I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything is right

Monday I got up and went to class...exciting I know. After some friends and I got delicious paninis from our favorite panini place in order to prepare for our climb up the duomo. After lunch I headed over to the duomo with my friends Joanna and Stacey, but we had to wait for 2 more of our friends so obviously we went into a shoe store where I found beautiful beautiful boots. But before I had time to try them on our two other friends arrived so we left to climb the duomo.

The climb was better than other things I've climbed mostly because there were less spiral stairs. The entire first half is Actually just normal stairs and then you walk out onto platform so you're inside the dome and can see the inside of the Church. Then the spiral staircases started...not So fun. The actual dome is created from two "shells" so when you climb up to ge outside you go in between them and it's really cool because you get to see the actual structure of the dome. Getting up was a little tricky because people were going up a d down at the same time...which involved lots of pushiv. The view from the top was obviously amazing. The architecture of the top itself (I think it's called the lantern) was really beautiful and it was great to see the city from smack in the middle of the city. On the way down we took a closer look at paintings on the snide of the ceiling which I believe depicts heaven purgatory and he'll...which is extremely creepy llooking and quite gory. Not something I'd want to look at during services but whatever floats your boat. After climbing down my friend Jeannie and I went shoe shopping!!! Yay! I looked for a pair of boots but I'm being really picky and couldn't find ones that were quite right/in my size.

after shoe shopping I wne t over to Negrin and Jordans place where they made dinner! Dinner was yummy, Jordan made asta and veggies for us and their roommates and we had a great time. After dinner Negrin Miriam and I watched a movie, then hung out with Jordan when he got back. Finally Miriam and I walked back to our apartment, which was not so great cuz it was super chilly

Tuesday Miriam and I woke up early so we could go to a place down the street from us called the diner for breakfast. It's the only American "diner" in Florence. I got chocolate chip pancakes and they were yummy. It was nice to have American breakfast :)

After breakfast, I thought we had class at a church in a completely opposite direction from school, but luckily we ran into our friend who corrected me and prevented us from walking 20 minutes out of the way. I need to learn to read dates better. The day wasn’t that exciting, just class and laundry. That night I made dinner for Miriam and I, which consisted of yummy pasta, baked eggplant, and these yummy Italian mozzarella stick type things. We ran from dinner to the OPERA!!! Which we were late to because we didn’t realize how far away it was and had to grab a cab. The whole thing involved us frantically running through the streets of Florence, and I was wearing heels, so that was fun.

We saw the opera, Manon Lescaut by Puccini, and this time (unlike in Vienna), we stayed for the whole thing. I liked this opera a lot better because a) I could understand more of it and b) it moved A LOT faster. Although (spoiler alert), she took way too long to die at the end. During intermissions, which there were way too many of, Miriam, Emily, and I went back in time to 6th grade and put the foil from gum wrappers on the back of my phone. So, basically, the opera was great. After the opera, Miriam, Emily, Negrin, and I went to a bar called the Joshua Tree (which they also have in the City). We made friends with the manager and had an awesome night.

Wednesday wasn’t all too exciting, just getting ready for ROMA!! However, after class I went boot shopping again, and I finally bought beautiful, black, Italian boots.

We went to what school calls “dinner with Italians”, which was cool because we got to meet some locals, but they were a little bit older than us so we didn’t have much in common. Also, we were exhausted from the night before so we weren’t feeling so social. That night we just packed and slept because the next morning we left for ROME!!!

Vienna waits for you/These are a few of my favorite things

I just couldn’t pick a title. So I went with both.

I know it’s cliché, buuut, Sound of Music WAS my weekend so, here are a few of my favorite things about Vienna and Salzburg (no, it does not fit with song, I’m way too lazy)
1. Apple strudel with vanilla ice cream
2. Schonbrun palace
3. Salzburg
4. Riding the Vienna metro pretty much for free (which may or may not be legal…oops)
5. The Austrian Alps


Miriam and I left for Vienna on Thursday night around 9, and got to Vienna around 7 am on Friday…I slept most of the way so it wasn’t so horrible. This was my first hostel experience (besides Israel, but those don’t really count) and they’re really fine.I got the top bunk, which I was totally fine with thanks to my childhood bed and several summers at camp.

After breakfast, we started our tour of Vienna by stopping at STARBUCKS!!!And this time, it wasn’t outrageously priced. I got my white mocha fix, and although it wasn’t as good as at home, it was still great to have because it’s one of those little things about home I really miss (although, I’m really starting to like Italian cappuccinos, although I put a ton of sugar in them).  Filled with caffeine, we got a tram that took us on a pretty pathetic tour of Vienna’s important buildings, but it was ok because we got to walk around and see them later.  From the tram, we went ot Café Sacher to try their world famous choclate cake.  The place was really fancy--you had to check your coat or they wouldn't serve you.  It was really cute, right out of a victorian parlor.

