Svizzera!

SWITZERLAND! My new favorite country. This was one of the best weekends I have had this semester, because everything was just perfect. The travelers were myself, Britney, Courtney, Kalin, Kelly, and Grant. Our Swiss adventure began with getting there—on Friday afternoon we left at 3:19. After a succession of various trains and layovers (one train was very fancy and we had a private coach that was very reminiscent of Harry Potter!), we arrived in Interlaken at around 10ish. We got out of the train station and realized we didn’t know how to get to the hostel, which was fine by us. There were various signs leading there, and we were happy to take a long walk to get there. We were just in awe of the giant mountains we could see rising up around us from every side, even in the dark. And there were so many stars! The air was so clean; our lungs were thanking us for the treat away from the city. We arrived at the hostel, Balmers, and were really excited because it looked like a little Swiss building out of a movie, nestled at the base of a mountain. We checked in and got into our rooms (Kelly, Britney, me and Grant in one, Kalin and Courtney in another). We went to sleep at about 11:00 or so after our long day of travelling. At about 11:30 or 12 we heard people come in, and there were two guys staying in the room. They seemed nice, so we just kind of fell asleep and figured we’d meet them in the morning.

Fast forward to 3:00 in the morning, when I’m woken up by a strange noise. There are no locks on the room, and a drunk man has wondered, naked save for whitie-tighties, into our room! He wanders around, hits Britney/Kelly’s bunk bed, then leaves and leaves the door open. I stare at the door for a while, jump up and close it, and then go to sleep. HA! What a hostel experience. The next morning we woke up and formally met our new roommates. Their names were Chris and Chris, and they went to Georgia Tech! What a small world. I spent all weekend naming people I knew at GA Tech trying to see if we had any mutual friends. Anyway. That day they went to Zurich, and it was the day of SKYDIVING ADVENTURE! We got breakfast, and then walked around Interlaken for a little bit because we were getting picked up at 12. It is such a beautiful little place! I love it. So we went back to the hostel to get picked up at 12, and were piled into a scenic air bus that had about 6 other people from Texas Tech. They were all really nice too—we certainly made some new friends in Svizzera!

Isn't Svizzera beautiful?

Our Hostel

Me and Britney are intense skydivers

View from our hike

Bellisima!

We arrive at the skydiving place (after a very scenic drive) and then get hustled into the building to get trained. We lay on the floor and practiced the moves we would do in the air, and met some of the instructors. We paid (which took a HUGE but worthwhile chunk of money out of my account) and then we had to wait. There were four planes, with each ascent, jump, and descent taking about 30 or so minutes. I was in the 3rd plane. So after the first two planes, I get harnessed up, and me and Britney were on the same plane together. Grant was also on our plane, but he didn’t dive—he just went up to watch. Courtney did the same thing on Kalin and Kelly’s plane. So we get up into the sky, and our instructors Danny and Hans were really nice and talkative. We were being taped the whole time for our DVDs, and they turned out awesome. Can’t wait to show you all ☺ About half way up, Danny tells me I have to get up in his lap (to get attached to him), which of course made me feel quite awkward because he was cute and an intense Swiss man. Britney’s instructor looks over and goes “Is she always this frisky?!” which made us all laugh, and me probably blush bright red. Quite an experience!

The time comes to jump. Britney is first—she’s sitting on the edge of the plane. The door flies open, and she puts her legs over the edge of the plane, she’s strapped onto Hans. I see him pitch forward once, twice, and then—SHE’S GONE! I screamed the loudest I think when I saw her get sucked out of the plane. Suddenly I find myself on the edge of the plane. I don’t know how I got there…Danny just lifted me up of the bench and somehow carried me without my knowledge to the edge of the plane. My legs are out over the edge, my head back against his chest, pitch forward once, twice, and GONEEEEEEEE!

