i dolomiti!

snowboard in the dolomites: CHECK 

after driving for about 5.5 hours on friday (we may or may not have gotten lost more than once on tiny mountain roads in tiny mountain villages that were gorgeous), we finally reached the quaint and cozy town of san martino di castrozza.  san martino di castrozza is the most touristy of the dolomiti villages.  while we were there, they were having an ice carving contest (like they were in breck when we were there, eliza.b!) so there were lots of people there from ALL over. 

view from the hotel on night #1

some ice sculptures -- italian and chinese in the background

the city was surrounded so closely by the dolomiti that it was almost smothering. i mean they were just RIGHT there!!! compared to in colorado, when you're at the top of a mountain looking at the view, the rockies usually seem like they're a little ways away -- here, at the top of a hill, you were surrounded really closely by rocky cliffs. it was so cool.  

view from hotel balcony

view from the slopes on sunday -- we got so lucky with a sunny day!

a view of the amazing snow (better than american snow)

ANOTHER view of the slopes. 

notice how there aren't any other people in the picture above? that was another difference between the rockies and the dolomiti -- within the dolomiti, there are something crazy like 24 little villages that all have their own small mountain resorts.  for instance, we stayed in san martino di castrozza which had the CES and TOGNOLO mountains. it was possible to get from ces to tognolo and back via lifts and slopes but you could also take the bus to the base of either mountain.  additionally, some of the villages and resorts are connected to each other to create this insane circuit of slopes and lifts that goes around most of the entire dolomiti mountain range (this is high on my list of things to do in life -- preferably near-future life).  SO the fact that there are all these different mountains so close together spread all the people out.  we didn't wait in ANY lift lines. not one.

here's a fun story. so, as you may or may not know, getting on and off the lifts are not my strong point, despite years and years of practice.  i warned my friends of this before embarking upon our adventure.  as R and i were getting off a lift at the top, i struggled and grabbed him.  he claims to have mentally accepted the fact that i was going to take him down with me when i fell and was very confused when he continued down the exit ramp and my grip on his arm loosened. well. when he turned to see what happened, i was being dragged around with the chair lift.  one of the straps of my backpack had gotten caught in the slats of the chair and because i had the hooks clipped across my chest, i was attached to the chairlift and was just riding around on the snow.  

i'm not really sure how, but it didn't hurt at all -- i was just laughing.  R yelled STOP quite a few times and the little man came running out (just before i would have gone over the drop-off and on down the mountain - in the air).  he got me unhooked (but not easily) and then gave me a stern look and said, "zaino a mano." (hold your backpack in your hand) with lots of force and emphasizing pauses.  it was HILARIOUS.

then, within about 5 minutes, we reached the lift in the picture below: 

this "zaini in mano" sign was the first i had seen all day. 

we had lots of experience with italian signs during the weekend. we learned that italian road signs should not always be trusted and that they should not be the only thing upon which to rely driving directions.  you've already heard about the importance of the "zaino a mano" sign.  below, however, is a picture of my favorite sign that we encountered over the weekend.

posted ON a designated (groomed) slope, "danger of avalanches"

the little town was super cute.  plenty of delicious restaurants (although we went to the same one both friday and saturday night) and a very cozy bar, pub al bresila (maybe that's what it was called?), that i would be very content to spend all of my nights in.

our favorite mountain pub (that turned into a disco later that night?) and our favorite mountain couple (directly across the table) that we originally thought was father daughter. and then they made out.

so. to sum up. a pretty amazing weekend. every muscle on my body is sore from snowboarding. and i'm urgently planning a return trip. who wants to join me? 

amazing mountains just RIGHT THERE

pure exhaustion.

two things.

1. we've had at least 5 students out every day since we got back from break -- they all keep giving each other "the vomit."  when students are absent for days, and sometimes weeks, at a time, it means a lot of extra work for their teachers (aka ME) when the time comes to make sure they're caught up. this = exhaustion.

