Cinque Terre-God's most beautiful creation!

So...I think it is safe to say that Cinque Terre is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and my favorite trip so far in Italy! On the way there on Saturday, we stopped in Genova, which is one of the worst cities in Italy. Haha, but really, you could ask anyone out of the 140 students that went and you would get the same reaction. It was just really dirty, and there was no place to eat or sit and there wasn't much to see, many of us wonder why our program took us there...but oh well. We then headed to our hotel for the night where they provided an amazing four-course meal for us! We started with bruschetta, followed by pasta and meat sauce. Our main dish was chicken and potatoes, and we topped it all off with a cream pie! YUM! It was just sooo nice because we never have four course meals...it's always pasta and bread, over and over again! So it was a definite treat that's for sure. The next day we left for Cinque Terre pretty early so we could be there during the most beautiful parts of the day! So, Cinque Terre is also known as "Five Villages" that are all close to each other on the coast of the Golfo dei Poeti. We got to visit each of them for about an hour or so, and it was amazing! We started in the village of Porto Venere, which is also where many people start the six hour hike through all of the villages, which is something I would LOVE to go back and do someday...maybe even before I leave. Anyways, it was ABSOLUTELY beautiful. The weather was perfect too, a little windy on top of the CASTLES, but nothing to complain about :) The other four villages we visited are called Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, and Vernazza Monterosso. We walked along a path from Manarola to Riomaggiore called "Lovers Lane" and it was beautiful and fun to see all the couples ;) One day, me and my husband are going to go there and write our names on the walls in the tunnel...I've already decided. So we ate lunch on the coast and had some delicious bruschetta and spaghetti, and then in the village of Riomaggiore I had the best gelato I've had since I've been here and it was super cheap! I got three scoops for 2 euro! That's like, usually the price for a small, so the fact that we got a large for it was sooo nice. The only thing I would've changed would be for us to stay longer, because after the gelato we had to leave and head back to Florence. A few hours in the Cinque Terre is NEVER ENOUGH! Honestly though, one of the most beautiful places EVER and I really hope I can go back again! In other extremely exciting news...I have many visitors coming in the next month and a half!!! Leah will be the first...in about three weeks! Woo hoo! First visitor and I can't wait! Then Ci-Ci Boo who I cannot wait to see! I haven't see her since Dad and Nancy's wedding...TOO LONG! But how cool is it to say I get to meet up with my sister when she comes to see me in ITALY!? I can't wait to show her around Florence! And...as of about 15 minutes ago...Jennifer and Kristin are coming from Scotland to come see me in November! THIS IS THE BEST! I LOVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS! In other news, I have discovered the best bread ever. It's from this bakery called, "The Forno," which is right by our apartment and I stop there every day on my way home to get bread for dinner, to go with the noodles and red sauce I make EVERY. DAY. But it's called schiacciata, which is flat bread that they put olive oil and cheese on...SO GOOD! My fave for sure. This upcoming weekend will be the first weekend I'm not traveling...weird huh?? I'm actually looking forward to it because I might go to a soccer game, or I'll just explore a little bit of Florence that I haven't seen! No matter what though, it should be nice and relaxing! Until next time...ciao!

Wine Tasting in Chianti!

