Dani's blog: January 2008

Thursday, January 31, 2008

I [heart] NY t-shirt

Sunset on the marble.

My friend Holly gave Clara and me t-shirts with I [heart] NY on it. I've never been to New York - I fully intend to do so someday. In the meantime, I sleep in it and dream about going.

I've decided I write ridiculously long blogs. Here's to an effort to keep it shorter. Maybe increased frequency would help.

Here's the long and short of what's happened lately: 2 students at JCU died, one under what I perceive as very suspicious circumstances. Investigation is underway. I hosted a crepe party at my charming new apartment on Monday, celebrated my birthday that night and Tuesday night. Clara's dad's friend's daughter came into town and I an afternoon of tourist stuff with her yesterday. I'm drowning under the reading load I have. I bought boots and a new coat because Rome is having massive sales. I'm extended my bedtime to about midnight. And I'm making loads of new friends! Life is good!

Although I might be in the wrong major... Or so my friend Alex says. He thinks I should (and I quote): "Get a life."

Monday, January 21, 2008

My new Apartment

I've moved in and am settling into my new apartment here in the center of Rome. Clara was here when I came, and Ellen arrived the morning after I did, so we're back together again, re-learning how to live as our little roommate "family." Funny how those terms get reapplied in different ways!

I don't have my computer hooked up to the internet yet, so I'm writing from Clara's computer, and thus I don't have access to my pictures, but I'll describe my apartment.

Our front door is green in a tall, skinny yellow building on a busy little piazza. Once I open the front door, I walk to the end of a hallway, and up a flight of stairs, turn a 90 angle and climb another flight of stairs, and then a 180 angle to climb the last flight of stairs. The stairs are stone, and quite old - I know this because the center of the steps is worn away from people walking up and down it. Our door is at the end of the hall once we climb the last flight of stairs... And actually, there are only 4 apartments accessed through our green front door, so we don't have too much traffic outside.

The door into our apartment has a 5 deadbolt lock. It's a really long, fancy-shmancy key that opens it. We have to lock it from the inside with the key too, if we want the door to stay shut while we're inside. I enter into our livingroom. The walls are a cream color, with two half-circle lounges as couches, and a bunch of throw pillows on them. The lounges are a fresh, bright white. There is a HUGE TV mounted on the wall (It pulls away from the wall and angles around which is pretty sweet!) and a long, low TV stand pushed against the wall under it.

We have a door off the livingroom that leads to the bedroom. The hinges squeak something terrible when opened slowly. My bed is a twin pushed up against the corner, under a window with a bright Mexican-style blanket on it. Clara and Ellen share the big bed in the far corner, and we have a very large closet type thing with a mirror on it against the wall the door is on. We also have a full length mirror on the back of the door - after having a whole semester never knowing if your shoes REALLY looked good with your outfit and standing on a chair in the bathroom to try to see if the pants and shirt together make you look skinny, it's nice to see the big picture!

I have a bedside stand with a saxophone lamp (very cool!), and we also have a bookshelf that holds our books and all the stuff that I usually stash on the top of my dresser.

In the living room we also have a big wood table-type thing, which was actually a desk in the bedroom. It has adjustable legs to vary the height. It's in the corner against the wall that the TV is on, and our two bar stools and a lawn-chair looking thing are the seats on it. I also have fresh flowers that I bought at an outdoor market Saturday morning, sitting in a wine glass.

From the living room there is a set of stairs leading down to the kitchen. We call the kitchen the "galley." Actually, we call the whole apartment our "ship" because it kind of feels like one. Our bedroom is the "cabin," and the living room is the "top deck," and, of course, the kitchen is the galley. What are bathrooms called on a ship? I thought about making a sign that reads "Poop deck" and hanging it on the bathroom door, but that isn't the correct application of that title.

At the bottom of the stairs (they are wood, I think there's 6 or 8, and they squeak terribly when you go up and down them too... I discovered all these squeaking things when I was awake WAY too early due to jet lag!) a door to the left is the bathroom. It's white and red, which is, in my opinion, perfect colors for a bathroom. The floor is red, the walls are white, and there is a red boarder midway up the walls. The shower takes up the whole end of the bathroom, and it's not a big shower. It's a good thing that we're all relatively small because otherwise the bathroom would never work! There is a toilet and a "footwash" which we actually use for holding important things like hairdriers and straighteners and extra toilet paper. The sink is tiny - and the water never stops dripping - but the lighting is good around the mirror, which is a luxury I enjoy! It makes putting on makeup even that much more fun.