2. last night, we had our new student teachers over for dinner and i made pizza (incredibly successfully, again) for them! so my yesterday was as follows:

school until 4
stayed after doing work until 5
grocery store
made it home, finally, by about 620
immediately started cooking
didn't finish eating and cleaning until about 945 pm

HOW do moms everywhere do it?! EVERY DAY!!? i sat down at about 10 pm last night and it was incredibly difficult to get back up again.  thank goodness i have enough left over pizza to last me for the rest of the week.


i.am.exhausted. and paranoid that i'm going to get the vomit from any one of my sickly students.

(pizza pictures to come soon!)

xx

the foreshadowing of the fog

[background information: the view from this spot usually looks similar to this] 

yesterday began as an exceptionally foggy morning, which is saying a lot considering it has been foggy for 10 days straight.  however, while sitting at the obelisk after school watching the sunset, i reflected upon the day and realized it was one of the most beautiful that i could remember.  the skies were blue, the sun was warm and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  but the fog never lifted;  opicina is just above the clouds while trieste remains smothered under a thick blanket, having been hidden from the sun for far too long.  

V jammed on her guitar and i simply watched. i watched her play and i watched as the sun gradually dipped below the clouds.  i watched as the fog gently rose and fell as if someone was standing below, blowing so the fog would rise and release trieste once again.  i looked into the distance and there was no sign of the city below, no sign of the sea, no sign of slovenia and croatia in the distance, no sign of anything except the fog.  

it's fittingly ironic to think about how opicina and the school is above the thick fog.  instead of retreating to more pleasant conditions when we get off work in the evening, we've been approaching them in the morning on the way to work as we break through the fog.  at the same time, i've been having exceptional days at work and leaving only to be mentally swamped at home attempting to make decisions about the near future that i'm not ready to make.  

i'd like to think of this as hopeful foreshadowing.  although my brain may be smothered with thoughts and ideas right now, soon, my head will break through the clouds and i'll make all of the right decisions. just like the perfectly beautiful day. everything will be perfect.  

x!

who discovered america?

student: but miss liz, they don't know that the vikings discovered america first.
me: who doesn't know?
student: but, the internet!

nebbia

so the fog has been a major debbie downer recently but this morning (and allegedly, yesterday), it stayed in the city and opicina was granted gorgeous sunny days with bright blue skies!

(thanks to vasiliy) here's a shot of the view going up the hill this morning

looking down from opicina at this spot, you can usually see the city and the adriatic but today, it was covered in a thick blanket of fog. 

2011 is already moving too quickly

somehow. the days go slowly (even though the fog has cleared and we've had sun in opicina!) but the weeks fly by. how does that happen?!

it's already january 17th which means that our february break is in less than a month. which is OK! because i booked 4 plane flights (along with V and K) yesterday for the week!

the itinerary:

italy --> dublin (saturday)
dublin --> stockholm (tuesday)
stockholm --> berlin (thursday)
berlin --> italy (saturday)

WOO!

so, anyone with any amazing info on any of these places, send it my way puh-lease! i would love some help planning how to spend my days in these cities!

oh. and when are you coming to visit?!

x

back to school, back to school.....

so it's wednesday (the best day of the week). and it feels like we've been back at school for WEEKS since break ended.

to sum up the past few days:

• i've never seen fog this thick last for so long (6 days)
• 90% chance of heavy rain? i think you all know how i feel about that.
• V's dad is visiting and is our temporary 4th roommate! he's really fun.
• all the stores are having big sales and i think i've decided to invest in a new pair of brown boots. 
• 69c. boxed wine in italy is delicious.
• the sun came out today (!!!!!!) for like an hour.
• the most exciting thing of all: i just made 4 pizzas from scratch. like, from ingredients. from flour, water, tomatoes, manual labor. and hot damn were they delicious.

margherita (tomato, mozzarella, basil)

ricotta, garlic, basil, arugula

pesto, sundried tomatoes, mozzarella, arugula

am i amazing or what?!

xo

la grotta gigante

quasi translation: this cave is called giant because it's really huge.

