Paris to Spain

Our time spent is Paris was wonderful. After the girls visited the louvre, we went and had dinner at an Italian place right by our hostel. It made us miss Italy as the food was just not the same. On Thursday, Isabelle and I went to Montmartre hill while Sarah and Maggie went to Monet´s Gardens. We walked around the church and had an awesome view of the city at the top of the hill. We then got crepes for lunch, which I absolutely love. We met up with Maggie and Sarah that afternoon at Versailles. We walked around the palace and the gardens before heading back to our hostel. For dinner that night we went to a restaurant off recommendation of our hostel. The food was so delicious and it was mostly locals there. We had blue cheese scallop potatoes to start followed by duck covered in a cheese sauce and more potatoes. It was one of the best meals we have had and we all left very happy. The next day we walked around Paris in the morning before going up the Eiffel Tower. That afternoon we did some more exploring of the city and ate another good French meal of french onion soup, lamb chops, and apple torte. That night we left Paris on a night train for Irun, Spain. The train ride actually went better than I expected. We share a room with a crazy spanish dude and his wife. The minute the man walked into the TINY room and saw our huge 4 suitcases taking up the whole floor, he instantly started cursing in spanish. He then proceeded to shove the suitcases in our faces trying to get them up on the top shelves. We eventually got everything squared away and went to sleep for the night. The next morning our train stopped one stop away from Irun (about a ten minute drive). Our next train was scheduled to leave in 50 minutes for Madrid. The train company told us they didnt have a driver, but the train was obviously on a strike. Therefore, we missed our train to Madrid which had us spending eight hours in the tiny town of Irun. Maggie, Isabelle, and I set off to explore and ended up drinking sangria and eating Paella. It was great!
We finally got on a train to Madrid at 4 that afternoon and got to Madrid around 11. We checked into our hotel and then went to get some tapas. It was very strange finishing dinner at 1245 at night. You wouldnt believe how many people were still out and about at that time. The streets were packed, but we ended up going home to go to sleep after our worldwind adventure to get there. The next morning I got up to use the restroom around 7 am. The room was completely dark and as I crawled back into bed, I hit the bottom of my chin on Sarah´s top bunk. I slammed down on my jaw and my first instinct was "oh no, another chippped tooth". Fortunately all my teeth were in tact, but when I went to feel my chin, it was soaking wet. I turned on the light to find a huge gash in my chin. At this point everyone was awake and Sarah and I knew we were ER bound. The hotel employee at the front desk was just finishing his night shift and offered to accompany us to the ER. We first went to an ambulancia because he thought it would be less crowded, but they refused to assist me because they didnt have any face stitches. I honestly believe they didn´t want to help an American. We then went to the hospital where I was finally taken care of. Thank goodness the hotel employee, Louise, came because he served as my interpretator. I would have been so lost without him and he also cracked jokes the whole time while giving advice on food and places to go in Barcelona.
That day we went to the Royal Palace in Madrid and walked around the city. We left for Barcelona that night at 7:30. We have to go to dinner now so I will right more about Barcelona later...

Here's to the Chicken Coop

Well its been forever since I've had access to a computer but I managed to find the apple store in the louvre mall..

My last two nights in Florence were awesome. On Thursday we went to dinner at Ciro's and sons and enjoyed our last bit of Italian food. We then went to a club called Space, I had been there in high school and it still looked exactly the same including the number of Italian high schoolers there. We ended up finding our Australian friends from the night before. On Friday I went to the central market one last time and then walked through the market to buy gifts. Morgan, Worth and I went to Oil Shoppe for lunch to get our last Italian paninis even though it was a tough decision between that and the school cafeteria me and Isabelle's fav restaurant. That afternoon Worth and I went to Santa Croce Church and saw Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo's tombs. The church was so pretty and really interesting. We then got our last gelato, probably the saddest moment ever. In the evening we watched the sunset at Piazza de Michelangelo with a nice bottle of Chianti. For dinner, we headed down to Gusta Osteria, the restaurant of the brothers of our favorite pizza place, Gusta Pizza. It was delicious and such a great way to spend the last night. The owners even gave me a free I love Gusta Pizza tshirt. On Saturday we left Florence early for Lake Como. We stayed in a nice hotel in Cadenambia and laid out by the pool all day. The lake surrounded by the mountains was gorgeous.

