So I arrived in Italy yesterday in the afternoon, it was rainy and I was moody from the twelve hour flight (two planes)/ lack of sleep, but I'm happy that i'm here now. Also, thankfully, My Zia (aunt) has wifi! So I won't feel trapped in a wifi-less existence! I can also text! But calling might still be a bit expensive, so that's just for emergencies.

    I'd love some email pen-pals too if anyone feels up to it. My email is criromagnolo@gmail.com or cromag2@uic.edu

     I'm not in the mood to write about anything more today, but i'll probably post some new food blogs  later this week! Love you all!

     And Thanks for the first email Jacque!  You're the best!

P.S. I had a two hour layover in Frankfurt Germany yesterday, and I gotta tell you, some Germans are total a-holes... I'll write more about that eventually.  Later.

So I'm three days away from my Summer adventure to Italy and I'm stressing out. Vacations should be relaxing right? Wrong.

Packing alone is so stressful, especially when you're trying to think about what you'll need over the course of almost four months. May 10th-August 21st I'll be away, and so if you're a friend of mine, I may not be able to use my phone, but hopefully I can get a SIM card for international usage and then I'll be free to text and call and browse to my heart's content. But who am I kidding, no one really texts me, I'm acting like I have a million friends, haha yeah right...

So packing sucks. Mostly because I'm spending a lot of money I'd rather be blowing in Europe. Thank Dante (Alighieri) for school refunds. I should be paying off school loans, but I figure since my soul is bound for ten years after graduation, I might as well live it up while I still can. Hence the trip to Italy, not only to see my huge extended family, but also to get away from my life in Chicago. I need a break and a chance to soak in my roots. I'm going to take this time I have and improve my currently choppy Italian, as well as work on my writing. I want to work on a food memoir and a few short stories. I'm even thinking of starting a fantasy series, and maybe I'll write a mystery novel like a friend suggested. The options are limitless.

But packing... Ugh. Four months worth of razors, check. Now what else do I need?

I saw a man on the train about two weeks ago with this tattoo on his arm. I couldn't stop staring because it was so detailed and amazing. I didn't expect to even find a photo, but after a minute of googling "Medieval battlefield tattoos," I found the exact tattoo. It must be a famous battle during the crusades, you can tell by the armor that some of the men are Knight Templars.

There isn't really a point to this post, but tattoos are cool and so are Knights. I read recently that getting tattoos can actually make you healthier because every time you get a tattoo you're putting your body through a form of trauma and each time you'll get stronger as your body adapts. I wonder if that's true, and if so I wonder if my one tattoo has made my body a little bit stronger.

Above is a picture of it still fresh. I love deer and i got it in memory of my sisters. I thinks it's great, but people keep asking stupid questions like "why don't they have antler," or "are those dogs?" Sigh...

This is how it looks now. My arm hair is still growing back. Yes, still. I'm Italian, what else can I say?

Finals week means attempting to study for your final with friends, deciding that it's time to get food after only 30 mins of studying, and then coming back to study but then ending up showing each other memes for an hour, laughing hysterically, and then agreeing that studying an hour before the exam might be our best bet.

Finals week means deciding to get some sleep and waking up at 4:00 am to finish a bunch of critiques that you should have been doing during the semester and not saving till the end. It means writing up an evaluation of yourself and using ALL CAPS to seem witty and sarcastic. It's means editing your final fiction piece and ending it in such a weird place that you cringe while think about it, but you already turned in your portfolio with two minutes to spare.

Finals week means waking up early to get breakfast with friends and saying goodbye for the summer, especially if you're planning to travel. It means being annoyed that you have to wake up early, but also happy that you actually have friends that want to see you.

This is college. This is Finals week. May the curve be ever in your favor.

Please enjoy this selection of Finals related memes:

        *Spoiler Alert!!!*  The bastard of Winterfell is alive!  (though I believe in R+L=J but shhh)  Melisandre is my new favorite person, thank that red witch for reviving Jon! I'm so happy I can't even handle  all of these emotions. And in episode 2! I can't believe they brought him back so early in the season, but i'm not complaining!!! JON SNOW IS ALIVE! My heart could explode right now I'm so happy! And I never use this many exclamation points either because I think they're gaudy, but I can't resist tonight!!!!!

         JON SNOW IS ALIVE!                                                                     JON SNOW IS ALIVE!                                                                        JON SNOW IS ALIVE!

        JON SNOW IS ALIVE!                                                                     JON SNOW IS ALIVE!                                                                           JON SNOW IS ALIVE!

       JON SNOW IS ALIVE!                                                                      JON SNOW IS ALIVE!                                                                         JON SNOW IS ALIVE!

JON SNOW LIVES!