Danielle in North Dakota.

Here I am, back in America. I'm typing this entry at 5am because thats the time my internal clock tells me to get up each morning now. I've never had this much trouble with jet lag before! I can only imagine it's because I was away for such a long period of time and to top it off I've been having some serious allergy issues since I returned to peace garden state (or flickertale state or roughrider state-depending on preference. Seriously, how does ND get off with three nicknames?!). Between the jet lag, a sniffly nose, and itchy eyes good sleep is hard to come by. Obviously, the only solution is that I must return to Ireland immediately. Afterall, it's 11am there and I wouldn't be the only one awake!

Classes start again tomorrow. I still haven't completely set my schedule. I'm hoping that I'll be able to take Human Rights Law, but I need approval from the Dean because I took a similar class in Ireland. If they decide that they are too similar I will be stuck with International Law. Aside from that I will have Clinic, Moot Court Board, and ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act). Between my classes, the LWC presidency, and the Moot Court Competition it is going to be a rather busy semester. At least Moot Court will be over the first week of October. I also have the Malpractice Bowl coming up as well. For my non-law school blog readers, the Malpractice Bowl is a friendly (or often not-so-friendly) game of flag football between the UND Law School and UND Med School. It is quite the event and last year we added a powderpuff game to the agenda. It is a ton of fun, though right now the thought of starting practices is a little stressful. That's okay, it will be worth it to beat the Med school. The schools pull pranks on eachother the week leading up to the Malpractice Bowl. It is very fun. We leave the pranking up to the One L's. This, too, will be over in just a few weeks. So all in all, it looks like I just have to survive until mid-October, lol.

That is about as exciting as it gets around here. Back to work....I will be sure to post again when I have something post-worthy to write about, but if I disappear for a month you'll understand why!

Bella Toscana

I wrote this last week in Italy. Sorry for posting it so late!

I’m currently on the train from Florence to Assisi and am feeling inspired to write about the breathtaking scenery outside my window. There is a man playing the accordion in my train car- seriously. Welcome to Italy! Fields of sunflowers sprawl throughout the valleys. Mountains, worn and green yellow with age, surround us on all sides creating valleys in which small villages have settled. The houses and villas are grouped together, their terracotta roofs create a sea of orange in each of these valleys and a few more dot along the mountain side. At this point we’re actually in the region of Umbria and not Tuscany, but it is equal in its beauty.

Florence was nothing short of amazing…too beautiful for words actually, but I’ll try and write some anyway. Yesterday, Betsy and I went on a wine tour into the country side in the Chianti region- conveniently, a favorite wine of both Betsy and mine. They took us to an old private castle, one that was once owned by the Pazzi family whose wealth was rivaled and surpassed only by the ancient and powerful Medici family who ruled Florence for hundreds of years. There, tucked in the hills of the Tuscan countryside, we tasted a chardonnay and two Chianti varietals- one of which was made completely of Sangiovese grapes (usually wine makers add 10-20% merlot or other grape varietal in order to make the wine more “elegant” tasting and easier to sell. However, to be called a “Chianti” is must consist of at least 80% Sangiovese grape). The wine was served with a variety of Tuscan antipastos (appetizers) and was fabulous. I liked all of the antipasto including the Bruschetta (what Tuscany is known for), bread served with their own olive oil, as well as regional cheese and meat. I did not, however, care for the liver pate.

As I mentioned, they also produce olive oil and have a total of 10,000 olive trees. Each tree produces only one bottle of oil. They make some of the finest oil in Italy. I bought three bottles, so I guess you could say I bought three trees worth of oil. I never realized there was so much to learn about olive oil! Here they explained that if the olives are pressed once it is “extra virgin olive oil,” if pressed twice it creates “olive oil,” and if pressed again, “motor oil.” Ha ha. There are all types of things to account for in choosing a good olive oil but mostly make sure it is “extra virgin” and also check its acidity level-the lower the better.

So far Tuscanny is by far my favorite part of Italy...

Danielle in Florence.

Firenze! It's even more beautiful than I imagined. Betsy took this pic of me today. We are on the cupola of the famous Duomo. The city of Florence (Firenze) sprawls out underneath us and is hugged by mountains on all sides. Tomorrow we will do our wine tasting tour- very excited for some vino!

Danielle living la dolce vita

I am writing this entry of don’t doubt danielle in a Word document to be posted later, as I have no internet here. The setting is striking and I must share it with you. I am currently in Venice, “Venezia.” Betsy and I splurged here and got a hotel which with its last minute rate is actually priced comparatively with most hostels. It is called Hotel Gabbo. Our room is sweet and charmingly Italian from its hard tiled floors to its large armoire and of course, tiny little bathroom. Any bathroom in Italy is considered a luxury. The most wonderful part of all, however, is this tiny little terrace-it is from here that I write this post. It is a very small rectangle with terracotta tiling and planters filled with red geraniums. A soft white curtain billows in the doorway dancing in a cool breeze I have not felt and have desperately longed for since arriving in this country. I am seated at the tiniest of wooden tables. A glass of red wine (Vino rosso-a regional Chianti actually) along with its classic Italian style bottle. We do not overlook anything special- in fact the view is as plain as ever, but it doesn’t matter b/c its our terrace! Church bells chime off every hour making the whole scene even more movie like.

Venice is amazingly beautiful leaving me longing to take a picture with every turn. There is water everywhere with tons of bridges, boats, and of course, gondolas. I don’t think I’ll have an opportunity to ride in one as they are very expensive (starting at about 80Euro and rising as evening approaches), but I will still admire them from afar. Soon, Betsy and I will take off for dinner. We hope to find a place that is not so tourist orientated, but that is difficult to do in this small town. We have been taking it easy here after three days of power sight seeing in the capital city. I love it here and though crowded, it is not nearly as hot or crowded as Rome. Tomorrow we leave for Florence.

Rome was of course amazing though incredibly hot and dirty. If I had written my post from Rome it would have been entitled “Dirty Danielle” as I was literally covered in dirt from head to toe by the end of each day touring. The heat created loads of dust-I don’t remember seeing smears of dirt on my legs like I did there since I was a little kid! In Rome we had a wonderful holiday and still have a list of things to do when we return at the end. We stayed at a placed called The Beehive which was incredibly clean, comfortable, and friendly. It is run by a couple from L.A. who moved to Rome several years ago. It is very hippy-esque, but very charming indeed. Some of the things we saw in Rome include The Sistine Chapel, The Vatican, St. Peter’s Square, the Roman Forum, the Collosseum, the cat sanctuary, the Spanish steps, the Palentine, and many more. The amazing thing about Rome is that everywhere you turn you run into something else beautiful and old! The only major problem we had there was the heat! I’ve never experienced such heat in my life and I don’t know when I last consumed that much water! I am happy to be in the slightly milder temperature of Venice at the moment.

Well, a baby has started crying somewhere down below our terrace- “quiet baby, you’re ruining my terrace!” I want to shout, but I won’t. Besides I doubt he understands English anyway =). Will post again soon!