I'm moving to Corona Del Mar!

I moved my stuff down this weekend. Thanks to T, J, E, A, and my parents for helping me with all my stuff! Right now I'm still up at my parents' house in MB. I will be officially moved in next week.

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Pink Eye

So somewhere along my travels, I got pink eye. Gross! What am I, a small disease carrying child or something? Actually, the pink eye wasn't that bad, because I randomly already had an appointment with my ophthalmologist the morning I woke up with it (I don't really produce tears naturally... but that's a different issue altogether) and was able to nip the infection in the bud.

My biggest problem with pink eye is that I can't wear eye makeup. Here's the thing: I have blonde eyelashes and eyebrows and without eye makeup, I kind of look dead. Or sleepy or sickly... or pretty much anything but good. The morning I came down with the pink eye, I came into work with no eye makeup on. One of the high school students, VLu, commented (after I groaned about the pink eye), "Yeah, you look pretty bad. Like really tired." When I replied that actually, it's just because I'm not wearing mascara, she continued, "No, like your face looks really pale and..." "Seriously," I said. "It's because I'm not wearing eye makeup." The sad thing is that this kind of thing happens all the time. In fact, it happens every time I don't wear eye makeup.

Here is a picture of me without eye-makeup. See how bad I look?!? Actually, this picture is kind of like those fake diet adds where the before picture is particularly terrible and the after is with makeup and good lighting, etc. There's a lot going on here that probably isn't the best (lighting, angle, the frizzy hair and layer of dried sweat from spin class). But still, I think it illustrates my point.

Tomorrow I go in for my "final" eye check and hopefully I get the go-ahead to put on some eyeliner and mascara. It's been a full week; I don't know if I can take it any longer. Hopefully, I can finally go back to looking like a normal, darklashed, healthy person.

Mexico

Okay, so I'm back from Eurotrip '09. Who cares about that anyway? I'm going to Mexico this weekend! Everyone knows that a weekend booze cruise to Ensenada, Mexico is FAR more exciting than a month-long trip (with cycling tour) to Europe. Wooo! Things are going to get CRAZY!


Also, I don't know anyone in this picture. But I think it's a good example of all the crazy fun I'm going to have this weekend. Just imagine me in the middle of that pack of guys...

Attack of the Giant Saint!

I climbed up inside this guy's head, you guys! It is the Sacro Monte of Saint Charles in Arona which is on Lake Maggiore. The statue is 35 meters high and you can climb up inside his head and look through his eyes (or if you are ten years old or are named Giacomo or Jackie, you can pick his nose...from the inside).

The climb up was seriously dangerous. First of all, they make you wear a helmet. They also make children wear full climbing harnesses which is a little unsettling. Even more unsettling was how they let me climb up a tiny little ladder with flip flops on. Also there was only a metal bar to hold onto and my hands were uber clammy. I almost died! Okay, no I didn't. Overall, it was pretty fun and the view (and picking his nose... Even though he's a Saint) was totally worth it.

Also, today was my last day in Italy/on Eurotrip '09. Sad! I've had an amazing time... I can't believe it is already over!

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I saw George Clooney!

Okay, no I didn't. But I saw his house (maybe)! Yesterday I went to Lake Como and I'm happy to report that it is totally worth the hype! We mostly drove around the lake and then stopped at Villa del Balbianello, which was totally beautiful. The picture is a view across the lake from the villa's gardens. It was built in the 18th century on the site of an old monastery and was eventually owned by an Italian explorer named Guido Monzino. Guido died in the 1980's and donated the villa to the Italian National Trust. Monzino was pretty much a total badass; he led early Italian expeditions to the North Pole and Everest and then lived in this ridiculous villa filled with ridiculous collections of art (like ancient Mayan statues, reverse glass paintings, collections of Chinese art, and antique British and French furniture). You know those Dos Equis commercials about The Most Interesting Man in the World? I'm pretty sure that man is Guido Monzino.

We also stopped in Como and wandered around a bit to check out the city (and I got a little shopping done, to Giacomo and Federico's dismay). Oh, and of course it rained in the afternoon, along with the requisite thunder and lightning (though, I must say that the lighting across the lake was pretty cool). The rest of the evening, we got pizza (Yay!! I love that Italian pizzas are the size of a giant platter, but so thin that you can eat it all yourself) and gelato (double yay! I'm a pig). Gianni and Giacomo also took me on a mini tour of their town and we saw Giacomo's high school and elementary school (he wasn't too excited about this, but I thought it was fun).

Nuvola!

The Taravellas' super cute dog, Nuvola (it means cloud in Italian).
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Lake Maggiore

Yesterday I went to Lake Maggiore with Paola and Federico. We took a ferry all around the lake (well the bottom part of it... It's actually pretty big) and stopped at various places. We started in Angera and then went Santa Caterina which is an old monastery and church built into the hillside of the lake. Then we took the ferry to Stresa, a cute but touristy village along the lake.



