wherefore art thou juliet?

Went to Verona on Tuesday and took waaaay too many pictures! The city is only about a 45 minute train ride from Vicenza and it was only like 10 euros round trip. If you guys ever go down to Juliet's hood make sure you purchase a VeronaCard which for 15 euros gives you access to about 13 museums, churches and other attractions, along with the use of inner-city buses. We didn't get to go to all the places that were available because we got tired of walking around (couldn't figure out the bus system), maybe about half, but it was totally worth the money. Even just 3 of the places on their own would have cost more than the 15 euro fee. Some of the places were beautiful (Chiesa de Annabella), some more painful (climbing the thousand steps to the top of the highest point in Verona) and some were totally overrated but fun because of it (Juliet's balcony). Stopped by some random cafe for lunch where I had delicious tortellini ragu (with meat sauce) and a glass of moscato. I probably won't go back on my own anytime soon but would LOVE to take friends there when they come to visit.

view from tallest building in verona

molesting the juliet statue...
apparently its good luck to rub them boobies

church

juliet's tomb...sans juliet.
must be hard to bury a fictional character

graffitti in juliet's tomb

arena

juliet's balcony. so much hype...so little space

creepy painting from the 1700s

locks of love at juliet's balcony

wall of love at j-cap's place
(j-cap is juliet capulet...duh)

i can haz (goat) cheez?

Like I mentioned in my last post, on Monday I went to a goat cheese farm which was about as cool and smelly as one might imagine. I loved seeing the animals and sampling the different cheeses (which I forgot to take pictures of...whoops). We were able to try cheese from both cows and goats that had literally been made two days before along with fresh yogurt, which was surprisingly sour to my Yoplait-conditioned taste buds.

little baby cows

i watched this cat eat the entire rat...tail and all.
 it was surprisingly blood free

milking machine

cow with a nose ring amuses me more than it should

oh heyyyy goat

cheez

go shawty itz yo burthday

happy belated birthday toooooo ME haha. Monday was my twenty-second birthday and I can't even believe I'm that old already. Like wasn't I just dancing around to the Spice Girls and watching Lizzie McGuire while wearing tie-dyed t-shirts...oh wait...that was last week? I didn't really do too much for my birthday given the fact that I'm still somewhat lacking in the people-my-age department (but I have made a few new friends so never fear!). It mostly consisted of a field trip to a goat cheese farm with my Italian class (pics to come...promise), babysitting and going out to dinner.

ALTHOUGHHHHH my parents totally threw me a surprise birthday party last Wednesday and I was actually totally surprised! The best part? I actually made my own birthday cake without even realizing what it is for. I tried making a cake from scratch for the first time ever and it actually turned out really well. I made that rainbow cake that's been doing the round on the interwebz and used this recipe from Martha Stewart and it turned out really well...even though I used containers of frosting instead of making that from scratch too (I'm only so ambitious alright?). They invited most of the people and families that we've met while in Italy and it was a really nice time, in a chill, family friendly environment that has come to define my time here.

hey batta batta batta

yum yum yolks

whoops...blue layer burnt in the oven

ruh roh

ahhh i'm sorry! i have no idea where time has gone and i totally apologize for this mini blogging hiatus.

We will now return to your usual bloggy programming

it's the little things really

For those of you who don't follow me on twitter (aka like everybody), our car finally got here from the States! My dad picked it up and it was like being reunited with an old friend. I know walking is really good for your heart and all that jazz (and it's not like it's totally necessary to get around post since the base is so small) but sometimes I just want to get in my car and drive. We drove to go pick up our usual Friday night pizza today just because we could and it was glorious.

sidenote: brie and bacon on a pizza = om-nom-nom. like seriously.

sidenote part two: sorry I said the word "like" more than five times just now. Talk about words to cut back on...

moves like jagger

oh. my. god. never have I ever been attracted to Adam Levine until I saw this video for Maroon 5's new song, "Moves Like Jagger." Not my usual type at all but he should just never ever wear a shirt again...ever.

dream on

Just finished reading The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfield who wrote Prep and I'm just not sure how I felt about it. I really wanted to like but I just felt like it was lacking some crucial element. The novel follows protagonist Hannah as she spends about a decade and half trying to "find the answers to love's most bewildering questions," as the inside jacket so delicately put it. It was really interesting seeing how Hannah's relationships with her abusive father, perfect sister and flighty cousin, among others, created the foundation of her experiences with others. I found Hannah's interactions with her not quite unrequited crush to be the most poignant scenes mostly because most of us know what it's like to have that awkward "more than friends because we like each other but things are just weird" kinda deal going on.

That being said, though, I just really don't like Sittenfield's style and that totally influenced how I felt about the whole book. I know that's a personal problem but I just really feel like her writing is just so clinical and lacking in personality. I can't ever feel close to her characters because they just seem so bland; sometimes I feel like her secondary characters have more depth than the main ones. She does have another book out so I'll give her one more try before I totally scratch her off my list. It was a nice and quick read, though, perfect to take to the pool or beach because it doesn't require too much focus.

Any suggestions on what to read next? I'm open to anything!