Easter Weekend

The week after Paris was great I got to see all my new friends from Greece when we went out in Florence. That Thursday I went to church at night for Holy Thursday mass at the Duomo. It was definitely the coolest mass I have ever been to. At the end of the mass they brought a clothed shrine type of thing that is meant for kings and queens down the  nave towards the back of the church then back up one of the side isles towards the tabernacle thought tho procession all of the people that attended mass got to follow. Everything that is said and done in the Duomo feels so much more spiritual than any other church I have been in. It might have something to do with the fact that mass was in Italian but I am not 100% sure.

That night Makenzie and I took out our roommate's friends from home that were visiting because they had left for the weekend. We all had a blast. On Friday I gave myself a personal day and caught up on sleep, went on the longest run all throughout Florence, did some laundry and met up with my cousin for some dinner out at our favorite pizzeria. Then on Saturday I woke up and went on a run with my cousin and then we went and did some grocery shopping followed by just hanging out in my apartment for some beef stir fry and 90"s music hits flashback dancing. It was an absolute blast.

Then the next day I woke up and got to go on another long and relaxing run.  Then in the afternoon, my cousin and I went to the Baboli Gardens.  I was expecting them to have a lot more flowers, but was too early in the season for them to have grown.  Everything was still very beautiful even without the flowers.  I plan on going back later on in the semester when the flowers are in bloom.  We also got to go into a fashion museum where they display dresses from the past few centuries of what was in style at the time.  Some of the dresses were very funny looking, and others I would love to be able to try on. 

On Easter Sunday I woke up and attended mass at the Duomo with my cousin. Right after mass there was a festival in Pallazo Duomo. We got to see four ox pull out a carriage where the fireworks were stored that they were going to set off. There were also many men in colorful uniforms doing a gun show and marching around. Everything was so cool! There were so many people crowded around watching what was going on and the Italians that live in the piazza were watching from their window or the rooftop. The only bad thing about this day was that it starting down pouring right before they were going to set off the fireworks. Because it was raining they had to delay the fireworks and since it was so cold outside we decided to go back to my cousins apartment. We ended up making brunch for ourselves. It consisted of cinnamon French toast, scrambled eggs, pastry, oj, and fresh fruit. We did a great job and everything was delicious. After brunch we just sat in bed and watched movies the rest of the afternoon. We ended up skyping my aunt, her mother, for a little while since at this time it was morning in the USA and wished each other a happy Easter. After I went straight home and attempted to do some homework. It was very unsuccessful considering my professor emailed our class saying that she was postponing our paper that was due on Tuesday to the following Tuesday. I was so happy that I couldn't even work on it. Then I got ready for Easter dinner with my cousin. We want to aqua al due and got a pasta sampler and we each got a steak. I got this delicious blueberry steak, yeah it might not seem appetizing at first but it was one of the most flavorful, interesting and bet steaks I've had in my life. I wish I had the recipe for it so I could make it when I go home. After dinner we went back to my cousins house again where we skyped our entire family that was at my house celebrating Easter. After that I went back to my apartment where I skyped with my dad's side of the family and got to see all my cousins aunts and grandparents it was so exciting to get to see them all. It turned out to be a fantastic Easter weekend in Flotown and I thoroughly enjoyed every second.

Paris: the land of love

After spring break we had an easy school week just getting back into everything and then that Friday it was time to visit Paris. Makenzie and I left our apartment around 330 in the morning in order to catch the bus to bring us to the Pisa Airport. On the airplane going there I had the luxury of sitting in the middle of a four year old boy and Makenzie was next to the window on my other side.  Every single time I would fall asleep on the plane my head would lean forward a little bit, and every single time the little boy would push me back into my seat because he could not see out the window.  On top of that, he kept pounding on the armrests to entertain himself.  I have never had such an awful plane ride in my life.  Once we landed, we had to take another bus just to get to Paris.  It is the only way to actually get there from the airport.  Once we finally got to our hostel we set our stuff down and made our way straight to the Eiffel Tower.  I was not expecting it to be that breathtaking.  We spent the rest of the night just wandering around Paris and seeing what the city had to offer us. 

