Amalfi Coast

Once again, these are delayed (by about 3 weeks) -- but better late than never, right??


We had a 4 day weekend for Easter (and I skipped a day of class so make that 5 day!) Anyways, the trip was an adventure, to say the least. But it was amazing, and by far one of my favorite trips so far (my second favorite probably being Munich, which will be in the next post!). On Thursday we took a bus to a train (which ended up being the wrong train station), so another bus to the CORRECT train station, sat on a squished train for 5 hours, and then stood on a squished above-subway type train for an hour and a half, and the took a taxi to the hotel. It was quite a long day of traveling, but totally worth it. The best part of the 5 hour train ride was when a wedding party of 24 people from Brooklyn got on (not knowing there were assigned seats) with 2 huge pieces of luggage each, and stood in the aisles for 2 hours. For some reason they could not figure out how to get to the correct car (all they needed to do was walk forward), so instead they stood, and yelled back and forth through the front and back of the car. Lets just say they did not give Americans the best reputation that day. When we finally got to Sorrento we had to take a cab to the hotel - and we get to the top of this big cliff and the cab driver goes "alright, it will cost you more if I drive you down there, so its easier to walk." So we walked down a cliff with our bags, got lost, and then finally after about 15-20 minutes found our hotel. I loved this hotel -- it was run by a family (the old woman though, we think the wife of the owner was mean though), but besides that they were all so nice. They gave us dinner the first night even though the kitchen was closing. I don't think we could have picked a better hotel -- every hotel in the center was on top of the cliff (since Sorrento is on a cliff) - and therefore, kind of far from the beach. Our hotel on the other hand was on the beach -- which explains why we had to walk down the cliff to get there. And it also explains why I did not have cell phone service for the 5 days I was there! But it was the perfect location. PS - the first picture is a view of where our hotel was from the boat from Capri.

On Friday we went onto the beach that was right outside of our hotel. Keep in mind - Italians still think it is winter, and they will continue to think that until the middle of July. So the fact that we were out there in bathing suits for 4 hours definitely got some weird looks. Especially since the people walking by and the other people sitting on the beach were in winter jackets and scarves. Anyways, we thought it was a bit chilly so we were wearing sweat jackets, and didn't put on sun screen. BAD IDEA. we went inside a few hours later and it turns out we got burnt to a crisp. Oops! We went into the center of Sorrento for dinner on Friday. Turns out the hotel was about a 10 minute drive from the center (expedia lied!) but the hotel provided a free shuttle (aka, a 40 year old guy who looked like he was 25 named Luigi). Abbie and I became bff's with Luigi -- I even gave a presentation about him during my Italian class last week! He was pretty awesome, and he would always make fun of us for being burnt/shopping too much. Abbie and I weren't too smart in getting dressed that night -- we assumed that since it was hot enough for us to get burnt, it was hot enough to wear sundresses/shorts -- WRONG. It was a bit cold (and by a bit, I mean very) once we got out of the sun, and once again, we got weird looks from the locals since they were still dressed in their winter jackets and hats and gloves - no joke. Some people even had earmuffs on -- I swear, it wasn't THAT cold - just cold enough that I probably should have worn pants, not a dress.

On Saturday we took a boat to the Island of Capri, which was absolutely gorgeous. We never actually made it to the center (we got 3/4 of the way up the cliff, but had to turn around to catch our boat back to Sorrento). Instead we spent the day on the beach and it was fabulous. It was a lot warmer than the day before - and don't worry, we learned from our mistakes and bought sunscreen!! :) It was overall just a relaxing, wonderful day.

On Sunday it was Easter so we were stuck at the hotel -- which wasn't a terrible thing at all. Luigi had the day off so we couldn't get into town - but this forced us to actually get work done. (On this trip I wrote 2 papers and read a 400 page book!) We had lunch and dinner at the hotel (ravioli for lunch and spaghetti with clams for dinner). Oh my gosh, the seafood here was unbelievable -- since the fish was fresh from outside the hotel. I wish we had that kind of seafood in Florence! Oh! And since it was easter, I brought easter eggs for abbie and I -- they kind of got squished though. They were "surprise eggs" - so it was chocolate on the outside of a plastic egg, and then once you ate the chocolate you could open the egg and find a little toy! :)

On Monday we did some more work (it was a little cold and veryyy windy so we couldn't sit outside for long), and then took a 5 hour train back to Florence --- we got home at 2am! Which was not too fun considering I had class at 9am! But it was a great trip, and I had SOO much fun. I definitely will go back to Amalfi at some point in my life!

What I've been up to since Spring Break...

