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!

The Only Country where 2 bottles of Vino is cheaper than M&Ms

This week has been awesome. I absolutely love Florence. My classes are great and the people in the program are so much fun. I wish I could be here a whole semester or just live abroad. Sculpture is still a complete joke and we never really know what we are doing in it. My professor worked on my apple for about 15 minutes on Thursday and made it look a thousand times better than anything I could do. We are supposed to draw a picture of our fruit for class on Monday...its going to look like a four year old did it. Michael I need you here for guidance. I had my first Italian quiz on Thursday and it was pretty easy. We got to go to the supermarket in class as well and learn about buying food.

On Wednesday and Thursday we watched the world cup games. I really wanted Germany to win, but oh well. We have three friends from the program that went to Amsterdam to watch the final game. They ended up paying a ton for their plane tickets (I think they're crazy) but I know they'll have a lot of fun. Last night we ate dinner at ZaZas, which was MV's fav restaurant here and it was so delicious. I had this chicken dish with potatoes and loved it. I would definitely go back to that place. Twelve of us all went out together last night to this outdoor club. It was really cool and so much fun. It was definitely my favorite night of the whole trip. Today Isabelle, Maggie, Chris, Aldo and I went to the Boboli Gardens. They had such a gorgeous view of the city and the gardens were so pretty themselves. They are massive, so we didn't walk around the whole thing so I am going to have to go back. It would be a great place to relax after class in the afternoon. After the gardens we all went to a Mexican restaurant because we needed a break from pizza, pasta, and paninis. It was delicious and made me miss Monterrey alot! Walking home from dinner I saw two of my friends from elementary school eating dinner. I also saw a friend from high school two nights ago as well. Crazy how you can be so far from home, yet still see people you know. Its such a small world.

We are taking it easy tonight. Our train leaves for Cinque Terra tomorrow morning. We are going to hike through all five towns when we get there. I am really excited and cannot wait. My friend that I saw tonight told me how she didn't book a hotel when she went there and ended up sleeping on a park bench in the rain. Luckily, we were able to find a hostel and avoid that experience haha.

Classes

Last night seven of us girls went to Dantes, a little restaurant on the other side of the river two bridges down from the Ponte Vecchio. The owner was so nice and since we were students we were given all free drinks. The food was soooo good. I had a potato tortellini (which really just looked like ravioli) in a tuscan meat sauce. They also brought us a flat bread as an appetizer for the table. We each got free tshirts and the owner informed us that when we came back we had to wear them and speak better Italian haha. After one day of Italian class, we were not very knowledgeable on ordering. After dinner we met up with some of the guys and went to the discos. It is absolutely necessary to go out with guys here because the Italian guys are so gross and we do not want to associate with them.
This morning we learned that we could not take our food and wine class. So, we went to sculpture, which was such a joke. Our assignment was to mold a piece of fruit by subtracting clay from a block of clay. The professor is very encouraging since we are all terrible at it. At one point my apple just looked like a butt. We were all about to bust out laughing we she told us to close our eyes and feel the grapes with our hands and focus on all the curves and lines of the fruit. None of us are creative enough to take this class seriously. I was finished with my apple with about an hour left of class and just sat and played with clay for the rest of the time. The bad part is we have to "refine" our pieces for the next two days. I have no idea how I am going to entertain myself for that long. Our teacher informed us that we will have "new eyes" tomorrow and we will see everything differently, hope this is true. All of our friends are in that class though so its really fun to just hang out and pretend like we are kids playing with play dough. It makes no sense how Carolina approves that class but not food and wine pairing.
In Italian class today, I did not think my professor was going to stop calling on me. She was asking me to answer so many questions and I had to be first to do like every activity. I have no idea why she has decided to single me out, but Maggie and Isabelle think its hilarious. I really like the language it is just going to be difficult to get it separate from Spanish. The "c's" are pronounced so differently. Tonight we are all going to watch the Netherlands vs. Germany world cup game. I think I am going to pull for Netherlands. If I do not pick a team to cheer for, I get so bored...soccer is just not my sport. Hope this wasn't too grammatically incorrect for you mom, I just hate proofreading :)

First Day of Class

Our dinner on Saturday night ended up being a success and the food was delicious. We decided that we are going to cook dinners from the market alot. On Sunday we basically relaxed all day and hung out with some friends from the program. It was sad to not be home and celebrating July 4th. I did get to skype mom and dad though and that was hilarious as mom was freaking out that she would somehow have to pay for it. Dad also kept poking his head in front of the screen and saying "look who is in the box now" haha. It was good to see them face to face though!