The cake is supposedly the first chocolate cake in the world and takes 36 steps to create (seriously, what are they doing to the cake that it takes so long).  It was good, but not the moist, rich chocolate cake I'm used to.  After cake we walked around Vienna for a little bit and stopped to see the famous Opera House and St. Stephen's church, both were beautiful.  Some people climbed St. Stephen's, but Miriam and I decided we'd had enough climbing towers for a little while.  Instead, because we are both dorky psych majors, we decided to go to the Freud museum, which was SO COOL (but really only if you're a psych major, otherwise it's not that exciting).  The museum is housed in the apartment Freud and his family lived in while in Vienna, which also was home to Freud's office.  The museum had his waiting room set up as it was when his Vienna office was active, which I found to be really awesome.  The rest of the museum consisted of pictures, pieces of furniture, documents, etc that helped depict his life and research. Not having psych classes this semester, it was fun to get back into that mindset for a little bit.  I'm a dork, you may laugh at me now.

After Freud and being educational, we met up with the rest of the group to go to the Schnaps museum and be the opposite of educational.  There is a Schnaps company in Vienna that has been making Schnaps since before WWII, and the company was started by the great grandfather of the guy who currently owns the company.  The man who gave us a tour was really funny, and clearly loved to drink, he told us how to tell if something was real Schnapps, taught us about absinthe, and more.  Basically, everything every college student needs to know.  The tour was followed up by a tasting.  I tasted two cream liqueurs (hazelnut and banana chocolate...YUMMY!), a chili pepper Schnaps they call rocket fuel (I think my throat was actually on fire after that one), and some cinnamon-y, goldschlagger type thing.  From schnaps we went back downtown to walk around for a bit and get our opera tickets!!  The Vienna State Opera house sells 3 euro standing room tickets, and since the Opera house is so famous Miriam and I, along with a few other girls, figured we'd try it out.

After buying the tickets we reserved our spots...first row standing room, sweet!  We happened to be next to a guy whose son goes to UMD and Miriam knows, small world, love Jewish geography!  We saw "the Flying Dutchman" which is the inspiration for Pirate of the Carribean 3, so if you managed to follow the plot line of that movie, then you know what happens in the opera sort of.  The opera was actually really, really cool.  I forgot that they didn't use microphones and then remembered how difficult it is to project that much and I definitely have a new found respect for the opera.  It was also so cool to watch the orchestra as well.  However, it was a really slow moving opera, and we were standing up, aaaaaand we hadn't eaten in several hours, so we left the opera early to go find food.  We ended up at this bar place and everyone else got weiner schnitzel...but obviously I don't eat that, so I got a pretzel with dinner in order to try Austrian food.  After dinner, we walked around an area called the Bermuda Triangle, where everyone goes out, and found a cool bar with live music, but we didn't stay long because we were exhausted.  Fun fact: the Vienna synagogue was literally in the middle of this area across the street from a bar.  Too funny.

The next morning we woke up and went to Schonbrun palace, where the Austrian imperial family lived before they were overthrown.  The palace is HUGE and, of course, beautiful.  It is said that it is second only to Versaille.  We got a really good audio guide tour of the palace and it was great history lesson of Austria as well.  It made me super excited for Versaille, and after the luxury of this place, I can only imagine what Versaille will be like.  From Schonbrun palace we hopped on the bus to Salzburg and watched the Sound of Music in order to prepare for the tour the next day.

Salzburg is ADORABLE!!! Seriously, GO THERE!!  The day we got there wasn't so exciting because we got there pretty late and most things were closed.  Miriam and I ditched the group to spend more time at the Do Re Mi garden and broke the rules and crossed the fence so we could imitate the movie.  Bad ass, I know.  Then we basically killed time till dinner at a legit Austrian beer hall.  We got coffee, did nothing (see Facebook for the pictures that resulted in), and ended up getting dinner early because we really had nothing better to do.  It was finally time to go to the beer hall, which was super cool.  There people dressed in traditional clothes (liederhosen I think they're called) and it was literally just 3 huge halls filled with people drinking beer and eating Austrian food.  Miriam and I got some streudel...it was just ok.  We had a fun night hanging out with people from our group.  This Austrian guy came over to our table because his friends bet him he couldn't hold a conversation with us for 10 minutes, which ended up just being him and his friends talking to us.  They were really funny and it was cool to meet local people our age.  After the beer hall, it was time for bed because we had to be up bright and early for the SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR!!!!!