V's dad is here and today we went to la grotta gigante in the carso outside of opicina.  la grotta is the largest tourist cave in the world!! other caves are deeper and longer but the main room of this cave is so enormous that st. peter's basilica could fit inside of it. there are 500 steps into the main sala and then 500 steps back out of it.

it was so cool! and totally different than other caves i've been to in virginia.

so. come visit me and we'll go because it's really cool.

xo!

in love with ljubljana

ljubljana is magical. especially when covered in snow. 

it's also really cool.

woo, slovenia! 

"everything is going to be great"

i just finished a surprisingly charming book recommended to me by the lovely loco, everything's going to be great by rachel shukert.

the memoir begins in a very negative, i've-made-terrible-decisions-that-are-now-funny-stories-let-me-tell-them-to-you sort of way during rachel's european quest to "find herself."  however, the book continued and i began to like her more as she did seem to begin to "find herself" or some parts of it during her journey.

the end of the book was surprisingly inspirational and there were a few quotes that i quite liked about travel and life. and how the places you go and the people you meet really do shape you and thus, help you to find out who you really are.

"a backyard is nothing but a little patch of dirt and rocks and sky.  and the world is a vast, terrifying, and wonderful place, filled with things we don't know yet we need.  nothing comes to us until we leave our little patch of dirt and go find them."


"...we travel to search for our souls. everywhere we go, every experience we have, we find another little piece that leads us to the next, like a clue in a treasure hunt.  each little piece of soul we find gets layered on top of the last one.  layers of sediment, forming a mountain.  can a mountain ever be finished? can a soul? i guess it's finished when we are..."


so there you go.

xx

home sweet home. huh?

when i was headed to dulles airport today, er, yesterday, for my flight back to italy, it was the first time that i really wasn't that excited to be leaving america.  in the past when i've been leaving to head abroad, i've been sad to leave friends and family but ultimately the emotion that wins out is that of excitement for my upcoming adventures.  this time, however, things were different.  maybe it was because i wasn't going off somewhere new; i was going back to the (somewhat) familiar. maybe it was because i had had such an amazing break with friends and family that i didn't want it to end? i don't know, it was just different.

regardless, i had an amazing visit to the states. and now i'm going to tell you about it! 

i arrived to dc around 230 on the 23rd and daddyjohn was waiting for me at the arrivals! i'm not sure i've ever been greeted like that at the airport so it was exciting! we had a good but relatively uneventful car ride to roanoke and when we arrived on somerset st. i was greeted by nancypants + becker1 and marymom! they were cooking up delicious smelling foods and i had a cold, crisp, hoppy beer waiting for me to consume. it was excellent. 

after a delicious welcome back meal, we went out to paint the town, obviously.  first stop, frankie rowlands for an essential pineapple martini (YUM), then various other downtown places before returning to the neighborhood and fork in the alley.  fork in the alley was a blur for the 15 minutes i was there before finding A and immediately leaving to walk home.  that was a cold decision. 

christmas eve! woke up early (as i continued to do for the next 5 days, due to jetlag?) and proceeded to do your standard christmas eve things: wrapped presents, investigated presents that were labeled for me (failed to identify any of them), baked cookies, watched christmas movies, etc. later in the evening, we drove around looking at christmas lights and stumbled upon an incredible house that had their house and lawn COVERED in lights that blinked corresponding to music. (if i could figure out how to embed, here i would post a video)

it was incredible. among their song selection was a techno remix of amazing grace that was my personal favorite. after dinner we went home to continue with christmas-y activities and i fell asleep on the couch for 5 hours (sleeping through church, oops).

woke up in the morning to a white christmas! first one i can remember and it was excellent. roanoke was beautiful covered in snow. it continued to snow all day which made leaving our house difficult, but that's ok on christmas. it was a good day full of family time. 

then, on the 27th, nancypants and i headed to cville (!!!!).  after rendezvousing with my favorite l.i.z.s, we attempted to go to dinner at divide. but they were closed. i was devastated. but we ended up at mas, so i can't complain too terribly much. it was a delicious reunion! 

