A Broad Abroad?

conclusion?

2004-05-21T05:23:28Z

well i'm home (currently: eugene), and it's great and weird at the same time.

the trip back was fine, no vomiting this time round, thank god, and even one of the flights had brie cheese, which was probably the highlight of my 14-hour traveling time. mmm... brie.

i was greeted at the airport by a whole herd of family-- dad, susan, mom, her boyriend tim and his two sons, grandma linda, samantha and jeff. and! I DID NOT CRY. i was expecting it considering the entire day i almost cried at everything, even seeing a sign in the washington dc airport that read "welcome to the united states of america" with a giant, heart-warming flag. but i believe the overall tiredness of travel (by the time i went to bed i had been up for 25 hours) relieved me of that mascara-running mess. and it was great to see everyone.

but it's so odd being back here. it feels so normal that it's disconcerting. since i've been gone and pretty much my entire world has changed, there is an instinctual notion in my head that the world here should have changed as well. but it hasn't, which is also comforting.

so here i am back in my apartment (which i'll be living in next year), about to go out to the pubs with my group of best guy friends, and it's great to be back. i miss everyone that i became close to in italy and europe, but that's the one stipulation of travel: you're always saying goodbye to someplace or someone, and it's never going to be easy. it's better to have loved and lost, and it's always beneficial, nevermind jet-setting, eurotrash cool, to have friends around the world.

i still hear from mili, he's tried to call both parents' houses looking for me since i've been back stateside, and since it's difficult for me to call him i've just been writing emails. he still wants to visit in august, if not over christmas, but i'd much rather leave the relationship in macerata. it's rough for him because he more or less proposed to me, says i'm his life, he loves me till death, etc etc, but i never have meant to entertain the same sentiment as i knew i'd always be leaving. so while no one ever likes the idea of an ex with someone else, i really hope he finds someone else in the next while so i don't have to more or less tell him not to come to america.

meanwhile the job search ensues. hopefully i'll have something in portland as there are more opportunities related to my desired profession there, and as well there is an internship with an awesome retro-style book publishing company in tigard that i want to try and get. anyone have any other suggestions? i'm open to anything as long as it pays reasonably well and doesn't require anything icky (refer to: lauren's job for the omeg's a few summers ago).

anyways, i need to go make myself all purdy-like. i'll probably update this again sometime soon about the reintegration process, so i won't say goodbye, but end it in my usual
ciao tutti!

my last day in europe

2004-05-14T10:17:34Z

hello from london! it seems that all my entries as of late have to begin with a "hello from...!" since i'm always somewhere else. well, this is the last stop, and it's sad but also relieving.

first of all, splitting up from kate was harder than we thought it would be. we always joke that whenever we're apart for more than a little amount of time that we get separation anxiety, and it was all jokes until we had to say a quick goodbye on the metro in london, as she went one way to get a flight to rome, where she'll be staying with marcello until she flies back to indiana on sunday, and i went another direction to catch the train that goes through the chunnel (and only for $45!). we both started crying, which now when i think about it, is really funny. just because it's us, and we're giant babies. it was sad, but i'll be seeing her in august when she and marcello are touring the US and are making a stopver in oregon. THAT will be tons of fun.

so from there on out i've been alone. my mate chris couldn't be in london when i was here, so i'm staying in a hostel in the ever-so-colorful camden town. i went sightseeing all by myself all day yesterday and it wasn't bad at all. if this had been at the beginning of the trip i would be lost in some remote corner of ghetto london, curled up in the fetal position and crying, holding 2 pence in my hands. but no, i am considerably more wisened in the ways of the metros and other encounters one comes across in a large, strange city that not much phases me anymore.

yesterday i went to westminster, lounged in the sun outside the house of parliament, toured the interior of westminster abbey (which was a lot cooler than i expected, especially the poets' corner where so many well known authors and poets throughout the years are buried), and then went to the aquarium, because it's me and anyone knows i'm a sucker for any type of animal exhibits. plus i've been jealous reading my friend lauren's adventures in the south seas diving and jungling (yes, jungle is a verb), that i had to take part in some way. i got to see a bunch of sharks eat, and just sat there watching the tank of them and a bunch of rays and giant fish for ages.
then i walked through st. james' park, which was really nice, and ended up at buckingham palace, which after everything i've seen (seriously, being really tired and living in italy, home of some of the greatest classical architecture, has made me horribly jaded in terms of things like that), wasn't that spectacular. i was impressed with the interior and exterior of westminster abbey though. and walking out of the underground station to see big ben RIGHT THERE was pretty impressive. if you look at the photos on my camera right now, the last one from paris is the eiffel tower, and the next one is my first of london, big ben. seeing these famous landmarks for myself is just so damn cool.

i thought i'd see a movie last night since i've been missing them so much and because i had no idea what to with myself during the evening, but on the way to the theatre i saw an actual theatre that's presenting a play with julia stiles (from 10 things i hate about you, save the last dance, etc) and the guy from erin brockovich. so i bought a ticket for that and after grabbing a quick dinner went and saw it, and was thoroughly impressed. it was really neat to be able to see these more well-known stars working right in front of you. and julia stiles is a lot better than most of the roles she picks. that was definitely fun.

last night i made all sorts of friends here just chilling in the hostel. one guy i've declared is my platonic soulmate, and he hails from holland and is about the coolest guy ever-- he's way bummed that i'm leaving tomorrow so we couldn't go catch all the awesome concerts that are happening around here right now-- i think we talked about music for like 2 hours. and then today i'm hitting up the market with this guy from bermuda, which is pretty cool considering i've never even HEARD of anyone from bermuda. tonight my dutch buddy and i are getting dinner and the tomorrow hopefully i'll see chris before i head out around noon, cuz who knows when i'll see that cat again. but so many more of the friends i've made while traveling have been guys.

anyways, this is far too long. i leave tomorrow morning, let's hope i don't vomit on the plane this time because that was way too embarassing the last, and then i'm in oregon saturday night! woohoo. i'll be in eugene the end of next week for a few SK duties and visiting, for anyone back there that might like to know. before and afterwards however i'm taking it easy with the fam, because lord knows i need it.

take care all, can't wait to see you TOMORROW!!

bonjour!

2004-05-11T18:00:20Z

hello from paris!

ok, long time no see, yes? been having some problems and kate's and my morales were a little low, mainly due to worrying and exhaustion from going so much. it has been such a whirlwind tour of europe, and tomorrow i leave for my last destination (london) before returning back to the good ol' US of A, which i actually miss a lot. ok, i'm going to do a better sum up of what's been going on than i did last time.

interlaken, switzerland: hanggliding (after our white water rafting, of course!) was fantastic. it was so scary to run down this steep grassy hill right in the middle of farmland in the upper hills (lower hills of the alps themselves, i guess) but to be able to fly like a bird over forests, a glacial lake, fields, the town and with the snowy mountains on all sides was spectacular and more than worth it. and the giant loop de loops were awesome.

zurich, switzerland: due to a big mix up with our tickets (that wasn't our fault!) we ended up with a stopover in this city for a few hours and were pleasantly surprised with it's impressive architecture and friendly people. i officially like zurich.

vienna, austria: in german it's called wien, and the people from wien are called wieners. imagine all the jokes that stemmed from that. otherwise this city was steeped in artistic history and significance, and seemed very 'la dee da.' the ballet that we saw the one night was in its grandest opera house, and for standing room seats it only cost us 3€ each. that made us happy.

(side notes: i suddenly crave the food of whatever country i'm in... all the german countries make me want to eat nothing but brats, sauerkraut, and beer. and everyone looks like the heater family.
here in france it's nothing but cheese, wine and baguettes... and it's NOT a rumor that the french carry baguettes everywhere, because this evening alone i think i've counted 34 baguettes.
plus! st.bernards in switzerland, wiener dogs in vienna, german shephards in germany, and french poodles and french bulldogs--which i love-- in france.)

prague, czech republic: this is where you last heard from me. the architecture is stunning and more gothic than moody 10th-graders. one night kate and i wandered to the main square, where they had a couple jumbo screens, tons of cheap, excellent beer, and people in czech hockey jerseys. we find out that the czech championship game is that night in prague, and they're broadcasting it in the square. so we get situated in the massive crowd, beers in each hand and watching the funny czech ac/dc band, when the game starts. who are the hqrdcore czechs playing in the most important game of the year? oh, just the USA. so in fear for our lives we spoke nothing but italian to each other for the rest of the night. (ps: the US won)

berlin, germany: SUCH an interesting city. not the most beautiful but as the headquarters for the nazi regime during WWII and for communism later on, nevermind the whole mess with the wall, berlin has such a grittiness to it that i can't help but like it. we went on a cheap bike tour one day, had a blast, rode around the entire city (which is 9 times the size of paris), saw some amazing things, made friends with the people who own the business, and we were offered jobs for their upcoming pub crawl. hmmm, live in berlin and my job would be partying? not too shabby! this part of the trip was our moody, sad part, which matched the weather, so that was the highlight.

paris, france: the night we arrived we ran to the eiffel tower from our hostel and caught it lit up at night, which was gorgeous. then at the stroke of midnight all these big twinkly lights throughout the tower lit up and flashed all over the place-- it was amazing. yesterday we got into the louvre for free, saw works such as venus de milo, and 6 leonardo da vinci paintings, including the mona lisa. i'm all proud because i've now seen 11 of his 15 existing paintings in person. also went to notre dame and around the city.
today we saw the graves of jim morrison and oscar wilde, and fell asleep in the grass and sun at the base of the eiffel tower. not half bad. we're so tired of running around everywhere that this portion of our trip is very lax-- for example: "you wanna see the arc de triumphe?" "eh, i don't have to." "ok, let's go sit in a park instead."
ahh, paris in the spring.