Sunday morning we took off bright and early for Interlaken. We spent the day watching the parade in town while eating brats and beers. It was national swiss day so the town and our hostel were very lively. We all bought Swiss attire and celebrated the holiday at our hostel because they had a cookout and party for it that night. We made friends with lots of Australians and English. The next day it rained on and off all day. Isabelle and I took a boat cruise to Speiz and got to see lots of the Lake Thunesee. It was really pretty despite the clouds. That night Sarah and I made friends w a guy fro, Georgia and hung out with him. On Tuesday Isabelle and Maggie went to Geneva while Sarah and I paraglided. It was definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done and such an amazing view. We then left Interlaken for Paris and arrived around 8 pm; Sarah and I got crepes fro, a hostel suggestion and they were so good. I got one with ham and cheese..best French food I've ever had.

This morning we went to the Arc de Triumph and walked down the Champs Elysess. We then got lunch at Rue Clar near the Eiffel tower garden before venturing to the train station to book our train to madrid. After a three hour fiasco of thinking we would never make it there we found a train leaving Friday night. The other three girls are now in the Louvre and I'm exploring the lovely apple store haha..its been an interesting day to say the least. I hope the rest of our time in Paris goes a little smoother.

Crickey Mate, Its 4 in the Morning!

On Monday night, we had our farewell buffet dinner with the school. It was located at a rooftop restaurant that had great views of the city. We got there right before sunset and were able to enjoy it while having some great Italian food. Later that night we celebrated Aldo's 21st birthday. On Tuesday I went to the Uffizi museum. It was pretty interesting, but after awhile everything began to look the same. I really enjoyed seeing the works that I learned about in my Italian Rennaissance class back in Chapel Hill. It rained that afternoon and we were all really scared that our plans for the evening were going to be rained out. Fortunately the sun came out right before we were about to give up hope on watching the sunset one last time at the Piazza de Michelangelo. So we trekked across the river and sat on the steps on the Piazza as the sunset over Florence. We then went to Gusta Pizza and had the most amazing pizza ever again. On tuesday night we all went out together and then Sarah and I went to the secret bakery with two austrailian friends we made. The secret bakeries are little shops that are only open late at night that cook all the pastries and mini pizzas for the cafes around town. They secretly give you their pastries for 1 euro..its the greatest late night ever. Yesterday I went to the Medici Chapel and saw the tombs of Guiliano and Lorenzo de Medici, which I wrote a long report on in my art history class. It was really neat to be able to see that in person after spending so much time researching it online. Last night Isabelle, Maggie, and I went to Il Latini Ristorante. This was a four course meal and it was absolutely delicious. Our antipastis were proscuitto and melone, some sort of pasta/grain salad, mozzerella and pomodoro, and bruschetta with chicken liver (that was the only one I didn't like). For our primi patti, we all three got a spinach and cheese ravioli in a tomato sauce. Our secondi course was spinach, white beans in a tomato sauce, potatoes, and a meat platter of prime rib, chicken, rabbit, pork, and bistecca... it was soooo good. Our dessert consisted our a strawberry pannacotta, strawberry tort, and a sugar cake with creme filling. Throughout dinner they gave you red wine and dessert with accompanied with a muscat wine and a port wine with biscotti. I did not like the muscat or port wine. They were both two sweet and disgusting. Our waitor was originally a professional musician for ten years before becoming a waitor and we were therefore serrenated all night by him in Italian. The meal was so much fun and I highly recommend it to anyone coming to Florence. It truly captures the Italian culture and their style of dining. We have our final exams today. I already took my sculpture one. It was pretty stupid and I have no idea how I did in that class. I do not think my professor likes me very much, but I'm not very fond of her either haha. Our Italian exam shouldn't be too bad this afternoon. Unfortunately, our last two nights are upon us and I am very sad to leave Florence. It has been such an amazing and fast month.

Ireland, Best European Country!!

I know it has been awhile since my last post, the past week has just been very hectic. Our river tour on the Arno was pretty cool, but not the best. It was still exciting to actually be on the river. We also got to see where holes had been patched under the Ponte Vecchio from when the butchers would drop the rotten meat into the river. People would still swim in the river during that time... not hard to see why people died so young back then. After the river trip, we got dinner at Doninis and had some great pasta before heading out for the night. On Tuesday, we went to class as usual but after class we got to see how gelato was made. They made a chocolate batch and it was amazing. The fresh gelato is so much better than gelato that has been sitting in the freezer. The place where they made it typically makes 12 batches a day and doesn't let the ice cream sit in the freezer for longer than 5 days. I have a feeling the ice cream at Ben and Jerry's isn't quite as fresh. That evening Sarah and I made dinner for everyone. We made chicken marinated in red wine, vegetables, bruschetta, and some mashed potatoes (we were missing food from home). Everything turned out great... I will just be ready to cook in air conditioning because standing over a hot stove for an hour and a half with no A/C is not very fun.

