EUROtrip Finale, Part 1

So, I am writing this on my train to Paris, which is currently delayed at least an hour (go figure). Jenna and I have just left Ventimiglia where we spent 3 nights. And of course, not everything went smoothly. Can’t say I’m not happy to be going home soon. Traveling is stressful. Anyways, so we decide to take a 3:00 pm train to Ventimiglia since we wanted to spend a few extra hours in Firenze before we left. We returned our phones and my internet key; I went to the school to use the internet and take care of some things before we left, and Jenna went to San Lorenzo market to buy a new purse (since hers just broke that morning). However, we didn’t have cell phones anymore….. AND we were splitting up. First sign of failure. We said we would meet at a certain place at a certain time, but when I got there (a couple minutes late) I couldn’t find her. This was after I ran all the way from Anna’s apartment to the Duomo. I then ran most of the way home because when I went home before to drop off all my stuff, I found Anna waiting for Jenna and I in the kitchen with a freshly homemade pizza. I felt so bad that I didn’t know and she had the table set and everything, that I ran all the way back to spend my last half hour in Florence with her. Sadly, she already ate, but we sat together and talked before we had to say our final goodbyes L. It was terrible. We hugged and kissed her goodbye, and in my franticness of leaving I couldn’t form words in Italian and then as we were pulling away in the taxi Jenna and I both started crying. I started laughing while crying because it was ridiculous how hysterical we were getting. So that was somewhat amusing, yet horribly sad. I really miss her. It sucks. Mia mamma italiana L

So after we pull ourselves together in the cab, and pay the ridiculous fare, we make our way with our 50 pound bags each (at least) and my extra one since I didn’t send anything home, to the ticket booth. We find that there is a train going through Pisa that leaves earlier than the one we were originally planning on taking, and MUCH cheaper. We quickly buy the tickets for it and rush to the train, and when I mean rush, I mean go as fast as we can while lugging all those bags. Needless to say, we JUST missed the train. Go figure. So, I run to the ticket line, cut the entire line, an exchange our tickets to buy the tickets we had originally planned on buying, that was leaving in 20 minutes. Oh, and did I mention they were 60 euro more? Yeah, not happy. But, it was either that or wait to get in around 1:00 am in Ventimiglia, so oh well.
On our train, we’re sitting in Harry Potter type cars where you can close the doors and have a whole compartment. Jenna and I sat with this cute old couple, and then this younger guy comes in. We weren’t sure what he was, but it soon became obvious that he was from Tunisia. We were not happy. He had a ton of friends on the train who were staring at us and we couldn’t understand anything they were saying. Anna had warned us that Tunisians were going to Ventimiglia because it was the last major town before France, and the French were not letting them into the country, even though they were trying. Also, he pulled out a cigarette in the car and was about to light up when I asked him in Italian if that is what he was doing. He offered me one, I said no, and then I said I don’t like, please don’t do that in here. We were astounded!!

Anyways, we finally got off the train and were greeted by the person we were staying with. She walked us back to where she lives and showed us our room. It was amazing. It was a double bed, with wifi, free coffee and breakfast, close to the ocean, and CHEAP! She asked us if we ate dinner, and then offered us some of what they were having. It was sticky rice with seaweed and turkey and some other things. It was so good! And so nice not to have Italian food for once. Her bed was comfortable and we passsseeeeddddd out.

The next day was Friday and Jenna and I walked around the town a bit and found a HUGE market. There was a food market and an items market. It was really nice, but we didn’t buy anything. Then, we went back to the house and she walked us to the old part of Ventimiglia. It was very nice, but then we had to rush back because Homer, the woman’s son, offered to take us to the next town over to hang with him and his friends. So, we walked over, talked a bit—apparently he used to live in New York and play near Union Square. Jenna and I both thought we had seen him before, but obviously we don’t know for sure. We stayed there for a bit, he skated and we “helped” him think of some lyrics in English for his friend’s song, and then took a bus back. Finding dinner that night was hard. We wanted to eat around 7:30, but apparently people don’t eat until around 9:00 pm there. So, we ate at a restaurant where we were the only ones in there, and as we left, the owner gave us each a rose. So nice J Later that night when we were trying to watch some How I Met Your Mother in bed, she kept on knocking on our door and coming in. At first it was nice because she offered to let us use their living room with an actual tv so we wouldn’t have to see the sexual ads on the side of the webpage, but then she came back and told us to watch this dvd of hers. We said okay, thanked her, and then resumed watching our show. She then came back again to check if we were watching it. It was incredible! Jenna and I think she was on something. Either way, we ended up watching a bit of it the next night, but it was still weird.

Saturday, we got up late, and then went to the market to get stuff for dinner, since the woman was going to teach us how to shop and cook (she was a chef and had owned a restaurant in DC) We bought anchovies (apparently their specialty in Ventimiglia is fried anchovies) zucchini, peas, some type of beans, a tomato, and a melon. Then we tried to find a beach to sit at and read, but it was too windy, so we found a park instead. We went back to the market, bought some stuff for lunch, went to the supermarket to each buy a beer (I got the one that I drank with my pizza in Naples), and then headed to the park. It TOO was crowded with people from Tunisia! It was insane. So, after a while we headed back to our room, read some more and watched some tv on our computers. Then, the woman taught us how to cook our dinner,.I tried friend anchovies for the first time—verdit: it was good (with the lemon) but the crunchiness and the fact I was eating it whole (with the bones) just freaked me out. So, I had to stop. The vegetables were really good though. We ended up having the melon a bit later for dessert while watching the movie she gave to us.

