Let's start from the very beginning of the year.
January
One of the events that took place during January is Shane's birthday on 20th. We made the famous Donnelly chocolate cake and ate it here at the house...it was nice and tasty!
Twice a week I was attending Spanish Grammar classes in University, and towards the end of the month I also started attending a Spanish Course at the "Instituto Cervantes" in Rome, in order to practice my spoken Spanish.
February
On the 7th I went to see the Oasis concert in Palalottomatica, quite a big venue here in Rome, situated in Eur. It was a good concert but I was not too impressed by the illegal carpark's attendants. There were about 30 people directing cars and demanding 5 Euro for parking in a public area which is reserved as a free carpark for the venue. At this point I decided to call up the police in order to ask them if that was supposed to happen, but as I presumed, it was not! Anyway I did want to find my car there waiting for me after the concert, so I eventually decided to pay 3 Euro to a random guy waiting for me to get out of my car.
During the weekend, on the 11th, Shane and I went to see a Rugby match, part of the 6th Nations Championship. Italy played England but unfortunately lost 16-31.
My grandad Vando, who had been in hospital since last December, died during February. Although this made me very sad, I was lucky enough to have spent my last visit with him in a very memorable fashion. He really enjoyed the ice-cream I got for him! It was a welcome change from the hospital food.
On Tuesday the 28th I flew over to the UK to visit Letizia, a friend of mine who now lives in London. I also went to see a few houses that were for sale. I went to meet up with some agents in Parsons Green, Shepherds Bush and Chelsea. The flats were not bad, but far way too small! And expensive! I eventually went to the Vivienne Westwood's shop World's End, in Chelsea and got a nice leather belt. During my stay I also met up with Charlie, a friend of mine from Reading, and had a nice meal in a pub in Notting Hill.
March
I flew back to Rome Ciampino on Friday the 3rd and Shane's parents, already in Rome since the day before, came over to our house and stayed for a few days. That evening we went out for dinner in a little restaurant in Rocca di Papa, not too far from the house. I was quite tired but the Italian food was very good after a few days spent in London...but can't hide the fact that by then I was already missing the English cookies and muffins he he. On Saturday we took Shane's parents to lunch in the nicest restaurant of the area "La Foresta". We also went to Castelgandolfo, for a pleasant walk around the Pope's summer residence, as well as to the seaside town of Anzio where the Allied forces landed in June 1944. We went out to a lovely restaurant called the "Turcotto" where the specialty is, unsurprisingly, seafood! The view from the restaurant is spectacular, looking out as it does over the cliffs, and the food was very tasty indeed. On the way back from Anzio we stopped off in the British war cemetery on the outskirts of the town.
Seán and Carol left on Tuesday the 7th to fly back to Dublin. We got back to "normal" life and main "normal" way of eating then.
The day after St. Patrick's Day we went to see another rugby match. This time Italy played Scotland, but again we lost 10-13. Anyway the team was improving, which is always good.
I started attending a Fashion Marketing course which really succeed in making me even more obssed with Fashion than I already was!
Eventually I started thinking about becoming a Cool Hunter, but soon realized it is not quite a known position yet here in Italy. Basically a Cool Hunter goes to cities around the world and observes the new looks. He/she eventually gets different ideas from different cultures. Once back he/she tells everything to a Fashion Designer who, in turn, puts those ideas together and creates a new trend, which will go on to become the next fashion trend.
April
Exactly a year ago, during the first few days of April, a new guest was welcomed in our house. A little puppy that my brother found on the road. We took care of him and gave him a lot of love and now, a year after his entrance in our life, we celebrated his first birthday.
On the 13th my cousin Alessandro made his Communion and Shane and I went to the ceremony and dinner. Guess where that took place? Obviously in "La Foresta"! No need to say that the food was gorgeous....and the atmosphere wasn't bad either.
On Saturday the 27th I went to a conference organized by Prof.ssa Rosamaria Colombo, my University teacher. The title of the conference was "Nel corpo delle città", which can be translated as "In the body of the cities". This was about the figure of big cities between the Modern and Postmodern eras.
May
This was a very busy month.
