manikin piss

We left Ireland dreadfully early on Wednesday morning to head to Brussels, Belgium. When we got there we dropped our stuff off at my friend's cousin's apartment and headed out to get some lunch. I had a phenomenal chicken and brie sandwich. yum. Brussels is known for 4 things: being the capital of Europe, chocolate, waffles, and beer. I can happily handle all four of those things. I did not see any runners when I was out running here. Most people looked at me like I had lost my mind. But, it was very pretty. In a different way than Ireland. More architectural instead of natural.

On Thursday we saw all of the main sights. We went to the chocolate square, saw the main center of the city, went into one of the most beautiful Catholic churches I have ever seen and got a beer at a place that is famous for having 2000 beers on their menu. I even went inside a Forever 21 for the first time in months. hallelujah.

Strangest thing about Brussels was the weird attraction locals and tourists have to their most famous statue "manikin piss".  I just don't get it. It's just a little peeing baby. So anti-climatic. And there were literally crowds surrounding the thing. Strange.(there's a picture of it below, then you'll see what I mean).

I just don't get it...

French was the dominant language in Brussels with some German and Dutch sprinkled here and there. Meaning once again, I had no idea what people were saying to me. The cuisine was very french which was a nice change. There was only one casualty in Brussels. I boarded the bus to the airport at 3:30 am on Friday morning feeling like the walking dead. I was like you know Mol just turn on your iPod, listen to some John Mayer Christmas music, find your center, relax. So I go to my music library and much to my surprise I had accidentally erased my entire library except for 20 songs when I tried to charge it on someone's computer. Let me tell you, I was about to kill someone. Listening to Back that Azz Up at 5 in the morning when you're trying to "find your center" just doesn't work. Between running in Milan and the 6 hour train ride home I think I listened to those 20 songs about 10 times each.

So now here I am, Halloween night, sitting in bed because my apartment is literally an ice box, listening to Merry Christmas Baby by Bruce Sprinsteen and I could not be happier about it. No dressing up for me this year. I just had no desire to put forth that effort. BUT today I was in charge of dinner for my roomates so I got homemade ravioli from this little man down the street. Had a convo with him in Italian (successfully. for once). And then roasted pumpkin, onions, apples, garlic, and zucchini with a balsamic glaze. Tossed that with the ravs and let me tell you it was DANK.

Not to brag or anything.

But it was phenom.

I'm totally bragging.

And now I have pumpkin seeds to eat tomorrow. Happiest girl.

Happy Halloweenie!

Next post on Milano. Get excited.

While I have breath, I hope.

After getting a cab to the airport at 4 in the morning and getting on a plan at 6:30, we landed in the Dublin to be greeted by the Bagel Factory and Starbucks. Guess what? This starbucks had REAL brewed coffee. Not just espresso and water that they want you to think is coffee. This was all well and good until we were on the 3 hour bus ride to galway and I thought I was going to pee my pants due to the extra large coffee I had to consume right before we left.


I have to say though, Ireland was probably my favorite place. I LOVED it. The people were so nice and we had the perfect day on Tuesday. If you ever go to Ireland you must must must go to Galway, go on the Cliffs of Moher tour, and ask for Desmond to be your tour guide. Listen, I'm usually not a fan of group tours. People are annoying. Bottom line. But this tour was fan tas tic.

 We got on the bus at 10 that morning in the pouring rain and 40 degree weather and started our journey. Our tour guide, Desmond, knew one of the girls that we were with because she studies in Galway and had been on one of his previous tours. Well, this worked to our advantage. Not only did he call us his queens all day, but he also bought us candy bars and fudge, and sang me some Irish song about a girl named Molly. Sweetest little 60 year old irish man I have ever seen (Cute old people just kill me). We spent all day driving through the country side.  My favorite stop was this little restaurant right on the water where they had a huge wood burning fire place and we all got hot chocolate. It was beautiful. 

After a great lunch of seafood chowder we walked outside and the sun was out and a huge rainbow appeared. I'm telling you, it was magical. And I don't use the word "magical" lightly. It sounds like I'm trying to be in a disney movie or something.



Then we made our way to the cliffs. Last year they were voted one of the top 7 natural wonders in the world. After going there, I understood. It was beautiful. And sunny, which apparently never happens. And in all seriousness, the grass is really greener in Ireland.








 As you can see, it was so beautiful. And a picture just didn't even capture all of it.





















After the cliffs we made one more stop and then Desmond took us back to Galway. He had us stay on the bus and drove us to the grocery store so that we wouldn't have to walk all the way back in the rain. Nicest man ever. I don't think that would have happened anywhere else. The Irish are great people.

On another note, I found out my last name in Celtic means "while I have breath, I hope" ... which I actually really like. Here I was thinking I had a boring name! pish posh.

Alright I need to go make my schedule for nova for next semester. I have to register on Wednesday. Time is flying by! But guess what? Every villanova student who is abroad has a 5:30 registration time either the same day as me or the following day, meaning they would register at 11:30 here. Cool. Perfect. Guess when my registration time is? 9 pm. So guess who has to get their ass up at 3 am to register for classes? This girl right here. Of course.