From Stresa we went to Isola Bella, a small island on the lake. I think this was my favorite part of the day. On the island was the Palazzo Borromeo and its beautiful Italian gardens. The palazzo was so ornate and had these incredible grotto rooms on the lower level that were lined with rocks and looked out onto the lake. The gardens were beautiful too and had white peacocks walking around in them.



Next we briefly went to Isola dei Pescatori (pictured) and then back to Stresa for a gelato. And then guess what happened? We heard a clap of thunder and knew that the daily afternoon storm was on its way just as we got onto the ferry for the 45 minute ride back to Angerae. We had heard that it was raining down south where the Taravellas live and Federico pointed out that the storm clouds we saw on the lake were coming from the north. This meant that the two storms were on track to combine to create the perfect storm. And they did. While we were on the ferry. Luckily we could sit inside and watch everything from a nice dry place. At times it was raining so hard that the ferry would stop because they couldn't see where we were going. It hailed. I got a little seasick (lame).



We finally made it back to the safety of Paola's car (after Federico sacrificed himself to get the umbrella) and met Giacomo and Gianni for dinner. Yum!

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Milano

Yesterday, Paola and I went to Milano! First, we stopped at the Duomo, which was huge! We almost were rejected admission because we were both wearing tanktops (It was super hot outside - like 90 degrees). I had brought a cover-up (as an American tourist, I was trained to always bring something along, just in case), but then Paola had to wait outside for me. The guard told her, "look, she's American and she knows, but you are Italian and you don't!" which was pretty funny. Luckily, Paola found a shall at another entrance and was able to put that around her shoulders and meet me inside. The Duomo di Milano really is amazingly huge and very gothic compared to the cathedrals in Siena and Florence. Paola and I also went on the roof of the Duomo and saw views of the city from there.

Next, we went next door to La Rinascente, which is basically a big department store that carries a lot of big name designers. At first, Federico was going to come with us on the trip to Milan, but it's a good thing he didn't because we ended up doing a bit of shopping (well, window shopping). At the top of La Rinascente, there is a food court (well, it's a lot cooler than a food court and has a bunch of restaurants). We ended up having smoothies, but there was also this really cool mozzarella bar that had a terrace that looked right onto the the duomo.

After La Rinascente, we went to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (pictured), which had more fancy shops. This is said to be one of the first shopping malls. We walked through this to the Teatro Alla Scalla, or the the theater. From here, we walked to via Montenapoleone, which also had a lot of fancy shops (Paola described this to be similar to Rodeo Drive).

From the window shopping extravaganza, we took the underground to Castello Sforzesco, an old castle. Now, there are a bunch of museums there. Sadly, we weren't able to go in any, because they closed right as we got there (this was totally fine, since we were both pretty tired from so much walking around in the heat). Outside of the castle is a fountain where a bunch of tourists were dipping their feet. Paola said to me, "If you want, you can go in the fountain since you're American... I can't because I'm Italian." HAHA. I decided not to embrace my role as a tourist.

We cruised home in Paola's sweet new BMW convertable with the top down and went straight to mass (good thing I still had my cover-up!). Catholic mass is definitely something new for me (especially when I can't understand what's going on at all), but it was fine and I just followed what everyone around me was doing. After, I met one of Giacomo's cousins and Paola's sister. At home, we had spaggheti with tomatoes for dinner and homemade gelato for dessert!! Paola's cooking is delicious (and I'm kind of getting fat from eating it all... oh well, I think I'll survive).

And then guess what?! It started to rain! I've been in Italy for about a week and a half and it has rained in some way every single day.

Sacro Monte

I made it to the Taravella's in northern Italy! Basically, I've been hanging out with the boys (Giacomo and Federico) in the morning and then sightseeing with Paola in the afternoon. On Monday, we went to Varese, which is known as the green or garden city because there are tons of trees and gardens all around. Paola and I did a little shopping in the town and then met up with her friend who lives nearby. Her friend has a swimming pool, which is nice because it is HOT and pretty humid here. I didn't end up going swimming, but it was nice hanging out by the pool.

After that, we met up with Gianni and went up to Sacro Monte di Varese (the sacred mountain of Varese). The trip was very winding, but so so green and beautiful! We also saw a few cyclists on the way up the mountain and I empathized with them. Along the mountain, there are churches and people make pilgrimages up the mountain, stopping at each church. When we got to the top, the view was amazing! We could see some lakes (not sure which ones... even though I asked Paola and Gianni and they told me) and the town below. We stopped at a cafe for an aperitif and sat on the terrace, which overlooked everything. The picture is of Paola and Gianni on the terrace.

As you may notice from the picture, it was kind of foggy/cloudy that day. Actually, not even five minutes after this picture was taken, it started raining. And not just a little rain. We're talking a torrential downpour. Luckily, we were on our way back to the car and only got a few drops on us. The ride home, however, was a different story; at times, we could barely see the road it was raining so hard. The roads quickly flooded. Gianni said, "now you know why it's so green here!" We also saw some cyclists stuck in the storm and I totally felt for them.