Love Is All It Is About, Ain’t It?

When Christmas time is about to come, Christmas songs start to loudly pervade supermarkets, malls, little shops and the radio, sparkly decorations invade streets, public places and private houses, and people crazily run allover the place to buy and buy and buy!!! The capitalistic society we nowadays live in makes us strongly believe that happiness comes with material things and money, but does it? Well, I believe that most people completely lost what Christmas is all about… I have never been a materialist, and lately I have detached even more from material things, and it is all because society is (unsuccessfully) forcing me to think that happy equals possession. As Trump would say (yes, I’m citing Trump): WRONG! 

Sisters' love

What I still believe in is that Christmas is the time where I can get a full recharge of love from the people that have seen me grow up and become who I am now. It is all about SHARING MY TIME with people that have great importance in my life but that distance and my busy schedule don’t let me dedicate enough attention to. It is all about understanding that FAMILY does never let you go even when you happen to see them all together just once a year. It is all about LOVE. While I live in California I miss my family, but Christmas allows me once a year to be with all of them again and the most blessed person in the entire world. 

Family time!!

This year, Christmas has been an amazing day, more than any other Christmas ever, because I have fully appreciated my relatives’ company and it was awesome to talk with them all and share some bit of myself with them. The first moment of the day was exclusively with my family: Mom, Dad, my brother Luca and my sister Silvia. Yes, there were presents to open… But opening gifts wasn’t about getting something and being happy because of that something, but it was rather about staying together and watching each other smiling while listening to some relaxing music.

All together at Aunty Luisa's house!

After our family time, we spent lunch time and early afternoon at my aunt’s house with my whole mother’s family, and at about five we joined my whole father’s family at my other aunt’s house. I have loved to talk with each one of them because everybody had something to offer me, and I was ready to share something with them. I missed them and this particular Christmas day filled my heard with so much love and appreciation that I will be ready to face other 5 months away from home.

Family, Culture and Food, Always Good

Relaxing with the Sis (Photo Credits... Mum)

I really cannot believe I have been home for two weeks already!! Days seemed so short, and I felt like I didn’t have time to wake up that is was already time to go back to bed… How is it possible? Is it that I am sleeping to much or that since I have started to relax time speeded up on purpose? Well, the only thing I know is that I’m loving being back home, spending time with my favorite people, appreciate the Italian culture, and enjoy the awesome food.

Awesome Grandma

Every time I come back home and see my family, it seems like time has never passed and that I never left my Italian life. It is a weird feeling knowing that I was gone for 5 months and at home everyone treats me as I have been there the whole time. Being so welcome makes me understand how wonderful is to have a family that loves me and that will never see me differently even if now I basically live on the other side of the Ocean!! In particular, the thing I love the most of my returns is the awesome “welcome back” from my 96 years old grandma at the airport. Even if she barely walks, she is so stubborn that she insists to wait for me standing in front of the returning flights doors for even an hour!! And as soon as I exit the sliding doors she starts screaming my name so loud and she hugs me along with the other 4 members of my family that everybody else starts to wonder if we are crazy… Maybe we are, but whatever!! 

Duomo 2k16 (Yes, I take one of this every time I go..)

One of the things I miss the most when I am away is the crazy Italian culture. Crazy in every sense! I mean, Italians are famous crazy drivers who have a crazy life style (yes, we stop working at lunch time and reopen shops at 3pm), and Italians have an awesome crazy history with crazy buildings centuries and centuries old and awesome panoramas! How count’t such a country be interesting? And I haven’t even mentioned the food, yet!! Just one word, WOW.. Every time I am back I need to spend lots of time in the car and enjoy the scary driving skills of Italians, and I must see the Duomo of Milan along with other astonishing buildings and panoramas. 

Magni's House Lunch

As French speakers say, the crème de la crème of Italy is the food. Since I got back, I felt like I have been in a culinary heaven either at home or at restaurants. First, one of my favorite habits is having meals ALWAYS all together, especially dinner time is “sacred family reunion over food”. And eating outside it is ALWAYS a feast!! Really good food accompanied by good tasting wine that everybody drinks, even the twins (my sixteen years old brother and sister). Quality over quantity is the 🗝! Oh, and as you can see from the picture, it is almost never just my family and I.. We love to share our time and meals also with other relative, friends and guests!!! … Yes, we are 5 but we always end up being more than 6… That’s my family 😉 

                                                                         Dinner & Cheers

Here was a little insight into my Italian life… I’ll keep you updated! Don’t forget to check for upcoming posts!! 

Goodbyes Are Harder Than Final Exams…

When any semester comes to an end, inevitable tears of sadness pervade my face… Ok, I don’t cry just because finals are hard and my brain cannot retain information anymore, but also because at the end of every semester there are always lots of goodbyes to say, and some that will be definitive… Let’s be positive, maybe not definitive, but for sure goodbyes that will be said to people I won’t see for a long period of time!!! Finals were just a little pain compared to the last day of this semester… And yes, finals went great and by Wednesday I was all finished!!! And tight here, I will just quickly take the chance to thank all the awesome professors that supported me throughout the semester and thought me awesome things!!! 

