On An Evening In Roma

Since this is meant to be something of a travel blog, I decided I needed to tell more about my Italian rambles (and that's what they were- rambles around several Italian cities). Mostly, we took a map and glanced at it occasionally and were not afraid to get lost (which we did, several times). I think that's the best way to travel Europe anyhow. I mean, why not find your own way to things and create your own paths? You might just find the best little streets and restaurants right around the corner.

While looking through the pictures, I remembered one of my favorite most happiest moments in Rome. We were coming back from dinner of pasta and steak (Candace insisted on meat) and walking through the enchantingly lit streets of the Trastavere area (the quaint collegy area down the river from the Vatican). Candace and I each had an ear bud in one ear and we were listening to the tunes of Regina Spektor's "Far" album and regardless of the people walking behind us, we were singing out loud, perhaps out of tune, while winding through parked cars. Eventually we made it to a point above the river- through some cute streets with what looked like really yummy hole-in-the-wall restaurants -up to where we could see a city-scape. I love seeing city lights from somewhere out and above. It's like finding a fermata from the symphony of the city. You feel like you can breathe and pause and think. We paused in the afterglow before heading back to our hostel on the other side of the city. We were a bit giddy still- perhaps from the wine? But certainly, one of my favorite evenings in Rome.

Regina Spektor's brilliantly quirky and thoughtful album
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105518205

Shoes and Kindness

TOMS is awesome. Do something for someone else- one for one.

Birthday

All things come to an end . . even the Roman Empire

Still basking in the loveliness of an Italian holiday, the end of the semester came sweeping by and crashing to a close with finals and term papers seen in the dim light of computer screens at various hours of the night and morning. Somehow, now, I sit in the sunlight family room with Vermont mountains half-tinged in spring green out my window. I woke late, attempting to fulfill a fours year sleep deficit. I felt the need to write.

And now begins "real life". Diploma in hand, what comes next? The job search, the volunteer position, . . . I think the college president was right in asking parents and friends to pause before they ask the graduates that question. It can be rather hard to answer. Thankfully for me, I have a very supportive family and a house to stay in until I know the next step.

Is becoming a gypsy artist in Italy allowed?