craaaazy week

This week shall further be known as the week of China...and my brazilian friends will know what this means. hahaha

GIORNO 41: We had to bring in our first sketch, front and back color rendering, for our childrenswear collection and present it. When it was my turn, before I could even open my mouth, everyone was like "ohh!!! it's so cute!!!" and "can you make that for a twenty year old?" Then they made me pass it around. hahaha. Antonella loved it. So far so good. Stayed after school to work on the pattern project then went home and worked on my History of Italian Design powerpoint.

GIORNO 42: We went with Emilio to a convent...where I saw REAL nuns. Oh yes, this is exciting! kkkkk Went back to school and worked on the powerpoint and paper with my partner. Yeahhhh, don't want to be negative in this blog, so we'll just skip this part.

The lovely convent garden

GIORNO 43: Well, I went to school when it was dark and got home when it was dark...is there something wrong with this picture? That day, I had 10 childrenswear sketches due. Out of the entire class, I was the only one who had them done. Everyone else had 4 or 5. Boyyy, was she mad. But, she loved my designs and wants me to focus on the little details now to take it to the next level. Woohoo!!! Then I had my presentation in Italian Design which went pretty well. All I can say is that I am soooo grateful I was forced to take a speech class in high school. Presentations don't bother me at all, and I kinda enjoy them. hahaha. We were the last to go and unfortunately, we only had 15 minutes to present instead of the 30 minutes we were supposed to have. Good thing I can talk fast. After class, went and studied for my Empires test the following morning. It didn't take too long considering I had started studying the previous Saturday. I felt bad for the girls who had just begun studying this night. I'm not going to lie...the stuff we have to know is pretty hard and remembering all the names of places I don't know how to say or spell is tricky.

GIORNO 44: Empires test went great! We were supposed to write 4-5 sentences about each event, person, etc. listed. Wellllllllll...for me, I went on for 10 and 12 sentences. kkkkkk After class, I went home and took a much needed nap followed by, you guessed it! More homework!!! Then went back to school to attend the orientation for Hadrian's villa and Villa d'Este, the site visits we would take the following day.

GIORNO 45: Long and crazy day! Site visits to Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este. A little background: Hadrian was one of the emporer's of Rome and this was his resort. The place is something like 300 acres. And Villa d'Este has one of the most beautiful gardens in the world filled with fountains. They even have a pipe organ that will play the fountains...unfortunately, visitors can't play it, otherwise, I would soooo do that! So, Friday morning, we're supposed to meet at the train station...however, my roommate and I got there a few minutes late. Not a big deal, they always leave 15 minutes after the said time. But we couldn't find anyone or the bus. It didn't help any that the directions given to us were vague and told us to be in three places at once. We started panicking that they had left us. We went to all three places, talked to a bunch of people, but no luck. By 9:00, we knew they had left us. Frustrated beyond belief, we decided to go on our own. So we went to the metro station, got directions to Tivoli (the city) and went to Termini station. However, Termini station was the wrong station, so we got back on the metro and went to Tibertina. There we purchased our train tickets (only €2, 30) and slept on the hour ride over. Upon arrival, asked for more directions on how to get to Hadrian's Villa, got on an old rickety bus and finally made it there 2 1/2 hours late. hahaha Somehow, while there, we managed to find part of our group. But, they were leaving and we had just gotten there. We decided to meet them at Villa d'Este later on so we could walk around some more. Holy cow this place is cool! And to think it was all for one person! After our quick tour, we got back on the bus and went to Villa d'Este where we managed to meet up with our group before they went in. The gardens at Villa d'Este are beyond words! It's heaven! Absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!!! I wanted to stay there all day. After that visit was done, the director of our school just then realized that we weren't on the bus that morning. So he shook our hands, thanked us, and commended us for getting there on our own. Yes...sacrifice for education. hahahaha. Rode the coach bus home. Theeeeen, homework!!!!

Hadrian's Villa

Hadrian's Villa

Hadrian's Villa

Hadrian's Villa

Hadrian's Villa

Hadrian's Villa

Villa d'Este

Villa d'Este

Villa d'Este

Villa d'Este

Villa d'Este

Villa d'Este

Villa d'Este

Villa d'Este

GIORNO 46: Woke up late...then headed straight to school to work on homework. It's harder to get distracted there. I also had to go to some stores for a childrens market research paper. I went to an area I had never been before and loved it! There weren't that many tourists which was nice. You can tell I've been here for awhile, I can't stand tourists! You're walking behind them, then all of a sudden they stop and you almost run into them. Or they walk in clusters so it's impossible to get around them. And they walk slow, so all you want to do is get past them. Or they walk in zigzags because they're looking up at the buildings instead of straight ahead. haahaha. Concluded the evening with homework!!!!! Is anyone noticing a pattern here?

GIORNO 47: Church!!!! Played the piano for RS. I found out that Shannon is going to be attending the other ward. :/ This stinks. But, overall, a great meeting. No problems with the buses...a first!!!!

Mamma Mia!

Time goes by wayyyy too fast. That's all I can say!

GIORNO 30: School. blugh. Homework. double blugh.

GIORNO 31: Homework in the mornin', party in the evenin'. What? Brittany went to a party? You guys didn't think it was possible, did you? kkkkk. Our school had it's inauguration ceremony this night, so I got to get dressed up nice. Boy, was this party faaaancy. Well, I guess it should be since it's in a palace. hahaha I walked to and from school in heels and amazingly didn't die. On the way back, I ended up watching a flame thrower. Pretty nifty.