I'M BACK IN 4 DAYS!!
i'm excited. if anyone wants to meet me at the airport before my family starts fighting over me, i arrive at 8:18pm on saturday via united airlines from washington DC.

i'll probably write again while relaxing in london, so cheers for now! au revoir!

czech it out, yo!

2004-05-05T10:54:15Z

a cheesy joke using the word "czech" was fully necessary here.

yes, i am in the czech republic, more specifically the amazingly beautiful city of prague, where we arrived last night from the also beautiful city of vienna. this can't be long but let me backtrack a little.

last day in switzerland: completely weird for many reasons, too many to go into, but let's leave it at this: train didn't leave till afternoon. so we went hanggliding in the swiss alps to pass the time (kate insisted on paying for half since i was wprried about the cost after white water rafting). it was INCREDIBLE!! we flew over the mountains, lake and town, and did flips and everything!

vienna is gorgeous, and we saw a ballet at the staatsoper theater! it was of a shakespeare play and so beautiful. to be in the town where so many classical greats resided was inspiring, and we also saw great art exhibits, including one of dali and one of rembrandt.

prague is full of gorgeous architecture and cheap shopping for presents! some of you are getting something from here.

anyways, out of time and i don't want to spend more. love you all, till next time!

buongiorno, bonjour, gutentag and good day from switzerland!

2004-05-01T16:37:55Z

yes, those are the languages spoken here (italian, french, german and english), so that question was answered fairly immediately upon our arrival on thursday night.

interlaken is such a beautiful and cute town, situated in a valley right in the middle of the alps, and at the feet of the famous jungfrau mountain. kate and i have been in awe of all the snow-capped peaks on every side of the town, the beautiful glacial rivers, hundreds of bright tulips, wisteria, blooming trees and so many other bright flowers, and buildings that look like ski lodges or cuckoo clocks. we spent a good portion of yesterday just walking around town taking photos and oohing and ahhing over everything.

and today we went white water rafting through a freezing cold glacial river right in the alps. SO MUCH FUN!! we were supposed to go hanggliding, but the weather wasn't good for it, and while we were pretty bummed about that, rafting was a definite rush. we were suited up in 2 wetsuits, life jacket and helmet and rode the current that wound through absolutely stunning scenery-- misty-topped mountains, rolling countryside, the hillsides a mass of light greens of young spring leaves, even cows staring at us as we drifted past. it was just awesome.

the place where we're staying (www.funny-farm.ch) is a gorgeous giant hotel with such a great laid back and fun atmosphere. it's such a cultural change to go from italy, where appearance is everything, to here, where everyone is decked out in northface and sandals. honestly i welcome the change, it's nice to be able to go downstairs in flip flops, messy hair, no makeup and a tshirt and not receive many weird stares.

anyways, internet here costs an arm, i just reserved our room in vienna for tomorrow night as we leave here early at 6:30am, and my food and beer are ready! i think the best beer i have ever had was when we got back from rafting-- at the station where we suited up they had cold brews, homemade bread and a swiss mountain cheese ready for us to munch on, and it was probably the most satisfying thing ever.

love you all, everything is fantastic here is you couldn't tell! i officially LOVE switzerland and know that dad and susan, you guys would absolutely die at seeing this place. so great!

bonjour!

2004-04-28T18:59:30Z

comment ça va? ça va tres bien, merci.

yes, that is french from me, in france.

before i go off about how great nice is, let's start from where we last left off.

the trip to riomaggiore and the rest of the cinqueterre was great, and we arrived to a colorful little town situated within massive terraced cliffs and on the edge of absolutely crystal clear turquoise water. kate and i were ecstatic. our room was cute, but we hardly spent any time inside as we were exploring within the town, climbing up and down these ancient narrow stairways overgrown with vines and cacti and appreciating the breathtaking views. we even took a nice long walk along the "via d'amore" (path of love), which stretched across the edges of the cliffs until we reached the next town over, manarola, number 2 of the 5 cinqueterre villages. the weather ever since we left rome has been gorgeous, clear skies and warm sunshine. the sunset that night was amazing, and kate and i were slightly bummed that we were in this incredibly romantic place with, ugh, each other. if i haven't mentioned it already, we give each other a lot of grief constantly-- it's our term of endearment.

we left riomaggiore tuesday morning and drooled out the train window at the sunny italian riviera beaches and clear waters until we FINALLY arrived in nice, france in the later afternoon. the hostel we wanted was full, so we had to trek around town with our giant packs searching for a cheap place to stay (because this place is RIT-ZY!). luck was on our side and we found a darling little hotel a half block from the beach, right behind the famous hotel negrosco, and for a great price. and we had mexican food that night!!! wow, it was great. sure it wasn't REAL mexican, but we were happy campers.

this morning kate and i got up, dressed as riviera-ish as our limited wardrobes would allow, and walked to the beach, where we lounged in the mediterranean sun, with our clothes on however, unlike many other people. one thing that amazes me about the people here is that:
1. they're rich
2. they're ridiculously tan
3. old women dress like they're 20somethings, complete with short skirts, heels, low cut shirts, and extravagent makeup. in fact, here's an image for you:
remember in something about mary when you see the old lady's boobs? yep, saw those today as we passed a group of 70somethings tanning topless on the beach. woo, that was a reminder for myself to ALWAYS, ALWAYS DEAR GOD, WEAR A BRA.
despite that, things are fabulous in the way of the lifestyles of the rich and famous here.

later today we hopped on a quick train to monaco (got my passport stamped!), where grandpa howard, i saw some of the most amazing boats of my LIFE there. huge, gigantic yachts and sailboats moored throughout the exclusive monaco marina. i'm fairly certain you would have died. i took photos that i'll show when i get home. we also saw the grand prix track, whiwh takes place in little less than a month, and after walking through the residential areas walked to the famous monte carlo casino, which was really exciting until they refused to let us enter because of our flip flops. so we shot a defiant photo of us waving our sandals at the overrated, snobby casino. who needs 'em.

after catching a train back to nice (only about 7km distance between the two), we did some grocery shopping for tonight and tomorrow, made a great dinner in our hotel room and reveled in our economic shrewdness and luck.

mom, this is the next place you and tim go on vacation, because you would LOVE IT HERE. i thought of you a lot, and being here with kate reminded me of what your vacations with georgia are probably like. except of course you get to legally ENTER the ritzy beachside hotels and not get kicked out of monte carlo.

tomorrow is kate's 25th birthday, and for it we wake up in france and go to sleep in switzerland. we catch a 10am train and pull into interlaken around 8pm, and we are excited. we have food for the day and are ready to see some beautiful french and swiss countryside. in fact, we need to make our reservations now so i need to go. but here's a thought:

what language do they speak in switzerland? swiss? something neutral? coded numbers like a swiss bank account? is switzerland where they wear clogs of is that sweden? is there really swiss cheese in switzerland? some may never know.

PS: a little shoutout to my highschool french teachers, mrs.hanischwefska(?), mrs.mcrae and mr.walrond. yep, i've remembered like 7 things in french. way to go!

stephheater @ 2004-04-25T22:49:00

2004-04-25T21:08:20Z

ciao da roma. as of right now i have left macerata for who knows how long. today was a HORRIBLE day, just because i've been an emotional mess, ready to cry any second prompted (and there have been many in the past 36 hours).

the final luncheon on friday with everyone was great, i even made a little speech. some people were leaving friday evening, so that's when the first round of goodbyes happened, the hardest being my friend ben (who came with me and courtney in greece for spring break), which is funny considering when i first met him i absolutely DESPISED him and his blatant, crude fratboyishness. ugh, some of the things that come out of that kid's mouth will shock even the most jaded person. but somehow we became buddies, maybe because i just shake my head and say "yep, that's ben for ya." but he's been a cool kid, like a brother i can harass all the time, and has his rare moments of insight.

then that night went out with mili and his best friend, and we met up with everybody that was still in town at our fave pub le quattro porte. there i had a huge discussion in italian with mili's friend about religion (comparing christians to muslims... yes, that's right, mili is muslim, although he practices about as much as i practice catholicism... gpa howard, i can see your reaction now), which was really interesting. that night we said goodbye to all our italian friends, which was really sad and i cried a fair amount. the worst was yet to come however.

saturday ran errands in the morning while everything was open (dad and susan, my 2 packages will be sent off on monday, and apparently will get there in 5 days?), said goodbye to my roommates and other americans, and then mili came over for the last 24 hours that i'd be in macerata (an accomplishment for me since i was able to speak italian for 24 hours straight, without getting to tired to think). even though the weather was absolutely, brilliantly gorgeous and warm enough to wear a tank top and skirt, it was horrible. mili and i both cried a lot, and he stayed with me until i was on the train early this afternoon, where i was sobbing as he came with me in the train to help with my pack and all. i don't think i've ever cried so hard in public in my life. when the train began to pull away it was like a cheesy goodbye scene from a movie, and it was awful. ugh, i cried off and on the entire trip to rome, and then when i found kate and marcello, who were picking me up, i cried even more. so what cures a depressed girl?

how about a hot chocolate at an outdoor cafe in front of the pantheon?

so that's just what we did, and then had dinner elsewhere. our hostel is great, nice people, cheap internet, good location, and a bar on-site. although i think drinking is the last thing i need to do right now. i'm so exhausted that i will sleep like a rock tonight. but now the 3 homeless, wandering weeks begin. tomorrow morning kate and i take the train to riomaggiore, where hopefully the weather will be better than it is in rome right now (pouring rain). my emotions are still barely contained by my skin, so i hope that a good night's sleep will cure that one.

alright, the bar and bed call me. ciao tutti.