The hall that leads down from the stairway ends in the kitchen. There is a very small, tall table under a window that we store fruit on, a very large network of cupboards that is REALLY nice for storing food and dishes and utensils and towels and sheets. After using the floor of the second bathroom in our old apartment as my dry-good storage spot, it's nice to have a cupboard!

The sink is very small, with only one bucket area. The gas stove is a little tipsy, and there is virtually no counter space! We do have an oven, though, which makes me happy, although I don't know how to set the temperature for it, so cookies might be interesting.

About the neighborhood - our windows open into a little courtyard, which we can't actually access, because I don't know where the door is. It isn't a nice courtyard either, but the daylight from the windows is really nice. There are white birds of some kind (doves, perhaps?) kept in a cage across the courtyard from us, and it's really nice to hear their cooing. We also have a neighbor who either is an opera singer or really enjoys listening to loud opera music. It isn't loud enough to be annoying with the windows shut, so it's unique and kind of fun!

Anyhow, eventually I'll probably take some pictures and put them up... But in the meantime, Mom, that gives you something to work with!

Love and Hugs,
Dani

Thursday, January 10, 2008

January 10, 2008 - Christmas break!

EEEK! Hello friends! It's been almost TWO months since I last posted! I'm sorry. I'll add pictures to this post to make up for it!

I'm home in my little cottage-home on a hillside in the gorgeous Pacific NW. I'm pretty sure it's rained every single day since I came... and it hasn't been just a little rain! "Sun breaks" are the 5-20 minute moments when the clouds move away from directly above you and you catch a little Vitamin D as the sun's rays can pierce the H2O layer in the sky!

My last month in Rome flew by - full of pizza nights with friends and church chiors and dinners out and (of course) writing papers and studying for finals. It was a little sad to say goodbye to everyone I'd grown to love, especially the ones who won't be back next semester, but between email and facebook, it makes the seperation easier... And, I've learned that's just part of life! I won't get the reunion I'd love to have until I reach heaven :-).

Christmas - and the 5 weeks of break I got - have been restful (well, sort of), and great for catching up with friends and working on that never-ending to-do list. My big sister got home a week after I did and left last Monday. That was the largest amount of time we'd spent together in the past year and a half... As a sum total, my immediate family of 7 was together for about 21 days in the 2007 year. We've already got 7 days down in 2008, though, so I guess we're on a roll! I'm well aware of how much time we HAVE had this past year compared to what it could be in the future. Realizations like that make me grateful for all the modern communication tools at our disposal!

Anyhow, I've been reading a TON (trying to get ahead for next semester) and I'm discovering I'm not crazy about Victorian novels! I've also been visiting a lot of people. It never is ENOUGH to truly satisfy that desire to see everyone and catch up with everyone, but at least I've been able to touch base and see faces and stock up on hugs! I'm taking off on Monday to go to Denver and visit Megan for a couple days and then on to Rome on Thursday. The last little bit is FLYING by. My grandfather (who happens to be 87) came down with pneumonia this past week, and even though THAT was bad, I've actually really enjoyed catching up with him and Grandma and being able to drive them to Dr appts and cook food for them and encourage lots of fluid intake! There's a line in a song I love right now that says "Count your blessings now" and that's just been impressed on my heart the past couple days... I've been able to come home and just soak in the family love and lavish my attention on my grandparents and other family members - what a true blessing!

Of course, going back to Rome is also a blessing! I'm excited to get into the next semester, move into my new apartment with Clara and Ellen, see the new facility that John Cabot bought (Our campus is being added onto... it'll TRIPLE the space we currently have!!!), and keep living the adventure over there. I especially think of it as a blessing to go back because there was a good number of weeks at the beginning of last semester when I really didn't know if I wanted to stay there. While JCU isn't everything I might ask for in a school, I'm thankful for what it is, and I still strongly believe that it is where God has called me to be for this season of my life. And I can be content and joyful with that!

Alright, I'll stop writing and add some pictures from the last little bit in Rome and also this Christmas break. FYI, my 20th BIRTHDAY is in a couple weeks (January 29th!!!) so anyone READS this and happens to have a moment that day, I'd love to get a birthday email or message!!! ;-)

Love and Hugs!
Dani