Slowly but surely, I'm becoming American once more

I have a small confession to make...

I've been back in the US for over 2 weeks. I came back as planned on May 10, thankfully dodging any interference from the volcanic ash that I was so worried about.

No longer can I use the lack of internet as an excuse to not update my blog. I am constantly connected to the internet - even more so than before due to my new Blackberry.

So my updates will become more regular and I will bring this blog up to date on all my traveling that transpired over the last 6 months or so.

Until then, I'm planning on making a half-hearted effort to find a summer job and readjusting to life in my native country.

I've already been made painfully aware of the fact that I am no longer in Italy by many different events. I miss the blunt approach the Italians have to life - when I spoke to my friends here, they initially found me to be brutally honest. Needless to say both parties had some adjusting to do.
I can't look at the "Italian food" served in the US, let alone eat it. No pizza for the next few months until I can forget what authentic pizza tastes like. And don't get me started on how dismayed I am that I can't buy alcohol for myself yet. How am I supposed to get my wine?!

But for all the cultural differences, I love my home country. And I can't complain that I no longer have to worry about communication errors when going to the doctors or ordering at restaurants. Plus, seeing my friends and family again continues to be a treat each day.

Now that I'm back I can clearly see huge changes in who I am and what I want out of life - all for the better, I think. But more on that later. And more pictures and stories of my travels.

A day at the races

Yesterday I went to the horse races at the Del Mar Racetrack with two of my friends. I hardly ever bet, but I've been going to the races every year with my family since I was little. So I gave myself a 20 dollar limit, and didn't plan on leaving with much money - on the rare occasion I place a winning bet, I typically don't win more than 80 cents. This may be because I pay little attention to the odds of each horse and base all my bets on the horses with the coolest sounding names - yeah, I know...it's a foolproof system.

By the fifth race, I was down to 8 dollars. Imagine my surprise when I won on three different horses! I ended up winning 35 dollars off a 4 dollar bet. Now, I'm aware this isn't a huge winning, but for me, its the most money I've ever won off anything. Needless to say, my friend and I were jumping up and down while yelling with excitement. I do have to thank the following horses: Kiss the Cooke, Snow on Christmas, and Heavenly n' Free (the long shot).

Unfortunately, I did bet a bit more after that, but I did leave with 22 dollars...2 more than I had started with! In my opinion, it was an incredibly successful day at the races.

See fish...photograph fish...eat fish...

The other day my friends and I ventured to the San Diego Zoo as a birthday celebration for my friend. Its been years since I've been to the zoo, so I was eagerly taking pictures of every animal I saw. Here are just a few pictures of the awesome animals I saw while there.



The giraffes were more active than most of the other animals in the heat.



Cool display of butterflies found in the bug exhibit...I was none too happy to enter the exhibit though (I really do not like bugs). Believe me, this was the only part of it that didn't send shivers down my spine.



Some meerkats taking a snooze.



Turtles!



Polar bear lounging about in the sun.

Afterward, we met up with more of our friends at a new sushi bar in town called Zenbu. The dim lighting, cushy chairs, and aquarium full of interesting fish (like small sting rays) made for a very cool atmosphere. And the food was great (but expensive)!

I felt somewhat guilty eating fish right after I just saw and photographed a bunch of them at the zoo...but the shrimp tempura and tuna was so good, that I quickly got over it and dug in. :)

Busy Busy Busy!

The night I finished my last final (Thursday), I came back home to San Diego.

Ever since then, I have had a non-stop agenda. I don't have to start my summer job until next week (at the earliest)so the past few days have been filled with family events - my brother's high school graduation, my other brother's birthday party - and catching up with all my friends from high school who have returned home for the summer.

Here's the thing about going away for months on end and then returning home and trying to pick up right where you left off: people change. Obviously, strong friendships endure the passing of time and the personal developments that accompany it. But even those strong friendships need to adjust to the shock of change.

While I can see that my friends are growing and changing for the better (as am I), it is sometimes a shock to the system that our old relationship needs to be modified a bit before we can be fully comfortable with one another again.

People never cease to intrigue me.

One is silver and the other gold...

Took my camera out again this weekend. Here's a cool shot I got.



I normally hate bugs - whenever I hear anything buzzing near my ear, I automatically jerk my head away from the noise in a very awkward and ungraceful manner - but I was able to get close and capture this bumble bee with the (unintentional) help of my friend.

This weekend, my brother, his friend, and two of my friends came from San Diego to visit me. One of my best friends, who also loves photography, is not a sissy little baby when it comes to bugs and other creepy-crawlers. In fact, I remember going to the beach with her when we were little kids and running away in sheer terror as she picked up a handful of sand crabs like they were as harmless as jelly beans.

So the other day, when I was taking pictures with her (she also has a fancy SLR), she was photographing this bee. I saw the potential for a beautiful photograph and because my friend was able to take a picture of the bee without flinching away from it, I found the courage to do the same.

While my ability to photography this bumble bee demonstrates only the tiniest personal victory for me, I think it says a lot about the worth of a good friendship. If my friend can encourage me (without knowing it) to approach something that scares the crap out of me, I believe that's someone who is worth having around.

I love my friends because they bring out the best in me and cause me to take risks and experience more of life.

Tetris is the first step towards enlightenment

Oh my goodness. It is almost 3:00pm and I have yet to leave the house today. What have I been doing!? I'm still sitting around in my sweatpants and baggy shirt. I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad, I hardly ever let myself have a day where I do nothing - but I'm not being productive in the slightest! Youtube is far too time consuming.

And do you know what really makes me feel like I've wasted the day away? When I've spent a straight hour and a half playing Tetris.

So I'm on this new mission to find inner-peace and happiness through meditation, exercise, drinking a lot of water, yoga, and positive thinking. Well, this isn't really new. Its something I'm revisiting for the fiftieth time. Every few months I get really into meditation and start practicing my yoga more often. Soon after I start attempting to find nirvana I start loosing sight of what I want and fall back into the stressful buzz of everyday life.

So what is inspiring this latest bout of self-healing? I think it has to do with a number of things. Mainly it is due to the realization that there are some specific people in my life who are no good for me and I need to let them go. This realization has also been paired with an old friend reappearing in my life and opening my eyes to the wonderful people there are in the world and the amazing experiences that can be had with such individuals.

It is sad when someone who is your "friend" is the source a large amount of suffering in your life. It is even more sad when you realize you need to separate yourself from them if either one of you is going to have a shot at happiness.

So I recently went to the library and checked out some books on meditation and living a peaceful life. Needless to say, most of these books are written by Buddhist monks. I've only gotten trough a few pages of this little pocket book simply entitled "Meditation", but its already proving to be very helpful. I feel more at peace and aware of myself and my surroundings.

But now I really must get out of the house.