativity to beautify the things around us. He defined creating as "bringing to existence something that wasn't in existence before". He also said that "the more you rely on the Spirit the more creativity you will possess". Sometimes I struggle with my lack of "creativity" but Pres. Uchtdorf's words brought to my soul impressions of ways that I can use compassion and creativity to help those around me in ways that are simple but meaningful. Through his words I was able to better understand the spiritual meaning of being "creative" and what that means in relation to my life.
The next 2 hours we were able to watch a live stream of the first session of Conference. In the opening talk given by Pres. Monson it was announced that there will be 5 more temples built, one of which will be in Rome, Italy. The italian members were across the hall watching a translated version of Conference and were ahead of our english session by about 45 seconds. When the announcement was made the quite Senor Fertelli began shouting exclamations of joy and running up and down the halls of the chapel. My ears are not attuned to the emotional outbursts of Italian's yet so I had a hard time deciphering what the racket in the hall was about- at first I thought it sounded like screams of pain or horror, then sadness, then possibly happiness. However, when I heard the announcement in english that there would be a temple built in Italy I instantly knew what was behind the hollers in the hallway. The joy and Spirit that filled the building was unlike anything I have ever experienced. The tears that came instantly to my eyes were from the Spirit overwhelming me and my heart was filled with such a great happiness for the members here. Never before have I had any comprehension of how hard members, outside of strong ward units and mormon communities, sacrifice in order to be faithful church members. The closest temple to the members here is in Switzerland, which from Siena means an expensive travel by a ten hour train ride or some other form of transportation to the neighboring country. I am so excited for the wonderful blessing this will be for all the members here in Italy. I have fallen in love with the people here and know how much the Lord must love them as well. Having a temple here will bring so much happiness to the members here and I am so glad they get to receive this blessing. I take for granted that I live in such close proximity to not only one temple, but to countless temples in my area. This conference experience will be one that I hopefully will never forget. The feelings I experienced today were so rich and special. I am so grateful for the Spirit of the Lord and how wonderfully it communicates to each of us personally. I look forward to the next three sessions we will watch on Sunday and for the words inspired by the Lord, being taught through his servants.

so many footsteps...

2008-10-03T14:39:00.000-06:00

the last two days have brought quite a bit of traveling for my poor little feet. yesterday was filled with wonderful florence and today was marked with quaint monte olivieto and buonconvento. what a tiring, but wonderful two days. from time to time i feel myself have these "aha" moments where it hits me..."i'm walking up a hill, through cyprus trees, leaving an abbey settled by saint benedict, in oh ya-ITALY!" or "hmm i like these leather gloves, alot, i wonder if its italian leather? oh wait i'm here, in italy, shopping at a handmade leather glove shop with the factory right down the street on the corner." it seriously is so incredible being here and i love when i realize just a little bit more that i am here. this week will hit the half way mark and i just have to say that i really don't want to leave. the people, the scenery, the food, the friends, everything. its so different from life in provo and i am loving getting to know things that i have never experienced or been exposed to. it's so crazy to feel perfectly content with this much that is going on in my life...it seems that this is all too good to be true- but yet it is true. and it is good. but not too good.

wait- you're fining us for what?

2008-10-01T11:24:00.000-06:00

The train system in Italy can be an interesting experience. I feel as though I need to document our experience we had last week on our excursion from Siena to Lucca. The morning started out quite early for me as I walked briskly up to Piazza Gramschi. The streets were filled with delicious scents of freshly baked pastries and bread, the early morning air not yet polluted by smoke and garbage. I arrived to meet the other girls at 7:30 am and we purchased our bus tickets to get to the train station. We got nervous we were going to get on the wrong bus seeing as how we were instructed we could take the 3 or the 10 bus to the station…whichever came first. We saw a 10 come but on the other side of the street…so us, being the smart girls we are, ran across the street and a little bit down to the 10 and were told that we had, in fact, been standing on the right corner if we were wanting to get to the train station and to go back and wait for the next bus to come. Laughing we sauntered back to the corner and waited. The bus came and we piled on, all validating our tickets, and made it unremarkably to the train station. We all purchased our €8.20 ticket to Lucca and went out to the platforms to await our train that was to be there in about 20 minutes. After a somewhat embarrassing moment of having to be told that you have to go underground to get to the far platforms instead of walking across the tracks we made it to the correct waiting place. The train came a little early and we found our seats in the boxcar. A little while later a man in a green suit coat came to check our tickets. We all pulled them out and politely handed them over to him as proof that we did purchase seats on the train. He examined them for a minute then looked up and started speaking in english but with a heavy accent and I was only able to catch a few words. Something about validation, fine, and €40 stood out from all the other words he said. I speant the next couple minutes discussing with this man about what validating your ticket even meant, where you were supposed to do it, and why we were getting fined. He agreed to only charge us €5 a piece instead and wrote us up each a nice yellow ticket and made us fork over the cash. Lame. Who knew that the tiny yellow boxes on the platforms that aren't even marked are actually of vital importance? To me it seems like some sort of conspiracy they have going here that gives them a great opportunity to impose fines on innocent travelers. Well anyway- after we got over our fine we arrived at the station in Empoli to transfer trains to get to the Pisa station. We awaited the trains arrival and decided to run to the end of it to try and get seats together. Ha- bright idea. There were no seats anywhere on the train that a group of 8 could sit remotely close to each other, seeing as how Pisa is a major train hub, and so we were forced to stand. However, luckily for us we noticed an empty car to our right (probably meant for cargo of some sort…) so we took advantage of the situation and took a seat on the floor of the train. It was quite and enjoyable ride with Lynzie and Alyssa playing speed and the rest of us enjoying the scenery. Well anyway--we made it safely after that to Lucca and absolutely loved it. On the way home we ran into some more exciting train adventures. It seemed that every time we arrived on a platform the train we were meant to be on was already pulling away! The first one we missed by mere seconds because who knew that the platform #1 would be behind the building going the opposite numerical order? Hmm. Then because we missed the first one we were all of track for our connections…so each consecutive transfer we had no idea what to train to get on next. Hence the confusion of platforms and missing of trains by seconds even more times! By the time we got home to Siena it had been three hours of train travel and we were all so exhausted and just wanted to get on the bus to get back within walking distance to our houses. Oh but wait--the buses were done running for the day cause it was Saturday! Thanks to the unscheduled smoke break by the driver of our last train we got to walk back to the city! I thought we might die. Nevertheless, obviously we made it and our day filled with wonderful train experiences was finally over. Tomorrow will bring a group travel day to Florence so we can all learn how to use the train system--however I think our group of 8 is pretty set!

more photos.