Time has FLOWN by since Spring Break. As I write this, I am going home in 18 DAYS - which is CRAZY.

Since Spring Break.....I've celebrated St. Patty's Day Italian Style (with green beer of course), Went on a class trip to Siena, went to Venice with my Mom and Murray and showed them around Florence, went to the Amalfi Coast for Easter, and spent a weekend (This weekend) with the flu!

I'll start with St. Patty's Day -- Its funny, because Italian's don't celebrate - and most have no idea what it is/what the point is. But, since Florence is filled with approx. 4,000 american students studying abroad, there was enough celebration going on. My friends and I went to an Irish Pub and had green beer - it was a lot of fun. MInus the whole, having to get up for a 9am class the next day! My Italian professor asked why we were all so tired - and we tried explaining St. Patty's Day - but she did not get it.

That Saturday I went to Siena with a class. It was a pretty cool trip - but just a long day with a lot of churches (as usual!) I did fall in love with the facade of this church though!

So finally, after a long 3 1/2 months of waiting -- my Mom came to visit!!! I took a train to Venice to see her on Thursday, and we spent 2 days there and 3 days together in Florence. Venice was absolutely gorgeous -- the first day we had wonderful weather (short sleeves!) - and we wandered around, went to the opera house (are you sensing a trend here?), and rode a gondola!! That was soo much fun - except I'm not gonna lie, I thought we were going to tip a few times. Those little boats do not seem very stable. I'm glad I was able to go to Venice with my mom though, because the only other time I would have gone would have been for Carnival, and from what I've heard, you don't really get to see the city that way. I actually really liked Venice - but I think its one of those places that you either love or hate. For example, my host mom, can't wait for Venice to sink into the water (I think she was half joking). But I really did like it! (As long as I'm not there in the summer - I can see how it would really smell then!) I also LOVED staying in a hotel - having a double bed to myself (I've only actually fallen out of my twin bed here once, but its almost happened multiple times). AND we had TV, with shows in its original language! My host family doesn't have TV's in common places (besides the kitchen) so I haven't watched much tv obviously -- especially since its all in Italian! On Friday we went to Murano (the home of Murano Glass) and went to a glass blowing factory. We saw these workers make a clown, which was absolutely incredible. (Clearly I still haven't learned to rotate pictures since the last time I wrote....) It took a while to figure out what they were actually making -- we didn't see the head until the very end, so we only saw the body, the shoes, the umbrella, and the arms. It took 45 minutes to make everything (minus the head) - and it is such an intense process! You can only have the melted glass outside of the oven for about a minute before it gets hard - so you have to work fast, and keep putting it back in the fire so you can mold it again. And they get the different colors by rolling the glass in this powdered stuff. 3 guys worked together to make this - it was really really cool to see.
OH! and Venice also had one of my other favorite things -- CRANBERRY JUICE. As you can see I took this very seriously and bought not one, but 2 boxes. (And by I bought, I mean mommy bought....). Let me also say one is already gone :)

On Saturday we took the train to Florence! I loved being able to show Mom and Murray where I've been living for the last 3 1/2 months! We climbed the Duomo (which was less painful the second time around....) -- it was a gorgeous day, so it also beat the rain Dad and I had when we did it back in February. But I have to say, the time in February was more enjoyable because there was only 5 people climbing with us! Florence has become flooded with tourists -- we had to wait in line for 20min to climb the Duomo, and then there were tons of people up there with us! Honestly, walking through the center near the Duomo right now is veryyyy similar to walking through Times Square during New Years Eve -- no joke. On Sunday I went to my first soccer game - Fiorentina vs. Udinese - and we won! It was a lot of fun -- the fans kept singing all of these songs, but my Italian was not good enough to translate what they were saying. In the picture of the stadium, note the view from our seats -- gosh if only Yankee Stadium had this gorgeous of a view into Tuscany!!
On Monday we went to a few of my favorite places in Florence, tried to go to the Synagogue, but it was closed for Passover, and had dinner with my host family. It was funny, because my host mom said to me afterwards, "I didn't want to bring it up when your mom was here because I didn't want to start anything, but I still don't think you eat enough." While mom said before she left, "wow, I've never seen you eat this much before!" Boy, am I going to miss these amazing home cooked 2 or 3 course meals every night when I get back to college. But I am excited to go back to my french toast and kraft mac and cheese dinners!

Thats all for now! I'll talk about the Amalfi coast soon -- I promise!! And incase I don't write again before this weekend, I am going to Munich for Springfest with my friend Kelly from F&M! I'm SO excited. Just 2 weeks left of class -- and 1 presentation, 6 papers, and 3 finals to go!

