Les vacances de printemps - Part 1

The bright and beautiful Bologne. This little town in Italy was the first stop on my spring break, where I visited my roommate of two years Susanna who is studying there for the semester. I had a MARVELOUS time to say the least. Mostly we just ate and laid out in the sun and shared comfortable silence. Sounds dull, but I think it was perfect. You can't have a relaxed vacation like that with everyone.

The pizza place about a block from Susie's place had AMAZING pizza, as you might expect in Italy. But what I didn't expect was how fast they fired it and how cheap it was! We got our pizza in about seven minutes both times we went there and a margarita cost only four euros. It was indeed the best pizza I even had.

It might have been the fresh tomato sauce or it might have been the view that made that meal so good, but I'm pretty sure it was mostly the lovely lady eating with me.

:)

The day before I left, we were going to make a tourist stop at the cathedral in the hills a bit outside the city, but got completely distracted by this park and thus spent another afternoon lying in the sun doing absolutely nothing. It was glorious. 

She's wearing mostly my clothes. Just sayin.

These purple flowers seemed to glow in the sunlight. Amazing.

From the top you could see out over the whole town. Only a few other people were up there enjoying the sunlight with their puppies. I felt a bit like I was in "The Sound of Music" looking out over the hills. 

We ate lunch on the hill and laid there watching the sky and the little white flowers in the grass and the dogs smiling next to their owners. We got up when the grass got itchy and the bugs invaded, but I think if it wasn't for that, we may have very well stayed until the sun went down. It was fun to discover the place together.

We also spent quite a bit of time at the "park margarita." Thought you all might enjoy seeing our musings before we conked out for a nap.

Look how pretty my roomie is!!

Too bad she had to deal with that for two years, huh? ;)

Do not be fooled though...she's just as strange as me :)

We ended with pizza and wine on her balcony watching the sun go down. Strange to think that three years ago we were greeting each other with awkward hugs our first day at Hillsdale. I'd like to think that we're "old friends" now. We can remind each other of our embarrassing moments and tease each other without malice. But we can also cry, we can confide in each other, and we can hug non-awkward, squeezy hugs that convey more love than one can say aloud. Sadly, it is often not until we leave each other that we see these things and I hope that now I can appreciate them more than ever before.

I loved seeing my friend, speaking Italian and fitting in like a pro. She's grown so much over the past three years and has been such a blessing to me. Thank you for having me Susie-q! I look forward to even more good times with you next year.