Verona the Quaint Home of Romeo & Juliet

I can’t believe how quickly our vacation is flying by! Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Verona and checked into our hotel the Maxim. The hotel itself is very nice but we are far away from any of the main tourist attractions which has its pros and cons. Fortunately, we didn’t really have any problems finding and checking into our hotel. The hotel clerk, who was very friendly, referred us to a local market for packable snacks for the opera that evening and suggested a local pizzeria up the road for lunch. So we first headed to the restaurant for a late lunch where we had very good pizza and wine and then headed back to the hotel for a nap! Neither Lucas nor I had slept very well the night before and were in desperate need of some extra sleep especially since we knew we would be staying up late for the opera (which was a good thing to since it didn’t end until 12:45!)
So we took an extended nap and then woke up ready to explore Verona some before the opera began at 9. First we headed to the market where we bought crackers and cheese and grapes and then caught the bus to piazza bra where the arena is. We then found a café for Lucas to pick up some dinner at (I was still full from lunch) and sat to people watch until time to go in. At 8 when the doors opened we anxiously went in to see the arena and find our seats. Our seats were up and to the right of the stage, actually quite close which was a nice surprise since we booked them online it Italian and weren’t sure exactly where we would end up. We were there to see the opera Carmen, a famous French comedy about a beautiful gypsy who woes a soldier into falling in love with her and then leaves him for a bullfighter; his jealousy eventually leads him to murder Carmen. The performance was beautiful with amazing acoustics and truly an experience of a lifetime.
The next day we got up at 9 for breakfast and ready to hit the town… well, I was anyways, Lucas, needing more sleep than any mere mortal was still exhausted so he headed back to bed and I headed into town. While Lucas slept I visited Piazza Erbe, the church of Sant’Anastasia, Piazza dei Signoro, and Juliet’s house. I then met up with Lucas at the fountain in Piazza Bra and we had lunch on the way to Castelvecchio, a totally incredible castle that we spent hours exploring and snapping photos of. Afterwards we visited the Basilica di San Zeno and then called an evening. We headed back to the hotel to call it an early night before getting up early to head to Florence.

Venice; The Romantic Sinking City

Well, we arrived safely in Venice after a long 13 hour trip. Luckily, since we are from Alaska, this length of trip was kind of standard for us, in fact, it’s kind of ridiculous that we can fly halfway across the world to a foreign county in the same amount of time that it takes us to get home. Regardless, I have not logged in to talk about flying to Alaska, but to share about our trip thus far to Italy! So let me get to it... We are currently on the train on our way to Verona after spending 2 glorious days in Venice. We arrived early Sunday morning and after a little bit of time and a lot of Euros we were on our way across the water to Venice; the airport is actually located on the mainland so we had to bus to the main station and then take a vapporetti (think water bus) to our area of the floating city. We stayed at the Pelligrio and Commercio a quaint hotel located in a tiny alley right near San Marco Square. Our room was super tiny, slightly larger than those you would find on a cruise ship, but who comes to Venice to spend it in a hotel room anyways? Fortunately the continental breakfast was good and the beds were fairly comfortable so our stay there was pleasant. In addition, the location was ideal for first time visitors to Venice as it allowed us the luxury of popping in and out whenever we needed to use the restroom or change sandals. After arriving in Venice we opted to take a nap in order to actually enjoy our evening and not just be zombies for the entire day. So after a refreshing nap we hit the town.
Okay, on to the exciting stuff. Our first afternoon we spent wandering the streets and becoming familiar with the layout of the city and the surrounding cites. We purchased a San Marco Square pass which allowed us entry to the Doge Palace and the Correr museum. We spent an hour or two exploring the Correr museum which held various statues, paintings, artifacts and relics. We explored San Marco Square taking in the sights (and Lucas chasing the pigeons) and then meandered to the famous Rialto Bridge where we did some window shopping and admired the beautiful Murano glass and carnival masks. We then finished off the evening with a glass of wine at a local shop and tucked ourselves into bed.
Day two began with a look at the Doge Palace and then St. Mark’s Basilica. I cannot begin to tell you how amazing it is to stand in a church that was built centuries ago and by hundreds of craftsmen. Both cites were breathtaking and a work of art without all the beautiful statues, woodwork, mosaics, and paintings that were found in both. Afterwards, we stopped off at our hotel to change footwear and were off to do a self-guided walking tour of some of the churches of Venice. We stopped at approximately 8 churches; can you believe we still managed to miss more than 30! Unfortunately there was just not enough time in the day and our feet began to complain. So we headed back for dinner stopping at a nearby market to pick up a bottle of wine for the evening. We grabbed some pizza from a local vendor and sat canal side enjoying our pizza and wine. To finish the day off we headed to the Café Florian, which is the most famous Venetian café and one of the first places in Europe to serve coffee. It has been visited by Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, Casanova, and now of course, by us. J We each enjoyed a ridiculously expensive espresso, incredible tiramisu, and live music in the square. The perfect ending to a perfect day.

