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Italian adventure

a travel blog by katieandboo


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fam

Pozzuoli, Italy

Had the best time with the family these past couple weeks. Was able to meet each of them at the airport when they arrived. First came mom and we quickly went out on the town walking around trying pizza and gelato. Then we went to Capri for the day which was absolutely beautiful! We had so much fun that day even though we were unable to rent the scooters we wanted we still got around to everything. We also found the cutest restaurant for lunch off the beaten path which was very good, lil family run place.
Then in time for easter arrived mike, we quickly hoped a train up to Siena where we spent easter evening and dinner with out friend Chiara. The next day we walked around Siena went up in the Duomo and Chiara was giving us lots of History lessons about the city. Had lunch with her mom which was of course delicious, then headed out to San Gargano which is a really cool open church, also got to see the true sword in the stone!! Came back had another nice meal with Chiaras mom then returned home for our early train the next day.
I had practice that night so mike and my mom slaved away in the kitchen making chickens flattened and stuffed with cheese and mushroom rolled in prosciutto along with side salads and bread. My housemates and some friends that came over loved it! Oh they also made zucchini patties which are my fav!
Next day arrived my dad, and again we were quickly back out to do some walking around. Took the whole family to my favorite pizzeria for lunch, and they all seemed to enjoy it. Although we had rain most of the time we still got out and saw the sights. The biggest sight seeing days were sat and sun and mon. Sat we went and saw herrcaleum in the rain but it was still really cool. Sunday after my game we headed down to sorrento and positano. Thankfully once we got to positano the rain stopped and it ended up being beautiful for us. Monday we got no rain in the morning as we walked around in Sorrento then just as we were leaving the rain started. Then sadly the fun had to end and they left tuesday morning back for the states.
All in all it was a great time having its ups and downs, as most family dynamics do, but really just a good trip!

ill keep posting more pics too

permalink written by  katieandboo on April 18, 2012 from Pozzuoli, Italy
from the travel blog: Italian adventure
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mix

Naples, Italy

ok so these past two weeks have really been a mix of emotions. Last week we found out my roommates mom died and all went to the funeral...it was super sad she was the coolest lady always made us call her momma. We all then dedicated our game last saturday to her. We wore t-shirts did a moment of silence, and I wrote my housemates name on my hand(its a thing I do but signifies importance). We won the game which also secured our first place spot so now we are champions of our league and the team will be promoted to serie a1.
The said, now the fun part of the last week. After the game we went out dancing because we won and also because it was one girls birthday. Met up with a teammate and her "uncle" at a club. So don't wanna make anyone worried but that uncle was def mafia. Found out a little later in the night from one of my housemates. He was really cool though we got everything for free of course, entrance drinks, basically anything we wanted. Had a sick BMW Mike would love, super fast. We were supposed to all go to Capri with them yesterday but decided one mafia experience was enough.
These past two weeks really bonded with my of my housemates we talked a lot more and learned more about eachother, so that has been nice feeling a connection. So monday her, Roby, and I went with our asst. coach to her little girls game then to her house where she made us a delicious meal. Was linguine with whole shrimps, and it was soo delicious! We got home late which was a bummer because both Roby and I had school the next day and both of us were late getting out the door. Wednesday Roby, silvia and our friend VIve all went out in the morning and some bfast and betted on some soccer games. Then silvia roby and I went to our coaches for lunch. Had pasta pieces of pizza bruschetta type of steak then strawberries, oh man were we stuffed. He has a lil boy who is 3 so I played with him a bunch and then we watched some soccer games and played playstation. Then the three of us had to go to an event, kind of promo for the team. TO a water polo match then to a theater where they were doing a tv broadcast. The night didn't end till 11:30...then since no one had had dinner one of our presidents took us out to a restaurant, where we were there till 2:30. Thursday was chill just ran and went to class then we hung out at the basketball girls house.
oh and friday we had to go to another promo event. It was for a cruise line which I think could be a possible sponsor for next year. Was some conference but basically we were there for 30 min ate some cake took some pics then went home. All of us laid out after since spring has come back after two weeks of storms. All in all a good week, today is just a low key day as tomorrow we travel for a game.
hope all is well back home

permalink written by  katieandboo on April 28, 2012 from Naples, Italy
from the travel blog: Italian adventure
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League champs!!

