2 years!

GUYS, GUESS WHAT TODAY IS?  MY BLOG'S SECOND BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember me two years ago on December 25, 2009?  I was sitting in the kitchen working on college application essays, and Mom had the window open even though it was super cold outside.  And then I decided I was tired of writing essays, so I started a blog.

You probably don't remember that because the only people that read my blog back then was my Mom and Robin.  And oh my goodness, how that number has grown!  Something I never, ever would have predicted!

I have 36 official followers on Google, but I know more people follow my blog than that.  As of this moment there have been 27,860 hits on my blog (and none of them from me).  My posts have gotten picked up by random sites on the web devoted to travel and backpacking and Italy and study abroad and living in the Arctic.  My blog ran on the UAF Sun Star page for a semester.  Tweets linking to some of my posts have been retweeted many times by a multitude of different people.

And this is cheesy, but it is all because of YOU.  Back when I was senior in high school, if no one had sat down and read my blog and told me they enjoyed it, I would have given up posting a long time ago.  All the comments, all the likes, all of the hey-Elika-I-read-your-blog-and-I-love-it!'s are 70% of what's kept this blog alive for the last two years.  The other 30% being my interest in practicing writing on a regular basis.

So THANK YOU!!!!!!  I know no one really cares right now because it's Christmas and you're all WEEEEEE CHRISTMAS PICNIC IN THE SNOW (wait, that's only one person I can think of).

We heart pizza!

Yesterday, Melanie and I went to Gusta Pizza.  It's supposedly the best pizza restaurant in Florence, and everyone I know raves about it so it was about time I knock it off my Florence bucket list.

We showed up at the restaurant, and immediately the owner leaned over the counter and kissed both of us on the cheek and wished us a "buon Natale!"  We happily ordered a spinach and ricotta cheese pizza (sounds weird, but it was really good) and two bottles of water and sat down.

A few minutes later, our pizza showed up in the shape of a heart!

We heart this pizza place!

Lazy Florentine Sundays

Today I walked to a grocery store really really far away from my apartment, just so I would have a better reason to walk around other than just aimlessly walking around.  Which is a great thing to do if you are in a wander-some mood.  But I needed some motivation to leave my apartment, and a 45 minute trip each way to buy milk managed to do the trick.

Also, I got lunch and sat on the curb of a sidewalk eating my panini and feeling all Italian.

And a random couple asked me how to get to Santa Croce, and I gave them directions in Italian.  And I was really proud of myself because I get left and right (sinistro e destra) mixed up all the time, but I didn't this time.

Then three hours later when I finally got home, I made peanut butter cookies.  I'm on my fifth one right now.  They're really good.  Also, I'm putting nutella and strawberries on top.  So, they're, like, REALLY good.

You know that part of Eat, Pray, Love where Julia Roberts sits on the floor of her apartment in Rome and eats asparagus?  That's kind of how I feel right now.  Except substitute cookies for asparagus, Florence for Rome, my bed for the floor, and me for Julia Roberts.

Next up: Jordan!

All of my semester friends here are going home next weekend.  Next weekend!  I feel like I'm never going home, to be honest.  But everyone around me is packing up and trying to fit four months worth of Europe into a suitcase.

This is a good time to mention that I'm leaving too.  The opportunity to spend second semester somewhere else presented itself back in October, and with the support of my super awesome parents and a lot of reflection, research, and consultation, I decided to take it.  Which is why instead of spending the whole year in Florence, I'm going to Amman, Jordan for spring semester.  At this point, I've had about a month and a half to get used to the idea, so it doesn't completely shock me any more.  But I realize all you lovely readers are probably like "WTF?" right now.

This is a picture from a children's atlas I discovered in the Bologna public library.  This is a WHIRLING DERVISH SAYING MERHABA!!!!  Which is hello in Arabic.  I will be learning Arabic.  I might also become a whirling dervish, even though technically they're more from Turkey than Jordan.

Before I go on, let me just say that I'm not leaving Italy because I don't like it here.  I love the cobblestones, I love Tutto 99 Cent-the Italian version of a dollar store, I love, love, love (cliche as it may be) the food.  I predict heart-brokenly watching Camera Con Vista in the future, and telling the unlucky soul next to me that I've been there and there and there and there, and look how beautiful it is.

But living overseas has afforded me a lot of time to think about what I want from studying abroad, college, life, etc in the context of a completely different environment.  And it took me a few months to figure this out, but I realized that I wanted more of a challenging experience from this year.

So, Elika, you crazy-wandering-gypsy-traveler-girl, why Jordan?

I was basically just aiming for anywhere I would experience really bad culture shock, and things with Jordan just fell into place really quickly.  The visa process there works really well for me.  Living in Jordan gives me the chance to learn Arabic.  It'll give me an awesome perspective on what's going on in the Middle East right now.  And as someone with Middle Eastern roots, it'll give me the chance to understand part of myself that I don't know too much about.  Although my Dad wants me to mention that Persian culture and Arab culture are not the same at all.

Anyway, as excited as I am, I'm trying to focus all my energy on my remaining time in Italy.  After all, I will never live in Florence again and I want to make sure I finish my Italy bucket list before I leave in February.  So that's why you haven't really heard too much about this big giant moving to the Middle East thing, and why you probably won't hear too much about it until I actually show up there.

But I have been asked a TON of questions by friends (i.e. will you have to wear a veil? are you scared? when exactly are you coming home? etc) and I was thinking of addressing them in an FAQ type post.  So if you have any questions post 'em in the comments and I'll get to them within the next week!  Or if you're shy you can ask them anonymously at the formspring for my bad advice column blog (which you should read, and ask advice-y questions so Denali and I can answer them).

Ho attraversato

Today I got together with a few other girls who are studying abroad here, and we watched Italian movies and ate panettone.  And it was sitting on a couch cushion watching La Vita é Bella and eating cake that I realized I no longer feel like a fish out of water.

I spend so much time frustrated with my incredibly basic Italian and feeling like an outsider to this culture that I've completely missed the fact that I've learned how to live here.

I can navigate this city like a pro.  Put me anywhere in Florence and I can find my way home.  I understand the trenitalia website, and no longer stress about getting anywhere by train.  I know that the café in San Lorenzo has a waiter everyone is in love with, but the food isn't actually all that great.  I know where to find cheap pomegranates, and after a semester of testing different places I know which kebab stand has the best kebab.

It's so easy to get frustrated when proud Florentine women breeze by you, never giving you the time of day, not even to move a little to the left on the sidewalk.  And I will never be Italian, I will never completely understand what's going on in this culture and country.  But I've come a long ways from the girl that got off the plane in August.

View of Florence from Piazzale Michaelangelo

I LOVE OPERA

I went to the opera tonight.  Again.

It was brilliant.  Again.

I think I have a future career as an opera singer.  Perhaps I will stay here forever, eating only pasta, singing only arias.

L’amour est enfant de Bohême,

Il n’a jamais jamais connu de loi.

Si tou ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime.

Si je t’aime, prends garde à toi!