Parents arrival!

Mom and dad are here! It is so nice to see them. They arrived a little early around 1:30, and I ended up meeting them at San Marco where they each ordered a small sandwich and an espresso. I had already eaten at the Oil Shop, which has the best sandwiches in Florence (in my opnion at least) so I was full, but it was nice to catch up. They are very jet lagged as you can imagine, so after I picked up all my goodies that they brought from home and showed them around school and my room, they went back to their hotel for a little nap. Tonight we are having dinner at a classic Italian restaurant called Za Zas. I have never been there, but my friend Annie said it is very yummy. We made reservations for 7:30 so we are all looking forward to that. It is going to be me, Annie, Lil and her mom, and of course my parents. I will let you know how the food was!

I have so much more stuff in my room now (I asked for lots of clothes from home). So I will definitely have to send my parents back with a lot of stuff too. I am worried how I am going to take all my stuff home at the end of the year. I already came with a lot of stuff, and I have only accumulated more... oh well.

Yesterday night me and a bunch of friends went to the theater and saw an American movie! It was so fun! I had already seen the movie, but it was more about the experience than anything. We saw tropic thunder; its a pretty funny movie but a little more manish humor than mine haha. There were Italian subtitles during the movie, and it was so funny-- there was an actual INTERMISSION during the middle of the movie! But the funny thing was that it was not like at a natural break in the movie... it was like right in the middle of an action packed scene so it was pretty bizzare. Only in Italia! Haha.

After dinner me and my friend Annie got a couple drinks at this cool little bar. The drinks were decent, but the bartender was kind of a jerk. We always try to use our Italian wherever we go and usually everyone is super nice when we make mistakes but this Italian? Not so much. After getting our drink, Annie said "Grazie" And the waiter rudely corrected her and said its "Graz-i-A" and she said just ok... but we talked to two other Italians and they said we have been saying it correctly like "Graz-i-eh" Oh well. Some people are just mean. Plain and simple.

Well after dinner I think a bunch of us friends are going out to the bars and then perhaps a club. I don't have a costume so I am not sure what I'm going to wear, but I am sure I will come up with something. Maybe office hoes? (that was my friend Lindsay's idea)

Well I will post later-- ciao! oh... and Happy Halloween!

The picture above is of me and some of my friends in Elba! :)

Midterms are over! woohoo!

I couldn't be happier that the weekend is finally here. Midterms always really stress me up, so its very relieving that they are over and I'll (hopefully) have less heavy of a load of schoolwork for awhile. Timing couldn't be more perfect for my parents visit. They wanted to come after midterms so that I would have time to tour all of Florence with them! (good call mom and dad!). They are leaving for the airport around 11:30 (their time). By the time they switch flights from Amsterdam to Florence and take a taxi from the airport, they will probably get to the hotel around 2:00 pm my time. What a long day for them! I bet they will be very jet lagged. I definitely was when we flew into Germany a couple months ago. Hopefully they will have enough energy to go out to dinner! Me, Annie, Lillian (and her mom), and my parents are all planning on going out to eat a nice, Italian dinner on Halloween! What am I doing after? No idea! Like I said... Halloween is not really popular here. It was so funny though, because two of my fellow peers dressed up for the occasion today at school. My friend Kelly dressed up as Santa Claus (or Babbo Natale in Italiano) and my friend Ryan dressed up as Michael Phelps. How creative! I didn't bring any costumes... haha oh well!

I am pretty hungry right now!! We are having our last prepared meal of the weak until Monday. I wonder what it's going to be! Lillian and her mom are going to a sit-up meal for lunch and then we are going to San Lorenzo where the open market shopping is, where Lillian's mom is going to get some cheap Christmas gifts for friends/family back home. I have been to San Lorenzo lots of times, but it never gets old! It really displays the typical Florentine atmosphere. After that, we might go to the Bozart (sp) Gardens that Florence is famous for. Hopefully the weather holds up because it has been so random lately! One minute it will be downpour, lightening/thundering and then the next it will be super sunny. Reminds me of Seattle except less muggy/warm.

I will post all about my adventures with my parents come tomorrow and the rest of the weekend!

The picture above is of me and Lillian!
Also I attached a picture of the well-known San Lorenzo church and it also shows part of the open air market that I am going to today! As we learned in my Intro to Florence class, it is the first Cathedral in Florence. :0)Also I researched some extra info about the church from Wikepedia: The Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence) is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III. It is one of several churches that claim to be the oldest in Florence; when it was consecrated in 393[1] it stood outside the city walls. For three hundred years it was the city's cathedral before the official seat of the bishop was transferred to Santa Reparata. San Lorenzo was also the parish church of the Medici family. In 1419, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici offered to finance a new church to replace the eleventh-century Romanesque rebuilding. Filippo Brunelleschi, the leading Renaissance architect of the first half of the fifteenth century, was commissioned to design it, but the building, with alterations, was not completed until after his death. The church is part of a larger monastic complex that contains other important architectural works: the Old Sacristy by Brunelleschi; the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo; the New Sacristy based on Michelangelo's designs; and the Medici Chapels by Matteo Nigetti.

