roma day 4 May 31, 2009

Day 4, May 25^th

 

            This was the day we had chosen to visit Vatican City. It meant an early start and a harrowing taxi ride to that part of Rome. We also had to dress for the trip; the Vatican has a strict no knees, shoulders, midriffs, or cleavage for all visitors and it’s strictly enforced. We decided to go first to the Tomb of the Popes, which turned out to be just as creepy as it sounds. Basically most of the older tombs have effigies on top that are surprisingly life-like and you’re supposed to be very quiet down there. Our next stop was going inside Saint Peter’s, which naturally was crowded though we later heard that it wasn’t as busy as it normally is. I guess it helped to go on a Monday. Saint Peter’s was just as magnificent as I had anticipated with Bernini’s Baldacchino rising over the altar. I had been anticipating seeing the Baldacchino for so long. Sometimes when you imagine seeing something it becomes bigger and better in your mind than what you end up seeing. This was not the case at all and I took millions of pictures. The space was just so huge and magnificently decorated absolutely everywhere. I even got to see Bernini’s four saint statues up close, like St. Longinus. Michelangelo’s Pieta was behind glass and very crowded but I still managed to see all of the detail he put into it.

            Our next stop was the cupola. Mom and I rode the elevator up to the top of Saint Peter’s but then we had to climb up 321 stairs to the top before we could see magnificent views of Rome. But remember how hot it was for the first few days? Well it was just as hot today and I probably lost five pounds just from sweating. Also the stairs are narrow and at points curve with the dome so you are forced to curve your body as well. But all the pain was worth it and you could see all of Rome, for miles and miles from the top, even the Colosseum and the Wedding Cake. Though I thought I was going to pass out on the way down, it wasn’t a bad trip. We got cokes at the little rooftop café on the top of St. Peter’s to rehydrate.

            After visiting St. Peter’s, we made our way around to the Vatican Museum. The line seemed pretty long but it moved fast. On our way into the city on Friday, we saw the line to get into the museum and it wrapped really far around the Vatican. The museum itself was kind of odd. Most people are only there to see the Sistine Chapel, which I will admit was my main goal too, but the crowds are like salmon, all moving in one direction and pushing you along. The nice part though was that the Raphael rooms weren’t as crowded so I got a chance to admire his brilliant colors and the way he used perspective. These are the things we always talked about in class but you really don’t get a feel for them until you’re up close. They were also pretty small so you had a chance to be closer. Finally we were ushered into the crowds in the Sistine Chapel. Before looking up at the ceiling, you just look out into the crowd (since you’re up on the altar) and it looks like a giant mosh pit. Surprisingly you got a good chance to look at the ceiling and the frescoes along the way. The blue in the Last Judgment fresco was just so bright and the ceiling was so fine and detailed. Now I understand what all the fuss is about! Since the Sistine Chapel is the last thing in the museum, we made our way out and over to a small pizzeria down a side street. I was exhausted from all the crowds and art so a good Pizza Margherita was just what I needed.

            For our trip back to the hotel, we decided to cross the Ponte Sant’Angelo which is right by the Castel Sant’Angelo and designed by Bernini. I absolutely love the angel statues on that bridge. They are so beautiful and look real like they’re just resting there for a little bit. Our way back was another journey of weaving through the Roman streets, this time a much longer journey than any of our others. We passed Santa Maria della Pace which unfortunately was closed but we did get some gelato and head into the Piazza Navona. We even put our dirty and tired feet in one of the fountains but the polizia came and yelled at us. Thankfully we made it back to our hotel for a much needed shower.

            Giovanni had told us the day before to have dinner at the café since Andrea Botticelli was going to be performing at the Colosseum and that’s just what we did. It was almost a relief not to have to navigate through the city after having walked all the way back from the Vatican. I had a Caprese salad with the most amazing Buffalo mozzarella and then spaghetti alla Carbonara. Giovanni then proceeded to prepare a special dessert for us which involved strawberries and sugar and Grand Marnier over a flame. It was a little scary but delicious.