The Sound of Music tour was great.  We went to most of the key places, although I was disappointed we didn't get so close to the front of the Von Trapp house.  It was also cool because you learned a lot about Salzburg as well.  We also went up into the Alps, and it was a)freezing and b)beautiful and so cute.  We stopped at a cute little cafe for lunch and the BEST apple streudel and ice cream (seriously this vanilla ice cream was like nothing I've ever tasted).  Go on Facebook to see where we went on the tour, it was awesome!  After the tour we headed back for Florence :)  Moral of the weekend: I love the Sound of Music.  Also, they watch that movie in pretty much every country except Austria, it's bizarre.

Fly Like an Eagle...

General Observations About Switzerland:
1) Swiss citizens speak 4 languages: Swiss German, French, English, and some speak Italian. Plus, even though they speak Swiss German, they write in High German. It was crazy to hear all the different languages being spoken, although it was great for my French.
2) The entirety of Switzerland smells like cow/horse.
3) The Alps. Enough said.
4) The Swiss love cows. And St. Bernards. Seriously, they're everywhere.
5) It is the single most expensive place I have ever been. A cheap meal is about $14.

Anyway, it took about 8 hours by bus to get to Interlaken and we left around 8. We stopped at a rest stop for dinner, which in Italy means real food. Seriously, Italy has gourmet rest stops; that's how much they love food. They also have a gourmet food shop and basically Italy has the best rest stops ever. Miriam and I had a nice snack of apples and cheese. We got back on the bus and watched part of a movie before passing out. All I can say is thank goodness for Wheels because it taught me to sleep on a bus. I woke up to catch a glimpse of a gorgeous Swiss lake and the most stars I've ever seen in my life. I tried to keep my eyes open because it was so glittery and gorgeous but my eyes decided that sleep was mire important. We got to our hotel around 5 and passed out immediately.

Friday morning we woke up bright and early (8 15 to be exact, yes you read that right) to sign up for paragliding. Before paragliding, we walked around Interlaken, which is a cute, but touristy Alpine town. We climbed a stone wall (which wasn't actually that tall, but we obviously still struggled to climb it) and looked at the view for awhile. Then we grabbed lunch and finally it was time for paragliding!!! We went with a few other girls and hopped in a van to drive up the mountain. It was unseasonally warm while we there, so there wasn't that much snow, meaning a lot of the mountains were green and beautiful, instead of snowy and beautiful, but it was still stunning to see the alps up against the blue sky. We got out of the car and hiked a few minutes more up the hill till we got to the jumping point (Mom, this probably about the time you want to stop reading). 10 minutes later, I was strapped into the harness with my guide and I ran toward the edge of the cliff. It was an awesome feeling, all of the sudden I was just gliding through the air, no scary jumps or anything, just flying. If you've ever been on the ride Soarin' in Disney World in Epcot, it felt exactly like that (except I was looking at the Alps, not a video screen of California). It was a little nauseating at one point, but otherwise it was so incredible. Unfortunately there are no actual pictures of me skydiving, because the camera got messed up, but there are pictures of the goregous sapphire-colored lakes that I took! So go nuts on facebook!

After skydiving, we went to a chocolate tasting. Swiss chocolate is Gd's gift to Earth. IT WAS SO DAMN DELICIOUS AND CREAMY!!! The guy taught us about how chocolate is made and how to tell if it's good chocolate (basically everything that is wrong with a Hershey bar). We also got to try a million different kinds of chocolate, including chili pepper chocolate (YUMMY!), champagne truffles, cognac truffles, normal chocolate, and this weird swiss thing that basically has a shot in it, and was completely disgusting. From chocolate tasting Miriam and I went to dinner with a few friends at this Asian restaurant, where I ate a meal that consisted of things other than rice (yay for trying things!)

The next day we spent in Bern, which is the capital of Switzerland, and it is right out of Epcot. It's a really picturesque, small city that is a great place to spend a day. There was a Starbucks there, which I was extremely excited for, because although I'm getting used to Italian coffee, I still miss my white mochas. However, it cost SEVEN DOLLARS for a TALL coffee, and I could bring myself to spend that much money on a cup of coffee. I got over my Starbucks pretty quickly and spent the rest of the day walking around Bern. I climbed Munster Tower (spiral staircases=not fun, the Duomo is the only other thing I will be climbing on this trip), went to the KunstMuseum (aka the art museum). The museum had paintings by a bucn of famous artists: Monet, Manet, Picasso, Renoir, Rothko, the list goes on. It was great because you could really close to the paintings and see the brush strokes, which I got yelled at for at MoMa when I was trying to look at a pointillism painting, so I like Bern better. We walked through a food market and got LOTS of free samples, including this cheese that was delcious…it was as though parmesan and Swiss cheese got together and had a baby…yum! We walked around Bern and saw some of its government buildings, but we also saw some really strange people. We saw this one family of green elves…

And some guys dressed up a rabbits carrying a giant carrot…casual (hi Kristen!)