A visit to the Restoration Workshop in Firenze

Today me and my Intro to Florence group went to see the restoration site of several famous Florentine works. We got to see the original door of the bapistry of the Duomo and also the statue of Jeremiah by Donatello (see picture). It was really interesting! According to Thinkquest.com, many of Donatello's masterpieces are located in Florence. Some of these masterpieces include: St. Peter, St. Mark, Zuccone, St. George and the Dragon, St. John the Evangelist, Magdalen, and Angel with Tambourine. Other pieces considered to be some of his finest work are: Herod's Feast, St. Louis of Toulouse, St. Peter, St. Anthony, an equestrian statue called Gattamelata, and Jeremiah. A lot of his sculptures were Renaissance breakthroughs. David, for one, was the first nude statue of the Renaissance, and the equestrian statue, Gattamelata, was considered to be one of the best proportioned sculptures ever. In Donatello's Gothic style he used expressive ugliness to give the statue a life of its own. He used a powerful realism that gives his statues a distinct look.


It is going to be weird not really celebrating Halloween this year! Americans definitely decorate wayore than the Florentines. In America there is usually lots of carved pumpkins outside and decorations in stores and houses. In Florence you are lucky to see any decorations in any of the stores! I have noticed that there is some decorations in more touristy shops, but that's about it. My mom is going to be bringing me some Halloween candy though, so I am pretty stoked about that. One thing I really do is miss carving pumpkins! That is always a family tradition in the Maher family-- and my dad always cooks the seeds and salts them. So yummy! I wonder if me and my parents are going to do anything special for Halloween. Lillian's mom is here until Sunday, so we were thinking of having a family dinner on Friday or Saturday night. That should be pretty fun!

In the Ciao (our daily Gonzaga email newsletter), we heard the annoucement that we can actually choose our room mates for the Christmas tour. I am pretty excited about this, because usually they randomly assign us. But hey, it has its benefits too! Thats how I got to know my current room mate, Lillian! ANYways, so me and my friend Cierra are going to room together in our first location, Copenhagen, and then perhaps mix it up for Sweden. In St. Petersburg, there are four person rooms so I think we are going to try to room with a couple of our other friends too. We will see! I am really looking forward to the Christmas tour, but it is going to be so cold!

Well I really do not have much to talk about at this point. My life this week has been consumed with studying and preparing for midterms. I am still very tired, but I am relieved that after tomorrow I will have a nice, long weekend to relax! I think I might check out the new gym that is located in the basement of our school. I heard it is pretty nice, so we will see. I hope my foot is ok to use on the elliptical... hmm.

Ciao ragazzi!

A not so pleasant sleep...

Only one more midterm to go! I love the feeling of relief that I get after I finish a hard midterm. It's almost like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulder!

Here's the dealio: I haven't been getting very much sleep lately. Because I had my two hardest finals today, I was up until past 2 AM last night and got up super early around 7 am to get ready for class. Needless to say I am so exhausted.

Speaking of exhaustion, my slumber has been a little "off" too. My room mate Lillian has been telling me that the past few weeks I have been talking a lot in my sleep. Strange, huh? I know I haven't been getting much sleep lately, but also it has been taking me a lot longer to fall asleep than it normally does, for whatever reason. I have been tossing and turning, and I think it is due to anxiety and stress. I love Florence, but lots of things are going on and it is taking a toll on me mentally and physically.

I did have to laugh though-- Lillian told me this morning that I woke her up in the middle of the night and said, "Look! (as I pointed to the wall) Look at that pretty artwork!" And she looked at me and said, "What artwork? What are you talking about?" and (apparently) I smiled and then responded, "Oh... never mind..." and then I rolled over and went back to sleep. How bizzare! When she told me about it this morning I cracked up. I remember we were talking but I didn't realize I was sleeping until she said, "what artwork?" My bf and my friend Cierra said that talking in your sleep is often a sign of stress. Who knew? It makes sense though-- I am not really getting into my deep REM cycles with everything on my mind; not to mention I have been getting on average 5-6 hours of sleep at night or less.... I know its horrible but I have really early classes and my pensione is so loud at night (everyone goes out all the time). Its all about a period of transition...