Paris actually reminds me a lot of London except that they speak French and have a few more parks.  The parks in Paris are just like what you imagine when you think of Paris, absolutely gorgeous.  When we went back to our hostel to get some sleep, we walked in our room and discovered that one of the girls we had met on spring break was staying in the same room with us! It is such a small world.  The next morning we went on a free walking tour of Paris that the hostel sets up.  One of the funniest things I learned on the tour was that there is a woman from California that came to Paris and absolutely fell in love with the Eiffel Tower and somehow was able to legally marry it.  Then a few years later she was touring around in Italy and went to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. She ended up falling even more in love with the Leaning Tower and divorced the Eiffel Tower to marry the Leaning Tower of Pisa. After the tour we all went out to lunch/dinner where I got to try duck and escargot. It was actually really good and I am so happy that I tried something new. 
The next day we decided that we would just walk around Paris and do our own thing.  We got to buy locks as a joke and put them on the bridge where you "lock your love" and throw the key into the river.  It is from a scene in "Sex and the City." Then we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral to see the inside and climb to the top.  You could see everything from the top.  We even got to go inside the bell tower to see what they look like.  It was really cool to get to see the gargoyles that decorate the Cathedral as well.  Then we rented some bikes and just rode around the city and explored.  By the end of the day we were so exhausted. We ended up going to the movies because they had them in English.  We saw the most awful movie, I cannot even remember the name of it.  I couldn't even tell you what it was about because I ended up falling asleep for most of it. 
On our last day in Paris we realized that we never went inside the Louvre or climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower so that was the first thing on our list of things to do.  The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower was amazing.  It was totally worth the hour and a half line in order to start walking the stairs.  We rushed over to the Louvre right after in order to see the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci.  Many people say that it is a lot smaller than they expected it to be, but I did not think that at all.  I was sort of expecting it to be the size that it was.  It was cool to sway my body back and forth to see her staring at me.  We got to see the Venus de Milo which was stunning!  The invisible pyramids that are in the courtyard of the Louvre were also really cool to see.  Then it was time to run off to another tour that we had signed up for.  On the tour we got to see the homes of Picasso and Van Gogh and hear the stories about how they became famous.  After the tour we had to run off and catch a tube to the bus for our plane back to Pisa.  It was a long and exhausting day of traveling and did not get back to Florence until about 2 am, but we made it back safely which is all that matters.  Paris was a fantastic place to visit and I think everyone should go and experience it there at least once in their life. 

Santorini, Greece

Santorini is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life and was a dream come true to go there.  It is the typical thing you picture when you think about Greece with the white houses and blue rooftops.  By the time that we got there we had just enough time to put our things down and go see the sunset over the water.  Then the entire group went to a bar called Murphy's, which was a lot of fun.  The next morning we went on a tour of Santorini.  The first stop was some wine tasting.  We got to sample three different types of wine overlooking the ocean view.  Then we got to go and see the red sand beach.  It is so unique to see sand that is not what I am used to seeing.  Then we got to go and see the black sand beach and relax there for the afternoon.  We even got to order lunch and eat it on the beach, until the wind started blowing and getting sand on our sandwiches, so we decided to go back inside.  We got back to the hostel and went straight back as a group to watch the sunset in a different area from the night before.  It was the area where they filmed the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie and Mama Mia.  After we all took a billion pictures we went out to dinner for my friend Katherine's 21st birthday.  Then everyone on the trip went out to Murphy's again to spend one last night out all together.  The next morning we got to walk around the town on our own.  It was the perfect opportunity to buy postcards.  I also got some gifts to bring back home for my parents.  We got one last gyro, which is the Greek version of an Italian k-bob with pork, french fries, tomatoes, onion, and some type of delicious sauce.  Gyros are heaven on Earth and was pretty much the only thing everyone ate the entire time while in Greece. 