I screamed. Intensely. And also had the most amazing experience of my life. I was falling so fast, while smiling for the cameraman falling ahead of me, and seeing amazing views everywhere I looked. I can’t remember if I breathed, but I don’t think I did for 55 seconds of freefall. Suddenly our parachute deployed, and we descended more slowly for 4 or so minutes, all the while Danny spinning me around so I could see the view from everywhere. It was so amazing. All too soon we were landing, on our butts, in a field of daisies. I was deliriously happy—it was such an amazing experience, and we all felt that it was so worth it. It just went by too fast! After the last planeful went, we were back on the bus heading towards Balmers. We arrived and went to Hooters, of all places. My first Hooters experience, internationally! It was actually pretty good. We spent some more time walking around Interlaken, and then headed back to the hostel. Skydiving takes a lot out of you! Some of us watched the Ring 2 in the movie room, and then we met our two Chris-es from drinks and card games in the lounge room. It was a really terrific day.

The next day we woke up and Britney, Grant, Kalin and I went hiking while Courtney and Kelly went ATVing. We walked through Interlaken and started on a trail up one of the mountains. There was an amazing view, though we all felt really out of shape. People were biking intensely up the mountain and we could barely walk, ha! We found a rock sculpture at one point and all added a rock to it. We ended up wussing out and not making it to the top, but it was still really nice. We then found an authentic looking place for lunch and I had an amazing Swiss meal—a huge plate of hash browns covered with onions and swiss cheese. SO good. We went back to the hostel at that point and met up with Courtney and Kelly, and we watched Wedding Crashers to relax after our intense day. Afterwards, Britney and I sat outside the hostel and read our respective books, it was so nice. We went back to the same place for dinner, and Britney and I split an awesome pizza. Then. We had the most AWESOME chocolate fondue ever. All kinds of fruit and marshmallows, which we dove into. I think Grant was really disgusted by us girls, who were diving into the chocolate. When all the fruit was gone, we each took an apricot and put it on the stick. Then we made makeshift lollipops by repeatedly dipping the apricots in the chocolate and licked it off. I think we really got drunk off of chocolate, it was so amazing. Amazing!

On Monday, we ate breakfast and then walked around the town. I got some chocolate (YUM) and then we headed back to get our luggage for the train. After the first train we parted ways with the two Chris-es, and us Eloners continued on our way home. We were actually really sad to leave Switzerland, because we all loved it so much. I would go back there in a heartbeat.

Me and my instructor!

OMG!!!

AH!

I think that about covers my Swiss adventure! What an amazing country.

La Pausa di Primavera 2009!

Just a forewarning--the pictures may not match up well with my tales of adventure.  Blogspot apparently hates me, and made it quite difficult for me :)

View from Oia

Ciao! So for my spring break post…this one is going to be long! And the moral of the whole tale…NEVER fly Alitalia! Santorini was so beautiful, though.

OK. So Friday, we took the day to pack and get ready. The other group of people left a few hours before us, and Allee, Rebecca and I headed to the airport at about 5 for our 7:20 flight. All was going well, we checked in, were waiting on our plane and….delay. So it gets to the point where our flight into Rome (connection to Athens) was so delayed that we missed our connection flight. So our entire plane is at ticketing getting their flights re-figured out. We ended up having to wait 2 or 3 hours for our flight overall, and they told us that they were putting us up in Rome for the night and putting us on the next flight in the morning. SO. We get to Rome and…they didn’t know we were coming. No one called them and told them an ENTIRE plane of people were about to show up in need of hotels. So they scrambled to figure that out, and after a long process of people trying to get bags (thank goodness I just had carry-ons!) we all got on a charter bus. They then proceeded to drive us to the wrong hotel, and the whole group of people had to walk around Rome at midnight to find the right hotel. We sleep for about two hours, get up again and get to the airport, and get on our flight to Athens. PHEW! We were put in first class, because all the angry Italians from the night before complained so much; so that was nice! And no offense to any of you Canadians, but…there was this BIG Canadian high school tour group getting on our Athens flight, and one of the girls didn’t get on the plane. Seriously, A) how do 5 chaperones lose a girl between the gate and the plane, and B) how did that girl not have ANY friends who realized she was gone?!?! So we had to wait for that for a while, and all I could think of was the song from South Park “Blame Canada.” Allee and I got a huge laugh out of that one, for sure.