Sunday, everything was pretty much closed. Jenna and I actually wanted to do something, so we decided to go to Montecarlo since Anna had told us it was one of her favorite places and it was about a half hour train ride to get there. So, we made our way there and headed to the casino. It was GORGEOUS. There was a garden right before it with fountains and it was just a site. It was 10 euro to get into the gambling part of the Montecarlo, so we walked around the Paris casino for free. We got Anna a postcard (we promised we would write her :P) and then walked around the area a bit more. While we were deciding whether we wanted to gamble a bit or not, we walked around the rest of the area and saw the great view of the marina right by the casino. We even walked into the hotel right by the casino, which was also gorgeous. Of course, everything inside was BEYOND expensive. So, we went back to the casino to maybe get a drink, but they were about 19 euro each, so we decided to get cheaper gelato instead. Still expensive, but it was the money I would have spent on betting, so it all worked out.

After that, we walked along the boardwalk and spent some time on the beach. We then walked into another hotel where we found a GIANT chess set and played a couple matched. It reminded me of the chess set from Harry Potter, just smaller. It was awesome :D (I also won 3 times J). Then we found a place for dinner, got 4 cheese pizzas (with blue cheese and gorgonzola on it!) and headed back to Ventimiglia. Oh, and we missed that train by less than a minute too, so we had to wait half an hour for the next one. Not a tragedy, just annoying as hell.

Now we are on our way to Paris to spend 3 nights and get a second shot at seeing all the sights and the gardens of Versailles, since we failed epically last time. Hopefully, for my third time in Versailles I will be able to see the gardens in bloom finally!! :D

More later!

Guys, that tower is LEANING

So although I had been to Pisa at least a half dozen times before, I had never made it out of the train station or the airport. On the Sunday before Jenna and I left Florence, we decided to ACTUALLY go to Pisa and see the tower. So, we get there and first off have no idea where to go. We look at the sign and place where it says where you are, and the place where the tower is, are torn off, of course. We figure out that the missing spot is where we need to go, and head in that direction. I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the Tower of Pisa. I expected it to be a bit bigger, or a bit more leaning I guess. There really wasn’t much of a field to take your picture in either. I had been thinking of the poses I wanted to do on the way there and I had a few in mind. I wanted to jump on it, kick it, punch it, hold it up on my back, and maybe a few others. I ended up pushing it down (had to), punching it, and kicking it. The ones of me holding it up and punching it came out the best.
After taking our pictures, we realized we were starving to the point of getting dizzy, and made our way to this cute little sandwich place that we found on a side street. We ate our sandwiches, walked around some more, and eventually found a nice gelato place with a huge line outside. We have come to the conclusion that whenever you see a line outside of a place, it usually means that it us good—and boy were we right. This place was REALLY good. I was in the mood for fruit, so I got passionfruit and lemon and Jenna got hazelnut (I think?) and some other flavor I cant remember. While we were eating, this guy came up to us, wished us a Happy Easter, and then proceeded to tie this string bracelet on my wrist while reciting something. He did the same to Jenna, and then asked us for some money. I promptly took off the string and handed it back to him saying I had no money. After he left, about THREE other people came by and tried to do the same thing/sell us something. It was ridiculous! Eventually we just got up and left because they wouldn’t leave us along. We then made our way back to Florence for dinner.

Just a nice short cute trip ☺

Mount Vesuvius, don't you blow your top again!

This past weekend, I went with my Etruscans and Romans class to Pompeii, Herculaneum and Naples. Sadly, our professor couldn't go with us because he had a case of pneumonia/flu and got bit by a poisonous spider and therefore couldn't walk :(. Poor guy right?? So we we get to the train station around 7:30 am to catch our train to Naples. Before we start our 3 and a half hour train ride, I decide I should go to the bathroom. After being unable to find one in the train station ANYWHERE, I decide to go across the street to a bar. The guy behind the counter kindly lets me use it, but to my dismay, I discover not a toilet, but a squatter. And what I mean by that is a ceramic hole in the ground with a place for you to put your feet. Needless to say, that wasn't going to happen for me haha. I have NEVER seen that in my life before though! Boy do I miss american toilets haha.

Anyways, so we get to the Naples and head out to our bus, which was supposed to be called "Pleasure on Wheels", but to our disappointment, was not. We then are told that because there has been a hiccup with the scheduling, we will not be going to Boscoreale to visit the Villa Rustica and Museum. So, we head straight to Pompeii. Before we explore the ruins, we get lunch at a local pizzeria. Taylor, Liz, Jenna, Sam and I each share 4 pizzas and 2 salads. It was good, but too salty for me. I was dying for water for the next couple hours, especially since we were in Pompeii and there was dust blowing EVERYWHERE. Right before we were getting ready to go into the city, Jenna sees a place where we can get fresh squeezed blood orange juice. The guy offers to let her squeeze it herself, so of course she does. I decide to do the same. It was delicious! I LOVEEEE blood oranges :)

So, after lunch, we head into Pompeii where we stayed for 4-5 hours. WAY too long and I was dying of thirst the whole time, but it was very interesting. I saw a bunch of the preserved people and the dog that our professor had shown us in class prior to going. We also got to walk into a few houses and into 2 theaters. And of course, we went into the brothel and saw the pictures describing what type of sex act was performed in each room. Very amusing. Sadly, I did not see the penises on the ground (aka the first record of advertising), but I heard that a bunch of old ladies were seen crowded around it laughing, so they do exist! Then we finally were able to get some water and fuel since we were exhausted, before heading off to the Villa of Mysteries in the same place. It was cool. There were also dogs EVERYWHERE around there and this one dog kept following our group around. It was so cute!

After Pompeii, we got back on the bus and headed to Sorrento to check into our hotel. We somehow convinced the teachers that we should get a dinner on the school, since they mislead us in the itinerary, so we got 15 euro from the school for dinner. Erin and I got a price fix for 15 euros and we had a good meal. We went to Zi'Nntonio, which apparently has been in the Michelin Guide for a couple years in a row.

The next day, Sunday, we checked out of our hotel and headed to the Villa Oplontis, which is where Nero's wife Poppaea Sabina lived. We learned about the first, second, third, and fourth styles of paintings, which was pretty cool and walked around the area. There was a HUGE swimming pool that used to be there. It was maybe about twice the size of mine and apparently always had fresh water running into it and old water draining out. Very cool. After that we took what was supposed to be an hour bus ride, but ended up being 15 minutes long, to Herculaneum.