28th: breakfast date with J at blue moon diner! we had so much to catch up on -- her brooklyn/nyu life was so good to hear about -- this was the beginning of me being persuaded to move to the big city..... then, i bought so many new nail polish colors. it was exhilarating. then had some delicious homemade pad thai by becker1 and saw black swan! omg black swan was mindblowingly amazing. check out the trailer here. now go see it. then we went to mas (yes, again) for a friend's birthday food, drinks and a little dave matthews sighting! my first one. so that was exciting. 


the 29th was sister date day. the weather was incredible in cville (as it was the entire time i was home, warm, clear, sunny - amazing) so we headed out to the country for some brewery fun. we had beers at blue mountain brewery and devil's backbone.  then, pizza from mellow! oh now my mouth is watering. 


on the 30th, after a breakfast date with HM at bluegrass, a trip to urban outfitters and a belair sandwich, i headed to nova to reunite with more friends!


then came the epic NYE reunion. it began during the day with lots and lots of boy time.  which was fun. we hung out in richmond for the day enjoying good food and drink and each other's company.  so fun to catch up with some of my favorite people coming from all over the place.  as a part of the greater NYE reunion we had so many people from so many places: italy (me, obviously), alaska, hawaii, nyc, el salvador, as well as all over virginia.

on new years day, we did some outdoor things.

hanging out with all the people who have been my friends since 1st year at UVA (and some for longer than that) was so amazing. for us to have grown together during college and now we're all in different places, growing and changing on our own, but to still be able to get together and have a great time is so comforting.  it inspires me to continue to keep in touch with all those people that i care about while i'm off doing my own thing here in italy. i mean, those are my people!  we're all off doing our own things but when we get together it's just like nothing has changed. 


NYE resolutions: read more and try harder with italian language learning.  ALSO did you know that 2011 is the year of the redhead? according to andy smith, it is. and i'm excited about it. (all of your resolutions should include coming to visit me.)


on new year's day, i left the friend reunion in richmond (and missed the plaid party) and headed to OIB to rendezvous with my family in their most favorite place ever.  after going through a body scanner (and feeling incredibly violated) in the richmond airport, i made it.  we had incredible weather and our normal beach activities ensued: booze cruises, delicious meals (cooked in and ordered out), walks on the beach and karaoke. on the last day we went to wilmington (where i had never been!) for the afternoon/evening for food and drink and that was fun.  


returning to roanoke, i had more grandmother time, more last-minute visiting with friends and a delicious sushi dinner.  then it was home to pack (expanding to 2 suitcases, ughhh) and prepare for departure the following morning.


fin.
__________________________________________________________________


after having such a good time with everyone i saw in the states, and thinking through a response to the questions, "well how is it? are you going to stay forever? what are you going to do next year?" countless times, i had pretty much decided that i need to move to new york city to be close to everyone that i love and miss.  nyc. the big apple. i've always wanted to live there, i could probably get a job there (right?), i already have lots of friends there.  this was such an easy decision, i was so happy with myself that i had it figured out! 


however, driving down from opicina on the way back from the airport, i looked out the window down to the bay of trieste and even though it was foggy and the view was less-beautiful than it has been, i felt an unexpected sense of nostalgia and comfort in the familiar view.  it felt good to be home.  


why?! is it because all my things are here? is it because i have friends here? because my current life is here? AHH. 


so now i'm ALL confused.


it's like i'm out in the world, doing my own thing and i love it. but i miss my people. i miss my people a lot. and i can't decide how to prioritize.


i can't shake this feeling that to move to nyc will be giving up on this whole international thing that i'm doing and i'm also terrified that i won't ever want to leave nyc and i can't handle thinking about moving to a place that i might not want to leave for a long time. it seems so permanent. so grown up.


stay tuned. for now, happy new year! happy 2011! happy year of the redhead!

xo