Ciao Ciao Firenze (Italy Pt. 2)

The train ride on Eurostar from Rome to Florence took a little less than two hours – perfect for a little nap to get ready for a new city. If Sicily equates to a haven for nice local Sicilians and Rome for thousands of tourists, Florence was interestingly a mixture of both.

While we continued to encounter small and large groups of vacationers, here and there we met nice smiling faces of Italians. Once again, besides the architecture and art, FOOD definitely won my heart over yet again.

We devoured (classy, I promise) sandwiches with the freshest mozzarella, delicious gelato and fantastic lasagna. We walked around the small city, and we drank some quality wine and Italian beer. But don’t you worry, we also visited important sights and admired Michelangelo’s David.

Duomo didn’t disappoint… as you can see:

The sandwich guys… (i due fratellini) — Thanks Christina for the suggestion! Cafe Deluxee was superb as well. Why did I ever leave…

On our way to Piazza Michelangelo:

The bronze David:

The fantastic view from Piazza Michelangelo:

We also visited Dante’s house, sat on the roof of our hostel and watched sunset and enjoyed a long dinner. What a beautiful country! Italy quickly became one of my favorite countries. Even though I still don’t know much Italian – besides GRAZZIE! – exploring unfamiliar cities and subsequently discovering their best treasures made me fall in love with Sicilia, Roma and Firenze.

Till next time… Good night Italia!

Looking Back on 2009

Is it almost 2010 already? Serious? It honestly doesn’t even feel like the year is ending, but alas, in just a few days, it will be 2010 (double digits? what?) and more shockingly, in just about a week, I will be on my way to London. So far this winter break, I’ve hit up various malls – Allen Premium Outlet (highly recommended), Galleria in Dallas, Stonebriar in Frisco and Northpark in Dallas – and ate my weight in awesome home-cooked meals, but I still haven’t even thought about packing or gathering the necessities for my semester abroad. Oops!

So here’s to more procrastination – Highlights & My Favorite Memories from 2009 (I will try my best to organize this nicely in a chronological order…no guarantees though)

1. First in January, the birth of my beautiful little: Caitlin Rose. Yes, ADPi Recruitment was the very first big event that happened once I returned to BU for Spring 2009. Going through a sorority recruitment on the “other” side was definitely an exciting, time-consuming, awesome experience, but the end results were totally worth all the hard work. As former Membership Education VP, I am proud of say, ADPi at BU continues to have the highest GPA on campus! 🙂 Oh, and my little, current Membership Education VP, will for sure continue this legacy.

2. ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY with Jack & the Beanpot Tournament. In February, Jack and I celebrated our one-year anniversary at Legal Seafood by Boston Harbor (where we had our very first date just a year before). We also went to the Garden to watch my favorite team, Dallas Mavericks take on the Celtics. Well, good news was I watched my love, Dirk, play basketball, but the bad news…the Mavs lost badly. Maybe next time. Anyways, our sporting adventure continued on to BEANPOT a couple weeks after. Just as exciting as watching Dirk and Scalabrine dominate(?) the court with KG was BU beating Northeastern for the Beanpot title. Yes, that’s right – BU has won more than half of the Beanpot Championship in the Beanpot history.

3. Spring Break: Roadtripping with FOUR boys… Basically, I saw, I came, I conquered. More precisely, I survived the 10-hour drive from Boston to Washington DC with all boys in a tiny car despite getting lost terribly in Connecticut. Great times… Needless to say, by the end of the week, I was ready for some quality time with my girl friends, but still had an awesome time with my bros walking around the capital and simply hanging out.

4. 121 all day everyday: my summer job at the admissions office. My days were filled with giving campus tours, running BUEx (Saul Bellow…Ha Jin…French, English, YIDDISH…), mingling with 16-year-old high school children, talking about BU, etc. When it was 80 degrees with 100% humidity, my frizz might have turned away some prospective families from BU, but I think I still had a great time representing my university. Oh and met STAN VAN GUNDY. Yeah.

5. MY 21ST BIRTHDAYYYYYYY! Need I say more about this? (Basically consisted of a couple parties with friends and a romantic lunch with Jack on Boston Harbor Islands where we discovered this way-too-cool canon.)

6. Montreal with friends in October. Once again, a long road trip, but this time, I had my girl friends with me! Sweet.

7. The first surprise party I have ever planned: Jack’s Birthday. Granted he showed up an hour late because apparently he wanted to stop by 7/11 after the concert he went to… It was a success! And the picture is the “cake” aka beer bread I baked for this occasion.

8. GO GREEN: ADPi presents, Turn Off, Turn Out Sustainable Fashion Show. Thanks to my friend Dan, we were able to host an awesome fashion show with clothes from Livity Outernational and raffle prizes from HP. Once again, for the first time ever, I co-planned and co-hosted a huge event open to the entire campus to raise awareness for the environment. Feels great.

And check out the article: http://www.dailyfreepress.com/alpha-delta-pi-holds-sustainable-fashion-show-1.1999349

It’s been a great year. I learned a lot – especially in my Foreign Reporting class, which opened my eyes toward international reporting, war, different culture and the concept of “other.” I also grew as a person – a little bit more mature. But I know I still have ways to go to perfect that level of maturity and knowledge. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me in 2010. Enjoy what’s left and have a great new years day!!!

-Yoojin