Viva Italia

Roma!

This past Friday, Sam, Matt, Marco and I left for Rome! We took the fast train to the city, so we got there in no time. When we arrived, we had to take the subway to our hostel- I had never been a on a subway before this weekend, it totally freaked me OUT! Luckily Marco is from New York, so he was an expert on the subway. My first subway experience was dirty, sweaty and smelly, and I spent most of it in a man’s armpit (sucks to be short on the subway). However, each subway ride throughout the weekend got easier and less disgusting.

Friday night, we got dinner by the GORGEOUS Trevi Fountain. I of course, got my Lizzie McGuire on and made a few wishes in the fountain! (I’m now an international pop star in Italy lip syncing in the Colossuem every night.) After dinner, we went to the Pre- PRIDE party in Pride Park! The Pride parade/march was taking place on Saturday, so having a drag show on Friday seemed appropriate to pump people up. It was a blast! We danced while the drag queens sang and danced their fake parts off. It was a fabulous night! But what happened when we got back to the hostel was probably the most exciting part of the night….

So we get back to our hostel at about 1 am, and I am EXHAUSTED. I’m ready to just pass out. In our hostel, there were six beds in a room, and we took up four so we knew we would have two random roommates when we got back. So we get back to our hostel, go into our room and all of the lights were off. I was JUST about to jump in my bed when I see illuminated by the light from the moon some man’s flab pouring out from under my sheets! There was a strange man sleeping in my bed! I didn’t want to be rude, but I immediately blurted out that he was in my bed and asked why the heck was he there. He luckily spoke English, and he explained that the man at the front desk told him to sleep in THAT bed, so he did. Apparently, he couldn’t put it together that my things were already ON the bed, and that maybe he should take another empty one. He literally pushed all of my things from the bed to the floor! If this kid wasn’t bad enough, he literally farted ALL NIGHT LONG. It woke up my roommate Sam and I every single time. Eventually, Sam just said “dude, you need to STOP.” It was disgusting. God Bless that boy and teach him some manners! Don’t think it’s too much to ask that you don’t fart consistently for 6 hours while I try to sleep.

So after all of that, it was Saturday morning and we left to tour Roma! The first place we went to was the Colosseum. It was INCREDIBLE. Seriously so awesome. It was gigantic and so well preserved. They even put up a replica of the platform that events would have taken place on. Until that day, I thought that platform was the one Lizzie McGuire performed on in the movie.. uhhh whoops.

After the Colossuem, Sam and I took the subway to the Vatican! The line was honestly four hours long to get into it, so we went around the back and cut our way to the front. Such smart girls. The Vaticani was of course, amazing. The structure and the artwork is insane. The Sistine chapel was the best part. It was the most beautiful room I’ve ever been in in my life. The artwork was spectacular and absolutely flawless. We weren’t supposed to take pictures, but of course I hid in a corner and snapped a few.

After the Vatican, we went back to our hostel to clean up before we picked up Alyssa to go out before the DAVID GUETTA CONCERT! We ended up going to this amazing bar called “The Drunken Ship.” It was an absolute blast, especially because my friend from high school, Francesco met us there! It was so nice to see him and to be able to catch up. After we all hung out for a while, Alyssa, Sam and I got in a cab and headed to the concert! We (for the second time in one day) cut a line of about 400 people and headed inside! When we got in, was absolutely insane in the best way possible. Francesco and his friend Fabrizio ended up buying tickets and meeting us there, which just made the entire event that much more fun. David Guetta eventually came out and it was AMAZING. Honestly a night I will never forget, it was beyond a blast. Sure, we all looked like we had just stepped out of the shower we were so sweaty, but it didn’t matter. SO MUCH FUN.

Sunday morning we did some tourist shopping and re-visited the Trevi, so we could see it during the day. We ended up also seeing the Spanish steps on our way to the train station.

Overall, Amazing weekend! I got to see some amazing things, and hang out with some fantastic people! However, I must say even though I enjoyed Rome, Florence will always have my heart!

