I've Been a Busy "B"

This may be the longest I've gone without posting - nearly a month!  I'm not sure where time went, folks, but I can tell you it's been crazy for me these last few weeks:

Carnevale in Venezia!

• Went to Verona and saw Juliet's balcony
• Went to Venice with some schoolmates for Carnevale
• Had 4 tests (written and oral) and somehow made it out alive
• Turned the big 2-4 and celebrated Italian style
• Tried to plan my Spring Break trip very last minute

grabbing Juliet's chest. it's for good luck in love, not just for tasteless photo-ops.

So that's what's been happening with me, as you can imagine it's been a bit hectic.  The trip to Verona/Venice was so much fun, 4 of us from school joined a big group of people from Torino and spent the weekend touring romantic cities, having masked adventures and enjoying the traditional costumes of Venetian Carnevale.  We met 2 couples from Torino that took us Americans under their wing to make sure we knew what was going on - they invited us to get a pizza with them in Verona and since I was the only one of us able to speak Italian I played translator all night between the groups.  We had lots of fun getting to know our new friends and trying to understand each other via gestures and lots of laughs.  We've been invited to one of the couples' houses for dinner in the coming week!

me and the girls under the porticos in piazza San Marco - it started to rain!

Last weekend we celebrated my birthday and it was such a blast!  I had class and was working at my internship all day Friday when my roommate Georgina texted me and asked if I wanted to meet for a gelato in the center.  I couldn't say no to such a request and when I met her at our usual place I was incredibly surprised to see Ricarda, my German roommate from last semester!  She'd flown into Torino for my birthday weekend to surprise me and I couldn't have felt more special.  The next morning (my birthday) I awoke to a most wonderful surprise brunch of everything you could imagine: pancakes, eggs, bacon, potatoes, fruit salad, and someone got their hands on peanut butter which was exciting.  There were fresh flowers arranged on the table and Georgina had even bought a shirt for me that said "Kiss me it's my birthday!" in italian -- I was so touched!

birthday bruuuuuunch!!!

I'd organized a dinner on Saturday night at Las Rosas, one of the few Mexican restaurants in Torino, and at the end we had 16 people all celebrating lil' ol' ME!  A few of my professors showed up and I was surprised at all the gifts I received (a few art books, bracelets, a scarf, some nutella and nailpolish as well!)  We enjoyed the "Mexican" food (I held back my Texas judgment on quality) and spent the rest of the night dancing.  For the days leading up to my birthday I thought I'd be sad and miss home since this is the first time I've been away from family and friends (and the United States) for my birthday, but all the effort my friends here put into making the day special was much appreciated and I couldn't have asked for more.

our group at dinner - they sang happy birthday in 3 languages!

me in my birthday outfit.

In other news, I was waiting for a friend to confirm a trip to Berlin with me over Spring Break, but she went MIA for a few days and I decided I would plan my own trip - so Monday I'm off to Germany for the first time (can't count all the times I've been to Frankfurt airport) and I'm super excited!  I went to the local library a few days ago to check out some travel books and there will be plenty for me to see in 4 nights, 3 days - after all there is an island of museums!  Expect updates upon my return, and do forgive me for the recent lack in posts.

Un bacione! xoxo