            After dinner we walked across the street to the Colosseum to see if we could hear and watch Andrea Botticelli. Through one of the openings we could actually see him and we could hear him too which was pretty awesome. This is also where we met Luca and Fabrettzio, two Italian boys who wanted to take us for a drink. We headed over to the Royal Bar, just two doors down from our usual café. Luca was already drunk and didn’t speak any English; Fabrettzio spoke very little English. It made conversation interesting but even I wasn’t so bad at Italian that I could understand why Luca was all over me. And even though “no” is pretty universal, again he was drunk. He wasn’t even that cute and though I don’t mind meeting new people, especially guys, in a new place, all the romance of Rome had reminded me of my recent break-up and how much I wished my ex was still with me. We ended up back at the café and Luca still wasn’t getting the hint so thankfully Giovanni and Stefano, the owner of the café, explained in Italian that he should go home and sleep it off. Since they are Italian, there was a lot of gesturing and shouting but the boys (really they were only 19 and 20) left. Stefano summed it up easily: “It’s the Italian way.” After a glass of wine, we went back and practically collapsed at the hotel.

roma day 3 May 31, 2009

Day 3, May 24^th

 

            Our third day in Rome started just like the second: delicious croissants and buttered rolls in our hotel courtyard. Today we were venturing across the Tiber to Trastevere, a genteel neighborhood that also has a flea market, naturally the reason why we were venturing over there. Our trip to Trastevere led us to Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. It’s most famous from the scene in Roman Holiday (my favorite movie of all time, for those of you who don’t know) when Gregory Peck puts his hand in the mouth and then pretends that the mouth of truth chomped it off scaring Audrey Hepburn. The whole premise behind the mouth is that it will know when you put your hand in the open mouth that you are a liar and bite it off. There was a huge group of people so I didn’t get a chance to put my hand in there. Maybe that was a good thing? Right across the street was the Temple of Vestia which isn’t terribly famous but it was kind of cool and a mostly intact structure from the Roman Empire.

            The flea market was on the Via Porta Portense and was like most flea markets, crowded with lots of cheap jewelry, knock-off clothing and other bits and pieces. Again it was a pretty hot Roman day, about 93 degrees but it felt hotter. We found this kind of rooftop bar where we had some water and listened to some Europop music and watched the shoppers. Then it was off to lunch further in Trastevere. This side of the river was much more of a neighborhood and lots of people were out and about. We came upon Santa Maria in Trastevere which is a Byzantine/Renaissance church with plenty of gorgeous mosaics. We couldn’t go in because they were still having mass (it was a Sunday) so we decided to come back a little later.

            Our lunch this day was probably the best we had in Rome. The restaurant was called Checco er Carrettiere and we sat in their back patio. For our appetizer we shared the fried Roman dish: zucchini flowers that had cheese inside, meatballs, artichoke and arronchini. My main dish was tagliatelli scampi which was a little spicy but more in a zesty way with really fresh chunks of shrimp. While we ate our meal, a large Italian family came in and celebrated one of the little boys first Communion. They had this large elaborate cake complete with a topper of a little boy in first Communion garb and little blue ruffles around the edge. Everyone was there, two sets of grandmothers and aunts and uncles. We skipped dessert at the restaurant in favor of finding a gelateria on our way back to Santa Maria in Trastevere. The church was magnificent on the inside with a mixture of golden mosaics and elaborate frescoes. In one of the side chapels they were performing a baptism. You see a lot in Rome when you aren’t expecting it.

            We had a long walk back to our hotel but decided just to see what we could see as we made our way back. On our usual walks through Rome we would pass Il Gesu, the church of the Jesuits, another that I studied in my art history classes. It was always closed but this time it was open and the opulence of the interior artwork was amazing. I especially loved the dove in the center of the dome. It was our last stop before we made it back to our hotel for the necessary shower before dinner.