We arrive in Athens and get to our hotel at about 12. Our hotel was in a REAL sketch area, but it was ok because the hotel itself wasn’t bad. We dropped our stuff and went out to hit the Acropolis, but when we got there at 3 it had just closed. What a comedy of errors! Fo’ real. Anyway, we explored for a while, checked out the market and some ruins. That night we went to sleep early, and then woke up real early the next morning. We ran to the Acropolis at 8 and got to go in right when it opened, and it was a free day (YAY). It was so worth it…the best thing Athens had to offer. It was really humbling walking amongst those buildings. Here are a few shots:

Black Sand beach!

First view of the Parthenon

First day in Athens

Allee, Rebecca and I

Caryatids

So, after we zipped through the Acropolis, we headed to the airport to go to Santorini, and thankfully there were no delays! We got to the Santorini airport and the man (Katinas) from our hotel was waiting for us. He was really nice, if not slightly crazy. The view on the drive was amazing…anywhere you are on that island you can see the water. Beautiful. We got to our hotel and I was so happy because it was absolutely beautiful. From one window in our room you could see the pool, and further on the ocean, and from the other window you could see the mountains. There were green fields everywhere, and donkeys and horses chilling out right there. We were about a ten-minute leisurely walk from the black sand beach.

View off our balcony

The next day, we woke up early-ish and had breakfast. Katinas drove us to Fira, the main city of Santorini. We looked around in some shops and walked around, and then we walked down to the port. It was hundreds of steps, and at every level their were donkeys waiting to take you down. We were a little sketched out by that though (and by the donkey poop at every step) so we just walked. AMAZING view. We got down to the port and got on a boat that took us to the volcano that formed the island. It was a really nice boat ride, and a beautiful day. So we get to the (active) volcano and they let us loose for about an hour. We walked all over and it was a pretty good hike—there were some spots on the volcano that were spouting sulfurous gas, which was a little nervewracking. There were red flowers coating the ground, and the view down to the water was beautiful. It was a really neat experience to climb on a volcano, and I stole a rock! (Shhh….)

Me on the liquid hot magma mountain of death...

The volcano!

After the volcano, we got back onto the boat and they took us to the hot springs. They told us we could go in, so the whole boat (mostly Americans/English) jumped right on in and the boat drivers were just laughing… it was FREEZING. They told us to swim a little further into the springs, but it never got warmer. They were definitely not hot springs, but ice cold springs. It was ok though, because I swam in the Mediterranean! It was a fun experience, although I am lucky I didn’t get pneumonia ☺ The boat ride back was really nice too, and we dried off in the warm breeze. We took a somewhat jankety cable car back up the mountain, but I thought that it was really fun!

When we got back into Fira Katinas met us and took us on a driving tour of the top half of the island. We saw the typical view of Greek islands—the white/blue houses built into the cliff and it was so pretty everywhere we went. We walked around Oia, another town, and then climbed down the port to meet him. It was a little overcast, so the sunset wasn’t that great, but it was still pretty. We got back to the hotel and relaxed/hung out some more, and ordered in food.

March 31st we slept late (YAY) and then Katinas told us at breakfast that we could go on a wine tasting. He took us to a little family run winery, and we got to try 5 different kinds of wine. The wine man was very nice and explained to us the process of creating and bottling the wine, and I had no idea how complicated it was! Their wine trees are trained to grow very low to the ground on curved branches to keep them out of the dangerous winds.

After the wine tasting, we laid out on the beach for a while. I got sunburned, and my nose was BRIGHT red, but now I’ve got a little tan ☺ The black sand beach was really cool, but not really sand—it was more like tiny pebbles. And in the water, there was no sand, but a giant rock formation because of the way the island was formed. When the sun was high in the sky, it was really hard to walk on the pebbles because they got SO hot. It was really nice to just lay on the beach and hear the waves. Since it’s not high season there yet, the whole island was relatively quiet. There weren’t too many things open, and there really weren’t that many people, but I liked that. After we sat on the beach for a few hours, Rebecca and I went horseback riding for two hours on the beach (Allee is scared of horses). My horse was a little crazy, but it was still so much fun. We were right on the beach and in the water, which has always been a dream of mine to do. Fantastic! That night we went to dinner at a little place and had real good food, and a free drink!