2008-10-01T10:59:00.000-06:00

outside the cathedral in siena with kendis. it has the most beautiful floor mosaics inside!

this is the view from the top of the museo dell'opera. need i say more?

photos

2008-10-01T10:45:00.000-06:00

we love the geese at the park. and of course black and white photos.

this is the view from just up the street of my apartment--absolutely breathtaking.

they gave us tickets on the train to lucca for not validating our boarding pass. lame.

b&w

2008-10-01T10:43:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a day that should have happened in b&w. On my camera it did--its funny how when you take pictures in black and white your mind starts to think in black and white as well. It began with a stressful morning filled with anxiety over our italian oral exams. It was 21 of us girls cooped up in the library wing of the school anticipating our turn to prove to Enzo that we actually know something. Last minute cramming was in abundance, as well as songs from 90's boy bands and a bunch of girls singing at the tops of their lungs. It took a total of about 2 hours for us to complete the task with the final minutes spent with Enzo actually announcing our scores aloud in front of everyone! Luckily most of us got A's--I scored a 92 and was absolutely thrilled--then it was off to see the sites of Siena! First stop was the Duomo. Absolutely i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e. The floor mosaics and the details of the stone had the equivalent of the magnificence of the outside of the Duomo in Firenze. I decided that it is my most favorite church we have gone inside of thus far on the trip and feel as though it will remain that way. It was also a very special experience because only 2 days previous we had a special guest lecture from a man named Paul, who I have become quite good friends with, who is a Theologian from Australia (who is about to get his Ph.D. from the University of Rome). He talked to us about the significance of all the Old Testament stories that are depicted on the Cathedral floor and it was cool to then be able to see them in person. After the Duomo we headed over to the Baptistry and then the Crypt underneath the Cathedral. At this point we were feeling a little fatigued and so we decided to pit stop for pizza and pasta at a restaurant near our final destination. The food was delicious but was ruined when we realized we all were going to be charged a €2.50 sitting fee. We were a little disappointed. Nevertheless, we continued on with our adventure and went stopped in the last museum and gazed at all the paintings of Christ and Mary. Its amazing how many different ways the same scene can be depicted. I feel like it is rare when I see art that doesn't contain either the crucifixion, Christ as a baby being held my Mary, or some sort of annunciation scene of either Christ or Mary. It is curious to me how much the Catholic church idolizes Mary. She is such a key point obviously in bringing Christ into this world but it is odd for me to think about worshiping her in the same way that I worship Christ and my Heavenly Father.

After we left the museum the true fun began!
Kendis, Alyssa, Lynzie, and I have made it our personal mission to find the best hot chocolate in Siena so we picked Café Fiorella to be our first taste. It was fabulous! They don't mix theirs with milk here it is basically straight chocolate heated up…so yummy. Since the day was a bit chilly outside enjoying our cup of rich goodness was oober enjoyable. After our little treat we wrapped up in our scarves and went in search of a park. We found one :) complete with ducks, swans, and even a carousel. The four of us had a blast feeding the ducks, snapping photos, and making mini films together. Everything was documented in b&w which added a fun theme to the day. We had a fun time in a hat shop trying on some priceless italian hats and even slipped in a few emails by pit stopping at the irish pub for a few moments. So much happened that in a way can't be put into words based on the fact that they weren't things that were tangible, more just moments that fill my soul with happiness. It is days like this when I get to have a little brain pushing combined with rich, sweet memories of Italy and friends that make me appreciate why I am here.
<3

i <3 lucca

2008-09-24T09:41:00.000-06:00

i <3>
i spent all day on saturday sept. 20th in a little tuscan city named lucca. absolute heaven. first we sifted through endless amounts of antiques at a market that filled half the city--i wish i had some way to transport things home without cutting my head off to pay for it. i fell in love with an old black iron bed...wonderful. i was able to grab an amazing antique necklace that satisfied my antique shopping needs. afterwards we stopped at a little cafe for some delicious gnocchi and a rest from the walking. we then made our way back to a super sweet bike shop we had passed and spent the next hour blissfully riding our bikes on the ancient city wall that surrounds lucca. words cannot describe how incredible that hour was. the breeze was the perfect temperature and smells of italian cooking and fall leaves filled the air. it was an experience that seemed too good to be true- yet was very much happening. italy surpasses all my expectations again and again. the feelings that i have here are so undescribable and all the 'amazing, wonderful, delightful' etc. words i have to use to describe them seem monotonous and lose their meaning from the repitition, but they are the only words that i know to use in order to touch on the thoughts i am having. the train transportation stories of how we got to and from lucca will have to wait for another post because i am losing my internet connection in 2 minutes...but i will work on describing them at home and post soon. ciao!

more rain...

2008-09-19T04:54:00.000-06:00

today brings piles of more rain- the forecast is 2 inches for today! so i am spending the day at the school and should hopefully complete the many assignments i have to do by tuesday. siena feels like 'home' now and it is so nice. when i walk down the streets i feel like i have a slight ownership of the city and love to see familiar shops and faces when i am journeying around. our group of 24 has grown close and they all feel like sisters. we even have a mom in the group! her name is erin and she has taken the role of 'mother' to us all, counting us constantly when we are in groups traveling to various destinations and planning our family home evening nights. tonight i am planning to go to the church building to help enter in names to the geneology data base. apparently our little branch has over 600,000 italian names on paper documents that need to be typed into the computer, needless to say they need some extra help! i think it is a great activity for today, seeing as how doing anything outside in this weather wouldn't be very enjoyable! sorry this entry doesn't bring much excitement-life here is going on wonderfully :)