            That night we had decided to go to a restaurant Luca had recommended which was over by the Spanish steps, a pretty good distance but there was a lot we could see on our way over. Our walk led us by the Quirinale palace, which was built by a pope and is now the home of the Italian president. The Piazza Quirinale has a great view of the city and it was made even more spectacular by the setting sun. We also came across Bernini’s Four Seasons fountains, each on a separate street corner at the intersection. Though they were dirty, you could still see how much amazing skill Bernini had. Down a steep hill, just another one of those Roman hills, we came into the Piazza Barberini, just below the Palazzo Barberini. In the center is another Bernini fountain. Navigating through the traffic and crowds, we made our way to the Spanish Steps and the Piazza di Spagna. Tons of people were just lounging around on the steps and taking thousands of pictures. We also saw the boat fountain, which is supposed to be a boat that got left ashore after a famous flood. After the Spanish Steps, we tried to find the two restaurants Luca recommended but it turned out that they were both closed so instead we chose a quiet restaurant, Hostaria Al Amatriciana, and sat outside. I finally got a dish of gnocchi and they were so soft just the way real perfect gnocchi should be.

            On the way home we figured out a way to go back by our favorite gelato place, Il Gelato di San Crispini. After picking up gelato, this time I got two different flavors with meringue, we headed over to the Trevi Fountain and people watched before heading home.

roma day 2 May 31, 2009

Day Two, May 23^rd

 

            I could have slept for hours and hours after that first day, only a slight part of this based on jet lag. Dragging ourselves out of bed, we had to hurry to get dressed and ready before 10am, the time when breakfast ended at the Hotel Celio. Under a tent in a little stone courtyard, we were served cappuccinos (though later I would change my order to a hot chocolate, my favorite European breakfast beverage) croissants filled something unidentifiable but delicious, and rolls with butter. There were also slices of cheese, packaged toast, and yogurt but their weird seemingly German-ness on our Roman breakfast table kept me from trying them.

            Today after breakfast, we ventured about a mile from our hotel, navigating again the hectic Roman traffic and confusing little streets, over to Campo dei Fiori. It was basically a small square where local vendors set up a market of all sorts of products from fresh flowers and herbs to balsamic vinaigrette and wine. The vegetables and fruits and plants were the best part of it; they were so brightly colored and so fresh and it was so unlike going to a boring supermarket in the States. Mom bought this pasta shaped like mini columns along with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. Even though it was before noon, we were already roasting and sat down for a little bit at Joe’s Wine Bar, a small café on one side of the square. We planned our next stop, the Pantheon, but first I sidetracked us down a small street and over to Palazzo Farnese. Though we couldn’t get in, since it’s the French embassy, I was happy to see the place Prof. Och talked of tirelessly as she described Annibale Carracci’s ceiling painting there.

            On our way to the Pantheon, we saw a small open courtyard and, since we had already discovered that a small step off the beaten path could mean seeing something amazing, we walked in. This is where we saw Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, another church I studied in my Baroque class and one of my favorites because of its weirdly beautiful church topper. It was closed but I felt lucky to discover the church when I wasn’t even looking. Further along, almost right before finding the Pantheon, we saw an open church. Pushing through the doors we found out that we were walking right into a wedding. The church was beautiful (and I still haven’t figured out which one it is) and there were only a few wedding guests since the bride and groom were older. The bride’s dress was simple and beautiful and it made me wish I was Italian so I had the opportunity to get married in an opulent Baroque church (maybe though when the time comes…)

            Mom and I knew we found the Pantheon when we saw the huge crowds in a piazza. Of course the Pantheon could not be complete without horse carriages parked out front or gladiators trying to get you to take a picture with them. The Pantheon with its coffered dome and occulus was more amazing in person than art history lectures. I can’t even put into words what makes it so amazing; it just is. Escaping the crowds from the Pantheon, we went around the corner to Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the Piazza Minerva where Bernini’s elephant and obelisk sculpture sat in the center. The church is the site of the tomb of Fra Angelica and had a fresco by Fra Filippo Lippi of the Annunciation. I never thought I would be able to see works by Renaissance masters but here I was in Rome and they just seemed to show up in churches we stumbled upon.

