December 12, 2008
Hey everyone!
So im officially down to my last week in Florence. I have so many mixed feelings it's crazy, and I thought I'd write about them haha.
Basically, I love Italy, the people, architecture, coffee, language, gelato...the list could really go on and on, and I'm also soooo excited to go home!
The part that’s so hard for me to grasp is that I won’t be able to come back to Italy for several years, and there are so many things I’m going to miss. And I guess that’s all part of life, learning, and growing. It doesn't really feel like I only have a week left here in Florence. Honestly, if I learned the language I could really see myself living here for a longer period of time, there’s something so amazing about living in another culture and learning the lifestyle.
So to start, I’m going to miss my 5 amazing roommates so much! All of their personalities are so fun and every day is like a new adventure. I think if I was to write about all of the things that have happened to the 5 of us or that we’ve each individually experienced, the list would be 10 pages long! Some of these are: Katie and I have both been pooped on by pigeons, Hannah and I have both slipped on the cobblestone and fallen flat on our butts, Kristen has managed to brake 5 different umbrellas, whereas the rest of us have been able to use the same umbrella we bought in the beginning, those are the less fortunate but very funny stories…oh Hannah had her foot run over by a car, and I was backed into by a van...like I said Endless! I’ll try and write more as I remember them. I’m also going to miss our apartment, the Residence La Contessina, and the amazing family that owns the place. They’re so sweet to us. The mom is always bringing us up cakes that she’s baked. And when we were leaving the country to travel they would tell us “always remember you have family in Europe.” I’ll also miss the pizza boy, Danieli, down the street. He’s become one of the girl’s and my favorite people. He hardly speaks English and we speak very little Italian but he’s always there in his pizza window waving to us and blowing kisses everyday as we walk to and from classes haha. There’s also my amazing cooking teacher who is hilarious and says things like “put the cake in the hoven so it can bakery.” I’m going to miss that haha. It’s going to be weird not walking into a café and ordering a café latte for 1 euro (student discount haha) or walking down the street waving at the business owners I’ve gotten to know, like the scarf woman and her husband, or the gelato boy next to my flamenco class. And every time I go to Conad, the grocery store one of the grocery guys always comes straight up to kiss me on both cheeks and say “come stai?” The people are so sweet and it’s so neat being friends with some of the locals. Speaking of which, Francesco, the college kid that works the night shift at our hotel is giving us his own personal tour around Florence. We thought it’d be perfect for our last weekend and he asked to do it awhile ago, so we’re all pretty excited!
On the other hand there are things I will not miss. Like the pigeons. Honestly Pigeons are very disgusting birds and it will be nice not having to walk through them everyday. Oh that’s another thing I love being able to walk everywhere! I won’t miss the smoky air though, I don’t think very many people in Europe really realize that lung cancer is a real possibility! Oh I won’t have to pay for internet anymore woohoo! I’m also very ready to be back to the dollar. It’ll be nice looking at a price and really knowing exactly how much I’m paying for it. That’s another thing, Gypsy’s kind of freak me out, it’ll be nice not having to hold my hand over the top of my purse as I walk to school. Hmmm…what else?! Oh the men hollering in the streets. I think I can go a really long time without hearing “ciao bella.” I remember the first day at orientation our faculty said “just so you girls know that’s not a compliment, so don’t go up and talk to them.” It’ll be nice being able to walk down the street with my head up, rather than having to watch the cobblestones so I don’t trip (I’m serious this happens on a regular basis haha), and to avoid eye contact with the very forward Italian men.
On a different note, I hope that someday when I come back I can keep the mindset of a resident rather than a tourist. I want to be able to walk down the streets to the Ponte Vecchio just strolling and not feeling like I have to see a certain amount of sites in a limited amount of time. And I want to be able to take everything in and enjoy the little things more!
And lastly, there is the very strong pull to go home. I never really felt homesick while being abroad, and I don’t know if that was because Kristen and I came together or the U.S. atmosphere of our apartment. No matter what it was, it worked out so well! The girls and I just kind of went with the flow of things, had our ups and downs, but mainly ups. In the last week I’ve been getting so anxious to get home though, and I think that’s a mixture of me missing everyone like crazy since I’ve been gone for 4 months, and the fact that it’s the Christmas season. It doesn’t really feel like Christmas time unless I’m with my family! Trevor actually said something about this on skype earlier today. He said that he didn’t really feel like it was almost Christmas because I wasn’t home. I completely agree with him… and that only adds to my excitement that I will be home at this time next week! So I’m definitely ready to be back in the U.S….especially Idaho, and be with my family and friends enjoying the season and hopefully the snow!!!!
That’s everything for now. Hopefully I’ll get to write more later in the craziness of finals and farewells!
Ciao Ciao e molto baci!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Thanksgiving, a Weekend in Rome, & Falling More in Love with Florence!
Monday, December 8th, 08
Ciao!
So I haven’t written about Thanksgiving, Kristen and my school trip to Rome, or what we’ve been doing in Florence lately…so I’ll try and get it all down right now.
November 27th
Starting with Thanksgiving, Maddie’s parents were visiting which was really neat. We all made some of our favorites from home and it ended up being a lot more American than we thought! It consisted of: mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, macaroni and cheese, chicken (our substitute turkey :P), sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, pineapple stuffing, pumpkin and apple pie. I think that’s everything. Anyway, Katie and Nick were in Paris so it was the 5 of us girls and Maddie’s mom and dad. Therefore we had wayyyyy tooo much food. Anyway, it was great having leftovers! All of us seemed to have the same tradition of going around and saying what we were thankful for so we did that and at the end of the night we watched the cartoon Grinch. I love Christmas movies! It ended up being a great Thanksgiving, and was definitely Italian style because we didn't eat until 9 haha!
November 29th
That Saturday Kristen and I left for Rome with the school. The more I see of Rome the more I like it! I feel like there’s so much to see and always so little time to see it. So we left at 4 that morning on a bus with the school. We got to The Vatican around 8 and took a 3 and a half hour tour through the Vatican Museum, The Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s Rooms, and St Peter’s Basilica (one of my favorites! It has Michael Angelo’s “Pieta” in it!) They were all beautiful and I felt like I got a lot out of the whole morning! Although towards the end of the tour you could tell that everyone was tired and hungry. So the tour guide let us go and we had about an hour to grab lunch before meeting back up with the group. Kristen and I had a horrible lunch hahha. It was so bad. We went to a place that said you could get a primi, segundi, and meat for 10 euro….it ended up being like a tv dinner of chicken cordon bleu, lasagna, and oddly colored broccoli. An experience to say the least, and we made everything better by getting gelato :P And that, of course, was delicious!