I went to see and exhibition in the British School of Rome about Leigh Bowery. The title was "The Art of Leigh Bowery and London Club Culture". It was the first Italian exhibition dedicated to him(Sunshine, Australia 1961–London 1994), the legendary personality on the London “alternative” scene during the Eighties and Nineties.
The biggest events of the year took place during the middle of May. I flew over to London with my Take That's tickets to go and see their gig there. I was excited but it also felt funny to know that after 10 years I would have seen them again there, on a stage, singing the same songs along with a few new ones. Obviuosly only 4 of them were there (Mark, Gary, Howard and Jason), Robbie was not going to be there as in the old times.
The night of the 9th I went with my friend Letizia to the bar of a nice hotel near her place, the Conrad Hotel, by Chelsea Harbour. And guess who was staying there? You might not believe me but we met all 5 members of Take That! By saying this I mean that not only Mark, Gary, Jason and Howard were there, but Robbie popped by too for a drink and a chat with the boys. Well, in the end I got to see the band in a way I would never have thought to get to see. So myself and Letizia stayed there and enjoyed the evening.
The gig I went to, in London (10th May), was amazing. I felt many different emotions during the concert. From one point of view I was happy that they reunited, but from another point of view I felt like that was really a bit too strange to be real. Most of the old "moves" were done by the boys while singing but also a lot of new stuff was thrown into the show, and that cocktail really went down well. So after the gig, on our way back home passing by the Conrad Hotel, we thought to pop by for another drink. There I got the chance to talk to Mark for a few minutes, I also met Sam, his dog, and briefly saw Emma, his girlfriend. The others were there talking away and relaxing and Robbie was down there again that evening. At the end of my stay in London I felt quite satisfied with my experiences and on Thursday 11th I flew to Dublin to go and see Take That live again twice! No need to say that those two concerts were absolutely brilliant. I went together with Shane the first evening and with Ellen the second night. On Sunday Shane and I both flew back to Rome, me with loads of good memories about Take That together again, Shane probably surprised to see me so excited for just 3 gigs?!
A few days after I got back and I had to do my written Spanish exam, and thanks to all the Spanish I had studied during the year and maybe thanks to for all the Take That excitement, I FINALLY PASSED IT!!!
June
We had planted some veggies in our vegetable garden in late April, early May, so by June the plants started bearing fruit. One of the earliest plants to produce the goods was the courgette plant. Shane took the opportunity to photograph ridiculously large courgettes alongside his arms. This also meant that we were starting to spend a great deal of time watering, weeding, harvesting the veggies and fighting of the insects.
June saw the arrival of World Cup fever and the first few renditions of "Po-po-po". The Italian team started slowly and people weren't particularly enthusiastic coming in the wake of Calciopoly - the major football scandal centering around some of Italy's top football clubs.
But the Italian team started generating a lot of enthusiasm after they beat Australia and the Ukraine at the start of the knockout stages... The stage was set for an exciting July!
While all of that was going on, towards the middle of June I started studying Spanish Literature for my next exam. Just to keep me out of trouble, I also sat and passed a European Computer Driving Licence exam.
Work became more and more stressful as it usually does when the summer gets into it's stride, as lots of tourists look for somewhere to take a break from their sightseeing and thirsty locals look for somewhere to chill in the shade.
July
At the beginning of July I finally got some time off and went to see an exhibition in Rome, in the "Centro San Carlo" in Via del Corso. The title of this exhibition was "L'abito della festa dal '700 al 1940", which in English is "Party dresses by 1700 till 1940s". This exhibiton was organized by two Italian collectionists: Paola and Gabriella Bruni who displayed their collections of clothes and also some accessories.
On Monday the 17th my English friends from Leeds, Paul and Sandra, arrived in Rome for their holiday. We spent some good time together: we went out for dinner one evening and for a drink afterwards, another day we went around the different towns around here, we went for an ice-cream down the lake, and for pleasant walks around the area. They left on the 21st to go to the next destination of their holiday: Costiera Amalfitana.On Wednsday the 26th Shane and I went on our holiday. We packed our stuff into the car, including another Donnelly chocolate cake and headed towards Lake Garda. The first 5 days we spent with all of his family for his mum's 60th birthday, hence the birthday cake. We left very early on the Wednesday morning and we arrived there by 1pm. The weather was very warm and the sight from the agriturismo where we were staying was great. In the afternoon Seán and Carol arrived, and by the late night all the rest of the crew was there: Jennifer and Larkin with Isabel and Arthur, and Ellen and Seb. We had a great time all together....the pool was very nice, the lake and the towns around the lake were very welcoming. I also managed to do some shopping too - I got myself a nice pair of shoes.