After Bern, we got back to Interlaken and went night sledding, which was about 100 times more dangerous and scary than paragliding. Now you may be wondering, what exactly is night sledding? Well (again Mom, you may not want to read this part as it once again involves me doing dangerous things), essentially you are sledding an Alp on what is basically a ski slope at night, with no lights. But, you are not walking up and down hill like normal sledding, you start and you just keep going down, really fast, on a steep hill, and your guide says things like “don’t fall off the edge of the cliff, don’t sled into the river”…really safe. What makes this even better is this is Miriam’s first time going sledding. So we get all bundled up in ski pants and hardcore snow boots and head up the mountain with a few girls from our program and some girls we met from Virginia Tech. Before sledding, we stop for some really yummy cheese fondue (although we only had bread and potatoes to dip in so my stomach was about to explode afterwards). Then it was time for sledding, and oh my Gd it was so scary. You had to use your feet to steer yourself and people were wiping out left and right, and basically it was chaos. I really thought I was gonna die at one point when I was zooming down a hill and couldn’t see because of all the snow in my face…but don’t worry I was fine. I only had one person crash into me, and I was fine, it was actually kind of funny and I only lost the guide once, so it was a decent success. This all sounds too good to be true for klutzy little me; don’t worry, I managed to make it down the hill safely, but as we walked back to the car I wiped out on a patch of ice and bruised my butt. I knew it would have been too good to be true to make it through the whole process without getting hurt. The ride back to the hotel was hysterical because we just sat there asking our driver absurd questions and he probably thinks we’re insane. Miriam and I went back to our hotel room and had a nice little snack of hot chocolate and buttery home made caramel we bought at the market in Bern.

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early (8 AM!!!) to take a train up to a ski resort called Kleine Scheidig (which I can actually pronounce!) so we could really see the alps. I cannot even put into words how stunning these mountains are. They are just so big and white and snow covered. We literally did nothing but stare…and drink hot chocolate and take pictures, but mostly stare. We looked really funny because everyone else was in ski gear and we were just in our normal coats, but we only almost got killed by a skier once so that was good (it’s on video tape too, for those of you who would like to hear me shriek really loudly). Miriam and I left our friends at the ski resort to go visit the Alpine village of Lauterbrunnen (which I can also pronounce). We got lunch at a really cool, cute café that was a traveler’s paradise because it literally had everything but a place to sleep: food, laundry, internet, you could book skydiving and stuff like that, books, games, it was so cool. I had a really really delicious brownie, but not as good as my dad's of course! After lunch, we roamed around and went to see the waterfalls the town is famous for. Usually there are 72, but because it was winter we could only see one of them (see Facebook), but it was still cool. The town was really cute and it was awesome to see a real live Alpine village (apparently, as Miriam tells me, there is a fake one in Helen, Georgia that is actually a really good imitation. So if you don’t want to fly to Switzerland, you can go there). We left Lauterbrunnen to get on the bus and head back to Florence. We got home around 12 and I got to Skype with a bunch of people which was so nice! Overall, it was an awesome weekend, and I highly recommend going to visit the Alps if you ever get the chance, they are simply breathtaking. And you can try night sledding, but I’m just warning you that apparently people have broken legs doing it, no big deal.

