Arrivederci, Italia!

Wednesday night we all went to this family style resturant with a HUGE group of people that went on our Amalfi trip to a resturant called Gatto y el Volpe (cat and the wolf?). They served 3 trays of antipastas and 3 different pastas...oh and don't forget the unlimited wine. We then took our friends to THE BEST gelato by our house and tried to make a night out of it but the city seemed kinda dead.

Thursday: We had class in the morning to say goodbye to our AMAZING Italian teacher, Matilde. She took us to coffee and then let us out early. Christa and I took this as a sign to go shopping and grab lunch before our housing walk-through. After the walk through we went back out to shop and got caught in a huge storm but bought some sweet ponchos from a gypse and made the best of it. We headed back to our apt to get ready for farewell dinner and then headed out as a group. The dinner was right below Piazza Michelangelo, but since it was raining we couldnt go up to see the view of the city. Dinner, however, was quite the ordeal. It lasted 5.5 hours! 2-3 antipastas, 3 pastas, 2 meat dishes, and dessert! It was obviously good but not the best. Afterwards I crashed.

Friday morning, I ran a few errands , finished packing, and headed off to Viareggio (an Italian beach about an 1.5 hrs outside of Florence). I met up with 3 of my friends from the FSU/Colgate program and laid out for the rest of the day. We got a great dinner with more fresh pasta and a wonderful house wine, then headed back to enjoy sitting on the beach at night.

Saturday our friend, Jeff, came and met up with us. We all laid out, swam in the ocean (since you have to have swimming caps to swim in any of the pools), grabbed lunch, magnums (really good ice cream bars), back to the beach, caught a train back to florence, packed, got ready for dinner...then came the walk to dinner. About 45 minutes from my apartment to the restaurant, passing the Duomo, Piazza del Republica, Piazza Signori..thats when leaving sets in. It was just before sunset so all the buildings had a mystical redish light glow. I took in the last moments of being in the city and then finally arrived at the restaurant to meet 4 friends from FSu program. They convinced me I had to order the bistecca alla floretina (since i'd yet to have it) and caprese salad...and red wine. It was the perfect meal. After saying goodbye, I made one of the guys walk me home and stop at my favorite gelateria with me. It was a great fair-well :)

Now im sitting in O'hare, already in reverse culture shock and wanting to be back in Florence. Nothing will ever replace that trip!

"A day in the Life"

Last night we went out for one last dinner with the lacrosse girls. I had heard about this resturant- il Latini - that was supposed to be great so I made reservations for 9:15. We get there and they seat us immediately at the cutest table by a window. They open a complementary "fiasco" of wine (1.5 liters) and bring 2 bottles of water. Then they start rattling off all of these choices and just say "we'll bring it all to share." Those are the best words to hear in Italy, I promise. The dinner included: house red wine, 3 pastas, a meat tray for 6 people including rosemary pork, roasted basil chicken, t-bone steak, and ribs, white tuscan beans in pomodoro sauce, spinach, and rosemary potatoes. Then they brought us out 6 glasses of complementary dessert wine and lemoncello shots. It was an amazing meal and so much fun. Then we headed out to meet our other friends at a bar. After 30 minutes at one bar, we headed over to Be Bop which is a really small cool bar here.

It has a Beatles cover band that all dress and sound (sa much as they can) like the Beatles. Thus, we spent the night singing, screaming, and dancing to the Beatles, which culminated in us getting on stage to sing "hey jude" with the band. It was a great night! We came back after that so we could sleep a little then wake up to study for our final. We had free pizza before our last final today which was nice and the test wasnt too bad at all. I came back and started packing (so weird) and now i'm about to take a nap!

When in Rome...

A week to recap:

Wednesday night – more drama than I’ve had since 5th grade, but luckily we were able to meet up with our new friends from the FSU/Colgate/Lafayette program to redeem some part of the night.


(Hanging out with Kendall on the Bar Crawl)
Thursday – The lacrosse girls from Vandy came in that night so I planned a dinner and found a pub crawl to introduce them to Florence with. We went to this amazing restaurant that is famous for its handmade ravioli with pear and asparagus! It was great. They gave us complimentary champagne when we sat down. It was so great to be around great friends and have a wonderful meal. We had so much fun catching up, swapping Italy stories, and laughing at old memories. Then we headed to the Duomo to start the bar crawl. We meet up with other Vandy kids as well as our FSU program friends. After 3 bars, the group was very split up so we called it a night.

