So, I'm signed on AIM and notice that my AIM profile had been deleted. So now I'm fumbling around trying to remember how to edit AIM profiles, when I happen upon the drop down menu on my buddy list that says "My Profile." I click on it, and it takes me to like an actual AOL profile, something which I haven't had since, I don't know, 2002 or 2003? So, I'm scrolling through it, and under the "Music Interests" category, it lists an example of how to correctly fill it out:

"Separate multiple entries with commas, like this:
Fall Out Boy, Modest Mouse, Slayer"



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . really AOL? I can understand catering to Fall Out Boy audiences and even Modest Mouse, but putting Slayer in a category with the aforementioned two? Hilarious.

I've been having the strangest dreams lately. They're sex dreams, mind you, but they're not the "sexy and erotic" kind of sex dreams. They're more like the bizarre and unsatisfying kind.

Dream one happened, oh, maybe a few weeks ago, where I "hooked up" with The Office character, Toby Flenderson, in a room above his daughter's elementary school gym (for RHS graduates, think of the loft-like room similar to that which overlooked "the old gym" where a lot of various old uniforms and equipment were stored, and also, to my recent amazed naivety, where a lot of "hooking up" actually did take place, as told by an anonymous source). So, for those who are not familiar with the character, Toby, he is marked by his timid and always defeated personality. That translated right into the sex. After some pre-ejaculation took place, he quietly muttered something about "I-I'm real sorry, Kirs" while timidly looking down at his shoes or flaccid wiener, one of the two.

Dream two happened earlier this week. I was some sort of exotic dancer, but instead of being dressed in "sexy" clothes, I was dressed as Tommy Thayer of Kiss. I was a different, but apparently very popular dancer, judging from my large audiences in my dream. I didn't do any sexy pole dancing, but a "rocking out" sort of signature move of mine. If members liked my performance, they placed folded dollar bills between the strings and neck of my Flying V guitar.

In other news, I got a big-girl job interning at this sweet architecture firm. Also, Professor Brake, Mel, and J are going to be flying into the States on Tuesday night to stay for another month! Hooray!

Basta! Ciao!

XOXO Ktizzle

I found an interesting tid bit of information today. Apparently sprinter, Oscar Pistorious, is ineligible to compete in the Beijing Olympics because of his two prosthetic legs. Apparently the, "Cheetah prosthetics give him a competitive advantage."

..............

Seriously, what the fuck? Since when does having no legs give you an advantage? It's not like they are some kind of super legs that have rockets in them or something. I never thought that having both of my legs put me at a disadvantage. Maybe now athletes will put away the steroids and start chopping off their legs for the lighter, more aerodynamic prosthetic limbs.

Also, in another observation, my Kent email gives me a "Summary of junk emails blocked" every few days which filters out, well, junk emails. I get an unusual amount of emails about watches. I know, I know, I know, you thought I was going to say pornography, right? But, NO! Watches take up 95% of my junk emails. "Replica watches!" and "Discounted Rolexes!" are what I read in the subject lines. To be honest, I almost wish I got more pornography and less watches. At least the subject matter of porn-related material is more entertaining, and occasionally witty.

My laptop is falling apart every day. My CD/DVD drive doesn't work, my screen hinge is very loose, my memory card reader no longer works, and now, my "N" key fell off. It is with a gentle touch of the right-hand pointer finger that I bring you this journal update. So, appreciate it while I still have use of the letter "N."

Basta! Ciao!

xoxo
K tizzle

Nearly 3 months since the last update... whoops!

The semester is almost over, thank goodness. I'm so sick of school. Apathy has been the recurring theme of this semester.

Worse than school are the nagging questions from many as to what I'm going to do when I graduate. I remember being warned by B.J. and Dane I'm sure of it, and thinking, "What can be so bad about that?" Uggghhh fuck. I'm really so sick of people asking me that question. I have no idea where I want to get a job. Actually, if were up to me, I wouldn't get a job, and I would just play Wii all day. Now that's living the life. Well, I guess it is up to me, but I suppose I should get a job that would pay for new games. Booo.

Anyway, I've been thinking about moving out of Ohio for quite some time now, and I am pretty decided that I want to pick up and go. I've narrowed down my potential locations to Seattle, Washington, Denver, Colorado, and Portland, Oregon.

That's it...

Basta...