We met back up with the group and got back on the bus. First we visited St. Paul’s Cathedral which was really pretty as well, and there was a choir rehearsing while we were there. I love church choirs, especially around the holidays. It made me think of Home Alone or something…I know im weird :P After that we just headed to the hotel so everyone could nap. Kristen and I had a room to ourselves which was really nice, definitely an upgrade from our hostels haha. Then we grabbed dinner and walked to the colosseum so we could see it in the dark. It was creepy! For some reason there’s like an eerie blue light on the second floor that shines at night and the rest is dark and grey. We were wiped out so we just went back to the hotel.
November 30th
Sunday was my favorite! I can’t describe everything we did because it would take forever, so we saw: The Colosseum, The Arch of Constantine, The Forum, Trajan’s Column, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, and The Catacombe’s…once again these were creepy haha. I had already been to the Trevi Fountain with mom and dad, but that’s one of my favorites, and it was fun to see again, and I also loved the Spanish Steps. They didn’t have flowers around them this time of year, but they’re gorgeous and look out over the whole city. Our teacher/tour guide told us that as you walk down them they seem to get larger and larger…and he was right, so I guess that’s another reason why I like them! Oh and that day for lunch we had a “real Roman lunch” which was a 4 course meal and dessert. It consisted of: a fried vegetable starter, an amazing pasta that was like a creamy tomato spaghetti, lasagna, then veal and potatoes, followed by tiramisu. Honestly, we were all stuffed and the meal lasted 2 hours…2 HOURS! That’s totally insane to me, but so very Italian haha. After that we took the bus ride back to Florence. And we were back in plenty of time for me to skype with Peej on his 21st Birthday J
December...
The next week was filled with school, school, and more school…thrilling to say the least! And we had class on Friday this week because we have Monday, today, off due to The Immaculate Conception holiday. Friday night Katie and I went to a dance club called 21 with 4 other girls from school (Katie, Sara, and their two roommates). I’ve been told that Florence is so fun to go out in, and the girls and I never really feel up to it. So Katie and I decided we’d get out since our time is becoming so limited! Anyway, it was pretty fun, minus the Italian men that are seriously “like sharks” as the guy at our front desk calls them. Honestly, we’d move like two feet and be swarmed. They’re creepy to say the least and we didn’t stay long. But the best part of the night was that we went to SECRET BAKERY! Katie and Sara had already been but still weren’t really sure how to get there. Secret Bakery is also one of those places that a lot of study abroad students who have already been to Florence talk about. It’s only open from like 2-6 am so it’s really hard to go if you’re not already out. It’s hidden in a few back alley ways/streets. So we wandered around for awhile before finding it. But at 2 in the morning Florence is still swarming with people so it didn’t seem that late/early at all. The door to the place was a sliding plastic door, kind of sketchy haha. But we walked into this small back room, pointed to a shelf to tell the lady what we wanted, paid, and left. Im not really sure what I got but it was a mixture between a brownie, cookie, and fruit cake hahha. Afterwards we walked back to the apartment and called it a night!
Saturday we went to Mario’s, a famous restaurant that’s in all of the guidebooks. There was a long line to get in, which is common I guess, and then we were sat at a table with two other men, also common. The seating is like picnic table style and at all of the tables there are a bunch of different people that are just put together. They change the menu daily, which was also kind of cool and I ended up getting some very good tomato ravioli. After that all of the roomies, minus Marci and plus Nick, hike up to Piazza Michaelangelo. It’s a beautiful piazza that overlooks the whole city. We timed it so we’d get up there by sunset at 4:38 and it was gorgeous! All of us were really sentimental, we keep realizing how close we’re getting to the end of our time in Italy and I don’t think any of us really know how we feel about it! Im so excited to get home, especially since it’s getting closer to Christmas, but it’s weird thinking that it’s going to be a really long time before Im back here again. And it’s even more weird to think that when I come back I’m going to feel more like a tourist than a citizen. The girls and I even catch ourselves saying “ugh the tourists.” After that we hiked up to San Miniato to listen to the munks chant and then headed back down to Santa Croce where there was a German Christmas market. It was a really fun day and I was so happy to be spending a weekend in Florence again!!!
That’s pretty much it for eventful things. Aside from the fact that we’ve been trying to eat out more, eating way too much gelato if there ever was such a thing, and doing homework!
Alright BACI!
Ciao!
So I haven’t written about Thanksgiving, Kristen and my school trip to Rome, or what we’ve been doing in Florence lately…so I’ll try and get it all down right now.
November 27th
Starting with Thanksgiving, Maddie’s parents were visiting which was really neat. We all made some of our favorites from home and it ended up being a lot more American than we thought! It consisted of: mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, macaroni and cheese, chicken (our substitute turkey :P), sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, pineapple stuffing, pumpkin and apple pie. I think that’s everything. Anyway, Katie and Nick were in Paris so it was the 5 of us girls and Maddie’s mom and dad. Therefore we had wayyyyy tooo much food. Anyway, it was great having leftovers! All of us seemed to have the same tradition of going around and saying what we were thankful for so we did that and at the end of the night we watched the cartoon Grinch. I love Christmas movies! It ended up being a great Thanksgiving, and was definitely Italian style because we didn't eat until 9 haha!
November 29th
That Saturday Kristen and I left for Rome with the school. The more I see of Rome the more I like it! I feel like there’s so much to see and always so little time to see it. So we left at 4 that morning on a bus with the school. We got to The Vatican around 8 and took a 3 and a half hour tour through the Vatican Museum, The Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s Rooms, and St Peter’s Basilica (one of my favorites! It has Michael Angelo’s “Pieta” in it!) They were all beautiful and I felt like I got a lot out of the whole morning! Although towards the end of the tour you could tell that everyone was tired and hungry. So the tour guide let us go and we had about an hour to grab lunch before meeting back up with the group. Kristen and I had a horrible lunch hahha. It was so bad. We went to a place that said you could get a primi, segundi, and meat for 10 euro….it ended up being like a tv dinner of chicken cordon bleu, lasagna, and oddly colored broccoli. An experience to say the least, and we made everything better by getting gelato :P And that, of course, was delicious!
