San Francisco: Alcatraz, Golden Gate and a "See You Later"

Today has been an awesome day. Despite the fact that it's my last day here in California, Bay Area, I'm very happy. I spent a wonderful day with my wonderful boyfriend, exploring Alcatraz (go visit it, totally worth it! The website that I've put there is definitely the best one for cruises around and on the island/jail) and enjoying San Francisco:)

In the morning, after missing our ship (woops...), we got to the island about an hour later. We visited the jail itself, all the rooms (and I was personally really excited since Alcatraz has been set of MAAAANY films..The Rock, just to mention one. Aww). The atmosphere was very creepy, especially if you think that the scariest personalities have been there. Yeah, also the fluffy unicorn. I mean, the fluffy Al Capone. Hahah). Rooms are sooo freaking small, I'd totally freak out after one hour inside there. Okay that I'm a homy person (kind of), but being so relegate must be incredibly frustrating.  If my freedom was taken away, there would no longer be any reason to live.

We spent the whole morning til about 2 o'clock (I think), then we moved back to the mainland. We immediately headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. The goal was to cross it (despite the polar weather), and so we did.
A roundtrip took us like 40 minutes, it was freezing cool and foggy....but it was sooooo cool!!!! We also earned a great sunset B-)

Afterwards, we headed back to the car (completely frozen), and we headed to a healthy In'n'Out, awww, I'm gonna miss that so freaking bad!!!
Josh also wanted to get some awesome donuts, and I got the one with cream inside. How a great way to end my American exchange ahah ;)

And now I'm here, wondering how to fit all my stuff in the luggage. Seriously, people. A year abroad in the US, with a favorable exchange rate Euro-Dollar. How the hell am I gonna bring back all this stuff?
I guess I'll have to ask Josh to deliver something hehe:)

Well, folk...what to say. Time to sleep.
See you all in Europe!!!:')

C.

Europe Calling..."Already"!

It's been a year...yeah, basically a year. And I feel like I got here not even a week ago.

It's incredible how time goes by when what you live is intense, exciting, new, and unexpected.
So many questions before, and so many incredible answers after. I'm just so grateful and surprised, so many people left a sign on my heart that I won't ever be able to erase.

...The countdown begins.


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Morgan Hill: The Hike to El Toro!

Before even starting, I hate admitting it: It was great.
But let's go in order.

It was Saturday morning and I was in Morgan Hill at Josh's house. He was more active than a 5years-old kid, and with that excitement he forced convinced me to go hike El Toro, the challenge that you have to overcome if you are a native from Morgan Hill (seriously....HIKE ON SATURDAY!? REALLY!?? My view of the weekend sees only swimming pool, cinema, books, a walk in downtown, and MAYBE bowling..which sometimes can be considered kind of too extreme though.)

So we drove to the hill around noon - I think - and we started the titanic hike. After 30 seconds I was already ready to take a break. Seriously, it was damn hot and flies where starting having fun flying around me. Those little bastards-.-

..We kept going for about an hour and twenty minutes, when we finally got to the top! The view was great, we could see lakes, towns, hills...and San Jose downtown! The fresh breeze helped us catching up, we took some pictures and we rested under the shadow of a tree. Soo good!
Josh has been a saint during the whole trip, I was really being the most annoying creature on earth due to the hike. Not my fault if I get bored!!! ;)
After a while we decided to head back, and there it goes another hour. Hell!

..Once we got back to the car, we changed clothes and Josh drove to downtown to treat me with a Froyo (heart!) ;)

...and you, if you are from Morgan Hill and you've never been to El Toro, SHAME ON YOU. I'm from Schio (wtf!?) and I'VE DONE IT! So either you do it too, or you come to Schio and I'll let you hike El Tretto! hahahah! ;)


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Seriously, This Is Hilrious!

For how much I love dogs, this cat cracks me up!

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Exchange Student Earns Internship With Scent Technology Startup - SJSU News

Seriously, this is amazing.

Exchange Student Earns Internship With Scent Technology Startup - SJSU News

San Francisco Farmers' Market: Big Deal!

Today I went with Michelle and her parents to the Port of San Francisco to see the Farmers' Market. Apart from the wonderful day - seriously, we weren't wearing jackets, and we even got burned! In San Francisco! Waaaw! - we also ate great cheeseburgers and fried chicken! The Farmers' Market is set mainly in front and inside the Ferry Building, and it offers a wide range of products coming from all over the world. I even met an Italian fellow selling real Italian olive oil. Blessed him. Haha:)

Close by there was also another kind of market, more about accessories and really nice printings. Yeah, I would have spent the whole afternoon there haha!