Today was my first experience in Tuscany that was outside downtown Florence. Our school took four buses to a Chianti farm in the outskirts of Florence and we got to have a tour of a Tuscan castle and see the vineyards surrounding, along with the cellar inside, which was full of barrels of wine! So, we all went into this thinking we were just going to take a dixie cup and take a sip of wine, however, it was not like that at all! It felt like we were all sitting down to a banquet meal, and there were three different wines for us to try! One white, and two reds. They also gave us bread, amazing cheese and salami, yummmmy. So, for all of you wine drinkers at home, here is how the professionals "taste" wine. The first step is to lightly sniff the wine. This pretty much means you just run the glass across your nose and breath in. The second step is to take a biiig sniff of the wine. They said to basically stick your nose in the glass and breath it all in! The third step is to take a tiny sip and smack your lips together to "lightly taste it." The fourth and final step is to take a biiig gulp and breath in when you do it, to really get the full experience. Haha, and of course there's the swirling of the wine which I didn't quite catch, but it has something to do with the alcohol content...I think. It was interesting to learn about the wine making process and how to be able to really tell the difference between wines by doing the "four-step process." It was a fun day...up until 15 minutes before we left. For those of you who know my fear and loathing of throw-up, pay attention. We were all standing in line to go to the bathroom before we left the vineyard, and all of a sudden a girl behind me THROWS UP AND IT GETS ON MY SWEATER AND IN MY HAIR! Okay, so it wasn't a lot, but a few speckles is enough to make me shiver. I wasn't the only one who had wine leftovers on me, so that was nice that she didn't just aim for me...but still! I just bought this sweater and I really liked and now it's vomit-infected :( Barf! Well, that's the most exciting news of the day. We've got to get up early tomorrow for Cinque Terre, so we're going to make pasta for dinner, per normal, and hang around the apartment!!

3 weeks and counting!

It has officially been three weeks since I've been in Italy! I can't believe it, because it truly feels like I have been here for TWO MONTHS! Maybe it's just the amount of activity going on that makes the time seem more drawn out than it actually is....well, here we go. I got back from London VERY LATE Sunday night! Luckily my roommates got back from Lake Como around the same time, so we were able to treck 25 minutes together back to our apartment. LONDON IS SO AMAZING! It was SO FUN to be with Leah for four days, SO GOOD. Leah was a wonderful host and was super savy when she was showing me around Regent's Park, where she lives, which is SO BEAUTIFUL. Her college campus is really cute, and it's nice because everything is close together, and the parks surrounding the college are really nice and a good place to go and relax...and see millions of couples making out...but anyways....so when I got there on Thursday we walked around Regent's Park and then we went to Picadilly Circus, which Leah describes as the Times Square of London. It was my first ride on "The Underground" so it was fun! We ended up going to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and it was SO GOOD, and it reminded us of the Village Wok by the U. Friday was a big day for us...we went to Westminister and we got to see the Parliament building, Big Ben, the London Eye and Westminister Abbey. It was so fun and the weather was BEAUTIFUL, so being outside was perf. We then did a little shopping at Primark and headed back to the school. For dinner, we went to Notting Hill! It was at night so we couldn't really see the town that much, but we got a good vibe from it and enjoyed our Italian meal of pizza and pasta :) Saturday we went to Warwick Castle and Startford-the home of Shakespeare! It was a very scenic day and we got to experience a lot of neat things. In memory of making our pilgrimage to Notting Hill, we rented it and watched it Saturday night and it was SO GOOD. I know I'd seen it before, but I think being in London made it so much better :) By the time Sunday rolled around we were a little tired, so we went back to Picadilly and ate at our chinese restaurant and then I headed back to Florence. It was really great to be able to see where Leah goes to school, to meet her friends and to experience a little bit of London! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go back someday, because it's a really great city.
Yesterday was a day that I was missing home a bit. I just saw Leah, and then when I checked my mail for the first time I got two letters from Kelly and Vanessa! It was so fun to hear from them via mail, and made me miss friends from home a lot. THEN, I got to talk with my dad for a while and it was SO GOOD and made me miss my family a lot too! It was just a jam-packed day full of people from home, but I loved it. The weather is finally cooling down here which I'm super thankful for, now we can all go to bed underneath our covers. I did my grocery shopping, buying my typical noodles and sauce, with bonus Oreos to fix my chocolate craving. The rest is pretty quiet besides class, but I'll be starting the weekend off with a wine-tasting in Tuscany and then Saturday morning, my program heads of to Cinque Terre and Genova! I've heard Cinque Terre is one of the most beautiful places in Italy, so I'm SUPER EXCITED!
For all ma peeps back at home, hope you're loving the fall weather and PLEASE, go to an apple orchard, listen to Nickel Creek on the way and eat lots of apple crisp and apple cider for me!!!