XOXO
Kirs

BJ, Mel, and J left to go back to Korea. I'm assuming they got back safely as I haven't heard otherwise. I am always the last to know everything.

That school thing started this week. I don't even know if I even like design anymore. I've been having mixed feelings about it since sophomore year, really. Sophomore year I kept telling myself "It's tough but it will get better," which was one of the most stressful years you could imagine. Then junior year, around this time when classes were starting, I was not looking forward to it at all. Then I thought, "Well hey, I've got Italy to look forward to in the spring, so that'll be cool." So now, starting senior year, and I'm again not excited about it at all. It just sucks because from the first year you're so pigeon-holed into the major. I'm just hoping that maybe an internship will help rekindle any interest I have left. The last thing I want is to be stuck with a job I hate for the rest of my life. So, I've been giving a lot of thought to 1.) a minor, 2.) grad school and 3.) university level teaching to keep more options open I guess since it's a little too late to turn back now.

I had to take a self-evaluation test to tell me what kind of worker I am for ID. Apparently I irritate others because I take emotional and moralistic positions over order, deadlines, etc. I thought it was really funny that those things are considered "irritating."

I've been playing a lot of Contra and Double Dragon 2 lately for NES. Fuck, those games were so awesome.

How about that Indians triple play the other night?! Awesome!

I'm out of stuff to bitch about. Basta! Ciao!

Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs
<3 Kirsten

Alexander Rutger Minich, born on 8/8/2007 at 7:07 pm and weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 oz, is my new nephew!!! Congratulations go out to the proud parents, my brother, David, and sister-in-law, Becky! I am SO excited for the two of them! They are going to be great parents!!

Today my mom and I went to the hospital to visit the new parents and little Alex, who is ADORABLE!!! He's the cutest little peanut you'll ever see! Not like I have a bias or anything.

I've also got to play with my nephew, Jay, lately since Mel and BJ are in the States visiting for a month. He is the CUTEST little guy! I haven't seen him in person since about this time last year when we went to Korea to visit them just after he was born. He is just precious! I've got the two raddest nephews ever! Pictures of these handsome little guys will be posted shortly, so, "Hold onto your butts."

In other news, I saw the Simpsons Movie when it opened. The first half hour should have been made into a single episode. Everything else... expendable. What made up for the movie was the Beer Baron episode on TV last week. Sigh, those were the days.

Also... the 7th Harry Potter... HOLY FUCK!! That's all that I will say about that. Spoiler free, baby.

Basta! Ciao!

Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs
<3 Auntie Kirs


PS: Birthday shout-outs go to a Mr. Patrick Burke. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT! I hope your birthday was filled with demanding females to "SIT ON YOUR FACE!"

First and foremost, very happy birthday wishes go out to my newphew, Jay, who is one year old today in Korea by the solar/sidereal calender, but one year old tomorrow in the solar calender here. I think I have that right....? I have no idea what his Korean birthday is going to be, as I have yet to figure out the lunar calender. Anyway, he is going to be one year old, more or less within the next 24 hours.

Secondly, I wish to discuss my thorough distaste for away messages that,

1.) Provide a minute by minute, overly-detailed schedule of the person's events of the day. For example:
"Wake up at 7:30, take a shower, out of the shower by 7:45, put on my knickers by 8:00, eat a bowl comprised of approximate 6.3 ounces of Frosted Flakes with 1% Giant Eagle milk, etc...."

2.) Messages that have one event that is changed approximately ever 15 minutes to 1 hour. For example:
Message 1: "I am watching TV." Message 2: "I am picking my nose." Message 3: "I am eating dinner." Message 3: "I am washing the dishes." Message 4: "I am watching TV again."


I'm not sure if those guilty of items one and two have caught on that their away message readers don't actually care. Personally, I have found that more desirable away messages come in the form of music lyrics, inside (or outside) jokes, humorous or appropriate movie/TV show quotes that can be appropriated for current events yet do not tiredly list the events, and so on and so forth. These type of away messages make me giggle, or think "Shit, what the hell song is that?" or "What is that from?" etc., prompting an actual conversation with the away message putter-upper.

Thirdly, I must be terribly desperate to give BJ some sort of reading material while he is on his lunch break to go off on a tangent about away messages. I'm an idiot.

Basta! Ciao!
Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs,
Kirs


PS: Countdown for HP and the Deathly Hollows: 2 days, 3 hours, 9 minutes.

