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........)