We met back up with the group and got back on the bus. First we visited St. Paul’s Cathedral which was really pretty as well, and there was a choir rehearsing while we were there. I love church choirs, especially around the holidays. It made me think of Home Alone or something…I know im weird :P After that we just headed to the hotel so everyone could nap. Kristen and I had a room to ourselves which was really nice, definitely an upgrade from our hostels haha. Then we grabbed dinner and walked to the colosseum so we could see it in the dark. It was creepy! For some reason there’s like an eerie blue light on the second floor that shines at night and the rest is dark and grey. We were wiped out so we just went back to the hotel.
November 30th
Sunday was my favorite! I can’t describe everything we did because it would take forever, so we saw: The Colosseum, The Arch of Constantine, The Forum, Trajan’s Column, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, and The Catacombe’s…once again these were creepy haha. I had already been to the Trevi Fountain with mom and dad, but that’s one of my favorites, and it was fun to see again, and I also loved the Spanish Steps. They didn’t have flowers around them this time of year, but they’re gorgeous and look out over the whole city. Our teacher/tour guide told us that as you walk down them they seem to get larger and larger…and he was right, so I guess that’s another reason why I like them! Oh and that day for lunch we had a “real Roman lunch” which was a 4 course meal and dessert. It consisted of: a fried vegetable starter, an amazing pasta that was like a creamy tomato spaghetti, lasagna, then veal and potatoes, followed by tiramisu. Honestly, we were all stuffed and the meal lasted 2 hours…2 HOURS! That’s totally insane to me, but so very Italian haha. After that we took the bus ride back to Florence. And we were back in plenty of time for me to skype with Peej on his 21st Birthday J
December...
The next week was filled with school, school, and more school…thrilling to say the least! And we had class on Friday this week because we have Monday, today, off due to The Immaculate Conception holiday. Friday night Katie and I went to a dance club called 21 with 4 other girls from school (Katie, Sara, and their two roommates). I’ve been told that Florence is so fun to go out in, and the girls and I never really feel up to it. So Katie and I decided we’d get out since our time is becoming so limited! Anyway, it was pretty fun, minus the Italian men that are seriously “like sharks” as the guy at our front desk calls them. Honestly, we’d move like two feet and be swarmed. They’re creepy to say the least and we didn’t stay long. But the best part of the night was that we went to SECRET BAKERY! Katie and Sara had already been but still weren’t really sure how to get there. Secret Bakery is also one of those places that a lot of study abroad students who have already been to Florence talk about. It’s only open from like 2-6 am so it’s really hard to go if you’re not already out. It’s hidden in a few back alley ways/streets. So we wandered around for awhile before finding it. But at 2 in the morning Florence is still swarming with people so it didn’t seem that late/early at all. The door to the place was a sliding plastic door, kind of sketchy haha. But we walked into this small back room, pointed to a shelf to tell the lady what we wanted, paid, and left. Im not really sure what I got but it was a mixture between a brownie, cookie, and fruit cake hahha. Afterwards we walked back to the apartment and called it a night!
Saturday we went to Mario’s, a famous restaurant that’s in all of the guidebooks. There was a long line to get in, which is common I guess, and then we were sat at a table with two other men, also common. The seating is like picnic table style and at all of the tables there are a bunch of different people that are just put together. They change the menu daily, which was also kind of cool and I ended up getting some very good tomato ravioli. After that all of the roomies, minus Marci and plus Nick, hike up to Piazza Michaelangelo. It’s a beautiful piazza that overlooks the whole city. We timed it so we’d get up there by sunset at 4:38 and it was gorgeous! All of us were really sentimental, we keep realizing how close we’re getting to the end of our time in Italy and I don’t think any of us really know how we feel about it! Im so excited to get home, especially since it’s getting closer to Christmas, but it’s weird thinking that it’s going to be a really long time before Im back here again. And it’s even more weird to think that when I come back I’m going to feel more like a tourist than a citizen. The girls and I even catch ourselves saying “ugh the tourists.” After that we hiked up to San Miniato to listen to the munks chant and then headed back down to Santa Croce where there was a German Christmas market. It was a really fun day and I was so happy to be spending a weekend in Florence again!!!
That’s pretty much it for eventful things. Aside from the fact that we’ve been trying to eat out more, eating way too much gelato if there ever was such a thing, and doing homework!
Alright BACI!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Prague, Praga, Praha (November 21-23)
This trip didn’t start out on the best note (I was sick multiple times on the 12 hour bus ride) but then I bought motion sickness medicine and everything picked up from there haha. We left at 8 on Thursday night and got in around 8 Friday morning. We stayed at a hostel called Plus Prague which was pretty nice for a hostel and we kind of had a room to ourselves because it was Hannah, Katie, Nick, and I plus two girls that were really sweet (Jazz they were from southern Texas and one of them kept saying ya’ll). Anyway, the first day our tour group (called Bus2Alps) went to Old Towne Square and then Charles Bridge. The architecture of Prague was so gorgeous and unique, definitely eastern Europe! Hannah and I thought it looked a lot like Edinburgh (and both of us loved Edinburgh haha). I don’t know maybe it’s just something about the medieval look of buildings….in the U.S. you can’t walk outside and see a giant gothic cathedral or a castle on a hill…I guess that’s partly why I’m so fascinated by all of it! It rained almost all of Friday and the temperature was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. My cheeks were wind burnt and I found that my boots don’t work very well as rain boots (my socks were soaked) hahah but the city was pretty so that distracted me from the slightly miserable weather.
In the afternoon the group split up and Hannah, Katie, Nick and I walked some of the streets and window shopped. When we were heading back to old town square it started pouring down rain and the wind was picking up so we found a really cute coffee shop to sit in until the storm passed. We all got cappuccinos with apple strudels….yumm. At that point we were exhausted from not getting very much sleep on the bus the night before so we went back to the hostel and napped. That night the bus2alps group met up again and we went to a 5 story dance club. It was sooo fun! Each floor had a different genre of music…one was an oldies floor (our favorite!) Dad the girls and I did the twist haha, and some of the other floors were hip hop, techno, etc. It was really neat and we ended up staying longer than we thought. Oh and that night we grabbed dinner and snow started falling outside…soooo beautiful! And it was even more fun because Hannah is from Florida and she’d never seen snow fall before!!!!