- This has been a really boring and really entertaining summer at the same time. When I'm not "going" to class I've been doing some super cool outdoorsy stuff with super cool Joe like going to the Kent Bog, Towner's Woods, Boston Mills Falls, etc.

- Kent's Heritage Fest was last weekend (a much nicer version of Richfield Community Days). There were a bunch of hippies selling hippie-type things, some bands playing, horribly delicious carny food, and these two motocross professionals going off jumps and doing tricks on Franklin right in front of the Pufferbelly. It was really awesome watching them. Naturally drinking occurred all afternoon and into the evening.

- My Grandpa turned 91 years old on Thursday.

- I got an apartment for next year. I picked the keys up on Friday, and hopefully I'll be moving things over there within the next couple weeks in my invisible car.

- There is a momma cat and her four baby kitties living under our front porch at the moment. I don't really like cats all that much, but they are sooooo cute!

- I've been re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in anticipation of the 7th book that comes out next week. The last book is going to be so bittersweet. I'm really excited for it but a tid bit sad at the same time. J.K. Rowling sure does know how to write her shit.

- Do you ever listen to a certain song or smell something and you can pin point exactly what you were doing or thinking when you were listening to it or smelling it or whatever? Lately I've been listening to some of the music I listened to constantly when I was in Italy and it's been making me think of that. Sigh, I miss it. Sorry to get all nostalgic.

That's all that's really going on with me. Exciting, I know.

Basta! Ciao!
Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs
Kirs

I apologize that it's been far too long since my last update. Apologies especially to B.J. who makes up 33.33% of my readers, and seemed quite distraught at my lack of posts as of late. So anyway, on to the goods...

I'm safe and sound back in the States. My parents came out to visit me in Italy for a little over a week, then the three of us traveled to Paris together. Paris was really awesome, but my French was a bit rusty. We were only there for a few days, but squeezed a lot of touristy shit in there such as the Louvre, Versailles, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Bastille (monument) and some other cool stuff. I was in French Revolution heaven. Totally sweet. So after our few days in Paris we went to the airport to finally go back home. We get to Charles de Gaulle airport and all of the sudden everyone was clearing out of the building because apparently there was some luggage left unattended. So, the bomb squad was called in and the place was hopping with police. So after probably after about an hour and a half they finally took the luggage outside and blew it up. Now I was finally on my way back home. When we eventually landed back in Cleveland, David was there to pick us up from the airport. As soon as I stepped outside it was total sensory overload. Everything smelled totally different, and I couldn't get over how green everything is here! Also, everyone was speaking English, which was really cool to completely understand what people were saying again.

Since then I've moved back to Kent and started taking summer classes immediately (boooo!). I will get one week of summer vacation this year that falls the week before I start back for fall classes. Since I've been home I've been doing a lot of hang outs, that school thing, and have gone to a couple pretty good shows including Cassino and Sundowner/Smoke or Fire.

I went to Becky's baby shower last weekend which was alright as far as baby showers go. I was relieved I didn't have to play any baby-themed games with a bunch of over-emotional women.

One month until B.J., Mel, and J get here!!! Then shortly after that future Minich baby should be popping out! Woo hoo!!

That's pretty much all that's been going on with me really. Oh, yeah, I heard a really hilarious joke about two Canadians and a moose cock the other day.

Basta! Ciao!
Big Hugs & Sloppy Kisses,
<3 Kirs

Ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao!!

Tuesday afternoon my parents arrived in Florence. Since that afternoon they've been sight-seeing pretty much non-stop. I'm a pretty kick ass tour guide, if I may say so. So far they've seen a good amount of the major tourist attractions in Florence, and on Friday I sent them out to Rome, since I was occupied all day with juries for our final studio projects. They really seem to be having an amazing time here, which makes me really excited that they love it here as much as I do! Today, we went out to the Tuscan countryside for a wine-tasting tour and cooking class. The wine tasting was held in an farm house on a beautiful 33 acre property filled with olive trees and vineyards. The wine was the best I've had here so far. Magnifico! Also, the olive oil they served with the bread was probably the best I've had, as well! MMMMM!!!! After that we went to a woman's house for our cooking class, where I learned how to make delicious pasta from scratch. We made ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinch, and tagliatelle. The woman, Christina, then cooked a delicious 3 course lunch for us (including our pasta we made), then we had homemade fresh strawberry gelato for dessert! If you are ever in Italy, I HIGHLY suggest doing this tour - it's AMAZING!!!