Friday – We had a 5 hour art history class to see the David, the Pitti Palace, and the rest of the Bargello museum. It was interesting but we were so tired that it was definitely a struggle to get through. Afterwards I took a very long nap before meeting up with the lax girls again. It was Ally’s birthday, so we went to a really nice restaurant with famous blueberry steaks and pastas to celebrate. I was still exhausted and I was leaving for Rome in the morning so I decided to call it a night after our late late dinner.



Saturday morning I woke up, finished throwing things in a medium sized Long Champ and headed to Rome by myself. The plan was to spend the day alone in Rome doing all the things I wanted to do, then meet up with my friends from the FSU program (please keep in mind, I meet these people on my birthday) to stay with them from the night and see the Vatican with them the next day. I finished reading the Italy section of Eat, Pray, Love on the train which made me super excited for Rome. I arrived in Rome at 11:30am with only a Long Champ and a wonderful map (courtesy of Mrs. Putrino). I went straight to the coliseum and was wandering around to see everything when I ran into the FSU group. I said hi then decided to go find the Roman Forum. I stopped by a cool litte church on my way then found the forum. I went inside and looked around at everyting, took a million pictures, and then of course ran into their group again (while they were getting lectured by their teacher). I dipped out of the forum after about an hour of trying to walk through ruins in Jack Rogers (not an easy task, I must say), and headed to the metro station. Some how we’re I exited the forum was right next tot eh Capital, so I stopped by there for a moment before going to the metro! I went to a station close to the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno (where the Pope says mass on holidays) and stopped for a great and cheap lunch. The lady who served me was a middleaged woman who insisted on trying to make conversation despite the fact we didn’t speak each others language. Luckiy I know how to say I’m studying in Florence and meeting up with friends tonight in Rome in Italian so she didn’t think I was a complete loner haha. I wandered to the Basilica and was completely in love with its beauty. By some random chance, the church was nearly empty. There were a few devote women praying in side chapels and maybe 5 tourist looking around, so it was a very peaceful visit. And it was cool inside so I was able to sit and rest for a bit. After seeing the church I took a metro to the Spanish Steps. They were cool but a bit overrated…and very crowded. From there, I meandered to the Trevi Fountain and people watched while sitting by the fountain for a while. I then headed to the Pantheon (the church of all gods). Once again I ran into the entire Florida State group and talked to them for a bit. I looked around the church then decided to wander Rome a bit without a specific direction. I found two beautiful churches (one was Marcello’s which had the Seven Sorrows of Madonna painting in it) and then found the Piazza Venezia which I’m in LOVE with! I then headed to the train station to meet up with my friends and find the hostel we were staying at…here begins the real adventure.

--Disclaimer: The following are all real events, nothing has been changed or exaggerated –

I got a call from one of my friends telling me that there had been a mix up with the hostel and we didn’t have a room but to come find them on a street by the train station. I found the street which was sketchy and deserted. They came out to find me and told me we had another hostel room now. We went to that hostel which was on the other side of the train station. At first glance, it seemed to be in a much better area. The owner, Monty, met us at the corner. He showed us our rooms (I was with Diana in a private double with a bathroom, while everyone else was split in communal rooms). The accommodations seemed fine, nothing too nice but not terrible. He showed us a place where we could leave our bags in the morning, which was a laundry mat with no room to lock them in and owned by his brother. We asked him for dinner recommendations and he told us to meet him downstairs at 9 for dinner. After showering and settling in we went to meet him. He had counted our money twice in front of us, but then told us when we meet him for dinner that we were 20 Euro short. We argued and told him he had counted it in front of us and finally he let it go. He showed us a restaurant that seemed a little strange and they showed us to our table. The table was downstairs in a cellar that seemed like a well. The walls were damp and it we were the only people in the room. Our waiter was overly eccentric and told us he was Monty’s brother…not a good sign. He also told us he was a singer, actor, and dancer and a judge for Bangladesh’s version of American Idol. He did some dance moves, sang to us, insisted on showing us youtube videos that were clearly not him but he said they were. The food was terrible. He kept delaying our check so we were convinced we were getting robbed while we were at dinner. We got out of there as quickly as possible and went back to check on our things. Everything was there luckily, but we decided that we would carry all of our valuable from then on. We were sitting in one of the other girls rooms when the Aussies in their room told us that Monty had told them he used to be a pimp for ten years and that is why he knows 8 languages…CREEPYY. We had some wine then decided to go out since anywhere was probably better than the hostel. We went towards the colesuim and found a really hoppin’ gay bar. It was fun but we were ready to see other things. Some of the boys on the trip had some problems so we checked on them to make sure they were all okay.

