Esplorare (S-plo-ra-rey) – Exploring

            …today was a day that started out as being not busy at all and it wasn’t (which was actually really nice)….but I definently made it a full day J…started nice and early (please note the sarcasm) with Italian class…skipped my morning cappuccino and that was mistake number one! Keeping my eyes open was becoming unbearable…so I made a point to grab that during our 10 minute break (it’s a 3 hour 15 min class) and it worked its fantastic Italian magic J….after class I was off with a couple errands to run but not much else plan….that is aside from a nap that I am now wishing I had made a thing today :/ haha

            …after class I came back to the flat to grab some lunch and super lucky for me, Paula was here and made me pasta….man I love that lady, absolutely adorable J….i left here and headed to the mall (which is about a 5 or so minute walk, behind the old FIAT factory – fun fact about that, on top of that building there is a track where they would test the cars, and it is also the place from the first scene of The Italian Job!) I was on a mission to get a great puffy winter coat like literally everyone here has….not so much to fit in, mostly to have one for going up to Bardonecia with my host family next weekend (ps that’s the ski hill from the Olympics)….i found on that I will use as a last resort but I am mostly hoping I can find one at the market sometime next week…

            …so as I finished making my rounds of the mall I saw a door leading out to a sky bridge and decided to go check it out….as soon as I walked outside the views were absolutely breathtaking! Today was sunny CLEAR, and warm …the best day we have seen yet! And from that sky bridge I had panoramic views of the Alps and they literally looked like pictures…I couldn’t even believe they were real!...i tried to take pictures but they wont do it any sort of justice….so then I continued over the small sky bridge and realized that I was on the Olympic foot bridge!!! ….it runs under the Olympic arch…..basically, the bottom floor of what is the Lingotto Mall was the broadcast center of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, and the other side of the footbridge, under the arch is the pathway that leads to the Olympic village J such an awesome discovery!! I knew that I was close to it, I could kinda tell from our bus tour of the city but I had no idea I was minutes walk away!!

            …after checking that out I headed back towards my neighborhood, away from the mall to the post office to mail off some letters to friends back home (and boy is it hard and expensive to mail things back to the states! Lol)…and I had all but two addresses so I could mail the rest but then they were out of the 2euro stamps that I needed for the other two and the nearest Tabbaci was closed (basically a convenience store that is on like every corner) so I had to go exploring again to find another…

            …after a little walk I did, with a man who spoke no English so that was fun, he was very nice tho J…and then well I just kept walking for another 1.5/2 hours J explored all around my neighborhood and the next one over…found a great church….finally started to head back towards home and the school and as I was passing the Olympic ice skating rink and park (which is pretty much next door to my school, and within sight of my balcony), I saw the United Nations symbol across the street…so I got a bit closer and realized that across the street behind my school is the UN training center…and after researching when I got home, that’s not just the training center for Italy…that’s THE ONLY training center…sheesh it was so freakin cool J…

            …on my way home I stopped at the school to fax a request for Vatican tickets for the canonization and see some friends to work on planning trips abroad (I love it!!) and then it was home for a few hours….

            …tonight we went to dinner at a place called Pasta e Basta….i kid you not, that literally means, Pasta and Stop, no one understands lol….but you know why all of us went on a Tuesday night?? Because its karaoke night with the Italians!...there ended up being about 20 or 25 of us USAC kids, even including a few of the other international students that aren’t from the US J…..we had dinner and waited while the other people finished watching the Juventus vs Roma game (Roma won 1-0 L) and by that time, we had all ate, drank, and gotten our Limoncello and things were even more fun….there were two men that had been there to watch the game but stayed to watch all the Americans…but they ended up singing and dancing along with the rest of us…one even serenaded us with a little Stevie Wonder J haha….the owner of the restaurant also sang us a few songs as well…it really was just one of the most fun experiences so far, without a doubt! And the food was awesome too! J….i think itll stick as our Tuesday event J..

            …this is turning out to be one of the craziest experiences….i find I have to remind myself daily that I am in Italy…and truly a resident here….its so awesomely weird….like here my worries aren’t work or the future, they are mostly where are we going this weekend and are our flights booked…I am truly so freakin blessed I cant even believe it…to live certainly is an awfully big adventure….

*and just a public shout out here on the blog, (and because the time just changed here in Italy)….HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!!! I completely adore you and miss you everyday…I hate that I’m not there today for you, but I hope you have an amazing day!!