Croatia

This past thursday, we all packed up our things for the eleven hour bus ride to CROATIA! The bus ride was absolutely horrible. We sat right by the bathroom which was having plumbing problems, so it smelled absolutely disgusting the entire way, the temperature in the bus was below freezing aaaannd it ended up being about 12-13 hours. Anywho, I’m done complaining now, so I can get on with telling you about how INCREDIBLE Croatia was.

We arrived in the city of “Split” at about 8 am. We got settled, had our cappuccinos and breakfast, and then we were off to beach! I can’t recall the name of it right now, but it wasn’t a tourist beach. It was mostly private and full of local Croats ( Croatian locals). It was a stunning beach, surrounded by lush bars and people relaxing on their yachts. We laid on the beach and relaxed until it eventually started raining. We had to sit at one of the bars for a while, but our trip guide, Simon, ended up buying us all drinks and chatting us up. It was a really nice afternoon.

Once we got back from the beach, we cleaned ourselves up and went out to dinner by the water! Apparently, there was a huge soccer game that night, so the city was just crazy! Everything was electric. After dinner, we met up with our trip leader for the pub crawl. We assumed we would just be taken out to different bars, told not to get drunk, be safe, and all that good stuff. HOWEVER, our trip leader turned us over to another man, who was WILD! I can’t remember his name, but I will never forget this guy. He rallied all of us together by screaming “WHO’S READY TO GET HAMMERED?!” He then explained how the night would play out, and ended by making us take an oath. I can’t remember the exact words, but it was along the lines of “I solemnly swear to get very drunk, accept every shot, stumble around like a pirate, frolic on the beach, and overall just get piss drunk, and if you make it to the last bar you’re a legend.” So basically, this pumped every one up and we went out our way to the first bar, which our leader branded “powerhour”, and he was NOT kidding. We paid 120 kuna (the dollar of Croatia), so about 14 euro to drink as much as you could in an hour. If you had a cup of beer, the second it became half full there was someone behind you with a pitcher filling it up, not even asking if you wanted it or not. Even though it seems like these people hosting the pub crawl were crazy, they were still really good at keeping us safe and all together (So no worries mom). We ended up making it to the third bar before we just got extremely tired. Better than the ladies that we vomiting at the first bar, so holla.

On Saturday morning, we got on our own private touring yacht to go visit some of the islands of Croatia. Once the boat left the harbor, Simon (trip leader) passed around “Schnapps and a Biscuit.” He has a sweet Australian accent, and somehow that made it seem more logical to take a shot and a biscuit at 11 am. I WAS MISTAKEN. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever experienced in my life. So thanks for that Simon, I’ll never be fooled by an accent again.

We laid out and had a raging dance party on the boat until we arrived at the first island, Brac. Brac was a beautiful town filled with little shops and gorgeous scenery. After exploring, we got back on the boat, had lunch and took off to the next island, that I never got the name of. At the island, basically the only way off the boat and to the beach was to jump off the top of it. So after I had a mini stroke about it, I finally took the leap into the Mediterranean! It was amazing, thrilling and unforgettable.

We eventually made our way back to Split, and got on a bus to the medieval town of Trogir. Trogir is a really old medevial city, actually surrounded by a moat. We had dinner and gelato before heading back to our hostel.

If it wasn’t obvi, Croatia was incredible. I promised myself one day I would go back there. It was so historic and simple, yet so modern. The city of Split is so old, that the streets are still made out of marble. It was a spectacular weekend, can’t wait to do it all over again someday!

 

Review of last week!

Ciao! Just thought I would leave you lovely people that read this thing a recap of my week!

On Monday, the group decided to go out to dinner at Gonzo. Gonzo honestly has the best gourmet food… they even had rabbit on the menu. Mind you, this is our school’s cafeteria. The eight of us were having an absolute blast when another group of 8 girls came in and sat at this table across from us. Within five minutes of us being there, these girls started rolling their eyes at us and giving us dirty looks whenever we laughed. I think they were trying to be fancy and sip on their wine and didn’t want any of our childish nonsense. Sorry I’m not sorry that I like to laugh and enjoy my life. They were taking this whole meal WAY too seriously. So, when we got up to leave, these girls actually started APPLAUDING. They were applauding us leaving and saying immature things I would have said in sixth grade like “BUH-BYEEE!” My bad, I thought we were all in college, not in middle school. Some people really just need to learn to not take life so seriously.