This week hasn't been too exciting, just getting into a routine here. On Monday, I had two classes, one of which was Globalization, and I really thought I was going to poke my eyes out, because this class was so horrible (although Wednesday was way better) because this teacher was just talking about nothing and bouncing from one subject to the next. I have no problem with class discussions, but seriously, they were pointless discussions. After class I went to lunch with my friends Joanna and Beth, then I met Miriam's friend Jill who she's told me all about, and now I know actually exists, and then Miriam and I went on an adventure to Esselunga, an Italian supermarket. 4 things: a) it's really far away, so walking home with our stuff sucked b)I have never ever seen so much cheese in a grocery store in my life, I was in heaven c) they have really gross seafood, like fresh octopus, just chilling in the refrigerated section d) you have to pay for shopping bags. That night, my friend Jess came over and we cooked dinner. I picked up some fresh homemade pasta and we cooked it with olive oil, tomatoes, basil, garlic, and parmesan. It was so fresh and delicious and because the pasta was so fresh, you really didn't need to put anything on it. Jess brought some foccacia from the Chocolate Festival and other little munchies and we had a great meal. After, we got dessert at the Chocolate Festival (we had chocolate covered nut brittle, SO GOOD) and I saw her apartment.
Tuesday during my break from class I wondered around the area near the Ponte Vecchio and saw beautiful brown boots, but unfortunately the store (or il negozzio) they were in was closed, so I have to go back. That night we had cooking class and we learned to make spinach ravioli in a butter and sage sauce, panna cotta, and an eggplant/tomato/mozzarella thing (which was heavenly, I can't wait to make it again). It was all molto buono!!!
Wednesday I was in class all day, and when I got home Miriam and I waited for our land lady to come fix our ceiling light which has not been working (we've been living with two little lamps, that don't give off much light). She finally got here with her brother to fix the light and YAY it worked (except it stopped working this morning, oh well). When her brother heard my name he said in Italian, "like Disney" and I was like YES! (that's the first time an Italian has picked up on this) and I said to him "Mi piace Little Mermaid" which means I like the Little Mermaid. Miriam and I then met our friends for dinner and went to the chocolate festival afterwards for dessert (are you seeing why this festival needs to end?) After dinner, I met Jess and her friends at our favorite bar, Kikuya and hung out for a while. Before we left, we got Kikuya cards, which are awesome, and eventually will let us get free drinks! Jess and her friends went out after that but I went home to get some sleep because I'm leaving for Interlaken today!!!! So, look forward to hearing about my Swiss adventures when I get back (which will include paragliding!!)

Sunday Funday

This past Sunday was one of my favorites here so far. I FINALLY got to sleep in (till 2:20, it would've been a good day even if that was my only accomplishment). I met Miriam at the Chocolate Festival (who's surprised?) to get breakfast/lunch (chocolate covered waffle and a DELICIOUS piece of foccacia, because Gd forbid Italians have an event without bread). After, we just roamed around Firenze for the next 3 1/2 hours just exploring and venturing to areas of the city we haven't seen yet. We walked through Piazza Republica (which is in the race for my favorite place in the city) where there was an amazing street singer (we got 2 CDs for 4 euro!) and stopped in a cute little shop for coffee. I almost got a gorgeous, gorgeous pair of boots at a little shop, but they were a little big, and for what they cost I wasn't getting anything that didn't fit perfectly (I'm growing). Eventually we made our way back across the and climbed up to Piazzale Michaelangelo. After trekking up the hill we reached what was essentially a parking lot, but so much better than that because it had a terrace-type thing with a stunning view of the whole city. The view was amazing, I liked it better than Fiesole because you're a little bit closer to the city and could distinguish more of the buildings. We also got there around sunset so the city was all lit up with a warm, pink sky in the background--it was something off of a postcard (which I now don't need to buy, because I took the pictures myself). I loves views of the city like this--they make me take a step back for a moment and remind I am so lucky to be here.
We got a little chilly, so we started to walk home and met up with Jordan and Negrin on the way. The four of us went to dinner at Salamanca (the Spanish/Mexican place) and got yummy Mexican food! After dinner, Miriam and I went home to plan our spring break. This was possibly one of the most head-spinning and stressful things I've done (my brain kind of felt the same way it does when I attempt to do geometry). I had about 10 different windows open on my browser to find cheap flights plus train websites, Google, and Wikipedia. There was a moment of panic when one website refused to accept my credit card and Miriam was going to Paris by herself, but I got the flight booked eventually (and for only 20 euro!) Best part of spring break: I get to see Keren in Barcelona!!!!!! After Barcelona, Miriam and I are going to Paris, Prague, and Berlin (AHHHHH SO PUMPED!!!) We finally finished booking flights and went to unspin our heads by joining some friends to watch the first quarter of the Superbowl (and hear Christina Aguilera sing the national anthem...SHE IS SO GOOD!) But, we didn't get American commercials, just really crappy Italian ones. The first quarter ended, and we went home to go to sleep!

