The Final Countdown: my last week in Florence

Seriously, I can't believe it's all over. It has been such a great experience and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. I have met some amazing people, learned more than I thought I could in one month, and seen some of the most incredible sights. I would have to say Florence Study Abroad has been a success. :) Today is my last day in Italy, and I honestly don't know what to do. I have seen everything I wanted to see, bought more than I needed to, and eaten like a Queen :)

This week has been pretty amazing, especially after the "study" in study abroad was over. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start with Monday. On Monday morning I had to finish up my visual analysis for class before running some errands. I attempted to visit the Uffizi but after walking all the way down to Palazzo Veccio I realized its closed on Mondays. I ended up just wandering around and doing a little shopping. Of course it wouldn't be a day in Italy without some gelato. I decided to venture out and try a new place Elyssa recommended, Riva Reno. And it was amazing like all the places she recommended! :) In class we finished up the end of the Renaissance, finally. haha. Then it was time for my last cooking class :( We had another good meal, really can't wait to cook some of them for all of you guys at home! It was kind of sad to finish up. Really wish I took the everyday cooking class, because now that it's over I don't really feel like I learned much about cooking. At least I got some great recipes to take home.

After cooking I wanted to go out, but never managed to make anything happen so I just laid around the apartment and stayed up to go to Secret Bakery.

Tuesday was a great day in Florence! Probably one of my favorites. I woke up and watched Glee while I ate some breakfast. Breakfast consisted of leftover Secret Bakery--my absolute favorite! I met up with Hope and Jordan later on to walk around a bit before have a delicious lunch at Gusto Leo by the Bargello. They has some amazing sangria and pizza.

Afterwards we went to the Uffizi, which was actually open this time. The Uffizi was actually pretty amazing. I got to see my favorite painting, the Primavera by Botticelli. So amazing up close and personal. It was really cool to walk around the museum with Hope and Jordan and name all the works and talk about them-- our own little review session. I really have learned a lot of Italian culture and Renaissance history. Before going to class we decided to stop at the Longchamp store, oh that was a mistake. Longchamps are so much cheaper in Europe and I went a bit crazyyy. At least Mom and Karly got one out of the deal. I mean come on they are the "rainbows of purses" according to Karly.

Class was just a review session, which was really helpful. After class Jaclyn and I did some tacky souvenir shopping. We were getting sentimental about leaving at the end of the week. Once I got home I skyped a bit, and cooked some dinner for myself, watched some tv online, pretty much anything to procrastinate studying and I successfully did!

Since I didn't study at all on Tuesday, I woke up early and crammed a lot of Renaissance history before taking a break to climb the Duomo. It was really cool to see the work of Brunelleschi up close and personal. I'm really glad I waited so long to climb the Duomo because I feel like I could completely appreciate it, at the top it was so cool that I could name all the buildings, and know where I was in relation to everything I've done and seen. Really an amazing feeling--just shows how much I've learned!

Daniel, Billy and I decided to grab lunch at L'Antico Noe after climb up and down all 468+ steps. Afterward Billy and I did some last minute studying before taking the final. It really wasn't bad at all, three essays out of like 16 topics so I'm sure I did well :) And boy am I glad to be done what that class. It wasn't really terrible, I just didn't like sitting in a classroom while in Italy--there's too much else to do.

Wednesday night LdM hosted a Farewell dinner for all there students. It was really nice to all go out together, plus a free meal (even if it was buffet style.) Also ran into Adam Troxell randomly there--didn't even know he was studying in Italy. haha

After dinner we all got ready and like our entire group decided to go on an adventure to Central Park Club. Turned out to be like a 30-40 min walk but it was a lot of fun!

Secret Bakery is always on the way home :)

Thursday was Saint John the Baptist Day in Florence so lots of places were closed, with a parade in the morning. I was not awake for that one. I ended up sleeping till noon, the latest I've sleep in Italy. It was a lazy day filled with Glee and Secret Bakery leftovers. When I finally managed to make it out of the apartment I met up with the girls and got some gelato and just wondered around all the palazzos, walked up to ponte veccio and shopped a bit. At 4pm we went to The Clubhouse for an early dinner to watch the Italy World Cup game. Italy ended up losing and getting eliminated from the World Cup :( But at least USA's still in it.

Later on I got more gelato before going to watch the historical soccer game at Santa Croce. We didn't get tickets beforehand, so once we got there the guard was like 20 euros each. So of course we said no and walked away, defeated. A few mins later the guards started yelling at us and we were confused, but they ended up letting us in FO FREE! So nice to be an American girl :) haha The game was crazy. I couldn't tell you what it was--some sort of mix between, soccer, handball, and wrestling in crazy customs. But it was fun to experience.

Since it was Saint John's Day once the sunset they have fireworks from Palazzo de Michelangelo over the Arno. So we just headed to the river after the game and hung out till fireworks.



Fireworks+Florence+Good friends= the perfect way to end. :)


After fireworks Ali and I came back to my apartment to eat the rest of the food I had in my fridge.