Anyway, tomorrow is my last day in Florence. Monday morning we are leaving for Pisa so my parents can see all that jazz, then that evening we're catching our flight to Paris. Then shortly after that, I will be back home. This whole moving back to the States thing is a bit bittersweet. I'm really excited to go home and see people, but at the same time, I kind of don't want to leave. I absolutely love it here, and will really miss everything. A trip back here in the future will definately be on my future "to do" list. I love it here way too much to not come back again.

Anyway, see you all very soon!! Well, except for the two boys in Korea, who in reality count for half of the people who actually read this.

Basta! Ciao!

Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs,
Kirs

- Last weekend I had a class field trip to Milano for design week. It was radical. I saw a whole lot of sweet designer nerdiness! To my disappointment, Pepperidge Farm does not have it's international headquarters situated there. I also now understand why they are the fashion capital of the world. Italians are extremely fashionable as a whole, but Milano trumps everyone. Seriously. I felt like such a dirt bag. It was awesome! Our Giotto Bus driver for the trip had a sweet disco mix he played on the bus. Dance parties at stoplights were a must.

- Two weeks from today until Wayner and the Suze arrive in Italy, and in less than a month I'll be home. I kinda don't want to leave!! :o(

- I think one of my studio instructors is bi-polar with homicidal tendencies. Really. He honestly scares the shit out of me, and I am not really intimidated that easily.

- My other studio instructor rules. He barely speaks English but cracks me up every week, especially when he gets all giddy when he sees Genesis in your iTunes. He also drew a swastika in my sketch book and told me "not to go with Christ." Long, hilarious story.
Sandro: [scrolling through my iTunes library] "Hmmm... I don't know this. Is rock?"
Me: "Yes, a lot is rock."
Sandro: "OOOOh Genesis!! I know Genesis!" [giggles to himself]

- Yeah, I have Genesis in my iTunes. What about it?

- Sunday night I ran into a homeless man and his two dogs who were eating out of the garbage bags right outside of our building door. I kind of awkwardly walked past the man and stepped over the dogs and went inside our building. Really creepy. I still feel safer in Florence than any other major US city.

- Living in a country where Jesus Christ is more popular than Tamagotchies in ca. 1996 has its advantages (i.e. holidays/no classes), though all in all is really annoying. I've had my fill of churches for the rest of my life.

- No class tomorrow, but not for Jesus reasons. End of WWII in Italy! Woo hoo!

- I got a free Simpsons t-shirt at the San Lorenzo market the other week for making a purchase from this one sweet, old man. All I did was smile and gab in broken Italian. Apparently it gets you free stuff, no sexual favors necessary. The shirt is a an XL. I may put a belt around it and start wearing it as a dress.

- I've come to the conclusion that Americans are the most annoying tourists. They are rude, close-minded, and demanding. It is kind of a pain in the ass dodging the groups of 100 Asian tourists all taking pictures, but they are far less annoying.

- I'm going to be a senior in college next year. When the hell did that happen? I remember being just a wee teenage girl and getting totally inebriated at David and BJ's gradutations/little sibs weekends when they were seniors in college.

- If anyone is looking for some quick, easy reading material, I suggest "Running With Scissors" and "Dry," both by Augusten Burroughs. Both are fantastic and almost too disturbing to be true.

Okay, I'm done now. Sorry, this post sucked. Basta! Ciao!

Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs,
<3 Kirs

Last week I spent Spring Break in London. It was definately my ideal version of a Spring Break: sleeping in everyday, eating Subway, seeing a whole bunch of cool and interesting stuff, and when people made fun of Americans, I could understand every word they said! Katie and I made a promise to ourselves not to visit anymore damn churches during our visit... we've had our fill already this semester. So, things worth mentioning that we did in London are: visiting some really cool parks (including Hyde Park which had the PETER PAN statue and the Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain), the London Zoo (in my opinion, Cleveland Zoo totally trumps London Zoo), Madame Tussaud's wax museum, a couple really fantastic modern art museums, attending "Spamalot" (essentially Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail in musical form), and on our last day there, the first rainy day since we'd been, we decided to go see the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, which was really awesome!! We also, of course, visited some typical tourist things like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, Picadilly Circus, etc.