Buona Notte!

Spring Break Part 3: Berlin (a little late....)

Okay I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I really dropped the ball on the whole, blogging thing. I didn't even finish talking about spring break! So I'll give you a quick rundown of Berlin, and then I'll post some more things about what's been going on this past month! I guess I should be honest and say the only reason why I am finally getting around to doing this is because I'm stuck in bed with the flu. And well, even though I have 6 papers due within the next 10 days.....I don't have the energy to do work -- I'll do it tomorrow! :)

Day 6: We arrived in Berlin with very little transportation drama (at least compared to the Vienna disaster!). The only issue was that they announced about 1/2 way to Berlin that everyone needed to get off at the next stop and get on the train that was on the other side of the tracks. However, this train did not have our car number.....so we sat down, gave our tickets to the conductor, and thought we were fine. That was until a family came and kicked us out of our seats. We then had to go find seats, and pretty much keep moving the whole time. But if thats the worst that happened, then I'm okay with that! Anyway, we got to Berlin and went to our hostel (Paula's Comfy Corner). I won't put any details on here, but lets just say it was not at all what I expected. But it ended up working out and being a decent place to stay. Paula suggested we go climb a tower that was supposed to have a great view of the city, but unfortunately it was closed for construction. We ended up just wandering around and found ourselves in the center of the city and at Parliament. It was a nice relaxing day - we just got a good feel of the city. Now I'll be honest, Berlin was a my least favorite out of the 3 cities. (I don't remember if I'm repeating myself, since I wrote the other posts such a long time ago...), but it was too modern for my liking. 3/4 of the buildings were modern, with some old ones thrown in randomly. (mainly because everything was bombed during the war!). For dinner we went to a pizza place, 12 Apostel (yes, I am studying in Florence but decided to get pizza in Berlin) -- and it was great! It was a recommendation from a family friend, Dave, and it was DELICIOUS. The pizza's were HUGE..and trust me - I am used to big pizza from Florence. The restaurant had such a great atmosphere - it kind of reminded me of some places at home -- but it was great. I also had some german beer -- not sure what kind, but it was good!

Day 7: Today I had a BAGEL for breakfast!!! As most of you know, one of the things I miss the most about the states, minus my friends, family, and boyfriend, is the food - especially bagels. We did a 4 hour walking tour of Berlin today. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little hesitant at first - mainly because it was a free tour, and I was worried I would just waste a day on a bad tour, but it ended being great! So good, that we signed up for a tour the next day with the same tour guide. We saw a ton on this tour -- a lot of which I would not have thought of seeing - such as the place where Hitler's bunker was where he died (that was a little eerie). We also saw Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, the former SS headquarters, checkpoint charlie, the book burning memorial, museum island, Staatsoper, and a Holocaust memorial. The tour was also made up of all college students, so that was pretty cool. My favorite story of the day was about the Brandenburg Gate -- if you look really closely at the woman riding the chariot, you can see that she is looking slightly to her left (in the direction of the French Consulate). Originally the woman was supposed to symbolize "Peace" but then the French stole her. So once the Germans got her back, they made her symbolize "Victory". She is looking down on the French Consulate -- literally. OH! And remember a long time ago when good 'ol Michael Jackson dangled his baby from the penthouse of a hotel? We saw that hotel also -- it right next to Brandenburg gate. After our tour we went to the Pergamon Museum, where we saw the real gates of Babylon. We also climbed to the top of Parliament. This building is pretty cool, because the top is a glass dome. Anyone can walk around the dome, and look down at the members of parliament. This is also key because whenever the members of parliament forget who they are working for, they look up and see the people.

Day 8: Today was a very emotional day -- we spent the entire day at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, which is located about an hour and a half outside of Berlin. We did another guided tour, and it was a really good learning experience. I didn't take any pictures (for obvious reasons), and there really isn't much to say about it. For those of you who don't know (and I didn't before the tour), Sachsenhausen was not a death camp, but a work camp. But, the people sent there were often worked to death. This camp was also for anyone who did not fit into the category of Hitler's "perfect person." Therefore, anyone who went against him politically or religiously, was gay, etc, was sent here. I can't say it was the highlight of my trip to Berlin -- because I did not particularly enjoy it (since it was so heart-wrenching)....but it is the main thing I wanted to see while in Germany. At first I was deciding whether to go, or to spend the day in the city. But in the end I realized...I could either go to museums and read about the Holocaust, or I could go somewhere and see where it actually happened. I think one of the things that disturbed me the most is that right outside the walls of the Concentration camp is a neighborhood -- and people have houses that look directly onto the morgue and crematorium. I don't understand how someone could wake up every morning looking at that. However, out of every place I visited this semester, and every site I saw, this is the one that will stick out the most in my mind. Anyway, onto happier notes -- we had Thai for dinner, and then saw Up in the Air (the movie with George Clooney). This movie theater was absolutely AWESOME. There were assigned seats, they were comfortable, the movie was completely in English (not even German subtitles), and we could order beer and bring it into the movie! I loved it!

