Catching up...

Well, it has been over a month since I posted. It's been BUSY!

Since my lovely weekend in Lido di Jesolo, I've been in 4 different countries:
Istanbul, Turkey
Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara in Uzbekistan
Vienna, Austria,
aaaand Penfield, New York in the States

For about 6 weekends straight, I was traveling. Oh - well, one weekend I was here in Milan... and hosted my brother and his wife during the beginning of their two-week vacation in Italy!

It has mostly been fun activities and adventures and I plan on sharing photos soon.

Unexpectedly, I made a trip back home to my parents' in Upstate New York. It was supposed to be three days but turned into a full week.

My grandma (mom's mom) passed away at 94 years old. I went home to spend time with mom.

During my 2nd day home, my Poppy (dad's dad) passed away at 84 years old. I stayed the rest of the week.

There are many weird happenings surrounding all of it... the week was sad and difficult... but beyond the details and the difficulty of death, I was extremely thankful to be home. I was thankful to be with my parents and family members.

I've been back in Milan for a week now and trying to catch up on things at work. So far so good for the most part.

A few weeks before the trip home was our spring break and I went to Istanbul for only a few hours. I met a friend there and we had a long layover before spending a week in Uzbekistan! Istanbul looks like a great city and I hope to get back there -- perhaps this summer since my tourist visa is good for 180 days.

A good friend of mine from my time in Vietnam, now lives and teaches in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. I decided to go see her and travel around that country for my spring break. What a trip!!

Coming back from Uzbekistan, the next weekend I was off to Vienna for a workshop on our library's catalog system. I was able to stay with another good friend from my time in Vietnam and the workshop was right at her school so we commuted to and from together.

Later that same week, my brother, Lenny, and his wife, Lexey, got into town. We enjoyed both Milan and Opera... before they were off to travel throughout Italy and see our family's cousins in both Abruzzo and Calabria.

The World EXPO has started up in Milan. I plan to post more about this too. It goes from May 1 - October 31 and 20 million visitors are expected to come through Milan for the EXPO. (Advertising and preparations have been going on since I moved here 22 months ago.) The city has done some great renovations and it is busy with visitors. (Also busy, probably because The New York Times listed Milan as the #1 place to visit in 2015... out of 52 named cities.)

Anyway... here is a song that I like and the video shows some lovely sights around Milan:

Ooooo! One more update! I have found an apartment in the city to move into this summer!! 

Very excited about that.   : D