Today was our first day of classes in Florence. Isabelle, Maggie, and I went to World of Museums at 9 am. We found that we would be attending a lot of field trips to museums, but there was also a lot of work associated with it. We went to our advisors to see if we could switch into a food and wine pairing class. However, this class is not approved by the UNC system, so we would not receive credit for it. I do not need the credit hours, so I am waiting to hear from my advisor in the Chapel Hill to see if I can take that class. Its really frustrating because she is on holiday for July 4th today, so we have to wait until tomorrow. As of right now, the three of us switched into an introductory sculpture class that apparently there are a lot of UNC students already in. They told us that the class this morning was really fun and would not be hard at all. So hopefully, if we cannot get into the cooking class, the sculpture one will be a lot better than the museum class. After our morning class fiasco, Isabelle and I walked around the markets for a little bit and then grabbed a quick lunch before heading to our Italian class. It is all UNC students in that class because we are the only school here that requires it to be taken. However, the class wasnt too bad and the professor seems really nice. It is so similiar to spanish it is going to be hard to differentiate between the two. The class is also 2 hours and 15 minutes long so it makes for a really long day. Tonight we are going to go a restaurant off of Abbys recommendations with about 8 girls and they are supposed to give us free wine, tshirts, and hats so it should be pretty fun.
Isabelle has been planning our weekend excursions all day yesterday and this afternoon. It has been near impossible to find a place to stay in Cinque Terra. All of the hotels in the fifth town require a two night minimum and they are all booked for the next two weekends. We did find a hostel in the first town that our friend stayed in this summer and he said it wasnt bad at all. So as of right now Isabelle, Sarah, and I are going to Venice on Friday and spending the night there. On Saturday morning we are taking a train and meeting Maggie in Cinque Terra around 1 pm. We will then spend Saturday night in Cinque Terra and leave Sunday evening. I am really excited about this, and it should be really fun! Hope all is well at home and everyone had a good 4th!

First Couple Days in Firenze

After one long sleepless night in the Athens airport, we finally got on the plane to Rome. From Rome, we landed in Florence around 11 AM. We took a cab to our apartment of Via San Gallo and moved all of our stuff in. Our apartment has two bedrooms and I am sharing with Sarah. We have a nice kitchen and living area as well. We have two bathrooms; however, Sarah and I's shower lacks a shower curtain, so we have learned to sit and shower kinda annoying but we'll deal. We then went to check in at the Lorenzo de Medici school. After having some Italian pizza for lunch, we walked around the town. We gathered some essential things at the grocery store and basically relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. We were really worn out after all the traveling and decided to just take it easy on Thursday night.

Yesterday morning we had orientation for school. I got my class schedule and both of my classes are relatively close to our apartment. I have class at 9 and 1:30 in the afternoon. My World of Museums class is first and Italian is in the afternoon both with Isabelle and Maggie. We went to a cheap place for lunch where you can basically fill up your plate with whatever you want for less than 5 euro. We walked around the town more after lunch and got our first taste of gelato. It was delicious! After learning more about the city of Florence, we headed back to our apartment. The school gave us a free dinner last night at a restaurant called the Clubhouse. We had pasta and rice for our first course followed by salad with grilled chicken and potatoes. We had tiramisu for dessert. We tried to get more than one glass of wine, but the waiter informed us that our teacher did not want us to have that much haha. Last night a couple of the other girls in our program came over to our apartment and we drank some wine and then headed out on the town. Courtney, a girl that lived with my friends from the June session showed us her favorite spots. We went to a bar called Fish Pub, then a club, and another bar called the Red Garter. It was a really fun night!

This morning Sarah and I woke up earlier than the other two and went for a walk and found the central market. We then came back to gather up the other two and make a list for dinner. The central market is awesome, I am going to love that place. They have everything in there and some of the stuff is so good. We decided to saute shrimp and vegetables for dinner, along with making some bruschetta. This afternoon Sarah, Isabelle, and I went shopping, but it turned into more like window shopping. We then asked our friend Taylor what her favorite gelato place was while she was here. Her recommendation led us to Isabelle getting a 10 euro cone and I have a six euro cup! Such a rip off, we know not to go back there..so not worth it. All in all we are getting use to living with no AC, no dryer, and no ice haha. The first few days here have been great and I am really excited about my classes starting on Monday. Tonight we are going to watch some of the World Cup and go out again!

