Previously in my life

Dear Reader(s),

Previously in my life I have had fun in the sun. Limoges has, like the UK, had a small sunny period which my friends and I have greatly enjoyed. Last week Steph and I had a trip to town which ended with a G&T in the sunlight (although the G&T was overpriced, so I will be sticking to my usual bière fraise from now on). We also had a raclette night at Ashley's (the party included Ashley, Steph, me, Aidan and Jake) which was amazing and after a bit of The Dark Knight Steph and I left but funnily enough Aidan stayed alone with Ashley... looks like things have started up again there.

We have had a lake day too, Ashley took Aidan, Steph and me in her car to a nearby lake that we like and we spent a few hours there, having a picnic, kicking a ball around, sun bathing, reading and generally chilling out.

On Sunday Steph and I had a great day together, we went for a run and then played tennis followed by FINALLY hovering our rooms (the hover had been broken for 3 weeks!) a skype date, and then (don't judge) we walked to Mc Donald's where we saw some real Irish traveler gypsies (highlight of my life - I'm obsessed with gypsies since watching Big Fat Gypsy Weddings).

I just said good bye to Steph and Aidan for 10 days because they're going to Barcelona tomorrow morning until Sunday, but I'm going to Barrow on Friday until the next Sunday.

Tomorrow I'm going to Ashley's for some wine and DVDs, then it's pretty much pack, do YAWT and go to Barrow!

A presto ...

Update!

Dear Reader(s),

Since Toulouse I have had lots of fun in Limoges with Steph, Aidan, my other Limoges friends, and even Matt Funnell!

Steph, Ashley, Virgil and I went to a nearby lake (15th March) and enjoyed the sunshine and the heat for a few hours. It was really chilled out and we just relaxed for the day. The sunshine has since continued and the heat is lush.

Aidan and I had a good weekend while Steph was away (16th-18th March) we enjoyed the sun, and then went to a 'white t-shirt party' which involved everyone signing our white t-shirts with silly messages at a pub called Park Avenue. We also went to Jake's flat on the Sunday and watched a couple of the 6 Nations rugby matches which was fun.

Wednesday 21st March finally came around and Matt Funnell's visit began! We've enjoyed a week of sun and fun with Aidan and Steph, and it's felt like a holiday. He took me to The Hippo restaurant and treated me to an amazing steak (Limoges is famous for it's beef too), we went to 'UNILIM's Got Talent' (a talent show for the French students learning English) and made homemade pizza's with the gang, we went to Jake's birthday party (ring of fire was played...), we went to football (Matt played with the gang, I was ref) and then McDonald's for a treat lunch, Sunday was full on chill day, we chilled in the sun with Aidan and then played cricket with a load of the erasmus students (2 Indian guys were teaching the rest the rules and they were brilliant), we went for another meal last night with Steph and Aidan (I had scallops and prawns in my tagliatelle) and today is our last day (sad face). The whole visit has included several hyper u trips, lots of relaxing, and lots of fun.

Not long until Limoges is finished now... Barrow soon!

A PRESTO!

Toulouse

Dear Reader(s),

This weekend Steph and I ventured away from Limoges and headed for Toulouse la ville rose.

The sun was shining and there was not one single cloud in the sky for the entire time we were there it was perfect. We arrived after a 3 hour 30 minute train journey, found a cheap room for the night (cheaper to share the bed) and left our bags. We explored the city (in the sun) and after locating the tourist office and obtaining information, we went to the Toulouse view point and admired the scenery. We walked up and down the river, walking past hundreds of cool students doing work, playing guitars, or just hanging out along the river banks. We then crossed the river and found a free museum which was an exhibition of French medical equipment from throughout the ages.

We then found a spot in the sun to enjoy a drink, and toast the fact that Steph has officially got a job working for the VIP section of the Olympics (she'll be hanging with George Clooney and David Beckham, no biggy). After a couple of slowly enjoyed drinks in the sun, we went for dinner and enjoyed each others company and pizzas. We then went to the square and had one more drink at a cafe and made it last for ages while we watched the people of Toulouse come and go, and towards the end there was the beginnings of a rollerskate race.