One more picture to show you that I am in need of serious mental help...

guess who's back?

So I finally am back in Perugia after 10 days of traveling all over Europe. I think what I am going to do is blog on each country separately. God knows you don't want to read some ramble 5 page blog post. No one has the attention span for that, and I don't have the attention span to write it either to be honest.

Last Friday we flew out of the Perugia airport (joke) and into London. We flew Ryan Air to every country. Each flight was under 20 euro, but they flew you into crap airports that are usually about an hour outside of the city. Did not take this under account when booking. But I LOVED London. My roommate and I stayed with my friend Tina who is studying there.

I was the happiest girl when we landed on Friday and I realized that I was not going to have to plan out every word I said before I opened my mouth because they spoke ENGLISH. what a beautiful thing. The first thing I did after we met up with Tina was get a venti coffee from starbucks. Let me tell you it as heaven. Then we walked around, saw Big Ben, double decker buses, statues, and museums. Got cider at a pub (Strongbow is my new favorite drink. just fyi) I was drawn to the city with its combination of history and modernness, antique looking buildings and trendy styles.

On Saturday we went to Notting Hill which I loved. Vintage clothes and jewelry, all different kinds of food, and beautiful artwork. The weather was gorgeous all weekend so we really lucked out.

On Sunday we went to Covenant Garden which was really cool too. There were lots of tea shops, a man singing the Stones and playing the guitar, huge vats of paella, and families everywhere. The weather was so beautiful we pretty much wandered around all over the city all weekend. I feel like I need to go back though because I don't think I saw even a quarter of what London has to offer.\

One thing I found surprising about London is that the accent actually makes it really hard to understand people when they talk. I think I have perfected the deer in headlights look, seeing as I used it at least once a day on this trip, even in English speaking countries! The only time this was really a problem was when I accidentally ordered mushy peas since I had no idea what the guy was saying. They were kind of gross. Basically baby food. But of course I ate them anyway. Girls gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Another surprising thing was the Indian influence on food (curry is everywhere) and the amount of fried chicken places. Piece of advice for the Brits: get rid of the 2000 KFC's that are on every corner and put in some Bojangles. Then we'll talk.

I went on beautiful runs here. More to follow on that in a Running Diary (that name is still so cheesy).

Shout out to Tina for being the best host ever. She dealt with me wearing her clothes, sleeping on her floor, touring me all over God's creation, and listening to Christmas music on grooveshark despite the fact that it was October (sorry i'm not sorry about it. I'm just preparing for the season. every week leading up to December you need a couple hours of Christmas music to get yourself prepared. Its like training for a marathon)

Perugia transitioned into fall while I was gone last week, making it a more beautiful place than ever. While I was running this morning the thin blanket of yellow leaves that now cover the sidewalks and the families in their coats and boots leaving church and stopping by their favorite bakeries before heading home made me a little homesick. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss my family and villanova. But hey, it's nothing a couple cups of instant coffee and a vintage market that is taking place in town can't cure. I do wish that the people I love could experience the things I am experiencing here because this has been, and continues to be, such an amazing semester.

Enough with the mushy gushy talk. yuck.

Next post will be on Ireland! Need to go scope out the market for a cool bracelet. Or wash my disgusting clothes.


Nah. They can wait. Ciao ciao for now.

arrividerci yall

Welp I just finished midterms. First half of the semester? Check. That went by disgustingly fast.

With the exception of me spilling my coffee all over the study table in the library this morning (This was the ONLY time I am grateful they don't give you big cups of coffee here), midterms week went pretty smoothly.  I am leaving for my fall break tomorrow. First stop London, second: Dublin, third: Brussels, and fourth: Milan.  Four countries in 9 days. If I make it back to Perugia in one piece it will be a small miracle.

As of 7:30 tonight the raw diet will be over. It wasn't horrible. If I had been able to have some eggs and cooked beans like lentils or something it would have been way easier.  Eating tomatoes, bananas, apples, lettuce, and peanuts all the time was getting old fast. Just saying. BUT now my paper will have first hand experience in it. Which is always way more interesting in my opinion.

Things I Should Be Doing Right Now
1. hanging my wet laundry
2. cleaning my room
3. picking out classes for spring semester at nova
4. packing 9 days of clothes into a backpack

What I Am Doing Instead
sitting in my bed listening to guns n roses. and glee. quite the combo let me tell you.

Good news though. I got a new sheet for my bed. Of course the landlord stops by with the new sheet unannounced and my room looks like a bomb went off, I have a sleeping bag on my bed as a makeshift sheet, and I'm wearing a strange combination of men's sweatpants, a flannel shirt, and a cable knight sweater. She can't speak English and couldn't understand my Italian as I was scurrying around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to pick things up. I ended up just profusely alternating between saying sorry and thank you. Her response, "Good luck." Good luck with what? My mess of a life? It was perfect timing. Just like always.