T MINUS 3 DAYS

2004-04-22T16:03:43Z

1. riomaggiore, italy
2. nice, france
3. interlaken, switzerland
4. vienna, austria
5. berlin, germany
6. paris, france
7. london, england
8. portland, oregon

this is my next 3 weeks. go ahead, ask me to do something let's say... next wednesday. nope, sorry, i'll be in the french riviera. i know, it sucks, but what can ya do?

i have finished 2/3 exams, and frankly (may i call you frank?) i could care less right now. even if i bombed every single one this would still be my best gpa in college (whether that means i did well the rest of the term or horrible in all 3 1/2 years of college, you pick). no, don't worry family o' mine, i studied and i think i did well. there's just an evident lack of caring.

there are a million other things to take care of right now. shipping stuff home, cleaning the apartment, required tasks from the program, packing, making an itinerary, buying supplies and gifts, all during the limited open hours of businesses here (everything closes from 12-4 or 5 every day-- highly inconvenient)... kate and i are living off of "to do" lists.

plus then there's saying goodbye to everyone here, especially mili, which will be insanely hard. i expect to get on the train with mascara running down my face and a tissue permanently affixed to my nose. ah, c'est la vie, no? look, i'm already remembering my french. actually i was able to count to 100 in french the other day, something i probably haven't done since 8th grade, if that.

good news! the weather is finally GORGEOUS, crystal clear skies and warm sunny weather, it feels absolutely great. i had this odd sense of complete contentment walking home from exams this morning. kids are out playing, the old italian couples are actually friendly, people aren't dressed in all black, cafe owners are setting up their outdoor seatings, and i'm finishing up my school in italy and next week will be in switzerland and france with a good friend. i really can't complain.

anyways, tonight is a party, tomorrow my art history exam (piece of cake), then our farewell luncheon, and then people start leaving. kate will leave saturday to spend a night with marcello in roma, and i take a train there early sunday afternoon so i can stay and see mili longer. we spend that night in rome and then early the next day we're off to the wonderful cinqueterre italian riviera. it will be fantastic.

ooh, also!
KRISTINA: i received your postcard from IDAHO today, haha that was awsome. i had to show everyone and make them insanely jealous. thanks dear!
DAD & SUSAN: thanks a TON for your call! it definitely made my week, and i hope it didn't cost too much! i can't wait to get back there. i'm sending my packages (i believe it will be 2 mid-sized boxes) there tomorrow, so expect those in... a week? 2 weeks?
G&G RALLS: thanks for trying to call! i don't know why it didn't work, maybe try again? i'll have that number until friday evening. and the number of the cell phone that kate and i will have is:

011 39 320 812 3593

that's for everyone!

love you all, last post from macerata will probably be on saturday. tear!

stephheater @ 2004-04-19T11:07:00

2004-04-19T09:40:17Z

alrighty, so my weekend in rome, eh?

fan-freakin-tastic. i love that city much more than i thought i would. after seeing so many photos in my ancient rome class of ruins and other sites frm the city, i figured it would be a big mish-mash of new and old structures awkwardly placed. no, not at all. even the roman forum was gorgeous, and that's probably the biggest, most randomly placed collection of architecture constructed throughout the time of the empire. the full blooming wisteria helped make everything seem absolutely briliant.

-- friday: after leaving macerata at 5am, we arrived to our hotel (right across the street from the termini station) a little after 9, and started the day's events. coming out of the metro station i was completely blown away by the colosseum being RIGHT THERE. i had a ridiculous grin on my face for a good portion of that trip, as we explored inside and outside of rome's most famous monument. it was great, even if it was raining.

then we visited the roman forum, and like i said before it was amazing. kate and i both had a book where it shows you what the monument(s) look like now and what they are expected to have looked like in the past, and that was incredibly interesting in itself. it was pouring down rain the entire time, so taking photos while holding an umbrella proved tricky but i loved it all just the same.

after that we all (minus the lame-o's skipping out to shop) went to one of the capitoline museums and amongst all the statues and busts had a massive picture-taking extravaganza. most of the time we're mimicking/mocking the pose or face of the statue, and we were laughing so hard that it hurt. i'm surprised we weren't kicked out, but they probably get that a lot. saw some beautiful artwork though. finished off the day reading, drying off, relaxing, and having a big dinner at a nearby ristorante.

-- saturday: waited in line for the vatican museums for about 2 hours in the drizzling rain, until we got in at 10:30, when it closes at 2pm. my god, were there ever a MILLION of pushing, shoving and altogether rude people there. slightly ironic considering a.) we're in the holiest country in all of christendom, and b.) we're there to see beautiful, famous works of art and everyone is pushing to get there, take a photo, and leave. we saw amazing works of art spanning centuries, and i was shocked at how big the complex was, especially since it would probably take several days to fully appreciate all the museums have to offer. we only saw a small portion. leading up to the sistine chapel we were in several rooms full of frescoes by raphael that were gorgeous.

-the sistine chapel. despite the huge herd of people and guards frequently yelling "no photo!" or "silenzio!", it was INCREDIBLE. i wish i could have laid on the floor and stared at the ceiling and the walls for ages, but that was impossible. i was choked up a couple times seeing michelangelo's ceiling and the last judgement frescoes, nevermind works by botticelli, perugino and others, and was sad to leave, despite my growling stomach and aching feet.

after lunch, when kate and i met up with marcello, we met up with everyone in st.peter's square and prepared to enter the largest church in all of christendom (the phrase "...-est in all of chistendom" was used rather often in rome), st. peter's. wow, that was also something incredibly spectacular. nevermind being MASSIVE, i was able to see michelangelo's pietà, sculptures by bernini, amazing mosaics, and see the tomb of st. peter himself. if you do not feel inspired by being within this place, something has to be wrong with you. we then climbed the dome, which even though it is bigger than the one in florence, it was much easier ascending to the top. from there you could see almost every significant monument and structure in rome, and i took some great photos. when we came back down a choir was singing in the apse, and both kate and i got teary at hearing this beautiful music while being inside one of the most holy and astounding places on earth. after that us three split up from the group and walked around town, took the metro to the spanish steps (in one word: crowded), and looked at some of the top shops of fashion in the world.

-- sunday: walked to the pantheon (also amazing, and the home of raphael's tomb), a few beautiful and historically significant (aren't they all?) churches, the trevi fountain (fantastic), castel sant'angelo, and then to st. peter's square again around noon to see the pope. that was great, especially seeing the HUGE crowd of people in the square there to witness the pope's 15-minute sunday mass. flags declaring groups, pictures of jesus, countries, were everywhere. there was even a band somewhere in the crowd, and people were waving rosaries and their children throughout the time "il papa" was at the window giving his address. even if i was totally fluent in italian, it was difficult to understand what he was saying. hey, he's old. but i was blessed by the pope yesterday, how about you?
after that i went with a small group to a church on the other side of town, san giovanni, which is apparently the first chistian church, founded by constantine himself. of course none of the original structure remains today, the current church was built on top of the foundations. the pope, as the bishop of rome, is the only one allowed to give mass there. it was, of course, also incredibly beautiful.
went back to the hotel and we left the city around 4pm, to arrive back to macerata a little after 8.

great weekend. now it is finals week, as well as our last week here in macerata. or as kate and i say it, our last week with a home before we go bouncing around europe. we're excited to leave, but it definitely will be sad.
considering this entry is so long, i'll end it here. people, call me! i won't have my phone much longer (although kate has a cell for when we're traveling, FYI), and no one ever calls! parents, this means YOU.

ciao tutti!

Images to follow up the words.

2004-04-14T17:17:27Z

I promised, and I do deliver.

Before you scamper off to see the 50 photos that took me about 4 hours to post online, here's a note. One, I've probably taken 1000 photos by now, this is the tiniest fraction of what I have. Two, most of the photos are too big in resolution to load online, so for every photo you see here, there were 5 that couldn't make it, and most of those were my favorites. Three, YAY! Enjoy all! And I expect to hear feedback of some sort.