We celebrated Carol's birthday in the agriturismo and on Friday the 27th Carol took us all to see "Carmen" at the Opera in Verona. We spent the whole day walking around the beautiful city and Shane and I visited Juliet's house and walked along the river. Once more I fell in love with some clothes, so I bought a pair of shorts. The Opera was good but I couldn't manage to watch it all as I was so tired and it was quite late in the evening. Anyway it was a great experience!
On Sunday the 30th Shane and I left to go to Austria. We drove all the way to Pertisau, our second destination on our three-stop tour. The hotel in which we stayed was very nice, but the people were bit too cold. Coincidentally, Ellen and Seb had choosen to stay in Pertisau too, so we gave them a lift up there and spent some time with them. They stayed in a different hotel which seemed more friendly, but not to be outdone, the hoteliers tried to pull a fast one and put them in a dark and damp room. Ellen, diplomatic and firm as ever, saw to it that they were put in the correct room as of the second night.
August
On Tuesday the 1st August we left Pertisau and drove north to friendly climes. We crossed the German border and arrived in Munich by late morning. Seeing as accomodation was quite expensive in Munich, we went that extra mile and treated ourselves to some well deserved pampering in an expensive hotel on Munich's answer to Via Condotti.Expensive as the rooms were, the hotel made sure that they got their money's worth. Wifi access in the lobby does not make it free. Neither did the LAN access in the rooms. Fortunately the pool was free and it had a spectacular view over the Munich skyscape (also free :p )
Rather than splashing out €26 on a breakfast buffet in the hotel, we choose to spread our wings and have breakfast in local cafes, one of which had free Wifi access. This was vital to our plans, seeing as one of our main goals of this stage of the holiday was going to see the Robbie Williams concert in the Olympic Stadium. Without the internet access we wouldn't have been able to find out how to get there. In retrospect we probably would have seeing as we got a taxi there and back.
The Olympic Stadium in Munich is a big, uncovered, ourdoor arena. Built for the 1972 Olympic Games, it is an impressive structure by itself but made even more impressive by the amount of rain it let it. Never have I been as drenched as I was by the end of that night. Shane's rain jacket did a decent job, but it didn't stop his new blue and white jumper from running and staining his shirt.
The concert itself was good fun. Robbie is a great performer even if his voice wasn't at it's best that night. The support band, Basement Jaxx, were brilliant too, and seeing three big fat ladies dancing around in the rain on stage made it much more bareable.
Apart from expensive hotels and rain-sodden concerts, we also did some sightseeing in Munich. Well, we did some food-related sightseeing. We tucked into roast chicken, roast pork, potatoes, cheese, dumplings, "small" half-litre radlers/beers and cheese-coated pretzels. We also found the amazing manufaktum shop, whose motto is "The good things in life still exists". The shop is something like an early 1930's version of Muji. The products sold are either made to last, retro or a mix of both. We bought my dad an automatic screwdriver that works by applying pressure to the handle, which drives the head of the tool via a grooved shaft. Shane bought a clockwork radio that also works as a torch, siren and mobile phone charge. It's like the Transformers' great, great grandaddy.
We left Munich on Friday morning and drove all the way down to Rome. It took us a long time, longer than we expected as we were stuck in traffic for few hours in Tuscany. Anyway, we made it back home for 1am!
Just a day to get some energy back and on Sunday the 6th of August, we went to the Olipic Stadium in Rome to see Madonna's concert. It was a great show with a lot of dancing and singing! I was struck by her coming down from the top of the stadium in a gigantic disco ball.September
On Saturday 2nd we met up with Shane's sister Jennifer and her husband Larkin, who came to Italy for a day. For lunch we took the to La Foresta were they enjoyed some nice starters, pasta and desserts. We spent the afternoon at the house and we showed the hens and the garden. After a little rest we all went to Ariccia, were the Porchetta Fair was on that weekend. We walked by the stalls and then sat down in a little Fraschetta (typical restaurant of that area) and we had some porchetta.
