Reunited and it feels so good.

I apologize for the delay of blog posts but my first couple of weeks back in Italy were really busy and when I had free time.. well, I slept and spent my time on skype or facebook. I won't let it happen again.

My first day back in Italy didn't seem real. Actually, it seemed all too normal. It felt as if I had never left at all and that all of my friends that I saw.. were always around. It was a bit strange, actually. I had waited months and months and spent so many hours saying "I cannot wait to get back to Italy", "how many days until I'm back with my friends". Well, I was back and it felt good. My friends all welcomed me with open arms and even their apartment. My dear friends Katie, Emily, and Claudio (not to forget zucca) opened their apartment to me for the week. It was so nice to be back in the same apartment I once was at the first time I met them a year ago.

I was put in contact with Katie and Emily through Em J...who is the girl that was an au pair for the same family I was an au pair for last summer. She was there before me and knew Katie through university in California and Katie introduced me to Emily. Basically, Em J. and I skyped everyday because... while I was in Italy last summer she was in California and I updated her on my life in Italy while she was studying.. once I returned, Em J. soon moved to Rome and then was updating me on her life in Italy. We actually never met until I arrived a couple weeks ago. We met over amazing pasta and wine and it was like we had known each other for years.

This is the dinner we had the night Em J. and I met. It's caco e pepe in a bowl made entirely of parmesean. Anthony Bourdain went to this restaurant in his Rome epipsode and named this "Restaurant X" because he didn't want to reveal the secret to all of the 'typical tourists'. Pleast check out this epipsode, it is Rome in all it's beauty.. or at least a piece of it's beauty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwKLw5vk-Kg&feature=share

Our waiter at 'Restaurant X'

During the week I met up with the current au pair (Ashley) that is working with the family I was with last summer and she was really fantastic. I wish I had more time in Rome to spend with everyone but I suppose I was lucky enough to spend at least a week there catching up with everyone. Ashley and I spent one day together walking along Via Appia Antica, the most ancient road in Rome.

Throughout the week I was always running around trying to catch up with all of my friends and to see everything that I wanted to see. I don't see how tourists see Rome in a week, the week I spent there was exhausting and I barely did what most tourists do. No wonder people don't really see Rome as it really is. I am lucky enough to have a few friends that give tours of the Vatican Museum and was so happy to go on my friend Treva's tour to see the Vatican Museum and most of all the Sistine chapel. It was really an amazing experience but I would love to see it again as it's such a big place it's really impossible to see it all. Next time.

At the end of the week my friend Treva also threw me a terrific terrace party with tacos and of course a game of kings. A card game we played while drinking with togas on last summer. This is the most wonderful group of girls.

Toga Party cerca last summer.

A week in Rome isn't enough for me...not only to see my friends but to experience Rome in the summer.Stay tuned to my next adventure to Rome one weekend to dance on the river, to eat gelato skillfully so it doesn't drip down my arms, and to laugh with wonderful friends over pizza, pasta, and wine.

Abano Terme, Padua, Sardinia

Most everyone knows where Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome is but the places I'll be this summer are a little less known than most major cities in Italy. Here is a little bit of information I thought was interesting and nice to know about the places I will be this summer.



I'll be about 20 minutes from Venice and just at 2 hours train ride from Milan. This summer I will get to experience the north of Italy.



Padua is very close to where I will be the majority of the summer but the actual town I'll be in is called Abano Terme. Southwest of Padua, the Colli Euganei (Euganean Hills) are a dream scape of wall lined hilltop towns, foggy vineyards, the occasional castle and bubbling hot springs.



Terme (Natural Hot Springs) Mountain spring water bubbles from the Prealps north of Padua 85 degrees C and rich in mineral salts.



Abano Terme (Abano Bagni until 1930), population of about 19,062, is a town known for it's hot springs and spa resorts for relaxation. It's close to Padua, which is a university town which should be good for meeting new friends easily.



A luxury spa hotel in A. Terme.

http://www.abanograndhotel.it/



I must mention a little event happening this summer. Guess who I'm going to see in July in concert with my host family?






Padua. Population: 212,500. It has the second oldest university in Italy and among one of the youngest universities in the world. It was only founded in 1222, it's just 789 years old. Copernicus, Galileo, and Casanova taught here and it had the world's first woman doctor of philosophy.










Milan may have da Vinci's The Last Supper but Padua has Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel, da Vinci's greatest influence.



Everyone knows that Italians love their holidays and they love them right! I will be Au pairing the entire summer but will be lucky enough to come along with my host family to Sardinia for the whole month of August! At least until I leave, on the 21 August.



Sardinia is located between Spain and Italy and is the second largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily.



I didn't know much about Sardinia until last summer when I heard all sorts of rumors of how wonderful this place was.





Sardinia. We will be staying near Porto Rotondo & Porto Cervo. It's known as the Emerald Coast, Sardinia's most feted summer destination. It's filled with luxury hotels, secluded beaches, and exclusive yacht clubs. In the 1960s it became the most popular place to be in the summer and soon became a favorite of the European jet set. It still is and every summer paparazzi swarm to the area hoping to find celebrities. Porto Cervo as a sort of pseudo-Moroccan architecture. It's clear waters and gorgeous weather seems to be paradise. What a place it looks, I cannot wait to see!

Italy, take two.

It's been nearly a year since I left for Italy. I spent 3 beautiful months in Rome, Italy last summer and now I am beginning to get the 'travel bug'. This year has come and gone with midterms, final exams, Christmas holidays, a new year and now it's another semester at university and I'm already taking my midterm exams. It is time to think about summer plans. Where do I want to go? Do I want to take summer classes? Should I get an internship? Decisions, decisions!

What did I decide to do? Well, you guessed it. I'm returning to Italia! The land of pizza, pasta, and wine! Most cliques are wrong about Italy. But yes, they wear speedos, talk with their hands, and drive like maniacs.

I could have easily found a job in Spain or Turkey but I have friends in Italy, I fell in love with Italian cuisine, and the beautiful language. I cannot speak Italian but am eager to learn and experience another Italian summer. There really is nothing quite like it.

For those of you who don't know what 'Au pairing ' is, it is sort of like nannying but more laid back and a sort of an 'exchange program'. I live and work with a family not as an employee but as a member of their family. I take care of their children while teaching English in exchange for living locally in an area for an extended period of time (with also a salary of course). A "working holiday" is the best way to travel. One can see a place as the locals, eat the local cuisine and see an area as it should be seen rather than seeing only the touristic spots.

This summer I will be living in Abano Terme, outside of Padua, only 20 minutes from Venice, and about and two hours from Milan. The family I will be with this summer are both young lawyers with one daughter, Beatrice (Bibi). Beatrice is two years old and an absolute angel! I will be staying with them from 28 May until 21 August. For the months of June and July I will be with them at their home in Abano Terme and then we will spend the month of August in Sardinia!

I am flying into Rome 23 May and staying the week to catch up with my friends and see the family I was an Au pair for last summer.