The Return.

First, an explanation as to why this blog post is so late.  Here at our apartment in Ascoli Piceno, we don’t rightfully have Wifi.  But, someone, somewhere in a close vicinity to us does.  They have Netgear.  They have Netgear and don’t even care to put a password on it, so of course we used Netgear day in and day out.  Free Wifi.  It was a beautiful time during our trip.  Then spring break came… and he changed.  Netgear changed.  We returned to a Netgear that wouldn’t connect us to our favorite websites.  It was like we were amish.  I just today broke down and bought the USB Wifi stick, and now have to figure out how many MBs are in a GB and a bunch of fiber optic stuff.  So rest your heads.  I’m still alright.  No one offered me a modeling job and drove me to a ditch.

I’ll start this blog post with the Cappuccino Saga.  When I knew I was coming to Italy for a semester, I knew I had to like coffee if I wanted to be a Euro-chic young lady.  I’d Google “How to make coffee taste good” and prance over to the local Starbucks with high hopes.  I was always let down.  I tried it all - Pumpkin Spice Latte, Macchiato, Mocha, Normal Coffee, all of it.  When I got to Ascoli it was much the same.  Until I got the bright idea to put sugar IN the cappuccino.  This happened about two weeks ago.  I started out with three sugars.  The next morning, two and a half.  Then my mother and grandmother came to Ascoli and Rome to visit me and I got myself to a respectable one sugar in my cappuccino!  I was feeling fun and European.  Then last Thursday happened.  I woke up earlier than usual to take out the garbage and indulged in a Diet Coke.  Afterwards, during our first class, our teacher took us out to discuss the film we watched over cappuccinos.  Brilliant!  Then came the thirty minute break during which Ben and Kelsey and I planned to get cappuccinos.  I told them “Get me two!  I love cappuccinos!!” I always thought the over caffeinated act was a joke.  I’m here to admit that I was wrong.  Very wrong.  After finishing these drinks I had three cappuccinos with three sugars in my system on top of a Diet Coke.  I was OFF THE WALLS.  My face got pale and sweaty, I kept hitting myself with my pen, it was bad.  Pretty sure my professor and Kelsey were legitimately concerned about my well being.  It took an entire day to get over that episode, and I haven’t had a cappuccino since.  Maybe I will tomorrow morning.  Learn from my mistakes.  Drink cappuccinos responsibly.

As I mentioned, my mom and grandma visited me!!  We had a great time.  We went from cafe to cafe, restuarant to restaurant.  On our second day in Rome we got a great tour from our friend Carlo who studied abroad in Chicago seven years ago!  He showed us some great sites that were off the beaten path.  Then we had a great dinner at his house with his family and his amazing dog, Indio.  After our time in Rome, we went to Ascoli Piceno, where my mother met my true Italian mother.  They also saw Italian Cupcake and can verify that the dog is real and not a “vision”.  It was a very relaxing week, exactly what I needed!

This weekend was incredible, but definitely not relaxing.  Kelsey and I went to London and the whole weekend was GO GO GO.  We left on Friday with just enough time to eat some Chipotle (which we did three times during the weekend) and get ready for our evening at the theater.  The next morning we woke up early and did a triple whammy- Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and Kensington Palace, home of Queen of my Life Kate Middleton.  I made us stand outside of that gate for a good thirty minutes waiting for a glimpse of luscious brown hair but to no success.  As I was talking to the guards about the best vantage points to see Kate, a man on a bike pressed a button to get out of the heavily guarded gated area.  I turned to the guard and said “WAS THAT WILLIAM”?  Apparently this guard thought it would be funny to toy with my emotions.  “Yes!” he said, “Didn’t you see his face?”… to which I broke down in hysteria.  William did NOT ride by me without me getting a selfie or a hello with him.  I think the guard realized what kind of devastation he just caused in my life and told me it wasn’t William, it was just a nobody.  But a semi-important nobody if he lives in Kensington.  Following our morning of royalty we saw the matinee of the musical Once which was really great.  Then we had exactly enough time for some Chipotle and time to go back to our hotel to get ready for our evening show.  I loved London so much, which is special seeing as the only prior association I had with it was Heathrow Airport, home of long layovers and Hefner meltdowns.  I could definitely see myself living there or spending a longer time there, but I’m pretty sure I would run out of money in one day.  London is EXPENSIVE.  At the airport, I forked over seventy USD and twenty Euro, to which I received forty pound.  Great. That about covered my Chipotle and a piece of gum.  It made me miss the Euro, but more so the dollar.

And that’s been my life!  Straight up.  Now that I have reliable Wifi I’ll be back to blogging on a more regular basis.