Clinicals, Italy, and so much more!

Where do I start? So for the past 7 weeks I have been in Richlands, VA fulfilling my acute care rotation at a hospital called Clinch Valley Medical Center. It has been a really long 7 weeks as I have been working 6 days a week to get done a week early. This has of course been great because now.... we are going to ITALY!!! The last day of my clinical is tomorrow and we leave on Saturday to go to Italy for 2 weeks! We will be hitting up Rome, Florence, Verona, and Venice. We are super excited. I can't wait to stand beneath the Sistine chapel, see the colloseum, Michaelangeo's David, the leaning tower of Pisa, Juliet's balcony, and so much more! This is going to truly be an experience of a lifetime! I promise to do my best to post pictures and keep anyone who actually reads this thing updated!
In other exciting news, since I last posted, my sister is pregnant (about 5 months now), my niece was born 7 weeks early, and my sister in law Rachel is engaged! So my sister surprised us all by announcing her pregnancy on our trip to Alaska for my brother's graduation. They still don't know what they are having yet, but we are stoked whether it is a boy or a girl! My first niece Gabriella Christine Dargis was born 7 weeks early in a scary situation; my sister in law Carmen woke up covered in blood with a detached placenta. The good news is that after an emergency C-section both Carmen and Gabby are doing great. She is growing daily and has finally been allowed to go home... she only weighs 4 lbs! And just a week ago Rachel and Jordan got engaged and are looking at getting married in February or March.. they are still in the planning stages but are super excited to get married and start their life together.
Lucas and I are doing great... it has been really hard to be apart for these last 7 weeks, especially knowing that we will be apart for another 2 months for my next clinical as well. Fortunately, God saw fit to give us a wonderful 2 week vacation in Italy together; hopefully it will be wonderful and just what we need! Well that's all for now... I will try to do better with posting ;)

The craziness that is my life!

I can't believe that it is already the middle of May! Where does the time go?
I'm gearing up for round 2 of testing which signifies that I am approximately halfway through this module! Crazy! The last several weeks have flown by... we moved into our new house, which we LOVE (pictures coming soon!), I had a presentation to give on muscular dystrophy, I have a test I am taking early this Friday, the relay for life event is this Friday, I am flying home for my brother's graduation on Saturday, will be there through Wednesday and then I will be flying home to drive straight to class to take another test! And then I have a 10 page paper I need to write! Whew... I'm tired already! I think I will actually be glad to come home to "just" write a 10 page paper! Anywhoo... I will leave you with a picture of Chloe who we had groomed and flea dipped before we moved her over to the new house... she looks mad but she really has been so much happier... I think she likes feeling like a lioness!