Wine man, Me, Allee, Rebecca

Me on my horse

Rebecca and I on our horses

Our last day our flight was not until 10:30, so we were able to hang around. We kept our room for 20-euro day rate, and woke up late, ate breakfast and went to the beach. We laid out for a while, and then had lunch at a really neat Tahitian themed place right on the beach. Afterwards, we sat by the pool for a while, and then showered and got ready to head out. We ate dinner, and Katinas drove us to the airport. Our flight to Athens went as planned, and we got there about 11:30. Our flight the next day was at 7, so we decided to just stay in the airport. We stayed there that night and then the next morning got on our flight to Rome just fine.

Of course, good old Alitalia, our flight from Rome to Naples was delayed. We didn’t realize how delayed, because it was just about 30 minutes and then we sat on the plane for a while. So by the time we got to Naples and got baggage, we were two hours late. No time for Pompeii, unfortunately. So, we just got on a train back to Florence. At that point we were grumpy from the travel woes, and it was just me and Allee—Rebecca went to Vienna to see her sister. By the time Allee and I got back to Florence we were so happy to be home—it’s weird how much we missed Florence. It was so nice to get back!

Friday Allee and I relaxed all day, watched tv and chilled (that was SO nice). Saturday I went to Pitti Palace and went through all the museums. I was in the Boboli gardens for a little bit, but then it started raining. I walked around a little bit then, and was glad to get out and see some of Florence. Today (Sunday) I went to Santa Croce and sat in on a little bit of Palm Sunday mass which was nice. Then I went to Academia and saw David, and he is so much amazing the second time around! I walked through there, and then went to San Lorenzo leather market. It’s a little intimidating going through there alone, because people try and get you to buy things, but I still enjoyed it. It was a nice day to walk around!

So that’s my spring break. Whew! Santorini was absolutely beautiful. I would recommend it, especially in open season when so much more will be going on.

Grecia

Stasera andro' a Grecia per la mia pausa di primavera!

I will hitting Athens for a day and then I will spend four on Santorini, one of the islands.  After that I will spend a day in Pompeii. I am going with Rebecca and Allee.

I will update with pictures when I get home!  Keep us travellers in your thoughts!

Ciao! :)

Roma e Cinque Terre

Ok, wow. Sorry it has been a while. I get so caught up here in every day life, that it takes real concentration to work in blog time! Where to start—March 6 I left Florence for Rome. Sorry, this is going to be a real long one!

We took a train at 8:19 pm to Rome, and when we arrived we went straight to our hostel. The hostel wasn’t around the parts of Rome we were interested in touring, but it was right next to a Metro stop, which was perfect. The hostel ended up being a fairly good setup, and a really good first hostel experience. Eight of us went on the trip; Me, Allee, Kelly, Courtney, Lena, Eric, Will, and Erin. We ended up (after some finagling) all getting in to an 8 person mixed room, with bunk beds and a bathroom. So, we avoided sharing with any sketchy people, and it was clean and that’s all we could ask for! We went and got a late dinner at a Chinese food place (yes you read that right!) It wasn’t half bad! We went to bed relatively early (12 or so) in order to be rested for our busy day.

We woke up in the morning and took the metro to get into Vatican City for our 10:00 tour of the Vatican museums. We got in without any problems, and we had a tour of about 20-30 people with an English-speaking tour guide. She spent some time going over the Sistine Ceiling paintings (since no talking is allowed in there!) and then we went on our way. She took us through the highlights of the museums (Map gallery, Raphael rooms, sculpture galleries etc) and there were some amazing things in that collection. I was so happy to get to see it, after missing out when I came here in high school. The last stop on our tour was the Sistine Chapel, and I think it was well worth it. It wasn’t as big or quite as grand (scale wise) as I think you are led to believe when you learn about it, but the paintings are so amazing. Thinking about the process behind them as well really adds to their affect. We spent some time in there just staring at all of the paintings, and then left and went to St. Peter’s. St. Peter’s Basilica was absolutely breathtaking—I can’t imagine it being built by human hands. It was so monumental, and every inch was covered with decoration. My favorite part though was La Pieta, the statue of Jesus and Mary by Michelangelo. I truly think that that is the most beautiful statue in the world, and I could have looked at it for hours. After we left the basilica, we continued on our tour of Rome!