Love you!
"Stefania"

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stephheater/album?.tok=ph7pB9AB5CdpLo6C&.dir=/4cc9&.src=ph

stephheater @ 2004-04-14T13:03:00

2004-04-14T11:26:46Z

helloooooooo!

first of all, i would like to send some giant shout outs of THANKS to some people, especially those of the holloway clan. for one, samantha i got your package last thursday, just in time for easter weekend, and let me tell you, i have made myself almost sick 2 days in a row from chocolate and cheetos (crunchy, my faaaaavorite)! luckily my roommates were more then willing to help out in the endeavor. everything in there was perfect, even the little extra something for someone else! haha, i'll email you about that. also, thanks SO MUCH to stacey and grandma linda for your awesome help! i have seriously been worrying lately how i am going to be getting by over my 3 weeks of travel, so that definitely eased my stress a little. and i never publicly thanked g&g ralls (yes, that's your new collective name) for their help a little while back. and always thanks to mom.
my favorite quote from grandpa howard's email the other day: "Gloria hid some eggs but I can't find them." That was just the EPITOME of you two that I almost cried.

so my 4 day weekend was a giant, lazy sleep fest. saving $$ i stayed in macerata, which has all of a sudden decided that winter should still be hanging around, and it has been getting down to the 50s at night and has been almost nothing but overcast skies and occasional drizzling rain. blah, it's like i'm in oregon 2 months ago. i got a lot of homework done, even some extra credit, cleaned, kate and i took a long walk through the suburbs and countryside of macerata-- absolutely gorgeous, and we didn't bring our cameras!-- and that was probably the most active thing i did all weekend. we colored eggs (thanks to the egg coloring kit james sent a while back!) and enjoyed having just the 2 of us in our apartment for all of easter sunday. speaking of which, i love it when my family doesn't call me for family-oriented holidays! mom, i was dreaming of scalloped potatoes, ham, and asparagus. actually i'm surprised i'm not sick of pasta considering i eat it pretty much every day.

this weekend i spend 3 days in rome. yeah, no big deal, seeing the colosseum on friday, the vatican on saturday, and the pope's address and blessings to the crowd on sunday. i seriously think i play the "oh yeah, it's no big deal" card WAY too much, but i can't stop. seeing all these amazing things constantly is just too much to take all at once, so you have to make light of it. and if anyone knows me, they know i like my sarcasm. speaking of which, i made a video tour of my apartment on sunday and when i get back you will all be thrilled at the dripping sarcasm, especially when describiing my dining room, which later in the video i label as a "cold and sterile place" with "hideous decorations." yeah, we never eat in there.

i'm working on the photos issue this week, so hopefully in the next few days you will get to see some rad stuff!

i really thought i had more to say but i guess not. oh, kate and i have been reading the da vinci code lately, which despite its slight juvenile storyline, is INSANELY interesting because it has so much information that i have been learning in both my art history and ancient rome classes. it's bizarre to read stuff in a novel that i learned the week before in class, or be able to use that knowledge to further analyze the situation and its probability. now i'm delving into st. augustine's confessions, which is a huge philosophical mind twist that i read partially freshman year of college.

meanwhile we've (kate and i are now an official "we" because we spend so much time together... we've heard all of each other's stories at least twice and we like and dislike almost all the same things, including our huge distaste towards the majority of the other americans here right now... seriously, some of these people are MORONS!) been further discussing our travels afterwards, and i believe we will be leaving macerata on either sunday, april 25 or monday april 26, and hitting the road north. we'll even be celebrating her 25th birthday along the way (the 29th of april, which makes her the 3rd good friend i have had who has that birthday), probably somewhere in switzerland. exciting!

ok, really, i'm leaving. is it just me or do i write almost the exact same way that i talk? see, THIS is why i'm not a writing journalism major.

oh, and PS: anyone want to buy my portrait i'm painting? it just occurred to me that i have no use of a painting of myself done by myself, i don't know who to give it to, and it can be like a charity prize for a donation or something! hey, it's not too shabby! ok, i am an official NERD.

ciao!

oops

2004-04-07T12:21:06Z

was going to make this massive attempt at getting photos online today, but i ended up spending an extra 2 hours in the studio painting. we're working on self portraits in oil right now, and as sick and narcississtic as it sounds, it's probably the most fun. especially when it's me wearing my giant, euro black sunglasses.

but i promise i will start trying harder to get some pics up, since everyone keeps asking. there will be some up before i leave macerata, i can guar-an-TEE! that one. not that there would be much point by then since it would only be 3 weeks before i touch the ground in oregon again, but just the same.

i'm saving money and staying in macerata for the 4 day weekend, which i am completely fine with. i have a massive take-home exam AGAIN for my ancient rome class due next week, and i can spend more time with mili, although his work schedule is highly unpredictable and is at all hours of the day. i think i might do some photo work around town now that i think of it.

people here give you the strangest looks for wearing flip flops. i'm sorry, but the second it starts getting slightly warm, my feet are OUT. sure it's raining today and i'm also wearing thin pants and not really a jacket along with the sandals, but hey, i'm american, forget you guys.... wow, i really did just say that. brian, that one was for you.

honestly though, i do like to blend into the culture here, but after a certain point it just seems silly. which is why my couple tshirts that i have here are on heavy rotation again. I MISS MY TSHIRT COLLECTION!! i miss the majority of my wardrobe... we have all said how we just want to burn the stuff we've been wearing continuously for the past 3 months. i think many things will just get thrashed further when i start traveling. i'm sending a mega box home when i leave macerata full of clothes, my pimp white jacket, books from school, and art projects. dad and susan, you've been warned. and no opening before i get there!

sono una principessa

2004-04-05T09:28:57Z

friday i wandered through a simplistic and gorgeous renaissance palace in urbino and climbed the tallest tower in a medieval castle in san marino. from the tower, precariously perched in a massive rocky cliff, i could see the other castle of san marino next door, also settled on the old rocks and looking like something out of a fairytale. below was the san marino/italian valley composed of rolling green hills and red, clay-tiled rooftops with a mist hovering over the foothills, despite the typical golden italian sunlight flooding every surface.

sunday, with no desire to do anything on a cloudy but warm day, both kate and i stayed in and worked on homework. i managed to read and highlighted the ENTIRE book of revelation AND commentary in the course of one day for my ancient rome class. it is so interesting how the text intertwines with the roman imperial history that we are learning now. did you know that "the beast" it always refers to is (specifically) the emperor nero caesar, and that the "number of the beast" 666 is really his name corresponding with the hebrew alphabet and numbers? you do now.

i could see the mountains today from my window, the first time they have been out of the haze in over a week, and they have already lost so much snow. in a couple weeks there will be none left at all. in a couple of weeks (three, to be specific) i won't be here at all either. kate and i were discussing how scary it will be to leave our little (read: big) apartment and set off into the european unknown. she and i are travelling together for 3 weeks, and here's the projected (but very unlikely actual) itinerary:
-northern italy, inlcuding venice and (maybe) milan
-italian and french riviera, including the cinqueterre
-swizterland
-austria, vienna
-prague
-berlin
-amsterdam
-paris, where she and i will split up, and i'll go north to london and she will come back to rome.

i highly doubt there is time or money for all that, but to at least go through it and see some things would be nice. i'm attempting to not do the typical american thing and try to see as many places as i possibly can in the shortest amount of time just for the sake of getting my passport stamped and saying "i've been there!" but it's hard. we shall see, now won't we? ciao tutti.

stephheater @ 2004-04-01T19:51:00

2004-04-01T17:59:12Z

just a quick note...

here's an example of my life: this evening after having class from 8am till 5pm, we had a "concerto piccolo" in our program facilities. an elaboration: here i am sitting in our classroom, which is really a gilded, medieval ballroom with a ceiling fresco in an old palace, listening to one of our italian professors play the flute, a visiting professor from UO play the violin, and another professor from the University of Macerata play both the violin and the viola, and it was absolutely brilliant.

this saturday the girls and i are visiting a church a block from our house for an opera.

also this saturday my friends dana and key, whom i met while in greece, are coming back from their european travels to visit us in macerata since they had so much fun with us here.

the weather, although cold again, is gorgeous in a moody, european sort of way.

besides visiting the town of urbino tomorrow, we also visit the second smallest country in the world (only to the Vatican)-- the republic of san marino, located about 2 hours north of here. and i get a nifty stamp for my passport.

mili is cooking for me this weekend with all his kids that he works with and apparently bought me earrings? and i can talk with him more than ever before about so many issues, whether political, personal, scholastic... anything. it is great and rather romantic to have a "relationship" with someone in a whole other language.

despite money woes (which i refuse to discuss), life is absolutely fabulous.

love you all.

my weekend in tuscany

2004-03-29T14:27:46Z

On Saturday, March 27, it was 12:35pm in Florence, Italy (which would be 3:35am in Florence, Oregon) and I was standing in front of one of the greatest works of mankind, Michelangelo's David.

yep, and y'all were sleeping.

before i rant and rave about that portion on my weekend excursion, let me tell you how much i LOVE florence. it is a beautiful, romantic city bursting with inspiration (besides seeing the sights, all i wanted to do was sketch) and so much (important!) history that it would take years to learn all there is to know about the town that gave birth to the renaissance. our accomodations were right in one of the main 4 piazzas in town, about 200 feet away from the beautiful chiesa di santa maria novella. the weather was almost perfect during our entire stay, and it was evident that spring was well on its way.

during the 3 days i was constantly surprised at every corner, whether it be rounding a bend and being absolutely stunned by brunelleschi's duomo and giotto's bell tower (you've all seen the photos), the ponte vecchio on the arno river, the magnificiant façades of numerous churches, including the chiesa di santa croce and the chiesa di san lorenzo, or the neverending amazing, famous works in the uffizi gallery and inside the churches.

i saw all four ninja turtles-- leonardo (3 beautiful works in the uffizi, including his annunciation), donatello (his statues were everywhere, and i also saw his tomb in san lorenzo), michelangelo (of course, david, as well as many paintings, and his tomb in santa croce), and raphael (paintings in the uffizi, more than i expected and just gorgeous). i saw the tomb of galileo (santa croce), astounding works by botticelli-- the birth of venus and primavera especially-- and others by caravaggio, van dyck, giotto, cimabue, piero della francesca (the portraits of the lord of urbino and his wife, their palace which we are visiting this friday in the city of urbino, located in the marche region), lorenzetti, lippi, and so many others i could barely keep track.
beautiful paintings, sculptures and architecture dominated the landscape and my impression of the city, and i was absolutely stunned that some others in our group weren't excited by it all-- 2 girls actually skipped seeing David in the accademia to buy 18€ LUGGAGE. wow, i was shocked and actually angry about that. they also skipped the entire uffizi gallery to shop, and i had no tolerance for even hearing what they bought. the whole thing made me angry, and the fact that so many others in the group skipped out halfway during our walking tours of the city was ridiculous. kate and i had some venting time in our hotel room about the whole situation over a bottle of wine. other than that everything was exceptional.