Afterwards we went to the Italian area of San Francisco, all the way to North Beach. We had a snack at a tiny Italian place called "Il Colosseo" (just to be original-.-) and we tasted a crispy bruschetta (English speaker, the pronunciation of "bruschetta" is NOT "brushetta"...but "brusketta"!) and some cheese and apple. Yummy!

After hanging around for a while and deciding which house would have been our in 20 years, we starting heading back to the car. The weather was so good that we would have spent the whole evening as well!

...so back in the car, back to San Mateo. And tomorrow: Santa Cruz with Josh + Romantic Drive-In in the evening! I can't wait!

C.

UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Sacramento: An Unusual Monday!

coming up so, I'm just very tired right now and the only thing that I can see is my pillow. Haha. Gnite World!

San Francisco: Alice 97.3′s “Summerthing” Free Concert

work in progress!

Santa Cruz: The House of Rising Sun!

Sooo  Friday it was a great day spent with two great people, my friends Michelle and Vinh.
The plan was to leave San Mateo (yes, readers, I'm leaving in San Mateo with Michelle for the summer! Bless her little heart!) around 1.30pm to get to Vinh's house (San Jose) at 2.15, so that we'd have reached Santa Cruz around3.15...
Well Vinh was a little late......but yeah, we made it at the end!

The day was awesome and the drive to Santa Cruz was incredibly nice. Once we arrived there we enjoyed the last sun and listen to the concert of The Animals...yes, THE ANIMALS! "There is...a house...in New Orleans...The Houseeee of Riiiising Sun..."! I couldn't believe it was actually them, so cool! Afterwards, Vinh and I left to go enjoy the attractions (see picture haha) and Michelle got frozen on the beach. Bless her little heart! ;)


After the concert and some time spent on the beach, we headed to downtown Santa Cruz to eat pizza - again -  while talking with British accents - again! too much fun:) The pizza was yummy, so delicious. Downtown was sooo nice, not too cold, not too warm. We ended up in a second-hand bookstore - which I loved. I bought a couple of books about films - obviously - and after that we headed back home. Such a great day, I won't forget it!

San Francisco: The Discovery of MoMa!

Today Michelle and I took the whole day to enjoy San Francisco and one of the best things the city can offer: Art exposition at the SFMoMa! The exposition that we got to see was the incredible Stein's collection.
You may want to read something more about Gertrude Stein, she was the one that mostly invested on the collection, with the help of her brother Leo Stein.

We got to the city around 12ish and we parket right next to the museum. We paid our ticket and we saw one of the best expositions I've personally ever seen! The Parisian Avant Garde was the main topic, and Matisse and Van Gogh were the main artists.
Given that I love cubism and expressionism, I felt chills when I got to see their pieces of art. Especially when I saw "Femme au chapeau" (Woman with a hat) by Matisse, wow, it was like a dream coming true! Being able to see right in front of you the paintings that you've studied for many years is simply inexplicable!

Related article here.

Galloping Horse, Muybridge 1878

Apart from the Stein collection, another interesting section caught my attention: The photographic exposition "Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change." You can read more about it following the link that I've posted, but I definitely want to spend some words about it. As the title of the article says, Eadweard Muybridge was San Francisco's Father of the Cinema. And this exposition was the direct explanation to this statement. Who has never seen his "Galopping Horse"? That's simply amazing. And that was just one of the many pictures presented at the exposition. I love how the beginning of motion pictures started by studying photography, and I love how these two fields are so interrelated with each other. I really can't wait to start working in this field, motion pictures and video editing are exactly what I'd love to work for. 

Personal Values, Magritte 1952

Another thing to point out is the presence at the exposition of Magritte's "Personal Values". Aww my beloved Magritte :)
Dali' was there too, but Magritte will always be my favorite painter, not only for the fact that he was the father of Belgian Surrealism, but especially for his creative view of life - and his different ways to portray it. You may not know what something means, but your interpretation still won't be wrong. Certainly this can be applied to most of the Avangards, but I particularly feel it for Surrealism.

Fountain, Marcel Duchamp 1917

Oh, and how could I forget this! Even Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" was there! Pretty interesting experience ;)













After a complete visit of the museum, Michelle and I went for a meal at Ferrari's, and then headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a windy day, nothing better to wear some flowers in our head...:)



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