School's out for Summer!

I'm finally done with finals!

I didn't study as much as I should have. I was too distracted by things: the gorgeous weather, my new residence, pizza, the pure excitement of my big brother coming to visit. . . But needless to say, I think I did really well! I might even pull off a 4.0 for the semester. (I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Food and Wine and Jewelry classes? How could you not get a 4.0?" . . .But it's really hard to study in a city that is basically the equivalent of Disney World.)

My food final was so cool.

The (quite difficult) written final was last week, and this week was the practical. We were divided into 5 groups. Each group was to make a dish for a meal. My group was in charge of the second course. We made swordfish rolls with artichokes. We had to serve the meal to 4 judges, including our teacher. They graded us on our dish's presentation (how pretty we made it look), the food itself (did it taste like poop, or swordfish?), and the summary we gave of the region. That was the hard part. We talked about the history of Calabria, the food they eat there, and then the dish itself.

I felt like I was on Top Chef.

Our average score was in the VERY upper 90s.

Oh yeah. (I was lame and failed to take pictures. The other wonderful girls in my group did, though. Once they put the pictures up on Facebook, I'll put them on here for you to see. Hopefully.)

My other finals weren't so fun. But it was really sad leaving each of my classes, each of my teachers. I've had so much fun this semester and learned so many things I totally wouldn't have gotten to learn as a business major if I didn't study abroad.

And speaking of studying abroad, can we please make that a requirement for every college student? Seriously. If you are in college/going to be in college, and if you have any possible way of getting the money to study abroad, do it. It is the best decision I ever made.

And I want to cry now that it's over.

In the next few days, my friends and I are going our separate ways.

Meghan is the first; she's leaving tomorrow morning (EARLY) on a bus to Pisa, to fly to Paris. She's going to be traveling in London, too, by herself. (Scary!) We're all going out tonight for a last hoorah, and then bringing her to the train station so she can get on the bus. The plans for tonight are big. We'll take our "Ciao Bella" picture, ride the carousel in Piazza Repubblica, eat Gusta Pizza, take pictures in the legit photo booth, and visit our favorite pubs.

Tomorrow I'll pack.

Saturday, I'll get a taxi to the hotel Josh and I are staying at. And then I'll wait there until he shows up. And then we'll have 2 weeks of Florence, Venice, Milan, Interlaken (and other towns in Switzerland), Fussen, Rothenburg, Munich, and a bit more Florence before heading home.

I miss you all, but do you think I could just stay, and you could come visit?

My New Home

Here are the pictures of my new apartment/hotel!

When You First Walk In

(I don't feel like hauling my huge suitcase up those stairs. So that's where it's staying until Saturday.)

Bathroom! The shower water gets REALLY hot. Too hot. Burning hot.

Dining Room/Kitchen/Living Room

Going up the stairs to. . .



Bedroom! And now you know I don't make my bed. Ever.
(Unless I am putting new sheets on it)

The cool thing about this place is that somehow, it is really far away from all the noise. You have to walk down a long hallway from the street to get to the front desk, and there's a cute little courtyard all the apartments open up to, and it feels completely different than where we lived before, in the middle of all the excitement of the city. I have slept three nights here earplug-less and happy.

And, there's a cat who lives here. An awesome, blonde, fat cat who is super friendly and reminds me so much of the cat I used to have, The Yellow Cat. And now, you also know my family sucks at coming up with pet names. That's embarrassing.

But that's my new home! Not that we actually needed to move, because now the lastest JS news is that they have been delayed at least another week due to "logistical problems." But that's okay, because I still got to be famous. We were even mentioned in TIME! See?

Only they definitely got the story wrong, saying we were grad students and there were 2 of us. But still. Famous. Somehow, TMZ got a hold of the email LdM sent us, which is totally creepy, but I'm just going to pretend no one's secretly reading my email.