Me in the Vatican museum courtyard

OH MY GOSH!

Allee and I outside the Vatican Museums

After spending some time playing around in St. Peter’s Square, we ate lunch at a very sketch touristy restaurant...many inside jokes were spawned there, because all we could do was laugh about everything.  We then headed off to see the famous Four Rivers fountain, and then the Trevi Fountain. Along the way, we also looked at some of the big columns in Rome.  Both were amazing! I threw my coin into the Trevi fountain, supposedly ensuring my return to Rome ☺ (It worked last time, right?!) After that, we headed over to the Parthenon, which was unfortunately closed for mass. We got to peek inside though, but I had already been there a few years ago so I wasn’t too upset. After we walked around for a little bit, we went to the Spanish Steps and climbed up to the top. The sunset was absolutely amazing! There was a church at the very top that we peered into, and nuns were singing inside. It was a really great evening. We went and got wine and appetizers at a little restaurant after the Steps, and then went back to the Chinese Restaurant for dinner (don’t ask me why….I just went along with it!) By the time we got back, most people were beat and we ended up going to bed at midnight or so.

The next morning we woke up early and checked out of the hostel, leaving our bags to pick up later. We went to the Coliseum from there, and that was truly amazing. You can’t comprehend how huge it is until you are inside, and you can just feel the history oozing from every brick. We all walked around on our own in there for about an hour, and then got some lunch at a cute buffet/sandwich place. After that we headed over to the Roman Forum/Palatine hill where we spent about an hour, which was not nearly enough time! That was one of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen. The whole area was lush green, with flowers and trees like a park; but then there were ancient ruins scattered throughout the whole place! I really recommend going there and spending hours just sitting in there reading or relaxing, which I think a lot of Romans do. After we left the Forum, we got on a train and headed back to Florence, arriving late afternoon. It was a really awesome weekend, and the weather was perfect—couldn’t ask for a better time in Rome!

 Me and Allee in the Coliseum

 See what I mean? Forum/Palatine

The rest of the week went by as per usual, with classes and such. Friday we left after Italian class for Cinque Terre, and we got there by train in the late afternoon. It was me, Brittney, Allee, Kelly, Kalin, and Rebecca. When we got off the train, the first thing we saw was the ocean. It was absolutely breathtaking—clear blue water, cloudless skies and huge mountains. We stayed in Riomaggiore, the first of the five villages. We went to check into the hostel and found a tiny office—the check-in man walked us out and back down the hill where we had just come from, seemingly taking us out into the boonies. We emerged from a tunnel and BAM there was the ocean. At this point we’re getting really excited, and then he brings us into a building, takes us up really treacherous steps (there were ropes on the wall to help pull you up) and bought us into a set-up with three rooms—each with bunk beds, as there were six of us. We open the window and we are literally RIGHT on the ocean. If I had fallen out of my window, I would have fallen right into the ocean. I was so excited, I can’t even tell you. Perfetto! We had to climb some more stairs to get to the bathroom, but we didn’t mind—and we didn’t see a single other soul in the building while we were there. So that first night we walked around a little bit, and went into a restaurant right by the rooms. We all got huge seafood meals and dessert, and it was really delicious. It was so amazing to be lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves outside my window.

The view outside of my window—amazing! Be jealous ☺


Me before the treacherous hike!

