Those summer nights

Hello old friends,

Let me apologise, I've been absolutely rubbish this month. Especially considering that last month I was basically blog obsessed. I doubt anyway cares that much, but if by any chance I have left you high and dry, I am sorry.

June has brought some good things. The weather has shifted to a true Mediterranean climate. Very hot and sunny. I wake up every morning eager to get up, for the sole reason that my bed has been baking in the sunlight since sunrise. During the day, as keen for a tan as any Essex girl may be, I fear burning on my way to get a coffee. It is glorious!

A view from my spot on the sand.

One way we've been making the most of this beautiful sunshine is by making the occasional day trip to Castel Gandolfo. The nearest beach to Rome (Ostia) is famously ugly... or at least that's what the real Romans tell us. Although I suppose they've never been to Southend pier and are simply used to the beauty of the Amalfi coast. Either way, I plan to go there eventually, but the lake is about an hour's train ride away from the city and is beautiful. We went mid-week, before the school's finished and so only had to share the shore with about six other people. Perfection. Bliss. You take my point.

We loved our afternoon. We sat of the sand, read books and sporadically went to swim in that gorgeously blue water. We wandered away for coffees and ice creams and came home tired by the sun and our lazy day, during which I read at least half of ‘The Battersea Park Road toEnlightenment’.

It is said that in summertime the days grow longer and the nights shorter. However, this has not been my experience. As summer has begun the Italian population seems to have woken up from a semi-hibernation and is completely rejuvenated. For the past 3 weeks I haven't returned from a Saturday night out earlier than 5am. Gosh.

Furthermore, most of our favourite events have moved from little clubs into large open air spaces. Fun! Most of them also have booths selling very cheap wine. Double win!

Now I remember why I wanted to move to Italy. Sunshine and wine.

I would never claim to be a football fanatic. Mostly because at my first attempt my brother and all male friends would jump in with controversial comments about how I've never cared in the slightest. That may be true. I'm not overly bothered. However, this month we've all been getting very much involved with the Euros and... well, drunk beer. In the group stages we've been showing our support for both England and Italia, but if things go well over these two evenings we're going have to make a very tough decision Blood and patriotism vs. we're in Italy and would have to take some stick. Only time will tell...

Despite all this revelry in the sun this month has also had it's challenges. My next work deadline is approaching and, as you may remember from here, all the work I have to submit to Warwick this year must be written in Italian. I've now completed my second module report and am researching an planning my final extended essay. There had to be some price for this beautiful year abroad! However, despite the freedom of the essay I'm hating it, partly because it's hard to concentrate on anything in this heat. And the fact that I'd rather be outside playing!

Well, I'm now closing in on the end of my Italian adventure, but I'll be sure to keep you posted on the rest of my fun. Also rather excitingly, after four years of friendship my friend Jess and I now live in the same city- even if it is only for a few.

I have a match to pay better attention to now. This is why we don't usually watch them at home...

Dancing in the street.

"Callin' out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer's here and the time is right for dancin' in the street."
-Martha & the Vandella's.


May Day. A cheeky bank holiday to celebrate in the spring time. We all know it's steeped in tradition; such as white dresses, dancing around a May pole, etc etc and yet all it really means to most Brits today is a long weekend and a week without that Monday feeling.


In Italy, Primo Maggio (1st May) is still a holiday -yay!- but apparently is a much bigger deal. Also known as Festa dei lavoratori (Workers' Day) it its actually celebrated on 1st May, and not the nearest Monday. This means that on Tuesday, next to nobody was at work and there was a great deal of fun to be had.


Here in Rome the occasion is marked by a huge concert in front of San Giovanni. It was so surreal to see a massive stage rigged in front of one of the city's most imposing basilicas. The streets were packed from early afternoon through to midnight and the atmosphere was really relaxed and lots of fun.

I spent the afternoon on the rooftop terrace of a friend, living very nearby, where we had a barbeque. After a showering of rain earlier in the day we feared this plan may yet go awry but in the end we were very fortunate and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon.

After watching the sun set, which was even more stunning with that view, we headed back down to the piazza to enjoy the concert and the atmosphere. Most memorable May Day by far. Grazie Roma!

That's all for now- so much shorter than my last post!

p.s. We dip-dyed Rosa's hair. We're proud of the results!
p.p.s. Anna has a really annoying habit of looking cool in photos!

Back to Reality... briefly.

