November 7, 2011

November 7, 2011

This morning I got to sleep in and then headed into school around 10:00 to work in the library for a couple of hours. After working for a while, I had lunch in the classroom with everyone and worked on some homework. After lunch, I headed to Italian. I cannot believe that we only have four more classes of Italian and a final left after today. It’s going to be so weird not to have Italian class when we get back from Rome! After Italian, I had a half-hour break and then headed to Dante. Thankfully we had class in the classroom today because it was raining all day and would not have been a fun day to run around to different site visits. After Dante I had a meeting with Katy about my presentation on the Book of Esther this coming Wednesday and then headed out to the bus, picking up some bread from the grocery store on my way. Thankfully I had perfect timing and the bus showed up right when I got to the bus stop so I didn’t have to stand out in the rain.

When I got home I finished up my Weaving the Tale project (the magazine one) because I was finally able to print out my article today at school. I glued them to larger sheets of paper and added more magazine pictures…it looks so cool! I am so happy with it :) After that I did some homework for my Dante class and, before I knew it, it was time for dinner!

For dinner this evening we started with pasta with broccoli, which was very yummy. For our main dish we had tomato omelets, which were delicious as well along with bread and cheese. We finished off our meal with the fruit we had last week that tasted like a cross between a pumpkin and an apricot along with biscotti. While we had dinner this evening, Andrea started watching the news but then decided to see if there were any English channels. We didn’t find any shows in English because all of the American shows were dubbed in Italian but we came across Hell’s Kitchen, Secret Life of the American Teenager and a few others that were very funny to see in Italian. A very enjoyable dinner :)

I am all done with my homework for tomorrow so after I post my blog and stretch maybe I can watch part of a movie or read. Last night I had planned on doing that but ended up working on my theatre and work resumes instead…talk about a ridiculously productive day! I can hardly even believe myself. So I should probably give myself a little bit of a break this evening…we’ll see if I actually go through with that. I hope you all have a good start to your week! Sorry this was such a short blog but nothing much exciting really happened today. Not a bad day though!

All my love,

Kari

November 6, 2011

November 6, 2011

This morning I slept in until 9:30 and then had a long leisurely breakfast. Because I had decided not to go out today, in order to really rest my foot, I stayed in my pajamas and didn’t really “get ready” all day. After breakfast and replying to a few emails, I decided to get going on my homework. I didn’t really have much more homework to do this weekend but I realized yesterday that our “worksheet” (remember the worksheet I had to do last weekend that was actually a ten page paper…like that) for Purgatorio is due a week from Monday, the day after I get back from Riva del Garda. I really didn’t want to have to do homework while I was having a nice, relaxing weekend away so I somehow motivated myself to sit down and do it a week early. Yesterday I finished all of the readings in Purgatorio so that completion of the worksheet would be possible today. I sat down at my computer around 11:00 and worked straight through (with a break to make and eat some lunch) for about four hours, until it was finished. It wasn’t actually quite as difficult as the last one and I really knew what I wanted to say for each answer so, despite it taking such a long time, it wasn’t too awful. And hey, I FINISHED IT and now won’t have to do it while I’m on vacation. I feel very good about myself for finding that motivation today.

After I was done with that, my brain felt a little fried so I chilled out for a while, surfing around the internet, talking to some friends online and looking through some photos. While I was doing that, Daniela came into my room with some hot chamomile tea, which was so sweet of her and just what I needed. I actually have been starting to feel kind of sick this weekend so it was another good reason to lay low today. I certainly hope I didn’t catch what Daniela had, but a lot of other students are getting sick again so I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m coming down with something. I’m hoping it’s nothing much and will go away soon! After resting my brain for a couple of hours, I jumped back into my homework, doing some reading for my Weaving the Tale class and preparing my oral presentation. I am sure going to need to watch a movie or read a fun book later on tonight!