Roma Roma

Ciao! Well, Rome was absolutely amazing! I couldn't believe I was in such a monumental place! Not only is it historical, but it just has a completely different feeling than Florence. Florence is SO MUCH SMALLER than Rome, and I never realized it until this weekend. Rome is just much more spread out and "roomy," while Florence is super condensed and smaller. I think that's why tourists and tourist attractions stick out more because it's much smaller than Rome. Anyways! We left VERY EARLY on Friday morning. It was about a four hour bus ride from Florence so we got there around 10:45. The main spots we hit on Friday were: the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon(the picture above)! It was SO AMAZING to be in all of those places, knowing that they were so important in Ancient Rome. The rest of Friday we had off, so we walked around, got some lunch and took a very long nap before eating some delicious Margherita pizza and hanging out later that night. The weather was the first "bad" weather I've experienced since being here. It was rainy and a little chilly almost all weekend. On Saturday, we toured St. Peter's Basilica, an old castle and the Vatican city. It was all SO BEAUTIFUL! Seriously, the artwork was some of the most amazing pieces and monuments I've ever seen. To actually describe these places in words is nearly impossible. It was pretty cool walking through all of these places, especially the Sistine Chapel! And our last day, Sunday, was mostly free time for us all. Some of us that live on Ghibellina walked to a market nearby and enjoyed a delicious lunch that consisted of my favorite kind of panini-buffalo mozarella and tomato, and then a huge scoop of gelato! yum! Then, all the students from API met and we got our final tour, of the Colosseum! It was SO amazing, I couldn't believe I was in there! It is just so crazy to think of all of these places in Rome I got to see that has so much impact, history and meaning to the Italian culture. SO GLAD I got to go there. My roommates and I think that Rome FEELS more like Italy, so we really enjoyed that aspect, even though it's hard to explain. But ultimately, we all like living in Florence and once we were on our way home from Rome, it was a comforting feeling knowing we were going "home to Florence." Right now I'm just in between classes, working on some homework and running errands-per normal. Gotta finish my Italian homework now, ciao!

In one week from today...

I'LL BE IN LONDON!!! It was a very last minute decision, but I'm going to go visit Leah!! It's one of the only times our schedules don't conflict throughout the semester, so I figured, why not?! I'll be there from Thursday morning until Sunday night! I just booked the tickets, and there is so much adrenaline running through my body, it's unbelievable! My roommate Roxanne is also going to go and visit her friends, so we'll be taking the train to the Pisa airport and then flying to London from there :) You wouldn't believe how many people around me right now are booking flights, it's nuts how many people travel over here! I'm SO excited!
Something that could interrupt that happiness could happen today, when I go buy my books and pay extra classroom fees. Some of my roommates and I have the same classes, so we're going to try and share, so the cost isn't so high. We're all desperate to save money in any way possible!
Just a few random things. I did laundry for the first time yesterday and realized how lightly I actually packed. Good, but not that good because I may or may not be wearing the same clothes over and over, week after week after week...haha oh well. Italy also doesn't believe in dryers, so we hang all of our clothes to dry, which isn't too bad, just a longer process. Also, as if the streets of Florence aren't loud enough with all of the scooters and cars, they started construction on the road outside of our apartment, so I get to wake up to the lovely sounds of jack hammers :) But, I can't complain cause I'm in Florence, and life is so good! Until next week, after Roma, ciao!