            We stopped for a basic lunch at Café Argentina before heading off towards our next destination: the Trevi Fountain. It wasn’t far but it seemed farther because we were cutting down small streets, a process that led us to Sant’Ignazio. We weren’t even planning on seeing it, and though I felt like I had mapped out the churches I wanted to see, I completely forgot about this one. Sant’Ignazio contains Andrea Pozzo’s trompe l’oiel dome and amazing four continents ceiling painting. The colors seemed so rich as though they hadn’t changed over hundreds of years.

            The Trevi Fountain was another landmark that could be spotted by the crowds and it was probably the biggest crowd we saw in all of Rome. Mom and I both tossed our coins into the fountain (and took pictures to prove it) and spent a little time people-watching before deciding we needed some gelato. The best gelato place in Rome, according to several sources, was just a few blocks from the fountain. Il Gelato di San Crispini is basically a little hallway where you order your gelato and get out but it was delicious. I had chocolate chip and caramel. After the gelato, we still had our tickets for the Colosseum. I can’t say the Colosseum was more exciting on the inside that the Roman Forum or the Palantine. It was interesting to imagine it as it might have been back during the Roman Empire but I was hot and exhausted and dirty so maybe I didn’t appreciate it like I should.

            After a shower at the hotel to clean off all the grime we’d picked up wandering through Rome, we went to have drinks at the Café Rossi Martini, the one right down the street from our hotel where we’d been persuaded to have drinks by the waiter, Giovanni. It turns out it was a good decision since a bachelorette party showed up complete with a big white limo and the bachelorette in pink bunny ears and hot pants with a fluffy tail. An accordion player serenaded us and, when Mom tipped him, he played “I did it my way” for us. It was entertaining but we had to make our way around the ruins to another neighborhood where we had dinner at a fun little outdoor terrace restaurant called In Roma. They gave us champagne cocktails to start, then we had more delicious and fresh grilled vegetables (though I’m still not a fan of artichokes) and I ordered rigatoni all’amatriciana, a very Roman pasta dish. Dessert was this really good flaky pastry in crème fraiche with powdered sugar. As a dedicated foodie, Rome was like heaven!

overseas adventures May 29, 2009

To cut to the chase, I just spent the past 5 days in Rome, the eternal city and now one of my favorites. Since I have vowed to talk about my adventures on this blog, I’m busy writing up the story of my travels. I’ll post them in installments, since having just written about day 1, I realized there’s a whole lot to tell. 

Day One, May 22^nd

 

            Nobody emerges from an eight and a half hour flight feeling ready to go. Least of all coming off of an All’Italia flight where most of the passengers enjoy wandering up and down the aisles the entire flight, sneezing old men, flight attendants who feel very little need to help you, and the general discomfort of sleeping sitting up. So I can’t say I felt my best when I walked off the plane, into a bus (since that’s how they do it in Europe) and made my way through the immense crowd at Customs. But I was finally in Rome! A whole five days in a brand new city, these five days to escape everything I left behind in the States, two of the most important being an unsuccessful job search and a broken heart (though it’s hard to leave that one completely behind).

            Our hotel had told my mother that a car would be waiting to take us right to the hotel. Coming out into the main part of the airport, we realized finding our ride was going to be anything but easy. There were so many people, mostly men holding signs with last names on them, but all of them bunched together and very hard to see. After going through the crowd several times, we realized that we had no driver in sight and found a shuttle service that would take us where we needed to go. This is how we met Luca, our shuttle driver. Settled in a Mercedes mini-van we careened out of the airport and onto the highway leading us into Rome.

            Seeing Rome for the first time was just as amazing as every other time I’ve been to a new place in Europe. The drivers were crazy, squeezing down tiny cobblestoned streets and around every corner there was some amazing building built hundreds of years ago. Luca dropped off the other passengers in our van, a middle-aged Italian couple staying near the Vatican and a couple with their 30 year old daughter staying on the outskirts of Villa Borghese. He was much friendlier after these other groups left and explained his many vacations to Cuba, Key West, and a desire to go to Miami, though his English wasn’t the best. He asked us if we liked cappuccinos and moments later he double-parked a bunch of scooters (which we would learn is the ride of choice for most Romans) and had us follow him into the Theatre Café. That’s where I had my first Italian cappuccino and it was fantastic.

