Room to Think

Manarola, third of the Five Lands Another Friday is here, and I'm ready! Today's Florence Friday is a follow-up on the Amalfi Coast.  We're going to learn a little more about it's cousin to the north, Cinque Terre. Also, I have an embarrassing admission to make. The first picture in my Amalfi Coast Blog , is actually a picture of Manarola. >.< See how confusing this is??? Cinque Terre is probably the coastline I laid eyes on first in my google searches, as it is much closer to Florence than the Amalfi Coast is. This map is particularly helpful to me...what with my need to learn basic Italian geography before I head over there. >.< **also, Milan isn't on there, but from my hotdog pizza post, I know it's more north than Venice is! =) Like the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Cinque Terre National Park), and it literally means "The Five Lands".  These five lands are the five villages along the co...

As requested, I'm going to make an attempt at bringing Florence Friday back. I was running out of pictures and the energy to research more, so I just let myself fall out of it. Unfortunately, I lost a good chunk of you dear readers, and I want to bring you back too! In the last few weeks, I heard a story about a woman from Milan who was visiting the States. When she was asked what her favorite Italian food was, she kinda squirmed a little and said, "Well, I'm from Milan. We're right on the border. But I actually really like pizza." "Great!" we said. "What kind?" And here, she sort of blushed a little and said, "Well...being so close to the border of Switzerland and Austria and all...you're going to think this is weird, but, my favorite pizza has hot dogs on it." Yep. The exotic Milan woman likes HOT DOG PIZZA. I couldn't believe it. So, like any good internet fiend, I turned to my good friend GOOgle(images). ...

All right everyone.  Finals are over, and despite my new effort to get to bed at a decent hour (as my new schedule doesn't enable me to sleep in until noon anymore), I suppose I can pull out a Florence Friday that's more of an update.  It's about time.  =) In my last Florence Friday, I told you all that 2 of 2 emails that I sent out after Mr. Franco's response to me have been answered. Since my letter to Mr. Franco was so carelessly responded to, I decided not to put too much effort into the email to his superior in Washington D.C. Mind you, I just copied and pasted his name from somewhere else. I didn't even make the effort to insert that special symbol over the "a" in his name. I actually don't know if Mr. Carlo here is Mr. Franco's superior--in fact, I'm almost sure he isn't.  But just because I emailed someone in D.C. sure made me feel like I was contacting Mr. Franco's superior.  =P I did, however, give Mr. Carlo the...

I suppose it's only fitting that today's Florence Friday be about The Italian Carnival, as it just ended on Tuesday. "The Carnival starts 58 days before Easter and ends on Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday or Marte di Grasso, the day before Ash Wednesday." -Wikipedia It's been held (officially) in Venice every year since 1979.  The Italian government decided they needed to bring back Venitian history and culture, and Carnevale seemed like the best way to start. **So, Venice isn't Florence, but, it's close enough, right?** "Teatime" by Horst Raack It was voted 2012's La Maschera piu bella" (Best Mask) Supposedly this "Best Mask" contest is held in the last week of the Carnival and is voted on by a panel of international costume and fashion designers. I'm digging her hat.  Horst Raack also won in 2011 and 2009. There's also another fancy designer who won Best Mask three times as well: Tanja Shulz-Hess . ...

It's hard work planning a trip two years in advance.  Part of me likes a little spontaneity.  Sometimes I think I deliberately wait for the last minute in order to help myself plan less.  Plans always  go awry. This weekend I planned to visit Vancouver, BC. But the only part of the plan that I have currently is that I'm going--as long as it's not raining too hard-- tomorrow .  I'm either going to get terribly lost, or have a ton of fun wasting gas.  =) Despite living four years in Bellingham, and having my own car and passport, this will be my first trip to Vancouver without my family. They came up for my 20th birthday and took me up there for an overnight experience .  It was then, with my entire family at the table in a so-so mexican restaurant in downtown Vancouver, that I discovered my absolute dislike for the taste of grenadine in my mixed drinks. They also made me wear the sombrero.  AND they never carded me. The b...

Let me start out with this.                      That's right people, there are Segway tours in Florence. AND I'm over 18. So I can ride one all by myself. So I did some more research and found this pixellated lie: Small print: 1 hour=18 Euros This ad is design genius.  Because the things that really are offered "free of charge" are the maps and the helmets, and they live in the "Free of charge" oval.  You have to  pay   for the segway rental.  That's why it lives outside the "free" oval.   Pure. Marketing. Genius.   Lure in the stupid Americans like me. 18 Euros an hour isn't so much...but on a student's budget? Yeah... I'll do it someday. Bike Rentals are much cheaper.  They're 10 Euros a day for students.  I can rock yellow, can't I? On another note...I received some bad news last Friday. We all know I inten...

A glass of fruit and gelato I was having trouble finding a theme to blog about today, ironically, because I didn't want to post about food.  In my apartment, I'm the picky eater (but my roommate eats damn near everything, so I don't really think that's a fair judgement).  I also have a reputation for not getting hungry.  My stomach can rumble loud enough to wake a hibernating bear, but I will not  be hungry. (trust me on this one) Despite the unfairness above, I am a picky eater---yes, mom, I will acknowledge that--but I've been getting much better at being open to try new things. San Marzanos--Italian tomatoes As a result, one of my *fears* of going to Italy was that damn near every meal would include some version of one of my least  favorite foods:  tomatoes. Currently, my biggest intake of lycopenes comes from ketchup.  I can stomach them if they're in burgers, and I do eat tomato sauce in small amounts, like on pizza...

THIS JUST IN: I was checking my blog stats the other day, and it said I had 130 pageviews, and when I went to break it down, it showed: 129 America, 1 Germany. That's right people.  I have an  international audience.     Hallo Germany! They're probably the 2% running Linux, too.  Too cool, Germany.  Too cool. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...anyhow. TODAY IS FLORENCE FRIDAY!!!!!!  And that calls for a picture. ah! it snows it Florence too!  =D  I'm so happy!  Those umbrellas confuse me, though... The photo above is from Melinda Gallo 's facebook page.  I just googled "Florence Italy blog" and hers was right on top.  I think, perhaps, I'll start following her...if only for the pictures.  =) I ought to make a checklist of all the things I need to do before I go.  Oh wait.  I already have one...and it keeps GROWING. On the ...

Welcome to Florence, Italy Firenze, Italia Last year, I was rejected from the graphic design program at WWU.  I don't blame them.  At the time, I blamed budget cuts and the fact that I was already a Junior for my rejection.  But now I can't even open my portfolio without wanting to change something. I procrastinated, rushed, and came out with design pieces that were definitely below par.  I'm actually glad they rejected me.  Because that forced me to pursue plan B:  sending myself to an international design school in Italy.   It's called the Florence Design Academy .  And it's "50metres away from the Piazza Duomo"...which I hear is tourist central.  The school teaches classes in English... which is GREAT.  But also offers an Italian language course so  I can read my way home should I get lost  exploring...or be able to convince some cute Italian boy to walk me home. =) I chose the school because it was i...