I really liked Herculaneum. I think it was a lot easier to take in than Pompeii, and although we didn't see any of the preserved people there, I still think i was pretty cool. We got to explore in the houses again, look at art, and even go into this cave where they used to bathe. Apparently, around like 3 pm, everything would stop in the town and everyone would just go out and bathe together. Can you imagine something like that in the US today?! Apparently they had a really good drainage and aqueduct system, which is what permitted them to maintain this setup.

After Herculaneum, we set off to go into the heart of Naples to have lunch. Michaela, Jenna, Erin, Will, Lilly, Lee, and I went to a pizzeria to try Naples' pizza. This was mine:

It was good, but a little too thin. I miss my NY pizza :( haha. After lunch, we headed over to Naples’ Archaeological Museum. We were a little short on time, so the TA Townsend gave us a quick tour of the first part of the museum we had missed, and then caught us up with the rest of the tour group. However, he was a HILARIOUS tour guide and I wish he could’ve given us a tour of the whole museum. He showed us a statue of Hercules and told us that you ALWAYS have to go around the back of a Greek statue, and this is why:

HAHAHAHA just look at the butt on that thing! :P After that, he showed us a statue of mother nature which had many breasts so she can feed the world:

His comment for this was that a lot of motorboating! HAHAHA. Then, he showed us a statue of Zeus and a pretty boy Zeus fancied. The myth behind this is that Zeus transformed himself into an eagle to come down and seduce the boy. He then took the boy back up to Mount Olympus to serve the G-ds.

Before Townsend showed us this statue he said, “Are you guys ready for some gender-bending fun?!” HAHAHA.. so much better than the rest of the tour.

Once we got back to the rest of the tour, we saw a few more sculptures such as Athena, Hermes, Cupid, and some others, and then looked at some paintings. I saw one that really interested me. It is the painting of Cerberus, the 3 headed dog, and the person who played the lyre in order to sedate the creature. Harry Potter reference anyone? Haha. Also, while we were in the museum, Michaela kicked my butt and I thought it was Jenna, so I kicked hers back, and of course we laughed over this. BUT, the guard didn’t seem to like this, so he SHHHHHHH’d really loud in our faces and then followed us around for the rest of the time. :shakes head::: Oh well. After the museum, we got back on the bus and headed to the train station. It was then that we got to see all the trash that Naples is famous for. JEEZ was it dirty!!

Now it is the last week of classes. Anna, Vicky, Jenna and I made a video this Monday for our mythology class called “Olympus Shore”. It is a combination of the Jersey Shore and ancient mythology. It is HILARIOUS. I’ll link the youtube link here once we post it. Should be good though :) And hopefully tonight I’m headed to an MTV concert in Santa Croce and going out to celebrate Liz’s birthday. Should be fun!

Ciao!

Good Week :)

So this past week, Jenna’s parents were here. Monday night, they came over for dinner and Anna put on a show as usual. It was okay, because we got AMAZING food and my favorite cake again! (the same one that she made when my mom came over for dinner) I also tried the tiniest bite of prosciutto, which I didn’t really like too much. Anna randomly started speaking random words of English and we joked around saying that she has known English all along and just pretends not to know any. Even tonight, she said a few new words in English. I think one day she is just going to start speaking fluent English haha.

On Tuesday after class, I met up with Marsha to return my leather coat that didn’t really fit too well/ wasn’t really good quality. I ended up finding a dark brown one with a slanted zipper that I’m absolutely obsessed with! Marsha even got a coat herself that is somewhat similar after the guy sufficiently flirted with her. He kept on wanting kisses from her, kissed her on the lips 3 times and tried holding her hand. SO CREEPY. She got a good price though, and I didn’t have to pay anything extra! J

On Wednesday, for my Italian class, they had a bunch of Italian high school students come to chat with us. Joe and I talked to them for about an hour. It was a lot of fun. They also made sure to tell me that they were not like the people on Jersey Shore, ha! After, Jenna and I booked more of our trip for after school! :D We booked Ventimiglia from April 28^th to May 2^nd in this person’s apartment. We are going to relax by the beach, maybe hop over to France for dinner J (since it is the last city in Italy before France and therefore very close to the border).

Later that night, Jenna’s parents took all of us, including Anna, out to dinner. We went to La Gostra, which had a really nice atmosphere and decent food. Jenna had cheese and pear ravioli, which was interesting and I had gnocchi with ricotta and spinach. For dessert, we ate the tiramisu that Jenna made in class. It was SO good! After dessert while Jenna was packing to go stay with them, Jenna’s mom French braided my hair J It was funny because Anna was fascinated by it and wanted to learn so she could do it to her granddaughter’s hair.

Thursday was a GORGEOUS day. After barely doing anything in class (we watched Troy in mythology), I worked on an internship application while sitting outside in the gorgeous weather. It was so warm and since there was not a cloud in the sky, I actually tanned haha. I currently have a pretty funny watch tan line (since I wear my watch all the time). I wanna draw the numbers on there so if anyone asks me what time it is I can just pull out my arm and be like THIS time hahah

Friday, I got up early to meet up with Jenna and her parents in a small town side outside of Siena. I think it is called Poggibonsi. We then drove around the area looking for local vineyards and did a little wine and olive oil tasting J I think we went to a total of 3 places. After, Jenna and I played in a little playground and became 5 years old again while we were waiting for her friends from home (Ellen) to come in on her train from Rome. We ate lemon ice popsicles while on the seesaw, swung on the swings and went on those animals on the springs, which make you feel like they’re going to throw you off!

