March Madness

 I think it’s safe to say I’m sucking at this whole blogging endeavor. Regardless, here’s a recap of March Madness!!

First of all I have to say that I couldn’t have ended February any better… All You Can Eat Sushi and a girls night pigging out and watching the movie Leap Year ON Leap Day !!! Just awesome.

Ok, so Anna managed to find this great pool hall just downtown, which is a lot of fun since it’s a nice break from going to the bars to drink… ok I lied, it’s just more fun since we can play pool WHILE drinking (cheaply) instead of sitting around drinking lol. It’s also a nice change from our poker/game nights.

Anna and I have been touring the city a lot this month because we’re planning a city-wide scavenger hunt for our friends! We thought it would be a interesting way to learn about Verona and spend a nice hot day. It probably won’t happen until after the Easter holidays so I’ll keep you posted or rather you’ll hear about it like a month later as per usual ha.

The first Sunday of March we had a “Sunday Family Roast.” It was probably one of the best days here so far. Anna was gracious enough to host the dinner at her lovely apartment. We were like kids on Christmas morning, so pumped for a full roast dinner with everyone! I went over to Anna’s in the morning and helped her prepare the food and dessert. Marion’s sister was over visiting and the two of them made her famous lemon and buttercream cupcakes (yes they were as amazing as they sound!!!). Be jealous.

Dinner Menu:

Appetizer: a balsamic glaze salad with stuffed mushrooms in the middle (unreal)

Main Course: Mash potatoes, roast potatoes, green beans, carrots, roast chicken, stuffing, and some weird package gravy the English insisted on.

Dessert: Irish Bailey’s Cream Cheesecake with chocolate shavings on top, Lemon cupcakes with lemon and buttercream icing, Irish Coffees.

I’d like to point out that I didn’t poison anyone with my stuffing that I made! I’m rather quite proud of myself actually because despite not having actually stuffed it in the chicken’s butt or having the proper poultry seasoning that mama Pam uses, it turned out pretty darn good! There’s hope for me yet. It was a double dose of dessert that day since while eating the amazing sweets we got to watch the hot Irish rugby team play on tv J After completely destroying my reputability as a lady by literally shoving fist-sized portions of mash potatoes down my throat, we played Bowl of Nouns (Dan you’d be proud) and Post-It Who Am I? The last one is awesome and easy since you just have to write down a famous person/character on a post-it and stick it on someone’s head. You get one question per round to try and figure out who you are! Highly recommended for hours of good old fashion fun.

If I’ve learned nothing else while in Verona, I can proudly walk away with the knowledge that I’m a pro stalker. In all fairness it was a beautiful Friday afternoon spent in a park (that just happened to be on the set of the new Romeo and Juliet movie). I mean lets be honest, they picked a pretty hot cast of boys lol. Ed Westwick aka Chuck Bass as Tybalt, Douglas Booth as Romeo (he’s so good looking and a sweetheart to boot), and Christian Cooke as Mercutio! Although I didn’t get a picture with any of them, I did get to talk to Romeo and let me put it on record that he is the perfect Romeo! I can also proudly admit that I never once screamed or ran after them, which may not amount to much considering my friends and I did hang around the set for a good 6 hours….

Douglas Booth = Romeo

Ed Westwick= Tybalt

Christian Cooke= Mercutio

The weekend after was St. Patrick’s Day, so it was a huge deal since Anna and Marion are Irish! I guess there’s not much to say about it other than we went into town, had a few drinks, got gelato, ate pizza, and spent the night with a bunch of weird old guys are our favourite pub Campus! We wore funny hats and drank Guinness all night….yes it tastes like what I imagine wood would taste like ha! The next day was spent relaxing at Anna’s for a girls’ movie day. It’s not our fault that the guys don’t want to join us for our Rom Coms. 

St. Patrick's Night in Campus... after I spilled my Guinness on Anna's lap!

Last weekend was our trip to Cinque Terre !!!! But I’ll save that for the next blog….

If Looks Could Kill

OK, I admit that my blogging consistency is horrific and I do apologize to anyone who actually cares enough to read it lol.

In case anyone has yet to notice, I haven’t died from hypothermia!!! I can’t say we had much of a spring either since it jumped from -5 to 12 to 20 in the span of a little under 2 weeks. I’m definitely not complaining since it’s been about 18 and sunny for the past 3 weeks. This seems to have gone completely unnoticed by the locals… apparently 20 and sunny is still not good enough to leave your fur jacket, hat, and mitts at home! I wasn’t even going to attempt wearing flip-flops this early in case they sent a lynch mob after me.

I love this country, but sometimes I just can’t get used to the staring!!! Their ability to stare and gawk for an unnervingly rude length of time could be an Olympic sport. I often have to glance at myself in a passing reflection to double check that it’s not because I forgot to put my pants on. The worst part is that they don’t even stop once I’ve given them my sharpest “you better keep moving, or I will throttle you” look. It’s clearly not working. On a complete and utterly random side note, you’re allowed to bring dogs into shops and grocery stores. It kind of freaked me out the first time one of the little walking floor mops started sniffing around my feet in the produce section.

Alright, since Padova and Venice, I’ve been pretty busy with school, hanging out with friends, and settling into a schedule. The Wednesday after carnival in Padova was my good friend Antonio’s birthday. It was just he, Emily, and I for the celebrations since everyone else had exams. We met for a few drinks near Piazza Bra. Since we were the only customers in the joint, Antonio suggested a nice bar that wasn’t too far from where we were. It could have been my state of euphoria over discovering the All You Can Eat Sushi restaurant right next to the bar (not too far from my house), but I was apparently incapable of putting 2 and 2 together lol. I thought I was just being funny as Antonio laughed when I said it was quite the “sausage fest.” It took me another 10 minutes to realize it was a gay bar. Sneaky little rascal. We had a really great time with definitely lots of laughs! 

Birthday boy Antonio & Emmy

A few days later, Marion’s friend Niall came for a visit and we spent the day showing him around Verona. We walked up Castel San Pietro since it was a perfect and sunny day. We had panzerotti (like a deep fried calzone) for lunch and then ate gelato in front of the ancient Roman arena. That night we discovered a pool hall, and thus have added it to our poker nights. That weekend me, Chris and Anna went to a city a little ways south called Bologna. We were really there for Anna to get her Macbook fixed at the only Apple store, but we decided to make a day of it! After walking the city we decided to have lunch at a real restaurant!! I had yet to eat at an actual restaurant since arriving and I decided to go all out with a steak. Well. I think any vegetarian (even a few meat lovers) would have retched at the sight. It was the most tender piece of raw beef I’ve ever seen lol. I don’t mean to be facetious but my mind was running rampant with thoughts of cannibalism. I couldn’t bare to insult the chef any further by asking to have the meat cooked a 3^rd time, so I manned up and did my best to finish it. I’m still convinced it was too tender to have been an animal…perhaps it was a chubby baby?

All kidding aside it was a nice day. Anna had a party at her flat that night and I finally got to see my love Elisa !!! Elisa is a German-Italian exchange student who spent a few months living with my family in Uxbridge back in 2008. It’s been a lonnggg time and it was so nice seeing her again. We will definitely be traveling together while I’m here!!

View of Verona from Castel San Pietro

The Asinelli and Garisenda towers in Bologna... yes the one is leaning.

University of Bologna, founded in 1088 and is the oldest academic institution in the Western world.

Me and Elisa Bisa!! xox