            Zooming through the streets we passed Il Vittoriano which is also known as the Wedding Cake for its elaborate decoration. Suddenly we began passing bunches of ruins and then came up the biggest one of all, the Colosseum. Seeing it for the first time is so awesome, the way it just stands there while modern day traffic whips by it and thousands of tourists circle it. A couple of days later it would become common place being so close to our hotel but for that first day I could hardly believe I was seeing the Colosseum. We dropped off our luggage and checked into our hotel, the Hotel Celio, just a block away from the Colosseum. Since it was only 11am, we couldn’t go to our room so we decided to explore the ruins. Our first stop was the Palantine and Roman forum ruins after circling the Colosseum and passing around the Arch of Constantine. It was amazing to see where Roman rulers walked and lived. We saw a stadium for chariot racing and the home of Livia, one of the emperor’s wives. I had wanted to come to Rome to see all the Baroque art I had just studied but I can’t deny how interesting it is to see something that has withstood centuries and centuries of change. But it was hot, probably a little over 90 degrees that day, and after almost 9 hours on a plane with little sleep, we were exhausted. A little bit dirty from the dusty ruins and very sweaty from the Roman heat, we walked back towards our hotel. Being around lunch time, we walked to a small place at the end of our street.

We still don’t know the name of the restaurant but it was a great first dining experience. The staff spoke little to no English and the food was fantastic. Mom and I shared fresh, fresh, fresh grilled vegetables then I had polpette, or meatballs, with potatoes in a tomato sauce. I still dream of those meatballs. After our meal, the room was ready and so were we for a shower and a quick nap before more exploration of the city.

I don’t think the sun set before 8pm any of the nights that we were there, so we had plenty of light to explore the city. Which turned out of be great for me, the navigator, as I tried to identify which miniscule street we were wandering down. We set out for dinner the first night to what many claimed to be the best pizza in Rome, Pizzeria da Baffetto. Our walk led us by the Wedding Cake in Piazza Venezia. Pizza Venezia has probably the largest and craziest traffic circle in Rome with no lights to help pedestrians cross. This was where we got our education in Roman street crossing: just walk out and the cars, scooters, buses, and trucks will most likely see you, though these vehicles have no problem stopping right at your knee caps. Talk to my ex-boyfriend, I am a nervous street crosser thanks to some close calls when I was younger. I wanted to close my eyes but was too terrified of what would happen if I did. But I made it, I survived the whole trip! As we wandered towards the restaurant, we made our way past Il Gesu, one of the churches I had studied in my many art history classes. It amazed me that I could just walk around a corner and there was that building that I had spent a whole class hour discussing. Our walk led us to Piazza Navona, which became my favorite piazza in Rome. With St. Agnes in Agone dominating one side and Bernini’s amazing Four Rivers Fountain in the middle, it was filled with tourists and Romans mingling at sunset. This fountain was my first time seeing Bernini’s work up close and personal. Despite the many hours Prof. Och spent extolling Bernini’s expertise, I didn’t see his mastery until I was face-to-face with it there in Piazza Navona. And thus began my stalking of all things Bernini, not a difficult pastime in Rome.

Finally finding the little Pizzeria da Baffetto, we decided it was the perfect place for our first dinner in Rome. The owner, a grandpa with thick Buddy Holly glasses embraced neighbors on the street, not even hesitating to stop scooters. Picnic tables covered in white paper sat six diners and we were sat with a young Italian couple, the boy looking like Harry Potter with small round glasses and the girl looked like the woman from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I got pizza with onions and proscuitto, my idea of heaven, and we shared small pitchettes of wine. It was probably the best pizza I’ve ever had. We even bought pitchettes, which I am now looking at sitting on my dresser. Stuffed with good food, we made our way back to the hotel stopping to take pictures of the Wedding Cake at night where birds flew back and forth through the light like moths.