Today was my last day in Italy. :( So sad but now I'm ready to go home. I did a few last minute errands,had some gelato, by accident bought another pair of shoes.. (I just couldn't resist.) Took a nap and then it was time for our last dinner in Italy. We had a group dinner at Acqua al 2 and it was pretty good, yet disappointing since we didn't get their famous blueberry steak. But we got some great words of wisdom from Luca, "Don't drink a lot of wine and spend a little time with friends, Drink a little wine and spend a lot of time with friends"

Now it's just packing, cleaning and secret bakery! Staying up all night for my 6:30am flight. No use sleeping when I have 18 hours of traveling to make it back to the U.S. of A :)

VENICE

On Friday at 6:30am we departed north for Venice. The forecast for the weekend was not promising, cold and rainy, so I wasn't really looking forward to it-- Venice ended up surprising me a bit. But only a bit. When it's nice out, Venice is beautiful and amazing, but when it's high tide or raining it's miserable! It's wet, flooded, and smelly and unfortunately it was more rainy than nice. But when it was nice-- I loved it, especially Murano. Murano is the glass blowing capital of like the entire world. We got to have a private glass blowing demo. It's truly amazing to see them make these glass masterpieces in only a few short minutes. Since the glass can only stay hot for a few minutes, they have to work fast and not make mistakes. It was awesome.

The rest of Murano was beautiful, it was also a hot and sunny day which equates to a good day in Venice. All the canals and boats and carless streets were really cool, such a different way to live. You have to constantly walk over bridges, or take boat taxi's to cross the canals.

We had lunch and walked around the Island before taking a boat to San Marco. Since the islands of Venice are all manmade, like a few hundred years ago and all the islands are built on wood planks, the boats can't go to fast or it leads to more sinking. Global warming, mixed with some underwater drilling as well as natural sinking has lead to Venice sinking below sea level--hence the constant flooding and misery during rain. As annoying as it is, it's kinda cool at the same time. But since boats can't go to fast the ride from Murano to San Marco took like 45 mins and once we got to the dock it was another whole ordeal. Since there are no cars and its only a series of canals and only certain boats can go certain place, the point where we docked and our hotel was about a 15-20 min walk, luggage and all. Oh my god, let me tell you I now understand why everything is so expensive in Venice--it's all that man power. Everything one the island was hand carried there, and it's not easy going up and down all those bridges. (Yet, they sure are beautiful when you're not carrying anything)

We check into the hotel and Emily, Kaysee, Hope, Jordan and I all pass out on our beds for like 20 mins or so. Travel days are so tiring, especially when you're up at like 5am. (yes, I woke up at 5am and actually skyped Landon before he even when to bed. 6 hour time difference is crazy sometimes) At 3pm we were suppose to have a guided tour of San Marco's Basilica it was underwater and closed for the rest of the day--kind of a bummer but I wasn't really that upset. Really don't think I could see another church if I wanted to anyway. So we just got to have a guided tour of the Doge's Palace and the Prisons including crossing the Bridge of Sights. Our tour guide was this really awesome Venetian--according to Luca the best tour guide in all of Italy. She was our guide for the entire weekend. The Doge's Palace was pretty, we learned a lot about Venetian history and it's political system.

Before dinner I explored Venice a bit, just walked around and shopped. Venice has some really nice store mixed with a million glass stores and touristy crap. We had a group dinner at Da Stefano, authentic Venetian style cuisine. Since we didn't have anything planned on Sunday till 1pm, we all decided to go out and experience Venice nightlife. Haha, saying Venice nightlife is such a joke. There is no such thing as nightlife in Venice. After like 10pm the city shuts down for the most part. We ended up watching the England vs. Algeria World Cup game in the boys room while pre gaming before venturing out to find something to do. Luca told us that Venice was super safe, but super easy to get lost in. And both rang to be true. We ventured out to find the only club/bar we could find, ended up getting lost a bit and finally finding this American dance club that didn't open till 12:30am. It was crazy we had to ring the bell, and they guy was like it's too early, come back later, we close at 5am. Mind you it was 11:45pm. Crazy for a quite city like Venice, and open till 5am just craziness. We ended up going back and have a pretty good time, if you forget about the crazy Italians trying to creep. Jordan, Hope and I decided to go home before the rest of the crew, the bar ended up being really close to our apartment and we didn't get lost on the way home thanks to Jordan's fabulous navigation skills!

Saturday I slept in just long enough to catch the last few minutes of breakfast. (Can't sleep through free breakfast!) I decided to wander around Venice a bit. I decided that I might just hate tourists just as much as my Dad does. Venice is like the tourist capital of Italy. I have never seen more tourists in one square, except maybe Times Square on New Year's Eve--that ridiculous. Needless to say, I gave up wondering pretty quickly and decide to check out all the super expensive stores and just check out all the super expensive stuff I can't afford. After a quick lunch it was time to meet up with the group for our guided tours of the day. The sky was threatening rain so I packed my rain jacket (thanks Allie!) and umbrella. Turned out to be a very rainy day so it was a good thing I had it. First off ee took the "traghetto" the gondola taxi service to cross one of the canals to get to the San Polo District.