For dinner this evening, we started with lentil soup that was warm and delicious on a chilly fall evening. For our main dish we had grilled eggplant, bread and cheese and I had a soy burger (quickly becoming another one of my comfort foods), which Daniela and Franzi had some type of meat the neither of us really knew what it was. We finished off with fruit salad, which we hadn’t had in over a month, topped with ice cream and it was absolutely delicious :)

Now that dinner is over and because I have gotten so much done this weekend, I am going to reward myself with a movie. I haven’t decided which one yet but as long as it’s light and fun, it sounds good to me! I have loved having all these movies on my computer now because they give me something fun to do when I need a break. I probably won’t watch an entire movie tonight, though, because I want to get to bed early because I am not feeling so well. But I can also sleep in tomorrow morning so hopefully I’ll be able to nip it in the bud. I hope you all had wonderful weekends!

All my love,

Kari

November 5, 2011

November 5, 2011

This morning I slept in and then had breakfast in my pajamas :) After breakfast, I got ready and decided to do some homework before I left for IKEA. I actually got quite a bit done and then headed into town around 12:45. I met Becca and Katie at 1:15 and we waited for the free bus to IKEA together. Willi ended up not being able to come and Alex thought we’d said Sunday so it was just the three of us, although Alex took a later bus a met us there. The IKEA bus is hard to miss because it is one big advertisement so we had no trouble finding it. Much to our surprise, the bus was full, although I should have known, being a weekend. The bus ride only took about twenty minutes, which was very nice and it dropped us off right in front of the store. On the bus ride Becca and I had been talking about how excited we were for Christmas and how much we loved Christmas; then, when we walked in the doors of IKEA, our jaws dropped—it was all decked out in Christmas decorations! We hadn’t even thought about that! There were garlands with snowflake lights on all the banisters, Christmas trees in almost all of the room set-ups, fake wrapped gifts…EVERYTHING! Becca and I were so excited. We decided to make it our goal to take our photo in front of every Christmas tree in IKEA. We succeeded until we got to the warehouse on the bottom level and there were at least twenty all in a row. Anyway, we saw MANY Christmas trees :) We had a wonderful time walking around, deciding which bedrooms, kitchens, dining rooms, bathrooms, closets and studies we wanted and, of course, enjoying the Christmas decorations. It’s amazing to me how much fun you can have in spending a few hours at IKEA! We met Alex in the cafeteria where we had some Swedish lunch. I had Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes that were absolutely delicious! We sat and talked for a while, resting our feet (IKEA is really quite massive) and then headed down to the lower level.

We didn’t buy a whole lot but, as I said, it’s just so much fun to look around there and take everything in, picking things out for your imaginary apartment :P Katie did buy a cheap set of kid’s silverware so she could have utensils for her lunches that she brought to school and I think she also bought a towel. I found some golden gift boxes to use for a final project that I am doing for my Weaving the Tale class (it’s an art project!) so I bought those as well, as they were very cheap. Before we left we, of course, took a peek around the Swedish grocery store. I bought some pepper cocker cookies (or ginger thins…whatever you want to call them) to have around as a little snack and to share with my host family. We also each got a cinnamon roll for the ride home! They don’t have the big frosted ones like they do at our home IKEA but they were yummy little ones, and only fifty cents, so still good! On my way out, I grabbed an IKEA catalog for Umberto, my Italian professor because, when he heard Becca and I say we were going to IKEA this weekend, he got all excited and asked if we would bring him back a catalog :) We caught the 4:00 bus home, arriving back in Florence around 4:20 and each headed our separate ways.

Once I got home, I decided I would work on homework until dinner and then, after dinner, reward myself by watching a movie. I finished up The King’s Speech last night and really loved it. If you haven’t seen it, you must. Daniela and Andrea went over to Andrea’s brother’s house for dinner this evening but Daniela left us a wonderful dinner, as usual. We started off with shell pasta with a creamy cheese and tomato sauce that was very yummy. We followed that with pizza pockets, green beans, bread and cheese, and finished off with fresh fruit. A lovely dinner :) It was also kind of nice to relax and not have to speak Italian, as both of us were pretty exhausted and didn’t quite have the energy to do that.