Then I went to the Trevi fountain at night with one of my friends because I didn’t throw coins in the first time I went (and my dad insists its beautiful at night). I threw in two coins (1 to return, 2 to fall in love in rome, 3 to get married in rome, 4 to get divorced in rome). Then I sat by the fountain and enjoyed its beauty. It was not as crowded as it was in the day time and so much pretty lit up at night. My friend knew what all the statues stood for, so it was nice to have a private guide! We went back to the hostel to get some sleep before the Vatican.


(On top of St.Peter’s with Jeff and Kara)

Sunday: We woke up super early and quickly got ready. We went to the train station to store our bags (since the laundry mat did NOT seem reliable) and then took the metro to Vatican City. We waited in line for the Vatican Museum and the Sistine chapel, both of which were beyond stunning. I have never been in such amazement of art and architecture in my life. The Last Judgment and the school of Athens paintings were so amazing to see in real life. It was great (minus the men that shush people and yell). Then we went to St.Peter’s Square to see the Pope’s blessing on all the screens since he was in Spain. We went to St.Peter’s Basilica and climbed to the top of the copula. It was by far one of the best experiences of Rome. We got to go inside the copula (the dome of the church) and see the ceiling and mosaics up close. Then we went to 2 different levels on the outside that overlook all of Rome and the Papal Gardens. It was so beautiful. Afterwards we grabbed a quick lunch and jumped on a train back to Florence. Within ten minutes of getting on the train, we were all passed out on top of each other. Luckily I set an alarm so we woke up right before the Florence stop! I came back showered and passed out for 11 hours.

Monday: Class, shopping, studying for a final, then dinner with the lax girls.

Today (Tuesday): Took our Italian final and oral, went to the outlets, now I’m resting and “studying” before our final dinner with Kendall, Hannah, Ally, and Court (the lax girls). Tomorrow is our last final. Can’t believe the end is so soon!

:)

WORST CLASS OF MY LIFE IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!! final is done!

BEST FRIENDS COME TOMORROW :) cant wait to see kendall, hannah, ali, and court!

Other updates - class in the Uffizzi, saw a hidden garden that princess diana used to go to in Florence, made chicken picatta last night!

Venice and Verona...and a stop in Bologna

Friday morning, I woke up early and headed for the train station. On the way there I passed my favorite granita place where the owner was just opening up for the day. Since Christa and I have become regulars, with the same order each time, the man knows us. He came out to say hello and had a quick broke English-Italian conversation before I headed on my way. It was a great way to start the morning, feeling like I has an Italian friend and wasn’t just an average tourist! I arrived in Venice with 3 other girls to be greeted by a phone call from Giuseppe. He called to let us know that there had been a mix up in the reservation but not to worry because he had arranged for us to stay in a hotel right next to the hostel for the same price. He assured me that he would “send message to my phone of address” before saying “ciao ciao!” He sent the sweetest text with directions and an address, along with wishing us a great stay in Venice. We arrived at our hotels after figuring out the ferry system and realized the mix up had been a blessing. The hotel was very nice and had AIR CONDITIONING, which believe me is all you want in Venice. It was moto caldo (very hot) every minute of the day and night in Venice but so beautiful that it almost didn’t matter. After dropping off our bags, washing our faces, and putting on sunscreen we headed straight to St. Mark’s Square (about 3 minutes from our hotel). We took turns of 2 people standing in line and 2 people looking around until we got into the church. The church was utterly amazing. Everything was covered in gold leaf. We took some time to wander though the church and take in its beauty. We went back into the square and took pictures by the gondolas and then decided we HAD TO ride one! We bargained with the gondola man and reduced the price 50 Euro (Kathie, I learned from you!). It was perfect! Our gondola man answered all of our questions about the floods, the lifestyle, the tourists…everything. We went through back canals, into neighborhoods, back to the Grand Canal, through more populated areas, everything! We were all on a high from the experience so we decided to wander around Venice and just go over all the bridges we could find. Our gondola man told us about an area where there were no tourist and that had shade to walk around, which ended up being really cool. It was the only part of Venice that we saw that was 100% Italian – no tourist, no street vendors, just everyday Italians walking their dogs and getting groceries! We then went to the Guggenheim Museum by ferry. I decided I want Peggy Guggenheim’s life from her 30s on. She decided one day to move to Venice, by a beautiful house on the Grand Canal, collect tons of famous art (Picasso, Dali, Kandinsky, Pollack..), and open her house up to guest and friends. Now it’s an amazing museum right on the water. We wandered through it and imagine her life, while hearing my friend Sarah (who is an Art History major and just took a course on modern art) guide us though each painting. We headed back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner. We found a great restaurant with a view of the canal that wasn’t too expensive. I had a great meal of crab spaghetti!! Then we walked though St. Mark’s square where there was a concert and hung out for a bit. Once we got annoyed with the crowds we moved on to find Harry’s Bar (where the Bellini originated) then got gelato and along a side canal! (Side note: the gelateria has smurf gelato – who knew!) The next morning we went shopping for Murano glass and looked at all the amazing masks in every window. I decided that I’m going back for Carnival before I die!


