Back in the Good Ol' U.S. of A!

Hello Readers!

After my trek across the globe, I've now returned to the States and am working to get into the swing of things as I finish up my undergraduate degree and prepare to move to Cleveland in just two short weeks--YIKES!

Since I've been away for quite a while I thought I would share a few posts with pictures and "what I've learned" comments from my time away. To catch you all up in case you missed past posts, I spent about a month overseas in Duino, Italy, a relatively small port town on the coast of the Adriatic.  In Duino I attend the International Festival of the Adriatic, a chamber music festival hosted at the United World College of the Adriatic. From the window of my dorm room at the UWC, I could see the coasts of both Slovenia and Croatia--amazing! It was such an exciting and eye-opening experience so please indulge me as I'm sure I proceed to overshare photos and information. 

Here are some photos from my first couple days in Duino!

Due to jet lag I woke up at 4:30 the first morning in Duino. Luckily, it gave me time to take a little hike around the coast and see this stunning view!

My morning espresso (most of the time, cappuccino, actually) that
I got at a local bar/cafe called Mickey Mouse. :)

The view of Il Castello di Duino from the back patio at the UWC. The dormitory of the UWC was originally the servants quarters of the castle, so we're pretty much neighbors with the princess who lives there!

View from my dormitory window. For some reason the colors really remind me of Van Gogh. 

These views though! I felt like I was taking a picture every time I looked out the window (in actuality I probably was!) but how can you resist when every day you're presented with a view that's as new and exciting as this!

The pictures below are of the nearby city, Trieste. It's about a 30 minute bus ride away and is the closest "hub". It's a lovely city to be in as there are no cars within the city limits (the streets are too small) and so it doesn't feel stressful to navigate and/or wander around. 

The port! 

We got to watch the sun as it set over the port. So beautiful. The buildings in this Square, called La Piazza dell'Unita d'Italia, had that gold-flecked paint (what do you call that???) and so as the sun set it reflected brilliantly on the buildings. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible photographer so I wasn't able to capture its beauty in a photo well. 

One of my Butler gals, me, and my roomate at the UWC at the statue in the middle of the Piazza. 

Here's a wonky photo of the statue with a bonus feature of someone's head. Wait, I think that's mine!

Hope you enjoyed the photos! More to come soon!