The next morning our bus2alps group hiked to the top of a lookout tower, called the Eiffel Tour, in the snow! Everything looked so pretty and being in the snow made me miss home!
After that we slid down the hill…..literally, and went to Prague Castle! The group split up after that and Katie and I bought warm Prague hats hahah. Then we walked over to Old Towne Square again and as we were walking we ran into a coffee shop called Ebel that Hannah had read about in her guidebook. It was seriously the cutest coffee shop I’d ever been to. They decorated all of the coffee’s and we Hannah and I had cake which was great haha. And even better it was snowing again outside and there was a giant Christmas tree all lit up right outside our window. I loved it! After we had thawed from the freezing cold we bundled back up and headed back out. We all linked arms and just walked down several streets looking at Christmas lights, I think that was my favorite part of the trip because we were quietly singing Christmas songs and it was one of those moments I wish I could have captured and kept forever….I guess that’s why I’m writing about it haha.
After that we met up with the bus2apls group again at a place called Beer Factory, which is famous for having beer taps on the tables. Everyone had beer and I tried hot wine haha I don’t like beer! They had hot wine everywhere in Prague and I love trying food and drinks that are specific to different cultures. That night our group went to another club and the 4 of us decided to stay in the city instead. We wandered/got lost in a small blizzard for awhile haha. I have to say I was put in charge of directions….and mom Im becoming more and more like you everyday, I think I can officially be labeled “directionally challenged” haha! So that was just a bad idea from the start and it took us like 2 hours to get back to our hostel. We were so cold at one point that we stopped and had dessert and hot chocolate in another café before heading back. Anyway, we eventually made it back crawled in!
The next morning Hannah and I woke up early to catch a tram back to the middle of the city and walk around. We both bought souvenirs and then went back to Café Ebel…it was so good! So that was nice and relaxing and then we headed back to the hostel to embark on our 12 hour trip back haha. The bus ride flew by and before I knew it we were back! So Prague was beautiful and Im really glad I got to visit a country in Eastern Europe!
In the afternoon the group split up and Hannah, Katie, Nick and I walked some of the streets and window shopped. When we were heading back to old town square it started pouring down rain and the wind was picking up so we found a really cute coffee shop to sit in until the storm passed. We all got cappuccinos with apple strudels….yumm. At that point we were exhausted from not getting very much sleep on the bus the night before so we went back to the hostel and napped. That night the bus2alps group met up again and we went to a 5 story dance club. It was sooo fun! Each floor had a different genre of music…one was an oldies floor (our favorite!) Dad the girls and I did the twist haha, and some of the other floors were hip hop, techno, etc. It was really neat and we ended up staying longer than we thought. Oh and that night we grabbed dinner and snow started falling outside…soooo beautiful! And it was even more fun because Hannah is from Florida and she’d never seen snow fall before!!!!
The next morning our bus2alps group hiked to the top of a lookout tower, called the Eiffel Tour, in the snow! Everything looked so pretty and being in the snow made me miss home!
After that we slid down the hill…..literally, and went to Prague Castle! The group split up after that and Katie and I bought warm Prague hats hahah. Then we walked over to Old Towne Square again and as we were walking we ran into a coffee shop called Ebel that Hannah had read about in her guidebook. It was seriously the cutest coffee shop I’d ever been to. They decorated all of the coffee’s and we Hannah and I had cake which was great haha. And even better it was snowing again outside and there was a giant Christmas tree all lit up right outside our window. I loved it! After we had thawed from the freezing cold we bundled back up and headed back out. We all linked arms and just walked down several streets looking at Christmas lights, I think that was my favorite part of the trip because we were quietly singing Christmas songs and it was one of those moments I wish I could have captured and kept forever….I guess that’s why I’m writing about it haha.
After that we met up with the bus2apls group again at a place called Beer Factory, which is famous for having beer taps on the tables. Everyone had beer and I tried hot wine haha I don’t like beer! They had hot wine everywhere in Prague and I love trying food and drinks that are specific to different cultures. That night our group went to another club and the 4 of us decided to stay in the city instead. We wandered/got lost in a small blizzard for awhile haha. I have to say I was put in charge of directions….and mom Im becoming more and more like you everyday, I think I can officially be labeled “directionally challenged” haha! So that was just a bad idea from the start and it took us like 2 hours to get back to our hostel. We were so cold at one point that we stopped and had dessert and hot chocolate in another café before heading back. Anyway, we eventually made it back crawled in!
The next morning Hannah and I woke up early to catch a tram back to the middle of the city and walk around. We both bought souvenirs and then went back to Café Ebel…it was so good! So that was nice and relaxing and then we headed back to the hostel to embark on our 12 hour trip back haha. The bus ride flew by and before I knew it we were back! So Prague was beautiful and Im really glad I got to visit a country in Eastern Europe!
Visiting Sha in Butzbach!
November 14th-16th
Ciao!
I’m most definitely getting behind on my blogging and I think they’ve been way too long anyway hahha. So here’s a sum up of Germany and then Prague :)
So Germany was AMAZING. It was so so great seeing Sha Sha and getting to meet her host family (they’re adorable). Her mom is like the sweetest thing ever and was constantly feeding us and her host sister is like the most lovable girl I’ve ever met (Shannon and I decided that Karen, her host sister, has to marry Trevor haha). The first night we got back to their house around 10 and Barbara, Sha’s host mom, was pulling all of this food out for me to eat. It was very good…first she gave me a giant bowl of fruit salad and tnen rolls with this mango cream spread (Shannon’s new favorite) and then all of us had tea and spice cake hahah. Needless to say I was stuffed! That night the girls and I sat down in the basement and caught up on life haha. I tried coca-cola beer for the first time…the coke part was good…the beer part not so much.
