the end is the beginning is the end,

I graduated, yes I did. Hooray!!!

I'm a winner, I'm a sinner, do you want my autograph?

Yes, this is the face of a fully-fledged interpreter!
It's taken me a while to realise, but I've made it, I've finished university and passed my finals with flying colours, which I really didn't expect.
I had my finals on Monday morning, it was unbelievably tough.
It took me 3 hours to go through the 9 bits I had to complete, and between one bit and the next there was a bunch of minutes of painful, excruciating wait.
But I was tougher than them, I guess. I just switched to war-machine-mode and did what needed to be done.
And I got my masters, and I am so dreadfully relieved.
And life only starts now, and of course, the best is yet to come.

bye bye 2008

And eventually we've made it through to 2009. 2009 is an odd number, and odd numbers are my lucky ones. I was born on an odd day of an odd month of an odd year and as a result I'm probably sort of odd too. And I'm proud to be.
I won't write down my new year's resolutions, basically because I've got none. I've grown out of the habit of making new year's resolutions because I am not good enough and I can't keep my promises.
What I will do is mention the highlights of this past year, because it's been a year of change and it's brought me a lot more than I could expect and imagine.

The highlights of my 2008, in no special order:

1) Singing along with Deep Purple to "Hush" (my favourite song by them) as the crowd was literally tearing down the cathedral square in Pistoia. Sitting on a step, a pint of lager in my hands. Just perfect. I would say it's been the highlight of Pistoia Blues 2008 to me, closely followed by touching Lenny Kravitz though.

2) The Pumpkins' gig back in February... so surreal.

3) Germany, each and every second I spent there, the people I met there, the pics I've taken, the laughter, the tears, my rented bike, the students' dorm. And the list could go on.

4) Travelling on my own, seeing Gea and Dawn again, seeing new places and having lots of fun

5) Deciding to move in with the BF this year and starting the flat renovations.

6) Being awarded the uni prize for the best student of last year. So unexpected and right in time to boost my self-esteem that was definitely going down the drain

7) my first real job at a conference :)

Back from Holland :'(

This picture says a lot more than you can imagine about the weekend I've spent (sigh) in Holland... I wish I was still there!
I really enjoyed being with Gea, we hadn't seen each other in 4 years (omg!) and it was great to dry my throat off from too much chitchat :) and to be her "living dictionary" yesterday in Germany!
Aachen is so cute, there are many more shops than I could imagine LOL...

Highlights of the weekend:
-il Finocchio! (che ha molti più significati di quanto possa sembrare)
-la parte buona e la parte cattiva dell'ostello
-la mia tuta di pile coi cuoricini (a seguire le foto sullo spazio picasa di Gea)
-i miei capelli che non stanno più a posto ora che li ho tagliati
-l'omino ciccione e cattivo
-la bustina dei liquidi da portare nel bagaglio a mano
-Gea che è entrata nel tunnel dei prodotti Bebe per colpa del meraviglioso burrocacao
-io che volevo farle comprare la cremina per il culo dei neonati come crema da viso
-l'argento dorato (che pidocchi!)
-il femore di Carlo Magno che a dispetto del nome sarà stato alto si e no un metro e 20
-i biscottini italiani e olandesi (e quelli tedeschi con l'ostia e la frutta che hanno poche calorie)
-and so on and so forth...

bring the light.

I saw the Smashing Pumpkins live yesterday... I'd been waiting for this moment for ages... I mean, 10 years is almost half of my entire life and that's how long I'd been waiting to see them on stage.
I knew I would love it right from the very start... and I wasn't wrong. It was awesome, I lost myself in the music and kept singing along, and burst out in tears -happy tears!- when I heard the first bit of "tonight tonight" which is possibly my favourite song from the pumpkins.
Needless to say I'm voiceless today, but wearing my SP european tour t-shirt with pride and with their awesome music in my ears...

hooray!

And happy birthday to me :)
And congrats to me on my graduation day :) LOL

It was brilliant. And I'm happy *my*people were there, the ones I care for. I hope I've made you proud, and I want you all to know you made my day :)
I know the picture is blurred, nothing but a snapshot, yet it means the world to me (shot by my mum right after my graduation, with my friends Laura, Alice, Francesca, Ricky & Marco)

(110 e lode. Finalmente dottoressa!)

countdown: -4

Here's my "baby". It's taken me ages to write it... but I am so proud :)

10 more days till freedom!

I can't believe I've made it, in the end.
My dissertation lies there to be printed out and shaped up in little books with a bright colour cover and my name printed on them, and to be presented in front of a dull, boring examining board where nobody is going to care about what I am saying. Anyway.
And yeh, it feels exactly as good as everyone had told me before. I cried a bit whilst I was writing the special thanks page, but I am happy. Still a bit nervous, but a bit more relieved.
And I can't wait it's next summer... I want a proper destructive summer abroad, I want to work and learn and laugh and meet new friends and meet old ones again and have fun and drink beer and dance my socks off till the wee small hours of the morning...

(Soundtrack: Start me up - The Rolling Stones)

Little Queenie of the Booth

{Soundtrack: Limp Bizkit- Hold on}

Second week of introductory courses is now gone. Yay, we're having a long weekend because tomorrow's classes were called off. What is a bit less pleasant is that this is most certainly going to be the last bit of free time we're getting until June, apart from Easter and Christmas of course. This implies I'll have to try and do things like going to the hairdresser's or go and look for the outfit for my graduation (still planned for November) and hopefully find it... unless I want to show up in torn jeans, purple Dr Martens and my beloved Jamiroquai t-shirt. Well, whatever. Happiness is what truly counts, and the feeling I'm learning a bit every day is as rewarding as shopping could never be. (and if I dare to say so, it's because it's true. *lol)
I get back knackered in the evenings and I barely have the energy to get things ready for the next day and give a last, quick look at the papers but it feels so freakin' exciting...
I got thrown in the booth along with the *CSI S. Leonardo mob* -as we love to call ourselves- and we did surprisingly well in our first proper attempt to interpret simultaneously. I was like on cloud nine and couldn't believe my ears whilst doing that thing as mechanically as I never thought I would do for the first time to begin with.
By the way I'm madly in love with the mob, they're just as crazy as I am and I've also elected my personal guru for the time being, i.e. the craziest one among all of us. We're already starting to plan a get-wasted-every-night tour for... we don't know when but what we know is that it's going to be fun ^_^. {Fra, se mai leggerai sta pagina, sappi che sei te la guru [di stamminchia, ça va sans dire]!}

really really ridiculously...happy.

{soundtrack: We are the Pipettes - (Pipettes)}

I'm feeling ridiculously happy and excited about the *brand new shiny era* of my life that is starting right now. I hadn't felt as happy, excited, proud and motivated as this year for a long time, and I'll do everything in my due power to make this feeling last... forever, or at least for as long as I can.
The first introductory class for the Master's Degree courses this afternoon blew me away... the head of department was extremely harsh towards us ('There are fifteen of you... but I can't assure everyone that they're going to reach the final exam at the end of next year.') but I appreciated her honesty and it's boosted my motivation even more, if that's ever possible.
I so feel that this is the right place for me and the right time, I just want to make the most out of it and build up the basis for my future career... and I am immensely grateful for all the additional strength and support I get on a daily basis from my family and my beloved friends. Most of them live a long way away from here, but despite that they never fail to make me feel they're there for me, no matter what happens.
I am SO indescribably happy.