From there we toured the Scuola Grande di San Ricco, the Friar's Church and walked to the Rialto Bridge. Lots of Venice history, and art.

On the way back from the Rialto we got lost again, so lost we needed to have a gelato break, which wasn't too bad at all. haha. It was actually kind of fun to get lost. We got to experience more of the city that way. When we finally made it back to the hotel it was time for a nap. :) Venice was really nice because it was a relaxing weekend, not quite as fast paced as the other weekend trips and we had lots of free time. We had dinner on our own, so we shopped around for the best food for the best price and settled on this cute little restaurant near the hotel. Ended up being such a great meal, and even better company :)

After dinner Hope, Jordan, Allyson and I decided to take a night gondola tour. Kind of expensive but the only way the truly experience Venice. We had a great time, got to see the Grand Canal and some really cool historic sites. The only thing that was missing was Landon. You always here how romantic gondola rides are and it's very true. Wish you were there Landy! :) But regardless it was a blast, probably my favorite thing about Venice. We tried to get our gondola driver to sing for us, and he did for a minute but then got shy when another driver came around the corner. haha it was really cute. It also started raining a bit towards the end of the ride, but it was kind of bittersweet.




Sunday was kind of a bust. The plan was to go to the Jewish Ghetto and walk all around another part of Venice, but it was pouring and noone wanted to take a three hour walking tour in the rain. We settled on going to another museum, checking out some more Venice art to pass the time. Like I said before, rainy Venice is no fun at all so it was miserable Sunday. Plus we had to trek all the way back to the dock with our luggage, in the rain, in the cold, and over bridges for the entire 20 minute walk. Not fun at all. I was very ready to go back to the comforts of Florence at that point. But it was an ordeal to get back-- boat ride to the bus, bus ride home, walk back to the apartments before finally getting back home. As soon as we got back to the apartment I realized I was starving and so was the roommates. We ended up getting a group together to go back to Il Gatto e La Volpe, a true a favorite. Overall, Venice was a good weekend but I'm not gonna be rushing back.

Week Three: Time flies when you're having fun

I can't believe I am so far behind on my blog posts. Time is flying by and I can't believe its been three weeks already. I've done so much in such a short amount of time. Let me catch you up on my week:

After a nice weekend in Naples, I slept in a bit on Monday before going to the Central Market to pick up some food for the week. My favorite purchase was dried fruit! It's so good here and they have like every type of fruit. For lunch the roommates and I decided to go back to the Oil Shoppe, a fav lunch stop. I got a spicy meatball sandwich which was amazing!!! Class was same old same old, then since its Monday that means cooking! Cooking class was amazing, we made homemade pear and gorgonzola stuffed ravioli in a mushroom and prosciutto sauce--too die for!!! It's really not super difficult to make, as long as you have the time to make it. I really want to try and make the ravioli at home, but it might turn into a disaster, haha but we'll see. We also made a risotto, prosciutto rolls, and a ricotta and fruit desert. All of it was really good. Never can complain about that! After class, the Italia World Cup game was on so we met up with a few other people at a bar around the corner from class to watch the game and grab a few drinks. Let me tell you, as much as I hate soccer, the World Cup is a lot of fun to watch in Europe. But I really can't stand all these games ending in ties. It's so anticlimactic. But at least I'm in good company. After the game, we grabbed gelato at Grom and then it was time for bed.

On Tuesday, Jaclyn and I decided to venture out on a little shopping adventure, Tony tagged along for some of it, before we had to start studying. We had our midterm in class. Well in the words of Stefano, "not an exam, it's just a test, so don't worry." Didn't really make much sense to me either, so we spent the majority of the afternoon in the library attempting to study. After the midterm, which wasn't too bad, we walked out of class to find three 2011 Aston Martins parked in Plazzo Strozzi. It was part of Florence Fashion Week. Pretty cool. The night turned out kinda rainy so a bunch of us decided to cook at Jaclyn's Apartment to save some money. The original plan was to go out and celebrate finishing the midterm but since it was raining we all just staying in and hung out. Nothing too eventful.

Wednesday I went to the Bargello Museum because I needed to get started on my visual analysis. I decided to pick the Sacrifice of Isaac by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi. Their bronze work is amazing. But Brunelleschi's is by far my favorite. The Bargello had a ton of other really cool stuff too. Afterwards, I got some gelato and went leather jacket shopping with Kaysee and Emily. I found a beautiful chocolate brown leather jacket from our friend Luca's shop. Got a great deal on it too! I just wish it would cool down now so I can wear it!! Lots of people skipped class on Wednesday, except for me and a few others so class dragged on. For dinner Courtney found this Mexican restaurant that we had to try, Tijuana. It really wasn't worth it-- I really hated it actually but at least the drinks were good. At least now I know I can't get Mexican in Italy. haha.

A few of us decided to go to Palazzo de Michelangelo to watch the sunset, so Courtney and I had to book it up there after dinner. We made it just in time, but my legs were killing me afterwards, since the palazzo is on top of the hill, overlooking all of Florence. The sunset, despite the rainy afternoon was beautiful!