Saturday, I got up early AGAIN to catch a bus with my school to go to Siena and San Gimignano. We went into Palazzo Pubblico (where I got these really cute moon and star earrings that are TOTALLY me :P) and then into the Cathedral. Their Duomo looks a lot less impressive from the outside, but so much better than Florence’s Duomo on the inside! It was decorated all over with stripes, stars, lots of gold and colors. We went into the Piccolomini library, which was in the church and saw these big books that I think were hand painted and absolutely gorgeous! We also saw the Piccolomini altar done by Michelangelo. Apparently he was a douchebag about it and was commissioned to do like 15 sculptures and signed a contract that he wouldn’t work on another project while doing that one. Then he pretty much immediately started working on The David instead haha. He kept on putting off this project and would not return the money. He eventually did the sculptures but I think did about 8 instead of the 15, and they didn’t get the money back that Michelangelo owed until after he died. What a fail.

After Siena, we got back on the bus and headed over to San Gimignano. I did not feel like going into another church, so I went with Jenna, her mom, and Ellen to this really good gelato place. I got passion fruit, blood orange, and rosemary baby (raspberry and rosemary). It was AMAZING. It was also refreshing considering it was scorching hot outside and we needed something to cool us down. After we just explored the shops around the area (Jenna and Ellen took pictures of them posing with guns) until it was time to get back on the bus. Jenna and Ellen came back with us because IT WAS JENNA’S 21^ST BIRTHDAYYY!! WOOO!! We freshened up and then headed out for apertivo. It was 8.50 euros for a drink and all you can eat buffet! I told the bartender that it was her birthday and he poured us 4 free shots. One for him, one for me, one for Jenna, and one for the random guy standing next to us (that I’m assuming he thought we were with haha). Jenna’s first drink of being legal to drink was a Cosmopolitan, which she liked (and had never had before). After, we headed over to Shots café and met up with a lot of people. While we were there, I got hit on this guy who I like to call the leprechaun, not because he was short, but because he had the beard and face that made him look like one haha. He was so creepy; he came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and was like “Do you like my friend? He’s very nice. OR do you like my other friend?” My response: (points at Jenna) It’s her birthday!” hahaha. So this guy then starts taking pictures with us and asks to buy us another pitcher of what we were drinking. When he comes back, we realize that was a bad idea and say we don’t want one anymore. Some more time goes by and this guy is still by us and I’m talking to some other people and he has another one of his friends come up to me and he says to me “Lui te piace” which means: he likes you. My response: I have a boyfriend. Hahaha. He would NOT leave me alone! When I tried getting away from him at one point, my friend Sarah was like I’m going to go out for a smoke, and I was like I’ll go join you, and he calls us out on this trying to ditch him! Ridiculous! Anyways, we eventually left and went to this other bar for a couple of minutes. Then we went to this club, which was pretty awesome. Then we chilled in the streets for a little bit before we split up. A bunch of people went to go get falafel, while Jenna, Michaela, Tori and I went to some club with Michaela’s two guy friends. It was 8 euro to get in so we bailed and met up with the people who went to go get food and then went home.

The next morning, we were supposed to go on a bike tour in Chianti for Jenna’s birthday, but we canceled the night before because we would’ve had to have been there at 9:30 am…. and that just wasn’t going to happen haha. So, instead we slept until about 12ish and then went to go to the American Diner for the first time J. I got fresh squeeze blood orange juice (delicious!) and a bagel with cream cheese and lox. SOOO GOOODDDDD J We just walked around, went into a department store (got really cute teal earrings), I got ice coffee to go (yay American day!) and just chilled for the rest of the day. It was nice not having to run around Europe this weekend J

Next weekend we’re going to Naples, Pompeii and I think one other city for our Etruscan and Roman’s class. Should be fun! J

Take The Gun, Leave The Cannoli

Early friday morning, we woke up around 3 am to catch a bus at the school to Pisa. We were told we were going to have about 10 minutes to get to our gate because RyanAir changed not only the destination of our flight, but made it 30 minutes earlier. So, an hour later, after we make a deal with RyanAir to make sure we got on our flight, we find its 3 hours delayed. -____- I guess it all worked out for the better since we made the flight and got free sanwiches and drinks out of it. Since we were over 2 hours delayed, I remembered a clause they have that you will be compensated for it. So, we each got $5 (limited) vouchers to to use at the bar, about 5 minutes before we left. Oh well.

So, we arrive at Palermo and everything is gorgeous. Since we lost 3 hours, we cut out visiting the Palatine Chapel in Palermo and head straight for Erice. The one thing we discovered about Sicily is that it is HUGE. It is at least a couple hours on our bus to get anywhere we needed to go. So, after winding up a very large mountain, we get to Erice around 12ish. Our professor explains how there is a great tower there because it is the center of a huge physics research center (Dan I thought of you haha). Then we went into the center to find lunch. Most of the people went to this sort of touristy looking place in the center of a square, but Jenna, a couple other people and I went to this small little place a couple of feet back and got grilled vegetables and my first sicilian cannoli!!

(yum!)

Then we visited the Castle of Erice. There was SO much fog, at times you couldn't see anything! Our professor explained a couple of funny facts about the castle: there were holes in front of the entrance that were used when they would be defending the castle. Either they would defecate on you, or they would pour boiling lead (I think it was lead) on top of you. Also, towards the back, they had little areas where you can sit and below there was a gated hole. The soldiers would poop there and have it land on anyone trying to invade them. Again, very funny.

(the "stall")

After Erice, we got back on the bus and headed to Segesta. There we saw the Tempio di Segesta, which apparently was one group of Sicilian's ways of trying to appease the Greeks by making a temple in their style, so that when they would take over Sicily they would be pleased by it. However, the Greeks were defeated and never got there, so the temple remains unfinished. It is however in AMAZING condition! Then we took a small hike up to the Teatro di Segesta which was pretty cool. There were huge steps all around the stage and behind the stage was an amazing view of the mountains. The acoustics were really great there too. A couple people joked around on the stage and we tried singing Harry Potter Puppet pals.