It was that time to start our long journey back to Italy.  We took the ferry back to Athens and spent one night there.  In the morning we woke up super early to go and get these famous sandals that are hand made.  The business has been in the owners family for almost 100 years.  We also got some fresh fruit for the rest of the way home to snack on.  We left at 10:30 am for the cruise ship to go back to Ancona, where we then took a bus back to Florence.  It was definitely my favorite trip that I have taken so far, and had the time of my life! I wouldn't trade if for the world.

Greece: Athens

The overnight bus to Athens was one of the worst bus rides of my life.  The bus driver would not turn off the heat and it is impossible for my to sleep when my body is too hot.  It got to the point where I was bus sick and felt so nauseous that I had to go to the front of the bus and sit next to the bus driver where he finally turned off the heat and put on the air.  As soon as we got to the hostel we got about ten minutes to freshen up before the guides took us on a walking tour of the city.  We got to see all of the government buildings, the temple of Zeus, and the Acropolis.  I was amazed at everything that I saw.  It was unbelievable, because these are the places that I have always wanted to see. After the tour we went back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.  There were about 110 of us on this trip and we all went to dinner together to this Greek restaurant.  We were served about 5 courses: bread, cheese, salad, calamari, and our main course.  I chose to have the moussaka for something new.  It was good, but not my favorite meal.  I am happy that I tried it though.  The next day in Athens we all went to the beach.  It was probably my favorite day of the entire trip.  It almost reminded my of camp with all the activities I did at the beach.  The first thing I did was go on a run with my friend Mick.  The beach didn't have good sand for running, it was mainly little rocks, but we did it anyways.  It was so painful our feet were hurting the rest of the day.  After the run we jumped in the water to cool off and then it was time for some volleyball.  My friends Makenzie, Ross, Nick, Bryce, and myself were playing for a few hours until the ball accidentally hit a woman on the head... that was the end of that game.  Then Makenzie and I went on about a mile swim along the shore and walked back.  By that time I was ready for a catnap until we left to take the metro back to the hostel.  Later on that night we got to go out to dinner to another Greek restaurant where they played Greek music and did a lot of dancing.  After dinner the guides took us back to the Acropolis so we could see it lit up at night, and then took us to the top of a huge rock point for a view of Athens at night and got to hang out there.  The next morning we had to wake up at five to leave for Santorini!

Corfu, Greece: Spring Break

On Friday, March 16 I got to leave for Greece through a program called Bus2Alps.  I can not get over how great of an experience it was and how much fun I had on the trip.  We started off taking a five hour bus to catch an overnight cruise ship to Corfu.  The cruise ship was nice, I got to walk around and meet the other people that were on the trip with me.  The food that they had for dinner was absolutely horrible though.  I had gotten chicken and could not even eat half of it because it was still pink on the inside.  Once we finally reached Corfu we were all picked up by buses that would take us to our hostel called the Pink Palace.  It was a really cool place right on the water.  Our room had a balcony that overlooked the water and we got to see the sunset from there, so beautiful!  We spent the rest of the afternoon (now Saturday) walking along the water and just exploring a little bit.  My roommate, our trip leaders, and I got daring enough to go in and under the water.  It warmed up right away, it was just the initial shock that seemed cold.  After our swim we went back to shower and went to happy hour before our toga party dinner.  After dinner they had a traditional Greek dance performed and even did some plate smashing over people's heads. 

The next morning we woke up and went to breakfast where we signed up for ATV riding around the island of Corfu.  It was a toured ATV trip where Makenzie rode on the back of my ATV because she forgot to bring her driver's license on the trip.  We were towards the front of the pack because ours drove 300cc compared to the 150 everyone else had.  While we were going along the leader kept stopping and would go back to make sure that something was not wrong.  We found out later that some girl towards the back of the back somehow drove her ATV off a cliff and was able to jump off.  Thank goodness she was okay.  The leader came driving up with her on the back of his ATV.  While we were waiting for the leader to come back up, I met my friend Ross who ended up being becoming one of my good friends on the trip.  We kept driving further until we took a stop at a beach for some pictures where I met Ross' friend Mike who is now one of my good friends too.  We then drove around the island the rest of the day and got to stop at one of the highest points for lunch overlooking the ocean.  Once the ATV tour was over we all waited for the rest of the people on our trip back to get back from their cruise ship activity where I met Ross and Mike's friend Kathleen.  I am so happy I became friends with them because they go to school at Northeastern so I will be able to see them when we all go back to the United States.  The rest of the afternoon we hung out in the hot tub where we met more really good friends, Erin and Katherine.  After the hot tub we had to go and pack for our overnight bus ride to Athens. 

