Ok, so you guys read about my month in Baschi WWOOFing, then I spent about 5 days in Rome mostly catching up with friends, getting some work done with both writing and grad school apps, and generally being lazy. I did go see Ted, which is probably less funny dubbed in Italian but I definitely was the only one laughing at some of the very quintessential American joke and references. Also saw a sweet Italian film called Il Rosso e Il Blu, about high school teachers in Rome. I also ate a LOT of pizza and some gelato and started working again on my morning yoga practice thanks to an inspiring Orviet session with my friend/yoga instructor, Emily.

Currently, I”m in Gaiole in Chianti, Italy. Rather, we’re about 7.5 km outside of it, but the event I’m checking out is L’Eroica, a vintage bike ride that has varying degrees of duration, from 30 km to 205 km. Yes, people are crazy, and crazy fit. I, however, am not, and am instead here to admire the physical prowess of these insane individuals who ride steel-framed bikes up and down Tuscan hills, as well as translate things for my friend, who’s writing a piece, and perhaps pick up a few things for some of my own writing, as well.

The plan, most of which consists of hanging out with dearly missed friends/sleeping on their couches:

 Hang out in Gaiole for a few days.

Go to Siena for a few days. Meet up with some dear American friends of mine who are moving to Siena for the year. I have been looking forward to this for literally months.

Maybe hit up Florence on the way to a night in Bologna.

Head to Mulhouse in Alsace, France around October 15th or 16th for more friends

Hop on a flight headed on Amsterdam on the 21st for even MORE friends (CdF nel cuore!) and hopefully to see more of the Dutch countryside

Fly to Dublin (!!!!) for my first foray into Ireland. Am particularly excited about this because a lot of my blood is Irish and I have always loved spontaneous jam sessions, singing in harmony, dancing, eating potatoes, and the like. I fully intend on heading to County Sligo at some point to find someone distantly related to me. Halloween, basically my favorite holiday, is going to be amazing. I am totally hitting up some ghost tours while in Ireland, as well as asking old and wizened barkeeps for their ghost stories. Stay tuned for those. I’ll be doing work exchange in a hostel in Kilkenny, doing hostel-y things in exchange for board.

During this time I”ll also be finishing many of my applications to graduate school, which are stupid and annoying and expensive and the bane of my existence because I really want to get in somewhere but oh, what a hassle it is. Just take me, people!

Of course, I”ll still be doing my weekly interviews on Go! Girl Guides and working on pieces to submit for other sites. Yay for writing, and traveling, and writing about traveling!