Macerata, e la vita è bella!

I am currently beginning my 3rd week as a college student in Macerata, Italy. I really am beginning to appreciate the little nuances  that make up the Italian culture that kind of bugged me before. For example, every day from 12-4, most stores close for a "paese" (break). This is a time to eat lunch, take a nap, and spend time with your family. At first it is really hard to get used to because you want to run errands and get stuff down NOW, but once you realize that you can't help it and all you need to do is relax, it's quite enjoyable. I take a nap almost everyday, eat a leisurely lunch, and do most of my homework before class later in the day. It's pretty great!

Now for pics:

This was our first concert in Macerata. It was during a food festival. We danced with a bunch of Italians and the band even had an "American Tribute" which consisted of Beach Boys and The Mamas and the Papas. I'm not mad about it!

The band, who changed costumes between EVERY SONG.

Our new dancing dog friend.

We have now spent 2 lovely Saturdays in the beach town, Civitanova. I have never swam in bluer, saltier, or warmer water in my life! The waves are nice and small too, so you can just swim as far out as your body will take you without much trouble. Then, you can just float (super buoyant because of the salt) and let the current bring you back to the shore. Annalyse and I even swam with a school of fish!

Some boats in the bay.

I never want to leave this beach!

Eva and Lindsay enjoying the warmth of the pebbly beach.

A highlight of my second week in Macerata was finding our little kitten friend who we named Gattino (little cat). He came right up to us but we thought he was a stray because he was skinny, beat up, and full of fleas. My roommates and I couldn't leave him so we brought him home, fed him, bathed him, and loved him! Turns out he has owners, so we returned him, but not without heavy hearts.

How I miss having animals in the house!

He was so tired! He just passed out after his bath.

We took our first excursion this week, which was a 4 hour tour of Macerata.

We hit up the most amazingly beautiful churches you could imagine. This is the vieling of the Basilica di Santa Maria della Misericordia

I climbed the bell tower all the way to the top (like 20 stories, no joke). The view was AMAZING!

Here is a night-pic of the Bell tower.

Hercules, guarding one of the many palaces in town!

A view of the city from the top of the bell tower.

What I see when I look into the Mirror of Esired- surrounded by friends! This is a mirror in the Teatro Comunale di Lauro Rossi.

The amazingly beautiful ceiling of the Teatro. Could you imagine watching a play from one of the boxes?

Italia

So, I am one of those lucky people who gets to study abroad in Italy for a whole 3 months. I got to Rome on September 3rd and I have been having an amazing time ever since. We stayed at a hostel in Ciampino and visited Rome for a couple of days before making our way to our new home in Macerata

My first Italian pizza panino

Trevi Fountain

One for Rome, Two in hopes of returning

The Pantheon was absolutely breathtaking, especially when there was a moment of silence

Me sitting on a column at the Pantheon

A wonderful view of Roma

We made it all the way to the top of the Spanish Steps

Zombie Invasion in Roma

There was a lot of beautiful street art

I love the streets in Roma

Inside the cathedral at the top of the Spanish Steps. Bellisima!

The day after we were in Rome, we headed to Macerata, where our program is.

We took a train from Termini station and we saw some really beautiful countryside. This is a castle probably built during the dark ages: people moved out of cities and into these cold, dark towers in order to protect themselves. Now it is a beautiful reminder of the past.

Another view of the countryside of the Marche.

And a view from Macerata.

A building in Macerata. The architecture here is wonderful but as our new Italian friends told us when we raved about its beauty: all of Italy is like this, so it isn't really that impressive. Seriously?

One of the many churches in Macerata

Amazing ceiling.

The artwork is absolutely beautiful

The weather has been extremely warm since we got to Italy, and I cannot wait until it cools down a bit and becomes fall, but for now the blue skies are great!

Summer Car Shows

Nothing says summer better than a fair ground full of incredible vintage cars. Last weekend my dad and I attended the Barrett- Jackson Car Auction in Orange County. We had a fantastic time! We walked around and looked at all of the cars for sale and even watched the auction and saw a car sell for $110,000, the same car my dad's family had when he was just a kid.

Dressing up was a must so I dawned my candy-striped button down and white canvas tennis shoes.

This car was an amazing custom "surfer" car. Part of the fun of the show was that the owners displayed their cars in a certain theme to entice buyers. This car had a surfboard on top and a picnic basket in the back seat.

Beautiful 1955 Chevrolet Custom Coupe, sold for $28,600.

My daddy with one of his favorite cars of the day: 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu, Sold for $27,500.

Total classic: 1965 Volkswagen Custom Samba Bus, sold for $82,500.

My dad had this car back in the day. He actually bought one as a fixer upper and the day he finished working on it, it was stolen. They found it later that week, his wasn't quite as tricked out as this one. 1969 Plymouth Road Runner, sold for $121,000.

This is the car that my dad had back in day. We watched it sell at auction which is a really cool experience! 1961 Chevrolet Impala, sold for $110,000.

I love old Woody cars, they have such character! 1951 Ford Country Squire Woody Wagon, sold for $48,400.

This car was by far my favorite of the day, I love station wagons. It was actually the very first car to sell in the auction this weekend, and I regret not being their to buy it myself because it only sold for $1,980!!!! 1974 Mercury Wagon. They don't make cars like they used to!

Spring Fling

Being in a Sorority, I get to participate in a lot of really fun events. Every year we have a Spring Fling- a dance in which the senior members get to choose the theme. This year the seniors revealed the theme at chapter where they dawned tribal make up, hula skirts, and captains hats and announced the Spring Fling would be called "S.O.S"- an island themed. At first I was slightly disheartened, it was a pretty normal theme. I was sure there would be a million mermaids, tourists, and jungle animals (I was right), but I love to get creative with these things so I really had to get thinking. Just about 15 minutes after the reveal my nerdyness kicked in and reminded me that one of my all time favorite TV shows was set on an island: LOST. From then on I was overjoyed to plan out how my date and good friend Steven and I could be Kate and Jack from lost. The night of the event I put on my handcuffs and crimped my hair and my date and I dawned fake blood and Dharma Initiative cups and had a fantastic Spring Fling!

Our Kate and Jack Fresh off of the Airplane costumes.

Even Dharmas gotta get their drink on.

Cuffed.