The next morning we had breakfast and then the girls showed me around Butzbach. It is such a cute German town…..Sha and I think it looks like a little downtown Eagle, only German haha. The buildings were so old and cute and there were people selling brauts and such in the street. After that we went to Frankfurt and walked around/shopped for a few hours. We had lunch at a quaint restaurant in one of the main squares. I had goulash hahah typical German (and it was delish!) There was a wedding going on in the square while we were there and it was so cute! We were wondering what was going on and Karen told us that at weddings in Germany the newly married couple has to cut out one side of a heart from a big sheet that has a heart drawn on it, and basically whoever cuts their side out faster is the leader/head of the relationship haha. Fun Tradition! And it was really neat to see.
That night Sha and I made German Cheesecake! Since we were little we’ve always baked together and our favorite was always German Cheesecake…so this was necessary haha. It turned out really well even though we substituted a few ingredients. And we spend the rest of that night watching a German movie called the no eared bunny (they put English subtitles on for me haha). Oh and before that we went to a birthday party of one of Shannon and Karen’s friends. We didn’t stay for very long because we wanted to bake but it was neat going and seeing some people Sha’s been going to school with. Oh yeah and she’s completely fluent in German! Not even kidding we’d be in the car and suddenly she’d start talking to Barbara and she speaks at like 100 miles a minute…I was impressed! And the next morning Barbara packed me a lunch, seriously she’s adorable, and took me to the train station very very early in the morning. The trip was short but so great and definitely one of my favorites (mainly because I was visiting Sha and it was more relaxing and less touristy)!
Tshooch (that’s goodbye in German…it’s pronounced chews which took me awhile haha)
Ciao!
I’m most definitely getting behind on my blogging and I think they’ve been way too long anyway hahha. So here’s a sum up of Germany and then Prague :)
So Germany was AMAZING. It was so so great seeing Sha Sha and getting to meet her host family (they’re adorable). Her mom is like the sweetest thing ever and was constantly feeding us and her host sister is like the most lovable girl I’ve ever met (Shannon and I decided that Karen, her host sister, has to marry Trevor haha). The first night we got back to their house around 10 and Barbara, Sha’s host mom, was pulling all of this food out for me to eat. It was very good…first she gave me a giant bowl of fruit salad and tnen rolls with this mango cream spread (Shannon’s new favorite) and then all of us had tea and spice cake hahah. Needless to say I was stuffed! That night the girls and I sat down in the basement and caught up on life haha. I tried coca-cola beer for the first time…the coke part was good…the beer part not so much.
The next morning we had breakfast and then the girls showed me around Butzbach. It is such a cute German town…..Sha and I think it looks like a little downtown Eagle, only German haha. The buildings were so old and cute and there were people selling brauts and such in the street. After that we went to Frankfurt and walked around/shopped for a few hours. We had lunch at a quaint restaurant in one of the main squares. I had goulash hahah typical German (and it was delish!) There was a wedding going on in the square while we were there and it was so cute! We were wondering what was going on and Karen told us that at weddings in Germany the newly married couple has to cut out one side of a heart from a big sheet that has a heart drawn on it, and basically whoever cuts their side out faster is the leader/head of the relationship haha. Fun Tradition! And it was really neat to see.
That night Sha and I made German Cheesecake! Since we were little we’ve always baked together and our favorite was always German Cheesecake…so this was necessary haha. It turned out really well even though we substituted a few ingredients. And we spend the rest of that night watching a German movie called the no eared bunny (they put English subtitles on for me haha). Oh and before that we went to a birthday party of one of Shannon and Karen’s friends. We didn’t stay for very long because we wanted to bake but it was neat going and seeing some people Sha’s been going to school with. Oh yeah and she’s completely fluent in German! Not even kidding we’d be in the car and suddenly she’d start talking to Barbara and she speaks at like 100 miles a minute…I was impressed! And the next morning Barbara packed me a lunch, seriously she’s adorable, and took me to the train station very very early in the morning. The trip was short but so great and definitely one of my favorites (mainly because I was visiting Sha and it was more relaxing and less touristy)!
Tshooch (that’s goodbye in German…it’s pronounced chews which took me awhile haha)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Mondays
November 10th
The next morning, after Barcelona, was just like any Monday morning, although I feel like everything around our apartment is becoming really sentimental because we’re all realizing how short our time together is. The subject is kind of off limits…according to the girls hahah, but tends to come up anyway. Italian class was really fun. We spent the first half an hour talking in English about our travels from the weekend before. Every Monday is so fun to hear where everyone went and what they did! Two of the girls in my class got pick pocketed this last weekend though which is miserable so that kind of ruined their weekend, but neither of them seemed to down about it. It was just a really good way to start the week! That night Maddie and I met Hannah, Katie, and Nick at the wine bar by the Arno. I’ve heard them talking about it a lot but had never been before last night. Filippo, the owner, brought us both out glasses of wine when we got there and then all of us, includig Filippo went to dinner hahah. I love sitting down for the Italian style dinners. Everyone is just in the best mood and the restaurants are so quaint and warm! 4 of us ordered the same pasta because Nick had had it before. It was like a penne with tomato, mozzarella, and basil…so good! And we went for 1 euro gelato afterwards hahaha. Oh and Then I spent the night in the kitchen with the girls writing postcards, as marci curled my hair into the tiniest ringlets it’s ever been in. And at about 1 in the morning I took my postcards downstairs to send and interviewed Francesco, the 24 years old Italian that works night shifts at the front desk, for my intercultural comm. Class. It was a long day but a good one at that. Okay I’ll write again soon.
Ciao Ciao and 1,000 baci!
The next morning, after Barcelona, was just like any Monday morning, although I feel like everything around our apartment is becoming really sentimental because we’re all realizing how short our time together is. The subject is kind of off limits…according to the girls hahah, but tends to come up anyway. Italian class was really fun. We spent the first half an hour talking in English about our travels from the weekend before. Every Monday is so fun to hear where everyone went and what they did! Two of the girls in my class got pick pocketed this last weekend though which is miserable so that kind of ruined their weekend, but neither of them seemed to down about it. It was just a really good way to start the week! That night Maddie and I met Hannah, Katie, and Nick at the wine bar by the Arno. I’ve heard them talking about it a lot but had never been before last night. Filippo, the owner, brought us both out glasses of wine when we got there and then all of us, includig Filippo went to dinner hahah. I love sitting down for the Italian style dinners. Everyone is just in the best mood and the restaurants are so quaint and warm! 4 of us ordered the same pasta because Nick had had it before. It was like a penne with tomato, mozzarella, and basil…so good! And we went for 1 euro gelato afterwards hahaha. Oh and Then I spent the night in the kitchen with the girls writing postcards, as marci curled my hair into the tiniest ringlets it’s ever been in. And at about 1 in the morning I took my postcards downstairs to send and interviewed Francesco, the 24 years old Italian that works night shifts at the front desk, for my intercultural comm. Class. It was a long day but a good one at that. Okay I’ll write again soon.