I can’t seem to really get my head around this whole having three-day weekends every week thing. On Friday I thought it was Saturday, today I keep thinking it’s Sunday and now I keep thinking that I have school tomorrow, but it’s only Sunday tomorrow. Like I said, since I have done quite a lot of homework this weekend, I am rewarding myself with watching another movie. I think I am going to watch Love Actually :) I don’t really have any plans for tomorrow except to rest my foot and get ahead on some of my homework so I don’t have a lot to do when I am out of town all next weekend. I did wear my new boots today and my foot didn’t hurt at all, even with all the walking around IKEA! So I guess these were a good investment :) I hope you’re all having a wonderful, relaxing weekend, and that your weather is a little nicer than it is here. It’s been very dreary today, raining on and off. It was a good day for IKEA but not a good motivation day. I guess I’d better get used to it—November is the really rainy month here in Italy. Have a lovely rest of your Saturdays!

All my love,

Kari

p.s. Here are a few photos from our day. I took far too many Christmas tree photos to be able to put all of them up. But I'll put more on Facebook and Shutterfly if you really want to see all of them :)

The first of many Christmas tree photos :) 

Posing with the fake presents!

SWEDISH MEATBALLS!

November 4, 2011

November 4, 2011

HAPPY OPENING TO THE CAST AND CREW OF DRACULA! I wish I could be there to see it! Well it’s Friday, which means I got to sleep in this morning, which was much needed. I took my time eating breakfast and getting ready and then headed into school to work in the library for work-study for a couple hours. It was actually a lot of fun and the time flew by because we were listening to music and some of my friends were in working on homework so we talked as we worked. After working, I headed out for a little bit to pick up some things I needed. I didn’t want to walk too much with my foot so did my best to not stay out too long. I picked up a gift that I had been meaning to get and then started on a little bit of a quest for leather shoes with good support for my foot. I had a hard time, at first, finding a shoe that had good support, wasn’t too expensive and wouldn’t get ruined in the rain but found a pair of short leather boots with really good support that I really love. Hopefully they will be good for my feet! After that, I picked up a bit of a late lunch and then headed back to school.

When I got back, I worked on some research for a project for my Weaving the Tale class. Then, at 3:00, I got to Skype my Grandma and Grandpa, which was very nice :) After we had finished Skyping, I was about to head home but I saw that my cousin, Christy was online so I decided to try and call her. She was actually around so we talked for a couple minutes and it was so good to see her! After that, around 4:30, I headed home. When I got home, I decided to sit down and just do my project for my Weaving the Tale class. I was actually really excited to do it because I had a really fun idea for it but, once I came up with the idea, I kind of lost interest in actually executing it. However, once I sat down and started it, it didn’t take me very long because it was so much fun to write. I am going to try to explain what my idea was for the project, but I don’t know how well I’ll be able to. Each student in our class was assigned to one of the Brigata members (the ten people who tell the stories) from The Decameron to write a character profile on and further analyze their character. I was assigned Fiammetta (my favorite character), whose name means, “little flame.” Because she is kind of the flirt, the beautiful one and the sassy one, I decided that, instead of just writing a four-page essay describing her personality, background, stories and everything else, I would make a magazine article/interview about her. I made it on Microsoft Publisher and, if I do say so myself, it looks so cool! I even made a cover with magazine pictures of girls I think fit her description. Anyway, it’s hard to explain, but I am really excited about it :) Anyway, I finished it in time for dinner so now all I have to do is print it out, decorate it a little with a few more pictures from magazines, and it’ll be ready to go! Being productive feels so good!