We then got back on the bus and headed to Corleone to go to our hotel. The hotel we stayed at, Hotel Belvedere, is apparently where the cast to the Godfather stayed while they were filming in Sicily! There were some pictures of them being there on the wall and everything. After settling in, we headed up around the corner to get our dinner and meet the farmers of the co-operative that we would be working with tomorrow. They didn't speak ANY english, but it was okay because Liz spoke pretty much fluent Italian. They then tried to teach us some Sicilian, but it was pretty hard. This dinner had unlimited wine and a lot of courses with a DELICIOUS birthday cake for somebody at the end. The rest of the food was okay; one of them was like fried chicken with fries. Either way, we went to bed stuffed.

The next morning we got up early because we were going to work on the field! We drive about an hour and a half to two hours to get there, and end up on a random field in the middle of no where. We were told we were going to be "zapping", which is basically just turning up the dirt around the grape vines that were sprouting up through the soil.

While we were doing that, one of the girls was riding with one of the farmers on a tractor. All of a sudden, we hear her calling for the professor saying it was an emergency and holding her hand. We all think she has a cut, but later on we find out that apparently the tip of her index finger got cut off. Thankfully, they found it and reattached it in surgery at the hospital, but it was very scary for awhile.

After we worked for a bit more on the field and got our share of sunburns, we had lunch in the middle of the road. We got HUGE sandwiches, some fruit and some snacks and had to fend off the flies and ants while we ate them haha. Then we headed back to the hotel to wait for the girl to come back from the hospital and while we did we washed up from working on the field. Then when she came back, we took a hike to Castello Soprano, which was WAYY up on the top of a cliff.

Then we got back on the bus and headed to Portella della Ginestra to talk to survivors of the May '47 massacre. The Mafia had hired a man to kill the people gathered at this place on a hillside (like they did every May 1st) because they were trying to work on the lands that had been confiscated from the Mafia. A bunch of people ran away, but 11 were killed and 26 people (I think, or around that number) were injured. There were rocks with messages about the massacre written on them and also the rock where the speaker at the event who was standing on a boulder was shot down.

After listening to the stories of the survivors and shaking hands hands with them, we made our way to the farmers' co-operative in the city to have dinner. On the way there on the bus, we saw the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. It was so colorful and it was through the mountains. I wish I got a picture of it, but with the bus moving fast, me being on the wrong side of the bus, and trying to get it through the windows- it just didn't work. Finally, we get to the co-operative as we are all very scared. One of our professors had told us that there was going to be more food than the previous night and it was rude to not eat it all. It ended up not being like that, but we were very full by the end of it.

(this was the loaf of bread they had waiting for us when we got there!)

The next morning, we got up and got ready to go, but had to wait around the hotel a bit because the girl who had surgery and another girl who got the stomach flu went to the hospital. So, we passed the time by playing Ninja and card games :) While we were waiting for them, we also walked around and went to an old Monastery that had gorgeous garden that overlooked a view of a waterfall. Then we headed back to the hotel, got on the bus, and headed to Monreale. We had to cut out Martorana and San Cataldo from our trip because of the 3 hours we lost waiting around. However, Monreale was more than gorgeous to make up for it. We first got lunch, and then headed into the Cathedral Facade. It is apparently lined everywhere with gold. Then, a bunch of us got cannolis (our last :( - but delicious!) and headed back on the bus. Next up was Castello della Zisa, which apparently was an old party house where the Normans had a lot of orgies and figured out how to have natural air conditioning. Basically, it was an ancient frat house haha.

After that, we went where we all had been waiting for: the beach! We got there and it was gorgeous and had smooth sand! (not that rocky stuff like we've been seeing in other places)

I even put my feet in the water! (only for a couple minutes, then I started to feel a reaction so I took them out) But it was so refreshing. Jenna and I got gelato and had a bunch of people stare hardcore at us as we waiting to get it. Apparently, according to our professor, Sicilians love americans. I'm not so sure, but we did have these two guys listening to us and eventually they asked if we were english, to which I replied no, we're american haha.

Anyways, after that we headed to the airport and had our long journey back to Florence. We ended up getting in around 1 pm to our apartment, exhausted as hell.

Very enjoyable weekend, minus the mishaps. Sicily is truly unlike anything I have ever seen. Also, got a lot of thinking done on all of that time on the bus :P

Time to head into il centro (aka the Duomo area) to meet up with Marsha... ciao!

Luck O' The Irish!

So, this past weekend (March 24-27) Jenna, Marsha, Casey and I made our way to Dublin. Our flight was at 7 am on Thursday from Pisa (don't ask why we did that), which meant that no trains were running at that time. This means, we had to find a bus, which we did...... but it left at 3:35 in the morning. THIS meant, I woke up at 2 am to leave at 3, to catch a taxi to the train station to catch the bus. To my surprise, it was a full bus, and a lot of people went there without tickets just hoping to get on. Ballsy if I do say so myself. Bus ride was about an hour and plane ride was about 2.5 hours. So, with the hour time different, this got us into Dublin around 8:30. (By the way, most PAINFUL flight I have ever been on. And by that I mean I was in LITERAL pain. I don't know what they DON'T do properly, but with the change in pressure, I got like shooting pains and so did some of my friends- just ridiculous!) When we got to the hostel, we found out that check in time was at 3 pm. This means we could not take our much needed naps like we so desperately wanted to. So instead, we locked up our stuff and went to go find nourishment.

We happened upon a local diner and had traditional Irish breakfasts. And by we, I mean Jenna and Marsha haha; Casey and I just had eggs and toast. After we scarfed down our food and coffee, we decided to go exploring. We, after a bit of confusion, figured out how to read our map and found a cute little park. There were a bunch of little kids playing there with their faces all painted. The grass was wet and there were no benches, so we sat on these benches outside of the park and figured out our next move. We decided to go along one of the main streets to go find this area called Temple Bar that supposedly had cute little shops and markets all around it. On our way there, we found ourselves on a cute little shopping street. We decided to go into this mall that was there and shop around a little bit. Nothing was really open (since it was still really early), but Casey and Marsha each got a pair of flats. We trudged along a bit more, got food here and there, just finding ways to make the time go by so we could go back to our hostel and pass out. Marsha and I sat by the river and talked while Jenna and Casey went across the river to Temple Bar to find food (Jenna got fish and chips).