Day 9: Today I went to the East Side Gallery (the largest outdoor art exhibit in the world), and then took a train back to Florence. We were originally supposed to take a 10pm train from Berlin, and get back at Florence (after 3 train changes), at 8pm Sunday night. But I decided that since I didn't love Berlin, and since I was also not feeling well...to take an earlier train and get back to Florence at 6am Sunday morning. Here are a few pictures of the East Side Gallery. The gallery is part of the Berlin Wall (I think........)

Spring Break Part 2: Prague

NOW OFF TO PRAGUE!

Day 4: Now today definitely started off interesting. Rebecca and I had a 5:50am train to Prague, at what is thought to be one of the main train stations in Vienna. We got in the cab at 5am and told the driver where to take us. He looked confused, called someone on his cell, and then said he knew where he was going and took us to a station. He dropped us off at what we thought was the right station -- we went in, and looked for our train on the board, and saw that it was not there. There was also no one in the station except for a homeless person. This is when we started getting worried. Thankfully I had my international blackberry! (Aren't you glad I brought this Mom?) and called my Mom and had her figure out where we were actually supposed to be. We went into a nearby hotel and they called us a new cab and we made it to the correct train station. Turns out the train station changed names, but they still print the old name on the train tickets -- confusing tourists! Anyways, once we got to Prague we checked into what was my favorite hostel - the Czech Inn (get it?) This hostel was GORGEOUS. It was pretty much a hotel, and had full breakfast (with CEREAL and PINEAPPLE and ORANGE JUICE) every morning. These are all things that are hard to find in Florence. We then went to the Prague State Opera House to see a performance of Turandot. It was an incredible experience. The costumes, the singers, the atmosphere, it was all amazing. After the opera we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. This again, is something they do not have in Florence. I had my first chicken quesadilla in 2 MONTHS. Now, their salsa is a bit different -- instead of being cold and well -- tomato salsa-y, it was hot, thin, and tasted like tomato soup.

Day 5: We spent most of the day in the Jewish Quarter. We went to 6 different Synagogues, a Jewish Cemetery, and a Jewish Museum. About 100,000 Jews are buried in this cemetery. As you can see in the picture, the tombstones are all falling over. There are also 12,000 tombstones visible -- which is insane because this is a VERY small cemetery. My favorite synagogue was the Spanish Synagogue (I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but the inside was so pretty I had to sneak a few from behind a pole. They came out kinda bad, but I guess thats what happens when you aren't looking through the screen when taking a picture!). My computer is also being weird and not letting me rotate pictures - so this is also sideways - SORRY! Anyways, after the Jewish Quarter we went to Charles Bridge and climbed the tower. It was a gorgeous day (minus it beeing FREEZING), so we got a BEAUTIFUL view of the city.
We then ventured to Old Town Square, saw the Astronomical Clock, got dessert (yes, before dinner), at this really awesome bakery, and then got dinner at a Czech Restaurant. Note: the picture on the right was taken literally 30 minutes after the one on the left.

