germany

so last weekend i went to germany. we flew into hamburg, which we didn't realize was a 3 hour bus ride to berlin, our intended destination. we made a last minute decision to stay in hamburg instead of berlin, which was a really good idea. so we stayed in hamburg for the first day, where we ended up wandering around. we went to a fair, where we ate what we thought would be hamburgers, but turned out to be steak sandwiches. then we tried to find the club where the beatles became famous, but it turned out to be on a street full of sex shops and strip clubs. so ew. and near our subway stop, people were drinking beer at all hours of the day and night, even at 8 am. and the man working at the hostel was one of the most awkward individuals i've ever met..and i should know.
so the second day we took the bus to berlin. in berlin we saw the wall, of course. then went to the tiergarten, which is a huge park. we ended up in alexanderplotz, which is a big square. we walked into a wooden restaurant to eat, and we ended up being basically backstage to a runway show. so while the models prepared themselves to walk outside to the platform, we stuffed our faces with a delicious meal of lamb, berlinershnitzel, asparagus, potatoes, sour kraut, beans wrapped in freaking bacon, beer, and spaetzels. it was quite hilarious. then i bought a grass animal from a stand. and the final thing that happened was there was a very very creepy man on the bus back, who was talking and laughing to himself, knocking on the window, and imitating one of my friends. and jen gable, if you don't like this, feel free to add details ok bye. :)

spring break..long overdue

so..i'm a slacker. a ton has happened since i wrote last.
spring break was the longest consecutive ten days of my life, in ways both good and bad. by the time i got back to florence, i was a little dead. since most of the details are already fading in my head, i'll just write down some of the more general things that happened.
we started our break in paris, which was beautiful. i finally get what all the hype about paris is, although i'm not sure if i could explain it. everything there was just really pretty. the buildings and streets and everything. and every single meal was delicious. we ate so much, but it was worth it. pastries and food with fancy sauces, fondue and...crepes. the crepes were to die for. we saw the eiffel tower, arc de triumphe, walked the champs, went in notre dame, and spent a day seeing versailles. a lot of the minor details are escaping me, though i do remember us getting on the a tour bus once by accident. people were nice to us, despite what we'd been warned, although the fact that we are three polite and seemingly non-threatening girls probably had something to do with it. people also kept thinking we were spanish. speaking of which, our next destination was barcelona. there is a ton of cool architecture in barcelona, done by gaudi. we saw his unfinished church and the park he designed, parc guell. we also sat on the beach for a while. we saw a flamenco show, ape tapas and paella, drank estrella damm. next stop was valencia. saw another flamenco show, ate more tapas and paella to die for. also went to the beach. but valencia was a lot different from barcelona. it was a reeeally pretty city. they had this huge nice park. and they have this series of building that look like they're from the space age. we went into one, a huge aquarium. that was about it, i think. it seems like nothing when it's boiled down, but you better believe we were running around the whole time.

spring break

whoa. my spring break starts tomorrow. that snuck up on me. this week was midterms, and tomorrow i leave for ten days. marisa, wendy, and i are going to paris and barcelona, and then we are meeting up with my housemates in valencia, spain. wish me luck, i might need it.

back from palermo

we had to take a train from florence to pisa, where there's an airport. we left at 8 am on friday. got on the train, go the airport, get on the plane, everything is fine..we land..and have no idea what to do. there's supposed to be a shuttle, but it's nowhere in sight. there is a bus that says it's going to center city palermo, so we get on it, but at this point, we're not sure if it's going to take us where we want to go, so we have to look at the street signs, which causes some stress. so as soon as we start to recognize street signs, we're ok. which happens. and we stop at the bus station. and walk to our hotel, which we find easily. we spent that first day walking around. saw some of the "main" sights, which were nice, but not nearly as impressive as rome obviously. like this one place is called quattro canti, 4 corners, and it's just 4 statues on each intersecting corner. jen didn't believe that was it, since it's one of the main sights.

we walked around for a bit on the streets, and then through this park full of palm trees and cacti and orange trees. then we walked down to the water. on the way we had lunch and had a cannoli!!!!!! the water was beautiful and i climbed on the rocks. then we walked back to our hotel for a little bit, and on the way we got a little lost. a man on a bike stopped to try to help us, which shows that people in palermo are way friendlier than in florence. we walked through a game of soccer and one of the boys said ciao bella to us, which was just funny. a lot of men stared and honked at us. sometimes it was funny, a lot of times it was annoying, and sometimes it was creepy.

that night we went out to dinner and were the only ones in the restaurant. palermo like closes down at 9, there was no one around. it's still a city, so it was kind of strange to us.