Ciao Ciao and 1,000 baci!
Barcelona, Spain
November 7th
Friday night Kristen and I flew into Barcelona to meet Marci and Hannah. Getting there was a little interesting…but it all worked out as usual haha. For some reason on the way to catch our plane that day, the train we were on just stopped on the tracks for an hour. As the time was passing I kept getting more and more nervous that we might actually miss our flight, especially since we’d already missed our train to the airport. So when the train finally started up again and pulled into Pisa about 5 minutes later, Kristen and I just got a taxi. God works in mysterious ways and sure enough we ended up sharing a taxi with a man on a business trip who was on our same flight and he paid for the taxi and let us just run to check-in. Anyway we got checked in 10 minutes before the ryanair check-in closed which was a close call but we made it hahaha. Oh the adventures :P
After we landed in Barcelona we took an hour long bus ride into the city and then two metros to our hostel. And the hostel is another experience to say the least haha. It was the first hostel with just the two of us (therefore we couldn’t reserve a private room with the 4 or 6 of us roommates) it was a mixed male/female room, one bathroom, and 16 bunk beds. It’s a really weird experience falling asleep in a room with 14 people you don’t know! But surprisingly I felt more comfortable than I thought I would, and Im just glad that was my last night in a hostel hahah!!!! This hostel was called Gothic Point and it was actually pretty cool. The bunk beds were really high up and fairly separated, so it felt like there was a little bit of privacy. And I have pictures, but pretty sure the whole room just looked like a giant jungle gym.
Anyway, enough about the hostel! That night Hannah and Marci rested up from their day of sightseeing and Kristen and I split a huge plate of nachos at a restaurant the girls suggested. Afterwards the girls and I signed up for tapas and a flamenco show for 18E. The tapas were small portions of meats and cheeses on French bread, they were all a little interesting haha but I did have one with brie and a dried plum on it which was actually really good. Oh and I tried Sangria for the first time! I was surprised that I actually liked it, I think it was the fruity flavor because I love fruit and the fact that I was parched from traveling the whole day. Next the group went to a small theatre which was basically a relaxed bar atmosphere with a stage at the front. The beginning of the show was instrumental with clapping, guitar, and a drummer. Then after awhile the dancer came out and she was AMAZING! I was seriously soo impressed. Afterwards the girls and I were a little confused because the hostel leaders (who were leading the whole night) took us to two bars after the show. The girls all took their first shot ever at the first bar. It was Russian vodka, fanta, and orange juice. I tasted one of them and it pretty much just tasted like juice. Lastly, we went to the final bar which had a club downstairs. So we all just went downstairs and danced. It was soooo fun I haven’t just danced for the heck of it in so long and it was so great! The four of us decided we need to go out dancing more often, therefore we’re going to try and find a place in Florence soon. There’s actually a place here, in Florence, called the Red Garter that I really want to go karaoke at!
That night I fell asleep around 2 and then just tossed and turned throughout the night because I was cold. That’s one weird thing about our hostel. They didn’t provide us with top sheets, blankets, or comforters….so night times were a little chilly. Kristen and I were both sleeping with our scarves over us but that didn’t do a whole lot haha. And oddly enough neither Kristen nor myself heard any of our other roommates come in during the wee hours of the morning! After waking up we started the morning with golden crisp cereal at the hostel and muffins.
November 8th
We started the morning pretty early because Marci and Hannah had to leave to catch their plane around 1. First we went to the Picasso museum. That was actually really neat (I feel like lately I’ve been so reluctant to go to museums just because I’ve been in so many the last couple months and I have a hard time remembering what I see in them anyway). But I learned a lot about Picasso’s life and it was really awesome seeing how his work changed as he went through different phases of his life. Afterwards we walked to the beach, which happens to be the area where the Olympics were held. Being in a beach atmosphere made me miss California and beach bon fires soo much but it was also a really good feeling. I honestly think that was my favorite part of the trip. There’s something really amazing about being at the ocean where everything’s just wide open….and I feel like Im always so so happy at the beach even when it is cold outside. Afterwards Hannah and Marci left and Kristen and I took the metro up to Park Guell. It’s a large park on top of a hill designed by Gaudi. His architecture was absolutely incredible and the unique shapes of the buildings looked like they were straight out of Dr. Seuss or something! Kristen was fascinated with the park because there were mosaics everywhere and she loves mosaics!
We spent the rest of the day walking and taking the metro to different buildings Gaudi designed: Casa Mila, Sagrada Familia, and Casa Batilo. By the time we were done our feet were killing us and we were ready to take a break at the hostel. Hannah and Marci recommended a smoothie place, founded off Jamba Juice in California so we stopped there on the way back to the hostel. Mine was orange, strawberry, banana which tasted like heaven because I have not had a smoothie in so long. We used internet, which was free for once, for a little while at the hostel before heading to a mexcian restaurant for dinner. Kristen and I both ordered enchiladas and mine actually kind of made me sick, it wasn’t a typical enchilada, but their guacamole was good haha. Then we jumped on the metro for about the 5th time that day and headed to the west side of the city. We wanted to see a light show at this huge fountain but we missed it so we just sat on the steps and talked for awhile. It was so nice to just sit still for awhile, and that’s basically what we talked about. How we’re trying to slow down and take everything in because on our last couple trips we’ve been going non stop and sometimes it’s just nice to do less sightseeing and more relaxing haha. So that’s kind of my aim on my next trip, which is visiting Sha Sha in Germany this weekend and we’re not planning any sightseeing so that’ll be perfect :P
After wandering back from the fountain we stopped at a coffee shop called Cappuccino. First we ordered a piece of chocolate cake to split and then decided we might as well get another. So we got a gelato ciocolato which was a scoop of vanilla and chocolate gelato in hot chocolate with whip cream on top. It was delicious and right when we started eating it Jewel “Pieces of You” came on and we were both singing and eating our amazing dessert haha. We’re seriously such dorks but that’s what makes life fun hahaha.