look what i found May 29, 2009

Before I explain my long absence from writing anything, especially after I swore that I was going to dedicate more time to blogging, I want to point out how much of a spazz I am about blogging. Today I went to change my e-mail address for this blog because it was still sending things to my old e-mail address. Well the website kept telling me that this address was already in use. After playing around with the “I forgot my password” feature, I finally realized that this year over winter break I started another blog, “When Life Hands You Lemons…” (Lemons are my thing, k?) See, I am a complete spazz about this blog thing. I decided I am going to copy and paste some of the posts over here because they happened during my relationship with my ex. It’s interesting now to see how I felt at the height of it all. Then I’m going to shut it down because I really can only handle one blog at a time seriously.

November 21, 2008

“Boy with a Southern Drawl”-

I knew from my first visit to Georgia that I was going to fall in love with a Southern boy. A sharp, no- nonsense Northern girl with a secret love for country music and pickup trucks? No, I didn’t stand a chance. But it was more than my secret love for all things Southern that sealed my fate. It’s the boys themselves. It was in the actual airport that I first noticed it. Clean cut and smiling, they didn’t complain about holding the door for me to pass through; manners, what a novel idea! Sorry, that’s just a bit of my Northern-ness coming out.

Having spent all my life except for the past 3 and a half years north of the Mason-Dixon line (and really my college town could hardly be labelled the true South) I was used to a certain type of guy. The guy that you wait by the phone for, that you hope smiles at you, that you hope will look your way some time. Maybe it’s all the snow but boys in the North are absolutely frosty. But those Southern boys…I guess they spend a lot of time in the sun. 

It was 2 years after my first time on Georgia soil before I found my Southern boy, and love too. It isn’t something you plan either, falling in love with one of those boys. But they’ll look at you with their puppy dog eyes and smile and make you laugh until your stomach hurts. Oh and they don’t mind sweeping you off your feet. I was doomed from the start, as soon as I drove over that causeway to the island. And how can you not fall in love with someone on an island with time on your hands and the sun on your shoulders? 

What it is really though is that they are genuine. Genuinely nice and sweet, ready to be your prince charming and always ready to make you smile. If every girl had the chance to take a trip down into the heart of the South, I think we’d be a whole lot happier.

 

December 22, 2008

“Presents Presently”- After spending two weeks agonizing over my boyfriend’s present, I have finally realized why it was never a big deal not to have a significant other during the holiday season. Until this year, I never had a boyfriend that I needed to shop for and for that I am grateful. What do you get someone who you daily tell “I love you”? How can a sweater be a good enough measure of this love? Does this love translate into expensive presents or intensive homemade crafts? 

I love buying gifts for people. I love trying to figure out the perfect present for someone and watch their face as they open it. But for some reason, I had no idea what to get for my boyfriend of six months. I knew I wanted to get him something nice, my first impulse being a GPS for his car since his was stolen and he’s obsessed with finding directions. But unfortunately I am a poor college student that would rather not go into debt for her love. When I asked him what he wanted, he urged me not to buy him anything. How sweet but how unhelpful. Not getting a present is not acceptable. 

I finally decided that, since I am a creative and artistic person, a crafty, homemade gift full of love would be perfect. I was able to keep the cost down and make something cute and memorable. Hopefully my boyfriend will think my present is as cute and adorable as me and not something his little 3 year old sister made at daycare.

 

Well that’s it for the posts, I only made it to about 5 and the others were pretty boring. Now just wait a little and I’ll write all about my recent adventures that kept me far, far away from my computer…

 

direction May 20, 2009

This blog is boring; I’m not sure I would read it if I didn’t write it. Plus I sound like a mystical granola-crunching complainer. I have been on a kick lately of trying to be upbeat while things are not going the way I planned and I think that’s part of my problem. Actually to be perfectly I didn’t have very much of a plan when I graduated so I can’t blame that on anyone other than myself. But I at least planned to have a job which, as of this third week in May, I have been unable to secure. My plans are not upset by the unfortunate but ultimately timely break up with my boyfriend. What is upsetting is being sidetracked in my home state. I have not been here for more than a month since summer 2007. I wanted to keep it this way. Of course this is going to make it sound like I hate my home. This is not true at all; I am just a body in motion that likes to stay in constant forward motion, forward motion meaning leaving behind my hometown for somewhere new and exciting. Being upbeat is more forced when you are trying to make the best of a situation you didn’t anticipate. 