We all decided to go out that night since Tuesday was kinda a bust. So I had to book it back to the room to change real quick and meet everyone else back at the Palazzo Veccio. The despite drinking several beers, the night consisted of walking all over the freakin city! I swear after 6pm I walked at least 10 miles! None of us could decide where to go, and we kept separating but it was an adventure regardless. We ventured to Old Stove to sing some karaoke, danced at Twice and ended at Secret Bakery. Like I said we were all over the city Wednesday night. I was so excited to finally end up at Secret Bakery! It was so amazingg. Warm croissants, and I saw him squirt the chocolate and cream into it! So cool!

On Thursday it was a rainy day in Florence, ended up sleeping in taking a long and relaxing shower and actually blow drying my hair. I did a little research for my visual analysis too. In the afternoon, during a brief stint of rainlessness I decided to venture to the Jewish Synagogue. Well the brief stint didn't last long and I got caught it the worst rain and hail storm I have ever seen--outside, by myself, in the jewish quarter, soaked. It was not a fun experience to say the least. Finally made it to the synagogue, soaking wet (it was defiantly a waste to do my hair in the morning). But once inside it was completely worth it. The synagogue is beautiful, and upstairs there was a museum fill with the history for Florentine Jews. It was so interesting to learn about what the Jews were doing, while in class I'm learning about what the Catholics are doing at the same point in history--added another dimension. It was also really nice to get in touch with my jewish faith after so much Catholic influence for three weeks, so many churches, so many crosses, so much Virgin Mary and Jesus-- it was time to see a Star of David and a some Hebrew! Pretty refreshing, actually.

And since we're on the top of religion, it's really interesting to note that the Renaissance history of Italy/Europe is basically all religious. I'm sitting in class today and my professor is like oh of course you know the story of blah blah blah, and I'm like blank, actually most of us in class are too. It's so funny to compare Italy culture with American culture. In Italy, you are expected to know the stories of the Bible, its so obvious that our professor in Roman Catholic-- and there's no such thing at being politically correct--Catholic is correct. In the States our professor would never be able to openly talk about religion this way-- its so interesting, but also overwhelming, especially how important Virgin Mary is to Roman Catholics. I could go on forever talking about this--but I think you get the point.

Anyway after visiting the synagogue I had lunch at Yellow Bar--great pizza place-- before going to our last class field trip to Pitti Palace. The Palace was beautiful, overlooking the Baboli Gardens. The Medici's really had it going on, they had everything, all the best art, palaces, gardens, food, power, money, churches-- you name it! For dinner a bunch of us went to Daniel's apartment since Luca decided to cook us all an authentic Tuscan style dinner. It was so good, especially the sausage. :) I love Luca.

Of course the meal isn't over without some gelato, found a new place with Hope and Jordan near the old orphanage and it was really good! Stuffed from a good meal it was time to pack for Venice. In typical procrastination fashion I managed to fit in a few skype sessions and watch the season three premier of True Blood before finishing packing and heading to bed :)

One of the best weekends of my life!

This week has been crazy, its so hard to find the time to blog, but nonetheless I will continue to keep yall informed about my italia adventures because they are just too amazing not to share :) Sunday I got back from beautiful Vesuvius, Sorrento, Capri and Pompei! It was one of the most amazing, yet completely tiring weekends of my life. Friday started bright and early with a 5am wake up call, since we had to be on the bus at 6am to the southern coast. After only 3 hours of sleep the night before, the 6 hour bus ride was used to sleep mostly. We got to Vesuvius around 12:30ish and got to climb to the top of the active volcano. It was pretty cool at the top, but getting there was another story. Since it's a volcano the soil is very dusty, ashy, and not many big rocks or compact dirt so it was easy to slip and difficult to climb. Even though I was wearing my sneakers I slipped several times. Although the hike was annoying, (and dirtied my perviously white sneakers) the views of Naples from the top of the volcano were worth it. The bay of Naples is so beautiful.





Once we got to the base of the volcano head, we had this crazy tour guide who told us about the history of Vesuvius and about Naples. He was really crazy and kept telling jokes that weren't quite funny. After the hike we jumped back on the bus for a long ride down to Sorrento. We only hiked about 1/4 of the volcano, so the bus took us the rest of the way down the winding, narrow roads. And since were in a bus, we took up more than half the road so the bus driver spent the majority of the 30 min ride down on the horn, trying to avoid a head on collision, which was very close to happening on more than one occasion. And if we were to drive off the road the drop was pretty far down! But we survived. haha The ride to the hotel was pretty uneventful after that. We checked into Hotel Michelangelo, a really nice 4 star hotel in the heart of Sorrento.

Once settled in the room I took a shower to get all the lava dust off, and then headed to the hotel pool. It was so nice to lay by the pool and relax for an hour before dinner. I ended up meeting Hope and Jordan at the hotel bar to enjoy a cocktail from our new favorite bartender!



