JOHN IN ITALY

It has happened:

I have arrived home to Fountain Valley, California after my study aborad year in Florence, Italy. It was such a great year.. It alomst feels like it was a dream since i woke up on an airplane and suddenly being in America. It is so great to be home with my family and friends... but oh how i miss Italy so much already... i feel like it hasnt hit me yet and that im going to have a breakdown sometime soon.... AAHHH

....THE END OF AN ERA!! :( ...sono triste!!!

...but there is so much more to look forward to!!!!!! ...HOME SWEET HOME!!!!!!

Leaving ITALY on JUNE 22... WEIRD!!!

AAAHHHH!!!!!

THAT'S 4 days left of ITALY!!!

i got a job! in FLORENCE! ...here's a message i sent to sarah nugent that explains it a bit...

so i thoought i should mention this to you since you are one of the few poepl that know about it... THE PITTI UOMO...

tory's bf andrea asked me to work at the PITTI UOMO, the men's fashion expo thing ..i got a job kinda! i basically got paid to wear a tshirt around the event.!! 50 euro a day for three days... It was way to tiring to have to walking around the the hottest heat florence has seen in a whiel but it was super fun to see all the pretty people and pretty clothes... i wanted it all..

it was fun.. one of my favorite parts was this 3 sided wall that had photos of people who have been walking at the event... becuase there were photographers all over the place.. many people took photos of me! ..andrea and i were foolin around with a little game we were playing wo ever had the most photos taen AND on the wall...

today was the last day workign there so im glad its all done.. phew.. but yea i wanted to mention it to you becuase i remember you invted me to this thing at the beginning of the year! how are things??

<3 john

I am very sad right now, becuase I many people have lefted FLORENCE and headed home to the STATES. I've had to see many people drive away in their TAXIs and give a bunch of goodbye hugs. There are still quite a few people staying in Florence and I shall be here along with the other ART students. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone again.. I am just beign a big baby now.

Hello Dad,

Thank you very much for depositing the money, I appreciate it!

I am finally done with Finals! I know I made many mistakes but I am glad to be done with everything. I spent the night trying to finish a paper for Art History. All I have to do now is say my goodbyes to my friends. Most of them are leaving very soon! I now a few people are leaving on Friday! and most people have to leave on Sunday! I am sad that they have to leave at that the year is ending soon. It went by really fast!!

I will talk to you soon dad! Ciao!

Ate a fortune cookie tonight from a chinese ristorante with a fortune in ITALIAN! : "il suo destino è bello e romantico."

I have not updated in a while! What has been happening? I've had two art shows and made 3 trips to the ROSE garden. I have been sad and happy. CHECK OUT THE SHUTTERFLY.com/mrrtist21 ALOT of new photos since the spring!!!

Can you believe it? This week is finals! im working intensly on a paper for ART HISTORY... anyways, it is technically the very last week of CSU! I cannot believe how fast this year as gone by. I am really sad that it is almost over and that most of my friends are leaving. I have many regrets, but I have been too lucky to have gained and recieve so many great things this year and "tomorrow is a new day"

by the way, I might be able to fit a trip to ENGLAND before i return back to the states! we will see!! I still can't believe it's almost over!! molto triste!! <3

We have just completed our first week after spring break. It seems that the weekend is going well, I spent most of today workign on soem patings, we have an art exhibition coming soon!

Last night, CSU had a TALENT SHOW. It was very fun. People danced, sang, played guitar, poetry, monologue, and even stand-up comedy! I really wanted to dance with my friend Giannina or sing with my friend Finn, but niether worked out, but i managed to conjure up a performance anyways! I decided to paint as my talent! have you ever seen the artist who painted RAY CHARLES while ray charles music played?? well i sorta did the same thing except i painted MICK JAGGER along to ROLLING STONES MUSIC. and i tried to act like a silly guy to try to get people to laugh. I was nervous the entire time, but for seom reason, it turned out to be people's favorite act of the night! I was pretty happy that people enjoyed my performance. "very creative" ... "you were cute"... .."definitely entertaining" ..."for sure my favorite" ...."dont tell anyone, but yours was my favorite" ...."very original" ...."really good" .."i enjoyed that" ...yea i know im bragging alot about this but it just made me feel good about myself for going up on stage and making a fool of myself, especially since ive done that alot less lately.... you seem to be more fearful and nervuos as you get older in some cases.

well anyways, this was my inspiration for my act:



...i believe people have taped my performance. THAT WILL BE SEEN VERY SOON! ...by the way... did you notice i dont have a beard anymore??