Finally, 3 pm rolls around and we make our way back to the hostel. Unfortunately, we were in an 8 person MIXED room. Casey and I were not too pleased about this, but it didn't end up being too bad minus one awkward morning at the end (I'll get to that later). After our naps, we met our tour guide for the weekend (Angi!) who was taking us out to our introductory dinner. We went for a traditional Irish meal and I got beef and Guinness stew with mash (potatoes). We then all shared sticky toffee pudding (sounds weird but it was pretty good, and not a pudding haha) and a strawberry ruhbar (amazingggg). After dinner, we went to a nice pub called Cobblestone where locals come to play their instruments for fun with other locals. There were about 10-15 people playing when we got there, and we all got a drink. I got a pint of Bulmers Apple Cider (I love my cider :P), and everyone else got Bulmers minus Marsha who got a pint of an actual beer. We were all tired after, so we called it an early night.

Friday morning I wake up and decide I want to shower. Now, as I haven't written my spring break post yet (and probably will post this before I write that...) the St. Christopher's Hostels Jenna and I stayed at in Paris and Bruges had showers in which the water lasted for 20 seconds. I laughed at first, and it sucked, but 20 seconds was decent. At THIS hostel, they decide they either want to play a cruel joke on their guests, or they really don't have a lot of water. I'm going to go with the first one because it's hard to believe they can only give us 5 SECONDS of water at a time. The faucet in the sink lasted longer than that!!! (::mumbles angrily::) ANYWAYS, I somehow manage to actually take a shower (it was a miracle haha), and after our shitty (but free) breakfast, we all meet up with Angi.

First on the list was seeing a monument dedicated to the Irish potato famine, which was very moving (pictures currently being uploaded to facebook). Then we walked along one of the shopping streets Trinity College, which apparently is the best college in Dublin. Along the way, we saw posters saying it was Daffodil Day, and if you bought a daffodil it would be donated to the Irish Cancer Society. When we stopped at the statue of Molly Malone (aka the Tart with the Cart), Angi bought us each a daffodil :). We then made our way over to Trinity College, which houses the Book of Kells and apparently gorgeous rugby players, of which we sadly saw neither haha (Victoria I thought of you :P). After we made our way over to a GORGEOUS park called St. Stephens Green Park and admired the gorgeous flowers. I also saw another swan! We then saw 2 models doing a photoshoot on lottery balls and looking completely retarded ::smh:: We then bathed in the glorious (and apparently extremely rare) sun until it was time to find lunch. We got our lunch to go, while some others went to a famous fish and chips place and got that. On the side of the place they have a wall of fame of famous people who have eaten there. People are on it like Tom Cruise, Cher, Mr. and Mrs. Timberlake, U2 and other people I can't remember off the top of my head. We then took our food and ate it in St. Patrick's Park on a blanket. It was such a cute picnic! :)

After that, Angi had told us earlier that week she had found a crypt with some really cool dead bodies in it that she wanted to take us to. So, she did. It was actually decently cool. What really stood out is I saw the skeleton of a Crusader and "shook hands with him" (which means I rubbed his finger) for good luck. Skeved me out a little bit, but it was kind of cool. We also saw the area where 2 rebel brothers were buried after a brutal death of being hung, being taken down while still alive, being disemboweled, watched their own insides being burned, beheaded? and then quartered. Really quite disgusting.

After recovering a bit after that, we made our way over to the Guinness storehouse! It was so cool because the inner part of the factory was shaped like a pint glass! We walked all throughout seeing how it was made, had a little taste of it, and then made our way to the top to the gravity bar where we got a free pint.

Cheers!

From there, you were able to get a great view of all of Dublin :). Sadly, Jenna and I were incapable of finishing our Guinnesses (not my type of beer) and we made our way to the gift shop :P. Then it was time for dinner, so Angi took us to one of her favorite places. Being that she was a vegetarian, she took us to an AMAZING (and cheap!) vegetarian place called Cornucopia (if anyone is planning on going to Dublin and wants great food that's not fried and is super fresh, go there). I got a veggie burrito type thing with quinoa, mushrooms, squash and probably some other things in it. It was beyond delicious. After dinner, we went to a place where we could watch Irish step dancing for free (:D) and Angi bought us 2 pitchers of some local beer. The beer was okay, the dancing was awesome! Jenna, Angi and I went up there as volunteers and got to dance a bit :) We also had some weird drunk guy trying eavesdropping and trying to cut into our conversations/ make conversation with us, but Angi got him to go away after volunteering him to go dance hehe.

Saturday we woke up early because we had to catch a train to head out of the city! OUr first stop was Howth. When we got there it was FREEZING, and stupid me, I forgot my gloves and scarf :-\ But it was okay because Marsha kindly lent me her second scarf that she had with her. We first went to the beach and walked around a bit in the sand. Marsha and Angi put their feet into the water for a photoshoot type thing with the Snow or Sand poster. (Back story: Angi told us the first day that we had a mini competition during our time there She had a Snow or Sand sign and whoever took the best picture with it would win a prize at the end). While they were doing that, Jenna and I found the Lochness monster and took pictures of us running and jumping in the sand :)

After we were all good and cold, we went to the pier where we found some sea lions! There were 3 or 4 of them and they kept on looking at us with their puppy dog/ (sea lion?) eyes but we weren't allowed to feed them anymore :( After being sufficiently more cold, we went into their fair trade store and bought scones (i bought a chocolate chip one) and then headed up towards a cliff. Along the way, we passed a house painted ENTIRELY orange with blue on the edges. Syracuse pride much!? It was painful to look at haha We continued to make our way towards the cliff and it was a gorgeous view when we got there. I started singing Sound of Music and we all got it stuck in our heads haha. We didn't go all along the cliffs because Angi says it takes 2 hours and then we would not have been able to go to our second place afterwards. So we head down and go to a place for lunch. IT was a cozy place with very large chairs and a fireplace... with no fire. Most of us got sanwich and soup combos; mine was a chipotle sandwich with lettuce and cheese on brown bread and minestrone soup om nom nom.