On Saturday we rose early and got on a metro followed by a bus to the outskirts of Toulouse where the 'Cité de l'Espace' (space museum) is. We spent about 3 hours there enjoying as many things as we could (sadly the moon walking simulation wasn't open when we were there) including an iMax 3D film about the telescope in space called 'Hubble', walking inside a Russian space craft, and learning about how satellites in space are used with polar bears to learn about global warming. We then headed back to the centre, grabbed a McDonalds, and got our long train back to Limoges.

We ended the weekend in Limoges on Sunday with the England-France rugby at a friend's flat.

All in all and excellent weekend! Bring on Matt Funnell's visit.....!

A presto...

BIRTHDAY!!

Dear Reader(s),

Last weekend it was my 21st birthday and I went home to celebrate. I loved every second. I had the most wonderful time with my friends and family, and Matt Funnell even flew over to Jersey just for the occasion. My parents had organised a party at one of Jersey's best hotels with Michlin star food!

When I returned to Limoges I had a second birthday party with all of the Erasmus gang and we went to the biggest night club in Limoges which was pretty fun too, although not in any way similar.

I think I preferred the party at home by a small amount....

A la prochaine...

Properly settled in

Dear Reader(s),

I've been here over 3 weeks now, and I feel like I'm properly settled in and really using my French. A girl called Linda had a birthday soirée this weekend, and everyone who attended was an Erasmus student, which meant that we all had to speak French to one another, and it was really good. A boy called Sebastian said that we all had to say 'happy birthday Linda' in our own language, and it was dead interesting hearing all the different languages! My favourite were the Lithuanians.

Chinese tonight for a goodbye meal for a girl called Charlotte, lets hope that the snow doesn't let us down tonight!

A la prochaine...

Raclette, Red Wine, Shisha

Dear Reader(s),

Last night we went round to our French friend, Virgile's house for an evening of raclette. For those who don't know what raclette is, it is essentially melted cheese, in other words, it is essentially brilliant. We had potatoes, bread, haricots verts, sweet corn, meats and of course, the cheese. We had some nice red wine as well and then when the meal was finished Virgile whipped out his shisha, we had one mango flavoured one and one cherry flavoured one. It was a really chilled out evening with our friends (9 of us in total) and I loved it.

The weather here is absolutely freezing, right now it is -8 degrees C, and there's snow on the ground.

Previously in my life I have done some more badminton, a couple more runs, a couple more soirées, seen an ice hockey match (Limoges lost) and been to the cinema.

À la prochaine...

Limoges

Dear Reader(s),

Sorry for lack of blogging, I have had internet issues. Limoges is so far amazing. I have ice skated, played tennis, gone for a run, done some badminton, been to the cinema twice, eaten out, attended some lectures, got my library card, had a sleep over, and of course partied.

I've made very good friends with the English people out here, but in particular a girl called Steph, we get on really well and I absolutely love her! We've decided we're blood sisters.

This afternoon I have a meeting to enroll properly and do a French test, it's not compulsory for me, but I figured why not?

Tonight is a chilled one, dinner with Steph and Aidan then probably a film in one of our rooms, but who knows, things could change!

À la prochaine....

The night before... part 2

Dear Reader(s),

I am packed and ready to go and feeling the nerves and excitement that I felt this time four months ago. Tomorrow morning, at the sickening hour of 05.30, my dad and I will be leaving the house for our journey to Limoges. We are flying via Southampton and will land in Limoges at 12.50 local time.

I have already got some friends via facebook, and am pretty excited at the thought that I will have an internet cable in my room, instead of having to go down to the computer room every day, as I did in Modena.

Time to sort out the last minute things, before my last dinner in Jersey, and an early night...

Moving on...

Dear Reader(s),

I have completed the Modena part of my YA and, after a very merry Christmas, I am now preparing for stage two of my adventures!

Next stop is Limoges, France, a place which, when mentioned, is followed by one of two reactions:
a) oh Limoges? that's a bit of a dump isn't it? or,
b) Limoges? where's that?

In answer to the first reaction I will say that the YA experience is what you make it, so despite it potentially being 'a bit of a dump' I will try my hardest to make sure that I make friends, join societies, attend lectures and visit nearby towns, as I did in Modena. In answer to the second reaction, it is a bit South-West of the centre of France:

So in a few short days I will be packed and on my way to start a new adventure... wish me luck!

Traditional Modena Dindins

Dear Reader(s),

So I have officially finished my English lessons with Sara, Martina and Sofia, and after my last lesson with Sofia (my little favourite) I was invited to a meal with her and her family. I went home after our last lesson and put on my dress ready for collection by Patrizia at 20.15.