the next morning, we decide to follow the guide book and take a boat to a nearby island. spent the morning wandering around the port, asking a bunch of different people questions. turns out the ticket booth is closed, so we have to make a new plan.

we walk around for a bit and find this little place where we decide to have lunch, it was called mama something.

also i forgot to mention that people speak very little english in palermo. even the man at the front desk of our hotel spoke mostly italian.

so we're in this little restaurant, and there's no menu. the woman is telling us what the specialities are and she's mentioning fish. the other girls tell her they don't want fish, but i decide to go for it.

they end up getting spaghetti with tomato sauce and eggplant, and i get seafood spaghetti with peas. don't ask me what kind of seafood, i know there was some calimari in there. it was really good, but the spaghetti was super al dente so it had a crunch to it.

they would have kept bringing us out more food if we hadn't told them we were full. she even yelled at the other girls for not finishing their pasta. still, the woman brought us cake. we called it "cannoli cake" because it was filled with ricotta and chocolate chips. they also brought us the most delicious limoncello i've ever had. and she gave us shot glasses to keep as "souvenirs." one of the women made fun of me asking for the check, but she helped gave us directions to the bus stop so we could follow our second plan, getting to the beach of mondello. at the bus ticket station, there were about 5 guys, all of who tried to help us figure out which bus we wanted to take and when we would leave. the bus driver walked with us to the bus. on the bus, we had some miscommunication because we were trying to ask him how to return from the beach. we were talking in circles, and we had some 15 year-old boys on the bus trying to help us also. it was funny. but everyone was really nice for trying to help us and eventually we understood. the bus driver was very nice too. he called us to the front of the bus when it was our stop and told us to be careful and hold on to our belongings on the beach. the water was so blue and clear and the beach was awesome. i had a gelato sandwich. people on the beach were really funny. then we got the bus back. and then i had calimari for dinner and when i say calimari, it wasn't fried rings..it was a full squid. it was delish though. and that was sicily! it was awesome!!

off to palermo

planning spring break is the most frustrating thing ever. dear france and spain, stop being so difficult to navigate, ok thanks.
tomorrow morning i leave for sicily. i'm a little nervous because they supposedly speak with a much different dialect than the "textbook" italian. and i have a feeling they won't speak as much english since i'm sure palermo isn't nearly as touristy as florence. it'll be an adventure. sicily was the one place i said i had to go in italy because my italian roots are there. representttt.

venice and rome

i have done so much in the past 2 weeks that i don't know how to begin writing about it. i will try to summarize. i met my parents in venice, like planned. we spent the next 3 days in venice, seeing st. mark's square, st. mark's basilica, other churches, the doge's palace with the prisons, and other museums that i can't remember the names of. venice is beautiful with the water, but everything is very expensive there. we had really nice weather so that was good.
then we came back to florence. my parents climbed the duomo, then i joined them for the duomo museum and santa croce, which i still hadn't been inside of. i showed them mercato centrale and took them to some of my favorite places to eat. we also discovered a few new places.
then we left for rome. in rome we went to the vatican, saw the sistine chapel, the colosseum, the forum, the pantheon, palantine hill, circus maximus, more churches and piazzas with epic statues and fountains. rome might have been my favorite city so far. i wouldn't want to live there though, but it was awesome to visit.
next weekend i am going to sicily with jen and wendy! we'll be staying in palermo but we might make some day trips, since apparently palermo is a smog-infested city. i'm excited to go to sicily though.

weekend in firenze

this has been a good weekend for the most part. i finally got to do some of the stuff i kept saying i would. saw the david, went to the uffizi, and explored the other side of the river. all were glorious. even if we didn't get in for free, it would have been totally worth it. since we do have our passes, we can go back as many times as we want. we also went to see the parade for florence's version of carnivale. it basically consisted of a lot of little kids in costumes throwing confetti at each other.

monday through wednesday i will be going to class and doing work. then on thursday, i will be taking the train to venice and meeting my parents there! we will be in venice for the weekend. then they're coming back to florence with me for the week. then we will spend the next weekend in rome. time is starting to fly!!!!

the vienna experience

vienna was both good and bad.
i'll get the bad over with first. we left on the night train. it was supposed to come around 9:30, ended up coming closer to 10:30. i fell asleep a few hours later, only to wake up and get sick a few hours later. so i spent about 7 out of the 11 hour train ride vomiting about every half hour. probably food poisoning, that's what everyone seems to think. needless to say, i was a zombie for the next two days. which was basically the entire trip. i felt much better on the third day, the day we left.
vienna was a nice city though. very clean, with the most awesome public transportation system i've ever been on. the u-bahn was baller. we visited the schonbrunn palance and the hofburg palaces, learned about the kings and queens. queen sisi was my favorite. missed the authentic foods dinner because i was dying. went to a classical music concert/ballet on v-day. my last name was rampant on the program so that was fun. went to the upper belvedere and saw some art. went to some other museum which had this huge collection of egyptian artifacts. also i ate at the hotel sacher, where they have chocolate cake called sachertorte. delish. in our free time, we went back to see the lower belvedere which had a collection of art by mucha. there were a lot of really arty europeans there, with thick-framed glasses and all that. so you know it had to be good. then we took another night train back to firenze and i must say i am so glad to be back in this apartment.