After dinner, we went to “Astor” just to hang out, which was not in the cards for us apparently. When we got there, the usually chill place was PACKED. We immediately noticed that it was not packed with college students like it usually is, but high schoolers. Normally I wouldn’t care, but these were belligerent, sexually active, wild high schoolers. We found out that they were all in Italy as a treat for graduating high school… I had an Italian celebration too when I graduated… at Papa Vino’s on Coolidge. (It was awesome, might I add) These people were OOC (out of control), and I had my last straw when I went into the bathroom and one girl was vomiting in the stall, while her friends were laughing at her going “Oh my gawwwddd I can’t believe you made out with Daltonnn.” Yep, I suddenly no longer had the urge to go to the bathroom. We ended up leaving and going to Y.A.B, where  I made a new friend, Nicolas, who was from Portugal but recently moved to Florence with his dad. He was hilarious, and he had so many questions about what America was like. So many Italians want to know what America is like, especially New York City and Los Angeles. What, no body wants to know about Michigan? Rude.

Tuesday was boring, all I did was study all day for my exam on Wednesday, where I had to write 3000 words by hand. Joyous.

Wednesday marked the last day that my roommate Lauren would be here, so we had to do a lot of activities! After classes, we went shopping and bought clothes that we could wear without Italian women staring at us and calling us derogatory slurs. After shopping, we went out to an AMAZING Italian meal. Following dinner, we went to the steps of the Duomo, Katie set up her tripod and we took a million embarrassing pictures that had most everyone staring at us. Long hair don’t care. We eventually went to “Twice” to get our dance on. I swear, dancing in Italy is SO much better than dancing in America. Like I’ve stated previously, you actually DANCE like you’re supposed to here with guys. I’m talking the kind of stuff where the guy twirls you around and you dance like they did way back when. I did a lot of salsa type dancing last night that I didn’t even know I knew how to do until well, last night. It was a blast, just like it is everytime we go out!

Today, I’m just relaxing until we leave for the weekend for CROATIA! I’m sure I’ll have a lot to blog about when I get back!

Ciao my friends!

Disclaimer

This past weekend, I visited the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Capri, Positano and Pompeii. The two posts below include most everything I did over the weekend, but the best part of the weekend was how I felt.

WARNING: THIS POST AND THE TWO BELOW WILL GET VERY, VERY CHEESY! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

So here’s the part where I brag about how proud I am of myself:

I have never felt more alive than I did in the past weekend. I absolutely challenged myself every moment, and I could not be more proud of myself. Four years ago I couldn’t even stand up, walk, eat, or sit up by myself. I didn’t leave my house for about three months, and I spent all of my time in a hospital bed in my living room. I was going through an unimaginable pain, emotionally and physically. My situation was indescribable and I could hardly wrap my head around it. Part of me still can’t.

However, I made it through and came out a better and stronger person. I thought I was alive and in touch with my spirituality then, but I was proven wrong this weekend.

Once I overcame my own physical obstacles and climbed to the top of Capri, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I felt like the journey that started four years ago came to an end, and God was rewarding me with this incredible adventure. In that moment, I’ve never felt more alive or more in touch with God and with myself.

I’m not really sure why I’m blogging about something so personal, but for the most part, I wanted my family to be able to read this and for me to be able to say thank you. Thank you for letting me experience this amazing opportunity, and for always supporting me, my health and my crazy, wild dreams. We absolutely made it you guys!

I also just want this to be a reminder to anyone that needs it right now, to never ever ever give up. I can’t even imagine where I would be if i did.

Well on that note, enjoy my cheese filled posts below!