when we saw david, i actually had tears in my eyes just trying to comprehend the fact that i was there, looking at it. i thought beforehand it might be an overrated thing like so many things are, and came in not expecting much, but wow, was it ever... something. it was huge, and part of it was in scaffolding as they are cleaning it for the first time in ages right now, but all the integral parts were clear and visible. beforehand i contemplated sketching the statue, but then figured i couldn't, it would almost be an insult to the work. but after staring at it for about 15 minutes while sitting at the base of a corinthian column, i couldn't take it anymore and whipped out my book and pencils and did a rough sketch from his left side, as if he were facing me. i don't really care how it turned out but it was so satisfying that i had to do more. the only other chance i had was on sunday, when kate and i climbed down to the grassy shore of the arno river and drew the ponte vecchio for a couple sunny hours.

we barely went out at night because the insane amount of walking and learning took a toll on one's energy. on saturday afternoon we climbed the duomo-- all 463 exhausting and dizzying steps up, to see such a spectacular view of florence from its highest peak. next time you see a photo of the dome in florence, look closely at the top and you should see tiny ant-people standing up there. it was literally breathtaking-- both from the view and from the hike up. i think during the course of 3 days i took around 110 photos, and would have taken more had photography been allowed in the galleries.

all i can say in summarization is that if you haven't seen firenze, you NEED to. you absolutely must. i was pretty good with money too, the only thing i splurged on was a book on the uffizi collection (a whole €9), and managed to only spend €25 total the entire time. granted most things except a few meals were paid for, but kate and i were careful and only got quick panini's from the deli's for lunches.

so i'm all sorts of happy after that weekend. next friday is urbino, like i said, and the weekend after that we get a 4 day break for easter, during which i haven't decided what i will do, and then the weekend after that is our 3 day excursion to rome, and the next week are finals and the end of the program! i only have 4 weeks left! here's what it sounds like i might do afterwards (p.s.: yeah this is a long post, so you get italian kudos for being a trooper and continuing to read):
if kate's best friend from home doesn't come out here (which is looking less and less likely), she and i will travel together, and right now it sounds like we might spend a week or a little more seeing more of italy-- sicily, venice, bologna, the northern country-- since we can't bear to leave right away, and then head north, where i plan on being in london and area for at least a few days before flying home on the 15th of may. i like that more every time i think about it.

anyways, i'm out. i think i'll spend my afternoon catnapping in the sun on my bed, which is about the best thing in the world right now. i tell ya, cats have it made.

stephheater @ 2004-03-22T11:15:00

2004-03-22T10:26:56Z

my plans for the week: oh maybe stop by florence and have a glance at botticelli's 'the birth of venus.' you know, no big deal. that's right folks: this weekend i will spend 3 days in the birthplace of the renaissance, firenze (aka florence). how excited am i? maybe a couple shades more than "like, a lot!" i definitely need to empty the media cards for my camera before going, because i am going to be a photomaniac.

the weekend was fun. besides gorgeous warm weather (i got a tan while studying in my bed!), we had a total of 15 unannounced visitors over the course of saturday, having at least one guest at all times from 1pm till after we all left for the bars at 11pm. 5 of which were italians, the rest were americans or mili and his friends. we're the "cool" kids now, haha! yeah, orrrrrr not. i spent the entire weekend for the most part working on my takehome exam for ancient rome, which up being 9 pages handwritten, including a caesar family tree and a drawing of a roman arch. yeah, those were extra credit. any creative type extra credit work he assigns i'm all over. but it was a little hard to get work done when there was always someone to entertain.

i'm addicted to sketching now, i can't stop. i took my book with me to ascoli piceno and spent a while sketching columns and facades in the central piazza. today i start an oil painting on canvas of a drawing that i did of a balcony that i can see from my bedroom window. i can already see improvement in my work, and i think that when i get home it will be a whole new ball game with mr. art and i. and i am excited.

yes, for all that have asked in the past few days, things with mili are well. i found out he actually got in a fight a couple weeks back defending my honor! i guess someone he vaguely knew asked him about me, and then called me a "puttana" (in kinder terms, a woman with loose morals) because he saw me talking to another guy (apparently everyone in the foreign community knows who i am, as everyone knows mili and the news of him dating this blonde american girl has spread around quickly). mili and his best friend did NOT appreciate that, and apparently they got in a fight. that was rather interesting news to receive. but things are great, he and i have a fun time together and i'm really glad that i've gotten proficient enough in italian that i can add my own personality and intonation into the words rather than just trying to communicate. i've figured out how to insult! and if anyone knows me, they know that sarcastic comments are necessary for my survival.

i can tell that when the day comes for me to leave it will be REALLY rough, and i don't know what i'm going to do. scared? worried? confused? yeah, me too. before i came here i had "a plan" all set up, and now everything is confusing. not merely because of mili but more because i can see so many more options and i can't find one that makes complete sense.
ok, i can see certain grandparents of mine freaking out right now, so don't worry! i am coming home! i will have a job this summer! i still love you!
but the fact that i am only here for 5 more weeks is not easy to take. plus i don't know where exactly i'm going to go when it is over. i could do the standard western european thing-- you know, france, spain, swizterland, germany, amsterdam, and then end up in london. or i could do something different, maybe go east and end up in london. or i could explore italy more. or i could hop on a plane to cairo. like i said, so many options and only one path to take. advice??? i have no idea for once, and it's..... interesting.

the hills are alive...!

2004-03-20T11:22:58Z

ok, before i start talking about anything, i'd like to say one giant THANK YOU!!!!! to james! i received probably one of the greatest packages EVER on thursday and nevermind was i the envy of everyone, but it made my week! i even took pictures of the massive loot spread all over my bedroom floor, and have had a dinner of chocolate (sorry to say but not as good as european!) and goldfish for the past 2 nights! oh i'm healthy. not only did it include edible goodies, but tons of toiletries, lotions and soaps and pedicure stuff (!!), but also all these crazy toys that my roommates and i are having a blast with. we got a bottle of wine the other night and played "bowling for bunnies" and a giant game of chutes and ladders on that beach towel for a good while. thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

alright, enough of the insane happiness, although that could be the summation of my life right now for the most part. i want to talk about our excursion yesterday, which can be summarized with the phrase "ridiculously picturesque."

so the main destination of the trip was a town about an hour and a half south of here called ascoli piceno, but we didn't get there until midafternoon as we took this amazing detour through the sibillini mountains (part of the appennines chain). we twisted and turned on narrow, ancient roman roads as we increased our elevation, until we arrived at a beautiful cathedral that is deserted during this time of year, situated in the only area that has trees at this elevation (i think around 5,000 feet), and is legendary as it plays to the myth that this area of mountains is rumored to me the current hiding place of mary magdalene and the holy grail (apparently she's rumored to be here or in a series of mountains in france... how she got there i have no idea). right behind this cathedral are HUGE mountains, about 20 in this chain altogether, the tallest (mont vettore) is around 10,000 feet tall. it looked like we were in the alps. we drove a little further and hiked up a hill to a fantastic viewpoint. dad, i said about ten times how you'd love it up there. it seriously felt like we were in the movies-- first it was the sound of music, and we were all singing that song as we more or less frolicked (kate and i were on crack that day, i swear, and the great spring weather and scenery put everyone in a good mood) through the meadow we were in. then someone quoted lord of the rings, and we all realized the area looks like it was taken straight out of the films, with barren, golden-olive colored hills covered in nothing but sparse juniper shrubs and with these massive blue and white rocky mountains looming in the background. on the way down we even passed a medieval mountain village that looked like rohan.

but it wasn't over then. we climbed the hills again in our little bus until we came to a small sanctuary situated within the snow level, and once again we all jumped outside and took a million photos. all around us were snowy peaks and every once in a while, rustic little medieval houses and structures at such high elevations. then we descended into an amazing and almost eerie plateau, covered in snow and a mist hovering above it from the evaporation of the melting snow. right at the edge of the plain was a small hill coming out of the mist, dotted with little buildings forming a tiny mountain village that was almost deserted at this time of year.

we twisted and turned through more mountains, past waterfalls and stunted evergreens, and descended into the valley of ascoli piceno, which was probably the cutest town (which is actually around 15,000 people larger than macerata) i have seen yet. there were so many people out enjoying the warm spring air, old men on bicycles riding over the ancient roman bridge (including the most [almost sickingly] adorable scene yet: a grandfather in a tweed suit riding a bike, leaning over and talking to his little granddaughter-- not over the age of 3-- sitting in the bicycle's basket and playing with the little bell)... it was great. we all had lunch at a ristorante situated far back in the narrow alleys, and i actually ordered RABBIT. too bad there was so much food beforehand because i could barely eat any of it, but i thought it was pretty tasty. later we walked around town more and enjoyed the golden sunlight on the warm-toned travertine marble churches and arches, and left at sunset.

overall a FANTASTIC, laid-back, beautiful excursion. if i had known all this had been so close i would have gone earlier.

but i gotta run, i'm actually up early running errands and then working on a massive take-home test for my ancient rome class (the in-class version was on thursday... i think i did alright) that is due on monday. i hope all is well, that my friends back home rocked finals week and have an awesome spring break, and that everyone is enjoying the spring weather! i seriously think this is the most exciting season because everyone here is now on a different level now that we have warm, beautiful days all the time. spirits are definitely lifted.