Naples, Italy

so the past three weekends we had two league games which ended our season putting us in first place, league champs, going undefeated!! We are now under tough training schedule getting ready for the Italian cup semi-final against the best team in Italy. We have been playing mens teams for the past three weeks every thursday and saturday. We also had a game on a friday and played against ex seria A players...needless to say that game was a lot of fun because these guys were just so smart on and off the ball, limited themselves from over working. We have done a couple double days so peoples legs are very heavy for saturdays games. Which gives me a lot of action. Also because the boys here are a lot better at younger ages....so even though we are playing U-17 and u-19 teams they are very strong, much stronger than those ages in the states, kinda cool to see.
Lets see went out with my housemates saturday didn't get home till 5am it was a lot of fun. After we left the club we went to get some food and got croissants with whatever you wanted melted inside. I got nutella and these cookies, my housemate got a bueno bar (italian choc and milk bar) and my other friend got a kitkat inside. Needless to say these were delicious and great after dancing.
We also had a big dinner at our house the other night. Pasta with shrimp and zucchini made by my assistant coach who is a phenomenal cook!! It was only 2 euros a head!
Oh and everyone is in a huge penny pinch because the club has missed on pay checks, which is another reason we just made dinner at the house. Keep walking around saying "c'รจ crisi" I can't share my shampoo or cant go out.
Oh went with my housemate to hair school and she died it a lilttle darker to get rid of my blonde streaks from the sun. That was fun even though it took about 4 hours. Have been spending a lot of time with Roby and Silvia has made things better because I feel like they are my real friends and they know me the best...when I get too hungry they know!
Oh also have found a great fruit truck at the bottom of my hill have been getting really good fresh strawberries melons apples oranges and pineapple! For the most part pretty good price and def cheaper than in the grocery store!

Think thats all for now, in my last few weeks here I will try to write once or twice a week so I can share the last precious days in my dream with all of you.

much love

permalink written by  katieandboo on May 16, 2012 from Naples, Italy
from the travel blog: Italian adventure
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Happy birthday Dad!

Pozzuoli, Italy

Can't remember if I have mentioned but we have been scrimmaging against mens teams to get ready for our big game this coming saturday. We had a scrimmage thursday and sunday. We lost both, but sunday was awful! Lets just say 3/4's of the goals were 1v1s one was a PK and the other tried clearing a ball, that hit my player and the attacker scored. Was a bad day for me needless to say. But it wasn't all bad. Saturday I had gone with two housemates and a few teammates to this little rock beach area in Bacoli. We had to wade across the inlet to get to some rocks to lay on. The few was awesome, there was also a wedding going on up above, we got to watch the bride and groom come in on boat then climb the stairs. The only problem was that it was windy, so half the time I had a sweatshirt on. BUt it was still fun hanging out talking and eating some delicious italian sandwiches.
Sunday wasn't all bad, after the game a few of us went to a place in Bacoli to have a little snack and appertive. My asst coach and i got prosecco with strawberries then I had a cannoli :/
Since the big coppa italia was that night we decided to just go back to our asst coaches house(which was around the corner) hang out and watch a movie until the game that night. I ended up going for a walk after watching two movies...The head gets really tired focusing that long in another language. When I got back it was time to go get some food so we could watch the big game. I got this chicken steak which is like a philly cheese steak just chicken...very good!
Watching the game was a lot of fun because the house was divided half were Juve fans and the other Napoli fans. Oh and other 4 teammates showed up for the game. Needless to say the greater team won (Napoli)!!!
On the way back to the house Neopolitans were out in celebration...people were in the streets chanting Napoli songs or driving in their cars with banners and flags hanging out their windows!! Very cool experience, they truly are a part of their teams.
Oh last week tried to be working out hard and keeping right on my diet buttt...needless to say i can't give up the sweets. I had been working out everyday, mostly twice a day. Just keep giving into the ice cream or other delicious italian delights! Getting super excited for the game this saturday, also super nervous. A team we tied 1-1 they beat 11-0, although I know whatever happens happens, it would still be cool to do really well against them.
Alright I should get to some studying...Oh and I want to wish the coolest dad in the whole world a happy birthday!!! HOpe you really have a great day and do something good for yourself!!
love you

permalink written by  katieandboo on May 21, 2012 from Pozzuoli, Italy
from the travel blog: Italian adventure
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Final