Dinner was at the hotel as well and it was amazing! The ravioli was specially made in Sorrento and it was delicious. After dinner Luca took the entire group downtown to his favorite limoncello factory for a little tasting. Sorrento and Naples are known for its limoncello, so I couldn't resist the urge to taste it all! Strolling back to the hotel after an action-packed day, a few of us decided the best way to watch the France vs. Uruguay World Cup game was with a cool beer with our favorite bartender. While in the misted of watching the extremely boring game, the power in the hotel goes out, along with the rest of the street. After a mild panic from Daniel, they hotel staff informed us that it happens sometimes, so all of us just chilled in the lobby for an hour just hanging out waiting for the power to kick back in so we could use out keycards to get in our rooms. The worst part was that Luca got stuck in the elevator! (He rescued him shortly after) The power came back on in waves, so Jessica darted to the room, and managed to get there just in time. I used the torchlight on my phone to navigate through the dark halls and my room. The power managed to stabilize soon after I feel asleep, since the last thing I remember was a huge gust of cool air hitting my face so I could finally sleep soundly.

The next morning, was early as well. I woke up around 7am, went downstairs for an amazing complementary breakfast, filled with everything!!! Before taking off to the harbor at 8am to catch a ferry to Capri-- also know as paradise! Once on the island, our group boarded a smaller boat for a private tour around the island, guided by the one and only Luca. The ride was beautiful, and so refreshing to be on the water.



Capri was so amazing, just from the water. My favorite part of the tour was getting to take a tiny boat into the Grotta Azzurra. The entrance to the cave was barely big enough for the boat, so we had to lay down to make sure we didn't get hurt--it was kinda scary. But once in the view were amazing! The water glowed a bright beautiful blue, and the temperature was so refreshing!



After the tour of the island, a few of us decided that we needed to do everything we could possibly do on Capri, since we had 6 hours on the island. First thing was first, lunch. We grabbed some sandwiches and the best gelato in all of Naples. Luca pointed out this gelato shop that severs 3 specially favors only found on Capri. And let me tell you, they were amazinggg!!



We then boarded the bus to take us to Anacapri, the mountain top on the far end of the island. The bus ride up was an adventure in itself. They drivers drive as such high speeds, winding up the mountain, and just one look out the window could make you freak out a bit--you can see all the way down to the rocky waters. But once we made it to the top, we took the mountain chair lift to the highest point on the island to get a birds-eye-view of the all of Capri. It was truly breathtaking!







Next we took the scary bus back down to Capri. We decided since we had been to the top, now it was time to go all the way to the bottom, so we went in search of the smaller of the two beaches, which is typically less crowded and less touristy. The beach wasn't anything special, it was full of rocks of all sizes--no sand. But nothing beats jumping into the Mediterranean after a hot day! It was so nice. We swam around a bit, jumped off a few rocks. But time was running out and we still needed to shop! haha We dried off, and did a little damage, before it was time to leave Capri. It was such a beautiful, amazing day! We got to do everything, with just enough time to shop! :) Capri is by far my favorite place in Italy!



Back on Sorrento, dinner was at this pizza place, that was just ok and the service wasn't much better. But the USA vs England game was on, so we hurried through dinner and stopped at this bar down the street to watch the game. It was a lot of fun, but my energy level was quickly fading after another long day. USA tied England, which is so anticlimactic, so I decided to call it a night.



On Sunday we traveled to Pompei and got to walk around all the ruins. Pompei was a pretty big, thriving city at the base of Vesuvius but went to volcano erupted, the city was buried alive and forgotten. It was really cool to see what they have dug up and how much of the city had been preserved by the volcanic ash.



The tour of Pompei was just over 3 hours in the blazing heat of Naples. So after about an hour and a half I was just done and ready to go home. But we trailed on...saw the amphitheater, the main square, many homes, some bars and a brothel. It was really awesome, minus the heat, just thinking about how much we have found out about this time period because of a volcano is really interesting! After the tour we grabbed lunch and boarded to bus to Florence. Six hours, a pit stop, and a viewing of New Moon later we arrived back in Florence and in desperate need of a shower.

The entire weekend was so amazing, I would go back to Naples in a heartbeat! <3

This week in Italia

The week has just been amazing, and it's only Wednesday! On Monday I decided to sleep in a bit trying to catch up on sleep from Rome, woke up around 11am. Since none of my roommates were in the mood for lunch, I decided to go on a little adventure by myself. Wandering around was actually the highlight of my day, something about being on your own schedule and doing whatever you please in a foreign city was really liberating. I went to lunch at the Oil Shoppe--it was amazing! Got a nice big salad, fries, and a drink all for under 7 euros. Afterward, I just explored the city, shopped a bit until 2pm when I met up with some people to climb the Campanile (The Duomo's Bell Tower). 414 steps later I was standing at the top of the tower, overlooking the heart of Florence! It was so beautiful.



We then checked out the Baptistry, which has such beautifully painted ceilings, depicting many stories from the bible. Class actually interesting, we were discussing the family life of the Renaissance, Florence. And the day just got better, since Monday night means its cooking time! My cooking class was so much fun as always. This time we learned about the Italian Happy Hour. During Happy Hour, Italian's drink wine, before dinner, in order to open up their taste buds and their stomachs for their meal. Nowadays there are certain bars you can go to for Happy Hour, and they serve bar food--but its actually all really elaborate finger foods that you can eat with one hand or a spoon. We made four finger food dishes--my favorite was the desert, which was chocolate spice cookies with homemade whipped cream, sliced fruit sandwiched between 2 cookies! Don't worry guys I have all the recipes!



