Italy: Venice

I just got back from a one-week trip through Venice, Rome, and Florence! I'm going to share the photos from each city in the order we visited them. First was Venice!

Venice was probably my favorite city of the three, because it was so beautiful! Every direction you turned looked like a postcard. We met up with our friends Axton and Lesley who've been living in England this past year, and spent two days there.

The highlight of the city was San Marco Piazza. The basilica was beautiful and difficult to capture in photos, partly due to the ton of tourists in the square! The whole city is basically a ton of alleyways, which makes it really difficult to find your way around, so it took us a while to find it the first time. Also it mostly didn't smell bad, so idk about that rumor!

The second day we took a boat tour around to some of the smaller islands. We saw the glass blowing at Murano, which was really amazing. Then we visited Torcello, which was small and quiet and had this beautiful church full of Byzantine mosaics, like floor to ceiling gold leaf. We weren't allowed to take photos, though! We saw Burano, which is famous for it's candy colored houses, lace work, and cookies. It was also my total favorite place, and I got a few photos there!

We spent the rest of the time walking around exploring, looking at shops, drinking coffee (cappucinos for me), and eating lots of gelato and pizza! I will never get sick of gelato and pizza, tbh. Follow my Instagram for more pics of Italy, and keep an eye out for my post on Rome!

Rosso

Since I'm not planning on taking my laptop when I leave the house to travel to the major cities, I'm going to get some outfits scheduled so you guys can see my carefully planned out Italian wardrobe! I took these at the Monte Berico overlook with the city of Vicenza below me, not that you can see it here.

Travis took these for me with his fancy zoom lens, and he really is a fast learner, he's already better than I am at photography! Has some trouble keeping me in focus, though, haha! It's also a bit chillier than I planned for here, I might buy some pants somewhere along the way. Boy am I glad to be wearing red again, though!

Dress: Modcloth

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Shirt: American Apparel

Bag: Thrifted

Pin: Handmade by Me

Be on the lookout for more Italian scenery soon!

Italy: Vicenza Part 2

 Travis' family lives in Vicenza, which is a town outside of Venice. We've been exploring the downtown area the past couple of days, and it's all I've ever wanted! I'm really glad I got to experience the less-touristy side of Italy and really observe the culture. Downtown is a lot more vibrant than it is in similarly sized US cities, and people, tons of people, walk around at night on the weekends. It's what my hometown looks like when a festival is going on, and I loved it. Little clothing tents set up on the streets and tons of historic buildings and statues, museums, and shops. 

Authentic Italian cappuccinos and pizza, as delicious as you're imagining right now! I found it pretty intimidating not speaking the native language, and wanted to be able to communicate with the waiters. I'm going to study up before we head to Venice next week.

Some things I've learned:

-In Italy water isn't free at restaurants, and they give you bubbly water by default. You have to ask for litre naturale.

-You are paying essentially for the table space at a cafe, and there is no obligation to get the check quickly and free up seating.

-You don't need to tip waiters, and they don't attend to you as closely as in America.

-There are a lot of roundabouts and Italians drive really fast. I am really glad Travis' Mom has been driving us!

We also went to Monte Berico, which has an amazing lookout view over Vencinza Centro. Its so beautiful here, just like I pictured!

Italy: Vicenza Part 1

I'm in Italy!!

I really didn't think I'd be blogging this soon, but I actually have a lot of free time this week, since I'm staying with Travis's family in their house in Vicenza before I go traipsing through the major cities. The house, by the way, is amazing. They're stationed there because his Dad is in the military, and they're renting a house on a vineyard and it's freaking beautiful. I took a bunch of pictures, and spaced a few through this outfit post.

Trav actually took all the photos of me, because he's all "I want to be good at photography" lately. Which I am A OK with because it's way easier for me than running back and forth with a tripod. I seriously need to spend some time behind the camera (hello perfect opportunity) so I can get better at taking my own photos.