 From left-Allee, Kelly, Rebecca, Kalin, Brittney, Me

Saturday morning we woke up rather leisurely, and got ready to explore the villages. We took a trail from the first village to the second, and it was a nice, relaxing walk along the cliffs. I went camera crazy and took over 400 pictures that weekend, if that gives you an indication of how beautiful it was! So we get to the second village, and walk around for a little bit. The buildings are all so colorful, and the ocean is right there. The day was perfect and cloudless. The path from the second village to the third was closed down, so we took a quick train ride to get around to the fourth village. At the fourth village, we sat on some rocks on the ocean and ate pesto pizza, which was amazing. Cinque Terre was the birthplace of pesto! It was so relaxing to sit on the rocks, and we had a lot of fun just being there. From the fourth village we took the path to the fifth village, and here’s where it got interesting—this was a legitimate HIKE. Like, thousands of feet in the air, teeny tiny path high in the mountains, constant incline hike. We all know how out of shape I am, so after the first five minutes I thought I was going to die. But it was SO worth it…after a little while I got used to the pace, and was fine the rest of the way. I felt like I was in Ireland, it was so lush and green, with flowers everywhere up in the cliffs. We even passed lemon and orange groves, and saw some lemons being harvested! The view from up there was so fabulous. By the time we reached the fifth village, though, we were definitely ready for a break. There was a black sand beach there that we stopped on for a few minutes, and just took a breather. We walked around a bit, and then took the train back to our village. We had dinner at a local place, and I got a great pesto pasta dish. Afterwards, we went back to our hostel.

We had a lot of fun hanging out in the hostel, and we also saw something really funny—a bunch of (very drunk) Americans were skinny dipping right outside our window in the little harbor area…they kept falling and trying to get out and into the water, all the while yelling at us to come down (which we refused). It was quite funny though, but it also gives you an idea of why sometimes Americans are given a bad rep…In the morning we got on a train and headed back to Florence, back by early afternoon. We took that time to do some homework and relax a little bit, but it was the perfect weekend. I would go back to Cinque Terre in a heartbeat, and I wish you could all come with me!

As for this week, nothing too out of the usual. Today we were supposed to go to a big park with our Italian class, but the teachers took us on the wrong bus and we got all confused—we ended up just getting out early. Everyone has been busy working on school stuff this week, and this weekend I think almost everyone is staying in Florence to get work done before spring break. More on that later! I think that’s it for now (big breath!) so CIAO!

A presto.

Please check out my facebook album—even then, I can’t capture how amazing this place was!!!!

Mi dispiace!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post!  It's just always so busy here.  I am leaving for Cinque Terre tomorrow (yay!) so early next week, expect an update on Rome AND Cinque Terre!  Just a little preview...Rome was AWESOME!

Sorry to keep you waiting...

Ciao e amore!

Giovedi

So, this week has gone by semi-fast, semi-slow.  Monday we got our italian tests back (I did well, no worries!) and so on Tuesday our classes were switched up.  My new class is a few more Elon students, plus a few people from my old class.  I have one of the same teachers and one new one--which is sad, since I will miss Giuseppe! Enrico is very nice too, though.  Class is going well so far!

Tuesday I spent my first afternoon in the Uffizi! It was fantastic.  I just kind of wandered, acclimating myself to the things that were going on in there.  There was a suprise around every corner--example...I walk into a new room and BAM--Birth of Venus.  Love it!  That reminds me, I started a research blog that is attached to this--check out my profile and head there if you're interested.  Although, I'm sure this one will be more fun to read for most of you! :)

So here I am today, getting ready for another art history trip tomorrow (Arezzo and then some) and then ROME!  This is the first trip that I've gone on that has been planned and executed just by us, not affiliated with the school.  Wish us luck!  We are staying in a hostel near Vatican city, and we have a tour on Saturday at the Vatican and two day tickets for the Colosseum and Roman Forum.  I am really excited, especially since last time I was in Rome I didn't get to go into the Colosseum or see the inside of the Vatican! Definitely looking forward to it.  

So, that's it for now, but expect a post on (hopefully) Monday or Tuesday with an update from the weekend!  Ciao, a presto!

Buona Sera!

Buona sera!  Well, I guess for most of you it's buon pomeriggio! (Good afternoon!)

