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!!!!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
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!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
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.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
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.
today is lauren's and my dad's birthdays. happy birthdays to them!
tonight i am going to an opera. should be fancy.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
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.
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