Now back to my blog being boring. I had hoped to work on this, i.e. actually write something regulary, to eventually claim ownership of it in some public forum, i.e. facebook. But see, I get continually sidetracked by meaningless things in my life that even I do not want to read about. Then again there are only so many things I can write about. I have decided on some topics to focus on (though we’ll see how long this really lasts):

1. Job hunting- what I spend day in and day out doing, my current obsession, my ticket out of a twin bed with a pink comforter and into a crappy roomshare found on craigslist though still my escape from my boring life here. I am not sure this is a subject I can make interesting in anyway. Although I can point all the crappy jobs that with my mind deteriorating I have considered applying to. And I am still not desperate enough to apply for work at the new Bojangles in Savannah.

2. Guys/Post-traumatic break-up syndrome/ Tawdry escapades- this is probably what I would vote for on someone else’s blog. But seeing as my post-break up state is filled with cynical I-hate-him crap alongside feelings of I-just-want-to-stop-thinking-about-him-so-I-can-get-on-with-it junk, maybe it would be just as boring as the stuff I’ve already written. Tawdry escapades/guys in general is always an interesting topic and might call for some elaboration.

3. Cooking- sadly enough, this is my third topic, but I do love it so. I have come to realize that I am a natural-born homemaker with skills in cleaning, decorating, and cooking. My only two problems to inhibit me from becoming this homemaker are my drinking and my flirtatious nature. 

4. (Mis)adventures- I reason that I could only write something in this blog when something exciting, an adventure, happens. Sadly, my lack of good adventures has made this blog boring so I don’t know how well I will do on this front. But it is worth trying to find “a little zest” (no crappy pun intended) to add to this blog when I go out have something hilarious happen.

Of course who am I kidding? It’s not like I’m going to limit myself to those four topics. I will most likely diverge just I have in every other entry. Maybe though with a little implied direction and focus, I’ll be able to save this from ultimate boredom. And I’m going to cut all the b.s. and stick with being me, the “mean” girl as my ex so frankly told me time and again (remind me again why I was with him so long?). Though I will still cling to the one time some lady told me that I was just too bubbly, bright, and nice to be from up north.

speeches May 18, 2009

I almost applied to St. Mary’s College in Maryland. The only reason I didn’t was because I was terrified of being isolated out there in Maryland on the banks of the St. Mary’s River. It turns out this is a good thing because I felt pretty isolated being an hour outside of DC, even with a train station within walking distance. It was so beautiful though right there on the river. I didn’t apply and I didn’t go there but if I had, Frank of Postsecret would have been my commencement speaker. He wrote an amazing commencement speech that really gave great advice while at the same time incorporating why he was the person who got chosen, really because of his amazing postcard art project. Part of his speech came from asking the St. Mary’s Class of ‘09 for a one sentence commencement speech. He incorporated some into his speech and they were great. He posed the same question on his website and the comments that people posted were equally as inspiring. As a recent grad, I’ll take all the advice I can get at this point and a little inspiration helps too. Here’s the link: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/2009/05/sunday-secrets_17.html#comments. 

And my one sentence graduation speech? The words I am trying to live by every day, even on those tough days: “Wake up every morning ready to fill that day with your hopes, your dreams, and your ambition and let nothing stand in the way of the life you imagine.”

grad May 14, 2009

There is this amazing high on graduation day. You get the oh wow I really did it feeling and you are the center of attention because you did it. Thousands of pages of paper, millions of notes, and countless hours of lost sleep and you receive the recognition for all of it on one amazing day. And then slowly it begins to fade because well, this is the real world now and you just left behind the best time of your life. I have not even been a graduate for a week now and I’m ready to go back. Anything, papers, tests, terrible roommates, anything to keep me from facing the cruel realities of a job search in a recession.