When we got to the house, we sat in the sitting room for a bit, chatting about different things, Serena, Sofia's older sister who is my age, asked where my perfume was from even (Jo Malone). I really like Sofia's family, Patrizia is the madre, Claudio is the padre, Serena is the oldest and Sofia is the baby. I got along really well with Serena and we're facebook friends now. We talked a lot about when I will return to Modena, and that I can stay at theirs because Serena has a big bed. Patrizia is also desperate to see Jersey and to use me as the guide, something that I would definitely love to do.

So, the food! It was AMAZING. We had a pasta course to start (of course we did, this is Italy) which was tortelloni, which is the big version of tortellini, in other words pasta parcels, we had either spinach and ricotta or pumpkin. Both were beautiful, but the pumpkin was just to die for. Next course was the meat course, we had zampone di maiale con paté di patate, in other words pig's trotter with mash potatoes. This is so traditional of Modena, you just can't get a more Modenese dish. It's also a huge treat, and when it was served Claudio said 'this really is a special meal, we only get this once a year!' so I felt very honored. I ate every scrap of the huge portion I was given as it was simply delicious.

Next course was fruit, I had the traditional Modena option (obviously) but I can't remember what it was called. It's orange in colour, and soft like a plum. You cut it in 4 and use a teaspoon to eat the extremely soft sweet flesh. I loved it.

Next was coffee, I felt so mature having an espresso.

After the meal we went through, Patrizia and Claudio went to the sitting room but the girls and I played with Pepe the little dog for a while (while their new Spaniel puppy, Boss, was in his box and desperate to join in) after that we went through as well and played on the karaoke until 1am! It was so so so much fun, accompanied by whiskey (which I didn't have) and Ferrero Rocher (which I most certainly did have)

The evening was simply wonderful, I loved every second, and I will most definitely be seeing that family again in my future.

A presto...

There is no world without Verona walls...

Dear Reader(s),

Another weekend of Shakespeare, but in a different way; we went to Verona this Saturday. Christina, myself, Dani, Issa, Karim and Vitor. An early start saw us at the train station for our 08.14 train, which was... cancelled. There was a replacement bus, as in, one bus, to replace an entire train, so funnily enough we didn't get on due to lack of seats. We got a later train to Bologna, and then went on from there to Verona which wasn't too bad, but they charged us an extra 6€75 - we should be getting refunds surely! Verona itself is beautiful, officially one of my favourite trips. We did the lot (obviously) colosseum, Christmas Star, mercato, Christmas mercato, the four churches, the river and of course the Casa di Giulietta. At the Casa di Giulietta you can see the balcony, and the gift shop is nice but kind of naff, and there's a statue of Juliet, and the thing to do is put your hand on her boob, no idea why, but I did it obviously. The riverside walk was really lovely, the light was starting to go and the bridges got lit up which was very picturesque. When we walked back through the city to go to the station all of the Christmas lights were on, and they were just stunning. The walls of Verona were simply outlined by white lights, which was beautiful, there were trees giant Christmas trees all of which were lit beautifully.

On returning to the train station there were further mishaps. Our train was cancelled again (!) and the same solution was put in place, a replacement bus, just the one, which again filled up leaving us without a way home. We had to wait a further 2 hours to get the next train, so Dani and Isa (the two spaniards) used the time to complain, cause a fuss, and fill in complaints forms. I was pretty unimpressed by their attitudes and need to cause a fuss, because despite the annoyance of the terrible Italian train system, there was just no need to be so rude to people who were just trying to do their jobs, and then to fill out a complaint form which was probably going to be thrown straight in the bin!

We made it home by 23.00 and our bikes were still where we'd left them (Christina and I had convinced ourselves that they would've been stolen).

We slept very well that night!

That will probably be my last visit in Italy before I go home, I leave here on 19th December, and have already made sure that my mum is cooking my a big fat roast chicken with roast potatoes and lovely thick gravy (something I miss dearly).

A presto...

Exit, pursued by a bear

Dear Reader(s),

During the week, while I was working on my YAWT in piano uno, an Italian boy called Marco came up to me and asked if I was English ('damn' I thought 'I haven't perfected the Euro-chic look') and then asked if I would like to help out a friend of his whilst improving my Italian. He said that he had a friend called Ruggero who was looking for a tandem partner; for those of you that don't know, a tandem partner is a person who you meet up with regularly and half of the meetings are in your language, for the other person's benefit, and the other half are vice-versa. I took Ruggero's number and said of course.

