Sto viaggiando in Italia!

Montone

Oh, my goodness, it has been way to long since I posted something! Well, I have some exciting news...my school is planning a trip to Italy this summer. It's for college credit and it's a month long. First there was some concern that enough people might not sign up. Then about a week and a half ago Gary (the head of the fine arts dept) told me that there are enough people and it is going to happen. So, I was happy to hear that but there was still the matter of me coming up with the $4500 for the tuition or whatever you want to call it plus a couple thousand more probably for various expenses while I'm there. I mean...I want to have a freaking awesome time! That and not all meals are covered. So, I went to my financial aid office and discovered that I still had $4000 dollars in student aid left! All I had to do was sign a piece of paper and boom! I've got a huge chunk of my trip paid for! Now, it is in loan form, so I have to pay it back when I graduate, but I'm of the mind that it's totally freaking worth it! Now, it's real. Now I know that it's actually going to happen. I'm just so freaking psyched!

Trevi Fountain, Rome

Florence

If you don't know what this is, for the love of god, pick up a book.

So! The first place we're going is Rome. You know...the Eternal City...Sistine Chapel...Pantheon...Colosseum...square one for one of the greatest civilizations that ever existed...the MFing Renaissance! I mean...come on! We're spending a couple days there then off to Fiorenze! Ah, Florence...I personally cannot wait to see all the treasures that this wonderful cities holds. Then we're spending the next three weeks taking art classes in a little village in Umbria called Montone. Oh my gosh...I cannot even believe this is all going to happen. I've been dreaming about it since I was a little girl. I used to read books on classical antiquity and I have always been fascinated by Greco-Roman mythology.

I have a lot to do to get ready for it all including getting my passport. But, I'll apply for that within the next month so I should be fine. Also, I have offically started my weight loss/get in shape program. It includes exercise at the gym 3 times a week and also just being more active overall. There's a nature trail at my school so I've been going there to walk once or twice a week with my sister (who has also been coming to the gym with me). And I've almost eliminate soda (I had a coke zero tonight but it's the first time in...two or three weeks I've had one), gotten rid of most white flour, eating more fruits and veg...and so on. It's going pretty good too. I'm definitely feeling better. I want to be in shape so I'm able to trek all over Rome and Florence. And Montone means mountain in Italian. So there will be trekking there as well.

Anyways, as you can see I'm very excited and I will post more as I find more out. I think we're having an orientation at the school in the next couple weeks. Oh! and there's a "learn Italian" cd set up at the public library that I'm going to check out so I'm not completely out of my element when I get there. This is so freaking exciting! As you may have assumed, over the next few months, there will be a lot of posts about Italy. If any of you have traveled to Italy or live there and would like to share some experiences, I would love to hear them!