he's here!!!

my wonderful boyfriend arrived in florence today. i was so nervous and shaky and it's not even real. amazing.

i am so blessed.

shoes and arias.

so, i just googled myself. i'm pretty famous. there is a british karen pringle and an older painter that shares my awkward name as well. fancy that.just got home from la boheme. oh my. still taking it in. a little funny, a little piece of home. it was in st. james church here which is one of the few english speaking churches in florence. the opera was still in italian. but the small audience made me realize that the cliche chatty middle aged women (whom i thought to live only in grand junction) are everywhere! the two that sat behind me pronounced a few key italian words very poorly and loudly, "BRAVI! BRAVI;" they chitter-chattered between EVERY aria; they decided that this production of la boheme was the best in all the world. They were having some serious middle-aged catharsis.

i, on the other hand, was so distracted thinking about seeing my boyfriend in a week, the dress i will wear (found at an antique market this weekend) and trying to solve the dilemma of not having weather appropriate shoes that will match. then, i couldn't stop thinking of the little mountains of bothersome homework that need to be done in order to spend the maximum amount of time with him. the opera was quaint, good, it was two hours that felt entirely like home, for better and worse.

now, time to edit photos for final project time and fill out about 50 more pages of a journal that i should have been filling out for the past 3 months.
*scary doll: found in the antique market which is pictured above.

tea.

quite possibly the best comfort and cure. italy, as you might know, is not big on tea. "un cappuccino, per favore" so, my trip to london was everything and more to me. theatre, tea, time alone. couldn't have been more perfect. i was completely overwhelmed by people's kindness to the point that i walked down the london streets crying and thanking God for continually providing for my every last need and blessing me beyond measure in the most unexpected ways.



tea. if you ever make it london you have to go to afternoon tea at Fortnum and Masons.
SO FANTASTIC. i felt a bit like a colorado girl in a fancy place but right at home with scones and tea. Darjeeling Broken Orange Pekoe, scones, clotted cream, and the fruitiest of fresh jams.



from here, i went to see billy elliot. holy cow, i have never seen a better dancer ever. at the ripe age of 13, tom holland ROCKED his role as Billy. cutest boy ever. (next to my boyfriend. who comes here in 9 days!!!)

tea. i got a haircut at an aveda salon i found here and had aveda tea yesterday. magic.

strong tannins.

today is bustling and full feasting in my world here in Florence. We have a mandatory FOUR course meal tonight, with 4 wines. The beauty is, I just got out of Food and Wine class where we made the most amazing THREE courses (paired with three wines of course.) Not even the condescending and socially awkward large and in charge professor could stand in my way of fully enjoying every last bite.

ah, bliss.

ah, weight gain. i was laying on my back last night thinking about how my hip bones generally protrude fairly high above my stomach area. but, now they are just gentle bumps in the less severe topography of my midsection. :( oh well, i hear you lose it all when you leave...

I hiked through the Cinque Terra yesterday. so so beautiful. it could not have been a better day. ok, coloradans: take the lush greenery in the mesas, mix it with palm trees, vines, and about 20 shades of greenery, beautiful exotic vibrant wildflowers, cliffs, villages, and the sea. oh, throw in a beach and some ports here and there and that's about the recipe for the cinque terra. BELLA

25.

in the past 3 weeks the following has occurred:


1. i traveled to Hamburg, Germany. Stayed with the most amazing German family. (found on couchsurfing.com) Discovered that Reeperbaun is the scariest place ever. (google it if you dare) Decided that being in Germany was like traveling to 1981.

2. i created a new language: Gertalian. I tried to study for my Italian midterm but 3 years of German was flooding my brain.

3. my mom and sister made it to Florence during my midterms time. i ate dinner out! (not eurostore pasta!)

4. i went to venice again and decided that it is one of my least favorite places here.

5. We (mom, sister) flew to Athens!!!! If you ever get a chance, fly Lufthansa. Germans are SOOO funny. They use tweezers to hand you a hot towel!

6. i mastered the Athens metro.

7. my mom turned 50.

8. i fell head over heals for Santorini and am glad that i WILL go there for my honeymoon. :) The people are AMAZING! we rented a car and drove the whole island. It's where they filmed sisterhood of the traveling pants. Our car rental man worked on the movies! I am going to email him, George, and ask for pictures. (yes, i know this makes me sound about 14 years old.)

9. i love Greek food. people think hummus is greek, but it's not. pita, moussaka, taziki, baklava. so good.

10. I searched endlessly for donkeys to ride. :( (someone said it was too windy for them.)

11. i cried watching a sunset.

12. i took a walking tour of Athens, frantically taking notes all the while. i wish i could retain every last drop of knowledge. The theatres, the history, so powerful and overwhelming. i needed about a week more to take it in.

13. i got frustrated traveling with my family.

14. i prayed for patience.

15. i witnessed the militia parade for Greece's independence day. (there were no clowns. no candy.)

16. my sister turned 24!

17. my family left and i forgot all about previous frustration.

18. was confirmed that something died in the walls of my apartment.

19. i got sick and looked like death. I went to 4 museums in Florence to help cure me, sniffling all the while.

20. i made tiramisu that was a disaster. (not any alcohol will do. aka: absinth.)

21. i missed Greece and watched Hercules twice.

22. i ate all of the tiramisu in 3 days.

23. i decided that i really do love my professors here. especially photography. she is such a beautiful strong female; stands out from her culture quite a bit.

24. i walked by a theatre and cried. it felt like home.

25. i typed a three page itinerary for when Dustin comes here. We skyped. I counted the days: twenty-five left.

and so, tomorrow i am headed to Malta. trying to find a moment to catch my breath while seeing it all. every last drop of it.