I'm (not exactly loving, but definitely liking) it!

Let me preface what I am about to write by saying this: People do funny things when they are in a foreign country and have very limited options.

I ate at McDonalds and it was pretty good!

I am not a big McDonalds fan. In fact up until recently I used to call it McNasty, but things have changed. Last night Antonio and I decided to take a dinner trip to our local McDonalds. While Italy doesn't do a lot of fast food, just about every town has at least one McDonalds. The one in Trento is on the outskirts of the city, so you have to take a 15minute bus ride or be willing to commit to the 1.5-2 hour walk to get there from the city center. Well we get there and both order Big N' Tasty's... and boy oh boy were they.. that hamburger was soooo good. I feel slightly ashamed to admit that, not that I am against fast food every once in a while, but in the U.S. you have so many options that I don't even consider McDonalds. When you are in a foreign country and McDonalds is your only option for a decent hamburger, you go for it! I hadn't been craving a humburger, until Antonio mentioned it, then I realized it had been months since I had eaten one, so of course that was all I could think about all day..

As much as I don't like McDonalds, I have realized that it's not that I don't like McDonalds, it's that I don't like McDonalds in the U.S. The quality in Europe is a lot better, the meat is fresh and the food just tastes better, and it reminds me of home. It's really sad that McDonalds is one of the few things that really makes me feel like I'm back home, but it does... it's a nice break from reality, and while I have had my fill for now, I am sure that in a few months I'll have that craving again. I don't know if I crave the food or the atmosphere, but like the title says, I'm (not exactly loving, but definitely liking) it!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!

Antonio decided to have a birthday dinner for me and invite some of our close friends. Since most of my friends are students and taking exam in this period we decided to have it the weekend after my birthday, instead of the weekend before... more people were done with exams by this weekend. So, on Saturday we had my birthday dinner... Antonio and I made Lasagna, pie and cake... everything was delicious!!! YAY for us! It was such a nice evening... lots of wine, lots of laughing and talking and eating... plus it was with some of my closest friends here, which was nice. Here is our group:


(Clockwise from bottom left: Adriano, Michele, Nancy, Katie, Antonio, Noemie, Danilo and Silvia)

Antonio's parents sent us a box full of oranges from Sicily and we keep it out on the balcony, well our friend Adriano went out there to smoke and after a few minutes he knocks on the balcony door and walks in like this:


Everyone was laughing so hard when we saw him... gotta love that guy!

Here's a picture of Nancy (Antonio's sister), Katie (My American friend), Me and Antonio:



And finaly last but not least, a few pictures of my gifts :)



The breakfast tray/bowl things was from Noemie and Danilo and the book was from Silvia and Adriano...I also got quite a few pairs of earrings, some make-up stuff and last but not least... Antonio's gift to me... my new cell phone :)



Here I put it next to a butter knife, just to show how thin it is... it's really lightweight too



So yeah, that was my birthday... I had a great time! Good company, good food and a good time overall... what more could you want?

Shoes!!!!

In Italy there are huge sales the entire month of January. Well I went out to go "Faux shopping" with the intention of only looking, instead I fell in love with a pair of shoes and bought them... but they are nice and fairly unique... here are a few pictures



Here is another view:



Aren't they cute, I paid quite a bit of money for them, but would have paid a lot more if they weren't on sale!!! the thing I love the most is that the leopard print isn't just fabric, it's real hair, probably faux leopard hair, at least I hope so!

Here are a few pictures of the boots Antonio bought me for Christmas:



This is the view from the other side:



I love the color of the boots, and the fact that they are so comfy! You can't see it too well in the picturs, but the heel and the front part have very intricate designs on a little strip of leather, it's really nice!

New Blog

Ok, so I already have a blogger account, but sometimes I write some very private things on it, and therefore only a handful of people have that address. Often though, I write stuff that I wouldn't mind the general public seeing, and plus I would like to be able to comment on friends blogs... so I'll be copying some stuff from Blog 1 to Blog 2 (this one)