We had one of my favorite dinners today at the pensione! 85 Cavour (one of the other pensiones that is owned by Giuseppe as well) came over and we had a little "party". It was buffet style, and there was even music playing in the background. The food consisted of herbed potatoes, chips, bruchetta, beans, kiwi, pineapple, goat cheese slices, Sangria, various sodas, tomato sauce pasta, and the main dish was the grilled chicken burritos with rice and black beans. It was so good! We have never had anything like it before- I guess Karin and Giuseppe wanted to give us a little reward for all our hard studying this week!
Well that is the most interesting thing I have to talk about today. My two midterms went pretty well today. We will have to see though!

Arrivederci!

PS! This picture was taken at a store in Southern Tuscany where I got some amazing cheese for my parents to take home! So yummy!

Brunch at Angels

I had the most amazing Breakfast today! It was at Angels, which is located in a really nice hotel in Florence. They are famous for their "American style" Breakfast, and I have been craving an omelet for a long time, so I thought I would give it a shot. A huge group of Gonzaga students went, but me, Cierra, Katie, and Annie sat together at a small table. I got a cafe latte with amazing foam, a Florentine omelet, and hash browns. Before the main course there was a long table with various yogurts, milk, chocolate banana bread muffins, and fresh cut fruit. It was all included in the cover charge so that was nice.

All of us got the same omelet- it was called the Florentine and it had cheese, sweet peppers, spinach, artichoke, and onions. It was so good!

One thing I have noticed about restaurants and stores in general is that prices are pretty set and even. In the U.S lots of things are marked $7.99, $4.99, $9.99, etc but in Europe everything is usually an exact price like 8 euro. This makes it way easier to have exact change. Even at the supermercato the items all come out to a nice, even number. I think a lot of it has to do with the tax in America, because this makes everything to be a weird price such as $6.39, etc. I think the tax must be included here, or everything is duty free. I'm not quite sure. It is definitely an interesting observation that I just noticed.

On the way back from brunch, a cute dress that was displayed outside a little store caught my eye. It is strapless, black and white with flowers, and has a cute little bow in front. I tried it on and it fits perfectly! I will have to take a picture or something with me in it so you guys can see it. I can't wait to wear it!

Anyways, I better get back to studying. Tomorrow I have my econ midterm, which entails writing for a solid three hours about global economy issues. Its going to be a blast! Not...

Its just a few days until my parents are coming! Woo hoo!

The picture above was taken last week in Sorrento.

Studying, studying, and what? Chinese food?

It feels so nice to sleep in for a change! I was going to go to Assisi today with some friends for the day, but I think it is a blessing in disguise that we all decided not to go and sleep in instead. I got to sleep in until 11- when does that happen? Haha. Anyways, it was amazing! :-D

I feel very refreshed, like I am ready to conquer a new day. I think I am going to be pretty productive and continue to study diligently so I can be well prepared for my midterms next week.

Yesterday I had my first Chinese food since I left for Europe. It is nothing like the states-- but it was really good. I love Italian food but I was definitely craving something different. I ended up getting some chicken chow mein kinda thing, and some hot and sour soup. I liked the chow mein (it was rice noodles, some chicken with steamed veggies)but the hot and sour soup was a bit funky. My favorite hot and sour soup is at Chen's Village, so its hard to measure up to that. I think I am even going to go there again for lunch today! It is great take out food-- perfect to bring back and study. I think i'm going to get potstickers. Yum...

Other than that, I do not have much else to say. Thanks for all the support for those that have been keeping up with my blog. Things have been pretty rough for me the past week or so, but I am hanging in there. I am very grateful to have this experience being abroad and I am excited to see where this year continues to take me.

Well I am going to be busy studying-- feel free to distract me with a skype phone call or whatever else! Also, if you want to be penpals (like the old days!) let me know. I love getting snail mail. :-D

Miss you guys!

PS! The picture up there is of a cool plant that I took in Southern Tuscany. I love the color-- it's almost like seafoam.

Daily tribulations

Today has just been one of those days that did not start off “right.” Usually when I say this there is a particular reason, or something that happened that would trigger the emotion behind this angst. However, today this has not been the case. I never thought I would say this, but I think I may be feeling homesick. Not that I would rather be home right now instead of Florence, but I am constantly thinking about the people and things I miss back home. This sets off this often overwhelming feeling of homesickness and severe loneliness amongst the busyness of Florence life. It is definitely a dual lifestyle, because although I am staying busy and active in Florence, I am constantly reminded of what I am missing back home. As always, I am trying to stay positive, and know I will become a stronger person from this experience. I have so much more of this year to experience, and I want to make the most of it. The hard part comes in balancing my lifestyle between traveling and schoolwork, keeping in touch with home without becoming too involved with everything happening back home, and merely just working on engaging myself in this culture that I have been looking so forward to being apart of.