Me in the fashion studio

All the fashion girls with Antonella

GIORNO 32: Shannon and I got together to see the Coloseum and Forum. She ended up bringing two of her friends: Maya from Lebanon, and another girl from Korea. We had sooo much fun. We walked around the entire afternoon taking whatever street we felt like. We also went to the island that's on the Tiber River and just sat and watched the river go by. That evening was the "morning" session of conference. Weird, huh? Here the morning session is from 6-8pm and the afternoon session is from 10-midnight. After the afternoon session, I got to talk to my parents. I am soooo grateful. This was the first time in over a month that I got to see and hear them. It brought so much relief. That day was really hard (not going to go into details), so it was great to talk to them.

Old bridge in Tiber River

Leaves starting to change colors :D

Along the Tiber River

Maya, Shannon, and I in front of the Roman Forum

Colosseo and Arch

Colosseo

GIORNO 33: Conference!!!!! Conference was OUTSTANDING!!! Each of the talks were so inspiring and filled with the Spirit. I am so grateful that eventhough I am in a different country, I still get to hear the words of our leaders.

GIORNO 34: Schoooool. Watched the afternoon session of conference. Homework.

GIORNO 35: Medieval museum!!!! Homework.

GIORNO 36: Schooooool!!!! Homework.

Pretty swords

I want this necklace...really bad

GIORNO 37: No class!!!!!!! The optional Tuscany tour was this weekend. So, I slept in a little and then got busy on homework. Cause there's a lot of it. And by a lot, I mean A LOT!!!

GIORNO 38: Homework!!! Woooo!!!! Good thing I like my major otherwise I might die of torture. Let's see...for projects I have two for fashion: a 12 piece print collection with 4 fashion illustrations and a 10 piece childrenswear collection inspired by my favorite designer, Chanel. I'm having a lot of fun with it, but unfortunately, being me, my brain doesn't stop working so my designs get more and more complicated and detailed every minute. Sometimes I wish I had an off button. Oh well. I have to remember that all my hard work is why I've become good at what I do. I also have a 30 minute powerpoint presentation and paper due Wednesday on post-modern Italian design. Theeeen, a huge test for Empires of the Meditteranean. Yeah, I'm a history geek and love to study these things, but seriously, I don't know how to pronounce let alone spell half of these names and places. hahaha. Went to school in the afternoon to use the light tables. My roommate met me there and we headed off to Via del Corso so I could hopefully find a swimsuit. A classmate told us that there were still swimsuits at a lingerie store, so we went there first. And I just looked at the ceiling the whole time. Oh what pretty lights you have. Oh, how many ceiling tiles can I count? They only had two piece swimsuits...which I choose not to wear for religious purposes. But, I thought I would look and just wear a tank top over it. Oh my goshhhh...they brought out a "Brazilian" bikini. There was NOTHING there. WHAT??????? Excuse me, I thought you were bringing out a swimsuit. Where is it? So I ask for a different one. They bring out another that has a little bit more fabric, but still. I look at it and laugh. There's no way in heck I'm going to wear one of those. No freakin' way. The lady was nice and suggested we go to the Adidas store. I love Adidas. LOVE IT!!!! So being in a huge store filled with sports clothing...I was in heaven! And whatd'ya know? They had ONE PIECE swimsuits!!!!!!!!! So I ended up getting that and some shorts...a pretty penny, but this the first swimsuit in a loooong time that is completely modest.

GIORNO 39: BEACH!!!!! Yep, that's right. BEACH!!!!!! We woke up to a very chilly morning. Everyone was in their heavy coats, and who is in their swimsuits? The Americans. ahhahaha. My roommate and I met up with Shannon, Maya and Nora (she's from Germany). When we got to the beach, it started to warm up a little, but not a lot. Because of this, there were about 20 people on the beach. And I think I saw maybe one or two other people swimming...but not for very long. However, I am at the Mediterranean Sea...am I going to let the cold water stop me from swimming in it? No waaaaaay. So, very slowly, I get in. Can't breathe. But overtime, my body adjusted. It was actually warmer than outside. I stayed in for a little while just chillin'. While at the beach, we collected a bunch of seashells, played frisbee, and layed in the sun (yes, I had my jacket on).

Ostia Beach

Soooo pretty!!!

Mediterranean Sea...wooo!!!!

Footprints

GIORNO 40: I give up with the buses here. argh. So, here I am on the bus going to church. I'm about at my stop, so I press the button, but it doesn't work. Okay, I'll go stand by the door and hopefully the driver will stop. Noooope. Hi stop. Bye stop. I find another button that works and get off at the next stop which is quite a walk from church. Oh welllll. I figure I can eat whatever I want here because with these buses, I end up walking enough to burn it all off. Church was great. We ended up combining with the other ward for a "special" announcement. I met another American who had been there for two months. As to how I met her until today, haven't a clue. And she's leaving on Thursday for India. haha. She knows a lot of my friends from Philly which is craaaazy. The "special" announcement was given in Sacrament Meeting. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Rome temple will be on October 23 and President Monson will be coming!!!! I couldn't believe it! My heart was completely full. My spirit was having a party inside. My joy was indescribable! And, to see the joy on other people's faces was amazing. That, my friends, is true happiness. This is the first temple in Italy, so they've been waiting a long time for this day. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the ceremony...it's reserved for stake presidents, bishoprics, and their families. Something about the city not cooperating with help with traffic or something like that...remember, folks, it was in Italian. hahaha. But, they will broadcast the ceremony on the 24th for everyone to see. I can't believe I'm going to be here when it happens!!! :D :D :D :D