taddei family update

2008-09-17T15:04:00.001-06:00

Life in the Taddei home is coming along quite nicely. We translated the notes last week that Fiorella left for us and learned that she would like us to close the window when we leave and also lock the door with our keys please. All of which Giuseppe (pronounce gee-oo-sep-ee for those that are curious) had already hand motioned and explained to us in Italian. They must be important enough for them to stress about them that much so that’s ok for a note, I can respect that. The Swiss student arrived late on Sunday leaving Monday as our first meeting opportunity. She is wonderful! She is 30 years old taking a 3 week holiday from her job at a Swiss bank to improve her Italian speaking skills. Don't worry that she also speaks Swiss German, Turkish, French, and English fluently and her level of Italian is already better than mine will ever be. We have also learned a great deal of info from her about our family…Giuseppe and Fiorella own a furniture restoration and frame making shop. Fiorella is the bookkeeper/manager of the shop and Giuseppe is the "hands" of the business. Their daughter, Federica, who Autumn described her the other day as having the presence of a 7-11 worker, is the janitor of the shop. Coincidence? I don't believe so. She also apparently has a few other places that she cleans during the day when her family's shop is busy accommodating customers.
Dinner's have been pretty interesting the past couple nights with Autumn and I slipping into the shadows as N (the Swiss girl whose name I cannot remember or pronounce in the first place) carries on lovely conversation in Italian with F and G. We do occasionally get asked to eat more or get to slip a few words of english in to N, but other than that are quite invisible to the heart of conversation. It is somewhat nice however to be able to look to N if we are asked a more complicated question so she can translate for us. I think I will have her ask about us doing laundry in the sink while I have her around. For the meantime the sun is out and the rain is gone, so tomorrow while I have the day off from class I think I will attempt to get some laundry done. Overall everything is going well in the Taddei household and life is continuing to fly by as normal.

firenze

2008-09-17T15:04:00.000-06:00

I spent the day in the wonderful city of Florence yesterday, or as the Italian's call it- Firenze. I was a little confused for a couple days when I kept seeing signs around Siena that point in the direction of "Firenze" and then people would talk about how close Florence was a few sentences later. I later realized that they are the same- thank goodness- before I embarrassed myself by asking someone else. Allora, (this is my new favorite italian word…it means well, so, now, etc. they usually use it as a jump-start to whatever they are going to say)Firenze was such a wonderful experience. Peter took 12 of us girls, all of whom are in the watercolor class together, on a day trip to see some art work in the Uffizi Museum. We spent the day looking at paintings that use broken tertiary's for their color scheme. The best way for me to explain this is that they usually have grey undertones and if you were to look at a painting that contains lots of them you wouldn't be able to point to specific colors and say the name of it. For example you wouldn't look at it and be able to say periwinkle, apple green, cerulean, etc. I found one that I felt a connection to and spent a good 25 minutes observing, analyzing, and writing about it. It was a picture of the Madonna and Child with two angels, which is pretty common subject matter for the art we look at, but it was unlike any that I have seen before. The colors used and the places that catch your eye were beautiful and I really enjoyed looking at it, thank you Peter for pushing us to expand our taste in art and spend time actually looking and seeing the art around us.
I thought that Florence itself might possibly just burst at the seams with the amount of skooters, tourists, cars, statues, paintings, and locals that it contained but it seemed to stay connected, at least for the time that we were there. The weather was absolutely beautiful with a nice cool breeze to keep us from sweating to death and a stark blue sky with perfect white clouds to contrast. As we walked into the piazza that takes you into the baptistery and the duomo I literally had my breath taken away. The duomo in Florence is hands down the most magnificent church I have seen in all of Europe. The stone used is all shades of green, pink, and white and its massiveness is non-comprehendible. We went inside and it was surprisingly plain in comparison to other cathedral's we have been inside of. The marble floor had intricate designs to match the outside of the church and the dome artwork was incredible. It was nice to be able to appreciate the beauty that they had inside without being so overwhelmed with options that they all mix together into one huge intricate artwork.
I also had the opportunity to see the David…the actual one. This is funny because there is a piazza near the Uffizi that is filled with marble statues, half real and half replicas. Well, there is always a massive congregation of tourists standing around the statue of "david" taking pictures…I am not sure if they know that the statue they are taking pictures of is by no means the actual one or if they are aware and just too cheap to pay to see the real one. For those that really don't know that it isn't real I find it quite hilarious. Do they really think that the real David would just be put into a huge public square to be exposed to weather, people, pigeons and who knows what else? Hmm. I think not. But the actual statue is quite, shall we say, massive? As I walked around a corner in the gallery my attention was on all the other half finished carvings they have that are quite interesting (it was very wondrous to see how they take a huge cube of marble and catch a vision of a person inside and make it reality…) and all of the sudden I looked up and in front of me and bam! there is the David! Holy cow. After all the many school years of learning about it in art classes you think they would have mentioned that he is about 4 times actual life size. Even as just a side note somewhere…nevertheless he was striking. Although not perfect, I enjoyed him very much. His imperfections (like the size of his right hand in proportion to his body) make him even better. I was having this topic of discussion with one of the other girls in our group when two old (like 75+ years) walk up from behind us and are admiring the statue like us and the other 200 people around. At one point in their similar conversation about the hand one of them quiets the tone of her voice, always a sign of an awkward comment in this type of setting, and whispers into the ear of her friend "although, he does have a rather small p _ _ _ _!" Probably the funniest museum moment I have yet experienced. Priceless.
By the end of the day I felt like I had run a marathon from all the walking and brain pushing I had been exposed to and the bus ride home was a nice refresher. It would have been prime if not for the massive potholes in the road that we hit, oh about every 25.3 seconds that was always accompanied by a slamming, banging overhead luggage rack- without fail. The Tuscan countryside was so wonderful. The sun was setting casting a glorious shade of orange over all the scenery of rolling hills and Tuscan trees and fields creating scenes that seem only to exist in movies and photo-shopped snap shots on overpriced postcards.