This past week has been a pretty typical school week. Wednesday I went with my little research group to a library and we learned how to use it (at the University of Florence),  It has an old school dewey decimal catalogue! Should be interesting :) Thursday was our big Italian test for the end of month one, determining whether we move up to level two, and presumedly counting towards our grade.  We don't really know though, since Italians apparently don't care about grades, so they don't understand why we want to know how much these tests count for!

Friday was Siena and San Gimagnano, which was so fun.  Both of those places are so beautiful, and I saw once of the most amazing sunsets in San Gimagnano.  We started early in the morning and it was only about an hour ride to Siena.  We saw several churches and museums, and I love the large piazza in the middle of the city.  It's on a curve, and there are so many hills in that city.  I bet there are no overweight Sienese!

We had lunch at a good pizza restaurant and then left for San Gimagnano, which was also amazing.  We saw a church and museum, and climbed to the top of a large tower.  The view was amazing from there.  Afterwards, the art history teacher surprised us with a wine and cheese tasting.  She got several bottles of San Gimagnano white, cheese, and salami and took us up to an overlook, just as the sun was going down.  It was so amazing.  

Today (Saturday) I spent most of the day planning the trip for next week to Rome.  It's me, Allee, Kelly, Will and Erin going and we have tickets so far for the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Vatican.  I think it will be a lot of fun!  I also worked a little bit on my paper due. Tomorrow, is ALL work ALL day.  First big essay due for Ringelberg's class and a reading/response paper on Monday.  Wish me luck :)

My class at the overlook after our wine tasting in San Gimagnano.

E bella, no?

Me in San Gimagnano--amazing Tuscan countryside.

Brittney and I on top of the tower in San Gimagnano.

Siena tower in the central piazza.

Mi dispiace ancora!

Ciao a tutti!  I am so sorry it's been so long since I've updated.  Kim asked me to update, and that's when I realized it had been a week!  Time flies by really fast here.

So let's see!  I left you at our V-day dinner.  It was really fun, and the food was great.  We had shrimp linguini in a white wine sauce, bruschetta, salad, asparagus, and amazing chocolate cake for dinner.  We had some great food and conversation, and chocolate hearts and a sweet card from one of our roommates, Kalin, made the night special.  

From left: Taylor, Brittney, Rebecca, Me, Grant, Ringelberg, Allee

Sunday was the trip to Venice.  That city is so beautiful.  There are no cars, and everyone gets around by foot or water taxi.  It was carnivale, meaning people were walking around in costumes all day.  There were some pretty outlandish outfits!  It was jam-packed in the city, but still a really nice day.  We were on a tour with an Italian speaking guide, and he made me his official translator (not that I was very good at it!)  We didn't go into any churches or museums, but just walked around the city and learned about it which was still great.  

From left: Rebecca, me, Brittney

Let's see.  That leaves this past week, which was mostly the typical school week.  On Wednesday my italian class went on a field trip, which was so much fun.  We were broken up into teams and we each had a destination--it was each team's job to get the class to the destination by asking for directions in italian.  We got some great cappuccino/hot chocolate at a cafe, and then went into Santa Maria del Carmine, a church that housed some frescos I had learned about before and wasn't expecting to see.  That's always so exciting!  My italian teacher is really cool, and it was a great day.  

That day was Allee's (one of my roommates) 21st birthday, so we took her out to dinner at an amazing restaurant called Osteria dei Pazzi (Pazzi means crazy...) The food was so good and the service was great.  I'm definitely going back there!  I felt like it was truly my first authentic italian meal--three courses: bruschetta, broccoli penne, and caprese salad.

Friday was an art history class trip to Lucca and Pisa.  In Lucca we saw many churches and monuments, and it was a really beautiful city.  I was so excited to go to Pisa, because when I came to Italy in high school I didn't make it there.  I would live in Pisa! It was so amazing.  Quiet and cute, yet hopping all at the same time.  I climbed to the top of the tower with a few people, and the view was amazing and worth the 15 euro.  It was so disorienting getting up there though, because the staircase was leaning, obviously!

Here's me at the top of the leaning tower!

Of course I took this picture...I couldn't help myself!!!!