Wednesday was a pretty relaxed and laid back day. On Thursday, Worth and I left Florence at 7 am for Pisa. From Pisa we flew to Bristol, England. After spending a few hours in the Bristol airport, we finally got on our flight to Dublin. I was so excited when we got there especially after the long day of traveling. The weather was instantly different than Florence as it was cold and overcast. We checked into our hostel, which was the nicest we have stayed in thus far. The people there were so nice and it was very clean. We grabbed a quick dinner before meeting a group for a pub crawl at the entrance to Trinity College. Our pub crawl took us to five pubs and a club at the end. We met fellow Americans from San Diego and Georgia, along with people from Scotland, Holland, and Austrailia. We taught the Scottish guys how to play beer pong and they loved it. The guys from Holland were hilarious and so fun to talk to. On Friday morning we got up early and decided to go on the Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour. It took us to over 20 places around Dublin. We saw Trinity College, O'Connell Street, Abbey Corner, Guinness Storehouse, St. Patrick's Cathedral, etc etc... We got off and walked around Christ Church, St. Andeuon's Church, St. Patrick's, the Wellington Monument, and Phoenix Park. We got lunch at a typical Irish Restaurant by our hostel, which was located in the Temple Bar area of Dublin next to the famous Temple Bar. Worth had guiness and beef pie and I had a baked potato with chili and some brown bread. The meal was really good.. I didn't like Worth's though. It was too much like chuck roast, sick. After a long day of walking around the city, we went back to the hostel to take a nap. We then went to a couple of pubs next to our hostel in search of finding traditional Irish music. After two pubs continued to play American music, we finally found one with two guys playing the guitar and banjo. They played all traditional music though and it was so fun! We then got dinner at a Tapas restaurant that our hostel recommended and it was delicious. We went to bed early that night because I was really tired. I got a lot of sleep minus the fact that a French man in our room was snoring like a train! It was the loudest snoring I have ever heard, I wanted to throw something at his head.
On Saturday we walked to O'Connell street, around Trinity College, St. Steven's Green, and another shopping area near our hostel. We got another Irish lunch. Worth had some burger topped with bacon and a fried egg and I had fish and chips. That meal was ok, I just really wanted to try fish and chips after my previous experience in London wasn't very good. After lunch, we walked over to the Guinness storehouse to see how it was made. The brewery was very interesting and its crazy how Arthur Guinness started everything on 100 pounds! At the end of the tour, they gave you a complimentary Guinness at the sky bar at the top, which overlooked the whole city. I passed on my free Guinness. I am just not a fan of that dark beer, its too bitter. I found that I really like Kilkenny and Carlsburg, two other Irish beers. On Saturday night, we listened to more traditional music and got dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Then we went back to the Pub for the night. I ended up meeting these Irish guys and Irish danced with them all night. It was seriously one of the best nights of my life. One of the guys invited me to be his dad for his brother's wedding in 3 weeks. Unfortunately, I had to tell him no.
On Sunday, we left Dublin and went to a little fishing town called Howth about 30 minutes outside the city. The town was so neat and it was great to see some of the coastline. They had a lot of hiking trails but I didn't have the right shoes plus we had all of our luggage. After eating lunch there, we headed back to Dublin and went to the Irish National Museum. We then headed to the airport and started our venture back to Pisa. We finally made it back to Pisa around 11:15 last night and then had to take a bus back to Florence. I eventually made it home around 1:15 am. It was very long weekend, but well worth it. I did not want to leave Ireland at all. It was definitely my favorite country I have ever been too. The people were SO NICE and welcoming. The music was great and everything I saw and did was fantastic. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go there and I didn't pass up the chance. I would gladly go back in a heartbeat. I may even have to go to Pharmacy school there now, haha.
We have our farewell dinner with the school tonight and another birthday celebration. I cannot believe it is our last week. I am so not ready for this trip to be winding down!

Weekend on the Amalfi Coast

On Thursday we went to class as usual. In sculpture class we had to start our abstract piece. My work ended up looking like a radio. After class, I went to this sandwich shop and got a sandwich with salami, goat cheese, and tomato for 2.50 euro... I am going to miss that back in the states. I had my second Italian quiz which actually went better than the first one. That evening Worth and I climbed to the top of the duomo. It was 486 steps to the top but well worth the climb. The view was amazing and you could see so much of the city. From the top it was easy to see how we get lost at times because everything looks the same! A group of us got dinner that night together, and we then went to get our train tickets for the next morning.

