"What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation." -Glenn Close

.....if anyone knows me AT ALL, they know that this one sentence could actually have reduced me to tears (and HAS in the past). At the phone store, when they didn't have the phone I wanted in pink last year, I literally started to tear up. It's sad. It's a problem. My computer is pink. My toothbrush is pink. My retainer is pink. And my beautiful, wonderful, now BROKEN camera was hot pink. But I'm in Italy, my camera is broken, and I needed the best, cheapest one I could find. Which came in red. I'm a grown woman now, getting mature colored things. We'll see how long it lasts. Anyways here are a couple pictures from my new camera... I have kewl roommates. Lounging in the kitchen. My new camera has a "cuisine" mode. Crystal likes to fry up her french fries and burgers when Italian food gets the best of her. ALSO. After buying my camera from a camera store (where thank GOODNESS they spoke English...I'm getting better at Italian but I don't...

Tuesday nights in Perugia have not ceased to be eventful so far. Literally, every Tuesday, whether planned or not, something awesome happens. This Tuesday? THE OPERA. Three of my friends and I bought last-minute, 16 euro tickets to the Opera "Madame Butterfly" at the Morlacchi Theatre of Perugia, which is right by our school in Perugia. It was all in Italian, we had horrible seats, but the singing was amazing. I could not possibly have had a better first-opera experience. The building was built in the 1700s, so the theatre is SO old and SO intricately decorated with beautiful architecture and frescoes all over the walls and ceilings. It was 3 and a half hours long, but I enjoyed every minute, whether I was watching (by LEANING out of my box all the way, otherwise all I could see was a lamp) or just sitting back, listening, and enjoying the beauty of my surroundings. Luckily, we ran into one of the administrators from our school who has a REALLY nice camera, so we got so...

PISA, FLORENCE and CINQUE TERRE. EXHAUSTING. BEAUTIFUL. OVERWHELMING. CHAOTIC. AMAZING. I'll start from the beginning. Class ended at 5pm last Thursday. I went to my apartment, packed my bag, made dinner, and ran out the door to meet my friends by 7pm. The plan was to meet at 7pm, walk to the mini-metro station, take the mini-metro to the train station, and take the 7:40pm train to Florence.  All of this is a great plan if nothing goes wrong. But things go wrong. As we're walking to the mini-metro, Teagan and Lauren realize they don't have their passports (you NEED passports to check-in to any hostel). So they run back to their apartments to get their passports, panting and sweating the whole way across town...and we're late for the mini-metro. It's cool...we're not stressing out. But when we're all finally together again at the top of the mini-metro station, we start running. Real casual, running down the escalator to the mini-metro. We get on the min...

So my camera is broken. We'll see how I deal with this. I figured out if I hit it hard enough while it's trying to turn on, then sometimes it works....sooo we'll see. This week has been awesome. In my classes, we're finally started to really getting into the topics and I love it. Social life has calmed down a lot...and everyone in general is just a lot more comfortable with doin their thaaang and not feeling so pressured to participate in EVERYTHING. Monday: Classes, met a bunch of friends at our favorite bar (La Tana)  to book our fall break trip (portugal, spain and prague) and a trip to London (waaddaaap KAITLIN BURLINGAME), did some homework, used their wifi, and sang some karaoke. SO MUCH FUN. Tuesday: Classes, home-made dinner with friends, typical Tuesday in Perugia. Wednesday: Classes, house-cleaning, studying for first Exam in Italian Language, 1.20 Euro Pizza and Gelato...and a night in with the roomies. SO RELAXING. Thursday: TODAY! Classes, first Exam f...

It’s funny how quickly a new place can be thought of as “home.” Home is not a definite word. The house you grew up in, or the house you have a mortgage on, is not necessarily your only “home.” I remember my first week at Gustavus, already telling my mom that I would need to go back home (to Gustavus) after certain events. Well it’s been two weeks here in Perugia, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is my home. We went on our first weekend-long trip this past weekend, down the coast to Sorrento, Naples, Pompei, and the island of Capri. It was unbelievably beautiful, we got great tans, swam in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and had delicious full-course Italian meals….but by Sunday night, on our bus ride back up to Perugia, all we wanted was home. We got off the bus in Piazza Italia, in the center of Perugia, looked at each other and said “It is SO good to be home.” I found comfort walking through the streets that I have come to know as my own, stopping by my school (even though I just start...

These beautiful little friends litter the streets in the center of Perugia. Today, while trying to enjoy a nice pizza lunch on the steps...these little buggers wouldn't leave us alone. They are fearless.

"WHEN A TRAVELLER RETURNETH HOME, LET HIM NOT LEAVE THE COUNTRIES, WHERE HE HATH TRAVELLED, ALTOGETHER BEHIND HIM; BUT MAINTAIN A CORRESPONDECE BY LETTERS, WITH THOSE OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE, WHICH ARE OF MOST WORTH. AND LET HIS TRAVEL APPEAR RATHER IN HIS DISCOURSE, THAN HIS APPAREL OR GESTURE; AND IN HIS DISCOURSE, LET HIM BE RATHER ADVISED IN HIS ANSWERS, THAN FORWARD TO TELL STORIES; AND LET IT APPEAR THAT HE DOTH NOT CHANGE HIS COUNTRY MANNERS, FOR THOSE OF FOREIGN PARTS; BUT ONLY PRICK IN SOME FLOWERS, OF THAT HE HATH LEARNED ABROAD, INTO THE CUSTOMS OF HIS OWN COUNTRY." Words of wisdom from Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Tonight we had Tandem. Most of the American students in our program went to this pub, where a bunch of Italians met us, and we all sat together, trying to help them learn English while they tried to help us learn Italian. It made me realize that I can give a basic life story about myself in Italian (My name is....I am from...I live...I am studying...etc.) but I have no conversational skills. My goal for this week: practice CONVERSATIONAL SKILLS in Italian. Grammar only gets you so far in a pub. Anyways it was actually a great experience and definitely a learning experience! We are going to be doing it every other week for pretty much the whole semester, so hopefully by the end we will be able to sit down, enjoy the free drinks and appetizers, and have an actual conversation in Italian. This picture was taken right before we walked into the pub. Where we are standing is called "Lover's Lane" and I guess it's a popular teen make-out spot in Perugia. You can see why, bec...