Day 5: We started off our last day in Prague by going to the Museum of Communism. I learned a lot, met a group of people from Australia, and well, had some debates with an Australian guy about Facism and WWII. WARNING: Those of you in America will be extremely dissapointed in ALL of our food choices of this day -- however you must remember, we are two girls who have not had any type of American food in 2 MONTHS. Therefore, I think our choices are completely justifiable. :) Anyways, after our visit at the museum of communism, we decided to go get Ben and Jerry's on our way to the train. You might be wondering, why Ben and Jerry's when you are in the country of delicious pastries. Well -- we have been strong and resisted the urge to get Ben and Jerry's in Florence because of gelato, therefore we decided that Ben and Jerry's was probably the best ice cream we'd find in Prague, so it was totally okay. HOWEVER, the person working there was on break, and even after waiting 30 minutes, they never came back. So we had to settle for a McDonald's McFlurry. (This might have been a poor judgement call, but for those of you who know me, when I get the idea of ice cream in my head, there's no getting it out.). We then went to Prague Castle, which was gorgeous. After visiting the castle we went to Petrin Tower. Keep in mind - this was all Rebecca's idea - as the idea of climbing the "eiffel tower of Prague" was not my top choice, since I'm scared of heights. What I also did not realize when agreeing to this, was that it was not an elevator, and it was not closed in. Therefore, as I was climbing, I could easily reach (or fall) off the stairs. Lets just say, I lasted about 2 minutes on the FIRST level before I turned white, started shaking, and how to run (yes, running was the best option because the sooner I got down the better), down the stairs to safe ground. (Once again, sorry - I can't rotate the pictures!!). The rest of the day was literally spent eating American food. Starbucks to warm up, chicken fingers, fries, and CRANBERRY JUICE at TGI Fridays for dinner, and Ben and Jerrys (it was open this time!) for dessert.
Overall, Prague was AMAZING. Minus the cold, the snow, and the really not nice people, I loved it. The buildings were gorgeous - in Florence you can count on the white/cream buildings with a red roof, but in Prague the buildings were all different colors: pink, purple, yellow, blue. Just absolutely stunning. The streets were small like Florence, which I liked - but ah, I don't know, I loved it! If the people were nicer, and they if they didn't use such weird currency (200 Korona = $10), I might have to move there.

Spring Break Part 1: Vienna (and a little update from the past 3 weeks)

Warning! This is Post #1 of 3! Since I'm so tired from all my traveling I'm going to break up the posts by city. it will also be easier to read this way! But real quick before I go on about spring break, I'll give a quick update on my life in Florence. The weekend after I went to Copenhagen I went to Rome with one of my classes. We saw all of the classics - Colloseum, the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, etc. I even found my mom and my FAVORITE gelato place! The weekend after that my friend Lizzy came to visit with her Mom and Aunt. I have known Lizzy since 3rd grade and it was sooo good to see her and show her around Florence. It was also nice to see familiar faces. Unfortunately the week they were here was also midterms week. And well, since I'm abroad and people don't normally do work when they are abroad, I had a very rude awakening. I had 4 exams and 3 papers all on the same day! But hey, I guess I can't complain since that was the first time I opened most of my text books all semester (sorry F&M! I promise I'll be better in September!).

Now, onto SPRING BREAK.

Day 1: Thursday Night. Well, on Thursday I took 3 midterms (I was able to get one moved to Wednesday to make my life easier), turned in 3 papers, and had to pack an hour before I got on the train. But come 9pm, I was ready! My friend Rebecca and I decided to get EURAIL passes - making it a lot easier to travel between countries. We took an overnight train from Florence to Vienna. And boy, was it an experience! We were in a 6 person couchette compartment, and they definitely squeeze you in. We had the top bunks (there were 3 levels). The bunk was so close to the ceiling that even me, being only 5'2", could not sit up straight.
And as most of you know, I tend to overpack, so lets just say I had a pretty big suitcase. I had to get that up onto the luggage holder on the 3rd bunk, and get it down in the morning -- not sure which was harder. Also, as most of you know, I am afraid of heights. So all night I was afraid I was going to roll off this little bed that did not have a railing! There were two other study abroad students in our compartment, but unfortunately they weren't very friendly! The night was fairly uneventful, except for when the police knocked on the door asking for our passports at 3am.

DAY 2: Anyways, we arrived in Vienna, dropped our luggage at the hostel, and were off to explore for the day! We took the underground to the main area of the city and went to Stephansdom, which is a huge cathedral in Vienna. It is very gothic looking, much different from what I normally see in Florence. We then went to this bakery called Cafe Anita and I got Zimtschnecke (aka: a cinnamon bun type thing). All of the desserts looked amazing -- but unfortunately we never went back to try the others. Afterwards, we went to probably my favorite thing of the entire week -- we went to MOZART'S HOUSE. I stood in the room where he composed Le Nozze di Figaro, which was just SOO cool. I spent 2 hours just walking around the house and learning all about Mozart. Next, we had to take advantage (for the first of many times) of the STARBUCKS in Vienna (and all the other cities we visited for that matter). We also went to an art museum: Kunsthistorisches Museum. Then we had dinner at a Turkish restaurant. --- honestly, not my favorite, but it was decent!