Friday morning, we left for Naples at 7 am. It was a three hour train ride on the fast train as opposed to the six hours it would have taken us on the slow train. The train ride was much more enjoyable this time compared to last weekend's trek to cinque terre in a non air conditioned train. Once we got to Naples, our driver, Giovanni Russo, took us to Positano. He greeted us with 2 bottles of Limoncello. That limoncello was so disgusting. It was so strong all of us took one sip and about spit it out. On Sunday Giovanni ended up giving us another free bottle and we all bit our lip to keep from laughing when he handed it to us. One of the boys in our group can speak pretty good italian so Giovanni talked his ear off for the hour long ride to Positano. We all thought Aldo was going to go crazy. Upon arriving at our hostel, Hostel Bricketts, we went and got pizza and beer at the restaurant next door. The food was great and then we made our way down to the beach. This was quite the climb down the mountain and it was HOT! We were sweating like crazy by the time we got to the beach. We had to pay for use the beach since it was private. The black sand was so hot on our feet and several of us burnt the bottoms of them. The water felt awesome though after the hot climb and we were ready to relax in the sun for a few hours. That evening some people in our group took the local bus back up the mountain, while Isabelle, Sarah, and I decided to climb. We actually beat the other half of the group back to the hostel, but I think we were a lot hotter than them. The climb up wasn't too bad in comparison to Cinque Terre last weekend. It was a good thing we made the climb back up because we knew the way back later that night. That evening our hostel got us a free ride to this nice restaurant. Our service was fantastic and the food was pretty good. They gave us free bruschetta. Everyone in the group got bistecca with blueberry sauce except for Sarah cause she is vegetarian. The steak was alright. I was disappointed in it because they overcooked it even though I asked for medium rare.. pretty frustrating. One of the waitresses was actually a girl from California. She had been traveling the summer before throughout Italy and feel in love with an Italian boy and stayed out there (don't worry dad, this won't happen to me). After dinner we went back to the hostel and hung out with the people there. The bartender at the hostel told us he would take us to this really cool club that is carved into the rocks for a free cover. On the way to the club, we saw Denzel Washington eating dinner with a few other people. We knew that he was in town, but we never thought we would actually see him! Isabelle and Ashton stalked him for awhile and ended up getting a picture with him. The girl he was with was from Eden, NC, which is apparently really close to Reidsville...so Isabelle had a lot to chat with them about, haha. The club was so neat how it was carved into the mountains and the way the sound reflected off of it. It was such a fun night!

Saturday morning we got up bright and early for our boat trip around the coast. We were on about a 40 foot boat. Our first stop was in Capri where we had about an hour and a half to spend. All of us were feeling a little seasick by the time we got there so we just rested and grabbed a snack. Upon getting back on the boat, we had a packed lunch of caprese sandwiches. They were delicious! Our captain then took us to the green and white grotto. I swam around the boat in the white grotto, but I was unable to go inside because I only had rainbow sandals and couldn't climb on the rocks. Ashton, Laura, and Sarah went and they said the water was so blue inside the grotto. A local also informed them that it looked just like the blue grotto, but with less people. At the green grotto, I was able to swim to it because I didn't have to climb on any rough rocks. The water reflected a brillant green off of the walls and it was so pretty. We then climbed to the top of this rock edge and jumped off in to the ocean. It was really fun at the time, but I think I may have cracked a rib in my chest from the impact of the water. I am kinda regretting my decision to jump off of the rock now. We then sailed around the coast for another hour and a half before heading back to Sorrento. When we were sailing around we saw Bill Gate's yacht and the owner of the Chelsea soccer team's. The Chelsea soccer team owner's yacht was sooo cool. It had its own helicopter and lots of jet skis. It was a also a sleek black color. I wish I could have hopped off our boat and joined them. After a long day on the water, we headed back to Positano. We got dinner at the pizza place next to our hostel again. The owner there loved us and told us how nice we were. He even invited us to ride on his boat on Sunday at 3, but it ended up that we were leaving at that time. That night we took it easy because we were all so exhausted. I had trouble sleeping in the hostel because it was so hot and loud! People were snoring like crazy in addition to everyone else in the dorm running around and screaming. I hope my other hostel experiences go a little smoother. On Sunday we walked around the town in some of the shops and got a quick lunch. We then headed back to Naples to catch our train. We finally got back to Firenze around 9 last night. I went to bed really early because of the lack of sleep I got all weekend. It was such a fun weekend though and the Amalfi coast is absolutely beautiful. Tonight the girls are going on a boat tour of the Arno River!