rain

2008-09-14T14:03:00.000-06:00

It has rained for the last 2 days more than I have ever seen in my life. It's quite spectacular--when you don't have to walk in it. Yesterday I spent the morning catching up on a little sleep and working on my 196- 1 cm squares that I have to fill in for watercolor class. I had to be to class at 3 so I planned for enough time to shower, get ready and leave the apartment around 2:30. My plan worked out wonderfully and I was feeling quite accomplished for the day. The second I stepped out onto the street the drizzle began. By the time I reached the city wall it was pouring. I had my leather flip flops on and a little ways into the city I gave up trying to work with them and surrendered to walking barefoot up the slippery cobblestone streets. By this point I could tell that unless by some miracle the rain stopped- I would be completely drenched and dripping by the time I reached Danti Aligheiri. I was right. After only walking for about 7-8 minutes, normal people began to duck into shops, doorways, and covered alley's to get away from the down pour- I, however, had to continue my trek in order to make it to class on time. The thought came to mind that they probably don't run the school like they do at Wimbledon--"Oh! Rain delay! Class will resume when the rain stops in order to give the students some reprieve…". No. That is not how things work in the real world- but apparently I was the only one inside of the city walls that had anywhere pressing to be because when I reached the Piazza del Campo I was the ONLY person in the whole square that trudged across the slippery wet slope to the other side…every other body in the square was taking shelter under large table umbrellas or was inside a warm, dry restaurant. I began to wonder if I was the only student making the trek or if they were following suit and pausing their journey for more suitable conditions. I arrived at the school just as the church bells were ringing 3 o'clock. Perfect timing! I walked into class and realized that a few other girls looked mildly wet but a good number of them were completely dry, due to the fact that they had an earlier class and had all stayed at the school to wait for humanities. I sat down in my chair and tried my hardest to disregard the puddle that was forming at my feet as the water dripped off my jeans and onto the ancient wooden floorboards. By the end of the hour and a half class period my clothes were more damp than soaking wet and I had accumulated a nice pond in the surrounding space at my feet. By this point the rain had ceased and the girls were ready to take a walk about the town, seeing as how the school was closing at 5 instead of 6 and in order to get us all out of the building they turned off the WiFi signal so there was nothing for us to do. We left and hung around the city a bit and made plans to all meet at the Campo at 10 for a birthday gelato celebration since Peter gave us the gift of a later curfew. The weather continued to stay decent with threatening clouds but no sign of water. Autumn decided to go out for dinner with two other girls who's families kicked them out for the night so it was just going to be me and the Tadei family! Joy. As I lay on my bed awaiting the moment for Fiorella to call us down for dinner sleep overcame me unexpectedly. Some unknown time later a knock at the door brought me back to consciousness and I grabbed the note from "lyman" stating she wouldn't be at dinner and followed Fiorella down to the dinner table. Dinner proved to be quite a silent evening for me as I sat and listened to their conversation partly because I can't speak italian and partly because I was still waiting for the cloud to clear that was still covering my mind. We had a very short discussion in italian about me not drinking the alcohol for religious reasons and the fact that yes, I am a mormon. And yes- everyone in my group is a mormon as well. This seemed to satisfy some of the curiosity. I hurried upstairs after dinner to change my jeans and grab my purse then I was out the door and racing to get to the campo because I was already 5 minutes late and I still had at least 15 minutes walking time before I arrived. I got there just as Lynzie was starting to panic and shortly after I arrived the rest of the group trickled in. Then the rain began. We took a few pictures of us in the small cove we found to take shelter in and decided to make a mad dash across the piazza to grab some gelato at the place on the corner. The gelato was a refreshing treat despite the cold weather and we all lingered in the streets a little bit longer. We discussed how it totally is a conspiracy theory that the one night we could stay out until anywhere between 12 and 1 it rains and is cold. I know Peter had something to do with it! We all split off in our pairs and headed home about 11:15, very much so disappointed to say the least. But we all were trying to be optimistic that Saturday would bring better weather. Wrong. Although it is beautiful the entire morning for the last 6 ish hours has been nothing but pouring pouring rain. The plan was to meet back at the Campo today at 1…but that is not something that I was in the mood to do. I have tried to be patient and will head out when the rain slows down. I feel as though 3 "showers" yesterday is quite sufficient and a fourth, fifth, or sixth today is not necessary. If this gets posted today you will know that it eventually stopped and I was able to hike up to the internet café and post. If not I will continue to work on the mountains of homework I still have despite my efforts to turn it into a mini hill and will just add this entry to my birthday post tomorrow!

amore

2008-09-10T13:42:00.000-06:00

I love Siena. I spent some time alone today in the Piazza on Via dei Pispini doing some sketching. I feel so blessed to be able to sit in a little square in Italy with just me and my thoughts. I get to take a step out of the monotony of my normal life and be placed in a situation where pretty much everything I do is a new experience. My brain feels like it is pushing against my skull trying to expand to a suitable size to fit all these new experiences and information--but it’s a good push. This is something that many people dream of experiencing, and here I am. I love walking through the streets and seeing the little shops filled with Italian leather, fresh fruit, bread, cheese, shoes, etc. They are all so amazing and the overall feeling here in the city is overwhelmingly wonderful. The cobblestone sidewalk gives your feet a constant balance check that corresponds with the surroundings on your brain. On the walk home you can see the beautiful Tuscan country side peaking through the trees. The weather is amazing at night when it cools down a bit and there is a slight breeze. I love the fall and love life in Siena. It is definitely an adjustment being away from home and away from the conveniences I am used to having at my fingertips. For example I take it for granted that I can pretty much connect to the internet whenever I want--here things work a little differently and things are much more difficult. Its good to be in a situation that helps me to realize just how lucky I am to live in a country like the U.S.

peter peter peter

2008-09-10T03:56:00.001-06:00

So second day of classes today. Wow. I am totally convinced that INTRO to art and drawing might be the death of me. On top of the other homework he just piled it on…and also said that he is a tough grader. Grrreat. Everything is on a scale of 1-10 and he said a 10 is wonderful and magnificent and a perfect work of art. Ya right! I have no hope. Well maybe I glimmer that I might pull out some 7-9's but that’s for sure as good as its gonna get. Haha I think he gave all of us a good scare--hopefully we can all pull through and survive. But the watercolor class started today and I was very pleased that I ended up with all the colors I needed for a complete set except for one--which I traded one of my extra colors for so that felt good to get that all sorted out. I really think I am going to love the watercolor class! We started making a color wheel today and a color chart which was exciting just to be able to get better acquainted with the colors and how they mix. Overall today was a great day in Siena and it feels good to start to get to know the city more. I was able to walk all the way home and back to the school alone without a map with no problems. I am even starting to learn some of the places that are cheaper or sell better things with is pretty exciting. I found a very lovely fruit store that sells delectable peaches for 1.80 euro/kg which is way better than the other places I have seen. I am totally in love with Siena. This is the most wonderful opportunity. I am also starting to really like Fiorella and Giuseppe more as well--we found out today (after playing pictionary and lots of repetition) that a student from Germany will be joining us on Sunday. Hopefully she speaks english because if she doesn't we would have 3 completely different languages being spoken in the same house with no one able to understand the other. That could cause some problems! Dinner tonight was really good and actually tasted similar to things I am used to eating at home. We started off with a rice and zucchini casserole type dish and then had cooked fish in an egg batter and potatoes that tasted like french fries. Very yummy. We gave our family their gifts tonight and I am happy to announce that it went over very well! They really liked the pictures of Utah in the book that I gave them and I was even able to show them where my house is in one of the pictures! So fun. Overall we get along pretty well with them and I am starting to feel more settled here which is good.