Capri

On Friday morning, we left for Capri! I had heard that Capri was an amazing place, but no ones words ever could have prepared me for what I was about to see- but I’ll get more into that later. We left the hostel to board the ferry bright and early! The walk to the ferry was extremely difficult for me, it was steep slopes the entire way down to the bottom- but I made it! Once we were on the ferry, it took us about twenty minutes to get to the island of Capri. Even when I could just see the island in a distance from the ferry, I could already tell it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. Once we docked, we got on another boat to tour Capri.We went all around the island, visiting all the big land marks, including the blue grotto. The blue grotto is a small cave that we all had to lay down in the boat to get into, but once we were inside it was incredible. The water is picture perfect blue, because it’s being illuminated by the rocks underneath. It was an amazing sight- plus our boat driver inside the grotto sounded like Andrea Bocelli, which totally made it that much more awesome.

Once the boat tour was over, our guides for the weekend, Krista and Amanda gave us the option of climbing to the top of Capri, or staying at the base. They warned us that it would be a long, steep walk up, but I felt as if I had to do it. About half way through the walk I wanted to shoot myself for ever thinking I could do it, but I had to keep going, it would have been pointless to come that far and turn around. Once we got up to the top of Capri, I was rewarded with some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. It was so incredibly beautiful up there. Alyssa and I thought we would also reward ourselves with a famous Italian drink, “lemoncello.” I’m glad I tried it, but at the same time I wanted to vomit. Lemoncello tastes like pure vodka mixed with lemon cough drops. I’m sure it’s not very good at any time of day, but at 11am it was gag inducing.

After we relaxed for a while, we hopped on a bus to go to “Anacapri.” Anacapri is the very very top of Capri, at the highest point on the mountain. You really can’t climb up it, so you have to take some sort of transportation. Anacapri was even more beautiful than Capri. I wish I could explain to you all the sights, but I could never do it justice. We were told that in Anacapri, there was this small store that made custom made shoes, so of course we had to check it out. Basically, the cutest old man (Salvatore) in the history of old men sits in front of the store, and custom makes shoes for you! You get to select the type of sandal, and design the colors and overall look. I couldn’t pass up getting a pair. 

While we waited for our shoes to be made, we went and got lunch at a fantastic restaurant. (By the way, at most restaurants in Italy, there’s a fee just to sit down that’s added to your bill.) It was hardly noon and this was easily becoming one of the greatest days in my life, I was over the moon with pure happiness. We went back to get our shoes after lunch, which were PERFECT, did a little more shopping, and then decided to take a chair lift to the highest point in Anacapri.

Not many people know this, but I tend to get really afraid of heights. I’m convinced that’s why God made me short. But anyway, my friends of course convinced me to go on this chairlift, which was basically a lawnchair with a bar over it hanging from a cable. I was absolutely terrified, but my fear came to an immediate stop once I was in the air. On the chairlift, you could see every single inch of Capri. The views actually took my breath away. It sounds so cheesy, but it’s true. Once you reach the very very top, the chairlift lets you off so you can walk around the top of Anacapri. We were inside of cloud once we were at the top- literally.I could see the cloud passing through my skin, it was so crazy! I am never ever going to forget those moments, or the mental images I now have standing at the top of Capri/ Anacapri.

We eventually took the chairlift back down, where we had to find our own transportation to the bottom of Capri to catch our ferry. We attempted to take the bus, but when it never showed up, we had to take a convertible taxi. Do not be mistaken, this wasn’t a convertible. It was basically a car that never had the top put on it, so they just placed a sheet on top of it instead. We were all scared out of our minds driving on the edge of the cliff, but I was laughing hysterically the entire time.

The day I spent in Capri may have just been one of the greatest days of my life. I know that sounds dramatic, but I can’t help it! I’m never ever going to forget it.