Naples, Italy


celebration
Ok so haven't really had internet so haven't been able to update. But what an exciting week this has been.
First went to my favorite lil fruit truck got apples strawberries and really good cherry tomatoes oh and cherries all for 3.5 euros.
Tuesday our housemate re-arrived(since shes been at home since her mom passed) and since maria was back we were planning a good dinner for her. After practice we made pasta with clams and oysters it was soo freaking good! We had about 8 people at our house all this week, so its been a little hectic with food. We ate a good dinner then made a little strawberry banana salad with lemon and sugar for dessert then of course talked.
Wednesday after we had a tough practice we had a pretty light dinner because we needed to go grocery shopping(and with 8 its tough to feed) but then we went out to a popular spot in Naples to have a little dessert. I got tronky gelato which is a candy bar turned into gelato. Its a hazelnut chocolate crunchy bar and turned into gelato is to die for!!! Others got gelato fruit and one got a brioches with gelato...kinda strange.
Thursday on our way back from prac found a little little puppy outside our house all by itself. So being a dog lover i took it to our house. My housemate thought its maybe 4 weeks old and it had insect things on it that i had to remove. After about 40 min or using alcohol to remove these things the girls let me bring her in the house. She was so cute but so scared, so we made a little bed for her to lay in and tried to feed her some milk or water. She drank a little bit of milk which was good and then I took her to bed with me. SLept most the night just woke up 3 times to pee and cuz it was lonely probably.

meeting the mayor
Friday we had to go to an event so we had to leave her at the house but I made a little barrier for her with milk water and place to pee. She drank some milk before we left so that made us feel better. Oh and this even was us meeting the mayor!! I'll find the pics and post them later. BUt he was acknoleding us for our undefeated season and playing against torres in the semifinal of the italian cup. We took pictures he gave us medals and was basically done in 15 min. But it was really cool to meet the Mayor made ya feel special.
Saturday was the big day and boy were they a good team. You could def see why they were the three time champion of Italy! After the first half it was 1-0 so we were doing pretty well considering their average against teams this year was 4-0. Second half became 2-0 then we got a pk which my player missed but then few min later scored making it 2-1 I made a bunch of saves some super important some just normal. Then in extra time we scored again to tie it up 2-2 going straight into penalty kicks. After our team had made 7 in a row I stopped the other teams 7 for us to beat Torres and advance us onto the Final!! It was such a crazy game needless to say lots of emotion and what and experience. That night we went out to dinner to celebrate so that was a lot of fun, also our president gave us a little bonus for winning such a big game.
Yesterday, sunday, a few of us rented a boat and went out on the water for the day. We got some sandwiches and just hung out talking got gelato swam a bit and tanned. all in all one great week with a lot of good memories!!

permalink written by  katieandboo on May 28, 2012 from Naples, Italy
from the travel blog: Italian adventure
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rolling

Naples, Italy

its been a pretty good week. Monday to celebrate memorial day I went to the base because they were having a big feast, also to celebrate a friends bday, and I ate wayyy to much. Ate lots bufula caprese salad cateloupe and prosciutto then phillipeano dishes and three kinds of dessert!! We just watched some movies and hung out since it was raining.
Tuesday John, the dad, and I went to the gym and worked out. After they took me back home where I quickly had to go to the grocery store because there was nothing in the house. Went to my fav fruit stand got an amazing cateloupe, super sweet and juicy, along with delicious strawberries and bananas. Oh and really flavorful cherry tomatoes, gotta say i love my lil stand. Then we kinda hung until practice, Maria arrived back at the house. So after practice we had a dinner consisting of 8, they all ate pasta roby and i had chicken and salad.
Wednesday was super chill worked out a little in the morning we all hung out talked had a late lunch, I reheated/recreated left over pasta which i thought was better than the night before. Then after prac the magic happened. Our vice president decided to take 11 of us out to dinner and boy was it nice! You arrive and there are 3 people to great you then you get in an elevator going down where there are 3 more girls to great and seat you. This restaurant was in Possillipo which is a very nice richy area so you get out the elevator there are gorgeous view and grass which big umbrellas white lounge seating for the bar area and tables in the back..all outside. We sat down and quickly we had two waiters waiting on us hand and foot, if we wanted something we got it. Water sparkling and not arrived first, then a red Bordeaux and white wine don't remember which but delicious. All of us chose the fish menu which consisted of...appetizer squid lightly seasoned with maybe a vinegar lemon parsley, delicious, then mini shrimps also lemon maybe balsamic, very light very delicious, and something in kind of a zucchine purre with thin strips of zucchin kinda flash fried. FIrst course was risotto with shrimp and lemon, oh so very very good...but my fav was the second some sort of white fish, im guessing halibut or halibut family, quinoia withcarrots and celery. but they bring out the whole fish and serve it up on each plate, this fish was huge. Oh also was so fancy that you have a big bottom plate and they just keep changing the top plate. got two diff plates for appetizers then removed brought first so on and so on. then dessert was some nasty white thing so I asked for strawberries. Pretty sure someone said it was about 50 euro a head. Quite the experience because everyone knew him and would come up say hi, as we all sit in casual clothes at this fancy reserved table. Then returned home by 1am a 2.5 hr dinner, although on the way home the moon was beautiful kind of a yellow glow with the shaded spots very visual.
Today, thursday, I had my last day at school which I am relieved and a lil sad because it really means this magical time is coming to an end. Had lunch with Roby and lisa shot the shit now resting for prac. Tonight about 12 of us are supposed to go to Profs(our fitness coach) house for dinner. So I am sure it will be another magical night filled with good memories.

