Well... I've survived my first month here! Interestingly though, I've yet to start my classes. That changes tomorrow; thus living my European vacation life is about to end. But no worries, I have much more planned for the next three months. My classes will no doubt change things, but all of my classes are going to be super interesting and I think I am going to enjoy all of them.
I last wrote about the my trip to Venice and the Ravens winning the superbowl. Thus this past week, I've been living on Cloud 9.
My European life is amazing, but I was particularly envious of my brother and all of my Baltimore friends who went to the Ravens parade and celebrated our amazing win in the 410. My facebook exploded with pictures and statuses about it, and it made me just a little bit homesick.
That went away of course when I spent the afternoon on the top of the Duomo and watched the sunset up there. You can see the entire city of Milan around you, and it is possible to see the alps in the background. It's so beautiful and amazing. With the sun setting... its breathtaking!
Is this seriously my life?
This week I have been cooking for myself. I made chicken parmesan and I made homemade lasagna for my friends and I. This was not just any lasagna; I made it from scratch and with an authentic Italian recipe. I used a bechamel sauce instead of ricotta cheese. It turned out pretty well, except for the fact that the noodles didn't really cook (because the only noodles I could find in the supermarket were no-boil noodles). So the taste was wonderful but it was a bit chewy lol. I am determined to make it again and make it amazing.
On Friday, I went on a day trip that IES planned for us. It was a trip to several abbeys in Lombardy near Milan. We went to Certosa di Pavia, a beautiful and very decadent monastery near Pavia. We also visited Vigevano, a small town nearby. We visited Ducal Square in Vigevano, a beautiful piazza. We also went to Chiaravalle Abbey. This was probably one of my favorite churches that I've been to yet. It was significantly more understated than the other decadent churches that I've visited while here. But there were such significant and intricate details and reasons behind certain paintings and designs. The most memorable part, however, was our crazy amazing tour guide of Chiaravalle Abbey. He was like the classic eccentric Italian artist. He kept flailing his arms in excitement, touching everyone, and would interrupt the interpreter just to emphasize something. He was great!
It is essential to note, that on this trip, I had the most delicious pizza I have had yet. We grabbed lunch at a local pizzeria in Vigevano. The pizza was HUGE, and the waiters expect you to eat the whole thing! Look how big this pizza was! It was a bufala mozzarella pizza... YUM!
For the rest of the weekend, I rested up from these crazy past few weeks. I went to the Navigli (the canals) with some friends (Brent, Sadie, Chris, Victoria, and Nick) for drinks on Friday night at Vintage, one of our favorite bars by Navigli. We've become good friends with the beautiful bartender, Ross. On Sunday night, we (Brent, Brent's friend from home, Sadie, Arturo, AJ, Chris, Hugh, and I) went to Spritz, for an aperitivo. Everyone had been telling us that it was mandatory to do an aperitivo at Spritz... it was wonderfully delicious! We particularly enjoyed eating nutella pizza :) (This for sure beats dessert pizza at Skiddy's DHall for Wafflefest).
Just to update you on my future travel plans: I am off to Florence next weekend. I have booked my tickets to Dublin for a weekend. And I am all set to go to Spain for Spring Break with Zozo. Also, I am going to Rome for Easter and am going to Easter Mass and will hear the new pope speak. UM.. WHAT IS MY LIFE? COULD THIS GET ANY MORE AMAZING?
OK, well, I have got a busy week ahead of me... now that I actually have classes :-/ I am still working on my pictures- but they will be uploaded ASAP.
Baci Baci,
~E
No comments:
Post a Comment