America?

If anyone is still reading this, I'm home!


We went to visit Cinque Terre and this is the only picture I took... And you can't even really tell what it is. If anyone is interested in what it looks like you should definitely talk to people who are good with a camera.



This is how my grandmother felt about Italy. She means business, especially when sporting those jeans.



This was my going away party with Katelynn and Catmo and the band in Erbe. It was really sweet for the city to celebrate our departure and Theresa's birthday! OK, maybe they didn't. It was a beautiful night.


Here is Matteo rockin' his new Braves hat. He's preparing for his trip to Atlanta in the future.


My families! The Mercanti clan as well as my family from the States.


Now a solo shot with the Mercanti family.


This is my student Veronica, her boyfriend David, and the beautiful gifts they bought us. Also, this picture is blog approved.


These are my favorites! Included in the picture is their brand new Atlanta snow globe. It's a beautiful thing.


This was right before my last spritz in Verona. It's amazing that people were embarrassed to be seen with me...


My last spritz!

And now I'm here! So I guess, sadly, this is the end of this blog, I hope you all enjoyed it! I'm back in the States, so drop on by and hang out with me!

Team Verona

Team Verona has arrived and life is beautiful. Katelynn and Catmo have jetted off to Rome and Granny, my mom and I are holding it down in fair Verona. Tomorrow we are going to meet up in Cinque Terre.


So I've said a lot of goodbyes recently, mostly to my meat packing company students. This is my student Enrico's artwork in his office. He gave me a smaller piece as a present to take home with me. He definitely has an artist's mind, he is so talented.


This is THE Veronesi class, complete with Laura. Mario was absent, but hopefully we will pizziamo so I can get a picture with him. This was the class that I taught a little bit of ebonics. They loved it.


For those of you blessed enough to have been to Salvatore's you'll recognize these people. We had to get a family photo, Ivan included. I think they are really going to miss our business.


This is Catmo and Granny walking to our apartment. What's the most beautiful about this picture is that they are in Verona. I'm pretty pumped to have them here, it's making leaving a little easier.


We went to Mantova. This is a shot from the cafe where we sat for coffee.


This is how Fran felt about Mantova.


This is how much Fran loves cats, especially in Mantova.


Here's the new Tezenis ad for my father.


Mantova!


This was how we felt about Piazza Te. Disappointed.

OK, off to prepare for Cinque Terre and enjoy the beautiful weather. Can't wait to see you all!

_____issimo!

My family comes in just a few days! Oh, and remember that goal I set so many months ago to run 150 miles? Well after my whole calf injury thing I didn't think I'd make it, but as of today I've made it 144.75 miles! I'm going to make it!


Still life is boring. This is from Elena's birthday dinner. This is Leo, Alice, and the small one is Andrea, our neighbor. He did what they call his "sexy dance" for us.


I found the church of scientology. Phew.


We went to a bar that has board games. We played Cluedo. This is Theresa and I before Cluedo.


This is Fran and Theresa during Cluedo. Intense.


This is me, Alice and Andrea.


This is how I feel about life. It's fun.

I come home June 10th!!! Are you ready for me??

Wanna Rock & Roll All Night...

So I never thought I'd keep up with this. Pretty amazing that I have though! Again, this is going to be a lame post because not much is happening in my life.


So it's been a bit crazy here in Verona. On May 1st a kid was asked for a cigarette by 5 other kids. He said he didn't have one and then they beat him to death. This is a picture of the start of the memorial built up for Nicola. Yesterday there was a manifestation in the city against this violence, and it was really violent. Verona is a pretty tense place right now.


This is a bananito.


KISS came to perform and it was a beautiful time. They played in the Arena and the KISS fans were amazing. Here is a picture of some of them.


This is my imitation of Fran with Fran's imitation of Jordan.


This is Fran and Jordan in the 'hood.

I come home in 3 weeks! Are you ready for me?

Picnic-ing on Garda, oh la vita.

I have pink leggings!


Verona has been beautiful. Example above.


Wow, what a busy time. We met a couple of Nigerians, both named Kinglsey and within 24 hours of knowing each other they proposed to both Fran and I. We got married. Awkward? OK, maybe we didn't. But here they are, Kinglsey One and Kingsley Due.


We met them after a protest in the city center. Here is a picture of the protest. It was against racism. There were police everywhere and it was scary.


After we went for Indian food with Ettore and Franco, this is how Fran and I feel about it. Obviously excited. It was goooooooood.


This is our favorite street artist. He has recently gone a bit more couture. Classy.


This was Fran and I having another dance party. This is more of a breakdown. It is beautiful.


There was some sort of festival on our street that resembled a Renaissance festival. It was beautiful.


We went to Padova when Melissa came to visit and we went to the church of San Antonio. In this church is his tongue. I tried to take a picture of it (not legal) but was not able. I'm sorry to disappoint. This is the only thing I was able to capture. Trust me though, the tongue was pretty gross.


We went to Hollywood to see a band called L'or (Like Outside Rain) play. It was very classy.


This is me and my student Veronica at Hollywood. She is my favorite and always does entirely too much homework. She is awesome.


This was Fran before our picnic standing in front of "breakss". There's no typo, it's honestly breakss.


This was our picnic on Garda with Melissa and Franco. It was hot.


This was me on the picnic. We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and wine. It was beautiful.


This was Fran before Mexican food on Saturday night. She bought some beautiful suspenders in Padova many weeks ago.


This is us at Mexican food with Melena. It was gooooooood.


This is Flavio, Roberto, Franco and Melissa at Mexican food. Roberto is the dog.


This is how Fran feels about Roberto the dog. I think he would get along well with Marcello and Paolo.

Happy belated Cinco de Mayo! I will be home soon! Miss you all!

Vitamin C O.D.!

Comic Life returned!!! Matteo loved it and made a beautiful comic.


This is how Francesco, Matteo and Alberto feel about Comic Life and Macintosh. It's love.


Here's another bimbo for my father.


Fran's Grandmother, Aunt, and Cousin came to visit. I enjoyed them thoroughly.


We went for drinks with one of my favorite students, Veronica and our friend Anna. It was a beautiful night. And really that's all there is to say... Awkward.


We rode our bikes to Veronesi (the meat company). Trust me, this is worth writing about because it is very far. Here is Fran, and in the background is a beautiful day.


Here is me. This is my bus stop that I sit at 10 times a week. It is like my best friend.


There were random fireworks last night in Piazza Bra. We went crazy. Here is Fran going crazy with a surprising lack of fireworks in the background. Darn flashes...


There was a motorcycle meeting in Piazza Bra today and I took a picture for my father. I think there might be a Harley in there somewhere...

OK, that's all for now! More updates later! I miss you all and will be home soon!

Kayaking is a boring sport to watch....

Nothing really amazing has happened in the last few weeks, but this picture describes our feelings recently. We did discover some vegan pastry-esque things! And I am still comic life and iLife-less for the moment... Hopefully it will change soon.


With spring comes a great deal of energy and happiness. Fran and I use this energy to have dance parties. This is an example of a dance party. We really love spring.


This is Fran during a dance party.


This is a gold shirt. It is 265 Euros. Fran obviously wants it very much.


Fran had a small rat tail for a few minutes. I am still confused as to why she made me cut it off. It's so European.


Here's another bimbo for my father.


This is a painting in an office building. This painting is of our apartment. Life is hard.


Nothing really interesting has happened recently! We have lilacs on our balcony. That is interesting. Here is a picture that doesn't do them justice. I hopefully will have more interesting things to talk about next time. Miss you all!