Last week I went on holiday, to the glamorous destination of Home. It was a really lovely trip, however brief. This was a whirlwind tour, calling in three counties in just six days. It was a wonderful though, due to both the pleasure of spending time with my family and friends; and the peace of mind I got from sorting out some administration and logistical elements regarding my upcoming return to reality.

The act of going home is simple as are the feelings are warmth and ease that it gives. It’s an age old and pure idea which is rooted in the very centre of who we all are. We can always take a step back, return to the place we started from and the people who love and know us best and figure out how best to move forward. The moving forward part is the challenge and even though I wasn’t at home in Essex for most of my trip I was so grateful to my patient and loving parents for putting up with my incessant phonecalls about housing and module selections. Mostly that just told me that I was making sense and making good choices, but sometimes all you need is someone who knows you well to say ‘yes, that sounds good. It’s a good choice for you’.

As a side note, other amazing things about home which brought a smile to my face with their sheer simplicity included getting off the plane to non-humid, crisp, albeit a bit chilly air (it’s different in other places!); rain that just drizzles nicely rather than simulating monsoon season; red meat in crazy served with any kind of potato; using my iPhone and having a very hectic ‘recent’ list; and Cadbury’s chocolate.

I began my mini-tour of the UK with a much needed trip to Warwick Uni, to see so many of the beautiful people I’ve been missing, meet the new RAG exec (which I am so proud to be a member of), hand in some boring paperworky things and check out and sign  for my house for next year. Busy, busy, busy!

I stayed with my friend Charlie, who is currently a very busy bee with all things Physics related and more, and so I think/hope he didn’t think me horribly rude for being here, there and everywhere whilst abusing his hospitality. Here’s what I managed to squash into my 3 and half uni days, he’ll probably be interested to know where I kept disappearing to, in fact...

Monday was an early start and the train to Leamington Spa, where the lovely Tara (as mentioned here and here) met me, having jumped on a train from Birmingham.  We had a pub lunch and did some shopping, kitting me out with a new bikini for what I hope will be a very sunny summer. I then went onto campus to meet up with Charlie for some ‘yay, one exam down’ drinks... which of course resulted in a plan to go out. Notorious Mondays are always a laugh and I had a brilliant time, both catching up with some of my friends at re-drinks and bumping into so many mates at the club. I did enjoy every double take, dropped jaw and ‘You’re back?!’, always followed by a big hug.

Despite all this nocturnal fun, Tuesday was another early start and a very productive day! I began with addressing my housing situation for next year, which has been a many month long saga- things are harder when your not in the country! I'm really excited about the group I'm living with though and our awesome location. Having finally viewed the flat I signed the contracts, only 6 weeks later than the rest of the gang and then headed off for a catch up with my friend, Lucy. This was a great catch up and I got to grill her on some second year modules, which she's been taking this year in order to get her and investigate some module based rumours that I'd been hearing. More about that later.

Tuesday evening began with a RAG meeting. I was so chuffed when I was voted RAG week co-ordinator for next academic year, and have been feeling guilty about my absence and consequent lack of involvement since being elected, and so this was a brilliant opportunity to get to know the new exec and talk about what's going on and to share what Beavis, the President, and I had been brainstorming about RAG Week! I'm really excited to get back to these lovely people and do some good work in the autumn. Will also be digging into organisation very soon.

Unlike here in Italy, back home we have to apply and request modules nice and early and so these decisions have been on my mind for weeks now. You may remember how the Venice visit of March served as an information point about modules offered by the Italian department and so I sorted out three out of four modules for next year then and there. However, my English option has given me much food for thought over the past few weeks and whilst having a fairly good idea of what I wanted to do this uni visit was the perfect opportunity to both catch up and grill some of my fellow English Lit students. Between that resolve, those chats and the aforementioned 'I think I'm doing the right thing Mum? Dad? Yes?' phonecalls I fnalised my decision and submitted my form (early, I may add). Sorry David, Lucy, Ella and Sam! And a huge Thank You for all of your insights! I felt both relieved and pleased to have the decision made and out of my hands. First choice: 'The English Nineteenth Century Novel', with 'Literature of the Second World War' and 'Victorian and Romantic Poetry' as back ups. I think I'll be happy with whichever I get, and there's always final year if I find myself longing to do one of the others.

