Go Be Your Space Jam.

This is a great video and it puts a smile on my face every time I watch it.

-Create something that would make the world awesome!

Real Life Desktop Background

During my recent trip to Bologna I was reminded about the beautiful views that Italy has to offer. Even during the few hours I was working on my paper I had a panoramic view of the city and realized that I am staring at a real life desktop background. Usually the ones I download from the internet are high tech and perfect, but imperfections are what makes the views gorgeous. That gray cloud or the electrical wires are all a part of what makes the scenery unique.

 

I will admit that I did not believe that Bologna was a beautiful city but after spending three days there I can now say that it is one of the most see cities in Italy. Hands down it is the best food that I have had in Italy and would go back just for that.  Just a few pictures from my trip:

 

Sunny Siena

How can you do work when it is this pretty outside?

Sometimes you just need to go.

I am now in the midst of the final push for this semester. I have a 40 page paper that needs to be written, but sometimes a distraction is needed. That distraction happened to come in the form of traveling to Venezia (Venice) for last weekend. Was this the most planned excursion? Not at all, but planning has never been my strongest ability when it comes to traveling. Was the hostel one of the worst I have seen? Yes, yes it was (which is why I am not allowed to choose hostels anymore..ever). But my friend and I decided that Venezia would be a great place to run to before the paper grind began….and we were right. The weather was perfect. The trip was smooth. The food was great. I cannot even begin to describe how Venezia has been the best city I have traveled to in Italy. 

While it was just a short weekend trip, I am very grateful that I was able to go. We learned that seeing the city at night was the best (especially since Carnivale had ended) because there were no crowds. Which may have lead to me living out one of my dreams of singing and dancing in the street (of course crowds of choreographed strangers did not join in). It was a great place to relax and just enjoy the moment….and the moment was molto bella.

 

 

While I was sad to leave, it was one of the best trips I have been lucky enough to go on during this semester. Having never traveled to Italy (or Europe), this has been a great way to open my eyes of how much there is to see in the world.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma–which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
-Steve Jobs

This is always something I have to remind myself. Graduate school was the right option…I just need to make sure to keep my head and heart in this process. Before I know it school will be over and I will be back in the real world. Doing it right this time around! 😀

Gelato is a must in ever city.

My “spring break” in Torino has been pretty awesome…of course that could have a lot to do with Di Un Gelato.

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
― Ernest Hemingway

I love quotes about whatever is happening in my life. Sometimes someone has already perfectly said what I want to say.

Not all who wander are lost.

For me the best part of traveling in a new city is the enjoyment in getting lost. I am all about being the biggest tourist while I am in Italy, but I have come to realize that when you let yourself wander there is a whole other part of the city. Of course, the downside to this is that I end up having several “deja vu” moments but that is only a small side-effect of putting away the phone and map. If you really want to see the city: just let go of your instinct to know where you are going and go down the less traveled road. This tends to work when I have longer than one day in a city, but even when I lived in D.C. I would just randomly walk around different neighborhoods. There is a sort of freedom to not be tied down to Google Maps or (when you forget to pay your phone) regular maps.

It is always difficult to let go, especially when you want to see everything the city has to offer. I know that feeling, when I was in Roma for 3 days I wanted to see and do everything (even though it rained the entire time), I was able to see all of the “main attractions” that Roma had to offer: Forum, Vatican City, Colosseum, Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, etc. But I was also able to see the street art that I did expect to find:

 

Before traveling to Italy, did I know that street art/graffiti was such a large part of the culture? Nope, but it has become one of the random things (the other is doors) that I look for and snap photo of. While street art (and doors!) is something I did not see listed on those “Top 10 Things to do in ____” before I came to Italy, it is one of the best ways to see how people are feeling in that area/city. From what I learned street art has been around for a long time and many of it is focused on politically issues.

Since I mentioned my other favorite thing to take pictures of here are some of my favorites:

Of course, I take pictures of the attractions, but for me the joy of traveling is seeing what I do not ordinarily pay attention to when I am home and realizing that I should.