life

2008-09-10T03:55:00.000-06:00

Upon arriving home we stowed our few groceries in the fridge (both my items labeled with "sibley" because we still haven't figured out a way to explain to them that my first name is in fact karli and autumn is her first name. On the counter was a bag of vegetables that looked like they could be for dinner…I might have to exercise some great self control on this meal. I guess we will see when that time comes around.

Fiorella has developed a habit of yelling strange things. Like this afternoon for example- she arrived home at 7:00 pm and began shouting something that sounded similar to the english word "people". However, Autumn and I were not quite clear if that is for us, the cat's name, or something else totally unrelated. We decided to stay quite and guessed that if she needs us she would come knock right? We also came home to find notes- scribbled in italian- left on our bedroom window sill and on top of the dresser. We assume that the one on the sill was due to the fact that we forgot to shut the window today, and we also discovered that they have this shade device that can be lowered over the window as well. I'll take that as lesson #1 when living with the Tadei family. Note #2 might possibly have something to do with the door? But I really have no idea considering the handwriting is barely legible, let alone understandable. We will have to take them with us to school tomorrow and have them translated.

Right now I am experiencing quite a funny moment I feel must be documented. Giuseppe is hollering up the stairs for us…"lyman!" haha oh boy. Apparently they had been calling for us for a couple minutes--they could just walk up the stairs and get us…but no. I guess they just call us until we come. Oh and tonight at dinner we found out that the dog's name is Pipo--hence the yelling when Fiorella gets home. They absolutely love that thing.

Dinner tonight consisted of a very spicy (or as Autumn referred to it at dinner tonight "picante??") spaghetti for the first course and the second was another fun mystery veggie! It was called finocchi and pretty much tasted like an onion. I tried to stomach it by putting it on top of my bread with some fresh mozzarella cheese--it worked pretty well and I was able to eat enough to satisfy Fiorella. After dinner she brought out some fruit and I had yet a very delicious white peach…so so good. I'm really loving the fresh fruit here in italy. I feel like I am being spoiled and I don't know what I will do when I get back home! During dinner they tried to communicate something about eating on a future date but neither of us was able to figure out what it all meant. Hopefully its nothing that’s super important. Well now that I have showered and rinsed the day off I am ready for bed. Class starts at 8:30 in the a.m.! Peter will be the death of me I swear. Class was originally at 8 but luckily the school doesn't open until 8:30 so he was forced to push it back, thank goodness. Ciao!

italiano

2008-09-10T03:54:00.002-06:00

Today began our first day of school. It started out with grabbing breakfast then Autumn and I were off on our trek. My fuel was the most delicious nectarine I have ever had in my life. Our journey lasted 25 minutes, every step of the way uphill. I am definitely going to develop some great legs after this program. First we had a "discussion" with Luca- the director of the Society of Danti Aligheiri- and then bam! our first italian lesson. Our teachers name is Enzo and happens to be a bit on the smaller side for a man but quite attractive and stylish. He has a pretty good sense of humor and got a kick out of our group listing "kinder bueno bars" as an italian food item we know. I am so grateful that I have taken a language class before and was able to grasp the concept of conjugating verbs and such. I feel like I barely retained anything we talked about today but hopefully the "mushy brain" feeling I have developed as of late will dissipate a little with time. I think part of the problem is that I have been out of school for the last 4 months, living in a foreign country, living with strangers I don't understand, traveling from place to place the last 2 weeks, etc. etc. What a journey this has been thus far. After class we were given a tour of tour of the building and then one of the instructors showed us around town. We came to a very delicious gelataria where it is less expensive and more generous portions. What a find! A big group of us went to the super market and picked up some essentials then headed to the piazza del campo where we finished some last minute sketching. As Autumn and I were headed out of the piazza we saw what looked like two american guys. Autumn being the bold and outgoing girl that she is confronted them and asked if the were from the states- they were! Hooray! They were both very attractive guys here for study as well, from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. Oh goodness! We had quite a long discussion with Blake and John about life here in Siena and the funny experiences of living with a non-english speaking host family. Hopefully there will be more run-ins with the boys in the future.

autumn's 21st birthday celebration

2008-09-10T03:54:00.001-06:00

Fiorella cooked us a nice Sunday meal tonight. It started out with some sort of broth and tiny noodle pieces that we added parmesan cheese to and was surprisingly good. The second course consisted of the typical bread and tomatoes as well as some left over spicy carrots. In addition there was a quite delicious stuffed zucchini item. The meat inside was of mysterious origins but overall it had a good taste to it, which I even took a second one to show Fiorella that I was pleased with it. I am really striving to keep an open mind when it comes to the food I am given. During dinner Autumn attempted to tell them it was her 21st birthday today and was successful! After we finished our meal they celebrated by bringing out some austrian chocolate they had in a drawer in the living room- so so good! And the daughter, who both of us felt like she didn't quite like us all the much- found some number candles and lit them for Autumn to blow out! It was really a nice gesture and made us feel more welcome. Communication is difficult with them speaking to us in fast italian hoping that we pick up something- which for the most part doesn't happen. We sometimes resort to writing to make it easier, for example when I was explaining that my birthday was next Sunday…it took a while but they ended up understanding which was nice. They often have us repeat things for them in english like tonight Giuseppe wanted to know how to say all the days of the week in english as compared to when he listed them in Italian. He is pretty excited for the day when we will speak italian haha it really is amazing how much you can pick up from body language and guessing the topic of certain words. It will be nice to start to pick up at least some of the basics. After dinner- which I was so stuffed from I could've died- we decided to head back up the street just inside town to the internet café. It felt good to get outside with the breeze and walk off some of the discomfort. We made it back before they all headed to bed which was nice so we weren't a disturbance. Before bed Autumn and I had a lovely photo session in our room trying to capture our living conditions. Our room really is quite nice and I know I will be totally fine here for the next 2 1/2 months. What an experience we are living! I feel myself trying to take it all in and it is somewhat of a challenge. Its hard to believe I am actually here in Siena and living and going to school here. Hopefully it will all sink in soon.

