Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Arrival of Johanna

I have an eighteen year old niece, who is my sister’s daughter, named Johanna. She is a first year student at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “Hanni” as we call her is the one cousin who has been with Olivia and Trey since their birth. There is a special relationship between the three of them and the kids were excited to have their cousin arrive for a four day visit while traveling for the first time in Italy with her best friend Ramana.

Johanna has been taking classes at UCSB in Italian and she is in the process of “Double Majoring” in the language. Additionally, she is a huge fan of fashion and is considering focusing on the subject as a part of her primary major in journalism. She came to the right place when she and Ramana decided to visit Italy for the first time (An admirable decision for two 18 year old girls on their own!)

The two of them accomplished an awful lot in their time here, touring the city with Alex, visiting both “The David” at the Galleria Academia and the Uffizi Gallery as well as making a run out to the Prada Outlet to shop with us. Moreover, the two of them spent a lot of time at the castle, admiring the beautiful weather that we had for their last two days in Florence, and Olivia and Trey just loved it! Each night Olivia coaxed her way into sleeping with the two of them in the same room, forming a slumber party of sorts in the small guest room at the castle. Each morning Olivia woke up with a big smile on her face having been able to sleep with the “Big Girls”. For Anna and I it was so nice to see Livy so happy and the week that Hanni was here was likely her favorite week since arriving in Italy.

The final night providing for tearful goodbyes for the kids and Hanni was visibly moved when her first cousin Trey told her that he loved her and would miss her. As usual, better to get it straight from the source. Following is the interview with Hanni:

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