Because Oscar Meyer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A

Saturday morning Emily, Miriam, Negrin, Jordan, Doug, and I hopped on a train to Bologna. I was very excited to finally see another part of Italy and get some experience with the train system. The train ride was about 40 minutes, so we hopped off the train, and only got a little lost getting to the center of the city. At first, Bologna didn't seem like much, but once we got to the city center, it was gorgeous. We went straight to the main piazza, where Bologna's Neptune fountain is located, and discovered that it is way more inappropriate than the one in Piazza Signoria in Florence (see Facebook). We spent some time in the piazza and then went in search of what is supposed to be the world's largest sundial. This ended up with us kind of just roaming around the center of Bologna, but it was great seeing all the beautiful buildings around us. We stopped in a park for a little bit to relax for a second and then finally found the church where the sundial was located only to discover it was closed for lunch (fun fact: turns out we were standing in front of the church when we were in the piazza, but the detour route was more fun). So, we went to get lunch at a place our guide book recommened (wow, I sound so touristy right now), and the food was reallyyyyy good. We all got some form of tortellini (Bologna specialty). Afterwards, we went back to the church/sun dial. The church was gorgeous and huge, but the sundial was extremely disappointing because it was basically just a long line on the floor. After the church we saw the two towers in Bologna: one leaning (so cool), one straight. The boys climbed up the straight one, but Emily, Miriam, and I went shopping because there were something like 498 steps, and we needed a break from climbing towers. Shopping was fun, didn't buy anything, but we went into this store where there were tons of teenage Italian girls. It was so funny because they had shirts that said Starbucks, New York City, and one with an American flag, so apparently they like the US. After shopping we met back up with the boys and went for what is definitely in my top 3 gelato places. IT WAS SO GOOD!!! I got this flavor called Samurai, which had ricotta, marscapone, and some other cheese I can't think of right now...uch, SO GOOD. After gelato we headed back to Florence, where Miriam and I went out for dinner with our roommates and then met up with Negrin, Jordan, and Doug at Kikuya. Then the 5 of us went to the secret bakery (YUM!), where Miriam and I got chocolate filled, sugar covered fresh, hot donuts. Multiply however good you think that sounds by 5, because fresh donuts are heavenly.

Also, I swear I don't weight 500 pounds...yet.

Ciao!

A Tale of Two Leather Jackets

Last Friday was full of adventures. Miriam and I got breakfast at the chocolate festival that will be going on for the next WEEK at the Piazza near our apartment (SO DANGEROUS/DELICIOUS). We got chocolate covered cereal and hot chocolate. Then we walked to meet the AIFS group that was going to Fiesole, a town in the hills surrounding Florence the Etruscans created and was the beginnings of Florence. We took the public bus there and the Italians on the bus must have hated the 40, loud, American girls (and one boy) that piled onto this bus. Fiesole is a beautiful, quaint town and if I went all "Under the Tuscan Sun"/"Eat, Pray, Love", I would totally live here. We took a tour of the Etruscan ruins (where I obviously had to take fun pictures on the hundreds of years old stones because I am 5) and then walked up a very steep hill, but it was ok because the view at the top was totally worth it. You can see literally ALL of Florence and the hills behind it, so stunning, plus the weather was gorgeous so it was so nice to just hang out in the sun and stare at this view for a while. After, we walked up a little bit to a cute little church, that had a goregous little garden maintained by the monks who live there. Finally, we went to lunch, I was starving at this point, however getting to lunch was easier said than done and we really thought we weren't going to make it for a while. We start walking down the main road that winds down the side of the hill Fiesole is located on, and after 25 minutes we are officially worried because we don't see anyone else from AIFS and we've been walking for a while. Also, the idea of having to walk back up the hill we just walked down was nauseating, and I (and the few other girls I was with) refused to do it. Finally, we see our AIFS staff member and a restaurant with beautiful view in front of us--I've never been so happy to see a random restaurant. We sat down at a table and literally pounced on the food--which was beyond fresh and delcious. There was salad, bread, cheese, eggs, lasanga--basically American brunch meets Italian lunch. The food was delcious and the conversation was great. I sat with some girls I hadn't spent as much time with, which was really fun. Best part of the whole meal--cheesecake for dessert. After lunch, we sat outside in the sun and waited for the bus to come. Upon arriving back in Florence, Miriam and I ditched our plans to go grocery shopping and went ot the San Lorenzo market instead--and oh boy, what an adventure it was. Within less than 5 minutes of being at the market Miriam had gorgeous chocolate brown leather boots in her hand (yes, Miriam bought shoes before I did, everyone be shocked). Within 10 minutes I had about 3 scarves, and Miriam had some also. But, the biggest purchases, and story, of the day were our leather jackets. I had originally said I wasn't going to get one, but I went with Miriam into a store where she saw one she liked and that's where we met Ramino the leather jacket guy. Ramino is 24 years old and possibly one of the biggest flirts I've ever met. He was paying us compliments (both appropriate and inappropriate, feel free to ask me for specifics) left and right. He called me Cleopatra. I tried on a jacket, but told him I was waiting for my mom to get to Florence before I bought one (that plan majorly failed), however Miriam started bargaining because she found a goregous jacket. Just to prove the leather was real, Ramino ran a lighter over the sleeve of the jackets while we were wearing them and then rubbed lotion on them to show us to clean them (and then offered to give us a foot massage). Essentially, Miriam offered a price and Ramino said something to the effect of well maybe if you give me a kiss, and, next thing I know Miriam essentially agrees to it. DISCLAIMER: this is extremely uncharacteristic of her and she does not typically kiss strange men. She tries to give him her cheek, but Ramino went in for the kill, it was hysterical and horrifying at the same time, but mostly hysterical (no tongue, don't worry). However, Miriam got her jacket at the price she wanted, so I guess it was worth it, although she's very concerned about herpes. We walk out of the store, back into the market and pass the other location of the store we were just at. This is where we meet Angelo, the other leather jacket guy, who knows Ramino and basically guesses everything he said to us. Next thing I know, Angelo is offering to sell me a gorgeous brown leather jacket for 100 euro and oh wait, you guessed it, I bought it (it was 100 euro, I wasn't passing this up, well actually 105 because I had to use a credit card, but still). At this point Miriam is pissed, because hers was 125, so Angelo says to go back to Ramino and tell him to give her her money back, so we go back. When we get Ramino isn't there, but the store owner is and we tell him the story and he is PISSED. He leaves to yell at Angelo for telling us to go back, and we're like oh shit, we just got him fired. Ramino comes back and is made at me for buying a jacket and I tell him I got this so cheap I had to and he asks about my mom, and I lie and say I spoke to her. Meanwhile, the owner gets back and Miriam is arguing for her money back, but he explains I got my jacket so cheaply because it was the second jacket we were buying, so we give up and leave the market because we're exhausted at this point.
We get back home and change to go to services (which includes our leather jackets) at the Florence Synagogue, which is conveniently located a few streets from our apartment. We get to the shul (so BEAUTIFUL, I loved it, and this was just the outside, although it looks a little mosque-ish) and it looks oddly dark. We find the guard who tells us that there are no services tonight...uhhh WHAT? Weird. So instead, we met up with our friend Sarah, and a delicious dinner at this whole in the wall place and we made friends with our waiter, Mauritzio. But seriously, one of the best meals I've had. After dinner, we went back to our apartment and hung out until bed because we were waking up early to go to Bologna.