Positano/Pompeii

On Saturday, we left for Positano! Positano is a black sand beach on the Amalfi Coast. We got on the bus and thought we were headed directly to the beach, but instead the bus dropped us off literally at the very top of Positano and we had to climb our way down. Once we finally got down to the beach, we had about an hour to relax and do whatever we wished before the boat tour started. We decided just to lay out on the beach for a while, but apparently the locals had different plans for us by putting on a show. We were seated right next to a woman who was um, eccentric? She was laying on her towel and she sat up, opened her legs, and took a razor out of her bag. This woman actually started shaving her bikini line WHILE we were on the beach. I understand that Europeans are very comfortable and chill, but REALLY?! So after we marveled over that incident for the next hour, we got on a small boat to tour the island. While we were on the tour, we made a few stops. The first stop we made was so that we could go cliff jumping! If you really know me, you know that I physically cannot jump more than an inch off the ground, so jumping off a cliff was kind of out of the question. Alyssa and I just swam around in the gorgeous waters of the sea instead. Our second stop was to go cave swimming! The tides are usually too high to swim in the caves, but we were fortunate enough to go on a day where the sea was pretty calm. It was an AMAZING experience. However, through all my excitement I forgot that there might be things at the bottom of the cave like giant rocks for you to scrape your feet up against and freak out because you think it’s a sea creature. But once my freak out was donezo, I had an absolute blast.

Once we got back to the beach, Natalie and I decided to get lunch and do a little shopping. We got a panino (Sandwiches in Italy are called paniNO, paniNI is plural) and some fruit. We sat on the steps outside of the panini shop.. where the store owner would not leave us alone. He kept coming out and saying “Iz it ze best panino ever?!” and “You like ze strawberriez?!” There are only so many times you can ask a girl how she likes the strawberries.. thank you sir, but they taste the exact same as they did FIVE MINUTES AGO when you asked me. Sheeeesshh! We ended the day by doing a little shopping and laying out.

Sunday morning, we packed up our bags, left the hostel and headed for Pompeii. I have honestly wanted to go to Pompeii since I was about seven and we learned about it in elementary school, so needless to say I was pumped. We drove on the edge of a cliff (my worst fear, but I got used to it!) for about an hour until we arrived at the ruins of Pompeii. It was spectacular. Pompeii was buried under the ash and lava of Mount Vesuvius when it erupted in 79 AD. But really, we were seeing things from the year 79, it just blows my mind! The craziest thing though is when we saw actual bodies that had been recovered from the ash. A lot of the bodies were frozen covering their faces or trying to protect themselves from the eruption. It was an amazing thing to witness.

Now I know I complained about the men in Positano, but the men of Pompeii put them to SHAME! I was ready to kick the men of Pompeii in the shins. There was one particular street vendor who was probably my age, who refused to refrain from talking to me every time I passed by. He started out normal (normal for Europe) yelling out things like “Ciao Bella, you are so pretty, nice American!”- and then he crossed the line. I walked by one final time and he-I am not kidding- said these exact words: “You are so small and cute, I LOVE LITTLE GIRLS.” Oh okay, thanks for letting me know. That was really attractive, and not creepy whatsoever. Eventually, my friend Matt just walked next to me like security, and since Matt is way more fit than this guy, he finally shut his mouth.

After a quick lunch, we left Pompeii to head back to Florence. The seven hour bus ride was less than desirable, but I was still on my high from the weekend that I didn’t even mind. I can’t say it enough, but it may have been the greatest three days of my life to date.

Random facts about Italia

Since I’ve been in Italy, I’ve learned that it is much different from America, so I thought I would share some crazy differences and facts about this incredible country!

-In Italy, you don’t drink milk past noon. It’s just not acceptable here!                          

-The men here aren’t afraid to be feminine. They hug all the time and kiss on both cheeks always. They drink out of small teacups more gracefully than most women I know, dress in clothing that is more fitted, and they will dance on their own with their guy friends.

-You can’t really just go up to someone in Italy and start talking to them. It’s usually only acceptable when you meet someone through a mutual friend. For instance, we had a friend Fabrizio who only spoke Italian. We were on the phone with him but we couldn’t understand what he was saying, so we gave the phone to our friend Marco is fluent. Fabrizio got mad that we had him talk to someone he did not know or had not been introduced to before. Therefore, Fabrizio is not our friend anymore. Whoops.

-When you order a pizza at dinner, it’s all for you. You don’t share or take home leftovers. It’s like getting a WAY better hot and ready pizza and eating the whole thing by yourself. Again, I’m in heaven.

