wow, that was nice.

SO. Due for a huge update because apparently this thing is actually read by real, live people (thanks, folks). This entry is seriously long, kids. BTW MY AUNT IS GETTING MARRIED TODAY AND I LOVE HER AND MY FAMILY AND WISH I COULD BE THERE. YOU'RE ALL FABULOUS AND I MISS YOU. POST PHOTOS SOON.

Shortly after I arrived back in Milan from Paris, I was happy to be home, but less than 24 hours later was surprised by my roommates and taken to Nice, France.

People, if you haven't been to the French Riviera, I mean, you should just kill yourselves now.

Throughout the train ride (which was 5 hours, by the way. And we were only there for 36!) back I had seriously regretted not just jumping into the Mediterranean (which I WILL swim in by the time this trip is over, and I'd highly advise betting against it because you'd lose a lot of money) while I was in Nice; it's seriously one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. I want to go back and stay in a cute little town on the seaside.

Surprisingly, the beach in Nice is rocky, with huge, smoothed out stones comprising its shore. And Nice isn't very clean-cut, either. I actually really liked it--it reminded me of the Bronx/Coney Island (the French DO have white trash!) meets Cape Cod against the Mediterranean. Not quite as wealthy as Monte-Carlo (Which, my God, is quite a sight to see--THEIR train station is covered against the mountain because GOD FORBID the wealthy in Monaco be forced to see a train go through their city...), but still fun.

We stayed at one of the top ten hostels in Europe-- cheap, clean, kept up REALLY WELL, and friendly. Free breakfast--I ate this crazy cereal in the morning that was like frosted mini wheats with NUTELLA inside it: JESUS. America-TAKE NOTE!!!!! THIS CEREAL IS OFF THE CHAIN.

Anyway, we did a bunch of things--mostly walked around old town alot (really beautiful), drank copious amounts of wine (a premature celebration to my 21st), visited the Matisse Museum (he died in Nice), AND the Modern/Contemporary Art Museum, which has really a great collection (MoMA, watch out?). Apparently Andy Warhol's Diamond dust is there, which I kind of thought belonged to Mount Holyoke...hm. We did a bit of shopping too, but it was mostly Melissa and I following Courtney take charge in a department store. Always entertaining :] Overall, I had a nice (an appropriate word for the place!) time in Nice. Go visit.

When I returned to Milan, I met up with my beffy Ariana and her two friends, Jimmy, and Katie, with whom she studies at UCL in London. We had an awesome time, and it worked out really well because Jimmy and Katie needed to stay at my place and two of my roommates were out for a night. We went out to celebrate my 21st, and all three of them treated me like a princess for 24 hours. They got me free drinks (Katie has this amazing way of negotiating with just about anyone), bought me a cake, and took me out to dinner (Sushi--its not a Theadora birthday without raw fish, is it?) with Ross, Miriam (my Italian roommate), and Courtney. During the day we went to my favorite Gelato place and hung out inside the Castello Sforzesco (the biggest castle in all of Europe, btw). It was a beautiful day--Milan gets spring a bit earlier than the northeast. Trees are already blooming and its up in the late 60s daily. Sunny, too.

I've been on vacation for two straight weeks. Well, this entire trip has been like a vacation--I don't do work here because my grades here don't affect my GPA (study abroad is a joke). But don't get me wrong, when I get back to Mount Holyoke I will buckle down (as if its possible to strap myself in tighter there) so I can graduate with honors. This is my last time to give a big middle finger to the world, I don't think my life will ever be this carefree again. Or who knows. Maybe I'll feel the same way right before I have a kid (which isn't for at least another ::gulp:: 9 years).

ANYWAY, I realize that I haven't even mentioned what classes I'm taking here--an Art History course on Modern Art in Milan, which is pretty fantastic. I actually do work and care about this class, even though the work is easy. But I like the art and really enjoy the professor. My final is--get this--a 4 page paper. Are you Mohos not like, in stitches on the floor? Cause this is a huge joke (last semester some of my finals consisted of 20 page papers...)

Aside from Italian (which is great, especially because Silvia Francalanza, my prof, is bomb.com), I'm taking an Italian Language in Music class, in which we use Italian operas to help us understand Italian. Its kind of a frustrating class, but you know, its always fun to bop around to "Largo al Factotum" from Il Barbiere Di Siviglia. Goddamn, Rossini, you know how to write 'em.

The last class I'm taking is photography. I love it and hate it. My professor is a huge joke, and that makes me kind of sad. But I'm glad that I have to work hard on taking good photos and working them on the computer (cropping and making sure you've got the right contrast/shades/color saturation takes a bit of work). The class is just a waste of my time--me and my friend Sky sit in the back and roll our eyes (how can you take a professor seriously when he puts his bike up on the desk and starts talking about the metal on it for about 30 minutes? By that point I can't really care that much how your bike relates to photography).

Woo, okay. In other news I have great housing for next semester, the dorm I always wanted to live in since I was a first year. Its kind of far, but I know I'll have my good friends living there next year. Oh my god, I'm going to be a senior.

Okay, this post is over, I can't even think about my last year of college.