One week and three new cities!

Again, this week has been nuts. I spent the first few days adjusting to my new home, family, and city. I've fallen in love with Bologna and the carefree and open minded people here. I did something a little nuts, made a CouchSurfing.org profile, and met up with a few Bolognese students for tours of the city and the nightlife. I've met a few friends, but unfortunately a lot of them have already left for summer vacation, heading home to other parts of Italy.

the iconic Statua di Nettuno

Piazza Maggiore

glued to the TV!

post-bath moped ride? :)

We went to the family's ranch (only 30 minutes away) for an evening!

Mati loved the chocolate on top of her birthday cake (at the ranch)

the old gate from the medieval city

remains of the original wall around the city

"Little Venice"- a small canal in Bologna!

Just as things were starting to settle down, I took a 5am flight on Friday to Paris where I met up with Eve (who has been au-pairing in Milan). While in Paris, we spent time with some great friends from Berkeley, and were lucky enough that Meredith let us crash at her apartment instead of shelling out even more money for a hotel. However, even with lodging taken care of, Paris still found a way to devastate my wallet. Anyway, a few pictures from one of the most incredible weekends of my life:

started our day off with an unintended but super excited run-in with some fellow DGs!

Luxembourg!
Palais

l'Opera!

seeing this in person was absolutely surreal

DG meet up in Paris!

Eve and I stumbled across this amazing open air market
cheeses!!

After only a few hours of sleep in Bologna after my Parisian weekend, I worked for a bit and then rushed off to the train station to meet my dad in Venice. We had a great afternoon walking around, admiring the breathtaking canals, and enjoying a delicious Italian dinner sandwiched between two trips for gelato. It was sad to leave him, not knowing when I'll be able to see him again, but I had to get back to Bologna for work in the morning!

Venice Campanile

view from the top!

nothing quite like a nice Italian dinner with dad!

beautiful view to end the day!

The past week began with a few days of quiet recovery from Paris and Venice, followed by meeting some new friends (including some Berkeley girls!! :) ), getting my Italian library card (!!!), and spending a lot of time wandering the city, reading in the piazzas, and chatting with random passersby. I had a nice rooftop barbeque, where a new friend, Ian, grilled up some fabulous prosciutto-wrapped, gorgonzola-stuffed figs! I also enjoyed my first apertivo experience, where you buy a drink for about 7Euros and then have buffet-style appetizers!

Friday: Open Air market!

La Due Torri, or "Two Towers"- iconic buildings of Bologna- notice the one on the right is tilting!

Piazza Maggiore- the city's main piazza, and my favorite spot to read!

Piazza Maggiore by night: free outdoor movies! Last week, I enjoyed a silent movie with an orchestra & opera singer and all: Phantom of the Opera!! :)

I had a super bizarre experience last week where a man approached me in the piazza while I was reading and asked if he could draw me. I obliged, but used gestures to say that I would continue reading. After about half an hour, he started trying to style my hair for his photo, but I was completely stunned and didn't know how to communicate that I was fine with him drawing me, but not touching me! Eventually I started pointing at my watch and just got up, then had to undo all of the braids he had painfully put in my hair. What an awkward situation... Looking back, I don't know why I didn't just get up immediately. Here's his final work of art:

please reassure me that I don't actually look like that...

Today is July 4th, so I'm missing America more than usual. Of course, I'm wearing my red, white, and blue, and when I get off work, Eve is coming into Bologna. I'm planning on showing her a few of my favorite sites before we go to an independence day BBQ with some of my new American friends. I'm not sure how it can live up to last year's July 4th in Newport beach, but there's never a boring day here in Bologna!

One hell of a week, and a new home!

Some hipster pictures from the past week that I never posted, oops:

As made evident in the fact that I haven't blogged in two weeks, things have been pretty hectic! Through all of the madness, my photography has been slacking, but here's a quick update!

Thursday night was another one for the books. I enjoyed some pizza with Jasmine and Aida before Hanne, Christian, and Michel joined us at a cocktail bar called Vora Beach, and then at Blues Bar. We had a great night of chatting, and it was nice having Hanne, another non-German speaker to defend my insistence on speaking English or Spanish. When we all headed back to Vora Beach, I was nervous to look like a fool testing out the Spanish dances, but Christian and I (both amateurs) found a brilliant technique in simply watching and copying the other dance couples around us. It took us awhile to get the tempo together, and to stop stepping on each others feet, but eventually I think we looked a little less clueless. Then, Hanne came to save the day and taught me some basic Salsa and Merengue steps. ¡ARRIBA!

"Wie gehts dir? oh giel!"
Michel told me I smile too much. There's my attempt at looking aggressive

Lou and I spent Friday morning at the park per usual, and I was the sad witness of a little baby bullying. An aggressive Spanish boy came up to Lou, pulled out his pacifier, threw it on the ground, and then pushed Lou into the side of the play structure. As soon as the kid walked away, Lou looked at me with a quivering lip and started bawling :(. The mean kid's mother said nothing and just walked away with the baby bully. Poor little sensitive Lou.

The rest of the weekend absolutely sped by. I played with Lou on the hot beaches all day, and went out in Sitges until the wee hours of the morning, enjoying quite a few 4am walks on the beach. All of this is now hitting me, as the lack of sleep has rendered me almost braindead.

Unfortunately, all of the fun this weekend distracted me from my camera, so here are the few pictures I did take!

Haircut at Philippe Sand. The head massage was nice, but I miss those lost inches :(

amaaazing mall
my knockarounds have finally checked out :( RIP

The weekend was pretty crazy, and I only got a few hours of sleep between all three days of it. We experienced another failed attempt at spending the night out in Barcelona, but Sitges proved to be a trusty good time anyway. On one of the nights, I was up until 6am enjoying the peaceful beach and after a three hour nap, returned to the beach to watch Lou for the day. Lack of sleep and painful sunburn, but no regrets!

I spent another amazing solo adventure day in Barcelona, and finally got a chance to see the Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, now my two favorite things in the city! Although the view and beautiful architecture was worth every step, I wasn't ecstatic about hiking uphill to the park under the blistering sun. Anyway, GAUDI IS AMAZING.

Sagrada Familia

la champagneria! Amazing sandwiches and 2E bottles of homemade red champagne!

Park Guell <3

Michel, glad he didn't fork out 30 Euros for this unimpressive meal

when three au pairs are in a car together, one always has to sit in the back, squished between the two kiddie seats!

For my final weekend, Sheena posed as a fabulous tour guide and took me to the Plaza del Toros and the magic waterfalls. We enjoyed some great food and lots of laughs together. Miss you already, Sheena!!

magic fountains

the protests have followed me from Berkeley. NO MORE SCISSORS!!
this sangria was delicious.. until we found out it was 15Euro!! those tricksters..

adios, casa del mar!

After four hours of public transport and then a 2 hour flight, I'm in Bologna! I'm absolutely loving it so far. The Lin/Azzolini family lives in a gorgeous historic flat right in the middle of the city with high ceilings and amazing artwork and decoration. Yesterday I enjoyed homemade lasagna before few hours in the nearby park with the kids, Edoardo (11) and Matilda (5). It's really refreshing to be playing with kids who can actually talk to you! haha. For dinner, a three course meal of pasta, cherry tomatoes, bread sticks, meatballs, and lots of olive oil & balsamic! YUMMMM. Will be posting more about the family and my new home soon!

Adios Espana, I will miss your 7 Euro pitchers of Sangria and topless beaches. Bring on the pizza and gelato, Ciao Italia!