Our first night in London, we met up with Katie's friend, Alex, who took us to a pub that serves the best fish and chips in town. Not being a fish fan, but more of a crustacean lover, I went against my better judgement and reluctantly ordered the fish and chips. After all, I have been a tad more outgoing in my food consumption since I've been in Italy. To my surprise, it was delicious! Point goes to London. After a number of pints later, we successfully managed to close the pub our first night.

The art museum, Tate Modern, was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip, taking a close second to the Peter Pan statue! The museum itself was fantastic in that it had 1, 2, and 3 story slides in the building! I really wanted to go down the slide, but over a 2 hour wait seemed a little unreasonable for a 15 second thrill. Anyway, Tate Modern had some fantastic art work including Warhol, Pollock (my two favorites), Kandinsky, Dali, Rothko, Lichtenstein, and many, many more! Two Points.

I want to throw this little tid bit in here to make a certain older brother, cough, BJ, cough, cough, jealous. In London, at every tube stop, there are vending machines where you can buy a pack of miniature Cadbury eggs amongst other various Cadbury chocolates. Also noteworthy, instead of the delicious McDonald's Shamrock Shake we all look forward to every March, London has the Cadbury Egg McFlurry. It was deeeeelicious! That's 3 points for London.

So, after a mere six days, I've mastered the tube and it's various lines and stops, and I now feel confident in that I can tackle any mass transportation system whether it be plane, train, or automobile.

I know before I left I mentioned visiting Dublin as well, but honestly, we just never really got around to it. Katie had never been to London before, so there were a lot of things we wanted to see and do there. So, not wanting to really cram too much stuff into our vacation, we decided against it.

It's hard to believe, but I only have a mere three more weeks of classes, finals exams week, then final project juries week, then I'll be on my way back home with a stop in Paris first for a short while.

That's all from the country that's shaped like a boot.

Cheers!
Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs,
<3 Kirs


RIP Bear: You were such a great dog and will be missed very much.

Ciao ciao,

Various family relatives have come and gone the past couple weeks. From what it sounds, they all had a marvelous time in Florence. I spent last weekend on a class field trip, along with half of the architecture students, to Verona and Venezia. We arrived in Verona Friday afternoon. It was smaller, but very pretty. I visited the medieval Castelvecchio, a Roman ampitheater, and the Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's house) along with the famous balcony that Romeo scaled. At Giulietta's there's a statue of her in the courtyard underneath the balcony, and it is tradition to rub her right boob for good luck. So you better believe I gave that little lady a fondling. We unfortunately did not visit the Casa di Romeo.

Then that evening we were off to Venice. Things worth mentioning were riding a gondola, watching a glass blower demonstrate the whole making of Venetian glass stuff, and visiting Peggy Guggenheim's house and collection of modern art. All in all a pretty awesome weekend!!

This past week, in my Art History class, we visited the Accademia, which is the home of Michaelangelo's David. He is probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Not to sound lame and touristy and what not, but he is just phenomenal. I got choked up a bit just staring at him. Words cannot justly describe him. The room he was placed in was built specifically for him, so even the architecture complimented this already beautiful sculpture. I didn't get any pictures of him, though, because photography/videos were not allowed.

Spring Break has officially started. WOOOOO HOOOOO!!! I'm catching a flight to London early Sunday morning. I'm also going to visit Dublin for a couple days somewhere in the middle. While in Dublin I'm definately planning on visiting the Guinness factory (where we get a free pint) and kissing the Blarney stone. Maybe they have McDonald's that sell Shamrock shakes in Dublin. I sure hope so!!!

That's all that I can really think of at the moment.

BASTA!! Voi amo!

Big hugs & Sloppy kisses,
<3 Kirs

School is going pretty well, though last week was a bit hellish. I had a mid-term for my Art History course, my final for Italian (since it's only an 8 week course), and three studio projects to keep up on. The weekend was then welcomed with a lot beverages of the alcoholic nature and various family members coming to visit.