Saturday was a chill day, with everyone doing homework and hanging around.  Today (Sunday) was the Florence carnival, which consisted of a parade moving through the city.  The parade had 36 different countries represented, with some floats and dancing people.  Bolivia had it going on!  Their street dancers were amazing.  It wasn't anything too extravagant, but it was nice to be out amongst the Florentines watching the culture pass by.  And all the bambini (children) were dressed up like it was Halloween--they were so cute!

Well, that gets everyone caught up for now.  I will try not to wait so long to update again, although I don't think I'll be doing anything much different than usual this week.  Friday is the Siena/San Gimignano trip, which I am excited about!

Vi amo!

Mi dispiace!

Ciao amici e famiglia!  I'm sorry I haven't posted in a view days but things have been so busy! Tonight there is nothing really going on, so everyone is enjoying a little calm time.

This weekend was fun--on Saturday me and a few other people went to the Piazza Michelangelo, which was the most incredible view of the entire city.  It was a really nice day, perfect for being up there.  Walking further up leads to San Miniato, which is a monastery at the top of a huge hill.  The view was even more amazing from up there, and when we went into the church there were monks chanting.  It was really nice to just walk around, enjoy the sights and feel like a Florentine.  Although we did take some touristy pictures...:)

On Sunday, almost everyone on the trip went to Ravenna with the art history class.  It was a very long day, with us getting to the bus station at 7:00 am and returning to Florence at 8:00 pm. I got to see so much though, including San Vitale, a very beautiful church that I have learned about before in my art history classes.

The art history professor was VERY knowledgeable, and told us really interesting and minute details of every place we saw.  Ravenna was a little bit like Florence, but much smaller.  We had a break for lunch, and had a really good sandwich.  It was overall a good day, but we have all been very tired since then.  Sleep is not plentiful in Florence!

Me taking a cheesy photo in front of the lunch place...

Dante's temporary tomb, next to the actual tomb

Mausoleum of Theodoric

Monday was class as usual, and Tuesday night I went with a group of people to a music club called BeBop for a Beatles cover band.  A few of us left early because of class in the morning, but we got to feel the place out and it was a lot of fun.  The band was actually pretty good! Thursdays are Oasis nights, so we might check that out soon.

I think that gets everyone about caught up!  This weekend, we are going to Venice on Sunday with the school.  Some people are leaving tomorrow, but a few of us will just be going on Sunday.  We will be trying to plan out some trips and stuff tomorrow, booking hostels and whatnot.  On Saturday those of us who are staying here until Sunday will be cooking a big Valentine's day/Anti-Valentine's day dinner, so we are working on what we want to cook.  I'd welcome suggestions!

Ciao!

Venerdi

I can't believe it's Friday! While on one hand it seems like I've been here forever, on the other it seems like the week went by pretty fast. I am hoping that Florence has gotten the rain out of its system for a while, because I'm pretty tired of it. And it's made me sick! Almost everyone has some form of a sinus/cold type deal.  Swell.  BUT...we're in Firenze.  'Nuff said.

I've decided I really, really like my Italian class.  The teachers are really nice, and all the students are too.  It's cool that they are all from different countries and continents--China, Australia, South Africa, Brazil etc.

La mia classe 

I'm going to post a few pictures here of the walk to the school-we go right past the Uffizi (which I haven't been to yet, but am pumped to do!) and walk through the Piazza delle Signoria.  It's a a nice, scenic walk and doesn't take to long...I think I may have it figured out for myself now :)

Piazza delle Signoria

Tomorrow (sabato) I am planning on going on a walking tour of the Duomo and Baptistery, seeing as when I tried to go earlier this week I got lost on the way to the school and missed it (sad day).  But I think I know my way now for sure.  But so that's the plan--Although, it depends on if I get a GOOD nap today.  I am so tired!  The art history class (which I'm not in) is in class/on a trip right now, so it's just me and a few other people in the apartments now (both of whom are asleep).  ANYWAY, that's the plan.  Sunday, I am going on a trip with the art history class to Ravenna, which I am excited about.  I think all the Elon students may be going, save a couple.  So, I'll post after this weekend to update on how things unfolded!

Ciao!