Birthday Festivities, Moving, & More School

So I realize that I am really bad at this blogging thing, but you guys have to bear with me. It's just that I always have something else that I should be doing. Even now when I should be making notecards, I am posting to you guys... so feel special!
So I celebrated my 26th birthday at the beginning of this month.... Lucas and I and another couple (the Morgans) drove down to Charlotte and went clubbing to the mixings of DJ Marcus Shultz. We partied until 3am and then drove 1 1/2 back! Crazy... I'm getting much too old to be doing stuff like that! Then on Friday a bunch of us went out to dinner to celebrate. I received lots of warm wishes and some very generous gifts... thanks to all of you! (Thank you cards are also on my to-do list)

Some of you may also be aware that we are moving on May 1st. We are moving a little closer to Greensboro to a town called McLeansville so that Lucas has less of a commute. We are also looking forward to putting a little distance between us and the undergrads as they are a little too noisy for our liking. This of course also means that I will be commuting a little, McLeansville is about halfway between Elon and Greensboro, which means that we need a reliable car. So we have also been looking at cars and trying to figure out what we want. So far we haven't decided on anything for sure.

As always, I am up to my ears in school work. Last week we had our first tests of the module and this week I had my first practical; I did pretty well overall. This upcoming Wednesday I will get the opportunity to shadow a pediatric home health physical therapist. I am really looking forward to the chance to learn more about home health and how it differs from traditional physical therapy. Next Monday I have another practical, and then next weekend we'll be moving and I have a presentation to give on the 5th! Yikes! SO... if you think of me, say a prayer! I think the next couple of weeks are going to be crazy!!! Miss you!

Hockey, hockey, and more hockey!

Let me think, How can I sum up the last week? One word: Hockey. Last Tuesday I got to go watch one of Lucas' hockey games, which was a treat for me because they are usually too late so I don't get to go see them. Then on Wednesday we went with my sister and her husband and saw the Hurricanes play the NJ Devils. And then on Sat. we went with Lucas' hockey team to watch the Hurricanes play the Capitals... we were rooting for the Capitals and unfortunately they lost. :( We did get to watch some hilarious Mascot hockey of all the mascots fighting each other... the blue guy on the left who is bent over spent the whole time on the ground... so funny!
On Friday night Lucas and some of his coworkers went to support one of their friends in an acapella competition. Their group was called Central Station and so Lucas and his friends made a train! Hopefully this link will work for you guys:

I suck at this :)

Okay, so I am definitely not a very good blogger. I guess I probably should have known this since I'm not a very good journal writer or anything like that either. It's not that I don't have thoughts, or really even the time (most of the time) to sit down and write... I just always seem to find things that seem more important. Oh well, so here I am trying to be a better "blogger". I have finished my first clinical, which was an amazing experience... sadly though, that means I am back in class (boo) Don't get me wrong, I like the profession I have chosen and find most of what I am learning very interesting, I just hate sitting in class all day. Plus it's very hard to stay focused and really absorb all that information for 8 hours. We are currently learning about the brain though, so that is really interesting. I have discovered that I am what I call an "unwilling learner"... meaning I never want to go to class or be in class, but once I am there I am fascinated at all the cool stuff I get to learn.
For the week off in between my clinical and resuming class, Lucas and I went to Vegas for our 2 year anniversary and Lucas' birthday. We had a lot of fun seeing the sights and all the shows. We were able to see Phantom of the Opera, KA (A Cirque Du Soleil show), and Lance Burton (famous magician) They were all very cool. We were also able to meet up with Lucas' aunt and uncle and spend some time with them, which was also really fun. We did a lot of walking though and in the end, almost needed a vacation from our vacation!
In other interesting news, I have joined the Relay for Life Elon DPT team! I decided that it had been much too long since I had signed up to do any kind of fund raising/volunteer work and that it was time for me to give back a little more. I don't really have any moving story about why I joined and how someone I know died or recovered from cancer, I just know that I have more to give, both of my time and money, and so I am trying to answer that calling. If you would like To donate online now, click here to visit my personal page.... no pressure though :)
Tonight my sister and her husband came over and we had dinner and played Catan (a really cool board game)... it was great to see them both and we all had a really good time. I love that my sister is closer now... so sad that she will be far away much sooner than later :( I think that's all I've got for now... !