Alright. Try not to miss me too much next week. God only knows what I'll be blogging about when I get home.... Ciao ciao for now lovers.  

Running Diaries: Perugia

Okay so I've been working on this puppy (who says that? 50 year old men. that's who) for quite some time now because being able to run in Perugia has given me opportunities to see and discover things I would otherwise probably not have found. Another reason to love running.

What's up Jesus?

The convent hill that we do hill repeats on = my death every thursday

An old convent (i would never make it)

From the top (its steeper than it looks I swear)

The track (its right behind the bus station) ugly view right?

Casual.

Favorite time of the day. no contest.

Old aqueduct that used to bring water into the city. Now you can run on it.

See the switch back stairs? Yep.

Prettiest view. This doesn't do it justice.

Trying to show you the olives. The whole park is full of olive trees.

And some kind of nut trees.

Subject for next photography project: hanging laundry. I love it.

I've been really into listening to Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble while I've been running lately. Is that weird?

yes.

Raw diet update: IT SUCKS.  no its really not that bad. However, I was going to try to give up coffee but by 3 this afternoon I felt like I was going to die so I drank a cup. I feel kind of like a cheater. But its coffee! Not food. Right? Right.

I am currently having some life struggles. Not real ones. Just small ones. Like my watch broke, my socks all have holes in them (I don't even know how), my single sheet has a huge rip in it, a loaf of bread is staring at my right now, and there's an obnoxious amount of fruit flies in my kitchen.

Why are these problems? I am constantly looking at my wrist to see what time it is, I feel like a poor person and bottom line I just really love socks, I am OCD about my bed and the ripped sheet is throwing me off, I want to eat the bread, and fruit flies are just plain annoying. What a useless creature.

On the bright side, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant just came on shuffle. Billy Joel. What a game changer.

EUROchocolate

Our main street lined with chocolate vendors

Let me just start by saying that the amount of chocolate I consumed this weekend was actually obscene. Oh good God. But it was so good. So so good. Perugia is the chocolate capital of Italy and this weekend the Eurochocolate Festival kicked off on Friday morning. There was literally chocolate everything everywhere. Chocolate bark, truffles, milk, fudge, chocolate kebabs, life size chocolate bears, chocolate cream cheese, chocolate liquor.... it was unreal. If you paid 6 euro you got a Chococard which provided you with samples from 15 places. Of course I did this. How could you turn that down? 

gale force winds. nbd.

chestnuts roasting on an open fire!!!!

So do you like all the pictures I took with my third new camera?! The amount of money I've spent on cameras still disgusts me. Vom.

Anyways. As you can see it was just a lovely eat fest all weekend. On Saturday we escaped the cast of thousands that were taking chocolate to the face and swarming the streets of Perugia and went over to Assisi. It was so beautiful and quiet there. We went in the churches and saw St. Francis's tomb. I said a prayer on it (I know, my holiness is overwhelming) And then we had the most amazing meal ever (anyone noticing a theme of eating here?) But seriously, it was this thin bread with gorgonzola, figs, and prosciutto. It was amazing.

I want one.

So Assisi was beautiful, as usual (ha I rhymed). On our way home we stopped at the big grocery store by the train station and then proceeded to get on the mini metro back up to the center of town. Oh my god I wanted to pull my hair out. Picture this: a tiny little subway car packed with a gazillion people with no sense of personal space slamming into you so that you can all fit so that they can go eat some chocolate. hey. GET OUT OF MY TOWN. No but seriously, I was dying. I had to go for a run when I got home so that I could be in open space and have the freedom to move again (i need therapy? nahhh)

I realized something though. I have always thought of myself as a city girl. I wanted to get out of North Carolina in high school because I thought it was boring, it was too safe, too comfortable, too same old same old. I wanted something totally different. I wanted what I thought was a city. But I don't think that's really the case. I think I just wanted a different culture. To experience something else. Because let me tell you something, masses of people crowding around me make me feel like I'm going crazy. So maybe I just wanted to be in a city because cities usually have lots of different cultures. I thought I wanted to grow up and live in New York City. I still want to do that for a little after I graduate (If I can find a job) but then my dream life would be living in some beautiful house on a beautiful piece of land where I can go for a run in the morning and be surrounded my something other than houses and cement sidewalks. No suburbs for me please. So anyways. Enough about my most current life realization.

I am doing a case study and writing my final term paper for my food class on the evolution of cooking and raw diets. SO starting today I am eating a raw diet until Friday (when I leave for fall break. First stop: LONDON yehaw) I think my body might actually go into shock this week when it realizes I am not going to feed it massive amounts of bread, pasta, and chocolate. I'll keep yall updated on how this little thing goes. Should be interesting.

Alright well. I am going to go do something with my life. Midterms this week. already halfway through B left at 5:15 this morning. Sad. Missing her already.

She's going to kill me for this. LOVE YOU.

Okay kiddies. Ciao ciao for now.