I had to leave class a few minutes early to go to see a show at the Boboli Gardens. LdM got us reduced priced tickets for Le Cirque Invisible featuring this old man and a young woman. It was really good, but difficult to describe. It was somewhere between, a magic show, interpretive dance, corny comedy. The woman was amazing; she did this tight rope performance, which was really awesome. It was also just a nice setting, outside at the Boboli Gardens under the stars.

Tuesday morning I ventured to the Cascine Market for some shopping the Florentine way. It turned out to be a bust, it was just a big flea market with a bunch of cheap stuff, of course I still found something to buy, a dress and a scarf for only 1 euro. At least we got to see the Medici Park, which was really pretty, kind of reminded me of Forsyth Park in Savannah, Ga. :) After having a quick bit with Emily, I decided to start working on my documentary analysis for my history class-- got most of it done before meeting my class at the Church of San Lorenzo, the Medici family church. Pretty cool, but the churches are all starting to run together and I really would be happy if I didn’t see another church for a few days, enough is enough. I don’t think the Florentines understood that point. haha. Then during the second half of class we went to the Galleria dell' Accademia to see Michelangelo's David and a few other Michelangelo sculptures. It's so incredible to see his work in person and try to understand how brilliant he was. Michelangelo personally picked out each of his pieces of marble because he believes that God put the art into the marble, and it was just freeing it. He sometimes took years to pick out the right piece of marble that contained his most famous works.

After class, Leslie, Jordan, Hope and I decided to grab some dinner and go see Sex and the City 2 at the Odeon. Ali joined us too! It was so much fun to see it at a beautiful theatre, with super comfy seats and a bar within. In Italy there are intermissions in movies, so I had just enough time to grab a Beck’s and a Twix and use the w.c. before the movie started again! Also the movie was really good, loved all the clothes, cars and shoes!! Hope and Jordan convinced me that I should join them out, even though I hadn’t finished my history paper yet. I gave in and it turned out to be an amazing night. We started at this little bar near the Duomo—Jordan made friends with the owner and he promised good deals, and boy did he deliver. Benny, the owner, gave us several free shots of jager and half price beer bottles. I had such a great night with the girls out in Frienze! After the midnight when the bar closed, we walked to this small Italian club, Bebop with Benny. They have live music there every Tuesday, and it was Beatles night, Italian style! Needless to say, we all had a blast, and grew very close. Tuesday was by far my favorite night/day in Florence!!!! Besides the fact that it was Landon’s 23rd birthday, which I sadly missed, but no need to worry I will make it up to him!



Wednesday morning came very early, and a group of us decided to go to Fiesole, one of the oldest Tuscan cities, filled with beautiful Roman ruins. Fiesole was only about a 30 min bus ride up the hills right outside of Florence. The views of the city were amazing, yet the hike to the top was not a highlight so early in the morning after my epic night out. Yet still worth it. My favorite part of Fiesole was climbing around the Roman ruins and taking a million ridiculous pictures with all the girls! We had such a great time and Daniel was such a great photographer! Haha





I managed to finish my paper before class, which plenty of time for a coffee break. Class was super boring I ended up falling asleep in class, despite the coffee. Jessica had to wake me up because I was beginning to snore, oops.

Leslie and I, both super tired, decided to grab dinner on the way home from class so we didn’t have to go back out for the rest of the night. We had some of the best pizza I’ve had here and a great conversation to top it off! On the way back to the apartment I stumbled into a leather bag shop and bought a beautiful hunter green leather bag! Made in Florence too. The rest of the night was spent catching up online with Mom and Karly and editing all the pictures from Rome. Tried to fall asleep to Glee, but it was so hot Wednesday night that it was difficult to sleep. It was by far the hottest night here, so bad that Jessica went out and bought a fan this morning! I’m really trying to hold out because it’s kind of a waste of money since I won’t be able to take it home.

Today we traveled to the Medici Families private chapel, which housed the tombs of the great Medici’s. It was beautiful. Next we hiked across the ponto vecchio to the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine. Here is where Masolino, Masaccio and Filippino Lippi painted some of the earliest frescoes. After the chapel we wander around the Boboli Gardens. It was so refreshing to see so much green. That is one thing I miss about North Carolina—there are plenty of trees.
This afternoon I wander around, which is my new favorite thing. Got some cute handmade, Italian leather shoes and had lunch at Mario’s again. Then it was class time again. Learned all about the paintings of the Renaissance, most of the works I had actually already seen in the many church adventures. Interesting but I had going to class from 4pm- 6:30pm. A bunch of us are going to dinner together at Il Gatto e La Volpe. Off to dinner now, then packing for Vesuvio, Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii this weekend. We’re all leaving at like 6am tomorrow morning so tonight will be an early night.