This weekend was an interesting one, on Saturday (after a bit of YAWT, which is going really well) Christina and I went for a coffee catch-up with the only other English (well, Scottish) girl here in Modena, Kelly. However, I tried to kill two birds with one stone by inviting my new tandem partner along. This was a mistake. Ruggero insisted that we speak slowly and loudly so that he could be included, which of course meant that we could not catch up at all. In the end I spoke to Ruggero (slowly and loudly) while Kelly and Christina spoke quickly and quietly to each other. I started to feel like I was in a Monty Python or Father Ted scene when it turned out that Ruggero's English was appalling and, to top it all off, he only had one good ear. We made it through the coffee catch up and got back to the residenza in one piece, however I'm going to have to do at least one more tandem partner meeting before I go home, just to be polite.

Sunday was a much better day! After a lie-in and a lot of reading of 'How to Write Essays and Assignments' I went to the theatre with Christina. The worst seats in the house and a student discount got us some not-too-bad-seats-really for 12€ to see Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, but wait, it gets better, it was in ITALIAN! After 2 and a half hours our brains were somewhat hurting from the level of concentration we'd needed (a level most recently matched during 2nd year exams) and we were in desperate need of some Tetly. We cycled home through the fog (as per) and had a Tetly tea, a White Twix each and a chat. What a lovely Sunday! We feel enriched and cultural and clever.

A presto...

Ferrara, Padova, Vigonza, Venezia

Dear Reader(s),

This weekend I went to 4 different places in Italy; Ferrara, Padova, Vigonza and Venezia.

The trip was arranged by Dani, one of the gang, and there was 10 of us in total. We had to get up extremely early on Saturday morning to catch an extremely early train to Ferrara, our first stop. Ferrara is a pretty and small city which I quite like. There was an outdoor market and despite the freezing cold the place was cute. At lunch time we went on our next train to our next stop: Padova, we ate our packed lunches on the train :) Padova I LOVE. It is beautiful and peaceful and I definitely want to return one day. It was all Christmassy with the outdoor market and Christmas lights. I got myself an icecream which was Ricotta, fig and honey flavoured - absolutely the best flavour of icecream I have ever had in my LIFE.

Next stop was Vigonza, but only for the night, we arrived quite late and Dani had found the best little hostel, it was literally just one small chalet run by the waitress who worked next door in the pizzeria. It had 10 beds, a kitchen and a bathroom and after we'd paid our 12€ each she came back with 2 free pizzas and a bottle of fizzy wine! Again, despite the freezing cold, we were all OK.

Up early again on the Sunday and we got our penultimate train to Venezia. Annoyingly it was an extremely foggy day and, again, freezing, but we made the most of the time there and saw as much as we could. Venezia, as everyone knows, is beautiful. I bought myself an authentic mask for a souvenir and it will forever be on my wall wherever I live, not just as a memory of Venice, but a memory of Erasmus and being a student :)

We got a train home late evening and with extremely cold and tired legs we were back in the residenza by 21.30 ready for a good long sleep!

My next trip is looking like Torino on 9th and 10th December, but we'll see...

A presto!

Roma TOMAAA

Dear Reader(s),

Sorry I haven't blogged about the weekend of 11th-13th November, but I'm on it now.

An extremely early start on Friday 11th November saw me up and ready for the bus to Rome with ESN Modena. It was a trip organised by ESN (Erasmus Student Network) and for 175€ we had 3 days in Rome, all travel included, all tours included, hotel and breakfast included, parties included. Not bad?

The weekend was AWESOME. After a 6 hour bus journey we arrived in Rome and left our bags in the hotel. We went on immediately to find the Colosseum, which was stunning. After that we saw some more sights before the light was gone and we found somewhere for our apperitivi. Dinner and preparation for the first disco then ensued; it was pretty good, far more cosmopolitan than the usual (baluardo) and the music was pretty good. The night ended with our disco bus home straight to our door, at 4.30am.