Midterms week

Midterms here are a lot harder than they are at Worcester State.  Usually at my home school they are spread out between classes by a week or two depending on how the professor schedules it, so it is not as stressful.  At my school in Italy they put all of the midterms in one week for every class, so it is almost like finals week making it a lot more stressful.  I have already taken two of my midterms and they went better than I thought they were going to go.  I have my last three midterms tomorrow and then I am on my spring break! Earlier this week my roommate Alex told me about this bar which is an American coffee shop called Astor's.  They have this awesome deal there where you can get unlimited coffee for a month at a price of 30 euro.  As soon as she told me I was out the door on my way to get my coffee card.  The major incentive for me of getting this card was the iced coffee! No one here uses ice because Italians think that cold things give you a cold so they avoid them at all costs.  Normally, they do not even refrigerate their water.  I  have had my coffee card for two days now and I have already had three different types of coffee.  They have a long list of about 30 different coffees you can get with the card.  Also you get a maximum of four coffees a day, but I could never drink that much in one day.  You might be thinking to yourself, whats the big deal with this whole coffee thing?  Well if you enjoy coffee in America and come to Florence and realize there is no Boston Donuts, Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks you will understand what I mean. 

The best news is that after finals are over, I am going to GREECE for my SPRING BREAK on Friday.  I am beyond excited!  It is one place that I have always wanted to go.

weekend

This past weekend I just hung out in Florence, it was nice just to be able to relax and not worry about traveling.  I hung out with my cousin for a majority of the weekend which was a lot of fun.  We just walked around and took turns making dinner for each other.  It was really funny because one of the nights while we had dinner we were skyping our mothers who were together eating lunch. 

Birthday Weekend in London

On March 2, I had to wake up at about 215 am in order to pack my bags and make it to the train station for 315 am for a bus to Pisa airport with my roommate.  When we got to the airport at around 445am we got out bags checked in and went to go through security.  The woman working at the security area told us we could no go through security yet because all of the flights were going to be delayed until about noon because of the fog outside.  We could not believe that we had just woken up so early to find out that we were going to just sit around at the airport for about 7 hours for our plane to take off.  Everything ended up working out once we took a nap and got to London.  We took a train from Stansted Airport and then took a tube to get to our hostel.  The first two nights we stayed in a room with 6 other people and on the third night we stayed in a room with 20 other people!!  By the time we had arrived at the hostel and checked in, it was about 530pm so we spent the whole day traveling.  We decided that because most of the museums would be closing we should just walk around and see what London had to offer us.  We ended up wandering over a bridge and were able to see the London Tower Bridge right next to us.  Then we found and visited St. Paul's Cathedral which is yet again another beautiful church in Europe.  We both were so hungry and thought we should find a place for dinner so we ended up eating at our hostel, St. Christopher's Village, where you get a discount on all food.  We ended up just hanging out that night and visiting my roommate's friend from home who actually works at the bar right next to where we were staying.  It was a weird coincidence.

