Raggiole

A beautiful TINY town in the tuscan countryside called Raggiole is where Alice's family owns a little country house. One fine summer day, Alice had to go water her garden, so she invited Brittani and I to come along! It was such a dream. You could stand in the backyard and have a conversation with someone on the other side of the mountain! Amazing :) :)

the litte town (cittadina) of Raggiole

bella lucia :)

Alice, gathering vegetables from her garden!! 

a Becca flower!

Cono's surprise party

Lucky for Lauren, her birthday landed at the end of finals, the end of the school year, and with nice weather!! Sooo, we decided to throw her a surprise party at a really cool spot right next to the Arno River. (water balloons and squirt-guns included.)

Preperations:

STEP 1: Make water balloons. (have some casualties. see photo below.)

STEP 2: Make birthday sign. (took me three tries but, like they always say, third time's the charm!)

STEP 3: Water balloon inspection by Teagan. CHECK! 

STEP 4: Properly equip everyone with a squirt-gun. (or two) 

STEP 6: Put your GAME FACE ON.

STEP 7: Brittani walked Lauren over to the spot while we all hid behind bushes. When she walked down towards us, we counted to three and bombarded her with water balloons and shot her with water guns. Let's just say she's a good sport. :)

this is the view from the spot we had the party!! Right on the water.

 FINAL STEP: PARTAAAY!!!

me and the birthday girl

danny, so mischievous. 

We even had a piñata!!

Officially one of the greatest days in Florence, for sure. Two days later Lauren hopped on a plane to fly back to California! 

A little about Lauren CONO:

Lauren and I actually met at the Study Abroad orientation in Long Beach waaay back in May of last year. We started talking, and both thought the other was really cool, haha. 

Jump forward to August, and we met again in Italy and Lauren became one of my closest friends (I guess we had good intuition). She is one of the most laid back, fun-loving girls I know, and was a HUGE part of my experience abroad--it wouldn't have been the same without her!! She is one of those people that everyone feels comfortable talking to and confiding in, and I can guarantee you that I have heard just about every guy in our program say "Cono's my girrrl!!" 

Cono (that's her last name) was right by my side in the hard times and the good times, and helped me grow as a person. Her and Brittani became my best girl friends here and I know that we will be friends for life! 

Brittani, Cono and I!

♥♥♥

surfin party (italian style)

Although I am no longer in Italy, I have quite a bit of updating to do on all of the fun that was had.

Our last italian party thrown in our house by "Le Vecchie Zie"(aka Valentina and Ilaria--it means "the old Aunts". it's funny in italian) was themed "Surfin" inspired by us Californians I suppose :). I attempted to give them some ideas on what people should wear, but it turned out looking like a tourist filled hawaiian luau in the year 1975. I think I even saw a Tommy Bahama shirt... 

aaanyways, since the weather was really nice, we were able to open up all the doors and set up a chairs outside (the picture above is of our patio). Unfortunately, Maleesa and Caroline had already moved out so they missed this party, but we were able to use their room as some extra hang-out space :) 

Our house was PACKED with people, majority of them Italian. Ilaria asked me to invite my friends because all of her friends love them, and told her "invite some americans!!" So, I invited a handful of my friends too. bec It's always so much fun because all of the italians are SO nice and you end up finding yourself talking the whole night in Italian.   One of Ilaria's friends is a Deejay, so the music was bumpin, and people were dancing :)

Ely and I, one of the girl's friends! she is so sweet.


                                                           In conclusion, Surfin party: SUCCESS.

Mrs Benham, we used the straws you sent me!!

and of course, my girrrrrl, bella Brittani Lucia

home sweet home.

after 17 hours spent in European airports, then a 10 hour flight to LAX, then a 4 hour drive home from LA (traffic and a necessary In-n-out dinner stop) and I am officially HOME!!

Bowie! the first time we have met. It's love at first sight :)

signs on the garage door made by my mama!!

my girls.

yes .

squirt guns and sbanebio

The weather has been HOT hence the need for squirt guns. Not only do the cool you down, but if an italian man gets too fresh or thinks his "do you like your face" (yes, someone ACTUALLY said this to me) will work, you just shoot him with some water! harmless, and really funny. 

Nery, locked and loaded.

 So many things have been going on these past few weeks, and as of now, I have 3 days left in Italy!!!

can you believe how beautiful the Arno looks?????

 We went and saw a band called Sbanebio, who dress up in costume and play a type of music they call "tropical glam rock" haha but its like a ska mixed with really funny lyrics in italian. Our italian friend Alice is friends with the band, so this is actually the third time we saw them.

sweet caroline (ba ba baaa)

My second american roommate, Caroline, left last week so now it's just three girls remaining in Via Dei Servi! My love for Caroline goes way deeper than heart-shaped pizzas (see photo below)--she became one of my closest friends here. Such a genuine sweetheart, Caroline was always there for me whenever I needed someone to talk to, someone to eat popcorn and watch movies with, and she always knew when I needed a hug. I am so happy that we were able to get to know each other this year, and I miss her so much already. But thankfully, I will see my little ballerina in San Francisco next year because she lives nearby!  

yep, this actually happened.

on her last day we went and got gelato and sat down on the river!

beautiful day with a beautiful girl :)

I love you boo!

i miei amici mi danno un grande sorriso!

the sun setting on the Arno 

il tramonto, vino, e buone amiche.

my courtyard, with a planter box full of pink flowers from an admirer!