Time is Flyinggg

I cannot believe our second week of class is almost over. Time is going back so quickly and I need it to slow down! Nothing too exciting has happened this week. In sculpture class on Tuesday we had to draw self portraits with our eyes closed by feeling our face and expressing what we felt on paper. During my first attempt she stopped me having way through and told me to start over. It seemed like the more your picture looked like a face, the worse it was. So on the next ones I basically just drew random lines all over the paper. Later in the class we had to describe an object to our partner and they had to draw it without telling them what it was. Everyone's drawings were really excellent this day... not. At the beginning of class we also had to turn in a drawing of our apples/grapes from last week. She went around and showed everyone's to the rest of the class. When she got to mine she said "oh this is very delicate it is very...interesting". Yeah she basically implied that mine was terrible. We painted our sculptures in class all day today and tomorrow we start an abstract sculpture. At least I can make this sculpture look however I want it to.

After Italian class yesterday, Maggie, Isabelle, and I went to the academia. We saw the David. It was awesome. I cannot believe the magnitude of that and how anyone could sculpt something like that after the troubles I've been having in class. We walked around the rest of the museum, but for the most part the David was the only interesting thing in there. Last night a big group of us went to the Piazza di Michelangelo, which overlooks the whole city, to watch the sunset. We barely made it in time but the view was amazing. It was a massive hike up to the Piazza but well worth it. We went to get pizza after the sunset and it was honestly the best pizza I've ever had. Nothing I eat in America is going to even come close to the pizza I had. It has spicy salame, tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil on it mmm sooo good. Tonight one of the guys from UNC is turning 20 so we are all going out to dinner together and then celebrating his birthday after. This weekend we are going to Positano on the Amalfi coast. We leave Friday early morning and get back late sunday, I can't wait!

Cinque Terre

On Saturday morning Isabelle, Maggie, and I went to Cinque Terre. We took the train from Florence to La Spezia, a town right outside of the first town. The train ride was miserable. There was no AC and we were sweating profusely. From La Spezia we went to Riomaggiore. This was the first town where our hostel was. The lady accepted our money and then told us to walk up these steps to meet another lady who would show us our room. Little did we know our room was up about 500 steps and they were steep! It was such a hard climb, I am so glad we only had bookbags and not our giant suitcases. Traveling in August is going to be interesting to say the least. Our hostel was pretty nice and really clean. We had a bunk bed and one queen. After checking in, we went to eat lunch at a place that overlooked the water. The view was gorgeous and we were surrounded by high cliffs. The food was awesome as well. We got focaccia sandwiches with salame, pecorino cheese, and tomatoes... I wish I had one right now. We also had some bruschetta. After lunch we set out on our 9K hike through the five towns. It was a national park and the hike had some of the coolest sites. You honestly couldn't see the five towns without doing the hike. The hike was really easy at first and started on the "lover's walk" which went through tunnels where people had spray painted their names (how romantic, not). Once we got to Corniglia, the third town, the hike took a more advanced turn. We were hiking up a lot more steps and going up the mountains more. It was pretty strenuous and I have seriously never sweat so much in life. I ended up just hiking in my sports bra because my shirt was soaked. Right before we got to Montorosso, a man was selling lemonade or limoncello shots out of his backyard. It was so cool and of course we had to try the lemonade that he made right in front of you. OH I forgot! When we were in the train station at La Spezia we saw a mom and daughter from my high school. This makes four people that I have seen from home, crazy. We saw them again at this point on our hike and they took some pictures of us. Once we got to Montorosso we cooled off before getting some dinner. We all got pesto pasta, which was some of the best pesto I have ever had. If you didn't know Cinque Terre is known for focaccia and pesto... they definitely know how to make it, thats for sure! That night we went back to our hostel, but once we got off the train we heard this LOUD music coming from the middle of town. We walked over to see what it was and it was about 30 middle schoolers jumping up and down to a DJ. This loud music persisted til a little after midnight. We just lied in our beds and listened to the Italian kids dancing to Cotton Eyed Joe, YMCA, Surfin in the USA and various other AMERICAN songs it was hilarious. They love our music over here. After not getting much sleep because I was sooo hot, we woke up the next morning with plans to go to the beach. Once we got there, it was pretty cloudy and the beach was private. We ended up deciding to go back to Florence instead of hanging around. The train ride was again hot as hell and I was so happy to see our stop appear after 2.5 hours. Last night we all went to this really cool microbrewery to watch the world cup final. I really wanted the Netherlands to win but its ok. We were able to get some hamburgers and drink really good beer at this place helping us feel a little bit at home.

It was back to class today and our normal routine. I hope tomorrow to go to the Ufizzi or to check out some other museums!