owner of a lonely heart.

today was quite the depressing day as i came across an awful realization.

i was in europe for a total of 95 days. 

today is march 13th, 2012 and it is the 95th day since i have been home.

i have been home JUST as long as i was in europe.

depressing, right?

it breaks my heart to know that italy is now just a memory. 

each day that passes, is another day that those memories are fading

and becoming further away from the present. 

i miss italy everyday. 

i would give anything and everything to go back right now.

i honestly wonder if my heart will every stop aching.

there's no i in team.

on our last sunday in siena, we had a lunch with the missionaries at char char's apartment.
we ate some tomato soup and grilled cheese.
as much as we love italian food, we still love the classic american food.

after we finished up, we ran to the soccer game.
soccer is huge in europe. everyone loves it.
it was a blast!!
i was so grateful i was able to go and see this side of the italian culture.
the fans get so excited for their teams.
and the little boys who sat in front of us were adorable.
i'll forever remember their high little voices yelling, "sieeeennaaa, sieeeennnaa!"
seriously, the cutest thing in the world.

the stadium was filled with smoke.
and it didn't just smell like normal tobacco,
they have a weird smell in italy haha, it was so nasty.

ali's dad is a fireman in california.

the whole time we were in italy, we were trying to find something to give to him.

that would relate to his job.

well, it was our lucky day to find firemen and firetrucks!! 

yayyyyy!

overall this day was great! 

if you ever go to siena, italy i suggest you go to a soccer game. 

you won't regret it. 

chels and rachel.

love my girls tay and ash.

anziano bushman.

alibabe and lucia think he looks like chad michael murray.
but i still don't see it...

yayyyy we found the firetruck!

the perfect present for her daddyyy.

and to make it better, we found a fireman!

these boys.... 

ali, me, natalia, clara, and forest.

soooooo much tobacco.

the sky was unbelievable.

the whole gang of us. including a new friend, apparently haha.

tell me sweet little lies.

meeting in the campo at 10:30 was a usual for us.
chilling in the campo, going to the tea room or going to grom were also usual things for us.
grom is the yummiest gelato place.
they have excellent hot chocolate as well.

i remember this night so vividly.
i walked out of the tea room to a clear night, a bright white half moon
with stars sparkling everywhere. the tuscan sky was unbelievable.
as i was taking this moment in, i saw the thickest shooting star i have
ever seen. it was incredible!!!!
...still waiting on that wish to come true!

outside the team room.
the skies are always beaaautifulll in the tuscan countryside!

we love when jarman is in italy.
and we love them together. cutest couple!!

nose goes.

we love grom!! 

begin the begin.

lion king in 3d and in italian?? ohhh yeah!
movies aren't a big hit in italy like they are in america.
the theatre in siena was very small and not many people were there.
[you can obviously tell by our group picture..]
but we couldn't pass up going!
i understood mayyybee 10 words the whole time.
oops!

time has come today.

i just LOVE wednesdays in italy.

three reasons:

#1: we get to sleep in.

#2: siena has its once a week market.

#3: we have our cooking class for 4 hours.

you honestly can't get better than 

sleep, shopping, and good food.

for our cooking class, the theme of the day was 

"cucina napoletana"

...neapolitan kitchen.

the menu was as follows:

[fritters of naples]

frittelle di napoli.

[ricotta and mozzarella filled shells]

conchiglioni ripieni di ricotta e mozzarella.

[meatballs and gravy]

polpette fritte nel sugo.

[neapolitan pastry]

pastiera napoletana.

enzo cut his hair again! 

enzo going out for his little smoke break!

fritters.

meatballs.

these fritters were sooo yummy!

caught ash sneaking into the kitchen to steal some food.. :)

ricotta and mozzarella filled pasta shells.

neapolitan pastry.

this magic moment.

my cousin missy got married on 07/07/07.
ever since that day, i always wanted to do something like that.

i thought it would be perfect to get married on 11/11/11.

11 is my favorite number, & this date would never come around again.



well, it just so happened that i was in italy for 11/11/11.

not mad, of course.

but i wasn't getting married that's for sure.

especially to an italian.

i had to party it up somehow.

especially because i had been waiting

for this day for at least 4 years. 

 

i love julia rose.

my bestie julia who was in the london study abroad

decided to come to rome with her girls for a couple of days.

only being 3 hours from her, i had to go see her!

the only problem was that our group was going to florence for the day.

[an hour in the opposite direction.]



cuties.

well, i pulled a SMALL little white lie.

i told my professor that i was "sick."

and couldn't make it to florence.

instead, i jumped on a bus to rome BY MY SELF.

[i'd be lying if i told you i wasn't stressed to the max.

i think i grew 100 grey hairs and at least 20 wrinkles

from this experience. :) ]



giolitti's is the best gelato i've ever had in my life.
if you're ever in rome, you have to go. it will change your life.





i was on the bus at 11:11 AM when i made my first wish.

i was all alone and had a good 3 hour thinking session about life.

i got off the bus and grabbed a cab to the colloseum so i wouldn't be late.

it was so good to see julia in ROME.

it felt so normal to be with my friend walking around in italy.

it didn't feel like it had been 2 months since i'd seen her.

it's hard to explain it.



london girllls.

 

we spent the day walking around.

trevi fountain, pantheon, shopping and giolitti's.

it was so good to be around someone who KNEW me.

inside and out.

who has grown up with me. who understands me.

i love julia. she's great and it was so good to be with her.

i took the metro to termini where i jumped on a train.

i sat by 2 men and a women.

they were super nice. we spoke a little bit of italian to each other.

and then just enjoyed the nice relaxing ride home.



home sweet home with my girls in siena.





i had a couple of stops on the way home.

our connecting train was late by 10 minutes,

and i was pretty sure i was going to miss my next train.

i RANNN through the train station in chiusi.

luckily, thank the heavens my train was still there.

[it was the last train running to siena that night.

so i would have slept in the train station that night!]



basically, they are the cutest.

i hopped on the train and sat down by myself.

then i heard english. i could actually understand

everything that these 2 girls were saying.

whaaaa?!?! i haven't been able to understand

people in public for monthss.

so i said, "i'm so sorry to interupt,

but i'm so just soo happy you guys speak english and i can understand!!!"

haha. i'm a freak.

but it was so good to talk to people.

and say more than the usual 3 sentences in italian.

 

i barely made it back to siena to our party at 11/11/11.

i ran home to grab a coat because it was freeeezzzing.

everyone met in the piazza del campo to celebrate.

jarman [brittany's fiance] was there.

we all made wishes at

11:11 on 11/11/11.

[i just love typing it out. can you tell?!?]



al pals.





roomies.

it was the BEST DAY.

because i got to spend it with julia AND my italy girls.

it was no "wedding day," but it was a pretty great day to remember. 

  

thanks forewhore. love you too!