After minimal sleep we were up for our included breakfast (sugary croissants and coffee machine) and ready for the next day seeing Rome. We saw a lot more sights, including my favourites: Trevi Fountain and the Vatican. The Trevi Fountain is so beautiful, I loved it, and combined with the fact that the weather for the whole weekend was literally perfect (nothing but sun, but still crisp, cold and fresh) meant that photos of the weekend are simply beautiful. The Vatican was amazing, and my only regret of the weekend is that we got the timings wrong and the decision to see the Vatican before the Sistine Chapel meant that we missed the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican was stunning, I made sure that I had photos of the Pope's balcony for Dave (who never says 'yes' but 'does the pope have a balcony?') and despite extremely tired feet we made the most of it and saw the whole thing.

After that we made our way to find a pizza and fanta, followed by shower and disco bus to the second disco, which was AMAZING. Literally the best club I've ever been in. The lights and music and atmosphere was so stunning, I loved every second and didn't even realise the time was passing when people started to leave at 5.30am to get the disco bus home!

Again, only a few hours of sleep later, we were up and sugary-croissant-ing early ready for as much of Rome as we could see in the short time before the bus was due to leave. We saw more sights, mostly piazzas and the like, and then exhaustedly we trooped back to the bus, put our ipods in our ears, and slept the whole way til lunch.

Finally, after the lunch stop, the 3 Italian ESN reps made the weekend Erasmus votes on who was the biggest lad and who was the biggest ladette. I won the title of 'Miss Ubriacana' aka Miss Lad! It was basically because I had taught them all the 'Castle Ranger' chant, and then translated it to fit with being Modenese!

All in all the weekend was AWESOME and extremely tiring. I ended the weekend with a solid 12 hours sleep.

A presto...

Matt's Visit

Dear Reader(s),

The much anticipated visit of Matt Funnell has already been and gone; our 78 days apart followed by our 5 (more like 4 and a bit) days together seem to have gone by in the quickest flash. I can't believe how awesome living in Modena actually is!

Matt arrived a bit earlier than expected - got his times wrong dint he! - and we went from Bologna airport all the way to Florence together. We got on the train at Bologna and sat in the first free seats we found, then were told that some old people had reserved them, so moved to the seats right next to them, only to discover, on closer inspection of our ticket, that we were actually now sitting in the seats and carriage allocated to us! I couldn't get over this strange coincidence, so took the first photo of the holiday "Matt hold the ticket and look surprised at what's just happened!" (see facebook if you have any interest in the photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150939261625019.767822.775360018&type=1)

Florence is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to, and I am lucky enough to say I've been twice now, once with my best friend Hannah, once with my boyfriend Matt. We saw all the sights that we could in our 2-ish days there, Galleria dell'Accademia - statue of David, Uffizi Gallery - Birth of Venus, the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Santa Croce, soooo many gelateria's, the Ponte Vecchio, the view point of the city and more. We now have VERY tired feet and legs as we were up and out by 9:30am each morning, and didn't get back from our dinner until about 10pm each night!

We then went to Modena, so that I could show Matt where I live, and also show him off to my friends. We went out for dinner with the gang to 'i Picari' (where we went the second night too) and then on for a coffee at another bar afterwards. It was lush and Christina and Matt discussed the current football match (which was both their teams against each other) Sunday, our last full day, Matt and I had a chilled day (still up early) in the centro. Unfortunately it was raining, so we got a bit wet getting into the centro, but apart from that we were taking shelter looking in shops and having coffees/ ice creams/ cokes/ lunch etc.

All in all Matt's visit was LUSH and it was very difficult to say good bye this morning at the station for Matt's Aerbus. Well, only 56 days til we next see each other, 30% less than last time!

A presto...

Updates and Excitement

Dear Reader(s),

Previously in my life...
Sig. Setti has given my number to another Italian mamma who would like to use my 'skills and abilities' as she put it, to help her daughters' education. I now have two more students, Sara and Martina, (ages 12 and 15) who want me for an hour a week to teach English conversation, grammar and pronunciation, along with help with their piano practice. I went to Sig. Richeldi's apartment on Monday to have a meeting and talk logistics, and it is such a beautiful apartment. Like the Setti's, the Richeldi's clearly have a lot of money, their apartment is right in the centre of the centro, literally on Via Emilia, and above the clothing shop 'Stefanel'. It is modern and monochrome, not to my taste, but still beautiful.