day due (2)

2008-09-10T03:53:00.000-06:00

So the morning started off with Giuseppe showing us downstairs for breakfast at 9 am. We sat at the kitchen table that was set for the two of us- cause apparently the rest of the house was already up, ready, and gone for the day- and complete with postum type mix (wheat based coffee tasting nastiness), pre-made mini toast pieces, jam, hot water, and some sort of small cookie type cracker and biscotti. I have to say that I find it quite funny to eat such small pieces of already toasted packaged bread. They are a little smaller than a playing card so I feel like I am eating something from alice and wonderland or something. However, they taste quite nice with jam on top. While eating I did a survey of their kitchen. It is pretty modest but a decent size. They have a tall fridge, microwave, small sink, and pretty small oven. Typical European kitchen I feel. HOWEVER- this next appliance I found was the best of all. To any of my readers that watch Seinfeld- you will get why I find it to be so funny. I can't help but think of Kramer and Elaine on this one. They have a meat grinder. Yes, that’s right, a meat grinder! Haha oh boy. Apparently we will be having quite a lot of freshly prepared meats. After breakfast we headed back upstairs and got ready for church and started our journey to meet the group in the Piazza Gamsci. We didn't quite make it there but we did end up seeing the group come down the street we were on so we ended up being completely fine. It took us a little longer than planned to get there so next time we will just have to leave a little earlier. Church was wonderful as I already mentioned and afterwards we followed Peter and his family to the other side of the inner city to the school and his apartment. Once we got there the whole group kind of had a 'well- what do we do now' look on their faces. Priceless. We decided we weren't quite ready to part, because pretty much once we separate we are done for the day. Unless of course later down the road we will feel comfortable calling each other on the house phones or making more of a scheduled plan to meet up places. We ventured throughout the streets and needless to say I am totally in love with Siena. It is super medieval and so so beautiful. I absolutely love it and know that pretty soon it will feel like 'home'. The piazza's are so gorgeous and the streets are all narrow with fun little shops everywhere. The shopping here is the best I have seen yet. I am so excited to look around more. There are apartments that are basically above all the shops that some of the girls in our group live in. The main part of Siena is surrounded by a big city wall with archways to the outside, newer parts of the city. Our apartment is located about 10 minutes walk from one of the archways leading into the main city center the piazzo del campo which is about another 8-10 minute walk from our entrance. The school is a total of about 30 minutes walk from our apartment to the school due to the fact that it is on the opposite side of the inner city. It is a nice walk that I am sure I will gain the benefit of having killer calves when I get home. Outside around our neighborhood is lovely tuscan countryside that we can see if we walk out behind the buildings on our street. There are patches of just green valleys with gardens and houses off in the distance. It is really green here with tons of trees of all different shapes and sizes- many of which I haven't seen back home before. We made it back to our apartment about 4 o'clock after grabbing some lunch at a pizzaria with everyone just around the main piazza del campo. I took a nice refreshing Sunday nap and we were called down to dinner about 8 ish. Now this is quite a hilarious situation. They call us by our last names! So funny. We don't know how to explain to them that "sibley" and "lyman" are not our first names. We attempted that at dinner the first night but that only caused confusion. Maybe when we can speak better italian we can correct them- however that could result in some awkwardness that might not be worth it.

church in siena

2008-09-10T03:52:00.000-06:00

We attended our first Sunday in our new branch in Siena today--what a wonderful experience. They have two sets of missionaries that are assigned for the area and they all speak english. What a great moment it was to hear english when we first arrived! Church was conducted by the Branch President named Anziano (Elder) Welch who is the most senior missionary for the area I believe. We all sang the hymns in italian which is sometimes a struggle with pronunciation of words but overall the same spirit comes with singing despite the language barrier. It was fast Sunday today and so obviously that means an open testimony meeting. Anziano Welch started out with his; that was really touching even though he spoke in italian the whole time. After him another elder got up and said his first in italian and then in english for us which was nice to be able to understand him. Following him there was a local italian man that got up and bore his testimony in both italian and broken english which was so nice--sometimes hard to understand but still such a strong spirit with it that it didn't really matter. A mom in the branch shared hers about trying to be a better member and stay true to her testimony of the gospel despite her desires to sometimes just do the things she wants to do not what she knows she should be doing. She talked about how welcoming the youth in the area were to her daughter and how much that meant to her. She obviously has such a strong desire to follow the truths of the gospel and I know that she will continue to make the right decisions. I feel like our presence in the ward will help her to be able to have such a large group of girls that all have such strong testimonies and for her to see that there are people our age in the church that live the standards. A couple of the girls from our group even got up and bore their testimonies today which was so special. Even though the might not have been able to understand fully the spirit that was there today was undeniable. It is such a testimony builder for me to be able to see that no matter where you are in the world the church is the same--the gospel is true and wonderful. It blesses so many lives. I know that this is the true gospel and I am so grateful for how it has blessed my life. The spirit I felt today at church was wonderful. On Friday there is a relief society activity that should be fun--I think it is a service project and I am pretty sure most of us will be going. I hope that I can be a good example to the members in the branch and help strengthen their testimonies. Oh and they also have a genealogy center there at the chapel that they really need help inputting over 600,000 names from paper into the database so I will probably have a couple opportunities to serve in that way which I am looking forward to.

english, please?

