Month: April 2015

The dawning of a new adventure 


As I start out on this new adventure to Italy and beyond for the summer, I can’t help thinking it is going to be a good one.  But really, I’ve already had more than my fair share of adventures, from my perch in a swinging TSA bassinet on my first flight from my birthplace in Togo, West Africa, to my multiple cross-country drives, and starting life anew in my thirties to pursue a graduate degree in Bologna, Italy.  If I never had another adventure, I really couldn’t complain, and I’d still be fiercely grateful for all of it.


After nearly a year of adjustment to being back home in San Diego, California, and getting used to not being a perpetual traveler, I am now off from my university job for the semester, and therefore back to my old traveling ways.  At the moment I am lounging in an armchair at JFK, on my way to a wedding near Lecce in Puglia, Italy, which forms the heel of the boot of Italy.  I have been to Puglia one time previously, and the abundance of sun, vegetables, and unique architecture made it a favorite of mine immediately.

puglia


Combine a beautiful place like Puglia with a traditional Italian wedding of two of your best friends, with some of your other best friends in attendance, and you’ve got an epic event on your hands.  Ironically, these two love birds met for the first time at my apartment in Bologna.  Several years ago, an American friend of mine convinced me to throw a “day after Valentine’s Day party” for singles to meet.  That particular friend is still single, but two of my other friends – an American and an Italian – met at that party, and the rest was history, as they say.

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A few of our group that will be at the wedding, including the groom!!


Some of my favorite travelers, also part of the same friend group, are currently en route to the wedding as I write this.  I will meet one of them in a few hours at the Emirates check-in desk at JFK, after my godmother takes me to a Peruvian dinner in Queens to fill the time of my long layover.  Another flight and a bus and a train later, we will all be in Puglia together.  And that will kick off this summer with a bang.


I only hope that you all will experience time with loved ones and/or some wonderful adventures this summer as well.  And if you don’t have anything planned yet, well, get to it!
Stay tuned!

Illustrious Instants: Celebrating spring in Bologna’s beautiful colli (hills)

It was almost exactly one year ago today that this moment was captured, on one of those blissful Sunday afternoons with friends and nothing else on your mind to distract you and keep you from enjoying every second of now. I had nothing on the agenda other than relaxing, eating, and catching up with/getting to know the gals.

Fienile Fluo restaurant Bologna
One of the many gorgeous views from Fienile Fluo

It is one of those memories that is still as vibrant as the colors in these photos, and will not soon fade. The restaurant, Fienile Fluo, is in the perfect location, but unfortunately the food isn’t perfect, and the service is even worse.  It is the place to go for a day like this: when you have a lot of time, you have great company so you don’t demand a lot of attention, and you aren’t so concerned with the quality of your meal.  In the perfect storm when most of these conditions are met, you can’t ask for a better place to be.

Fienile Fluo ravioli Bologna
My friend Ana proudly displaying her lunch

Meat and cheese plates are great choices at places like this where food quality is inconsistent.

Fienile Fluo restaurant Bologna
More lunch goodness

I broke away from lunch for a  bit to take a few pictures.  There was lots of action to capture…like the family dog…

Fienile Fluo restaurant dog bologna
The family dog at Fienile Fluo was also enjoying the weather

A tractor…;)

Fienile Fluo Bologna restaurant
Everyone is getting ready for spring.

I couldn’t take a bad shot. Bologna, while unfortunately stuck in a valley that traps bad weather, also reaps the advantages of being surrounded by these gorgeous hills (called “colli” in Italian).  After a long winter of bearing the brunt of the cold, emerging into the hills was the perfect way to celebrate the spring. A life full of afternoons like these is certainly a happy life…I wish for more of them for you and me. 🙂

Fienile Fluo restaurant Bologna
Here’s our group…we all hail from different cities (and some of us even different countries!), but we got along great. 🙂

Insightful Co.Exist article about why we should invest in experiences.

A few weeks ago I came back to this blog after nearly a year away, wrestling with my recent transition back to living in the United States from Italy, and the milestones that I’ve traded in for my experiences.  It is a topic that I ponder often, and I appreciate any outside sources of wisdom I can find on the topic.  Here’s an article that addresses this very issue.  Since you all are lovers of traveling and experiences, I thought you would also find it interesting.

The Science Of Why You Should Spend Your Money On Experiences, Not Things.

You don’t have infinite money. Spend it on stuff that research says makes you happy.  By Jay Cassano