From the category archives:

Italy

March 8, 2010

In Which We Meet My Alter-Ego, Vanessa Simone

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In a desperate attempt to not feel like a complete loser by drinking alone at a bar in Rome, I decided to employ a fantastically awesome story about how I was Vanessa Simone, an American author writing a book about love, sex and dating around the world and yes, sweetie, it is so nice to meet you, too. And, yes, I did come up with that book idea to, ahem, hopefully grab someone to conduct my experiments with for, you know, research. RESEARCH.

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November 6, 2009

Venice As The Epitome of Human Emotion

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Venice carefully deconstructs what it means to be human. The city itself demonstrates the beautiful parallels of human emotion: happiness and sadness; decay and liveliness; love and hate. What once was an elegant paradise for Europeans has literally started to rot in its own gorgeousness and, although the sadness is pervasive, there is something so… alive… about it, still.

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October 20, 2009

Stop Apologizing for Being Happy

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Most days, I want to scream at the top of my lungs, “I’M SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR GOING ALL THE WAY TO ITALY ON MY OWN AND I’M SO HAPPY IT’S RIDICULOUS. YAY ME!” Besides that being totally obnoxious, what with the CAPS lock and all, I keep feeling like I need to be quiet about my happiness and my success. And, even, sometimes, I feel like I need to apologize for it. Maybe even feel guilty, because, you ...

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October 13, 2009

Yes, I Walked an Hour to Find a McDonald’s. Don’t Judge Me.

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I swear to god if any of you judge me for this, I’m going to stick you in a room for a month straight and feed you only spaghetti and pizza and then YOU can tell me how much you DO NOT want a Big Mac and french fries. Mmmk, pumpkins? Now that we have THAT out of the way, let’s proceed… This morning, I woke up wanting one thing: anything other than Italian food. And, truly, the only place ...

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October 12, 2009

You All Only Want the Juicy Details About Rome, Huh?

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Last Thursday, I went on a blind date with someone who asked me out via a travel social network I’m a part of. I probably shouldn’t be blogging about this, but he did mention that he had read my blog and wanted to be a part of my “life in translation” (his words, not mine). And, at dinner, him and his friend asked if I would blog about the dinner, so I guess I have free reign.

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