La Dulce Vita

I learned today that that means "The Sweet Life" in Italian, kinda fun to say huh? Well, it's been about a week since I've been here in Florence, and I'm really starting to get familiar with the area, I've started classes AND I am a never-ending victim to second-hand smoke! There are SO MANY smokers here in Italy...I wouldn't be surprised if I started before I left! JUST KIDDING DAD! Well, like I said, classes have started! So far so good. I really think I'm going to enjoy my Italian class, the professor is really fun and interactive. The other classes I'm taking are broadcasting, journalism, and an Italian Renaissance art history class, so we'll be able to go and visit many museums and locations to check it all out! Some not so good news...the clubs I wanted to join already have waiting lists...so if any of the other college students decide they don't want to drink wine, I'm in! Oh well, I think our program will be taking us to a couple vineyards in Venice and Verona when we go there for our excursion in October, so I guess that'll do ;) Speaking of excursions...this weekend will be my first one! We will be leaving for Rome VERY early on Friday morning and we'll be there until Sunday night, so three days to see all the beautiful history, can't wait!
Not too much else besides class this week...I don't know if I've mentioned this, but school is about a 25 minute walk, so you can say I'm getting my excercise around this city!! I felt pretty cool the other night because an American was walking around the piazza near our apartment, and she needed to get directions to the river, and I totally knew where it was. I guess that means I'm pretty much settled ;) Well, our program is treating us to a free meal tonight, and with the dang Euro being so high, I'm taking it! Until next time, ciao!

97 Degrees!

IT IS SO HOT HERE! The last couple of days have actually almost been unbearable! Friday and Saturday were both around 97/98 degrees and super humid! I told all my roommates that I want Minnesota weather to come here...kinda sad huh? haha...but seriously, it has been so hot. I think being right in the city and walking everywhere and NOT having air conditioning adds to the frustration a bit, so hopefully it'll cool off soon!! Saturday we went over and explored the Boboli Gardens, which were beautiful! Unfortunately we went in the middle of the day so we were sweatin' buckets! We then made spaghetti for the third night in a row and for the second time our sink clogged and flooded the floor. So the repair man road his bike over today and fixed it for us :) Today we were feelin' ambitious despite the heat and explored the Cathedral of Santa Croce...which is in the piazza close to our apartment! I'm trying to figure out how to put pictures up on here, so once that happens, hopefully you can see some of these places I'm talking about... There is also a market close to our apartment that is open every day that we went to for the first time yesterday. We all bought fresh fruit and it was nice, cheap and delicious! Not much more for the rest of the day...we're all hanging out in the apartment, and we WERE going to go out to eat for dinner to toast before our first day of classes tomorrow, but almost EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays...so it looks like it could be a home cooked meal once again :)

Piazza del Lorenzo

Today we had orientation for school, which starts next Monday. I'm not sure if I'm mentioned this yet, but my school is called Lorenzo de' Medici, and as I have learned, Medici is a very famous Italian name/family. The orientation was pretty interesting, and we learned about school clubs that we can join and extra activities that are available to us through school and other places throughout Florence. I think my roommates and I are are going to join the Volunteer club. We'll be able to volunteer in homeless shelters and other areas around the city. Taylor (my fellow Bethel friend) and I are hopefully going to be able to volunteer at the local churches in Florence. On that note, I'm also thinking of joining the "Slow Drink Club." Haha, now don't get any ideas here, it's an educational club on wine, with two wine tastings throughout different parts of Italy. That way, I can bring back tons of useful information to the vino drinkers in my life :) But we'll see...
Alright, now the title of this entry is Piazza del Lorenzo, and you may be asking yourself, "what the heck is a piazza?" Well, I'll tell you. All throughout Florence, you'll find piazzas, and they are like centers of each neighborhood, where events happen, restaurants are found, and my favorite, markets! It is also and Italian law that noise level in apartments go down after 10:30, and if you would like to continue to "party" you have to take it to the piazza. Capishe? (do you understand?) Well, I think I've discovered one of my favorite piazzas! It is right by school, which is perfect because I'll get to go through it everyday to and from class. And, it is called Piazza del Lorenzo, and I just really think I'm going to spend a lot of time there, which is exciting.
A few minor details...my roommates and I made our first meal last night in the apartment, spaghetti, which was wonderful; however after doing the dishes and draining the water, it started to leak and flood into the kitchen! So I mopped it up, and we're crossing out fingers that it won't happen again :( It has also taken me a long time to get adjusted to the locks in Italy. It's pretty sad actually. It took me until last night to be able to get into my apartment without help. But, okay, in Italy, when locking/unlocking a door, you have to turn everything like two or three times, and EVERY LOCK IS DIFFERENT. So, naturally, I get confused because we have to unlock three doors to get into our apartment. But yeah, I'm getting it, finally. So the rest of today will consist of us going to the food market in our neighborhood and getting some things for the apartment, like tp, and then we're going to attempt to make dinner in the apt. again...ciao!