-What Americans think is rude, Italians think is normal. When you brush up against someone, you don’t say sorry or excuse me here, you just keep going. You also don’t smile at people when you make eye contact. The other person will think you’re creepy and up to something suspicious.

-There are not separate men and women’s bathroom in most public places. There are various rooms inside the bathroom with a toilet, sink, etc. Men and women share the same bathroom.

- Hardly any Italian women wear high heels. They’re smart enough to know it’s impossible to walk in them on the cobble stone- The American’s aren’t that smart. I see dozens stumble on the sidewalks everyday.

-The men here can be very aggressive. They will yell to you on the street or even follow you. It seems scary, but as long as you are unresponsive they’ll give up and leave you alone. 

-Even the “fast food” here is fresh and cooked to order. There is never salt in the bread, and everything is always fresh.

-People are constantly on the streets trying to sell you illegal sunglasses, jewelry, paintings etc. They get the freak OUT of the area when a cop shows up.

-In Florence at all times, tourists out number the residents. I’m a tourist (although I would like to call myself a student/temporary resident) and even I get annoyed everyday of all of the people.

-Most Florence natives can speak decent english, and they are extremely friendly to students. Everyone has been really nice to me so far!

-Florence is one of the most photographed cities in Europe, and for good reason. It has the most beautiful sights I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Viareggio

Sunday was an absolute fabulous day. Myself and “the group” (about 9 of us that are in love and hang out regularly) boarded a train with our school to Viareggio beach! It’s a beautiful beach about an hour and half outside of Florence. When we got to Viareggio, we walked down to the beach and once we got there, we all felt like royalty. The school had reserved an area with chairs and umbrellas for us, the whole situation was just so glamorous, the people, the beach, just everything was fab. It was a picture perfect day, not a cloud in the sky. We laid around all day listening to music, eating lunch and frolicking in the sea and along the beach. SIDENOTE: If you’re ever at the beach in Italy, don’t try to be all cute and beachy with your friends and order margaritas. In Italy, margaritas are literally a cup of tequila with a lemon. Not happening. The Italian sun did me GOOD, considering I came back way darker than I went! After a few hours, we all had to walk back to the train station and board the train to go back to Florence.

HOWEVER, we quickly learned that a train strike was taking place. We were on the train for about a half hour when it stopped, the conductor got off and decided to start his part of the strike when we were still an hour from home. So we all had to get off the train and sit in the station for a while. We eventually went and got dinner and gelato once we found out the next train wouldn’t be operating for another three hours. So three hours later, we got on another train back to Florence. About halfway through the ride, only the car we were in lost power. We sat in the complete dark while potential gypsies roamed around the aisles. I wasn’t even worried about the gypsies, I was more scared that Dementors were going to board the train and kiss me. It was straight up Harry Potter. I was just waiting for the windows to freeze over.

We finally got home around midnight and we all passed out. Regardless of the train mishap, it was an amazing day with my new amazing friends! Just like every other day here, I’ll never forget it!

Pisa

Ciao! It’s been a crazy, fabulous and wonderful weekend. I love Italy more each day! There’s a lot to update you all on, so I’ll separate them into a few different posts so you’re not reading a novel.

SO. On Friday, all of my roommates left me (RUDE-just kidding!) for various weekend trips. Since I didn’t want to spend the night alone in my big beautiful apartment, my amici Matt and Marco let me stay at their place. For dinner, we did this amazing Italian tradition called “Aperitivo.” It’s kind of like American happy hour, but so much better. Between 7-9 pm, you buy a drink for about 5-8 euro, and then the food is all you can eat! And it’s not some wimpy sad buffet, it’s full on incredible Italian cuisine, multiple pastas, salads, breads, vegetables, fruits, rice, etc. It’s a fantastic way to get a good meal and save money!

So after Aperitivo, we wandered around on the other side of the river. On the other side of the river, it’s less touristy and there’s more Italian locals and natives. I’ll add some pictures, but the views are incredible at night. All of the scenery looks like a painting. We got the best gelato I’ve ever had and we sat around by the river and enjoyed our surroundings!