How to conquer Rome

This weekend I traveled to Rome, with my roommates and about 12 others from the trip. It was such a whirlwind weekend, that's for sure. First, we took the first train out on Friday at 6:40am. The train ride was about 4 hours, and I ended up sleeping most of the time. Once we arrived the first task was finding the hotel. Took a cab, since we had no idea which metro or bus to take. Checked into Hotel Athena, which was interesting to say the least. We booked 2 double rooms, but that was not available anymore, so we got stuck with a triple room and a single room. I volunteered for the single room, since one I snore, and two could use some alone time (it's rare to get while studying abroad.) After grabbing some lunch at a cafee near the hotel we were in search of the bus stop to the Vatican City. The only map we had of Rome was one in German or French from our amazing hotel. Ended up getting pretty lost, but eventually made it to the Vatican. Once we got to St. Peter's Square, I was in awe of its magnitude. After the tourist pictures, we got in the enormous line to the Cathedral. We got suckered into paying 15 euro for a guided tour of the cathedral which pointed out all the art, legends, and history. The tour actually ended up being very interesting, but since we got so lost, and the line was long, by the time we got out the Vatican Museum was closed. We ended up meeting up with Daniel and the rest of our crew to see all the historical hotspots in Rome, including the Pantheon, tossing a coin in the Trevi Fountain and many crowded piazzas on the narrow streets of Rome.

A very beautiful city, but even more confusing than Florence and had an interesting smell to say the least. Since it was after 8pm and my stomach was begin to crawl, Kate, Jessica, Mary Charles and I decided to go back to the mockery of a hotel and grab some dinner somewhere close by. After searching for the perfect place to eat, we 'rome-ed' the street for upwards of 45 mins, and finally agreed on the first place we looked at. After demolishing the bread and free champagne, A large Peroni was in order. I had mozzarella bites and a calzone stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, and spinach for dinner and it totally hit the spot! Since I had been up since 5am, I was over tired, and still struggling with a runny nose, it was time for bed. Despite, the look of the hotel, I had some of the best sleep I've had in Italy. But I'm sure it had to do with the air conditioning :)

Waking up refreshed, day two in Rome was even busier than the first. We woke up early for our free breakfast, which was less than impressive, but at least it was something we didn't have to pay for, plus I got my first espresso in europe and let me tell you-- they don't mess around with their coffee. It was the best part of the breakfast! Then it was off to the Coliseum. We heard that the guided tour was over-rated, so we decided to wait in the hour plus line to enter the Coliseum and just walk around. Seeing the ancient Roman ruins was by far my favorite part of Rome. Just imagining the history, bloodshed, and importance that happened underneath my very feet was overwhelming. We ended up listening to some of the tour guides, and realized we didn't miss much by skipping the tour.

Then it was back to the Vatican (our second home while in Rome) to see the Museum and the beautiful Sistine Chapel. The museum was huge, so many rooms, each containing a different theme or time period, or artist. There's no way I actually saw everything, or even could possibly comprehend it all. But the Sistine Chapel is just as amazing at you can imagine. You're not suppose to take pictures or even speak while within the chapel, but I managed to snap one, a terrible picture, but nothing can really do Michaelangelo justice within seeing it in person, 3 years well spent!

After the museum, which took about an hour or so, we met back up with our fellow Wolfpacker for a cocktail. On the way back to see some more ruins near the Coliseum, we ran into Michael Jackson, back from the dead in Piazzo de Popolo. All the piazza's in Rome, street performers gathered to showcase their skills, and this one small Italian many had MJ down to a T. We watch his performance, then decided it was time to see those ruins... yet another attraction caught our attention. This time it was in the form of Lady Gaga. Walking by the ruins a huge tent was set up, blaring Gage's finest. Of course we decided to check it out and it happened to be the semifinal match of the Euro Beach Soccer Cup! We got in for free, and watched the second half of the match-up between France and Poland. I decided to cheer for Poland, one because they were the underdogs, losing at that point and two because they were some of the hottest european's I have seen thus far during my travels! Poland ending up winning and I do believe I had something to do with it! If only I still had a press pass, Kate and I would have been down there on the sand doing some one-on-one interviews! ;)

Nevertheless, it was time for dinner. We took the metro to this wonderful restaurant. After scarfing down my fetticini with lobster in a tomato basil sauce and some excellent vino, we all decided that when in Rome, we must go out. Someone told someone that Rome's "it" bar was the Ice Club, this bar made out of ice. So off we went in search of it, a large Peroni, gelato, and an hour plus later we finally find it. Its 1am. The cover is 1 euro, and drinks are equally expensive. Therefore, calling it a bust we decided to just go to the Irish pub we passed on the long adventure to the so called Ice Club. The pub was packed! And after another super long day of sightseeing, and runny nose, my health got the better of me, and needed to call it a night. Dragging my roommates out of the bar at 2:15am was a chore, but I finally made it back. I don't think a 3am shower ever felt so good!

None of us decided to set an alarm, so I woke up to the scared maid trying to clean my room. Check out was 11am and it was at least 11:30am. Ooops! Packing, and getting ready for the day in less at 5 mins, we checked out and decided to go to Hard Rock Cafe Rome for some good old American food. Then it was time to say ciao to Rome and get back to the train station. Having about an hour to kill at the station, I decided to capitalize on some nice retail therapy :)

Rome has now been conquered by Jen Hankin.