After lunch, we got back on the train to head to Malahide. We walked through what Angi called the "Twilight Forest" and took some interesting pictures :P and then headed over to this castle that was only vacated in the 1970s. It was GORGEOUS! (see below)

And there were cherry trees which are my favoriteeeee :) So I was heaven. We then saw a couple getting married, and it was hilarious because the ride was legit about a foot taller than the groom and wasnt even wearing heels that were that high. And then, we went to the playground!! This place is epic! Did I mention we were all 5 years old? Haha it was great. We climbed a giant rope contraption, went down a giant slide and did a mini zip line!

We then walked around the town for a bit, got coffee, and headed home.

After freshening up a little bit, we headed out to get dinner. We went to this place that was essentially like Chipotle in the States. Then we went out on our own pub crawl :) (poor student style :P) We went to the Porterhouse, The Bank, Pub I forgot the name of, tried getting into The Church, but got denied because we were under 21(???? LOL I thought we were in Europe!), and then another one that I don't remember the name of either. At the Porterhouse we got a banana beer, which was surprisingly good! and then one of the beers that they make at the place. At The Bank we had Bulmers Berry Cider and Becks. At the other bar, we had a beer I dont remember, and another one I dont remember, i guess nothing too memorable. However, there was a guy who told Angi she had siren eyes and bought her a drink. He asked her, what brings you to Ireland? She replies, My husband. (hahahahahaha so perfect!) There then was a Swedish guy who approached Angi and wanted to accompany her to the bathroom cause he was too drunk and didn't think we'd talk to him when she left. So naturally, we all had to go to the bathroom, those who actually had to went, and then we all escaped. We got rejected from The Church because there was something going on downstairs or something and I guess they didn't want younger people in there at night (oh well). The last place was great! There were 2 people in there having a break-dancing off. They put coasters on the floor and did headstands on them among other things. It was great! And then, this really old creep guy was sketching on Marsha, and a really old man told Angi to have some Moonshine. We tried some beer and then Bulmer Pear Cider. The pear was really good and so was the other beer, but I don't remember the name of it. We decided to leave when we saw it was 1:30 (because of daylight savings time) and because Marsha's man was coming back from the bathroom.

The next morning, we wake up, and find 2 people in bed together. Back story: We had taken the 2 bunkbeds in the back of the room so we would all be together. We were assigned beds 1, 2, 3 and 4, but took beds 1, 2, 5 and 6. We figured we would just switch with whoever's beds we took instead. However, these people decided they would have none of that and threw Casey's and Jenna's stuff off of their beds and threw their suitcases all over it. They just ended up switching pillows and stuff, but the next morning we wake up to find the culprits in Jenna's original bed spooning. AWKWARDDDD. They seriously needed to get a room, their OWN room if they were going to be all couplely. Either way, we checked out and made the best of our last day.

We started off by going to the the jail where they held a bunch of the rebels during the rebellion. We learned about the history of the revolution, saw where they held the rebels and where they executed a bunch of them. Then, on a more positive note, we went to Queen of Tarts, which was an amazing bakery. Jenna and I split a piece of warm blackberry and apple pie, which was soooo good. :) However, before we ate that as our dessert, we had lunch at Cornucopia again! I got 2 salad things that were AMAZING. It was this bean sprout salad with lentils and other things in a lime cilantro dressing and chickpeas in a Mediterranean dressing. It was so good that I got some to go for dinner :) After that, we went shopping! When we got to the street with the shops, we saw a puppeteer making the puppet dance to The Time (Dirty Bit) by Black Eyed Peas. He was SOOO good and it was hilarious! Angi then brought us to this store called Penny's which has the CHEAPEST stuff ever! I got a belt for 1.5 euros! I also got this dress sort of thing for 14, which was normal, but everything there was so cheap!

Around 5, we headed back to the hostel to catch our bus to the airport so we wouldn't miss our flight (never again- damn you Ryanair). At the hostel, some guy comes up to us and asks us if we are from Florence. We say yes and he says that he thinks he sat behind us on the airplane and wanted to catch the bus with us to the airport because he was on the same flight with us again. We then make friends with him and we find out he's from Miami and is here through Florida State and speaks French, Italian, Spanish, and some other language I can't remember. He starts speaking french, italian and spanish to me all at once that I get so confused with my languages and literally cannot speak one sentence solely in one language. Talk about a mind fuck haha.

::phew:: that was a long post ! More on my other trips later :) Ciao!

I Hate You RyanAir; Madrid

So, this will be an interesting story. Madrid did NOT go as planned at all. We had it all planned out very nicely, we were going to get into Madrid around 10:30 pm and go out for St. Patrick's Day with Lisa (Jenna's and my apartmentmate for next year). However, this of course, did not work out. It starts with Thursday being the 150th anniversary of Italy's Unification, which of course is awesome. There were many festivities Wednesday night (which I sadly could not attend because I was starting to get sick with what would turn into laryngitis) and then no classes on Thursday because of the holiday. However, Thursday, March 17th, was also conveniently known as another holiday: St. Patrick's Day. So this weekend looked it was going to be one of the best ones ever. Oh, and did I mention that all the museums/ churches were free on Thursday as part of the celebration?

