Seeing that One-Legged Stool

So from Febbraio 13-15 we went to La Thuile with my program for a ski trip that was wonderfully painful! La Thuile is an adorable Italian town on the border with France and you can actually ski to France but I'm not that good so I didn't make it to France. Next time perhaps! We got the bus at 8 am Sunday morning and drove the 3 hrs there... or what should have been 3 hrs. I slept for the first hour and a half and when I woke up we were in the wonderful valley with snow-covered mountains rising up around us and it just took my breath away. I couldn't sleep for the rest of the trip because I was too busy looking out the window! Then things started to get stressful. We are in a giant bus climbing mountains on narrow roads that make a 330 degree turn every 50 yds or so... and we take up the whole road to scale the turns so the cars that are coming have to hit their breaks hard to avoid crashing into us. I'm in a window seat so at points I can just look out and see the dro...

Hi everyone (or the very few) reading this blog! Thanks! I am wondering if you can comment on the posts please? I kind of check the "view comments" section a lot and I don't have a single comment yet. It's a little sad. They can be general thoughts or interesting stories (applicable to aunts here) or questions or something I did that was stupid or embarrassing... it doesn't matter at all!

This past weekend I traveled to Lazise to spend time with Rosetta and her wonderful family - what an amazing time! Rosetta is my grandmother's cousin and her three children - Christina, Leno and Roberta - all live near her. They are all in fact basically within walking distance!!! Rosetta is a sassy lady and talks really fast. If I spoke Italian fluently this would all be fine except that I don't, so the talking so fast was an issue but her sassiness was pretty amazing. I was warned that she talks very fast by multiple family members and I know on the phone some people have a hard time understanding her but she is so animated that if you are there and can see her talking and using her hands it is much easier to figure out what she is saying. I arrived at the Pescheria del Garda train station in the afternoon last friday and Rosetta was waiting for me on the platform. We went to the parking lot where Christina was waiting with the car and Rosetta's dog, Stella, who is the m...

I'd like to discuss my efforts at blending in and looking like a Milanese. I am failing miserably here, people. I try really hard, every day, to no avail. I wear leather boots, suede gloves, a winter coat, skinny jeans, sunglasses and a big scarf and I fail. Mind you, I wear all this and it's not even cold outside... toughen up, Milan! Also, I rarely even use my cell phone out in public anymore. I know where I'm going on the metro and don't have to look at the map anymore. I am trying so hard!!!! As it turns out, VERY FEW people in Milan have red hair. The only ones with red hair are usually middle-aged woman that have died it this color... not that there is anything wrong with that (Mom)! Also, it turns out that green coats aren't all that popular in Italy either... I know my Alpha Gam's are probably not surprised by this statement. In the morning the metro is a sea of black... or maybe a little grey. The older ladies wear long brown fur coats, which a...

This past weekend my roommates and I decided to take a day trip and not do a big production considering Prague was such a tiring, yet amazing, trip. As luck would have it our apartment is located extremely close to a large train station and we finally settled on visiting Bergamo, about an hour by train to the northeast of Milano. Some girls that I live with may or may not have googled “prettiest places outside Milan” while conducting our search… but that is neither here nor there. Also, the round trip ticket was only 7.20 Euros! Woo! Fun fact: Easy Jet, the low-cost airline, flies in and out of Bergamo… this may be part of the reason the trains run so frequently there. We arrived in Bergamo and immediately headed to Città Alta, or the Upper City. This is the oldest and most historic part of Bergamo and was absolutely, without a doubt, breathtaking. I felt like we were walking through a movie set the entire time. More magical than Disney World I tell you! The highlight of the sightseein...