I am not the girl to give up though. There has got to be a job for me somewhere, anywhere in this country that I can start my life with. I have given up having the perfect dream job for right now, that’s just not a reality. I just have to be creative (my new theme in life) and keep at it. Someone is going to want to hire a smart and pretty new graduate willing to work for next to nothing for a demanding job. At least this is my hope…

the write read May 8, 2009

I want to write a book, the next Great American Novel, a book that will be undiscovered at first and then shoot up the bestseller list. I want to write something moving and deep but with funny moments too. The only problem is I am so out of practice at writing that this amazing book may never get written. 

I love to write but lots of people don’t know this about me. Mostly because I’ve never really shared my stories or ever talk about liking to write. I was all about it in middle school when we had a creative writing elective. It was easily my favorite trimester whenever creative writing came around (though our other electives were computer and religion, I think, so there wasn’t too much competition). I remember reading my stories and poems in class and those teachers telling me I had a real talent, always a self-confidence booster for your weird middle school self. In high school I applied for the Governor’s School for writing but I blew the interview because of nerves and lack of interest in grammar, which I guess is necessary for writing stories. I sent some of my writing in application packets to colleges at the urging of my guidance counsellor and got some good feedback from the schools I got into.

But in college, I have almost completely abandonned writing. I am not an English major and didn’t even consider it. I never liked English classes. The only time I ever enjoyed English was with my high school teacher who didn’t make us deconstruct the grammar and themes but analyze the story, the characters, and the meaning behind the words. I stopped writing because my college classes required so much paper writing and reading that I just didn’t have time. There were organizations and jobs and always never enough time. It sucked away my creativity, bit by bit, until all that I had left was a bunch of analytic paper-writing skills. 

Now, on the eve of my graduation from college, I know that I want to pursue writing again. Especially since I’m going to have all this time on my hands without a set job. It is probably not my future career (though never say never) but it’s something I enjoy. Something to for my over-thinking mind to do and to nurture the creativity that a lot of my college classes killed. So maybe in a couple of years I’ll have a copy of the next Great American Novel in my hands with my name in the “by” line but for now I’m just going to be happy getting back to writing.

personal growth May 6, 2009

Relationships are wonderful, don’t get me wrong. You learn so many interesting things about yourself and how you interact with someone else while being with a significant other. You learn your capacity to love, your tolerance for dirty dishes and dirty clothes, and how to sleep even if he snores. But if you’re not careful, you might not grow and learn more about yourself and how you can develop more as an individual. I believe this is what happened to me in my relationship. I was so busy building something with someone else that I forgot to build up myself and continue to work everything out about who I was and wanted to be. And though that did happen during the relationship, I’ve learned a lot about myself by reflecting on the many months I was attached and how to be a better me.

Now I am back to figuring myself out and how I want to grow as a person, not as another half of couple in a relationship. I know who I am but I realize that I also need to keep growing. I need to keep inspiring myself to be creative, to have adventures, to always keep achieving. I realize that I became complacent with the person I was and the things I had in my life. It became just enough for me to go to class, to see my boyfriend, to do a few things with my friends, watch tv, and go to bed. I stopped writing stories and taking pictures, planning trips to far off places and sketching famous works of art. I guess I stopped doing things that made me creative and happy because I was trying to be what I thought someone else wanted. But who wants to be with someone who’s boring?

To get back to being the amazingly creative person I am, I am going to create an inspiration board out of some corkboard tiles I found in my apartment and put things that make me want to write, draw, and design. I’ll also take the opportunity to discover what is great about me and affirm I’m not defined by school or a job or anything other than what I want to be defined by. I will make my life, make a life that is solely mine. I can make mistakes but it will be my life to do what I wish. If I can be happy and creative and amazing by myself, then there’s no stopping me.