Arrivederci Arizona!

The days of paperwork completion, absence emails, moving, packing and visa application are over! I can't believe my semester in Italy has finally begun.  I have a new apartment with new roommates, new surroundings, and a new language!  Stepping off of the plane was super intimidating and almost paralyzing.  Luckily there were other students who arrived in Rome at the same time on other flights.  About 15 of us in the program took a shuttle that transported us to Orvieto.  I was a bit surprised of my surroundings because Rome wasn't the city I expected.  I think it's because the airport is farther away from the city.  It took us about an hour and a half to get to Orvieto.  The main part of Orvieto is up on a plateau.  In order to get from the top to the bottom you have to take a train like car called the Funiculare for one euro to get down to Orvieto Scalo.  This part has the bigger supermarket, stores, and less expensive hotels but more on that later. 

We arrived to Orvieto and were placed in our apartments.  I am in the apartment Serena with my roommates Anna, Liz, Madison, Andrea and Kristin.  It's way better than I could ever imagine!! Honestly I don't know how there is such a beautiful space for us six girls!  There is two rooms (three girls to each room), a dining room, living room, kitchen, two bathrooms and a laundry room.  I couldn't be more thankful for my living arrangements, especially when some other students are saying how cold their apartments are. We all get along really well which is making everything easier.  Navigating through daily occurrences with friends is so much easier, especially when it took me a week to figure out the way to our apartment.  

I have many posts to update you all on! I just got my internet key to work, which is why I've been slacking on my blog! They'll be coming along more rapidly, I promise!  I'll get caught up, it'll just take some time as I have school work and papers to do. 

Here are some pictures of our apartment in Orvieto!

My side of room

Our hallway

Porch entrance

Laundry Room

Downstair entryway  

(we're convinced those locked stairs lead to Narnia)

Living Room

Kitchen

Dining Room

Porch/Entrance

Stairs to entrance

Our windows on the right side

Street outside our house

Ciao,

Kasondra

"It's always sunny in London...

because the roads are paved with gold."
That's what our taxi driver told us when I commented on the beautiful day.  They are paved with gold because it's so expensive there!

We finally made it to London (24 hours late)!  This post is a a little under a week late due to powerful jetlag, lack of internet connection and getting acclimated to Italy.  It was a beautiful day, no rain or gloom and our hotel was gorgeous!  We took the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station and then a quick taxi ride to our hotel. We hit Oxford street and walked around to find a pub.  The fish & chips were well worth the walk.  I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the accent and found myself subconsciously trying to perfect my own.  We also saw Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park.  After the lack of sleep was too much to bear we went back to our hotel and collapsed.  We then arrived at the airport the next morning around 4 am.  I had to say goodbye to my mom and you would never know I was only leaving for a little over three months!  It wasn't until I was by myself that i realized this is real.  I'm actually spending the next three months in Italy.

Here's a few pics of my short adventure in London.

London from the air

Commemorative statue

Double Decker!

The cars will run you over!

Bicycle rental in Hyde Park

Gates to Buckingham Palace

Front entrance to Buckingham Palace

Policemen on huge horses!

Hyde Park

Beautiful Architecture

Streets in London

A beautiful church hidden in a small park.

Streets

Photo booth

My luggage set's first trip...

My luggage set's first trip was a rough one.
I had really high hopes this morning -smooth sailing to London!  The life of a "non-rever" is not without adventure.  The first flight was great.  Mimosas, nuts, a salmon salad and warm towel to start the trip off perfectly.  I should of known. My incessant app weather checking told me.  Rain and thunderstorms warned me it would happen.  Six hours, three gate changes and three Starbucks (no joke) later, "I'm sorry passengers on flight 50 to London (Heathrow) but the flight has now been cancelled." Wait. Did I really just hear that? After six hours of scouring for an open electric plug after every gate change I don't even get to squish myself onto this flight?! I was holding back the tears of only three hours sleep.  And well here I am, after two mechanical problems on two separate planes and cancellation due to weather, staring at my hotel's view of the airport parking garage, instead of the Thames River.  If there's anything that flying standby all my life has taught me it's that you need to be positive.  My new luggage (although soaked from sitting in the rain on the runway) is all here and we are safely nestled in our temporary abode.  Bright eyed and bushy tailed to have a go again tomorrow, we are only more excited to arrive in London.  We also had a chance to rebook our hotel to an even better one with a more central location.  More than all that, I'm on  my way to spending a semester in Orvieto and nothing could mull my excitement about that! I'm off to get some sleep and hopefully get on our flight tomorrow.  More updates to follow.  Here's a few pics of my beginnings...

A goodbye letter from my grandma, so sweet!