On Saturday morning, we took a train to PISA! Once we were there, we booked it to the leaning tower of Pisa. I thought it was going to be really old looking and small, I was SO wrong! The tower is HUGE and it’s so surreal. It seriously looks like it was built yesterday. It’s been so well preserved that it still looks perfect (except for the whole leaning part). It was incredible! Of course, I took all of those tourist pictures of me pushing the tower over, holding it up, resting on it, kicking it down, etc. What’er. I looked super lame but it was so much fun! The best part though, was when we got lunch and had a picnic right under the tower. It was honestly magical, being able just to have a meal under one of the worlds most beautiful and famous structures. MY LIFE IS NOT REAL.

At the end of the day, we took the train back home and made a home cooked meal and just relaxed after our crazy day! And of course, we got gelato before we went to bed. I have to have it everyday. It would be disrespectful to this country if I didn’t.

Vedi che non vorresti essere tu! (I’m learning some really educational phrases in this country) 

vivere la vita

Ciao! I’ve now been in Florence for six days, and each day feels like the greatest day of my life! I haven’t really blogged all week, so this entry might take a while!

On Tuesday, I ended up just laying in my bed most of the day, I was REALLY sick and I couldn’t stop vomiting so, i barely left the apartment! However, I did end up going out for about an hour to go shopping with Marco and Lauren. Italian shops here are to DIE for.

On Wednesday, I was feeling completely better. After class, my roommates and I mostly just traveled around the city. There is always something to see here, and we’re always getting lost and finding different amazing parts of Florence. Later that night, we met up with our friends Matt, Marco, Alyssa and Katie at the Duomo. The Duomo (dome) is the most incredible thing at night. I can’t get enough of it! So once we were all together, we went to this small bar and just sat around and talked for a while. From there, we went to “Twice”, an Italian dance club. It was an absolute blast, and nothing like an American club. In Italian clubs, not everyone has to be all up on each other every second. The guys here actually dance on their own, and aren’t just there in hopes to have some girl dance with them. It just seems like everyone has more fun here.

Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day. After class, Natalie (one of my roommates) and I went and just got lost in the city. We had to go to “Ganzo” to pick up our food vouchers we get from the school. Ganzo (means “cool” in Italian) is like the schools restuarant/cafeteria. It is NOTHING like a cafeteria though. It’s a gorgeous restaurant with AH-mazing food. I’ll never be able to eat at Central’s cafeterias again now that I’ve experienced Ganzo. After that, we went back to the school to sign up for a trip to Viareggio on sunday. Viareggio is a famous and beautiful Italian beach- I can’t wait to go! Hoping it’s not a nude beach…

Last night, Marco, Sam (my roommate) and I  just went to a cafe across from our apartment to hang out and talk. We ended up running into a few guys we had met earlier this week from New York City! We all decided to go into the city together and see what was going on. We had an absolutely fabulous time laughing and getting to know each other. Everyone eventually came back to our apartment and we all just sat on the balcony and enjoyed the view. There’s nothing like it, I still can’t believe this is even my life right now.

This morning, Kevin (NYC friend) and I walked to the Ferragamo museum for a class field trip, only to find out it was closed! We decided to go to some shops and eventually have lunch at Ganzo. I actually found an ORIGINAL poster of Audrey Hepburns film “Roman Holiday” for TWO EURO! Needless to say I was estatic.

I’ll be taking it easy tonight since Marco, Matt and myself will be getting on the train tomorrow morning to go to Pisa! You know I’m about to take all of those tourist pictures and the leaning tower. No shame.

ALSO, for those of you that have asked, we’ve seen the Jersey Shore cast three times since we’ve been here! Florence is a small city, so it’s hard not to see those spray tans from a mile away. We also found out that they live and work just down the street from our apartment. They work at a pizza place, and I would really like to be able to say that Snooki made me a pizza. Don’t act like you wouldn’t people.

Sorry that was so excessively long, I just didn’t want to leave anything out! Ciao for now bellas.