Sarah and I headed to Verona that afternoon! We meet up with our friends Maddy and Christa who had gotten in earlier that day. We went to our B&B then began wandering the streets of Verona. We went to the Juliet sector, where the wall of all the letters to Juliet are. We saw the balcony modeled after the play, as well as the statue of Juliet. We all rubbed the breasts of Juliet for good luck in love and then crafted a group letter to Juliet to put on the wall. We continued walking around the city into the main piazzas, churches, and sites before heading back to great ready for the night! We took a little rest and showered then headed out to dinner! We went to dinner and had one of those meals that you don’t want to end just because you are enjoying the conversation so much. After dinner we got a bottle of wine to share a we wandered the streets before the opera started. At 9 we headed to the Arena to find our seats for Madame Butterfly by Puccini! The arena is a roman amphitheater that seats thousands and is in the open air! It was beautiful. Although we didn’t quite understand the whole story line, we caught the main idea and enjoyed the beautiful language of Italian. Luckily, the rain held off until the middle of the night when we were sleeping. The next morning we woke up to much cooler weather and went to the medieval castle and bridge. After enjoying how beautiful everything in Verona was we went to the train station. On the way there, we all decided we were craving pasta Bolognese, and where better to find it then in Bologna. Hence, we decided that we would stop in Bologna for lunch on the way back and have the best tagliatelle alla Bolognese ever! We went to the oldest trattoria in Bologna which was a ten minute walk from the train station. The family that owned it was adorable and laughed at us/ with us when we took pictures eating the pasta! We were the only non-italians in the area so we definitely got some stares but the food was unbelievable! I don’t know how I’ll ever eat ragu sauce again! After an amazing lunch, we headed back to Florence! Now I’m back and getting all the little things done (like laundry, homework, unpacking..).

A wonderful week!

Monday night a girl from Vandy that is living in Germany was in town, so we went to a restaurant we had all been dying to go to called ZaZa's. It was soo great! The service was excellent - we had a very personable waitress named Christina and they were so quick serving everything! I had the best risotto I’ve had in Italy with mushrooms in it! After dinner we went to a very relaxed bar called Moyo to meet up with some of our friends from the Amalfi trip. We meet up with the rest of our Vandy crew at another club and had a huge girls dance party, which seems to be a common theme on the trip! We turned in early to save some energy for the rest of the week!

On Tuesday after class we went to a great salad place where you can make your own salad with 8 things and then went to the train station to get tickets for Venice this weekend! Afterwards I decided to walk around the park and fort that are by my apartment and enjoy the afternoon outside. It was nice to just wander around and see tons of locals playing with their kids in the park! For dinner, our Italian housemate taught us how to make her mom's recipe of cous cous with fresh peppers, chick peas, and zucchini! It was soo good!

Wednesday for art class, we went to San Marco and saw amazing frescos by Fra Beato Angelico including his Annunciation fresco. We also saw many statues by Donatello! After class we strolled around the streets and finally made our way back to our apartment (after stopping for a midday gelato, that is). We meet up with a good number of people from the FSU/Colgate/Lafayette group for aperativo at Christa and I’s regular place. They loved it! We went to their apartment to have some wine and meet up with the rest of their group. They live right on the Arno next to the American Consulate – definitely a nice location. But better than that, they have AIR CONDITIONING and ICE CUBES! The apartment houses 15 students and has 5 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, a living room and a extra closet room. After hanging out there and having our own little karaoke dance party, we went to the bar to be at on Wednesday nights, Central Park. It’s outdoors by really cool and chic. We had a great time dancing the night away!
Today was much more relaxed. We had a very easy Italian quiz then spent the day resting. Christa and I went to a wonderful dinner at Acqua al 2 and shared a Gorgonzola pasta and blueberry steak! It was WONDERFUL! I just finished packing and am about to go to bed so I’ll be rested for my weekend in Venice and Verona!!