Our departure cocktails :-)

My soaked luggage taking refuge in the DFW airport

Late night room service, thanks julio!

Ciao,
Kasondra

To Thrive.

What does it mean to really thrive?
It's something that has been on my mind.  Does it beg success?  Everyone has their own vision of how they want to succeed or what they want to succeed in.  Webster states that it is "to grow or develop well; vigorously; to prosper or flourish."  I think i like the word flourish best. Those who say success isn't important are sadly mistaken.  How can one not be successful in their life and be happy?  When flourishing you "develop rapidly and successfully."  This hinges on what is deemed successful.  Being successful can mean a multitude of things.  You can be successful in your family.  I've seen the parents come home to the kids I nanny being greeted with loud shrieks of joy and pummeled every single afternoon.  The thing is, I know they are not the parents they are because they have not been successful in other areas of their life.  Their morals and values play HUGE roles in parenting but so does being mature and gaining wisdom from their careers.  Thats the tricky thing about true success.  First you have to want to be successful.  If you think success is not important you are losing out on what could be a lot of happiness in your life.  I don't see a large amount of people who are without a career, money or wisdom to be over flowing with happiness.  It is true, success doesn't necessarily mean happiness.  Let's be honest here, it sure helps a lot.  If I am truly successfully in cultivating myself into someone who feels I am successful in my career and development as I grow older I will be happy.  Granted that is not all that plays in my happiness, but it's part of it.  If I go nowhere, waiting for happiness to knock on my door, it's never going to come.  You need to be relentless in obtaining your true happiness, and once you feel it, cultivate it and let it grow.  Sit back & relax, but don't forget to plan.  It is careless to think that happiness has nothing to do with success.

Goodnight,
xoxo

Change

Today i came to a somewhat life altering realization. 

I think i have had trouble closing the last chapter that has been occurring in my life.  Therefore i’m scared to move and and creating a more meaningful and better chapter.  It’s as if i’m watching everything around me move on.  But why is it that things have to change?  There’s not one thing or event or person that changes something or someone, that’s what i have been telling myself.  I think it’s just life.  That’s it.  There’s nothing mind boggling about it.  I,  like the rest of the people my age, are at a time of a constant rate of change.  That’s hard for me to except.  It’s hard for me to think, “okay, these memories were great but i need create even better ones."  I need to be confident that i can find people who are more like me.  Why is that so hard sometimes?

And more importantly I want to have this thirst for life.

I want to be full of life and take advantage of every experience of someone my age.  I think the last year of my life has been severely lacking.  I’m stuck, I’ve been stuck.  I’m not trying to get rid of anyone in my life who means something to me.  Those people have helped me to realized this.  I certainly want a change in people who will appreciate me and appreciate change.  I've heard it said, “How can you get to your future, if your past is present?”   I need to find people who motivate me to be who i want to be. 

Which leads me to the concept of change. 

"Keep the pictures; they don’t change, only the people in them do."

There’s this feeling i get when i see old photographs.  It's hard to explain because I feel happy yet really sad, i guess its bittersweet.  Most of the people in them have changed. Things have changed. People look different, act different, and quite frankly are different people.  Life happens to everyone in different ways.  The past memories i think, are worth saving and remembering.  Yet at the same time, coming to terms with the fact that things are different is hard to swallow.  The people you once cherished and really depended on aren’t the same people.  You can’t depend on them or hold them important anymore.  That is actually the sad part.  So i guess that’s why i keep the photos.  To remind me that good memories do happen, even if they don’t last forever.  But then again, what good things do last forever?  Other than the love I have with God, nothing else is eternal.  I feel I can only truly depend on two people; God and myself.   Even that’s hard right?  because at times i think we all find ourselves a little disappointed in ourself.  So essentially, now, i feel i keep the photos and plaster them all over my walls to remind me to guard my heart but to not lose hope in the people I love.  

Goodnight,

xoxo

Le Premier

This is my first of many,

probably blabber if nothing else.

I wish i had something exciting to write about, like a new city or new experiences.  As of now i have normal and uneventful.  Who knows, maybe eventually whether soon or not, i’ll have a little spritz of something different.  Sometimes i feel a thirst for something different.  Other days i’m just content and comfortable.  I don’t know if i’m really ready for something new or to be on my own, in it’s entirety.  I am now, but i still have my family, which is just a drive away.  I’ve been here all my life, i know how to get everywhere and who people are.  I’ve never lived somewhere new.  It seems exhilarating yet scary.  The thought of the future is so confusing.  I have so many thoughts in my head concerning everything.. i guess this is just my way of of saying and getting it down, processing it. To make sense and to see where i get.

So this is the first of my many entries concerning me, my thoughts, and what’s going on around me.

Goodnight,

xoxo