DAY 3: Today I went to Schloss Schonbrunn Palace. It was GORGEOUS. Marie Antoinette's mother lived here. Funny story -- and I promise, I am still a brunette --although after this you might think otherwise: My mom mentioned to me that when she was at this palace she saw a dessert demonstration. I went here, really excited to hopefully see this. I saw a sign that said "dessert house experience." and walked 20 minutes through a garden to get there. When I walked into the house, it was very hot, and there was a cactus and some lizards, and a lot of sand. Turns out, DESSERT has 2 S's --- but DESERT only has 1. :( Lets just say I was very disappointed -- but I will always blame my mom for getting the idea into my head :) Rebecca and I then went on a tour of StaatsOper (the Vienna State Opera House) - it was absolutely incredible. I wish we could have seen a performance there, but we didn't plan far enough ahead and all of the tickets were sold out already. I then went on my own again to House of Music -- this was a really cool interactive museum. There were rooms about famous composers, but there were also interactive rooms -- the best one was where you could pick a piece and conduct the Vienna Symphony! It was funny because if you couldn't keep the beat or were messing up, the orchestra would stop and tell you that you were terrible! --Of course this didn't happen to me! :) We then had an early dinner and had Sachertorte at Hotel Sacher.

Vienna was probably my favorite city out of the 3 I went to. The architecture was incredible, the people were so friendly, and I felt very comfortable very quickly. For example, the second day (or 1st full day) we were there, Rebecca and I each did our own thing, and were able to get around the city using the undergrounds very easily. I loved it! Well -- except for the food -- I did not like the food. (Well, the pastries were obviously delicious - but I mean the real food).

Look tomorrow for a post about PRAGUE.

Some adventures in Firenze & COPENHAGEN

Well...before I talk about my adventures in Copenhagen, I should probably fill you all in what I've been doing since the last time I updated (aka: went to a diner). So sorry in advance - this will be a long post! For those of you who don't know, I did make it to the diner, and had amazing pancakes and CRANBERRY JUICE. Here is a picture of me and my friend Elizabeth with our delicious meals: That weekend we also found one of the best pizza places in Florence! I can't remember the name of it, but I took dad there when he was here, and he loved it! It was funny, I was actually the only one who did not order pizza the first night..I had spaghetti with artichokes (Impressed mom?), and then I tried my friend's pizza and decided I had to come back!The next weekend was very exciting, because Dad visited me in Firenze!! We did pretty much every tourist thing there was to do. We climbed the Duomo and the Bell Tower (A total of 900 steps), went to the Uffizi (Where I wowed him with my knowledge on free standing statues), saw about a million churches, traveled to Lucca, and just hung out! It was so great to see him -- it was perfect timing. Here is a pictures of us at the top of the Duomo. We were both EXHAUSTED by the end of the weekend - we had done sooo much walking, and talking, and eating. Oh! And Dad had dinner with my host family, and I think ate a bigger meal than Thanksgiving dinner! They had so much food, and alcohol. (Champagne, wine, and disgusting wine for dipping biscotti). Good thing I warned him about the 3 courses, or he would have stuffed himself on the first course! (I wish someone had warned me my first night here!).

This past weekend I went out of the country for the first time, to COPENHAGEN. The trip there was actually very stressful. I got to the airport at 7:15 for my 9:40 flight, and found out that I had to wait till 9 to find out if my plane was actually going to take off. It had snowed for 20min on Thursday night, which closed Florence airport. Therefore, they didn't know if the plane I was going to be flying to Zurich would actually be able to land Friday morning in Florence. So I proceeded to sit in the airport alone, where there was nothing to do (it was too early for anything to be open yet), waiting to find out if I would be able to fly out of Florence, or if I would have to be bussed to Bologna or Pisa. (Here is a picture of the alps from the plane!) ok off from Florence, and landed at 12:10 in Zurich. Unfortunately, my flight from Zurich to Copenhagen was leaving at 12:20. Yes, you are reading this correctly -- I had 10 minutes to get off the plane (I was in the back), take a bus to the terminal, get through security, and go to the gate. By the time I got to the long security line it was 12:21. I called my dad crying (probably costing me a ton of money on my blackberry - sorry Mom!). I ended up BEGGING the mean security people to let me cut the line, and the very nice people at the gate saw this all happening (the gate was next to security), and they held the plane for me! Of course, the whole plane hated me because once I got on (10min after it was supposed to take off), they said "okay, everyone is on the plane, we can leave now). Oh well, atleast I got to Copenhagen!