Friday afternoon Jaylene's mom arrived in Florence and is staying with us for a little over a week. She brought an entire suitcase, or treasure chest, as she so aptly named it, filled with things like Girl Scout cookies, Kraft Mac and Cheese, dry mixes of brownies, cakes, stuffing, etc. Saturday some friends and I went out to this restaurant, Buddakan, for dinner that serves Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai cuisine. To my dismay the menu did not offer kimchi. However, everything was delicious. After some wine and a couple rounds of cards we went out to the bars for further beverages. We ended up meeting Fiona from New Zealand and Brad from Australia who are living in London currently and are here in Italy visiting. Fiona was an absolute sweetheart and Brad was hilarious. Brad asked how we felt about Steve Irwin's death, and after the intial "aww's" and "sigh's" died down he then proceded to spit off Steven Irwin jokes. We traded various hilarious stereotypes in which he called George Bush, amongst many other things, "wankers," and then I retaliated by asking him if he played the diggory doo, threw a boomarang, or if "the dingo ate his baby." Then, to my surprise, he was familiar with the Simpsons, and we discussed, in particular, the episode in which the Simpson family traveled to Australia. Also being familiar with Full House, we discussed the episode where Stephanie and Michelle stowaway on a plane to Auckland, which they mistake for Oakland (If memory serves me correctly, he also called Bob Saget a "wanker"). Fiona and Brad kept bickering about what was better, Australia or New Zealand. Fiona kept making fun of him, saying he was just a convict that wasn't good enough for England.

Every Sunday evening, about 11 of us ID chums have a "Sunday Night Dinner" held at whoever's apartment. Since it was Jaylene's 21st birthday on Saturday, we went to our friends' Carly, Corey, and Charlene's apartment (since they're the only ones with an oven) and Mrs. Cormier made quiche and giant cookie cakes for dessert. Katie's cousin, Davis, also arrived in Florence earlier Sunday afternoon to spend his spring break here. Katie's friend from high school, the one we're staying with in London, is currently on spring break, so he and his friends are traveling around Italy. They also arrived in Florence in Sunday afternoon, and joined us after dinner. So, we had quite a crowd for Sunday night, but we all had a fantastic time playing euchre and hearing stories of the guys putting kernels in their ass cracks for the pigeons to eat when they were in Venice.

Currently, that's all that's really interesting going on this side of the globe.

BASTA!

Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs,
<3 Kirs

I have a very important decision to make within the next month or so... It is going to take considerable time, effort, and thought to be sure I make the right choice.


1. AFI in Milan
2. Dead to Me in either Sweden, Amsterdam, Germany, etc., or...
3. 2-day Groez Rock Festival in Belgium featuring bands like: Death by Stereo, Rise Against, Strung Out, Tiger Army, Senses Fail, Stretch Armstrong, Lagwagon, Mad Caddies, etc...


I'm so torn. :o( Sigh....

I've had a raging clue all weekend. A group of us went to visit Naples and Pompeii. We arrived in Naples Friday afternoon, checked-in, then went out to explore the beaches of the Mediterranean and Castle Ouva. Castle Ouva sits right on the shore and had a spectacular view of the sea. I was extremely dishearted when I saw a dead dog washed up at the base of the castle. I hope he meets up with Charlie and Itchy. Afterwards we went to visit a piazza and had an interesting confrontation with two little girls on a mini four-wheeler. The pair of them quickly drove up to Jaylene and I, sprayed us with shaving cream, and drove off -- a hit and run. Jaylene and I just stood there for a moment then started cracking up with a "Did that really just happen?!" expression. It was hilarious! Then we went to check out a 100 year old shopping center and Castle Nuova. The night was topped off with me eating squid for the first time and drinking an exoribitant amount of wine. Undoubtedly one was a direct cause of the other.

Saturday was spent exploring Herculaneum and Pompeii and climbing to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. I felt like a little kid at Christmas! I was in historical heaven! It's those kind of ancient civilizations and history that I enjoy visiting the most for whatever reason. I honestly could spend days at each place, they were that interesting! Walking on the streets of cities that had been destroyed and buried under volcanic ash and schmeh for 1600 years left me speechless! I'm getting all giddy just thinking about it! The crater of Mt. Vesuvius with awesome, too! From the top you could see a grey streak which was the lava from the last eruption in 1949. The view of Naples was absolutely spectacular from the top, though it was a bit difficult to see at points from all the smoke of the volcano.

Unfortunately, the only disappointment of the trip was how dirty Naples was. Apparently the garbage collection workers had been on strike for about a week when we decided to visit. The amount of trash in the streets was disgusting. Though the trash can be overlooked because of said circumstances, the amount of graffiti was really disheartening as well. It was all over monuments, churches, statues, etc.

