6 Weeks Out

Ciao a tutti!

So. Six weeks from today I'll be on my way to John Cabot University in Rome for the spring semester!  That's absolutely unbelievable! Within these upcoming weeks, I feel like I have so much to do: finish the current semester (which entails researching for and writing two 20+ page papers, including one in Italian; researching and creating a presentation on Puccini and Madama Butterfly; reading two Italian Renaissance plays; presenting a primary source for my history seminar; and studying for one lovely cumulative history exam), work one more faculty concert, work 2 more weeks (!!!) at NPM, finish training for a half marathon (11 miles this Sunday!), celebrate Christmas, Mom's birthday, and New Year's, watch the Badgers win the Rose Bowl, travel to Florida to visit Disney World and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (!!!!!), run the half marathon (January 8!), fly home from Orlando, and frantically pack for the next four months before leaving from O'Hare on January 12. What am I thinking?!?!?

On the bright side, however, I'm sure these next few weeks will be fairly fantastic. I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and friends, both in Madison and in Mukwonago during the break. Plus, I'm sure I'll be doing plenty of planning for my time in Europe...and everyone knows how much I love planning! On a related note, I started a list of all the things I'll need to pack for Rome yesterday. It's pretty extensive.

Just wanted to start this blog today for a couple of reasons- for one, I decided that I should make one at some point in the middle of my history lecture yesterday.  Also, I feel like I'll probably be so busy in Europe that this should be a good way to keep track of things as they happen (or shortly thereafter!) and share with all of you who may not be so lucky as to spend an entire semester in the Eternal City.  I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures (which means I have to figure out how to post pictures on here...) and tons of stories, which will hopefully all be good! My lovely travel companion Lauren Tomasek and I are making plans to travel all over Europe, and I'll be joined by my cousin (another Lauren!) and my wonderful mother to spend some time in Paris, London, and possibly Russia/Scandinavia. Ahh!!!

Until I leave,  I'll probably be updating with less Euro-centric things- mostly, I expect, dealing with school/running/existential thoughts on life in general.  For instance, my application for an apartment for next fall was approved and I'll hopefully be able to sign the lease this week! I'm very, very excited about it- it's a really cute (and surprisingly big!) one-bedroom just off of the 600 block of State Street, and I'm hoping to 1) decorate it well and 2) get a kitten or cat to keep me company.  I can't believe that I'll only have two semesters left at the UW- time to start figuring out what to do with my life, I guess! Looks like I'll be taking both the LSAT and the GRE this summer. No idea what'll come after that, but hopefully I'll find the right place and the right field of study for me. 

In the meantime, I'm just looking forward to relaxing a bit in Rome since these past three (well, four, if you count this past summer) semesters have been killer and I think I may have been biting off more than I can chew. I was able to register for classes at JCU last Sunday and am currently enrolled in French 101 (which I am SO excited about!), Italian Opera, Italian High Renaissance Art (an on-site class, which means that I'll actually be looking at the art in churches, museums, etc. as I learn about it- and traveling to Florence with the class), and Survey of Italian Literature. Since I've already studied opera and some Italian lit, I'm hoping that I'll both be able to gain some different perspectives on the topics and also be able to take it easy.  I want to have plenty of time for drinking espresso and eating pizza and gelato and touring the Vatican! Which, as I'm sure you can guess, I'm planning on doing at least twice a week. Maybe more. :)  And of course I'm planning on speaking as much Italian as I can. No better place to learn!

Anyway, I'm glad to have this started. As Lauren and I tend to say, ciao for now!