November 9th
The next morning we got ready, had breakfast, and checked out of our hostel at ten. Our plan was to have a shopping day…but apparently a lot of clothing stores are closed on Sunday in Barcelona. I guess we should have realized that because that’s how it is in Italy as well. Anyway, we just went into a bunch of souvenir shops and walked around the city. As usual the highlight of the day was the food. We split vegetable paella for lunch which was absolutely necessary since we were in Spain hahah and it was so good! As we were leaving the city we stopped at a little shop to have churros and hot chocolate because that was on our to-do list for Spain. Then we bought a few postcards and caught our hour long bus ride back to the airport. I really like all of the traveling time. I’ve really grown to like my time on the buses, trains, and planes to read, listen to music, and just gather my thoughts. So we flew into Pisa around 6:30 to find out Italy was having a train strike hahaha not surprising. So we hopped on another bus back to Florence. It’s always so nice getting back to our cozy apartment after traveling. And I love it when all of the roommates are back together. I feel like we’re always just talking, laughing, cooking, and listening to music! We don’t have a family room or kitchen so our kitchen table is pretty much our gathering place hahah. So that was Barcelona…fast and furious, but so fun!
Adios!
Friday night Kristen and I flew into Barcelona to meet Marci and Hannah. Getting there was a little interesting…but it all worked out as usual haha. For some reason on the way to catch our plane that day, the train we were on just stopped on the tracks for an hour. As the time was passing I kept getting more and more nervous that we might actually miss our flight, especially since we’d already missed our train to the airport. So when the train finally started up again and pulled into Pisa about 5 minutes later, Kristen and I just got a taxi. God works in mysterious ways and sure enough we ended up sharing a taxi with a man on a business trip who was on our same flight and he paid for the taxi and let us just run to check-in. Anyway we got checked in 10 minutes before the ryanair check-in closed which was a close call but we made it hahaha. Oh the adventures :P
After we landed in Barcelona we took an hour long bus ride into the city and then two metros to our hostel. And the hostel is another experience to say the least haha. It was the first hostel with just the two of us (therefore we couldn’t reserve a private room with the 4 or 6 of us roommates) it was a mixed male/female room, one bathroom, and 16 bunk beds. It’s a really weird experience falling asleep in a room with 14 people you don’t know! But surprisingly I felt more comfortable than I thought I would, and Im just glad that was my last night in a hostel hahah!!!! This hostel was called Gothic Point and it was actually pretty cool. The bunk beds were really high up and fairly separated, so it felt like there was a little bit of privacy. And I have pictures, but pretty sure the whole room just looked like a giant jungle gym.
Anyway, enough about the hostel! That night Hannah and Marci rested up from their day of sightseeing and Kristen and I split a huge plate of nachos at a restaurant the girls suggested. Afterwards the girls and I signed up for tapas and a flamenco show for 18E. The tapas were small portions of meats and cheeses on French bread, they were all a little interesting haha but I did have one with brie and a dried plum on it which was actually really good. Oh and I tried Sangria for the first time! I was surprised that I actually liked it, I think it was the fruity flavor because I love fruit and the fact that I was parched from traveling the whole day. Next the group went to a small theatre which was basically a relaxed bar atmosphere with a stage at the front. The beginning of the show was instrumental with clapping, guitar, and a drummer. Then after awhile the dancer came out and she was AMAZING! I was seriously soo impressed. Afterwards the girls and I were a little confused because the hostel leaders (who were leading the whole night) took us to two bars after the show. The girls all took their first shot ever at the first bar. It was Russian vodka, fanta, and orange juice. I tasted one of them and it pretty much just tasted like juice. Lastly, we went to the final bar which had a club downstairs. So we all just went downstairs and danced. It was soooo fun I haven’t just danced for the heck of it in so long and it was so great! The four of us decided we need to go out dancing more often, therefore we’re going to try and find a place in Florence soon. There’s actually a place here, in Florence, called the Red Garter that I really want to go karaoke at!
That night I fell asleep around 2 and then just tossed and turned throughout the night because I was cold. That’s one weird thing about our hostel. They didn’t provide us with top sheets, blankets, or comforters….so night times were a little chilly. Kristen and I were both sleeping with our scarves over us but that didn’t do a whole lot haha. And oddly enough neither Kristen nor myself heard any of our other roommates come in during the wee hours of the morning! After waking up we started the morning with golden crisp cereal at the hostel and muffins.
November 8th
We started the morning pretty early because Marci and Hannah had to leave to catch their plane around 1. First we went to the Picasso museum. That was actually really neat (I feel like lately I’ve been so reluctant to go to museums just because I’ve been in so many the last couple months and I have a hard time remembering what I see in them anyway). But I learned a lot about Picasso’s life and it was really awesome seeing how his work changed as he went through different phases of his life. Afterwards we walked to the beach, which happens to be the area where the Olympics were held. Being in a beach atmosphere made me miss California and beach bon fires soo much but it was also a really good feeling. I honestly think that was my favorite part of the trip. There’s something really amazing about being at the ocean where everything’s just wide open….and I feel like Im always so so happy at the beach even when it is cold outside. Afterwards Hannah and Marci left and Kristen and I took the metro up to Park Guell. It’s a large park on top of a hill designed by Gaudi. His architecture was absolutely incredible and the unique shapes of the buildings looked like they were straight out of Dr. Seuss or something! Kristen was fascinated with the park because there were mosaics everywhere and she loves mosaics!