With the lovely Will You remember him from here

Wednesday was another mad day with key features including seeing Sarah, my friend and future housemate, to catch up and discuss the house a little bit. A tiny bit, in fact. Other things seemed so much more important at the time. During this epic teatime I got a text from Charlie and duly agreed to a night out at the SU (Student Union). This was a very easy concession to make as Wednesday in sports' night, the Union is packed and the music is old, cheesy and very easy to have a silly dance and sing-a-long to. So much fun!

Thursday morning called for the much anticipated coffee date with the wonderful Mr Sam Clarke, who I was very disappointed to miss out on seeing over Christmas We didn't have much time as he was between a lecture and seminar but we caught up nicely on what we'd both been doing, followed up with questions about letters and we've started plotting some fun for when I'm back in the UK 'for real'. After this and another impromptu coffee with my friend, Felicity, I headed off to Banbury to see Fiona. You may remember her from my birthday.

With my Bestie

Fiona is one of my very best friends and one of our greatest grievances is that it's this year, this year in which I am in Rome that she is on a work placement in Banbury, only twenty minutes away from my university. Shocking! However, I was very pleased to get to visit her, meet her colleagues and friends and go for steak, because that is what she and I like to do. We then went out for a big night and we had a lot of fun in various establishments with some cheeky offers and cracking tunes- yes, she has made me a fan of Call Me Maybe- but we ended up leaving earlyish as we had so much more to catch up on and so little time together!

Friday was back home to Essex and dinner with my family. I was so sorry to end up having so little time truly at home but we went for a cracking dinner and in true family fashion there was no one single of conversation, but always at least three different ones running simultaneously- which is impressive for a table of five. Later, two of my best friends from school came to join us as well as some of my brother's mates and all told it was a good night.

Unfortunately, Saturday brought a fairly early flight back to Rome and I was greeted by a warm sunshine. You know that excellent moment when you're going on holiday and you get off the lane to find the air so warm and dry that you know you're abroad? It was that! That summer feeling. I was glad to be back, as I'm keenly aware that my time here is running out. I really want to make the most of all the time I have left, but... I'll tell you a secret, after such a short trip home I've been a tad homesick since I got back. I didn't really get enough time with anyone and can't wait to be reunited with them all soon.

But for now, Rome, sun and fun! After all, it won't be long until I'm truly Romesick!

Double the Fun

Whoever said 'two's company but three's a crowd' has obviously never spent a weekend with my wonderful friends. I've just had a visit from two of my school friends, Tara and Joanne, and regardless of what that idiot may have thought it was truly a case of Double the Fun and non-stop laughter. One of the little things that made this weekend stand out from all the others visits I've had was the girls' attitude. They came with next to no idea about what the wanted to do in the touristy sense and very little intention of letting primp time and hangovers detract from our fun. With no pre-conceived notion about how the weekend should unfold we were completely free to just go with it... and get camera crazy.

The girls were very lucky to come when the sun was shining and so I opted to say 'sti cazzi' to roman convention and join them wearing shorts, highlighting the fact that we were tourists. We spent the day just wandering around and naturally stumbling upon sights such as the Imperial Forum, the Vittoriano, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps and happily just found a sunny spot by each, where we could natter away and enjoy the sunshine.

The next day we decided to persevere with our 'the best plan is to never have a plan' plan and proceeded to stumble upon the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Colosseum and more. We had lunch in Campo dei Fiori and dinner in Trastevere, which was so cheap but unbelievably delicious and devised one liners that kept us giggling like school girls right up until bedtime.

Monday, their last day here (weep!) was the only day we had any sort of mission in mind, the Vatican Museums. But as we've already established plans ruin all good things and as soon as we saw the sheer volume of tourists gathering and heard that there was over an hour's wait we said 'stuff it' as they were happy with having already seen some of the Vatican. Instead we spent the morning hanging out in the garden of Castello d Sant'Angelo before going wandering again. We got of slice of pizza for lunch, which we enjoyed in Piazza del Popolo before we finally had to come back to the flat so that Tara and Joanne could pick up their stuff and get to the airport on time.

What was amazing about this weekend was that although we saw lots, we didn't actually really do anything. It was so much fun! There's a lot to be said for the company of old friends. Those that know where your coming from and are always there to help you think up what to do next. I haven't laughed so much in ages, even the slightest knowing look would set me off. These girls know too much! I almost hadn't realised how much I missed them! And I can't wait to get them back n my daily life either.