permalink written by  katieandboo on May 31, 2012 from Naples, Italy
from the travel blog: Italian adventure
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heart break

Naples, Italy


the final
oh the emotion...well I will start by saying we lost in the finals 3-2 in double over time! Now lets recap
thursday night was fun pretty quick, we showed up their was food on the table, all homemade specialties including meatballs!! We hung around for 1.5hrs before returning home to prepare everything for departure.
Friday morning we loaded on the bus and headed towards Rome to Ostia. After arriving at our hotel we quickly had lunch and headed to the practice field. The field was brutal, artificial turf lots of bad spots and it was windy. We were by the water. It was cool to watch in the background trick planes were practicing for the next days events, the republican holiday(kinda like the 4th). The rest of Friday was chill had din watched the mens national team lose to Russia then hit the hay.
Sat the normal pregame routine then to the field in our new kit that said coppa finale on it. As we arrived buses of our fans were arriving as well, walking onto the field they were chanting with flares and flags flying! All the emotion standing in line with the cup standing between you and the other team, you could feel the tension and everybody wanting the battle to begin. And oh what a battle they would score then we would quickly rebuttle. There must have been ten yellow cards between the two teams along with two reds in the over time period. Fouls were being called constantly because everyone wanted to win so bad.
Needless to say they won and we were destroyed. Emotionally physically the girls just collapsed where they were, tears streaming out of so many's eyes. We all came together hugging trying to keep it together, because in reality what we accomplished was huge, a serie a2 team in the final first beating the best team in Italy and coming close to winning. But when your so close you can taste it those words don't mean much. I held it together think mainly because i was in shock trying to wrap my head around the fact that this was my last professional game(unless some great offer appears ;) ). I can't deny, what a way to go out, but still, losing is never easy. It was also cool that even though we lost our fans were still cheering and chanting for us, trying to help lift the heads, let us know they were still proud!
Today i couldn't sleep so I jogged over to my favorite spot for a cappuccino and choc croissant then to my fruit stand where i got 6 peaches 5 oranges 4 bananas and a kilo of cherry tomatoes for 5 euro!!! by the time I got back everyone was up so we split up and headed out on the town. my group went towards downtown where we got fruit and walked along the water. Then we met the other group for lunch, i had grilled octopus and it was delicious! We were waiting around because maria was heading back to her home so they wanted to say their goodbyes! At 5pm we dropped her off and headed back home. It was a beautiful day out on the town very very hot tho.

permalink written by  katieandboo on June 3, 2012 from Naples, Italy
from the travel blog: Italian adventure
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busy week