For dinner this evening, we started out with delicious pasta that actually had three kinds of noodles, a light tomato sauce and basil, with a bit of a bite that was absolutely wonderful. For our main dish, Daniela and Franzi had some sort of meat, while Andrea and I had bread, cheese and garbanzo beans, which was actually just what I wanted this evening. For dessert, we had clementines again and they are getting better and better as we get later into the fall. Dinner continues to be my favorite part of the day and I definitely don’t see that changing anytime soon :)

Now that dinner is over, I am thinking about riding this productivity wave a little further, getting a little bit more homework done, and the rewarding myself with a movie. I started The King’s Speech last night and only got about halfway through it before I was too tired to keep my eyes open, so I’m looking forward to finishing that. I cannot believe I have never seen it before! It is really quite an incredible movie! Tomorrow, a few of my friends and I are taking the free bus to IKEA, which is about twenty or thirty minutes outside of town, just for something fun and different. I think we are going to eat a late lunch there and just kind of explore the store, which I really love doing there! It should be fun :) We’re all pretty excited, actually. Thankfully we’re not going until 1:30, though, so I will be able to sleep in as long as I want! I hope you all have a wonderful start to your weekend and, once again, Happy Opening to those involved in Dracula (namely Sonja!)

All my love,

Kari

November 3, 2011

November 3, 2011

This morning I had to get up pretty early to be at school by 8:00. We all met at the entrance to Linguaviva and walked over to the immigration office with Kate. We needed to finish processing our permits of stay, which seemed kind of funny to me considering we’re only here a little over a month more. Anyway, it took a while but wasn’t all that bad. And, once we were done, they rewarded us by taking us to a café for coffee, tea and pastries. It was very lovely to have a little break in the middle of the morning and just kind of relax. After our little coffee break, we headed back to the school and my Medici class had an hour-long in class session. After that, we had an hour-long lunch break and then headed to Italian class. Italian class was actually a lot of fun today and it really flew by. I guess I’m actually going to miss this class when it’s over in just two weeks. After class I Skyped for a little while and then headed home around 4:30. Oh, and before I left school for the day, I checked my mail to find three bright envelopes—yellow, orange and lime green—for me :) They literally and figuratively brightened my day! Thank you Mari, France and Mom, Dad and Sonja!

When I got home I decided to work on homework for a little while so I wouldn’t have too much to do this weekend. I actually got a fair amount done and stretched for a little while as well. About an hour before dinner, I decided that I needed a little bit of a break so I started watching a movie. For dinner this evening we started out with one of my favorites—fettuccini with butter, Parmesan and a touch of pepper. For our main dish, we had quiche, lentils and bread, which were all quite good as well. We finished off with marzipan that their son had brought them as a gift all the way from Sicily, and it was absolutely to die for! It was very heavy so you couldn’t eat much of it but it was so wonderful.

Well I guess I don’t have a whole lot to say today, but I can’t have something brilliant to say every day, I suppose. We did give Daniela and Andrea some English lessons at dinner though and that was pretty funny. I was thinking about doing some more homework after dinner but I think that, because it’s Thursday night (aka our Friday night), I might finish up my movie and go to be early because we had to get up so early this morning…pretty crazy night :P I am really looking forward to relaxing and having more fun this weekend than last when I had to study so much for my midterm. I have one short paper to write but that’s really all, so I’ll be able to hang out and not stress so much. I am definitely looking forward to that. I will also do my best to rest my foot, which might be easier said than done as I really don’t do well at sitting still, all cooped up. But I will try my very hardest. I hope you all have a lovely rest of your Thursday and I wish a wonderful final Dracula tech rehearsal to my sister and everyone else involved! Wish I could be there tomorrow night!

