Veinte años no es nada

I have all but abandoned my blog here, but not for lack of pictures or adventures. I was sitting in my house today studying spanish and preparing for my upcoming exam -- sí, estoy lista -- and started missing Spain. While I truly love Rome and Italy,  if I had another opportunity to live in Sevilla, I would jump at it (in fact, I did a little house shopping along the Alameda...) 

The 4 weeks that I spent in Sevilla were amazing and resulted in me falling in love with yet another city, a language and a lifestyle that made Italian-life seem uptight.  While I spent a lot of time in school while in Sevilla, I managed to sneak in a few tintos (de verano, claro) and trips around the breathtaking Andalusia to Grenada, Cadiz, Córdoba, and Málaga. Here are a few of the pictures from this amazing month...

My neighborhood, Alameda de Hercules

The Alhambra, Grenada

View from the Alhambra

Grenada

Córdoba

Cadiz

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Birds-eye view of Sevilla

Plaza de España

Summer is (finally) here!

I think it is official...summer has come to Rome!  There are no words for how amazing summer is in here, I smile just thinking about the beach every weekend with a beachside massagio, outdoor bars, hanging out in the piazza, sitting in the park... I love it!!

But other than basking in the glory of this perfect season, life has been pretty ordinary here. Working, hanging out. After my blitz of traveling, I wanted nothing more but to come back to Rome and just be in the city with friends, enjoying local life.  The more time that I spend in Rome and Italy, the more I have come to appreciate it.

On that note, I recently read a book called Gomorrah about the organized crime in Napoli.  My colleague recommended it with the warning that reading it had made her "question her choice to live in Italy", so I read the first page with caution.  Could a book really change the way I felt about this country?  Or open my naive eyes to something that was truly terribly that it would make me want to run back to the States (and its numerous and equally disturbing problems...).  Well I finished the book, and it hasn't made me question living in Italy, but my colleague's comment made me start thinking...is it easier to spot other country's problems than your own?  Because as I kept reading, I kept comparing with the US and wondering if things are so different there (though, everyone seems to think they are). For example the trash in Campania is all over the place and now being crammed into every inch of free space, destroying farms, beautiful coastline and polluting the ocean (nooooooooooo, not the water!!!).  It is a terrible violation of the environment and causing damage that can never be undone -- but isn't fracking in the Appalachian Mountains and drilling for oil in the Alaskan wilderness the same thing? Are things really better in the US or our we just better at making it seem legitimate (as opposed to being driven solely for profit)... If you have time this summer, I recommend reading Gomorrah and if you do, let me know what you think!

Other than that, a few other exciting developments in the past weeks.  I finally bought a scooter!  I have been talking about this for months while I wondered whether I had the courage to drive in the chaotic streets of Rome. But I decided this was a perche' no moment and so I did.  I ended up getting a new one for the sake of the warranty (and because it was very cute...and yes, I got a pink helmet which is also very cute) and so I should have it, registered and ready to ride this next week! Can.not.wait.

AND, I am going to Spain for the month of August to learn Spanish. You may be asking -- wait is she already fluent in Italian and ready to move on to another language. The answer is no, not at all. But Spanish is more relevant (as a recognized UN language) to my work and so...Spanish it is.  Also, I have gotten very tired of  responding sheepishly no to this question "Angela Arroyo, si, you must be a native spanish speaker." Soon enough, soon enough...

BBQ on Freddy's balcony, yet another perk of summer!!

You may want to note the beginnings of the summer bars on the lungotevere...they should be up and running next week!

Tulips and canals

This past weekend, I took the ponte and headed up to Amsterdam for two major events: the Keukenhof and Queen's Day.

The Keukenhof is this park with, what must be acres, of flowers that are all in bloom... right now!  It was a stormy day, but the rain miraculously stopped while we were walking around looking at the flowers.  There were more varieties of tulips than I ever imagined even existed!  It was really beautiful!  We then headed into Amsterdam to experience Queen's Day on the canals.  My dutch buddy, Freddy, secured my place on a party barge and we sailed around the canals while wearing orange and dancing to music from our own DJ. Such a great afternoon...and yes, I think orange suits me :-)

And this trip finished my blitz April -- Thailand, Sweden, London, and Amsterdam -- four amazing places in 5 weeks. Man, no wonder I am tired.  I am now going to spend some time enjoying Rome and remembering why I love this city.  I am on the edge of buying a motorino and rented one yesterday to test my skills in the Rome traffic, and I think it went alright -- I survived and so did the bike.
So...stay tuned ;-)

From Thailand to Sweden...

...this past month has been a whirlwind to say the least!  To start, I took my much anticipated (and needed) vacation to Thailand with Alex!  It was his spring break and so we decided to meet in Bangkok and party it up for a week on the beautiful beach shores of Koh Samui.

Thailand proved to be remarkable.  Bangkok was crowded, overwhelming, but had soooo much to offer.  We forged the 35 degree humid weather and saw the Grand Palace and then wandered around enjoying all that the city had to offer, I even had some little fish eat the calouses off my feet (gross, but gotta try it once right?).  We then set off for the start of a reeeaaaalll vacation, some quality time on Koh Samui.  It was incredibly relaxing and amazingly quiet -- apparently it was too hot for people to even make it to the islands. We rode scooters, snorkled in crystal clear and warm water, got massages every day (ok that was just me) and got our chang on.

Overall it was a solid week of relaxation and quality time with my little bro. It obviously went by too fast and I can not wait to figure out when to go back next....

Riding in a tuk tuk

The view from our beach bungalow...

 Then this past weekend, I went to my second favorite place, Sweden, for Easter break.  I went to visit Johanna in her home town, Karlstad.  I got the total Swedish experience and was treated like part of the family by Johanna's amazing and welcoming family.  I am slowly increasing my Swedish vocabulary -- the word for this weekend -- jättebra!!

Palermo!

This past weekend I took a quick trip to Palermo with Ale.  We headed off straight from work and took a quick flight down to Sicily. We were lucky (totally unlucky actually) that there was a rare storm hitting Sicily this weekend.  So, anticipating tons of rain and being stuck inside our hotels turkish spa, we were pleasantly surprised when it barely rained at all!

About 3 years ago, I went to Sicily with my brother.We had some major adventures (cars driving down the wrong side of the road, pizza chefs hanging out on the street instead of cooking, no finding any people anywhere), so I was curious to compare my experience after having lived in Italy for over a year.

We were able to see everything there was to see in Palermo by keeping a tight, yet relaxed schedule- ate incredible food-- canoli, arancina, foccacia, some not so great spleen sandwich, went to the beach -- just to look, saw a symphony concert and still spent some quality time at the spa.  Not a bad way to spend the weekend :-)

Last scene of Godfather III....anyone?!