FIRENZE FIRENZE FIRENZE

When I walk to class I am simply stunned that this is my life and that I am finally abroad. I thought my walks to class at Maryland were pretty, but nothing beats my walk to class here. Halfway through rushing to class (because let's be real, me rushing to class in the morning is never going to change) past the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio, and over the Arno, I realized oh my Gd, I'm in Italy, this is actually going to be real life for the next three months--CRAZY (or pazzo in italian).

So a semi-brief rundown of my first few days in Italy:
Saturday: See my previously blog post, it was a fun day!
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: were not so exciting. It was a lot of exploring and getting organized. Sunday I went to Ikea, that was exciting because a)I got a duvet cover and two pillowcases for 8 euro and b)I've never seen Miriam so happy, she really loves Ikea. We had our first day of classes on Tuesday. The only thing that's annoying about classes is that they are too much work...you can all stop making fun of me now. I'm a little disappointed that the school is not taking into account that I'm here for an abroad experience, and that I don't actually need the credits here. So here's to not caring, and if I fail because I decided traveling around Italy and Europe to actually see and experience the things they want me to write a paper on is more important, than oh well.

Wednesday: Went to class, my Globalization teacher is crazy, and probably the most spastic teacher I've ever had. For dinner that night, Miriam and I met my friend Jess (who I went to high school with) and her friends for apperitivo. Apperitivo is a brilliant Italian invention that let's you get dinner and a drink for about 7-9 euro, depending on the place you go to. Basically, you buy a drink and then you get to go up and get as much food as you want, as many times as you want. Normal Italians just go up and fill the small plate once because it's basically a little snack to hold them over until their dinner around 8, but American college students go up 3 or 4 times in order to end up with a very cheap dinner and lots of yummy food. Cheapest all you can eat buffet ever. It was great to sit and catch up with Jess, who happens to be living a few streets over from me, which is nuts, but so awesome! After dinner/apperitivo, Negrin and Jordan came over and Negrin fell asleep on my kitchen table (see facebook for pictures), which meant Jordan and I stuck things in his hear. Great use of our time.