It's cooler here than in SC. Today we went to a cafe in an old church that had this pretty fresco. Below the building were these huge stretches of tunnel that are now used as a wine cellar. Then we went to my first Italian thrift store! I didn't buy anything (savin my euros) but Travis found a pretty fabulous swimsuit and a vintage travel case. Plus I had a cappuccino! I wish I knew how to speak Italian. I can barely find the words "No parlo Italiano," and I feel like a total lameo tourist.

Anyway, I packed efficiently, so hopefully you won't get bored of my clothes this month! I'll be sure to post lots of photos of Italy on here, too, but make sure you follow me on Instagram if you want to keep up with me. I'm such a lucky girl! Now if only my bangs would behave!

Dress, Cardigan: Thrifted

Shoes: Converse

Necklace: Forever 21

Nature shots: Pure Italian magic

Lots of Change

That's right, my hair's brown again! It took me about a day to get used to it, but I like it way better now that I did my eyebrows haha.

It's a little darker than I planned, but that's okay, I never know what I'm doing. I really will miss the pink, and I hope I can go back to it someday! I didn't want to worry about my roots and the fade out while I'm on vacation, and I've got to start the job hunt this summer, and I didn't want my hair to keep me from getting hired.

Since we last spoke, I graduated, too! I miss my friends already (but that's about all I miss, ya know?) So I hope you enjoy these photos of me in front of my boring garage wall, because as of tomorrow I'm off to ITALY for a whole month! I'm so excited! I'm going to try to blog about once a week while I'm there, but follow me on Instagram to keep up with my travels!

I wanted to dress up all fancy today because I plan to dress pretty practically while overseas. Now excuse me while I finish packing...

Dress, shoes: Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses: JC Penny

Almost Done

Another new dress for meeeeee :)

This one is probs much poorer quality, but it's really comfy and I like all the slits it has, in the front, in the back, and on the sleeves. I wore it with red, red, red on a 90 degree day (yeah we're there already).

I guess my only complaint is that it's got those weird sleeves that make it hard for you to lift your arms normally. Like with cap sleeves, but not.

So right now I am one exam and four days away from graduation. Not sure how to feel about it all, but I know I am super psyched for Italy! Which is actually only nine days away at this point, eek! I'll probably blog a little while I'm over there, maybe once a week, but if you want to keep up with me and see whatever awesome sights I visit, make sure you follow my Instagram!

I really want to get rid of as much Etsy inventory as I can, so I've also put art prints on super sale. Plus there's the coupon ITALIA that you can use for an additional 10% off!! I'm planning to add a bunch of new stuff once I get back and get my life together, haha.

Dress, shoes: Urban Outfitters

Brooch: Modern Girl Blitz

Sunglasses: Aldo

Dress It Down

I've felt like a princess walking around campus before, but this dress makes me feel like a straight up queen.

I dressed it down the best way I knew how; with denim and sneakers. Didn't want to make the other kids jealous, y'know? It's from The Whitepepper, a brand I have a major crush on. Their stuff is out of my little student budget though, and even on sale this dress was a splurge for me. It's a holiday dress, but I'm gonna wear it this Spring, watch me!

I'm having a hard time getting the hang of photography again, after being indoors with a white wall for 6 months. I feel like I'm not getting any better at it, really, and it sucks because I want to be good at everything! I need to devote some real practice time to it is what, with me behind the camera so I can focus on getting all the settings right.

I'm smack in the middle of finals week right now, and I'm just really really ready to graduate. I want to be in Italy now, not studying web design terms. But so far I've been doing well. My journalism loved my commercial for Rock Hill in which I recorded some pickles and rhymed it with Rock Dill.

As a reminder, I'm having a big Etsy store sale where all the vintage has been drastically marked down. You can use the code ITALIA to get an extra 10% off everything, custom art included!

Dress: The Whitepepper

Shoes: Converse

Vest, Belt: Thrifted