rome-sick

it's no surprise that after having lived in roma for half a quarter, me (and all my study abroad mates) are utterly rome-sick. not to be confused with someone who's sick of rome or contracted some sort of illness from being in rome, no. i'm talking could've-stayed-a-92834982374-days-longer sick. now i don't know the right amount of time that's required to fully experience rome, but i'm willing to guess one would need infinity. there are so many things i did, yet so many things i didn't do, things wish i did, and things i don't even know wanted to do yet.
lately i've been loading up on a lot of anthony bourdain's no reservations since it's up on netflix. and slowly but surely, i've been torturing myself with selectively watching all the ones that take place in, you guessed it, italy. seeing all those places, spaces, and piazze that i've already been to definitely conjure up pangs of romesickness, and at the same time i'm completely determined to return - i did flip a coin or two into la fontana di trevi afterall... one thing that i miss the most about italy is its food culture that's lacking here in the states. no one takes food for granted in italy. no one overlooks the importance of superb ingredients in italy. they live to eat, whereas we eat to live. and to me, the act of sharing a meal and taking time to enjoy it, that's the sort of life worth living. alla vita!


pictures above (mine): a white page is a hidden poem; me in front of l'arco di Tito al foro romano.

burano, venezia

a part of our field trip to venice included a ferry ride to nearby venetian island, burano. famous for its colorful houses and lace, burano was a breath of fresh air. it was small enough for us to navigate a entirely new place, and the small town feel made it feel more  like a warm lazy day of exploration than an agenda-packed day of tourism. it's such a picturesque place, i remember taking a lot of pictures of and with everyone with the various colorful houses as backdrops. 

and for some reason i took quite a few feet pictures that day, haha. well, the top one i love because out of all the beautiful and bright houses there, i was reminded of the beauty in the ugly things concept and this shot expressed that perfectly to me. as for the bottom picture, my shadow was being particular cool so i had to snap a shot of that. 

if you ever go to venice, i strongly suggest you make to visit the surrounding islands (there are 117 of them!). murano is obviously a popular one for its beautiful glass art/wares. but if you want to take a step back from all the tourist atrractions that venice offers, take a day trip to the surround areas; it will be completely worth it (or as in italian: vale la pena).

kitchen | cucina

this kitchen totally reminds me of being in italy, and being in italy reminds me of pure joy. ha. i spent many evenings whipping up our apartment something tasty to eat before we out, or something tasty when we decided we were staying in. our quaint apartment in rome didn't exactly have marble walls in the kitchen that i distinctly remember, but marble surfaces were still everywhere and just so reminiscent of italian homes. 
the cans of tomato sauce were obviously a staple while we were in italy - a good brand makes all the difference for a great sauce base! and then there was the fear-inducing gas stove. some days i had luck, other days i lacked the skill and/or the patience to light the gas stove. in italy, usually you have to light gas stoves by hand via matches or lighters; and it was just so different from what all of us were used to that we tended to be skittish when it came to, oh you know, not burning ourselves...

in other kitchen musings... i am on the hunt for a great tea kettle. i'm a tad on the particular side because i don't want just any tea kettle not even for interim use, but one that's stylish and durable/practical. also, how adorable are those ceramic mugs?

pictures from my favorite design blog, Design*Sponge.

reminiscing: venezia

for our first field trip as a study abroad group, we left roma behind for a few days and said ciao to northern italian life in venice (or a venezia). at the time, most of us were less than impressed by venice. the trip definitely had its moments, but for some reason we became underwhelmed for the most part. i'm not really sure why either. perhaps it was the fact that most narrow streets looked eerily identical and led to dead ends or walking in complete circles (but i actually love getting lost in new places, shh). or it could be the fact that venice is one of the most visited cities in italy and tourists were just teeming the streets and restaurants and piazze (or campiello as they're called in venice)... actually, you may know that venice is barely populated by actual venetians today because it became too expensive to live there and it was smarter to rent out your home to tourists.

looking back now, i'm really fond of venice and i think we made really great memories there. i had the best sangria of my life thanks to this smoothie stand by day/bar by night place conveniently located next to our hotel. relaxing night walks on the rialto bridge. hunting for the best mask store in venice (there are so many!). drooling everytime we found ourselves in the great shopping areas (oh, the glorious, glorious shoes...). eating cuttlefish ink spaghetti for the first (and second!) time in my life! the weird, yet invigorating feeling i remember having knowing that we could explore venice without truly getting lost because we were on this island no matter what. i loved seeing our group (of thirty!)  crammed into tiny venetian restaurants. hilarious. and i think what i loved most was how much it felt like a vacation. i know, i know studying abroad itself is a vacation! but we studied a lot in rome, and for four days in venice it was all just relaxing, drinking, and eating sans studies - a true vacation in my eyes.

well, that was venice in a tiny, tiny hazelnut shell. maybe i'll post the crazy awesome graffiti art i saw in venice - just so many surprising gems of art (:

pictures above: (left) me in one of the many narrow corridors in venice; (right) a photo snapped by a friend while walking through one of the busier streets.