2008-09-07T13:41:00.000-06:00

I arrived in Siena tonight. What an experience!
The bus pulled into the bus station and we all awaited the moment that we would finally meet the people we would be spending the next 2 1/2 months with. It felt like we were being picked off for teams like 3rd grade again as one by one the families arrived and the names of the girls paired with them were called out loud. The suspense grew as more and more girls left with their hosts. Then ours arrived. Gioseppe (the father) is an older man In his 50's and came to pick us up alone in his green station wagon. Luckily our we as well as our luggage were both able to fit inside. We said our "ciao's" and that was pretty much the extent of our understandable conversation. The silence that filled the car on the way to the apartment was unlike any I had ever experienced before. It literally was almost unbearable as I sat there in the front seat knowing I would be unable to get to know this man, even a little, before we arrived to his home, due to the fact that I know NO italian and he knows NO english. This definitely presents a problem. Well maybe his daughter and his wife speak a little, right? Wrong. Not one word. Gioseppe continued to try and explain things to us in Italian but it was almost impossible to understand even the topic of what he was trying to get across. The only tool that came in handy were hand motions. Thank goodness those are pretty self explanitory. The apartment they have here in Siena is a good sized one with a nice bedroom here with two twins and a decent amount of storage space for our clothes and belongings. Luckily there is a private toilette and sink in our room that will help us be more private and give us a place to store some of our things. Gioseppe showed us to our room and motioned something to do with food and closed the door and left us to put our things away--at least we assumed that’s what we were supposed to do. Downstairs there was plenty of clinking and clanking of dishes in addition to loud and vigorous Italian being spoken. After getting almost settled we were informed that dinner was ready. This would be my first interaction with Fiorella (the mom). She had her hair rolled in curlers, pearl dangly earrings, a house dress, and red crock look-a-likes on. She came across very nice and friendly and showed us some places in our room that were ours to use- such as wall closet space for dresses and coats- then she took us downstairs to dinner. Dinner proved to be a somewhat awkward experience as well…they tried to give Autumn lessons on how to properly swirl her spaghetti pesto onto her fork. I luckily had that down and it wasn't until the second course that I had any problems. It consisted of quite spicy cooked carrots- to be eaten alone with a fork I discovered, some mystery meats that were some sort of salami types, lettuce- with no dressing other than oil?, cucumbers, and some mystery vegetable that I have never before seen in my life. The carrots were quite nice but I had some difficulty with the rest. I tried to force myself to deal with the plain lettuce and resorted to combining the bread, meat, and mystery veggie together as to not cause my gag reflexes to respond to it. It was a little green tear drop shape that could possibly belong in the squash family and was soft on the outside and filled with sweet brown gooey seeds on the inside. I think it might be a fig? However- I have never seen nor tasted one so I have no idea. Overall dinner was tasty, I enjoyed to pesto very much. We got a map out and they were able to get the point across of where we were to meet our group for church in the morning which is about a 20 minute walk away from here. We helped carry some dishes in and had a small discussion on coffee and tea in the morning where we had to describe as best we could that we don’t drink them. They showed us what I am assuming is a type of postum that they have which we said would be ok. Breakfast could be an interesting experience. I am so overwhelmed with the language barrier I don’t know how to even describe accurately how all this is playing out. I totally have sympathy for missionaries who go to foreign countries to serve- what an obstacle! I can only hope that with our 5 hours a week of Italian lessons and total immersion into the language here at home that we will pick up basics soon and start to transition into some normalcy in communication. For now we will just do our best to try and pick out words here and there in italian when we are talked to and deal with the awkwardness. It feels good though to be all moved in and unpacked which is nice. After the long 10 1/2 hour bus ride we went through today plus stopping in Paestum to see the old greek ruins my shower felt very refreshing to say the least. Tomorrow morning starts at 9 am with breakfast, leaving for the Piazza Gamchi (?) at 10 and sacrament meeting at 10:50. Hopefully we make it through this experience one day at a time until things start to flow easier.

sea glass

2008-09-05T15:39:00.000-06:00

i love the beach. i spent the day in amalfi--a little coast town off the meditteranean. it is glorious. i have a nice little collection of sea glass! it is so so so wonderful here...i really must return someday. we walked up and down the main street and even got to see a wedding at a church there in town! i love it. we head off to siena tomorrow to meet our host families and start classes on monday. i am so nervous! its all such a new experience and all so new at one time that it is very overwhelming to think about. but i am sure that it will all be great and i am mostly just looking forward to not having to live out of my suit case. and to do laundry...i am really excited about washing my clothes. i know mom- hard to believe- but true. i want to do laundry! haha anyway i am off to bed for one last night in paradise before our 8-9 hour bus ride tomorrow! i'll post as soon as i am able.

minori

2008-09-04T15:25:00.000-06:00

minori--its my new most favorite place in the whole world. its on the amalfi coast here in italy and it is so picturesque and beautiful. however- in order to get into town we had to spend 2 hours on a tour bus climbing up and over mountains on a super skinny, steap, winding road that really only fits one car-let alone bus- on it at a time. i thought we would die. thank goodness for our amazing italian bus driver who doesn't even break a sweat when he is taking a complete 180 degree turn on a huge bus filled with 24 nervous girls, while just about slipping off a huge 20,000 foot cliff. amazing. anyway, we spent the last two days looking at old ruins preserved from the explosion of mount vesuvius in 79 A.D. in Hurculaneum and Pompei. they are so incredible. it is so crazy to see the frescos on the walls and the incredible, intricate, mosaics all over the floors and the pillars. things were left just exactly as they were so long ago...the faces on the moldings of the bodies in Pompei still had the shocked and tortured expressions on them. then today when we got back into town in Minori we went to the beach! i am in heaven. total paradise. the water is so clear and so salty that when you lay back you float! i love it. i spent lots of time just sifting through the black sand for sea glass...love it. tomorrow we have the whole day to just stay here and relax with no bus rides of schedules--we are all so pumped to have a day to ourselves. we are planning on taking a trip to amalfi- a really touristy town just 10 minutes and 4 euros away on boat.

roma

2008-09-02T14:33:00.000-06:00

roma roma roma.
when in rome right?