March marks the beginning of tourist season in Italy. It has already started to noticeably pick up. I'm not looking forward to dodging all the people while I'm out and about, not to mention the Gypsies. There are already tons of Gypsies we have to deal with on a daily basis, but now it's just going to awful. Plus I've noticed more of the Gypsy children (especially in Naples) who are just as terrible if not worse.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Basta!

Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs
<3 Kirs

Today, February 18, was Carnevale in Florence. Carnevale is sort of like a giant party 40 days before Easter to celebrate and go out in style before the rigors of Ash Wednesday and Lent. I went out today to watch a giant parade that snaked through the whole city. The parade featured magnificent floats and people dressed up in all sorts of costumes representing anything from Renaissance figures to all the different ethnicities. There was a whole lot of music, dancing, confetti, silly string and all kinds of good stuff. It was totally sweet! All the children dress up in costumes like princesses, animals, and I even saw my share of cowboys. To my grave disappointment, I did not see any Spider-Man or King Man costumes. These children need to get out more. The adults wear crazy Mardi Gras type masks and jester-like hats and things of that nature. It was truly an unforgettable experience. My only disappointment was that my camera has been on the fritz lately, and it decided it didn't feel like working at all for me today. So I didn't even get any pictures! I'm sure people have some floating around out there I'll try to snag.

Basta! Ciao!

Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs,
<3 Kirs

I'm totally digging the whole Italian lackadaisical lifestyle. It's a nice change of pace coming from a country that is all hustle and bustle, living by every second of the clock. Here, the only thing on time is the train station. Besides that, people kind of come and go as they please, with a "I'll get there when I get there" kind of attitude. It's very relaxed and easy going. For instance, none of my professors are in class on time. They're always between 5-40 minutes "late," which doesn't really phase them. I remember it kind of weirded me out the first couple weeks not living by a concrete schedule, but now my whole concept of punctuality is just kind of thrown out the window. You never really see any clocks anywhere, let alone people wearing watches, and the only time that the church bells ring are to signal start and end of mass, start and end of work, and I think siesta, but I'm not quite positive.

Siesta is a kind of lunch break during the afternoon, usually somewhere around 11 am - 2 pm. Apparently all the Italians go home and have a big, lengthy lunch. It's kind of a pain of the ass though, because about 80% of the stores shut down for siesta, so it makes errands a tad bit difficult to complete at times.

So, this little lady will be seeing AFI play in Milan on May 5th, which also coincides with Katie's 21st birthday. Yeah, be jealous.

I have to admit, I really love Will Smith's song, "Switch." He's got the beats to get me out of my seat.

Anyway, that's all my thoughts for the moment.

Big Hugs & Sloppy Snogs,
<3 Kirs

Hey all,

This past weekend's journey to Frankfurt and Munich, Germany was absolutely horrible, but the most hilarious trip I've ever taken. I won't discuss in detail every event, but it was just one of those trips in which everything was going horribly wrong from the start. I'll give you the full story in person when I return. Thankfully, we all were in good spirits about the trip were laughing our asses off about all of our misfortunes. It was one of those trips that you would not hear the end of my dad's casual swearing, to paint you a better picture if you've ever had the priviledge of meeting Wayner.

I came to the conclusion that Germany reminds me of George Orwell's book, 1984, set in Pennsylvania. The country side is absolutely beautiful - very green with rolling hills and mountains and small towns everywhere. Though, there were Wal-Mart's, Aldi's, and Toys-R-Us's almost everywhere in the city. It really did remind me of the States A LOT. Now, as for the 1984 part, it seemed like a ghost town where Big Brother was always watching you and you couldn't even think for yourself without soldiers jumping out and arresting you or something. There was usually no one to be found outside, and it was so quiet and dreary. Friday night after we checked into our hostel, we went for a walk around Munich to find a place to eat around 7 pm. There was NO ONE in the streets. You could literally hear a pin drop it was that quiet. It was really creepy. You would've thought that WWII ended like last week.

The only good part of the trip was the beer and food. Friday night we found a small bar where I ordered wiener schnitzle and a beer. Both were delicious!!!! I even purchased a beer stein to remind me of the only good part of the trip.

Katie and I are currently making our plans for Spring Break in London and Dublin. WOOO HOOO!!! SPRING BREEEEAAAAAAAAKKKKK, YEAH!!!!