So, Thursday I wake up and get some errands done. Jenna and I planned on leaving around 330 to catch a bus to the train station to head over to Rome to catch our flight. I ended up not having enough time to head all the way out to Santa Croce, back, and then catch our bus, so I just relaxed until it was time. I then remembered that it was a holiday, which meant the buses were not running on regular schedule, but instead on holiday schedule. THANKFULLY (the one thing that did go right) there was a bus around when we wanted to leave anyways, so we just caught that one. We got to the train station, used our Eurail tickets one last time to get cheap train tickets to Rome, and hopped on a train that would get us to Rome with about an hour before our flight was to take off. We get to Rome and look for our train to the airport. Now, there's 2 airports in Rome: Fiumicino and Ciampino. We found the train to the Fiumicino and for whatever reason thought it would also bring us to Ciampino and hopped on. As we sat down, Jenna went to go ask if we were in 1st or 2nd class and if we were on the right train. She comes back, but couldn't find anyone to ask if we were on the right train, so we ask the people next to us, to which they reply: No.

So we quickly gather our things and run to the exit, the doors are shut, but we push the button to open the door. It doesn't open. About 5 seconds later the train starts moving. There is no way to get off now. So, we ask someone how long it takes to get to the train station: half an hour. That means half hour there, half our back. That would give us about 15 minutes before the gate closes for our flight, and 45 minutes before it leaves. However, I ask the conductor and he says the next train leaving for the Ciampino train station leaves at 7:30, which is 15 minutes before our flight leaves AND it takes 15 minutes to get there. A nice gentleman with his family on their way from the train station suggests that maybe the plane would be late. As we pull into the train station where the airport is, we see a RyanAir plane taxiing away from the airport. RyanAir planes ALWAYS taxi out either right at or right before their departure time, so we were pretty sure that was ours. We get out and find out that we have to take a bus/taxi to get to the actual airport, so I guess there was never really any chance of us making it anyways.

We get to the airport and find out we need to pay 100 euro to get a new flight, and thats the DISCOUNTED price for turning in our old boarding passes. Jenna and I talk it over and decide to pay for a new ticket and then head promptly to the bar to drown our sorrows and 'celebrate'. The bartender is nice enough to give us nice mixed drinks and we go promptly find a corner in the arrivals section and set up camp. WORST.SLEEP.EVER. I woke up around every hour and kept on tossing and turing because it was SO uncomfortable. Pretty sure I woke up and had some black and blue marks on me. Anyways, we got up around 4:30 am and headed over to the departure area for our 6:30 am flight.

We arrive at our hostel and take a shower and nap. We decide we want to get some food, so we get a quick espresso at a cafe and then head over to this great market in the center of the city. There I had my first sangria of the trip as well as a seafood croquet and some cheese and bread. Jenna and Lisa wanted some olives, and while we were eatting, 2 spanish guys come up to us and start talking to us. They're from the south of Spain and start talking to us about why we're in Spain, what we are studying, and how we need to try sherry because it's from their part of Spain. While we are talking to them, 2 of Lisa's friends find us and join up with us. Eventually, we decide we don't want to talk them anymore, and we all head out. We head over to this park in the middle of the city that is GORGEOUS and has a GORGEOUS lake in the middle where you can rent a boat and row around for a bit.

We rowed around for an hour, returned the boat, and then decided to get tortillas. It was essentially a sub sandwich with 4 triangular pieces of and egg/potato/onion patty inside served hot. T'was very yummy. Then we headed over to the Royal Palace and watched the sunset by The Egyptian Temple of Debod. It was gorgeous!

Egyptian Temple of Debod

After that we decided we were hungry again and went to go find some good tapas. We started out at this place where we split a plate of fried calamari, which was delicious! Then we went to this place that served their own beer from tap on your own table! It was awesome! I ended up having a dark beer and we got a couple of plates of food. After dinner, we go to this place called Kapital which is a disco with 7 floors! We get in and this lace already seems crazy. We get vodka red bulls to wake up and head out to the dance floor where there are 2 female pirates dancing on their own balcony things and a male and female pirate dancing on the stage. We decide to explore the other floors and find one with a private bar, other ones with seats overlooking the main dance floor. Finally we settle on this floor that is playing hip hop type music and everyone is dancing. I end up dancing with the asian guy from Brazil and he is spinning and dipping me on the dance floor. He was fun for awhile, but we then realized how late it was and decided to head out for cioccolata con churros at 6 am. What is it is essentially dipping churros in spanish hot chocolate. It was decent. Finally, we went to bed probably around 7 am.

Next day, we woke up late got coffee and headed over to this vegetarian buffet place for brunch. After we went to Reina Sofia which was a Modern Art Museum. I really don't get modern art that well... Freaks me out a little to be honest haha. However, we did see works of art by Dali and Picasso, which I could appreciate. We also saw the famous Guernica by Picasso:

After the museum, we headed over to Sol, which is a really big open area. We saw a street performer there who was crazy! He was climbing up lamp posts and riding a unicycle while juggling. It was funny because at the time, (since the weather was BEAUTIFUL both days) Jenna was wearing sunglasses where you can't see the person's eyes, so he kept on "checking his hair" in the reflection of her sunglasses. After that, Jenna and and I went shopping for a little on our street since there was a bunch of cute shops while Lisa went home to freshen up. For dinner this time, we were getting apertivo. We went to this place called El Tigre where for 5 euros each, we each got a huge mug of (watered down) sangria and 2 plates of food on bread. I didn't eat much of it, but I DID try a small piece of prosciutto...... and hated it. Totally not worth me eating in the future, although Anna and Jenna claim Italian prosciutto is better. We'll see. After dinner, we took a taxi over to a place to see flamenco dancing! A bit expensive, but we got a free glass of (good) sangria with it and an awesome show :)

When it was done we were beat so we called it a night, especially since we had to wake up very early to catch our flight back.

So after all the hassle, it was worth it to see Spain and Madrid, but Thursday sucked more than I can say. I will NEVER EVER AGAIN sleep in an airport. That is a promise.

PS. Kind of funny, the Wednesday after I got back, I went to an art exhibit with my photo class to a gallery with the early works of Picasso, Dali and Miro. (loved Miro's work!) Good timing eh? haha