I LOVED Copenhagen. The people were SO friendly, which was a huge difference from Italy. Don't get me wrong, Italians are lovely people, but you have to get to know them for them to be friendly - they come off cold at first. But Danes are some of the nicest people ever. When I got off the plane, it was like a scene from a movie -- Victoria (my KD sister) and I ran toward each other, and I think both of us were practically crying we were so happy to see each other. We then met up with our other sister, Danielle, who is also studying in Copenhagen and walked around the city. Victoria and I had dinner at her host family. They are seriously some of the nicest people I have ever met. They fed me 2 dinners and lunch, and about a million pasteries. THey're house was gorgeous - it was in an actual neighborhood, and had 3 floors. The floors were HEATED (which is a necessity since Denmark is FREEZING). Victoria has 2 host sisters, who are hilarious. I felt right at home within the first five minutes. Friday night Victoria and I met up with 2 of her friends (one of whom is actually my friend Lizzy's cousin! Small world!), and we went to a club called Kalua Bar (spelling??). It was a lot of fun - but it got soo crowded towards the end that it was a little much.

I then stayed at Danielle's apartment that night. It was so good to see her and catch up with her! In the morning I did some touristy stuff with her and her roommate, Kristin. It was FREEZING out. But I survived. (My toes were actually frozen and couldn't move for 5 hours, but no biggie!). We climbed a tower and got a great view of snow-covered Copenhagen.

(I now take back everything I've said about being jealous about F&M snow, I'll keep my 50 degree florence weather. (Speaking of gorgeous weather, we were able to eat outside in Florence without coats on today!). After touring around for a bit, I met up with Victoria again. We had a really fun night at her house. We originally planned on having a MK&A marathon (for those of you who aren't up on the lingo, that means Mary Kate & Ashley), but then we discovered that her host sisters had the Hannah Montana movie. So we watched Winning London and Hannah Montana. PERFECT night. We also ate some delicious pastries.

Luckily, we worked them off in the gym (in Victoria's basement) the next morning. I tried posting a picture of me in my uggs on the bike, but it wouldn't work. For those of you who want to see this hilarious site, check out my facebook.

I think by far one of the best parts of the trip was when we found out Victoria's family was dog sitting!!!

I've been seeing dogs around Florence for months, but I don't know how to ask if I can pet them in Italian, so I haven't been able to. This was by far one of the cutest dogs I have ever seen. It may not have liked us, but Victoria and I LOVED it. I loved my trip, and it was so great to see some F&M friends.

This weekend I am spending 3 days in Rome for a class - so I will post pictures/updates after that!

Love and miss you all! Ciao!

Off to a DINER

So...I think the one thing I miss most about home, besides my friends and family of course, is american breakfast food. For 3 weeks now I have been craving bagels, french toast, cereal, etc. I really started realizing this when I was skyping with Jeremy and he was eating a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch cereal (my favorite!). All I get for breakfast is toast! So today, since I never have friday classes, my 3 friends and I are going to find this famous diner, "Ari's Diner." It was apparently started by people who realized that all these american students come to Florence to study and after awhile begin to crave american breakfast! Lets just say, I am SO excited.

I don't have too many plans for this weekend - I have a bunch of schoolwork to do...mostly reading. My dad is visiting next weekend so I don't want to have to worry about doing any work when he's here so I am going to try to get ahead. I was supposed to go to Pisa today with my roommate and some friends but we looked at the weather forecast and it is supposed to rain all day! So instead, my friends and I are going to the Diner and then taking advantage of the last weekend of sales in Florence!

Well, I'm off to go in search of this diner! Wish me luck!

So I've officially been here for more than a week - but it feels like I've been here for weeks! I've now had all of my classes, and still don't know what to do. I am taking Italian 4 (yikes!), Practice of Eros (which is a class all about sexuality and marriage), Classical Mythology, Antiquity to Michalangelo, and Family and Gender in the Italy. We took a diagnostic test in Italian yesterday and I had to leave half of it blank, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do there yet. I'm going to talk to my professor today about whether I should stay in it or audit a lower level. If I stay in Italian 4 I am going to drop Classical Mythology (I don't really want to take 5 classes. Antiquity to Michelangelo is an art history course - we have lectures on Tuesdays and then we go on site visits each Thursday. I am actually not a fan at all of Family and Gender, but its a sociology course, so its the only class I can't drop. The Practice of Eros class seems super interesting, so I'm really excited for it.

So, now about my host family: I love them - I have a host mom and dad, and a 10 year old sister and a 16 year old brother. They speak some English, but I'm hoping they begin speaking more Italian so I can learn more! I have met a lot of people, and am starting to settle in. The food here is delicious. My host mom makes amazing pasta, and the dad made homemade gelato the other night! They have had guests over 3 times so far - 1 was a family friend and his wife, one was the mom's sister, and the other was a colleague of the mom. We love when guests come because then we get full 3 course meals (including dessert!!). Otherwise, we normally don't get dessert, so I have been going into my secret stash of hershey kisses and famous amos chocolate chip cookies. They eat so much here - so I try to pace myself each night at dinner. However my host mom is really worried and thinks I don't eat enough since I only have one helping of each course. (When I do push myself and have 2, she usually misses it and then still worries that I'm not eating!) The other night she compared me to a little bird who only eats a little food. The worst was the first night we were here, and my host dad served us these HUGE bowls of pasta with meat sauce. I couldn't even finish all the pasta, and then he brought out the chicken and vegetables! It was crazy! Luckily now they let us serve ourselves so I don't have to leave food on my plate! I'm enjoying have delicious Italian wine every night with dinner.