The excitement that is pretty much consuming me today is the fact that Matt Funnell will be with me in Italy in exactly 24 hours. Our plan is:
~ Meet in Bologna airport
~ Take a train to Firenze
~ Spend three days in Firenze seeing the sites; I never thought I'd be lucky enough to see the Statue of David twice in my life
~ Take a train to Modena
~ Spend two days in Modena, I will show him Baluardo and the other attractions
~ Say good bye on Monday morning :(

Today is my first lesson with Sara.

A presto...

Tamara the tit

Dear Reader(s),

News flash! Tamara has broken her foot. She was cycling and fell and didn't know it was broken until the next day when she got it checked at the hospital. She now has a huge (and pretty comical) cast which has been signed by everyone, using my coloured pens.

The really bad news is that she has to go home for more or less a whole month to get it sorted. She keeps tearing up and she really does not want to go. Tonight I'm watching a movie with her and have already been to Lidl and got the necessities (chocolate, chocolate and chocolate). Everyone else is going to Bologna (as is the norm for a saturday night it would seem) but I'm gonna stay with her because it's her last night before she goes, and I'm also gonna sleep in her room with her tonight (she still has no roomie)

Let's hope it's not a whole month :(

A presto...

Che Fortuna!

Dear Reader(s),

This week has been more or less normal, done the usual Sunday mass, weekday lectures, Wednesday baluardo etc. Today I had my latest Sofia lesson (the last one for a week as they're going on holiday next week - perfect timing for Matt Funnell's visit) and I came home on my bike carrying a bag full of shoes and a phone number for a new student! Sofia is growing very fast, as 12 year olds do, and she is now a shoe size 39, but used to be a 37 - my size! So I now have three beautiful pairs of boots, one pair of trainers, and one pair of CONVERSE! They are all in beautiful clean condition and fit wonderfully. I am so happy it's unreal. Furthermore Patrizia (Sofia's mum) gave me the number for a Signora Daniela Richeldi who would like me to teach her daughter English after Patrizia's recommendation of me. I can't believe it, I'm thrilled!

A presto...

La Bonissima

Dear Reader(s)

Today I have achieved a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute (which is the general trend for each day of Erasmus it would seem!)

I had a lecture on the European Union from 12:00 til 13:30, followed by a stint in the library working really hard on my Y.A.W.T and I got SO much done, I'm really pleased. At 15:45 I met Christina in the Piazza Grande for La Bonissima which is an outdoor market which sells traditional food specific from Modena. It's on tomorrow and Sunday as well, and I think there are other events because there was definitely a stage being set up...

I may have done some Christmas shopping at the market too... who knows?

A presto...

Fernanda Gattinoni

Dear Reader(s)

I am now thoroughly engrossed in my Y.A.W.T and am working on two different topics: politics and religion. The politics articles, as I'm sure is obvious, are all about Berlusconi and what he's up to lately; the confidence vote has been all over my newspaper of choice Corriere della Sera (and all the other italian newspapers) so there's a lot for me to think and write about there. I have only skimmed the article on Catholicism, but it looks very interesting, and it seems like a return to the old fashioned values of family, venture and work will be instilled more diligently in Italy.

Lectures are going well, especially my official favourite lecture: linguistica generale. We learnt all about writing words phonetically, and I even spoke out in class the other day: we were writing out some names, the teacher had done her's "Chiara" and asked the class to volunteer their names. We did "Giacomo" and then "Rebecca" and she said "OK class, let's end on a difficult name, does anyone think their name would be difficult?" so I put my hand up and said "Well, my name's English?". The class laughed and the teacher said that we will be moving onto English words later in the term, but thank you anyway. I felt proud of myself, and I said it in my best Italian (obviously).

I've now had two sessions with Sofia, my English student, and she has tried so hard with the things I picked her up on so far. She is also obsessed with Bambi... and survived a Tsunami in Thailand 6 or 7 years ago!

On Saturday I went to the centro for my newspaper and also to find a book from my 4th year reading list as I have now chosen my 4th year Italian modules: Language, Translation and Renaissance. So I've taken a book out of the library here called "Il Libro del Cortegiano" by Castiglione, which I intend to have a good look at this afternoon (wish me luck!) Myself, Nerea, Béa and Christina all went to a free exhibition of some of the dresses designed and made by Fernanda Gattinoni who made dresses for the likes of Audrey Hepburn; after which we got a gelato (I went for straciatella and Nutella YUM.)

I'm going to mass again tonight at 6pm, and tomorrow I'll be heading out to the mercato.


A presto...