All my love,

Kari

Franzi took this photo of Andrea with the Marzipan (bottom left) and it makes me smile :)

November 2, 2011

November 2, 2011

This morning we had our Dante class on site at the Museo del Opera del Duomo so Franzi and I headed in early, dropping our stuff off at school and then walking over to the museum. However, today was my first day of using the crutches and let me tell you, they aren’t worth it. Florence was not designed to have anyone using crutches. Plus, after a morning of using them, my hands were covered in blisters and my wrists really hurt. They aren’t like crutches back home; they’re more like a cane of sorts. Anyway, I think I will only use them for onsite visits because, between trying to use them on the bus and just getting around the city, they’re more pain than they’re worth. I think it will do me better just to stay off my feet as much as I can. Anyway, we finally got the museum after I crutched my way across town and we tied bits of Dante’s Purgatorio into different pieces of art there and vice versa. It was actually pretty interesting to see some of the connections. I also had my oral presentation on Canto 10 of the Purgatorio, which went very well :) After our time onsite, we had a half an hour break and then we met for another half hour in the classroom. After class, I had lunch and then headed across the hall to my next class.

Today in Weaving the Tale we continued to discuss the Decameron. I am actually very sad that we only have one more day left on it because I have really enjoyed reading it. However, we did not read it in its entirety so I may go back and read some of the parts we skipped over just for fun! After that class, I had a meeting with my professor, Katy, about final projects for her two classes, figuring out what I wanted to do for each of them. Talking through my ideas with her was really helpful and now I am actually kind of excited for them so hopefully they will be fun to work on! After my meeting with her, I turned on my Skype and my friend Sofia Skyped me during the board meeting for the theatre organization at St. Olaf of which I am Co-President. It was so much fun to be “sitting at the table” with all of them and to see them all! I also got to vote on a project proposal and everything! It was really a lot of fun for me :) After that, I headed over to the train station to get tickets for next weekend.

So I just found out last night that I will be headed to Riva del Garda next weekend with Nikki, Becca and Alex! Alex is running in some sort of race there and so Becca and Nikki were going to go kind of cheer him on. Anyway, when he had originally asked if anyone wanted to come, I didn’t know my plans for next weekend so I didn’t say anything. Long story short, I was asking about it but they had already made hotel reservations. But Alex called in and they changed the reservation to two double rooms so I will now be joining them! It is an absolutely gorgeous city, nestled on Lake Garda, surrounded by mountains (Google it, seriously) and was, I now realize, one of the places on my “Places I Want To Go” list but completely forgot about. We leave next Friday morning and come back Sunday night, so I am very excited. Also, Alex’s parents were originally going to come watch him run but, because something else came up, they told Alex he could use their hotel reservation and invite some friends to stay with him instead, and they would pay. Anyway, it is a ridiculously nice hotel—five star and right on the lake. When Becca, Nikki and I looked at the website, our jaws dropped. See for yourself—http://www.lido-palace.it/. Anyway, we are definitely looking forward to our weekend of luxury :) Hopefully it will be amazing!

Once I got my train tickets, I headed home in the almost dark that now accompanies 5:15. The bus was very crowded but a very nice woman offered me her seat so I didn’t have to try to balance on the crutches (I was not so lucky this morning). Now I am home and, because I have already finished my homework for tomorrow, I’m just kind of relaxing. I might work ahead a little bit for some of my classes so I can relax this weekend as well but I also might watch a movie while stretching instead…we’ll see :) Okay, more after dinner!

For dinner this evening, we started out with spaghetti carbonata, which was absolutely delicious. It has egg, bacon and nutmeg and is so perfect and delicious for a fall night. For our main dish, we had “cheeseburgers” and cooked carrots, which were very yummy as well. For dessert, we each had half of an orange fruit that I don’t remember the name of but Franzi and I decided that it tasted like a cross between pumpkin and apricot and it was very sweet and delicious. Daniela was telling us that they need to be very mature to be just right and the perfect sweetness and Andrea cut in (in Italian of course) “Like me!” We all got quite a laugh out of that. While we were clearing the table, I walked past the heater in the hallway and got this blast of hot air. I kind of yelped a little bit, scaring Daniela, and everyone ran to see what happened. Andrea shouted (once again, in Italian) “IT’S A MIRACLE!” and we all ran around to feel the heat coming out of all the heaters throughout the apartment. I am sure we looked quite comical. Actually, Andrea took a photo of Franzi and I celebrating the heat so I know we looked silly :P So THAT was exciting!