love you all! ciao tutti.

home sweet home

2004-03-15T10:45:04Z

i'm surprised how much i missed italy and macerata. when we arrived in ancona (via 15 hour, harrowing ferry trip, about an hour's drive from macerata) yesterday morning, we were all so amazingly relieved. it felt nice to be able to communicate with the locals again, whereas in greece if they didn't speak english they only spoke greek, which was really difficult to understand. i guess that was my first country that i've visited where i don't even have the basic communication skills down for. thank god i know my greek letters though! i think that's the first time here that i've used practical information that i've gained from my pledge days-- i was able to read (albeit rather slowly) the names of places we needed to go fairly easily. but it's a little scary to think that i missed italy this much already and i haven't even left for good, so lord knows how rough that will be once i go back to the states (2 months from today! aahhh!!)

oh! family, be impressed: i tried MUSSELS. and a scary, spiny fish. how do you like them apples? hahaha, and yes, i didn't like them. but you have to give me some props for trying the nasty looking things! ewwww.

greece in comparison to italy:
the people are much friendlier. a lot of the time in italy people push their way through lines, act a little rude, and you do not ask someone you don't know "hi, how are you?" EVER. in greece we had strangers coming up and talking to us all the time, in stores, on the street, everywhere. it was a nice change. but the greeks are definitely less good looking than italians, and they have HORRIBLE fashion sense! i don't know how many times we would be sitting in an outdoor cafe and someone would walk by that would just make us shudder! plus their tempers seemed to be more visible than in italy (well at least in the northern part of italy, i've heard stories of the southerners). a guy got on a bus that we were taking and had a literally SCREAMING argument with the bus driver, who stopped in the middle of the road to argue with this man. that was a little odd.
greece also seems to be less westernized than italy. i heard traditional greek music everywhere, and people seemed to value their heritage more than italians seem to, as they cling to everything american and british that they can, especially in terms of music and to a lesser extent, fashion. although we found more american things in greece that we haven't been able to find in italy, such as the cherished and well-loved doritos, which i never thought i'd miss.

the sites in athens were great, although the acropolis was covered in scaffolding and construction work, i'm guessing which are aiming to be finished before the olympics begin this summer. they were completely taking apart the temple of athena nike and putting it back together to fix earlier preservation work and to ensure its stability. i don't know but that just seems.... odd? not authentic? i mean i understand why they're doing it, but it was just a little disappointing. i have like 5 pictures of me in front of the parthenon, so once i figure out the whole photo-posting dilemma, expect to see one of those. it really doesn't take long to see the historical sites in athens though-- 2 days was perfect. and i thought the city was fantastic, not dirty at all. but then i was staying in the restored historical section all around the base of the acropolis. the metro stations were probably the cleanest i've seen anywhere-- there was no litter at all, not even on the tracks, and everything was polished marble and stone. i'm guessing that was also a pre-olympics project. i wanted to buy people olympic souvenirs, but the things are so damn overpriced it was feasible. but even with holding myself back in the shopping department, food and accomodations and a few things here and there added up, and i am surviving off about 100€ for the next 2 weeks with (currently) no food in the house. woo fun! i think it'll be alright.

speaking of, hey dad and susan: i don't know yet what's going on with my plans for summer work, but i definitely want to work during harvest at our place. AND i have decided that once i do return 2 months from now, i am hiding out at the house for a week in post-europe recovery, devoted to eating mexcian food (omiGOD how i miss it! i dream about burritos and freaked out the other day when i thought someone said enchilada), watching movies that i've missed, and overall recovering from my 3 week backpacking excursion. then afterwards i'll do the rounds of visiting people that i haven't seen.

kb and ro: i know i'll need to be in eugene for a few days in late may or early june. can i stay in "my" bed with ro? also, rosie do you know when order of the triangle and ISFU are yet? probably not, but let me know when you do! i have to retake that lame journalism test at some point also while there. miss you two tons!

posse in eugene: i need someone to live with next year!! the plan currently is to be in the same apartment, so let me know! it's cheap and close to campus! yeah you wanna!

"great auntie" ann: thanks so much for your email! i'm so glad you're enjoying all my ramblings over here and you definitely need to come here at some point, i know you'd love it.

mom: i had a dream last night that you went backpacking with me and that we ran out of money and had to live in the czech republic for 5 months. how's that for weird? oh, when i get back, i really really want to have some of your homemade canneloni! i haven't been able to find it here and i'm dying! ok not really, but you get the picture. and i will need to recover with my aminals (yes aminals)... i miss my babies!

P.S. UPDATE: i got the highest grade in the class on my art history midterm, an A-. haha, yeah i was a little excited over that one. i find out about my italian midterm tomorrow, but word on the street is that i did well.

say hello to the road's topography

2004-03-11T17:15:37Z

i bid you all a lovely HELLOOOOOO! grom greece.

this won't be too in detail as i have limited (and a little spendy!) internet time here, but let me regale you all with the activities as of late.

greece is FANTASTIC. the trip has been fantastic, minus a few uncomfy travelling situations and forgetting all my shower stuff (my quattro razor! my clinique face soap!) back on the island of corfu, but really, i could care less about that stuff in the end. let's see what i've done...

i've wound through innumerable centuries' old olive groves both in greece and in southern italy (the trees get so thick and gnarly with age, and there are black nets all over the ground to catch the fallen olives). i've gone swimming in the chilly mediterranean underneath gorgeous moonlight. i have consumed more alcohol in a couple days than i ever have before. i have danced in a pink satin toga. i have had clay plates smashed over my head while taking shots of greek ouzo. i have seen our tour guide on corfu bite the head off of a live sardine and relish the taste of a really raw fish. i have had BAD hangovers (one day i couldn't get out of bed until 6pm!). i have seen where the likes of socrates and plato have once debated. i have seen temples of zeus, athena, and as of tomorrow, the parthenon and the rest of the acropolis. i have picked lemons, tangerines, and kumquats off of trees and eaten them fresh. i have made new friends and travel companions along the way-- americans, canadians, and even a few aussies. i have seen the greek changing of the guard-- they have funny pompoms on the ends of their red clogs and wear blue kilts. i have seen so many stray cats and dogs. i saw the simpsons for the first time in a LONG time during a stormy day on the island. i've eaten the best feta cheese ever, as well as gyros, souvlaki, and these really tasty crepes.

overall, i'm having a rad time. arrived in athens at 6am this morning, slept till 11:30, and then my little travel posse (newly formed with a guy from DC and a guy from toronto) and i explored the city today. we leave on saturday and should be back in macerata midday sunday.
the pink palace was great. it was the off season so there were hardly any of the original fun activities, but we still ended up staying 5 days (5th night free!) instead of the original 3. overall on a 10 day trip we only will have paid for 6 nights of accomodation, due to that one free night and then traveling at night.

i'll probably write more in detail later, but i just wanted to update mid-vacation. love you all, thanks for all the emails! after this trip i can tell that i'll be able to handle 3 weeks of europe easily, especially with how simple it is to make friends with other travelers. i'd say goodbye in greek but i really don't know how, so i'll leave you with a little 'ciao!'

this entry: don't expect proper grammar or complete sentences

2004-03-04T09:40:43Z

quick note.
i leave for greece tonight! i'm getting ready for a 10 day excursion to a place that really has no tropical weather right now (average temp is around 60) and with people i'm kind of friends with... but i'm planning on having FUN! i don't know when or if i'll get a chance to update this, but if not, don't you fret. think of it as a vacation from me. not that i force you to read this or anything...

news:
...talked to dad and mom yesterday. yay phone!
... got a B on my ancient rome midterm. i was not impressed. i find out my grade for art history this afternoon, and i had my italian test this morning (which was easy!).
... mili quit his job at the shoe place (even after being offered more money) and as of next week will be working in macerata at an immigration services office, helping out kids immigrating into italy, which is something that i guess he was already doing in his free time.
... i can use msn and aol messengers! not that i plan on doing so regularly, but don't be surprised to see me online once in a blue moon (as i was today, and received so many msgs that aim quit on me twice).
... kb: what's your cell number woman?? i forgot the prefix and i wanted to call you yesterday! plus, remind me of the address at the apt. so i can send you and ro a postcard!
... squirt: also, i need your address!

love you all!

stephheater @ 2004-03-01T11:21:00

2004-03-01T10:56:19Z

reputedly the best weekend of my LIFE.
you might want to prepare for a long entry-- go get a snack, bottle of water, trip to the bathroom, and we're good to go. alright? alright!

woke up around 4:15am friday morning, and since kate and i had packed the night before we made it on time for the 5am bus. but our friend erin did not. sooo... we were without her. the 5 1/2 hour bus ride was surprisingly smooth, and we arrived in napoli around 10:30. now before i go on, let me tell you something that i wasn't going to say before i left just so no one would worry-- napoli is probably the MOST dangerous city in all of italy, and we had heard SO many warnings and horror stories (our guidebook said "anything that can go wrong could go wrong, but if it doesn't you have a pleasant stay") previous to arriving, so needless to say we were on our guard. but the transition from bus to city train was effortless, and we arrived in pompei around 1 in the afternoon in between rain storms. the hostel was closed right then so kate and i bummed around the center of town, saw a beautiful church, and finally a guy working at the hostel let us in early. the place was FANTASTIC-- super clean, efficient, with friendly and efficient staff. it had just been converted in 2001 from a monastery, and was located smack dab in the center of town. then it was off to the ruins.

