Category Archives: Uncategorized

1. Lacie-Loo.  My puppy.  Oh my god will I miss that ball of mush.  I pretty much talk about her every day as if she’s some hysterical comedic genius.  Maybe being away will improve my social skills. Don’t be alarmed when I post the color and patterns of Lacie’s bows everytime she gets a haircut.  I will absolutely be asking my parents for these updates and it is absolutely necessary that I share it with the entire world (and by that I mean my readers, and by that I mean my parents and the Zaretskys).  Her bows are currently blue and a Hanukkah pattern and I think its the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen, thank you very much.

2. My television shows.  Good thing I have a hulu plus subscription, but not all shows are available in all countries and if I can’t watch 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, The Office, Modern Family, Raising Hope, How I Met Your Mother, Dance Moms, and Glee (well maybe not that show has sucked recently) I will lose it.

3. Broadway.  I usually see a show on every break that I am home and it will kill me to go so long without one when so many good shows are opening.  I will be forced to compulsively contact Tobey and Sheryl and annoy them with questions and comments.  They will either love me or hate me for it.

4. My iPhone.  What a tease.  I got her (I have the white one, so clearly its feminized) on Christmas Eve which means I have exactly 1 month’s use before I return to the caveman era and use my antiquated blackberry.  This is sad because I am losing instigram which made all of the pictures I take of Lacie really artistic and special.  Also blackberries suck and everyone knows that bbm was the only reason anyone ever bought one.  Sorry RIM.

5. My family. Hi Mom, Dad, and Carly.  I didn’t leave yet, but I am still alive!

this is me on slope day freshman year. please note that my camera was attached to my person by a necklace. i guess you weren't aware that muggings are RAMPANT at Cornell on slope day and that putting my money and ID card in my underwear was necessary.

6. Communication.  I’m a poor communicator.  I word things weirdly and have weird thoughts that I can’t put into words sometimes.  The language barrier will not help.

7. The carefree mentality that comes with not being constantly afraid of getting mugged.  I blame my family for this one.  They have me thinking that everyone in Europe is out to mug me and steal my stuff.  I am going to be walking around as if I am trekking through the war-torn Saharan desert with 6kilos of cocaine and 5 gold bars.  I don’t really know if 6kilos of cocaine is a lot or a little, but it sounds about right (edit: I googled.  6kilos is A LOT.  Woah).  My mom has always trained me to keep a water bottle and nut mix with me “just in case”.  Let’s hope I don’t find out what she means by that.

8. Being able to text people to come play with me as I sit at my desk chair and watch Netflix.  Sedentary life is so easy when all of your friends live right by you.

9. Being in the same time zone as everyone I love.  I suck at figuring out time differences.  It confuses me and I never get it right.  I know that there’s an app for that, but READ #4, jerks.

10.  Having my own room.  Sorry, Steph.

11. My routine at Cornell.  I don’t take change very well (flashback to when I hid under a table when I heard I was moving in Kindergarten, or when I hid in the closet on move-out day.  Good plan, Alyssa.  Mom will never think of looking for you in your closet).  Over the past 2.5 years I have fallen in love with the school, the bars, the restaurants, the food, and the people and it will be weird to not have everyone around me and to return to a different place than I left.  I am going to miss the graduating seniors so much and it’s going to be weird to return to them gone and new little ones in the sorority.

12. Dr. Leon.  He’s my functional neurologist.  Those of you who know me already know that my family is obsessed with him and we will do anything he says.  I go for “tune-ups” at least 2x a semester usually, and I’m scared that I won’t be in tip-top shape without these visits.  He’s also great.  I’m probably to first person to list a functional neurologist on a “Things I Will Miss” list, and I’m totally okay with that.

I chose Florence as my locale for the semester the same way I make all of my decisions in life.  Rashly and for weird reasons.

Dat's my farm! My grandma is Luisa. Whenever I think of my farm I imagine myself lounging on the grass in a sundress while people take pictures of me, which is strange because I've never actually done that.

I’m 1/4 Italian and ridiculously proud of it.  My grandma is from a tiny town south of Rome called Vallecorsa, known for being the location where the rape scene in ‘Two Women” was filmed.  I was named after my great-grandma, Margherita, and have always been told I share her three most central traits: short stature, stubbornness, and cleverness.

We still own our farm in Vallecorsa (was a Nazi headquarters during WWII!!) and I have been there 3 times.  On each of those trips I also visited Venice, Florence, and Rome and fell in love with the Flo for strange reasons.  It was pretty, small, and home to my favorite gelateria.  I also was obsessed with the David and bought playing cards with him on it, but that’s an entirely different creepy story.

Other reasons I chose Florence: great food that I could never get sick of, trendiness, familiarity, and a sense of belonging.  I never put any thought into any other locations and am pretty content with that because I think that Italy is the superior country.

What do I expect?  Nothing.  I literally have zero expectations which is probably a good thing?  Unclear.  I have been stalking pictures of other people I know who went abroad for like 2 years now and I think the travelling aspect is what I’m most looking forward to.  I want to go everywhere and take pictures where I look ridiculously trendy and European.  I’ve been told I look Venezuelan (random) before.

I also really want to see all of my friends in our various home countries because I am going to miss them all and I have severe FOMO.  I won’t be able to go an entire semester without having weird catch-up sessions where we speak exclusively in inside jokes and say “I mean” and use airquotes while repeating things very slowly.

I tend to assume that everyone is on a best friend basis and no secrets should be held. This leads to oversharing.

no, really, do continue about what your favorite lunchable was as a child. 

   Somehow, I think that everyone is close enough with me to know everything about my life.  And that leads to me rambling on and on and on about various aspects of my life that probably shouldn’t be shared with anyone.  If I was really close with all of these captive audiences, they’d be able to tell me to shut up as I discuss the intricacies of my dogs wet food to dry food ratio, but unfortunately, those who aren’t really friends with me are forced to politely nod and pretend to pay attention as their eyes dart around the room looking for an object to jab into their eye or a person to save them.

This also manifests itself with food.  I recently learned that as a child a shockingly high percentage of my family friends would keep special snacks in their house just because I liked them.  I think this made me develop a complex.  I now have no qualms about going into people’s houses and eating their food without asking.  It’s really rude, but I’m not even cognizant of it, it has just become a reflex at this point.  And because I tend to assume that everyone is really close with me, I will do this to complete strangers.  In college I once demanded that someone make me a gluten free snack.  When he refused, I simply got pepperoni and pudding from his refrigerator and asked for a spoon.