I finally got myself moved into my new room. My original cave room was a little too dark for my taste (even though its marvelously cool and fresh during the day). If I wake up in a dark room I tend to just stay asleep and don’t wake up with the same energy as I …
So far Cappadochia has been quite swell to me. I’ve been a bit lazy the past week, basically spending any solo free time out on the patio at FCI or skyping with some loved ones. Unal has been kind enough to take me out on a few excursions, which have been delightful. I hope to …
Ever wonder what it might look like to live on the moon? Just come to Göreme and you’ll find out. Getting here, however, turned out to be the most challenging travel experience I’ve had so far. It’s a good thing Turkish people are so damn nice, because without them, I would probably be in the …
Alora….it is my last night in Italy…finally made it to Rome (on purpose this time) even with the train strike. I felt pretty excited about Turkey since I started feeling a little useless in the fields the past couple of weeks, and I got an e-mail from my host in Turkey, Andus, detailing my tasks …
Sangria festival – man they really have festivals for EVERYTHING around here. Giovanni and I randomly discovered there was a sangria festival not too far from us, so we wandered down for some drinks and dinner. Located in between Jesi and Osima…the small festival was held in a town called Casenouve. Along the way we …
My friend Kevin, who has the best job in the world working for Rick Steves, was stopping by in Florence for a few days during the Rick Steve’s Best of Europe Tour. As a tour guide assistant he rarely had any free time, but saw that there was some breathing room while they stopped in …
Il Gambero Rosso Translated ironically to Red Lobster. Luckily the restaurant isn’t as cheezy as The Red Lobster, unfortunately it is entirely way too overpriced. I might as well paid a little more and dined at the coveted Belforte…we ended up at Gambero Rosso by accident. I thought I was sitting down at Trattoria Gianni Franzi, …
Imagine this: You’re on a road trip and you’re rocking out in the car trying to ignore the fact you’ve been sweating in the car for the past 4.5 hours and the car enters a long dark tunnel. When you emerge from the tunnel the road starts to curve around the mountain, and suddenly BAM! …
Here are some close ups of life on the vineyard. Here is a video Corrado made of springtime in the vineyard. It’s all in Italian, but I show up at about the 5 minute mark.
Nothing like taking a weekend to go to the coast. Especially to reunite with some old friends! Giovanni and I took off late Friday night and enjoyed a slow night of gelato and the beach. Late that night we met with Roberto, Stefania, and a new friend Teresa. We stayed at Roberto’s family’s house in …
A weekend of beach time, pizza, truffles, and gelato wasn’t enough for us. To top off the weekend, we stopped a couple cellars on the way back from Fano since it was the weekend of “Cantine Aperte” (Open Cellars). Basically most of the major wineries in Le Marche offer free tastings. You pay 5 euros …
One afternoon, as Giovanni and I were coming back from a day of hiking, we took a detour home to enjoy some of the countryside. The sights and smells inspired this entry but it kind of morphed after saving drafts of this and coming back with new ideas. I really can’t explain how beautifully amazing …
I’m sorry to say that I have no photos for this entry so you’ll just have to be content with the pretty sunset photo I took the other day with Instagram. The subject matter must be documented just for the sake that it was a first experience for me. We had a beautiful day at …
Being a communication major and someone who grew up bilingual, languages have come fairly easy for me to learn. I’ve been here for a month now, and while my Italian vocabulary and pronounciation has improved greatly, I have yet to try to structure any sort of full sentence on my own. It’s been amazing how …
My first hike in Italy! Hoping to catch some of Northern Italy at some point where the real hiking is. However, this was a perfect start of summer hike for me. Of course, because it’s me, the simple day hike turned into an adventure I wasn’t so sure I bargained for. Giovanni asked me what …
I forgot to mention that Hillary left yesterday morning. It’s been a nice reprieve for me so far…after living by yourself for 2 years, having a roommate that you also work with was overwhelming for me. I sorted my belongings and finally really feel officially settled in my apartment. I’m also really excited to start focusing more …
I failed at the detox. No surprise there. Valeria and her pesto is hard to resist. Today is the first of May and an international holiday. I blame myself for being naiive, but I thought May Day was about flowers and that spring was coming. We never had the day off from school or anything, …
Valeria’s friend Sandra came to visit for a couple days…she’s from Argentina so lucky for us she taught us how to make empanadas one afternoon. This is a rough recipe, as I was just observing and she was speaking Italian, so give or take some of this. It could probably be cut in half because …
Valeria and Corrado have such great friends. I’ve been so lucky to meet many of them in just a short amount of time. The first sunday of my arrival there was a presentation on a wine book paired with a wine tasting. Corrado was among some wine journalists and talked about the book and the …
Luisa, one of Valeria’s friends invited us to her home for brunch today. Luisa has a BEAUTIFUL Italian home. It seems I feel this way about all Italian homes, but hers really is gorgeous and something I can imagine living in. She is a retired artist and every square inch of her home is painted …
Wrapping up my first three weeks here and the work has been a mixture of working in teh garden and working in the vineyard. At first the rainy was pretty iffy so we spent much of our time boxing, but eventually we started some serious work on the vines. This included taking small plastic cones …
After spending the afternoon on the beach, we decided to venture into town more for some more exploration. Sennigallia is beautiful. I got carried away with the real estate windows, dreaming of buying an italian home. We stopped by a small museum that was built partially over streets where ancient romans lived. It was pretty …
Spent the afternoon on the beach in Sennigallia…first warm day of the year! Except the Italians didn’t think so. I went for a swim and they thought I was crazy. I thought they were crazy for wearing pants, socks and shoes to the beach! It was a good time especially for a national holiday.
It comes as no surprise to me that working outdoors fulfills a much happier place in my heart than sitting in a cubicle all day. However, its not any easier of a task. While I worked hard at WSDOT, I think most of it was more mentally straining than anything else. Here, the physical labor …
We had a break in the weather today…I wore a dress for the first time and it was so refreshing. A bit windy but it was still warm out. After lunch Giovanni took me to Fabriano, which is a nearby town, well known for it’s paper. So we went to the paper museum which sounded …