Via Ghibellina, 57, Apt. B

That, my family and friends, is the place I now call home :) We moved into our apartments today, and there are about 40 students living in my building. Everyone is spread our throughout the city, and we'll all have about 15-20 walking minutes to school. One of our guides yesterday was saying that Florence is a small city, and I thought to myself, "False." but, the more we walk around, the more familiar streets become and I'm realizing that it's really not as big and intimidating as I thought it would be, which I like! Our apartments have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a fully furnished kitchen, so we can cook! I turned on Jack Johnson first thing when I got settled in the room and listened to "Bella," which totally put me in the Italian mood :) We walked around our neighborhood, and it can be said that we have found our trusty Gelateria (gelato place to the non-Italian) and Panini shop. The Italians that work there are so cute and love to help us with our Italian. One of my favorite things to say is "Ciao!" or "Buongiorno!" because even if you can't speak Italian, or really even understand it, it makes you feel a little more part of the city. So I'm like pretty much Italian ;) After touring our neighborhood, we had a cooking class and our instructors name was Fabrizio, so fun. We made from scratch, tiramisu, caprese salad, and potato gnocchi which was AMAZING! They gave us the recipe, so I will definitely be making these meals when I get back to the states, in four months. On the way to the cooking class, my roommate Roxanne and I were walking the cobblestone roads, and this Italian man walked by and said, "Yesss, madame, I am here, I loooooovvve youuuu." Haha it was very funny, but unfortunately, he was undesirable. It can also be said that I am one of the only mid-westerners on the trip. All of my roommates go to school and are from the east coast, along with the rest of the people from the trip. But I don't mind because I love talking about good old Minny. Tomorrow we have more "survival tours" as they call it here, so we'll be learning more about our neighborhood and we'll meet our landlord. More time to learn and explore, can't wait!

Buongiorno!

After many MANY hours of traveling...I'M HERE!! The ride over to Amsterdam was very relaxing and I was able to sit next to a lady who was VERY travel savy and answered all my questions, and we were so close at the end of the 7 hours and 15 minutes that we swapped magazines for the next plane ride we each had! Amsterdam is where I met more API students and a few us had connecting flights to Florence, so it was nice to be with people going to the same destination. Once we got to Florence we went back to the hotel, named, "Grand Hotel Baglioni." Sounds pretty classy huh? We'll be here until tomorrow when we move into our apartments! After a couple hour nap and meeting my direct roommate Roxanne we went to the first orientation and had dinner on the roof of our hotel! It was soooooo beautiful and romantic...I was super happy to share that with complete strangers ;) But the food was delicous...I will definitely enjoy the Italian food and bevs! This morning at like 5:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. U.S. time) both Roxanne and I were wide awake! Excitement came later when I tried to blow dry my hair and it blew out on me :( Not the funnest thing when you get your haircut the day before you leave and can't do anything to it, including putting in in a pony tail :(Oh well...THEN we went on our first tour around the city! WOW IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL! The streets are all coblestone and each window is decorated with beautiful flowers and furnishings. We walked through many markets, walked over many bridges and a few us of ate at a Trattoria, which is like a small dining cafe, where I had my first and delicous plate of spaghetti. Tonight we'll be eating out at a Pizzeria and then tomorrow we move into the apartments! Ciao!