Last weekend (my first weekend here), my friends and I explored on Saturday, and then on Sunday my host parents took me and my roommate to Greve of Chianti. It was absolutely freezing out, so we didn't spend as much time outside as we had hoped. Greve is located about 30 minutes outside of Florence in the mountains, and it was a gorgeous ride. It was a cute little town with one piazza, that was pretty much deserted since it was a Sunday. We went to a little restaurant and I had a salami sandwich on typical Tuscan bread. I was also forced to try chicken liver, which I took a tiny bite of and have vowed to never eat it again. But, it made my host mom happy that I tried it!

This weekend I took two day trips with school - Friday we traveled to Assisi and on Saturday we went to Ravenna. Assisi was a 2 hour bus ride from Florence, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I would move there in a heartbeat if I had the opportunity. We spent about 2 hours in the Church of St. Francis (the second picture) and then had time to walk through the town for 3 hours. I went to lunch with a few people I had just met, and we had amazing food. I had pizza, and of course we ordered wine! We then climbed to the top of this tower/fortress and we were able to experience the amazing view of Assisi and Perugia. (Yes, Perugia is where the Amanda Knox murder took place). Assisi is built on a hill, and therefore my legs have been hurting for the last 2 days from all the hiking! A few of my friends and I were craving gelato, and we stopped in every gelateria that we saw in Assisi, but each store owner told us the same thing "Troppo Fredo" - meaning too cold for gelato. That didn't stop us though - the fifth and final gelato place we stopped into had gelato, and it was perfect! After traveling to Assisi, Ravenna was a huge dissapointment. I think it was partly because it was FREEZING- about 28 degrees? And we spent the whole day walking around and standing in churches. I know what you're thinking - the churches should have been warm! Nope!! The churches were actually colder than the outside!! Ravenna is famous for its Mosaics, and I believe it was the capital of Italy at one point. (I stopped listening at some point to the tour guide because I was focusing on staying warm). I did see where Dante is buried which was pretty cool. I had another huge lunch - Ravenna is famous for its tortallini and ravioli, so I had ravioli in a butter sauce, which was probably one of the best meals I've had so far in Italy. I even splurged and had chocolate torte for dessert, which was wonderful as well. When we got back Florence my friend Rebecca and I went on the search at 9pm for dinner - which was surprisingly hard to find!! The only places open were super expensive restaurants, when all we wanted was a sandwich! We of course then got gelato after dinner! My new goal is to try every gelato place in Florence! Lets see how well that goes!

Today wasn't too exciting - I slept late (which was wonderful since I had to be up at 6:30 and 7 on Friday and Saturday). I then went to find a cafe with my friend Peter...which was just as hard today as it was last night, since everything is closed on Sundays! I then proceeded to get Gelato for the 3rd time in 3 days - good thing I've been doing a lot of walking!!!

Well, thats all for now! I miss you all! I will try to start updating this more often!

Ciao!

Pictures!

Buon Giorno! After 2 days of being here, I finally took some pictures! I'll post a few of my favorites here, but you can find all of them on my facebook. The first picture is just a street around the corner from campus. The second picture is the main building of my school! Its gorgeous. Last night we had a long meeting about the "Do's and Don'ts" of living with a host family! For example, it is taboo to walk around barefoot in the house (good thing I brought slippers!) Also, the kitchen is the mother's domain, and no one else should enter it without permission. I just found out my host family! I meet them at 3 (its 1 now), but its the family I requested! I got my roommate, but I have no idea who she is! I guess I'll be finding out soon! Tomorrow we register for classes -- and today I have to either decide whether to take Italian 4 for credit, and therefore have to get an overloaded schedule approved, or take it for no credit. Unfortunately, F&M is a pain, and we have to take 5 classes here for it to equal 4 courses back at school. I wish I could just take 4 like everyone else!! Thanks F&M! :( I am still getting used to the time difference - I actually completely avoided jet lag, its just annoying that I have to wait till 3:00pm to talk to anyone from home!

Enjoy the pictures!

Ciao!