One of the best birthday weekends I've ever had!!

I know you're thinking that this title is a little extreme since I've had birthday's in Phuket, SharpTop Cove, St.Pete, Colorado, etc..but honestly this weekend was nearly perfect! Thursday started it off with being sung to in Italian class (in Italian of course) and a surprise gelato cake party from my good friend, Christa! She organized a few girls to come over and sing to me with the BEST cake of my life right before we left for the weekend. It was creme di medici flavor (the specialty flavor of my favorite gelato shop)..its like cookies and cream but much better! The cookie pieces are covered in some sort of chocolate fudge and the cake had a pretty red rose on top!! Then I left to meet the group at the train station for leave for the Amalfi Coast. We got on a bus to start the 7-hour journey. Sounds miserable but it was actually fun! We popped a bottle of champagne at midnight for my birthday and passed it around! Slept a good bit, talked with our awesome tour leader, watched some movies...not too bad! We got into Sorento at 2am and left for Capri at 8am.



We took a ferry to Capri, and stopped in the Blue Grotto on the way. We had to get into a little boat for 4 people to get into the grotto, and our driver serenaded us from my birthday as he showed us around! The water in the grotto was unreal. I've never seen water that bright of a blue before!! We finally arrived on the island of Capri and hiked up to the top to see the amazing views. We went to lemon cello and chocolate tastings and then went to lunch! We got to hang out at the beach a little before heading back to Sorrento! Capri was unreal. It was so beautiful and the water was so clear and blue. I felt like I was living in a postcard or a movie. Apparently Jessica Simpson was there that day too, but we didn’t see her. We had some down time to rest and shower before heading to a group dinner.

I put on a fun birthday dress and we meet the group in the lobby for dinner. It was a good long walk to dinner but it was great because the weather was perfect and we meet some great friends on the walk. We ended up sitting at their table for dinner and had an amazing time. They are from the FSU program and some were from Colgate. I decided to indulged at dinner, since it was my birthday and got a wonderful steak! We all shared wine and the restaurant sang to me and brought me tiramisu for dessert! We had espresso con grappa after dinner as a table...definitely a strong drink. Then our favorite tour guide took the 10 of us to a local bar to hang out. We ran into our friends from Vandy that went on different trips to the amalfi that weekend and had a great time dancing and hanging out! It was a amazing night with great friends!!

We got to sleep in a little the next day, thankfully! Then we headed to Positano to go cliff jumping and lay out on the black sand beaches. We got there and laid out for an hour or two then went on a boat tour where we stopped at these cliffs and secluded beach. I only did the first cliff which was 15 feet high...a few brave souls did the high cliff which was 37 feet high. We got to swim around in the clearest blue water and lay on the warm beach for a while before returning to the center of Positano. We grabbed lunch and hung out until it was time to leave. The entire time I would just look around in amazement of the beauty of the dark majestic cliffs against the bright blue sea and the matching clear blue skies. Another perfect day! We showered and napped a little then had dinner at the hostel and watched the consolation match of the world cup on a projector screen, After we got some wine and went to the rooftop with our new friends and hung out. We headed in early to get some sleep.

This morning, we got up early again to leave for Pompei. It was definitely a cool thing to see. The whole city was much more intact than I would have imagined. It was cool to be somewhere that you remember stories about from your 4th or 5th grade classes! We went through houses, temples, saw bodies that were petrified, saw a brothel, and of course saw Mt. Vesuvius in the distance! Then we headed back to Florence. I passed out for the beginning of the ride then woke up to watch Shawshank Redemption, which is now one of my favorite movies. I, of course, cried a little at the end it was so good! Now we're back and settled into our apartment. Started laundry, showered, made dinner, and anxiously watched the World Cup! I’m soo happy that Spain won, but find it very ironic that I was living in Spain when Italy won four years ago, and I’m not living in Italy when Spain wins! Still have so much love for both countries! VIVA ESPANA!!