let me just say how AMAZING (number of times i've written that word since arriving: 47) the ruins of pompei are! kate and i could not believe we were actually there, at this place we had learned about since elementary school, and it was not even crowded! and everything was so green, it was gorgeous. we had a blast discovering rooms, statues and wall paintings in buildings, taking photos, even doing a couple "archeologists stephanie and kate" video commentary. we even saw one of he bodies of a person who died during the volcano blast, which was pretty creepy, bu really interesting. there weren't any signs up however, and we refused to pay €6 for an audioguide, so we were pretty much on our own, which wasn't bad, but there were some things we would have liked to have known more about. but we had permanent smiles and wide eyes plastered on our faces. it was also nice to not have a bunch of tired, bored americans with us like there usually are on our excursions. both she and i are really interested in learning new things, history, art and the like, so it worked out perfectly. yep, i even have a tiny piece of pottery from the ruins.

afterwards we were starving, so we had an early dinner (5:30 is early... most italians don't eat dinner until at least 8pm) at a great restaurant right across from the hostel, and said cheers to our fabulous choice in a weekend destination, although then we had no idea how great it would be. 3 girls from pittsburgh who were studying in london stayed one night with us, as they were in italy for their spring break, so it was fun comparing stories of our respective experiences.
kate and i then went out for a couple drinks, but our evening was shortened due to us walking down the wrong end of a main street in southern italy, where we were followed, catcalled at, hissed at, and overall disturbed by innumerable men just milling around or sitting in parked cars. we tried not to smile because that can sometimes invoke more harassment, but sometimes it was so ridiculous we were busting up laughing. i quickly came up with a solution that seemed to work. if anyone heard us speak english, they knew immediately that we were american, and would try to talk to us. so after a group of guys were following kate and i, who were walking arm in arm to remain as close together as possible, i turned my head over my shoulder and, in a tone that indicates swearing and overall insult, spurted out nonsensical, gibberish words. and it WORKED-- they backed off because they had nothing to go off of. kate looked at me and exclaimed "WHAT did you say back there?!" and all i said was that i had no idea. so a handy travel tip for the ladies while in southern europe-- speak gibberish.

erin ended up taking a later train and arrived in pompei at 10:30 that night, only to realize she forgot her passport so we had to help her with all these calls to eventually get her mom to fax the hostel a copy so they would allow erin to spend the night there. that night i woke up to some of the loudest thunder of my life, which apparently was incorporated into my dream and i woke up thinking it was "the booming voice of the gods of pompei" or something like that.

saturday morning we headed out via train around 10 and went to the resort town of sorrento, which was absolutely beautiful. somehow the gods were on our sides that day, and almost every time we were outside it was sunny, and while inside it would be pouring rain or hail. sorrento is located on cliffs above the tyrrhenean (i cannot imagine how to spell that right now) sea, and the water was perfectly clear and bright turquoise. the town was full of various palm, orange and lemon groves and friendly people. we looked around there and then hopped on a bus to positano... ok here's where i get really excited, so bear with me here.

first of all, the scenery of the area is a mix of south america (tropical, cliffs and mountains), hawaii, california and mixed with a good bit of italian joie de vivre. BEAUTIFUL. but not nearly as beautiful as what we saw when we drove along one of the most stunning coasts in all of italy-- the amalfi coast. jutting cliffs, turquoise water, bright flowers, cacti and shrubs, plus bright sunshine. the three of us were glued to our windows. then we rounded the bend leading to positano, and we could not get over it. here was this little town situated precariously on terraced cliffs, descending down into a little dark sandy beach with rolling bright blue waves. the buildings were all bright colors and had winding stairways and (few) narrow roads, and there were flowers and palm trees everywhere. we were in heaven. in fact, the whole way along the drive i kept saying "i'm dying, i'm dying, really, this cannot be happening," because it was all too much to take in. we spent the rest of the day walking around the little roads, along the beach, taking tons of photos, and window shopping. we even made our first (out of three, i'll explain more later) stray dog friend there, who followed us around half the day just because we pet him a couple times, and even "protected" us from any men who came close to us three girls-- he'd bark at them and attempt to chase them away. we left just as the weather was getting worse, but were treated to a fabulous sunset through the clouds on the drive back.

when we finally arrived back to pompei, it was pouring rain, and in the station we found about 7 stray dogs just hanging out. first of all, i have never been exposed to something like that. from what i could tell they were all friendly, but it was just so sad that they had no where to go. you all know me, i'm a sucker for animals. we didn't even pet them, but somehow made a new friend, a little white fluffy dog that we named spartacus. spartacus followed us about a third of the way back to the hostel from the station and just ran along side of us. like the dog in positano, he barked whenever a guy approached us. then he met a bigger black dog, and they switched, and this new dog, who we named brutus, led us the rest of the way home, and he also almost bit the hand off of a guy who came too close to him and us. it was so bizarre, but so entertaining that it made the tired, cold and wet walk home much more bearable. we even made up a song for "our" dogs.

the next day erin got up early so she could see the ruins, and kate and i checked out at 9. all three of us then hopped a train to napoli, and after checking our backpacks at the station, we guarded our purses with our lives and set forth into the big city. we hiked around and ended up at the national archeological museum, excited to see everything, although i kept saying that the best part would be "the bodies!" from pompei. the other two reluctantly agreed (but i knew they were truly very excited, but just too cool to show my enthusiasm for corpses, hahaha). after 2 hours we were disappointed in realizing that in fact, the museum did not host any ash-covered, 2000 year old bodies, and we then left with our noses in the air to the entire place. the highlight was either the mosaics from pompei for an entire room called "the secret cabinet" that was devoted to phallic graffiti and "erotic imagery" from pompei and area. and yes, i did take a picure of a statue portraying a man and a goat... you can figure our what was going with THEM.
so we ate pizza in the town that it was invented, and walked around until our bus to macerata left at 6pm. my interpretation of naples: really pretty, especially architecturally, from about the second floor and up, but everything else was just dirty and gritty. i didn't like having to be on guard for such an extended amount of time, and was so relieved to get on the bus for home, even if it was going to last 6 hours.

so that was my fabulous, splendid, exciting weekend. i would recommend any of the above places to anyone and everyone, and i hope i get to go back again, because it was just too... oh what's the word... amazing? to not see again.

today: snow, and lots of it.
thursday: greece. hopefully no snow within 100km.

yeah 3 day weekend!

2004-02-26T14:01:46Z

here are the current plans for the weekend in napoli and area:

-- friday myself, my roommate kate and another girl erin leave macerata @ 5am via bus
-- arrive in napoli (yes, that would be naples) around 11am. hop on a bus to pompeii.
-- arrive in pompeii somewhere around noon or 1 (depending on when the next bus will be). walk to our hostel, casa del pellegrino.
-- spend the day exploring the ruins of pompeii
-- saturday: tour the amalfi coast, including sorrento, the island of capri, and possibly positano.
-- sunday: check out of the hostel, spend the day in napoli, visiting churches and an apparently amazing museum. leave at 7:30pm.
-- arrive back in macerata around 1am monday morning.
-- class at 8:15!

so that's the rough sketch of the weekend. the weather doesn't look the most promising, but we're grabbing our umbrellas and are planning to tough it out. but the area is absolutely gorgeous, we get to see amazing ruins, and have a fabulous time all together! kate and i have been looking forward to a break from a certain roommate of ours anyways.

ok, i've posted to my heart's content this week. basta (that's enough).
oh! got a super cute necklace and bracelet from mili when he stopped by yesterday afternoon-- they look like they're made of amber but i'm fairly certain they're lucite, which is a really popular material for jewelry here. i wore them today and got so many compliments. yes, i think i'm enjoying being spoiled.

stephheater @ 2004-02-25T16:58:00

2004-02-25T16:41:20Z

today i decided to take advantage of my mostly free day and hop on a bus to a hilltop town an hour away. granted it's part of an assignment for class (to visit one of the towns on a list we were given), but everyone else is getting together in groups to do it, and i just felt like it should be something to be done on my own.

so i bundled up this morning, packed a day bag, put on my headphones and got on a bus to cingoli, a town about an hour's bus ride away. the bus ride was probably my favorite part as with my music and the rolling, amazing countryside i was in my own little world. i drowned out the loud middle-schoolers and the obnoxious radio blaring mostly american pop songs and completely zoned.
the day was overcast and chilly, and i thrilled at the chance to not have to speak anything to anyone for almost 5 hours, minus asking a bus driver "dov'è il autobus per macerata?"
i walked around the town completely disregarding the guide i had been given, finding things on my own and getting a feel for the "balcony of marche," as from the town you can see everything-- the countryside, the mountains, and even the ocean. the town was cute, although it was mostly deserted due to it being ash wednesday, it was during the daily siesta, and it was so cold outside. i was a little disappointed because many of the churches i wanted to see were closed, either for the afternoon or for renovation. but i had my headphones on the majority of the time and enjoyed walking through my own little movie of my life while twisting and turning through the narrow cobblestone streets.
i might do this every wednesday just so i can get out on my own more. it is definitely liberating and feels nice to get away from the american herd, although i haven't been sticking to it much anyways.

here's our interesting weather as of late:
monday was unusually warm and extremely windy, as the winds were from africa and were strong enough that sand from the african deserts was deposited in thin layers on the cars in the streets.
tuesday was carnevale, and after watching my favorite movie 'only you' at the program facilities, we all walked outside to see it had been snowing for the past hour.

