my teenage years were pretty uneventful. meaning i have been very happy and very lucky with everything that life has given me. but i think, for some reason, my brain panicked and realized that i had never had to deal with the phenomenon known as 'teen angst,' and is now packing all of that angst into my last two months as a teenager.
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well well well.
i am never leaving europe. it is absolutely magnificent to be able to fly to another country for a weekend, on a cheap airline, and to absorb a completely different culture and get away from the mundane. as if paris could ever be mundane. but still. who just jets off to venice for the weekend? my life is so surreal.
anyway. venice was absolutely incredible. my friend katie and i flew in and spent the first day walking around venice for hours and hours and hours. it is, quite literally, the most beautiful city i have ever seen. granted, my travel experience is pretty minimal, so i'm not saying that venice is the most beautiful city in the world. but it is the most beautiful city in my world. it is so unique. i'd never seen anything like it. i don't even think any words could do it justice. even my photos won't do it justice. you're just all going to have to go to venice to see it for yourselves. preferably before it sinks.
so the first day we just walked around, found a pasticceria where we got a delicious pastry and a cappuccino for 2 euros, took hundred of photos, and ate a nice pasta meal for dinner. venice is a labyrinth of tiny alleyways, large squares, and hundreds upon hundred of bridges. we definitely got lost in its maze more than once. but getting lost when you have nothing to do with your day but explore, and be happy, and smile, is the best kind of getting lost.
saturday we woke up and took the ferry to murano and burano. two different islands. burano is an old fishing island famous for its merletto (lace-making) and its very colorful houses. it was such a happy little island! then we took the vaporetto (waterbus) to burano. we walked onto the vaporetto..and i thought i'd died and gone to heaven. katie and i shared the vaporetto with an entire italian men's soccer team. and by men i mean college age. i could not wipe the smile off my face. my hormones were going crazy. too many good looking people for one boat.
anyway, murano was pretty sweet. we were tempted to just follow the boys to their game but we decided to be cultural and touristy instead. murano is really famous for its glass-making, so we went and saw the glass-blowing museum and took a lot of photos of really crazy glass sculptures and fountains. we then popped our heads into a plethora of shops which were literally dripping with colorful glass objects. it was beautiful when the sunlight came in and cast multi-colored shadows everywhere.
on sunday we visited the modern art museum, which was pretty cool albeit small, and a costume museum, which was even smaller. we walked around some more, took our last photos, and got our last gelatos and ate them by the grand canal. as we were enjoying our gelato, the cutest puppy ever came and looked at us expectantly, begging for a lick or two. i caved. i caved to those puppy dog eyes. i offered the dog my cone when i had had enough....and i was denied. i am never doing anything nice ever again. what a waste of my cone.
and then we left venice, and saw the most perfect sunset during the bus ride to the airport. it was a very fitting end to the trip. and i would definitely love to go and explore the rest of italy sometime in the very near future.
yeah i really can't leave europe for a while. i still have so much left to see. you know what i realized? my time here is already halfway over! what? i am just now feeling settled in. and now i have to leave? what is this business?
i need to figure out summer plans. we find out about the whole RA deal next week.. i think that if i don't get that i might try and figure out a way to stay here over the summer. i don't know. i miss home. i miss new york. i miss my people. but since i'm here, i might as well. who knows when my next opportunity to come over here will be? especially since all my money will be gone after this trip.
i really wish money didn't rule the world.
oy vey.
these next weeks are going to be crazy...midterms and visitors and concerts! but keeping busy is good for me. i always work much better when i have lots of things to do. and in just one month it'll be spring break, and i'll be able to reeeeeelax. and it'll be wonderful. amended spring break plans: barcelona, marrakesh, casablanca, paris, london. i'm coming back for a bit because i feel like if i'm paying for an apartment here i might as well stay here. and there's so many corners of paris i have yet to explore, so many things i haven't been able to do because of time constraints and weather constraints and whatnot. plus i think it'd be crazy if i was gone for two weeks and then came back to go straight to school. i wouldn't have any clean underwear...
it's springtime in paris! i think. three sunny days in a row? blissfully mild temperatures? daffodils and crocuses everywhere? i think so. it makes me so happy. last weekend and this week have been so, so good so far.
the londoners came to visit last weekend, and it was so nice to see paris through their eyes and to play tour guide for a while. my honeymoon with paris was over, and i was actually kind of depressed, but the weekend was so refreshing and so beautiful that my love for paris has been restored. can you believe it? i was taking paris for granted. what was i thinking.
anyway, we did some things that i'd never done before, such as visit the inside of notre dame and the musée rodin, and some things that i have done before, like picnic in the jardins de luxembourg. it was a wonderful time and i'm so glad that they all came.
i got my computer back yesterday. everything's gone. so seriously, everyone should send me a CD or two. not having my music sucks, and also not having a lot of my files sucks. i have to rewrite my resume so i can start applying for internships and jobs this summer! like stat. ideally, summer plans would involve being an RA, having an internship, and taking intro to marketing. aka being in nyc all summer. i could potentially take some classes and pay for summer housing, if i don't get RA, but meh. i'd rather not. but there's no other way to stay in new york, i don't think. i do need to come back to akron though, at some point. mainly to hit up highland square, hike amidst all the nature, reconnect with my buddies (who might not even be there!) and get some swenson's. oh and hang out with my parents because they're my BFFs.
not only do i need to figure out summer plans, i also need to figure out LIFE plans. we register for fall classes soon, and i have no idea what my plan of action is going to be. ack. good thing my computer is back. good, good thing.
today i sent postcards to new york, miami, ohio, california, and washington. it makes me so happy that i have friends everywhere =]
i can't decide if i like living alone or not. on one hand, i don't have to make awkward small talk with people if i don't want to. i can fart whenever i jolly well please. and it's nice to be able to reconnect with myself and figure out my thoughts on life and all sorts of other subjects. on the other hand, i really don't think i can live alone for extended periods of time. i lack motivation to get out of bed, to take out the garbage, and to do my homework. i am afraid of the dark. i need someone to tighten my faucet. i want someone to cook for me. and someone to snuggle with.
also, it turns out that i am super weird. it must be pretty bad if i think so myself. but literally, when i'm alone for long periods of time, i go crazy. i start dancing around with my ipod in my ears, and put on lipstick for the hell of it and make faces in the mirror. i talk to myself. i really, really hope that i don't become a crazy cat lady.
haha now no one is going to want to live with a weirdo like me.
this weekend is VENICE. yes yes yes. so pumped for that.
the rest of march is filled with lovely visitors, and concerts.
i am happy as a clam.