We spent the rest of the day walking and taking the metro to different buildings Gaudi designed: Casa Mila, Sagrada Familia, and Casa Batilo. By the time we were done our feet were killing us and we were ready to take a break at the hostel. Hannah and Marci recommended a smoothie place, founded off Jamba Juice in California so we stopped there on the way back to the hostel. Mine was orange, strawberry, banana which tasted like heaven because I have not had a smoothie in so long. We used internet, which was free for once, for a little while at the hostel before heading to a mexcian restaurant for dinner. Kristen and I both ordered enchiladas and mine actually kind of made me sick, it wasn’t a typical enchilada, but their guacamole was good haha. Then we jumped on the metro for about the 5th time that day and headed to the west side of the city. We wanted to see a light show at this huge fountain but we missed it so we just sat on the steps and talked for awhile. It was so nice to just sit still for awhile, and that’s basically what we talked about. How we’re trying to slow down and take everything in because on our last couple trips we’ve been going non stop and sometimes it’s just nice to do less sightseeing and more relaxing haha. So that’s kind of my aim on my next trip, which is visiting Sha Sha in Germany this weekend and we’re not planning any sightseeing so that’ll be perfect :P
After wandering back from the fountain we stopped at a coffee shop called Cappuccino. First we ordered a piece of chocolate cake to split and then decided we might as well get another. So we got a gelato ciocolato which was a scoop of vanilla and chocolate gelato in hot chocolate with whip cream on top. It was delicious and right when we started eating it Jewel “Pieces of You” came on and we were both singing and eating our amazing dessert haha. We’re seriously such dorks but that’s what makes life fun hahaha.
November 9th
The next morning we got ready, had breakfast, and checked out of our hostel at ten. Our plan was to have a shopping day…but apparently a lot of clothing stores are closed on Sunday in Barcelona. I guess we should have realized that because that’s how it is in Italy as well. Anyway, we just went into a bunch of souvenir shops and walked around the city. As usual the highlight of the day was the food. We split vegetable paella for lunch which was absolutely necessary since we were in Spain hahah and it was so good! As we were leaving the city we stopped at a little shop to have churros and hot chocolate because that was on our to-do list for Spain. Then we bought a few postcards and caught our hour long bus ride back to the airport. I really like all of the traveling time. I’ve really grown to like my time on the buses, trains, and planes to read, listen to music, and just gather my thoughts. So we flew into Pisa around 6:30 to find out Italy was having a train strike hahaha not surprising. So we hopped on another bus back to Florence. It’s always so nice getting back to our cozy apartment after traveling. And I love it when all of the roommates are back together. I feel like we’re always just talking, laughing, cooking, and listening to music! We don’t have a family room or kitchen so our kitchen table is pretty much our gathering place hahah. So that was Barcelona…fast and furious, but so fun!
Adios!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Thursday, October 30th Last Day and back to Florence
As usual for our last day…it rained haha. But I love the streets and gorgeous buildings when it rains so that was neat. For breakfast we went to Clarinda’s tea room which was recommended by friends that studied abroad and all of our guide books. It was a really cute little place and it was fun because we all got big pots of tea with scones and shortbread…yum! Afterwards we all split up for awhile, I shopped, Maddie headed to the National Gallery, and Kristen and Hannah walked to the top of the Scott monument. Then we all met up at the National Gallery and spent about an hour there. That was really neat because I saw paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, and Degas. After seeing so many paintings I have a really hard time remembering all of them, but the famous ones stand out!
Afterwards we hiked up to some monuments that we’d seen on the top of a hill, Calton Hill, that we’d been referring to as Athens or Greece because of the architecture. When we got up there we saw Duncan’s monument and Nelson’s Monument, the coolest part was just looking out over all of Edinburgh. We got really into taking jumping pictures on top of the hills we climbed hahah so we did a few more of those. A lot of people have themes when they take pictures in different places and jumping is definitely one we’ve adopted haha. We had to leave for the airport around 4 so we just hung around the city for a copule hours in the afternoon. For some reason Scotand had baked potatoes everywhere so for lunch we went to a backed potato shop. Maddie and I felt it was appropriate being Idahoans and all ;) I also tried pumpkin soup there…I couldn’t pass it up with the season and everything haha. We all ate so much soup in Dublin and Edinburgh just because it was so cold outside. Afterwards the 4 of us just sat in Starbucks and read, avoiding the rain and the wind. Oh and one last thing: I never mentioned how everyone drives on the other side of the road in the U.K. It’s so crazy because all of us would try and cross the street and be looking the opposite way for oncoming traffic…dangerous hahha. But we got the hang of it…not to mention all of the sidewalks said “look left” or “look right” :P
That night we flew out of Edinburgh late...our flight was delayed an hour and a half. Out of all times to be delayed we couldn't have been happier that it was a very last one on the way home. And after that the flight went smoothly and our plane landed in Pisa at 12:30 and we got on a bus that left at 1:40am and arrived in Florence at 2:40am. It was definitely early in the morning but it was so nice to get back to apartment and crawl into our own beds. Home Sweet Home...Away From Home :)
Afterwards we hiked up to some monuments that we’d seen on the top of a hill, Calton Hill, that we’d been referring to as Athens or Greece because of the architecture. When we got up there we saw Duncan’s monument and Nelson’s Monument, the coolest part was just looking out over all of Edinburgh. We got really into taking jumping pictures on top of the hills we climbed hahah so we did a few more of those. A lot of people have themes when they take pictures in different places and jumping is definitely one we’ve adopted haha. We had to leave for the airport around 4 so we just hung around the city for a copule hours in the afternoon. For some reason Scotand had baked potatoes everywhere so for lunch we went to a backed potato shop. Maddie and I felt it was appropriate being Idahoans and all ;) I also tried pumpkin soup there…I couldn’t pass it up with the season and everything haha. We all ate so much soup in Dublin and Edinburgh just because it was so cold outside. Afterwards the 4 of us just sat in Starbucks and read, avoiding the rain and the wind. Oh and one last thing: I never mentioned how everyone drives on the other side of the road in the U.K. It’s so crazy because all of us would try and cross the street and be looking the opposite way for oncoming traffic…dangerous hahha. But we got the hang of it…not to mention all of the sidewalks said “look left” or “look right” :P
That night we flew out of Edinburgh late...our flight was delayed an hour and a half. Out of all times to be delayed we couldn't have been happier that it was a very last one on the way home. And after that the flight went smoothly and our plane landed in Pisa at 12:30 and we got on a bus that left at 1:40am and arrived in Florence at 2:40am. It was definitely early in the morning but it was so nice to get back to apartment and crawl into our own beds. Home Sweet Home...Away From Home :)
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