Thursday: During my break my friend Stacey and I got lunch and then roamed the area around school and found absolutely delicious gelato and some super cute shops. Roaming around aimlessly here is one of my favorite activites because the city is so gorgeous and there is always something new to find. That night we went to dinner at this fancy shmancy restaurant that for some reason accepts our meal tickets. It's called Golden View, and it's right on the Ponte Vecchio, and has a great view of the Arno. I went to dinner with a few girls from UMD who I hadnt seen in a while, and we had a great time. The waiter was so funny, and for some reason knew an absurd amount about the NY/NJ area, especially Long Island (He joked he was from Lynbrook, hi Daddy!) The food was delicious, as always (for those of you interested, I had pasta with fresh tomato sauce and grilled vegetables with scamorza cheese, which is a kind of smokey mozzarella cheese, not one of my favorites). After dinner, Miriam, Ali, and I went back to my apartment to hang out for a bit and then went to a bar where they had 5 shots for 5 euro (which were way more sugary than alcoholic, but good none the less). After, we went to this really crowded bar, and left because there were waaaay to many people, so we went to this bar called the Red Garter (which apparently my mom went to when she was abroad here, weird.) Red Garter is pretty cool, a huge hang out spot for Americans, it has kareoke which I will defintiely have to take advantage of at some point (you know you wanna come visit just to see me make a fool of myself). After Red Garter, we went to a disco called Twice. It was crowded and Turtle-like, and had the creepiest Italian men yet. After a while I was very done with this place, so Negrin, Jordan, Doug and I went to one of Florence's secret bakeries. Basically, there are few of these bakeries that are open late at night because they are starting their baking for the next day for a bunch of cafes in the area. Once you find one of these bakeries, you knock on the door, stay really quiet, and 2 minutes later there's heavenly, fresh, pastry goodness in your hand. I got a flaky, buttery yummy yummy croissant--this place is also dangerously close to my apartment (I literally live in the best location EVER!). Then I went to bed, but not before getting a frantic phone call from the one and only Becca Chapman because a bunch of SDT girls thought Miriam had gone missing, don't worry, she was safe and sound in her bed.

Benvenuti a FIRENZE!!!

Woke up bright and early to take my “final”, which in reality was a 15-minute quiz. My teacher gave us her email address and was so sweet, she was so great and it was sad saying good-bye to her. After the test we got cappuccinos and then went to use the sketchiest Internet café I have ever seen. It was half internet café and half clothing store, smelled funny, and was super sketchy all around. But, it was internet, and we were desperate.
After the Internet café/clothing store, Emily, Miriam, and I went to get lunch on Piazza del Campo. The best part about lunch was that we got FREE TAP WATER. In America this is obviously normal, but in Italy they only believe in bottled water despite the fact that their tap water is perfectly fine to drink, which means you always have to pay for water when you go out to eat. We didn’t order water, but the waiter just felt like being nice I guess and brought us three glasses of tap water. After lunch, we went back to the hotel to wait for our bus to leave for Florence!!!!! WE finally got loaded on to the bus and waved goodbye to Siena! About an hour later I got my first views of Florence. We pulled around a curve and all of the sudden the city just magically appeared into view in the valley below us, and all I could say was, “Whoa”. I was floored by its beauty, and I wasn’t even in the actual city yet. I could not believe I was finally about to pull into this city after so many months of planning and so many years of wanting to go abroad, it was such a surreal feeling.
We got off the bus and my roommates and I (Miriam, plus Rachel and Kaitlin from Pitt and Kirsten and Beth from the University of New Hampshire) immediately got into a cab (3 to a cab, which was a miracle considering the amount of luggage we had) and arrived at our apartment 10 minutes later. Our apartment is great!!! Its really homey and old (in a good way, as in rustic), with brick and wood beamed ceilings. Its really big—3 bedrooms, 3 baths, a kitchen, and a living/dining room. When you stick your head out the window you see Santa Croce to your right and the Synagogue to your left (poetic, I know) and we’re about 2.5 minutes from Piazza Santa Croce and all of the amazing bars and restaurants around here. It was interesting talking to our landlady because she speaks very little English, but we made it work. The rest of the afternoon we spent unpacking and getting settled. That night for dinner AIFS took us to this legit PALACE—complete with ginormous chandeliers, statues, ornate paintings and furniture, everything—it was incredible.
After dinner, Miriam, Emily, and I went back to our place (we only got lost very briefly, which is kind of sad looking back on it because this place is literally a straight shot from my apartment) and my two camp friends who are also studying abroad here, Jordan and Matt (aka Negrin) were waiting for us with their roommate Doug. It was SO great to see my friends from home and I am so pumped to have them here all semester.
From our apartment, we went to a disco called Space, which is literally like Turtle on steroids, but cleaner. We danced the night away with a bunch of other abroad students, and it was great to have the boys with us to ward off the creepy Italian men. Before we knew it, it was 3 30 AM, and then the adventure of leaving Space happened. It was the most absurd thing I’ve ever experienced. You had to bring up your drink card and push through about a thousand people to pay and then push through another 1000 people to get out of the actual club, so absurd. By the time we got home it was 4 am…Miriam and I were shocked, because we don’t stay out till 4 am, but it was well worth it. Pretty much a great first night in FIRENZE!!!


Arrivederci!!

I'm alive!!!

Just wanted to let you know I'm alive (hi mom!)

Florence is incredible--really one of the most beautiful places ever. I am so lucky to be here. Real blog posts soon!


Ciao bella!