That's it for now...

Big Hugs and Sloppy Kisses,
<3 David Hasselhoff

Ciao ragazzi!

This past weekend we had a class field trip to Rome. It was awesome and not so awesome at the same time.

We caught an 8:00 am train to Rome on Friday morning. It was a pretty decent 1 1/2 hour train ride. We get there, checked into the hotel, and immediately started touring. Friday was terrible because it was cold and raining very hard all day. I couldn't even afford to buy a cheap umbrella on the street that would probably break anyway because I was short on cash due to my debit card not working over here. So I had to choose between not eating all weekend, or sticking it out through the rain. I'm a tough chickie and stuck it out. So anyway, places worth mentioning that we visited were the Pantheon, St. Peter's basillica, the Vatican (including the Sistine Chapel), the Colosseum, the ancient Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, and then dozens of Baroque churches. We didn't get to spend much time at the Vatican museum or even stop at the Circus Maximus, which I was pretty disappointed about. However, I think I may take another visit, perhaps in the spring time.

Saturday night after all our adventures we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. There was an hour and a half wait, and no room to wait inside, so we were just like screw it, let's wait out side. Our friend, Corey, brought his deck of playing cards, so I suggested we play a card game to help the time pass. We sat down on the side walk and started a rousing game of Bull Shit. After a few minutes, we got a bit of an audience. Three older Italian men, probably in their 40's or 50's were also waiting for a table and stopped to watch us. Finally, one of them started to talk to us in English asking what we were playing, where we were from, what we were doing in Rome, etc. We told them we were playing Bull Shit and started explaining the rules. Then I asked them if they'd like to play with us, and on of the guys got very excited and sat with us. He did very well his first time playing! Then the one of the others started playing with us too! It was hysterical!! So, I was trying out my Italian speaking skills on them, and one of the men commented "You speak Italian very well! You have Italian boyfriend?" We all had a good laugh about it. Then I suggested that we play the last round of cards "in Italiano." They got very excited about it! Laughs and good times were had all around. We learned one was an architect, another was a CPA, and I forget what the other one did for a living. So, the CPA told us all about this place in Rome, on the other side of the Tiber River, that sold real designer shoes, handbags, etc. at extremely low prices. He gave us directions and told us to check it out. Eventually they got their table and we went on our separate ways. It was probably the best cultural experience that I've had so far. I've made the observation that the Romans are a lot more personable and just all around "nicer" than the Florentines. Though, I like the size of Florence a lot better.

After dinner, when we got off the bus at our stop to go back to the hotel, I got smacked on top of the head with some metal kane like object for absolutely no reason. I was pissed! Sunday afternoon we all got back on the bus to go to the train station to head home. I had my suitcase in front of me and my backpack on, standing in the aisle of the bus. My friend, Ashley, was standing right behind me. At one of the stops, an Italian guy got on and squeezed right between Ashley and I. I thought that was pretty weird and shady, but it was also a pretty crowded bus. Then I felt him fiddling with my backpack and heard the sound of the zipper, then that's when I turned around and caught him trying to steal from me. He immediately got on his cell phone and pretended to make a call, but I caught that sneaky bastard before he could do anything! I pulled my backpack infront of me, pregnancy belly style, and gave him the dirtiest look that my face could contort. So after I caught him, he moved up to another group of the ID girls and was eyeing their stuff. Of course I gave them the heads up and told them to watch their stuff. When we got off the bus, I saw the guy again, with two of his buddies. They looked like they got someone, and unfortunately found out it was my professor. Anyway, the whole almost getting my wallet stolen got my heart beating pretty fast, but I was happy with the way that I handled it. Locks will be purchased promptly (don't worry).

It was kind of weird getting back into Florence Sunday night, because I caught myself saying "it's good to be home." I guess I'm getting adjusted faster than I thought I was.

Also... random side bar observations: The popular hairstyle amongst the teenage male population: The mullet. I kid you not. You don't joke about something as serious as a mullet. I've lost count of how many I've seen so far. You expect to see them wearing Nascar shirts, but instead they have their fashionble threads on. Also, I noticed that Converse All-Stars are everywhere, too. You can even buy them in gold or silver at the Foot Locker down the street.

That's all I can really think of at the moment.

Love and Misses,
Kirs