Yes, MIDTERMS are finally over and now i am enjoying SPRING BREAK during my year abroad. Its tuesday morning now and I have so far been really enjoying my SPRING BREAK. I dont have the opportunity to travel to other countries like most of the people in my program are, but i am having a great time thus far... I am just having a great time without the worries of school and just having a good time with friends.

I spent SATURDAY with my new obsession: MADELEINE COOKIES!! ...I have been wanting to make those for a long time now and I have been making huge portions of them! ...and according to everyone... THEY ARE A SUCCESS!! people love them! wait until YOU have one...

Sunday was EASTER sunday and I got the chance to see THE EXPLOSION of the FIRE CART which is an annual tradition in FIRENZE, we also had a nice picnic and an impromtu EASTER EGG HUNT! ...today was extra special though... some of us took a trip to CAVALINO MATTO, which is a theme park about 2 hours away from FIRENZE. IT WAS SOOO MUCH FUN... 

http://www.cavallinomatto.it/

PHOTOS:

EASTER SUNDAY: http://mrrtist21.shutterfly.com/4973

CAVALLINO MATTO (amusement park) : http://mrrtist21.shutterfly.com/5067

BEACH DAY in VIAREGGIO: http://mrrtist21.shutterfly.com/5127

It was about 12:30 in the afternoon when I was with my friends STEFANY, TOMAS and PIETRO at the MENSA. (mensa is the MESS HALL or cafeteria for members with cards there is a senior citizen one and one for students) My friend, STEFANY, brought up the 6.3 magnitude EARTHQUAKE that happened at about 9 hours ago at 3:00am. I didnt even feel the quake! But it is awful... over 1500 are injured and about 150 died. About 50,000 are without shelter from the quake. It all too sad.

I recieved many messages and such on FACEBOOK asking if i was hurt or anything, My dad texted me and called me. He also skyped me:

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[8:46:26 AM] Nguyễn-Lam-Sơn: Earthquake! Bi, are u OK???

[8:48:47 AM] Viet Triet (John) Hoa Nguyen: HELLO?

[8:48:50 AM] Viet Triet (John) Hoa Nguyen: everything is fine

[8:48:52 AM] Viet Triet (John) Hoa Nguyen: im fine

[8:49:09 AM] Viet Triet (John) Hoa Nguyen: it was not in florence

[8:49:20 AM] Viet Triet (John) Hoa Nguyen: i did not feel anything

[8:49:28 AM] Viet Triet (John) Hoa Nguyen: i didnt even know about it

[8:49:32 AM] Viet Triet (John) Hoa Nguyen: all my friends told me

[8:53:39 AM] Nguyễn-Lam-Sơn: OK! Got ur messages!
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Everything is indeed fine. Beverly, my friend who is studying in Rome is fine too!

Have you all ever heard of the movie: UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN? (..with DIANE LANE) ...or the BOOK it was based off of??? It is about a lady who gets dumped by her boyfriend, goes to Tuscany and ends up living there? Well i got the chance to go to that exact city where it takes places and where is was filmed!

It was about a little over an hour train ride away from Florence in CORTONA. (DID i mention how much i love taking the trains to cities? It's a very neat atmosphere its fun to fall alseep in them. II shoudl mention how amazing the metro system is TOO.. like the ones in New York city or Paris, France ....why doesn't Sourthern California have some sort of better public transport system???? anyways...)  It was a very beautiful city, but definitley not enough "TUSCAN SUN" that day to shine down on us (HAHA) ... PHOTOS: http://mrrtist21.shutterfly.com/4882