The saddest and the happiest day of finals week was Friday the 9th: my last day in Santa Barbara for Fall 2016 and the last barbecue at my house with my closest friends. Even if the day before had rained (I know… the only time ever that it has rained in SB), we decided to do the BBQ in the backyard of my house and have everybody over to have a wonderful last time together. Jules helped me out with cleaning and drying tables and chairs, and Michael and Brian helped in burning the coal for the barbecue. Then, Shivani let me borrow her car and I went to Vons and bought plastic forks, knifes, cups and chips for everybody. By 8.00pm everything was set and ready to welcome my favorite people. Throughout the night about 25 people came over, barbecued and enjoyed the music and the great company. The gathering finished at about midnight, and I loved that everybody before leaving thanked me for inviting them and let me know they had a wonderful time.. It was so emotional!! 

The following morning it was time to leave… I packed my bags and I was ready to leave… As I previously stated in my titles… Goodbyes are harder than final exams. Well, Amber gave me a ride to Shivani’s brother’s house in LA where we would have had one last lunch together Amber, Jules, Sebastian, Shivani, her brother, her sister and I, and then straight to the Airport!! I usually don’t cry when leaving my favorite people, but I have the widest mixture of feeling wandering deep deep into my heart. I feel really sad about not seeing some people anymore for a long time, but simultaneously I am so happy that I have had the chance to meet them!! A great thank you to this world for letting me encounter such amazing people during the course of my life.

Ambassadors Family, I’ll miss you.

This Friday wasn’t the same as every other Friday. This Friday was filled with emotions, excitement and LOVE. This Friday was unforgettable. This Friday was one of the most special Fridays! This Friday was the last Friday I could spend time with the AMBASSADORS of Fall 2016! 

Lovely Jules

At 11.30am on Friday the 2nd, 2016, the International Office organized the Ambassadors appreciation lunch. Durning this time, all the Ambassadors got together, received a meal offered by the International office, and Shelby, the creator of the Ambassadors program, announced and delivered the awards for Best Outstanding Ambassador Award, Best New Ambassador Awards and Sparkle Award. We all went to the Mexican restaurant downtown, called Casa Blanca, and I sat next to Jules, an awesome Perigean guy who is also one of my best friends here in Cali, and who is gonna leave me to go to Canada next semester 😭… I will miss him so much, but this is what college is.. Making lots of awesome friends that you know you will be able to count one wherever in the world they are going to be 😍.

Before the lunch Shelby announced the awards and I was amazingly surprised about the one of the winners… Well, I was the one who won BEST OUTSTANDING AMBASSADOR!!! I couldn’t believe it, but apparently I have been able to make a difference in the program during the Fall 2016 semester. I am really glad that my peers recognized how important is the Ambassadors program for me and how much work I have put into it. Thank you very much my lovely people 🙏🏻.

After the lunch we headed back to school for welcoming the new Ambassadors who will join us for the Spring 2017 semester. I was really nice to see new faces and connect with the people who have been selected for being part of this awesome family! Newbies, we’ll make sure you will become a part of our family and that you will integrate in the group as soon as possible!!! As soon as the meeting ended, all the old Ambassadors went to the Maxwell Overlook to take some awesome pictures to keep some memories from this awesome semester. I really hope that next semester will be as great as this one or even better!!! Love you Ambassadors people.

My Phi Theta Kappa YOGA EVENT!!!

Finals are approaching, and stress is spreading allover the place. Everybody needs a break during these overwhelming days, and this Thursday December 1st, 2016, from 4 to 5 the best distressful occasion came up: Free Yoga with Professor Brett Land!!! In Phi Theta Kappa every leader is required to organize an event whether for the community or for the SBCC campus. This event was the one that I myself organized in order to benefit the student community at Santa Barbara City College. 

Awesome, nothing else to add.

The process of organizing an event is not only time consuming, but it also requires a lot of commitment an effort. Before being in charge of organizing this Yoga class for the SBCC students, I attended other people’s event without realizing how many things must be taken care of to have a successful. I’ll briefly go over what I had to do in order to make this Yoga event possible. First, I had to ask to English professor Brett Land if we would be interested in teaching  a yoga class for free, and fortunately he immediately accepted and gave me a preferred day and time for the distress event. Second, I had to proceed and reserve the West Campus lawn, and to do so I had submit a signed paper to some important people that are responsible of managing all the event on the SBCC campus. Third, I had to order some fruit, snacks and water from the cafeteria and luckily the great Marc Sullivan made a wonderful donation for our event, gifting us with two plates of fruit, 5 boxes of healthy protein bars, and two boxes of water. Then, I had to go literally ALLOVER campus in order to get someone to let me borrow some yoga mats for the event. After a day of email exchange with a number of different people and running from office to office, the Physical Education department let me borrow 12 extra mats for the day of the event. After all this organizational part, I had to move onto marketing the event, and I created poster and fliers to spread allover campus along with a Facebook event, a campus wide email and a poster for Pipeline. …Well, lots are the things to consider but it was all totally worth it!!!

On the day of the event, with the help of some of the PTK members, I set up all the necessary for the event and anxiously waited for how it would turn out. Well, the turnout was simply AMAZING!!!!!!!!  40 people showed up and the class was relaxing, recharging and super fun!!! I would have never imagined I would be able to organize such a wonderful event. I am looking forward to create something like this again for next semester!!