You have not lived until you have had authentic Italian cuisine

Just got back from a wonderful lunch with Kaysee and Emily. We decided to try Mario's, a small whole in the wall authentic Italian style lunch spot that Elyssa recommended. It's only open from 1-3pm and the menu changes everyday. When you walk in you quickly realize that this is where only the locals go for lunch. A small little place, with the hustle of the city. You can see the kitchen and all the Italian's cooking are wearing those cute little chef's hats with their name on it. We sat down at the only empty table, and while looking around for the menu quickly realized the only menu in the entire restaurant is posted in between the counter and the kitchen. So we had to get up and decided what we wanted before sitting back down. I ordered penna pasta in a tomato sauce with roasted chicken. OH MY GOD was it amazing! The tomato sauce was to die for. I've never tasted anything like it in my life! And the chicken, on the bone I might add, was so flavorful! Kaysee, Emily and I had such a great lunch. About half way through, this Italian man in a suit joins our table since there are no other seats, I guess that's what they do here. It was somewhat awkward at first, but it was so nice. We ended up having a great conversation with Stephano. He told us some great places to check out while were here and he loved talking to us--not in a creepy way. Everything about lunch was true Italian style, and hospitality. The character of Mario's was just so inviting, even to us foreigners. We will def be coming back there :)

After lunch we decided to walk into the big central market, found this really sweet italian man who sells fresh produce. Got a box of fresh strawberries and 2 bananas for only 1.50 euros! Such a great deal. We ended up walking into a pastry shop on the way home and Emily and I go this chocolate cake thing with croissant flakes which was also amazing. Kaysee got a cannolli since she was craving one. Now off to class and Rome in the morning... Ciao Bella :)

Cinque Terre

Wednesday was a national holiday in Italy so we didn't have classes or anything scheduled, so Mary Charles, Jessica, Kate and I decided to adventure to Cinque Terre, meaning five lands, along the rocky coast of the Italian Rivera. Some of the most beautiful sights I've seen in all of Italy, over the centuries, people have build terraces along the mountains from village to village, and you can hike them, or take a Cinque Terre train, or take a boat. Anyway we decided that this is what we want to do with our free day, yet never bought the train ticket in advance or even knew what time the train left--kinda decided to wing it. I ended up being the only one who was nervous about our unplanned adventure, so I woke up early and went to the train station to get the tickets. It all ended up working out better than planned but it was an eventful process. After getting the tickets, Mary Charles and I had a delicious breakfast of an omelet sandwich, and chocolate croissant while waiting for the slower half of our group to make it to the train station.

We took the train to La Spezia--not quite sure if that was how to get to Cinque Terre. Once we got there we realized that we needed to take another, smaller train to the first land in Cinque Terre, Riomaggiore. As soon as the train stopped and we got off in Riomaggiore the skies opened up and it started pouring rain! Pissed that we just got a taste of the beautiful coast line, we decided to wait it out over lunch at this really nice restaurant. We ended up meeting three recent graduates from Cleveland, Ohio who we had talked to at La Spezia while buying our Cinque Terre passes. All 7 of us decided to have lunch and a bottle of wine together. It was so much fun, Kyle, Brianna and Jerel ended up hiking to the second land, Manarola with us. We took like a million pictures along the way. Oh my god the views we're breath-taking and the hike only took about 20 mins. We then decided it was best to take the train to the last land since that one had the most stuff to do and travel backward from there. So we took the train to Monterosso al Mare. There we ended up going to the beach, climbing up this huge rock over looking the bright blue water and exploring a bit. Since it rained earlier we didn't have a ton of time, so Mary Charles, Jessica, Kate and I decided to part ways with our new friends and take a boat to the 4th land, Vernazza. Oh the islands/villages are so amazing and so different than the fast pace of the city of Florence. Actually different than anywhere we have traveled to so far, which made it even more special.

From Vernazza we, actually Kate and I insisted we hike to the 3rd land, Corniglia. The hike was 3 kilometers mostly up the mountain. It took about an hour and 45 mins--including lots of break and pictures. I also managed to add in a strip tease! haha Really I was wearing this cute top but it wasn't the most comfortable and also very hot so I decided t change into a tshirt about midway through. ;) I really enjoyed the hike--a really good workout! From Corniglia we took a train back to La Spezia and met up with our new friends. We bought a ticket back to Florence using the self service machines which are very confusing. We thought we bought the right ticket and got on the right train but turned out we got on a nicer train, the inner city one. The ticket lady on the train stopped up and made us pay an extra 3.10 euros. Then we had to get off in Pisa and which to the correct train to take us to Florence. By this time it was after 10pm and we hadn't really had a chance to eat dinner. Kate and I decided to run to McDonald's to grab something real quick, but as we were paying the train had arrived so we have to run through the Pisa Central train station at 10:30pm trying to catch the train. We made it, but just barely. Didn't get back to our apartment till around 12:15am and took a nice, "emotional" shower before passing out. But after all that, it was still an amazing, excited day :)