The next morning we woke up and went on a free tour that our hostel provided.  It turned out to be the best tour I have ever been on.  The tour guide kept me engaged the entire time and told interesting stories about the history of London.  The tour guide brought us to all the royal places of London such as Buckingham Palace.  The best two stories that he told us were about a couple break-ins at Buckingham Palace.  I could not even believe what I was hearing.  We also got to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the court houses on the tour.  After the tour was over we were all invited to lunch at this pub where I got to try some genuine English food.  We went back to the hostel after and got ready for a pub crawl that was also set up through the hostel.  My roommate and I ended up meeting some of the Queen’s guards, which means that they are in the UK army.  They were asking us if we had gone to Buckingham Palace and if we saw the changing of the guards.  We said that we had earlier that day and they told us that they were in it.  The next day we woke up and did some more touring around by ourselves to see Abbey Road where the Beatles crossed the road.  We also went to the shopping center called Brick Lane and Camden where they had some mini markets also.  Then we went over the London Tower Bridge, which was amazing! I could not believe how big it was.  Then we ended up going to a mall where we shopped around a little bit and got to go to the movies.  It was wonderful to just be able to watch a movie!  We ended up seeing The Vow, which was awesome!  I had never been so excited to watch a movie in my life just because watching TV is so rare while I am abroad.  Later that night we ended up meeting up with the Queen’s guards to hang out for a little while then went back to our hostel for some sleep.

In the morning I was taking the plane back to Pisa by myself while my roommate stayed until later on that night because there was only one spot available for the flight Monday morning.  I had to wake up at 4am to take a bus to the train station which brought me to the airport.  Once I got to the airport and got my bag checked in I went to go through security.  I had everything back with me on the other side except my suitcase.  A woman came up to me that worked at the airport and was asking me what was in my suitcase, almost drilling me.  I had never been so scared in my life.  I thought that I was going to be arrested or something.  For some reason the security was much more intense in London than it was in Pisa, and their detector was saying that I had something in my bag.  So sure enough it got searched, but obviously there was nothing in my suitcase for me to worry about.  Good thing I got to the airport well in advance because it ended up taking an extra half an hour for my bag to be searched.  Everything ended up working out and I made it back to Florence safely.

21

This past week has been super busy with school and midterms coming up, I have not even had time to write about everything going on.  The night of my birthday I ended up going out to dinner with my cousin and a bunch of my friends to a restaurant called Tijuana's.  It was a perfect place to go because everyone was getting sick of Italian food and in need of some Mexican food.  I was recommended to get the fajitas, so that is exactly what I got and it was delicious.  It turned out to be a great day!

Coming up

Today is my 21st birthday and I am leaving for London tomorrow morning to celebrate! I am meeting my with one of my mom's coworker's daughters named Emily. I am really excited to see all of the wonderful places and blog about it when I return, it should be fun!!

Prague: a fairy tale

I have been so busy this past week that I am finally getting a chance to blog again.  Last week I booked a last minute trip to Prague! I am so happy that I ended up going.  The buildings there are also so colorful, but the architecture on the buildings is completely different from the other places that I have visited so far.  The whole city is like a fairy tale.  To get there we took a bus overnight which was extremely uncomfortable just sitting there and trying to sleep for about 13 hours.  When we got there we checked into the hotel and went straight on a tour of the city to see what the city had to offer.  We stopped at the John Lennon wall, which was very cool.  There is also a very tiny bridge with a cement wall and bars.  On the bars there are locks around the bars that couples put there and then throw the key into the river below.  It is supposed to signify that their love is locked away.  Then we walked up to the castle! It was not what I was expecting at all.   at first I didn't even know we were at the castle because I was expecting more of an all stone and extremely tall building.  Turns out it was more of just a little town.  On the way back we got to cross the St. Charles Bridge.  The view from there was incredible.  Then we continued back towards the old town square where we got to see the famous clock tower.  That night we got to check out this placed called the 5 story club.  On every single floor they play different types of music.  They have the current music on one floor, music from the 70s and 80s on another floor with all the classics, another they play just techno and so on.  The next day we walked around again and tried to go to the Jewish ghetto for the Holocaust museum, but turns out they are closed on Saturdays so we were not able to go in.  So we explored the streets of Prague and found a beer tasting place.  You get to pick from thirty different types of beer whichever ones you would like.  They had flavors like raspberry, grapefruit, and chocolate.  Prague was a blast and I would love to go back someday if I get the chance to!