Yesterday, Lindsey and I went back to the Art Fair, and this time we took Hannah. This time, I bought the nesting dolls I wanted. I know they don't have a point, and some people probably think they're weird, but I have always wanted a set. (I found a set of 3 at Pier 1 once, but they were sailers, not actual dolls, so they don't count.)

All 10 of the Family

I haggled the heck out of this plate. The skills I developed last summer in Guatemala paid off yet again.

What are you talking about? This was entirely necessary. I need a place to. . . um. . . set my keys!

Unfortunately, the fun stops there. Because it's finals week. I just took my Jewelry final today. And the best part about that was I got to take my jewelry home! Finally!

My Semester's Work

I love how everything turned out. As much as I dreaded those 5 and a half hour class periods every week, I'm so glad I took this class!

But, I have four more finals to study for. Architecture is tomorrow morning. And my bed time is in like, less than three hours. Time to get back to those flash cards. . .

Mostra Internazionale dell'Artigianato

Yesterday evening, Lindsey stopped by to see the new place. It's more hotel than apartment. It's really nice; I'll post pictures sometime soon. But anyway, Lindsey suggested we go to the International Arts and Crafts Exhibition. We dragged Meghan out of bed and took her with us. We got there, paid our 2 euro to get in, and walked right into what may have been one of the best shopping experiences of my life.

First, it was huge. There were so many different things, so many different sellers, such a huge variety. There were clothes, shoes, bags, jewelry (LOTS of jewelry), soaps, furniture, artwork, candy, and all kinds of knick-knacks, like spinning tops and nesting dolls. (I really wanted a nesting doll. . . I still want one. They were pretty expensive, though.) Being an International Arts and Crafts Exhibition, there were things from all over the world. Most of what I bought was from India.

I didn't take enough pictures while we were there. (I have a grand total of 3.) I was really overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all.

This picture was taken by a little Indian woman. Each of us bought something from her. She was adorable.

Lindsey, Me, Meghan

Candy

Pearls

I had all this money burning a hole in my pocket, which probably wasn't a good thing. Because I ended up buying a bunch of stuff for a house that I don't yet have, but someday will.

My favorite buy was these three pillow cases. The picture isn't very good; they look better in person. But I'm going to need cute pillows for my living room couch someday, right? And they were 3 for 10 euro. How could I not buy these?

It was so hard to pick out colors!

I finally bought a mortar and pestle. Now I can make pesto the real way! Bring on the basil.

I also got some giraffe utensils. If you visit me, I can serve you some salad with these adorable things.

And I really couldn't pass up this colorful potholder for 2 euro.

Mortar and Pestle, Potholder, Utensils

My other favorite buy was this round tablecloth-y thing. I bought it from the Indian woman along with the pillow cases. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. . . But I LOVE it.

I'm guessing it's about 4 feet in diameter.

We spent at least a couple of hours at this place. We still had a lot to see, but we had to get to the grocery store before it closed. We got food and came back to my apartment. (It's weird saying my apartment. It's techinically mine and Kate's, but she's in Munich until Tuesday morning, so it's mine for now. Did I ever explain that the new place we're at is 3, 2-person apartments? Meghan and Hannah are right next door to Kate and me.) Lindsey and Hannah met us there. We ate, tried to figure out how to watch That Thing You Do online via the tv, gave up, and just hung out. I made coffee cake to break in the new kitchen.

Today, the 5 of us are going to have brunch. Eggs, sausage, orange scones, fruit salad, and tea/coffee. And leftover coffee cake. ;)

A Little Change is Good for Everyone.

Today, I moved. Well, my 5 apartment-mates and I all moved. We were taxi-d to a new (and very nice) location which has been paid for, plus we were compensated quite well. It was pretty inconvenient, but I didn't really mind that much.

Speaking of change, I have a new blog address. imkatotomato has replaced my name. Dad has always called me Kato Tomato. (I love tomatoes!) I think it sounds lovely, don't you?

Sorry this blog post is really short, and not very exciting, not to mention pictureless. I'll try harder next time.