vienna

tomorrow night i am leaving for vienna. i'm going with my school. we are taking night trains both ways, so i won't be back until monday morning. i hope everyone has a good weekend!

panino di...roast beef?

i'm pretty sure i just ate the best roast beef sandwich of my life. and i don't even like roast beef that much. but whoa. i'm in love. nerbone in the mercato centrale. mercato centrale is nuts, they have so much fruit and veggies and bread and meat and it all looks good. i might just go there every tuesday after class. p.s. my professor bought tripe for us to try. cow's stomach, mmm. i made andrew zimmern proud.

duomoooo

we climbed to the top of the duomo! it was so fun, and a definite must-do for anyone visiting florence. we went to go see the david, but it the museum was closed. there are short weekend hours, especially on sundays. most places are closed mondays, too. we will get there eventually. we went back to the restaurant on the corner, they know us there now since the waiter is our neighbor. it was another good meal, haven't been disappointed there yet. tonight we cooked and afterwards we went to a gelato place everyone recommended, vivoli. so good. might be my favorite yet. my gelato tour of florence continues. :) love it.
after dinner we started to make travel plans. very very exciting. spring break might include france and spain. i can't get my hopes up too much yet. it also looks like we'll make it to switzerland. and of course sicily and the amalfi coast. i'm not leaving without making it to sicily. top of the list.
i also went shopping for presents to give my parents to take back with them. i went into this shop that sold only one thing, that i can't mention in case someone is reading this. but there was a little old man and lady actually making these when we went it. they were so nice, marking down the prices for us. the lady asked if we spoke italian and we said a little bit. she told us she had lived in florence her entire life. when i was looking up at the shevles, she pointed to my septum ring and just kind of laughed like it amused her. it was a funny moment. i had no idea what to do, so i just laughed too. i want to go back there.
class tomorrow, boooo.

mio cattivo

the last few days have been filled with quiiiite a few mishaps by me. fortunately none of them have been too terrible.
the opera was good. they gave us plot summaries so we could follow what was going on. also there was a screen above the stage, which showed the words being sung. would have been helpful if i could read italian. the opera house was boss. there was a little old lady sitting next to me and she tried to speak italian to me. i had to tell her that i couldn't speak it, which was too bad because otherwise she probably would have been talking to me the whole time which would have been funny. she called someone on her cell phone and was talking really loud. she also started singing the words on the screen.
before the opera i was taking pictures of the opera house with someone else's camera, and i got yelled at by one of the ushers. note to self: learn mean words in italian.
i forgot to mention mistake numero uno. pre-opera we got gelato at grom, and i paid 3 euro instead of 4 because no one told me how much it was and they weren't paying attention when i gave them the money. so we got chased out of the shop and the guy yelled "hey!" which was kind of scary. it really wasn't a big deal because i gave them another euro. big deal guys, get over it. so it kind of wasn't my night, even though i wasn't too concerned by my stupidity.
then last night we went out to eat at this place suggested by my guidebook, trattoria da benvenuto. i ordered pasta and bistecca alla fiorentina, which is supposed to be a traditional and good thing to order, or so i've read. it was 4 euro, so we assumed that it was a very small piece. probably should have paid more attention to the note in parenthesis, along with the waiter's warning when i ordered. unfortunately, both of these were in italian so i just kind of ignored the writing and nodded at the waiter. marina ordered the same thing and her meal came out before mine. it was a huuuuge steak. turns out it was 4 euro based on the weight in grams. some of the girls helped me finish it and the waitress seemed amused by my clean plate. most filling and expensive meal i've had here yet. but it was the best meal i've had so far. and of course that did not stop me from getting gelato afterwards. :)
then at night we went to a bar filled with more italians than americans, which is how we like it. it was a nice place. this guy from naples asked me about what school program we were in. he also grabbed my face and told me i looked much younger than 21. i don't like when people grab my face. but he was better than the old men who sat next to us later and tried to get the attention of the "beautiful blonde girls" of our group by waving a lot. old men are creepy, no matter what country. i like our group though, we have fun.
this should be a good weekend. we're planning on climbing the duomo, starting to explore the uffizi, and seeing the david.