well pretty much words fail to describe things here in rome. absolutely amazing. the first day i was here it started off with church. all of it was spoken in italian and it was definately an experience for sure. i've never been in a place so foreign where the people surrounding have a hard time understanding me. it puts things in perspective a little bit...after church we walked through the city and went to see st. peters cathedral. by far one of the most incredible things i have ever seen. the size of it cannot be captured by a picture or a description. we walked up 570 steps, which still has my calfs burning, to the top of the inside of the dome. being able to see the artwork on the inside of the dome was amazing. how people have the talent to do things that are so massive but yet still perfectly in proportion is beyond my comprehension. we then traveled outside of the dome on a viewing deck at the very top of the cathedral and were able to have the most amazing view of the whole city. the old structure that was used to plan cities is so impressive. there are two 'arms' that extend down from the catherdal that have a long road that leads into the the piazza in front of the cathedral. in the piazza are two bigger fountains on either side of a tall column.
a side note about rome- they have fountains and water coming up from the ground all over. it is unbelievable. apparently they found under water aquafirs (?) and so they built tons of fountains for display as well as tons of drinking fountains that all continuosly flow. the water is clean and refreshing--i don't know how we would survive without it. it is one of my most favorite things about rome.
i saw the cistine--sorry spelling is rough cause its all in italian here so nothing looks right in english--chapel. the cistine chapel! it is much much larger than i imagined. i didn't realize there was more than the god touching adam's finger scene...that is one square of hundreds. i don't have any way to describe how incredible it was. the colors are rich and the figures are larger than human size. how it is all in proportions is unknown to me. the feeling when you look at something that you have heard of your whole life but never thought you would actually see is quite the experience. my mind is so overwhelmed with all the things i have seen i can't quite express how i feel about them all and its frustrating. the days blur into what seems like months. i am still trying to process all the paintings, sculptures, and buildings i have seen and the hands that have made them. we looked at a banini statue today of the capture of percephine--the white marble figures looked real to say the least. the grip that pluto had on her was so lifelike and the stuggle and emotion shown in their stone bodies was undeniable. pluto had veins and muscles and so much power and authority while percephine was radiating such pained emotions. the struggle that played out from the tears on her face and the struggle she was putting up with as well as an overrall resignation to the inevitable was so moving. never before have i thought it possible to be so touched by something made from stone. every angle of the statue provided the eye with more movement and emotion to take in. banini's attention to fine detail makes the textures rich and so life-like.

i walked in the colloseum today. walked where ancient romans walked and watched people die for plesure. its hard to think of a time where that could be possible but then i can't help but think of the entertainment we have today. video games and movies that are filled with violence- yes it is 'pretend' but still fills our minds. its unfortunate that the colluseum wasn't better preserved, much of the white marble that was used to build it was harvested for other things around the city. it is still such an amzing structure that is absolutely mind blowing how something of that size could have been constructed and used so functionally.

as you may have noticed--size is a major theme of rome. everything we see here is on such a massive scale it is hard to describe. pictures can't capture the magnificence of everything we come upon. the only way to start to comprehend is to see it in person...something i feel very blessed to have the opportunity to do. this is such an amazing life experience. even just the seemingly insignificant things that go on here are meaningful. the friendships being made are all so unique--i love it. all being away from home in such a strange place pushes you to form close, intimate relationships with those around you. i already feel so connected to the amazing girls i have speant the last 3 days with.

italia.

london town

2008-09-02T13:55:00.000-06:00

unfortunately i don't have a whole lot of time to write this because i am sitting on my balcony in rome picking up some random internet connection with a low battery on my laptop. however--i wanted to get a few things down before we head to naples...

first i will start with some adventures from london--

amazing.

seriously.

everything was absolutely beautiful.

lynzie and i stayed in a hostel in the "royal burrough of kensington and chelsea". hyde park was just steps outside of our door...we spent our days walking our feet off and sight seeing to the point i thought my head was literally going to explode. we ventured out to the tate modern museum where i was able to see the most magnificent monet i have ever seen. it was so breath taking. i stepped on the london eye- which is a massive beyond massive farris wheel inspired wheel with big enclosed pods instead of seat baskets- and i was blown away with the size of wonderful london town. the buildings of parliment, westminster abbey, big ben, buckingham palace, the list goes on and on. the age of the buildings in incredible and nothing in provo can even come close. it is so hard to comprehend the amount of people that have been there before you and walked on the same cobblestone sidewalks and layed on the same spot of grass.

while in london lynz and i enjoyed the most divine waffle with melted chocolate and ice cream. so so wonderful. especially after walking for the last 4 days straight. buckingham palace was magnifecent and it was so fun the think they have a queen and a royal family- imagine marrying into that! we also spent many countless hours in museum after museum looking at things that i don't even have time to describe. but all wonderful.

oh london.

bonfire

2008-05-25T12:15:00.000-06:00

so last night me and some other friends went up to canyon glen park to have a bonfire. we had just started our perfectly built tee pee-scout fire, with a little help from our friend "gasoline", and we were all enjoying the glowing heat of the flames, when out of nowhere this guy just storms down a dirt hill, over our pile of wood that was yet to be burned, and through our tee pee, through the fire that was still burning on the dirt, and away. what would possess someone to do that? stupid. i don't understand what goes through peoples minds sometimes. but the rest of the evening was quite nice despite our struggles to reconstruct our fire to its initial magnificence. i love fires. but somehow i always think that i can walk away after not smelling like smoke, like somehow this time is different and it magically won't adhere itself to my skin, clothes, and worst of all hair. i have yet to come across a fire that can resist.

adventure

2008-04-30T22:34:00.000-06:00

so i decided that i am going to start a blog. i came to this decision for many reasons...some being:

i am a horrible, and i mean horrible, journal keeper
i want to blog about italy in the fall, mostly for my family and friends to cut down on the emailing
it's a nice way to express my thoughts and feelings
peer-pressure
pleasure

i am starting a new adventure this summer. i have completed a year of college, experienced life away from parents and home, and learned that life is quite different in the real world. what do i mean by real world? the world that isn't filled with trivial things the majority of the time, such as "oh my gosh, that girl has on the same shirt as me, i must go home and change after 4th period...", or "hmm, i think i want a lexus for my 16th birthday instead of a bmw". but instead is filled with a wonderful multifariousness of thoughts and ideas. having the option and fluidity of seeing people you really care about versus seeing the same people every day because of routine is quite incredible. this summer i will venture life with a full time job. i think i will have to develop a stamina for spending all day with the stress that comes from assisting doctors, but i do love what i do so i believe it will come easily. the thought of having work and not homework is a beautiful one, however. my motivation for work this summer will be the reward i get at the end of august. a full three months in the city of sienna, italy. i can hardly wait to walk down the cobblestone sidewalks with gelato in hand and sketchbook and paints in my bag. it will be a time of utter development...one i completely look forward to.

i got my passport today. who would have thought that paying $116 dollars for a picture that doesn't show your teeth and a book with some stamps in it would be so exciting? i guess it is what comes from that little picture that holds the real meaning. this means i can travel the world. this means i can experience life outside of happy valley, and outside of my comfort zone. i can experience culture and beauty in a place filled with all of the above.