also for carnevale my ancient rome professore renna threw a little carnevale party, and he told myself and a few others to come by early to help set up. to my surprise he had an entire script and theme to the party, and he only told me about it as i was the "mc" as it were. i thought that was pretty cool, but sometimes he kinda creeps me out. i don't think i'll be as eager to learn and hand in extra credit assignments now, honestly.
after the party kate and i went home and got ready while pre-funking (read: partying before a function, the 'funk' being the abbreviation for function, and 'pre' indicating prior to, hehe fyi) with vino. we went to our usual dance club tartaruga (which is the building that napolean stayed in when he visited ages ago... so i party and dance where napolean slept) wearing masks, brightly colored makeup and fun outfits,met up with our respective fellows and danced our feet sore. it was definitely a fun night.

alright, vado alla mia casa per la cena. i'm surprised i'm not sick of pasta yet, considering i eat it on almost a daily basis, but i still get excited over eating it. lately i've been stir-frying yellow pepper and garlic and ad that to my sauce. and i'm obsessed with eating this funny lettuce called rucola with yellow pepper, feta cheese, pine nuts, olive oil and basalmic vinegar... yummmm. i don't know how i cooked without extra virgin (never buy anything else!) olive oil, because i swear the stuff is straight from the gods. i encourage you all to go out and cook with it now!

ciao tutti.

stephheater @ 2004-02-23T16:44:00

2004-02-23T15:50:20Z

wow, so if it isn't apparent already, i seem to update about twice a week, that usually being on mondays and either wednesdays or thursdays. just in case you haven't figured that one out yet. next time i'll see if i can pop out some cliff's notes to my experience here, ok? yeah.... no.

all sassiness aside (yes i did just say that), things have been BUSY here. it's midterm time and i have been studying nonstop for the past week. first i had my art history midterm last thursday and i think it was a piece o' ace. it was all written, and i even had TOO MUCH information to write down in the given hour and a half. it's just all so interesting that i remember a good portion of it without having to strain to cram random facts in my head only to forget them the moment the test is done. i have my ancient rome midterm tomorrow, which covers a lot of information and has a HUGE take home portion, of which i have been studying, writing and even referencing to maps and other texts to accomplish. to keep up with my latest nerd chic i even drew extra credit maps AND a family tree of hannibal, nevermind extra credit essays.

thursday night we threw a surprise birthday party for one of the guys here, as it was his 21st. everyone in the program came and we all brought wine and desserts, and even one of our professors came over. it was a hilarious time, with one of the guys putting on an impromptu "radio show" (like i said a while ago, the majority of us are extroverts), and we all were interviewed into doing something interesting, like singing or saying a little birthday message. what was mine, you may ask? well i happened upon the portion where we were making animal noises, and i had to share my ability to communicate with squirrels using my tried-and-true "squirrel noise," (those of you who have had the extreme fortune to have heard it know what i'm talking about... and no i'm not crazy). between all of us that were there we managed to sing "happy birthday" in 7 different languages, and i even was able to bust out a bit of french! ooh lala. at one point our professor (picture a guy in his late 50s, suit and glasses) ending up singing a roaring rendition of little richard's "tutti frutti" with another guy, and we all had tears coming down our face it was so fanastic.
that's one of the great things about the program-- you have a much more personal relationship with the professors. never at university would you have a professor over for a party, let alone have them serve wine and sweets after especially late classes. they go all out to make sure that you are okay, that you have everything you need (whether it be for class or at home), and that you're having a good time.

(side note: our program director (also my art history prof) Filiberto Bracalente is in oregon, specifically in eugene at UO, for the next week for an AHA conference. anyone on the UO campus you might just feel so inclined to go tell him hi and he'll relate it in PERSON [yes, in real life, real time] to ME! **thanks to KB for already noticing that one!** i begged him to get me a block of tillamook cheese because i have been dying for cheddar... yummm)

after the party we did the usual thursday night dancing, except since it's carnevale right now, it was more crazy, with a lot of people dressed up in fabulous (favoloso) costumes. i think i got to bed around 4 that night.

then friday morning mysterious forces aligned to make not one of our 4 alarm clocks go off, and i woke up at 7:15 to liz in my room shouting "we overslept! they're waiting for us on the bus RIGHT NOW!!" we all managed to get ready and RUN to the bus in 12.4 minutes. i'm not lying. needless to say that was a little rough. we went to a town north of us by about 3 hours called ravenna, which was nice but it was an icky day weather-wise, and a total lack of organizaton due to the lack of filiberto, so that made it a tad stressful. but there are some of the world's best mosaics there (professor renna keeps telling us that they far surpass those in istanbul) that are around 1500 years old. they were gorgeous, and along my travels i picked up a little something for my snakey k mafia family ;).

saturday night consisted of going out dancing with mili and his friends to number one, where there were these acrobatic angels performing amazing feats while suspending from the ceiliing all around the dancefloor. they go all out for carnevale.

sunday the big plan was for mili and i to take the train to the southern part of the region for a carnevale celebration, but upon reaching the train station we were told that no trains go that far on sundays. we were bummed, but we hung around the town all day, checking out the small carnevale events here and sitting in cafes talking. what was hilarious was that we were listening to a "getting ready to party with the girls!" cd of mostly rap that i had on my discman, and i was translating rap lyrics into italian for him. trying to explain the meaning of some rather rude words was about the funniest thing ever, especially when his friends were there learning these english slang terms with him.

that evening i had dinner with kate and marcello, and it was GREAT. all three of us had these huge, juicy steaks (which are a different color here, even though it's still beef) with potatoes, wine and fruit for dessert. kate has decided that when marcello and i are around each other she can't take it because we are too funny. we were all laughing so much that my sides were hurting and tears were coming out of my eyes.

speaking of, we don't have an excursion next friday, so for our free three day weekend kate and i are going to napoli (naples) and the surrounding area. we're planning on spending a day in pompeii, hopefully getting to the top of mt. vesuvius in the process, and also seeing the absolutely gorgeous amalfi coast, with my dream town of positano (you all might remember this picturesque, terraced coastal town from such movies as 'Only You' and 'Under the Tuscan Sun.' yeah, i'm going there.). there might be other people coming with us, but right now for sure it's her and i. the other 3-day weekend we have after spring break we're thinking of going to venice.

ok! yesterday and the day before have been nothing but drizzling rain and extreme fog, so i'm going to go out and enjoy today's sun! and probably sketch, because it has become my addiction. i can't go anywhere without at least a pen anymore, and i bought sketching pencils and watercolor colored pencils last week just for all the things i'm inspired by here.

it's super duper note time again! thanks for the emails everyone!

KB: it was lovely hearing from you my dear. i actually really like hearing about all the little details from home, so seriously, keep them coming! i'll write more in an email later.
BEN: it's about damn time i heard from you! this is what happens when the only address of yours i have is from freshman year. say hi to the boys for me!
STEPH: wog is my new favorite word. i miss you, and your aussie behind better be hitting up oregon before you go to the uk!
G&G RALLS: it was great to talk to you guys on the phone the other night! glad to hear all is well.
DAD & SUSAN: for you (and for everyone else), i'm leaving for greece on thursday, march 4th, and returning probably on saturday or sunday the next week. i have been asking a million questions on agriculture here, mainly every time we pass some orchard/grove/field... guess the farm doesn't leave the girl, eh? thanks for the email susan!
MOM: i'll get the FAFSA stuff to you as soon as i can, but i think my info will be rather limited considering i have no relevant documents here. call me sometime, k?

you can't live in italy without ranting about fashion

2004-02-18T16:41:06Z

----- so the shoes i mentioned that i was receiving from mili? yeah, he MADE THEM at his work. and not only did he make them, their retail value is ohh................ about €280! add a hundred on that number and that's roughly what it is in US$. i was completely surprised. apparently the region around here is reknown for making some of the best shoes in italy, even the world. hmmm.... think i lucked out? they're fun, dark red metallic-y numbers that i probably wouldn't have grabbed immediately in the store, but wearing them is about as fun as can be. nevermind there's a great story to go with them. wow, i have a rough life.

----- while i'm going off about materialism (especially after just recently visiting st. francis of assisi's basilica), one of the nicer clothing stores had a huge closing out winter stock sale today, where EVERYTHING in the store was €10. i managed to pick up a €60 sweater and a €30 belt for a total of €20, and i really needed the belt as my pants are horribly annoying right now. yeah deals!

----- the great thing about being here is that when i walk to class every morning, i see the clothes that are in the latest vogue and on the runways in the stores as i pass. not only do i drool over mannequins in the window dressed up in gorgeous gucci, dolce & gabbana and chanel outfits, but all the less expensive and discount stores already have cheaper versions of those clothes. have you seen the latest chanel shoes? i almost bought a knock off pair for €40 last week (luckily i'm showing rather impressive restraint with the shopping here). i don't even really care about the actual brands (although trying on designer sunglasses is really, really fun), but they are just so NICE.

----- what i've noticed about people here: they don't have mass quantities of clothes, but the clothes they do have are generally really nice. which makes sense when you think about it. well.... kind of.

----- no one wears gore-tex.

----- things that will automatically pinpoint you as an american in europe (especially in the summer): sweatshirts, sneakers, shorts, guys wearing no shirts, goretex jackets of any kind, tshirts WITH jeans, basebal caps, sandals, fleece, track suits... basically anything really casual. what we've learned from our italian roommates is that while at home, italians dress in anything that is really comfortable. but while out on the town, whether it be grocery shopping, school, work, a hot date... it has to be dressed up and fashionable.

----- the newest colors for spring (this is pretty much for the ladies): white paired with colorful items. especially soft pinks. blues, and greens.

----- wow, i don't think i'll ever write something this shallow again.