At the end of the month I completed the Spanish part of my degree, which was a massive relief.
October
On Firday the 6th of October we flew to Milan very early in the morning to spend a few days away for my birthday. We got there and travelled to a town in the outskirts of the city to see a Vivienne Westwood Shoe Exhibition. Vigevano is a little town 30 minutes train journey from Milan. The sqaure of the town is impressive, with many funny coblestones and ciclying paths. The exhibition was great and we also had a wonder in the Shoe Museum. After a nice and cosy aperitif, we made our way back to the Fashion city were I eventually visited the Vivienne Westwood Showroom and got a nice skirt! In the evening we went out for pizza and a few drinks in the area were our hotel was (Brera). The next morning we got the train to Venice and arrived there after lunch. The lady from the apartment rental agency showed us a bit of the city while we were on the Water bus (vaporetto) on the way to the flat. Venice is an amazing city. It difficult to imagine how unique the city truly is without going there. Every single aspect of city life is affected by water, from the postman who uses a little trolley especially designed to go up and come down the many steps and bridges, to the raised platforms that are ever ready for the flooding brought by high tide.
We really enjoyed our stay and the last day we even had the chance to see St. Mark's square (Piazza San Marco) flooded! Great for us tourists, not so great for the extremely friendly locals.
A few days after we got back to Rome, Shane's dad came over to visit us. It was great to have him here visiting, and I think he enjoyed his church whirlwind tour - he managed to see 10 churches in just 1 day! Jen and Larkin obviously spoke highly of the porchetta from Ariccia, as he insisted we took him to get some too.
November
On the 2nd Shane and I went to see The Kooks in concert which was good. We were quite impressed by one of the support bands, The Great Danger. They went up the stage, presented themselves and asked if anybody there could offer them somewhere to stay that night as the van driver had made it clear to them that they couldn't sleep in the van. So after the concert we went over to them for a chat and asked if they'd found anyone kind enough to put them up. Luckily for them, they had.
The next day we went to see Skin in concert. This time we had nice seats and really enjoyed the gig. Unsurprisingly, she had the foresight to find herself somewhere to stay in advanced!
The next two weekends were dedicated to Rugby as Italy played both Australia and Argentina for the November Test Matches.
A very sad event also occured during November: my granny Titti passed away, only a few months after her husband. She had been in bed sick for a long while and probably decided she wanted to see my grandad again.
The last weekend of the month we went to visit my friend Maika (Charlie) who's back in Arcinazzo, a town in the province of Rome, after living in Frankfurt for 6 months. It was good to spend time with her and her lovely family. Shane particularly enjoyed Maika's mother's fantastic home-cooking. We went out for pizza and a few drinks on the Saturday and the next day we went to a town market and then visited St. Benedict's Monastery.
December
The first half of this month saw me very busy studying for a psychology exam and the arrival of Take That in Rome to promote their new album Beautiful World.
My friends Letizia and Elena came over from London and Slovenia respectively to go and see Take That together. We managed to find out when they were arriving in Rome so we went to the airport and welcomed them. After that we went for a drink in a nice hotel which they happened to be staying in too. We left very late at night and got back home. The next morning I set off to Messaggerie Musicali to meet them for the signings of the new album/dvd. After a long queue, I got in with Elena and we both got our albums signed. It was good to chat to them and as soon as we came out of the music shop we drove to the tv studios were we had passes to get in. Once there we met up with my other friend Letizia and we all went inside while a massive queue of fans was outside the main entrance of the studios. We saw Mark and Gary, Howard and Jason coming out of the changing rooms and then going to the room were the tv programme was being broadcast live. We then went out and decided to walk at the back of the building where we eventually saw them later on to say goodbye as they were going to go to the airport to fly to Germany. Our adventure was over: Letizia, Elena and I so happy about getting so many chances to see them and talk to them!
On the 12th I went to University to take the psychology exam but unfortunately, the professor didn't let me take it due to and administration problem. After going around to try and chase down the problem, on 14th I took the exam and passed it.
Now I only have one more left to finish my degree.
Christmas is getting closer and it is time to buy prezzies for family and friends!
2007...