Naples, Italy

oh man what an awesome, but busy, week this has been! So Monday morning I hoped on the train to Marias house in Carosino, near Taranto. After four hours of travel arrived to Maria and her cute niece martina, 2. We headed back to her house where food was already being prepared, started with mussels cooked in a lil white win pepper and parsley, delicious. Then we had pasta with mussels, also delicious, kinda like a spaghetti vongole minus the clams. Had some local win some cheese fruit and a little eggplant parm! It was awesome because the whole family was there for lunch minus the older sister, but one sister kid aunt dad and me. Then after we watched our coppa italia final on tv because they were broadcasting it on the sport channel! Was nerve racking but cool at the same time. Dinner the husbands of the sisters both sister and the 3 kids all came over for dinner and we had some sort of meat and vegtables with crostata for dessert! They own their own restaurant so monday we ate all the left over stuff so it didn't go to waste, and let me tell you they can cook!!! I played with martina a bunch talked with everybody and we just kinda hung out, also sharing stories about her mom and how awesome a cook she was.
Then tuesday maria took me for a little tour of her area, taranto and the sea! The color of the ocean was sooo pretty, a very clear blue! We proceeded to walk around taranto center check out the castle on the water and ate lunch before she dropped me at the train station. It was awesome to be apart of their very close bonded family, fit right in. Once i got back to Agnano I quickly packed and was picked up to go to the american base. Was gonna be my farewell day/night with them.
Woke up wednesday at 6am to go workout so that by 8am we could go to the market! This outdoor market was not only huge but a little stressful, people everywhere things in piles...but it was cool I got a few good things super cheap! After we were at the market for about 3 hrs we headed for lunch then picked up a few things at the mall for her daughter. I then barely made it to the post office to mail off a box of my stuff. Caught the train back to Agnano where i ate din with my housemates at we went to our teammates 18th bday party.
Thursday I woke up and went for a quick run then headed to Ricigliano, the town of my mothers heritage! I was a little nervous to go and meet these family members because they only speak Italian and was worried if my italian would be good enough. But needless to say i am soooo glad i went. After 2.5hrs, getting lost a few times, i found my way to a cute little town. Also after winding on small back roads up and down mountain sides and through vineyards! Immediately upon arriving they embraced me with a big hug and lots of kisses, saying how tall i was and how amazing this was that we were able to meet! Thankfully i made it just in time for lunch and it was delicious. We had pasta with sauce and asparagus, a lil spicy, had salami, fresh cheese(ricotta and mozzarella), bread, wine, tomatoes in oil and herbs, then a digestive drink and limoncello(both of which were homemade). The other cool thing is that they have their own vineyard and make their own oil so the wine and olive oil were theirs and it was delicious!!! We just talked the whole lunch about how i was in italy how i liked it how we were related a little about my family and a little about theirs. Also the grandma was there who was 91, and while maria(the daughter) was preparing lunch the gma and i were talking and she just kept kissing me and crying a little because she was so excited, saying how amazing this was. It truly was an amazing experience, I have been wanting to go meet them for a very long time, has been a dream, so I am really glad i was able to make it happen, and that my italian was good enough. The area was beautiful basically between two mountains, green all around, great panorama! They had a pretty big house and a little garden in the back where they also grow a lot of other stuff, just to eat at the house. sadly after lunch and coffee i had to head back to napoli for practice, we decided i for sure need to come back and stay longer so they can show me other parts of the area. So I can't wait to return and learn more :)
After practice we went out with our president for dinner and had mainly a lot of antipasta things, of the sea, and pasta zucchini and shrimp and gnocchi with mussels. It was delicious of course so was tiramisu we ate! After our 3 hour dinner the president kinda drug us to a club, most of us wanted to go home but felt bad so we went. It was of course very exclusive had to be on a list, but we walked right in. Was an outdoor club so thankfully it was warm out. Ended up being pretty fun, he ordered table service and we all just danced and made a fool of ourselves. At about 3:30 people were crashing so he paid the tab and we headed home!
Friday myself and two housemates went to this cute spot on the ocean where we just swam and layed out enjoying the view and company! Now I am getting ready to go to dinner with my teacher from school, a last hoorah! Then I think we may be going out! Needless to say this a week of minimal sleep, which i figure i can catch up on on the plane :)
pictures to follow

permalink written by  katieandboo on June 8, 2012 from Naples, Italy
from the travel blog: Italian adventure
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All over

Naples, Italy

Although I am finally home I figured I needed to write up a conclusion.
Sat and sun were very chill days, was cloudy so we just went around town getting last min things. Sunday I couldn't sleep so went for a jog out to breakfast. Had a cappuccino and choc croissant which we're perfect! Then later walked along the water and had my favorite gelato before watching the Italy vs Spain game with my housemates. After that we met up with some friends for a final dinner which,although it was fun, I didn't get home till 1:30am. Was very emotional saying good bye to them some even wrote me little letters that were so touching, I am really going to miss them. Living that close for so long spending most of your waking hours together, you really get bonded. Two hours later I woke up to head for my plane and headed back to the great state of Washington.
I gotta say being in the airport, even being back here I still can't believe
this all happened. Sometimes I just think did I dream that, was I really in Italy? Thankfully it was a reality, I do know how to speak Italian, I did play in big games, I did meet Italian family members, and most importantly I conquered a dream! Although it wasn't easy, I came across many obstacles, people saying "playing there is impossible" and that meeting family would be too difficult. But, a little determination, hardwork, and the amazing support from my family, I did it all! I am so grateful for all the amazing people and friends I made along the way, the amazing foods I got to taste and the incredible places I got to see! Italy, along with all the other places I have been, has taught me so many things. Through all the ups and downs there was always a lesson and a growth to be made, and thankfully it all ended positively. I couldn't have asked for a better season to call my last.
That old saying of "never give up on your dreams" really has new meaning. Because once you accomplish them you really feel like you can do anything. "The harder the conflict the greater the victory will be" -Thomas Paine
cant wait to see what the next stage of life has to bring!
so long for now and thanks for following!



permalink written by  katieandboo on June 13, 2012 from Naples, Italy
from the travel blog: Italian adventure
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