Weird, Slightly Disappointing News

The LdM dean just met with us. (The six of us in our apartment, plus the eight girls from the apartment next to ours.)

They're concerned about Jersey Shore being here next week; they're afraid we're going to get in trouble. And that we won't be able to study during finals week. Which I was also worried about.

Basically, they're kicking us out of our apartment. Or techinically, "strongly suggesting" that we move out. And offering us 200 euro in cash if we move out Friday at 2pm to a different apartment they have arranged for us that is supposed to be "very nice."

Sorry, Jersey Shore.

I'll take the 200.

Now, to pack and clean. . .

How Charming

Sunday night, we took another trip to Gusta Pizza.

Don't judge. After this semester, I will never again be able to guiltlessly scarf down an entire pizza for dinner. . . followed by gelato.

Anyway, Monday, I started/almost finished a new project! A "la vita e bella" charm.

It's maybe about an inch tall? Or less?

I spent five hours bending wire and trying not to curse/cry too much when I couldn't get the pieces to stay together while I soldered them. Next week I'm going to put it in the machine that makes it nice and shiny.

I thought this would be a good alternative to getting this phrase as a tattoo. And yes, I considered the tattoo thing. I wrote it on my wrist in Sharpie, but it annoyed me. So I changed my mind about that. For now. ;)

JS update: There are lights up above the deck. Big lights.

Just a Typical Weekend in Florence

Last night, our regular group of five met up for dinner at our apartment. We had Fettuccini with Kale, Chickpeas, and Tomatoes. Only instead of kale we used spinach, since we had a giant bag of spinach left over from Thursday's dinner (bruschetta, pizza, and a spinach salad with strawberries, blood oranges, walnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette).
It was good, and we had some yummy peachy strawberry-y drinks after dinner. Then we got all dressed up in dresses and went out on the town for White Night, another awesome thing to do in Florence. They have it every year. Lots of places in town stay open all night long and there are people EVERYWHERE! There's music and other random events. We didn't really have anywhere to go. We just wandered around the town for a while until we got too tired and went home.

Today, Lindsey and I went to lunch. We were going to eat at a place called ZaZa. Lindsey got to our apartment and I met her downstairs. We started to walk to the restaurant, but we heard something that sounded like a parade, so we followed it.

We ended up in Piazza della Repubblica, the square closest to our apartment. There was a big crowd, and in the middle there was a band of drummers, and it was awesome. Then a lady on stage said something after they finished. Everyone laughed. Lindsey and I laughed because we figured we should. Then everyone dispersed. So we started to head for the restaurant, but then to our left we saw some stands that looked to us like they might be food-related.

The first stand was a booth with brochures about the Italian Slow Food movement. They were all in Italian, so we couldn't really read them. The next three booths were sandwiches. A man gave Lindsey and I each a big salami sandwich. It. Was. Awesome!

Is this real life?

We walked around eating our salami sandwiches. Which tasted like bologna sandwiches. But were delicious. And free.

Then, we went back for goat cheese sandwiches from another booth.

We felt like we shouldn't just keep this to ourselves, so we decided to tell Meghan and Hannah about it. They met up with us there just as we were getting some rice with some spicy chicken in gravy on top. They also had rice with veggies on top. For free.

So great!

So, two sandwiches and a plate of meat and rice later, I was stuffed. We didn't have to go to ZaZa afterall!

On the way home, we walked into the Palazzo Strozzi, because there was this awesome structure made out of tape. It was like a hollow web built inside of this palace. It's here through May 20.

Tape!

Now, your JS update.

Apartment

That is our apartment building, from the outside.

On the left, you'll see on the very, very left side, a door with a rounded arch doorway and a window on each side. That's the main JS door. The second door on the right side (other street) is the one that goes up to our apartment. On the way up to our apartment is another door leading into the JS house. And somewhere in the midst of that building is an open space where we can look out from our window and see their deck. Get it?

Italy has confusing buildings.