Now that dinner is over and we’re basking in the heat, Franzi and I are going to finish up watching The Parent Trap, which I started last night and watched more of when I was stretching this afternoon. We’re almost done, which I am kind of sad about because I really do love this movie. After that, I might do a little bit of homework but then I need to get to bed early so I can get up early tomorrow. But, after tomorrow, it’s already the weekend! This week has just flown by! Well, I’d better go. I hope you’re all staying warm as well and enjoying your Wednesday :)

Warm wishes and love,

Kari

Soaking up the warmth :)

November 1, 2011

November 1, 2011

HAPPY NOVEMBER! I am having a hard time believing it is already November…pretty crazy. I hope you all had a fun Halloween and are having a good first day of November. Actually, November 1 is a national holiday here in Italy, because of All Saints Day. However, that didn’t stop us from having a midterm on that holiday. Oh well. I woke up around 7:15 this morning, got ready and headed into school a little early to go through my PowerPoint one last time before the midterm. The midterm started at 9:00 and was not too bad, after all of the studying I had done. It was very fair and exactly what she said it was going to be like, so that was really nice. I am so happy to be done with midterms and am so much less stressed. After the test, I spent a little time at school using the Internet and then headed home to work on some homework and just relax.

I actually did something to my left foot—I think I bruised the ball of my foot or something—so it was good to rest it for a while. Two of my friends on the program have torn their plantar fascia this trip from so much walking on all the uneven ground and cobblestones. One of them has even sprained her ankle two times so it hasn’t been a good trip for our feet. Anyway, Nikki—the girl who sprained her ankle twice and tore her plantar fascia—has a pair of crutches that she is lending me for a little while so I can try to stay off my foot for a little while so it can heal more quickly. I am not looking to using crutches on the cobblestones and whatnot but hopefully I won’t have to use them too often. I probably wouldn’t use them in this situation except, because I am doing such a big dance show when I get home, I really don’t want it to get any worse. So hopefully if I don’t go on five-mile walks for a while and try to stay off my feet more often, it will get better. Anyway, it was very nice to be able to lounge around this afternoon and stay off of it.

No one was home this afternoon so I set myself up on the couch in the living room with my computer and some homework. I finished up my homework for tomorrow’s classes and then just played around on the Internet and such, letting my brain relax a little. I actually fell asleep on the couch for about half an hour, so I guess I needed a nap as well :P After that, I did some homework, working ahead in hopes that I would never again have a weekend so stressful as this past one. I got quite a bit done, as well as relaxed and stayed off my feet so I feel pretty productive :)

This evening for dinner we started off with one of the most delicious pastas we have had so far, which was penne pasta with a kind of creamy cheese sauce that was so yummy! For our main dish, Daniela and Franzi had some dish with tuna and tomatoes and I had my caprese salad, which was very good as usual. We also had bread, as we always do, zucchini and another vegetable that I can’t remember what it is called but is good for your stomach. We finished off with apples that were very sweet :)

I am pretty sleepy (as was illustrated by my falling asleep on the couch) so I will probably try to get to bed fairly early. Until then, I’ll probably stretch and just do some reading or something else relaxing. I definitely have earned an evening of relaxing, haven’t I? Oh, and I don’t think the heat is on yet because I am still really cold, so that’s kind of disappointing :( I was so looking forward to it! Hopefully it will come on very soon! I hope you’re all staying warm and enjoying your first day of November!

All my love,

Kari

P.S. I just discovered that Franzi has a bazillion movies on her computer so she is putting them one-by-one on a flash drive so I can have them on my computer. I just got my first one—The Parent Trap—and am looking forward to many more, including a lot of Disney movies! Staying off my feet for the next few weeks just got a whole lot easier :)