hira: new neighborhoods and rediscovering discovering.

current location: la scuola--post conversation session with some italian students.

in accordance with my newfound rules to get myself out of this rut, i have been spending as little time in my apartment as possible...despite the cold weather and darkness. it instantly lifts my mood to get out and walk new streets, old streets, discovering new things and new people.

daniele showed me parts of his neighborhood a few days ago--apertivo at a new place, dawan bar. while we waited, he showed me a bar a few streets down that was so funky--decorated well with flags, random photos, and a disheveled arrangement of tables. i liked it so much that i went back the next day with my roommate summer--this time, being sure to document it so you can see how different it was:

a funky bar--unique lighting fixtures, excellent music, and diverse seating options

food that comes with your drink of choice--breads, pastas, vegetables, salamis--all delicious

summer. our seats by the window--complete with zebra tables and magenta-boxed seats

evening walks down via po to piazza vittorio are, if possible, even prettier these nights--dozens of light fixtures and decoration spattered across the streets, lighting up the beautiful churches along the road.

my weekends start here on thursday afternoon--with no class on friday, i like to spend the first half of my fridays going to the grocery store, the gym, and doing other miscellaneous errands (errr, i still have to go get my glasses fixed. talk about lazy). the gym that i joined is called Jumping Jack--upon simona's suggestion, summer and i got month-by-month memberships for the remainder of our time in italy. i finally remembered to bring my camera to the gym, and thankfully, there were not that many people there on an early friday afternoon--so i didn't feel like too creepy snapping photos of the facilities:

standing at the bus stop--typical of my days. almost too typical.

madama cristina--i never, ever see girls out in public while wearing their workout clothes--they always change at the gym. how cumbersome. quite similar to your law school situation--its only slightly awkward.

my grand selection of cardio equipment--two ellipticals and three treadmills.

some stray resistance bands

weight machines. clearly this gym is male-dominated, judging from the weights to cardio machine ratio

this is the selection of free weights for the women, placed upstairs in the group exercise room for use during fitness classes. makes our mountain YMCA seem like celebrity-status.

shots of our group exercise room: good lighting. colorful walls. unfortunately no classes like yoga and kickboxing--but they have body pump, body shape, GAG (glutes, abs, and something else that begins with a 'G')

well. im off to la cena. buon weekend :)