classes

this week was the first week of classes. my "weekend" started today, since i only have classes monday through wednesday. not a bad deal, right? monday i had my first italian language class. the professor jumped on the desk and played motown music in the background. tuesday i had my food, culture, and society class at 9 am. we are going to be cooking in that class, which is both a good and a bad thing. it's good because it means that i can cook in italy...and eat too. it's bad because it sounds kind of difficult. during our first class we made crepelle fiorentina, which were crepes filled with spinach and ricotta and covered with a cheese sauce. it tasted reeeally good, but it was not easy to make. then later in the day i had my social psychology class, with an american professor. yesterday i had my intercultural communication class, which seems like it's going to be really good. then i had writing about florence, which i am unsure about. everyone seems way more intelligent than me. then i had my second italian class of the week.
today is lauren's and my dad's birthdays. happy birthdays to them!
tonight i am going to an opera. should be fancy.

weekend trips

so we’re back from our weekend trip. it got cut a little short because of the rain today. friday we went to assisi. we saw the church and heard about st. francis and st. clair. then we went to peruggia, where we saw more churches, an underground city, and rode on this crazy mini-metro thing. we stayed in a pretty nice hotel on friday night. on saturday, we went to sienna. we saw the world's first public bank there. another church, with saint catherine. then we went to san gimowuerwherk, which was my favorite of the trip, even if i can't spell it. they make a lot of olive oil there. we saw farms and the whole place smelled like burning wood. again, there was a church, and they were holding some kind of market. that night, we ate dinner in a castle where they had a winery. we drove back "home" to florence last night. today we went to pisa, and were supposed to go to lucca, but it didn't happen because of the rain. another church, where galileo was baptized, and the leaning tower of course! i tried to take a picture with me holding it up like eeeveryone does, but it came out too dark because it was so rainy. then we came back to florence. classes start tomorrow. i have my first italian language class tomorrow. it's intermediate I level, since i passed the placement test. my speaking skills are pretty mediocre though, so it should be kind of interesting. i have about 5-10 words and phrases that i use everyday, but i'm excited to learn more so i can actually hold some kind of a conversation and not look so much like an idiot with all the nodding that i do.

field trips

so tomorrow we leave for a weekend field trip, organizing by the school. we are going to Assisi and Perugia tomorrow and then Siena and San Gimignano on saturday. on sunday we're going on a day trip, somewhere that i can't remember. i'm excited, but i need to get to sleep soon because you know they are going to make us walk everywhere. i finally started taking pictures today. i had a rough start this morning, woke up with a headache, but the day got better. had my third cup of gelato, and it was the best so far. also i went to h&m, because i need more warm stuff. looked for blankets, but couldn't find any cheap ones. maybe next week. k that's all for now.

benvenuti

so wow...i'm here. it seems kind of unreal. i look out my window...and i'm in italy. whaaaaat.
getting here was a nightmare. forreal. i felt absolutely dead after the flight. which was terrible, because we had to take a second flight in a little plane. the first flight was bad because i was in the middle seat in the middle row, and it was really hot in there. i managed to get a little sleep, but i felt kind of dehydrated because planes just suck. by the time we had our second flight, i had a headache. i was in a middle seat again on a tiiiny plane. the guy next to me told me that my face literally turned green, which is like the highlight of my trip so far..but not really. it's just such a weird occurrence, i can't get over it. the last few days have been orientation. i took a placement test for italian language today. we took a tour of our school buildings, but i know that when i'm on my own i will get lost. jen and i tried to find our way back to her apartment from the last stop, and we got lost for several hours. i had my second cup of gelato today. we went to a really nice restaurant down the street, with a waiter who liked to joke a little too much. we also got whistled at on the street. oh italy. i finally figured out where the uffizi is. last night some random california guy stopped us in the street and talked for 20 minutes. i got some vitamin c tablets in the pharmacy, which was intersting because the guy didn't really speak english. tomorrow is more orientation, but not for long. then we have a weekend trip, then classes start. i feel really disconnected from people at home, but i think things will get better once i get into some kind of routine.

ok so i decided to be cliche and make a travel journal. you already knew i was cliche, so no big surprises. i doubt any one will read this, but i guess i should make it a little less rambling in case any one decides to. tomorrow night i'm leaving for italyyy. jfk night flight. will be there for 4 months, "studying abroad." i was getting really nervous this morning, but i was busy the rest of the day. had to spend time with my best friend, the parents, and the boy. i know i'm not leaving forever, but saying goodbye has felt kind of painful. i guess i'm kind of sappy or something. i need to go to sleep soon because tomorrow promises to be a long and stressful day.