asleep on a sunbeam.

i don't know why, but sometimes i forget what a beautiful place arezzo is. there's not a lot to do here, so i haven't spent a lot of time exploring, but i stayed this weekend and was able to truly appreciate how pretty it is. liz, perry and jamie visited yesterday and maybe it was showing them around that helped open my eyes as well. i can't believe i've been in italy for two months now: it still seems surreal to me when i think about it. in some ways i wish i could've taken a year abroad instead because i can't possibly fit in everything that i would like to in just three months. at the same time, gotta try and live in the present and not worry about what ifs.

this week felt like it went really quickly: all of a sudden, it was friday. we had class up until dinner (ricardo served breakfast... mmm!) and then we got ready for the american decadence party that was being hosted at a discotheque called snob. admission was free for americans and costumes were encouraged, but none of us went the costume route. instead, we all dressed up (a few of us broke out the fanny packs again) and pre-gamed in the limo so we didn't spend all our money on drinks. the ADA was well represented at snob; we were some of the only people there for a long time, but we just had a dance party for a few hours, which was really fun.

yesterday, eva and i walked down to the market and got the most fantastic panini. whenever i'm here on a saturday, i make a point to purchase one of these sandwiches- that's how good they are. met up with the ladies at the train station and then gave them a brief tour of arezzo. we sat on the wall outside the duomo for a while, soaking up the view of the tuscan countryside. after a nice nap, we went back into town for life-changing pasta. it was actually pretty busy at the restaurant, so they sat us in this back room. i love eating there: the ingredients are just so fresh that even a simple dish tastes amazing. we got some gelato after dinner and ate it on our way to the bar. when we got back, we sat on the roof of the teatrino and took in the view of the night sky. bello bello bello.

after some coffee o'clock for breakfast and dropping the girls off at the train station, i took a leisurely walk back to the villa. put some chill music on and sat on a swingset in this park for a while. it's near the duomo, so there's a great view up there. i'm constantly with people, all of whom i like, but from time to time, i need some space. it was really peaceful sitting up there because most people were in church. might have to make it a sunday ritual.

this one's for you, al.

so i'm updating at allie's insistence, thus the title of this post.

anyways, greece was fun. i think our plans changed approx 5 times... our final plan was made when we actually got to athens. and even changed again because there was a strike when we were there. luckily, avoided the tear gas though. some highlights of the trip included: getting into the acropolis for FREE without planning it, paying under 10 euro for dinner a couple nights, jumping in the sea and climbing 999 steps to get to the nafplion fortress.

in terms of classes, this week has been going really well so far. today was awesome because we combined with the other undergrads and did an improv theater class for 2 and 1/2 hours. we have it again on friday and i am so excited for it. we didn't really get deep into the art of theater sports, but it was probably one of my favorite classes so far.

our cool down song in ash's class was tracy chapman's in the dark. if you haven't heard it, check it out.

planning is hard.

tonight, our spring break group decided to meet again and finalize our plans, write down details, etc. good thing. because not only was a hostel double booked and we didn't have one for athens, but we realized there was no conceivable way to get from paros to athens and make it in time for our flight back to rome. good thing we decided to not just wing it. another valuable lesson learned while abroad: planning is hard.