Santorini

We arrived in Santorini monday evening around 6 by ferry. A bus then took us to our hotel called Hotel Sunshine located in the kamari region. We got dinner on the water next to the black sand beach. We then walked around the area. On tuesday, we spent most of the day laying out by the pool. In the afternoon we took a bus to Fira. The views from here were amazing...this is definitely one of the prettiest places ive ever been to. A bus then took s to Oia to watch the sunset. The houses and buildings on all the cliffs were so cool. The sunset was magnificent. This is the spot where sisterhood of the traveling pants was filmed. Today we got lunch and laid in the sun some more. We had a really good italian dinner at our hotel before leaving for the airoport. We are now in the athens airport for the night until our flight leaves for florence in the morning...lets just say this is not very fun and we will be up all night yayy i'm ready to get settled and be in one place for awhile. Cant wait for Italy!

The Greek Isle: Mykonos

On our last night in Athens, on recommendation of some friends that studied abroad in Greece the summer before, we ate a restaurant called Strofi. They had authentic greek food and even brought out shots of a Greek liquor called something like "tipura". It was supposed to be a traditional Greek drink from the grapes. The waitor got quite a kick out of us taking that, it tasted mostly like tequila. The restaurant had an amazing view of the Acropolis at night and we had a lot of fun. We ended up sitting next to a family from Miami, who gave us some pointers on traveling to Mykonos and Santorini as they had just gotten back.

The next morning we left our hotel at 6:15. I hadn't slept well the night before, so I was able to sleep the entire four hours on the ferry, which I desperately needed. Once we got to Mykonos,we checked into our hotel and headed into town. We ate a quick lunch and spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach. The view from our hotel is absolutely beautiful. It overlooks the ocean and there are constantly sailboats in front of it, which make for a picturesque view. I wish I could post pictures on here for ya'll to see! Last night we ate at Nikos Tavern, which the family from Miami told us was great. The meal ended up being very good and we then went to watch the USA soccer game. Unfortunately, USA lost, but let's just say everyone else in the restaurant was pretty happy about the loss. This morning we started off on the same beach again before deciding to adventure over to Paradise beach. This beach was apparently where everyone goes and there is a lot of partying there. It was actually pretty calm. We rented chairs and just spent the day reading in the sun. I could stay here forever haha.

I have no idea what we are going to be up to this evening/tonight, but tomorrow we leave for Santorini. This isle is supposed to be the one with all the typical white houses and blue roofs and very pretty. I don't know how you could get much prettier than this isle, but we sha'll see!

Athens!

Yesterday, after a long and tiresome flight we finally arrived in Athens a little before 11 am. Luckily, Delta was able to put our three seats together, yet we also got the shaft to the last row of the plane. This put me on the aisle next to the bathroom...lets just say there was a constant influx of people coming back there and running into me aka not so restful. Anyways, after what seemed like forever we were on our way to the hotel.
Isabelle was feeling a little motion sick so Sarah and I decided to walk around outside our hotel. We went to the Plaka area nearby and saw some street vendors and also got some gelato (definitely not as good as Italy's). After that, we met back up with Isabelle and watched the Italy soccer game at a restaurant nearby. We then went to dinner and by this time, we were exhausted! I feel asleep last night at 7:45...it wasn't the most enjoyable sleep though because I woke up several times and had trouble falling back asleep when the clock said 11:30.
This morning we went to the Acropolis and also saw the theater of Dionysus. The top of the Acropolis had an amazing view of the surrounding city. We then went to the New Museum of the Acropolis, which I had never been to, but was very interesting. They had artifacts that dated to the 300s B.C.. crazy stuff!
After walking around all morning, we went on a search to find some delicious Greek food. Isabelle and I had chicken souvlaki and it was awesome. We have pretty much walked the area surrounding our hotel a million times, so this afternoon we have just been laying on the rooftop. It has a perfect view of the acropolis. In a little bit, we might go watch some more soccer/have dinner... We leave for Mykonos bright and early tomorrow morning at 6 15!! AH but I just talked to some Americans in the hotel and they told me to go to Paradise beach where apparently "they party all day and night and breakfast is served all day"
Should be fun and I can't wait!

Its Finally The Day!!!!

Mom and I are about to head to the airport in about 15 minutes. From Charlotte, I am flying with my two friends Sarah Suddreth and Isabelle Fagan to Atlanta and then from Atlanta to Athens. We are set to arrive in Athens at 10:30 AM their time, which is 3:30 AM east coast time. Hopefully, I will be able to fall asleep for a little bit on my 11 hour flight. I have never been very good at sleeping on planes, so this should be interesting.

I can't wait to arrive and I am SO excited. I will keep ya'll posted when I finally get to Athens!