nostalgia wednesdays: i dolomiti

Yep, it's back, people. The Italy-nostalgia has reclaimed its rightful place in my (sub)conscious. It's all because Italy was one of the open house embassies my friend and I visited last weekend. In all of the general hecticness of working and happy hour-ing, and the specific hecticness of homebuying, I forgot just how acutely I miss Italy. But as I walked in to that embassy and heard Italian swirling around me, it hit me all over again. Today, I'm facing the imminent reality of closing on my apartment finally (well, that is if something else doesn't go wrong). I'm not much of a commitment phobe, but the gravity of this event is suddenly pressing down on me pretty firmly, sparking that urge to escape the sometimes oppressive pace of life in DC.

While that will likely come in the form of a quick trip home for my birthday, I found myself daydreaming of a trip five (five?!) years ago that a housemate and I took to the Dolomites in Italy. Venice, much like DC, can be a little heavy on the claustrophobia and light on the nature, and in the middle of our semester in the city, we were ready to see trees. Lots of trees.

I won't belabor the finer points of the trip. You can read all about them here if you're curious. All I'll say is that I'd give a whole lot to be back there on that mountain having a picnic of bread, cheese, and meat, and frolicking around like lunatics (I kid you not, we frolicked in a field...there is photographic evidence below).

mountainous picnic

I made my housemate frolic first. I was a little hesitant about the whole idea, and thought I'd feel and look ridiculous. Turns out I did, in fact, look pretty ridiculous, but I felt awesome.