One aspect that has been particularly hard is fitting in with my peers. I have really been enjoying getting to know so many new people from Gonzaga and other schools, but it is always difficult coming into a program without any good friends. This is usually a good thing—you are forced to go out of your comfort zone and get to know people on a level that you might not if you already had good friends. It is easy for me to make friends—but its often challenging finding friends that you really connect with; people that truly understand you and accept you as the person you are- flaws and all.

I feel as if a lot of the “bonding” that occurs on this trip has been in the constant, daily night life. I love going out and having a good time with friends, but school definitely has priority over going to the bars and clubs. Call me a nerd, but I still want to come out of this program upholding my high GPA. A lot of my friends have put their grades on the back burner, and have dedicated most of their hours to “having a good time.” I find myself almost jealous of this lifestyle, because I am in a constant battle between denying my wants and focusing on what I know is going to benefit me more in the future—good grades. I want to say I can do it all, but I am struggling and this is becoming more apparent. During opening tour and the beginning of the semester I went out often and had a blast. I got to know a lot of the people on the GIF program, and it was great. Now that the schoolwork has picked up, and especially this past week and next week with midterms to worry about I am realizing that I am perhaps isolating myself too much. I especially feel like a hermit because I am forced to “take it easy” with my foot. I obviously can’t go dancing, and walking all around Florence is not good for my condition. Sadly, hearing people in the halls getting together to go out and looking all cute is hurting me on the inside. I want to be more social (it is my nature!) but I have schoolwork, this annoying tendonitis, and other family issues that are consistently on my mind. What do I do? Someone help me! I am at a loss of what to do at this point…

*Note* This photo above is serene photo overlooking the coast of Cinque Terre. So pretty :-D

La Boheme and a night adventure!

The opera last night was fabulous! I am definitely glad that I did some researching about the production beforehand, because I would've been so lost! My mom suggested I read about it on Wikipedia which I did, and then an Italian professor who went with us to the opera gave a 30 minute presentation about the characters, plot, and we even went through some segments of each scene. It was very helpful in understanding the background of the opera. The whole thing was done in Italian. There was subtitles (which I was hoping it would be in English), but they were in Italian as well. I am no where near fluent in Italian, so I had a hard time following along with it. I was able to pick up bits and pieces here and there, and that combined with knowing the background of the opera, I was able to get the "jist' of it.

We started the night out by getting all dolled up and fancy. I wore my Christmasy colored dress, and my friends went full out as well. We went in a small little group- Me, Lillian, Cierra, and Chelsea. These are all girls that live in my pensione as well, so we took lots of pictures before the event. (Much like prom or other high school dances). It was so cute because Karin (the main worker in the pensione) offered to take pictures of us, and she put us where she thought good lighting was, and of course took many pictures. She basically acts like our mother because she is so caring and nuturing. Anyways, she called a cab for us that met us outside right away and we were relived that we didn't have to walk all the way there in heels. Because we got there before the rest of the Gonzaga group (they walked), we had a drink at the bar across the street. I had peach vodka with fizz water. It was pretty good!

When we checked in at the show, me and Lillian were led to "special" seats that were literally written in pen on our ticket stub. By special, I mean they ran out of places to put us (being such a large group) so we were seperated from every one else. We were on opposite sides of the theater and were placed in what looked like an extra chairs in little boxed cubicles. We literally couldn't see a thing! I was in front of a huge person (not to mention my chair was way lower than the comfy red silky ones next to me) and Lillian claimed that her vision was blocked by a couple making out the whole time. Anyways, we were frustrated so during intermission we asked to be moved but an employee said there were no available seats. Hmm... so we talked to the Italian professor who came with us, and he was able to hook us up with some pretty good seats on the main level. Thank goodness! One pet peeve I have is not being able to see at shows... how annoying!

The opera was going sooo long and we were getting a little ancy that me and Lil decided to peace out a little early (it was getting late and we were kinda dozing off at this point), so we walked around and explored Florence a little and stopped at a couple bars on the way home, and then went to this lovely kebab place that is open late. We went there a couple weeks ago and one guy actually spoon fed us nutella from his huge jar! Haha sounds weird, I know, but these guys love us! The night ended up being pretty random, but we had a good time. We got a little lost, but we also ran into the Italian professor on the way back and he led us in the direction of the Piazza della Republica, and we knew where to go from there. Small world!

Well I feel much better now after taking a long nap. It was much needed! Tomorrow I have a Weds schedule class day because it is one of the required days to make up school because of the Bosnia trip next month. (We have to make up a couple days for being on the long Thanksgiving trip).

ttyl!

A visit to the Cathedral Museum by the Duomo

Today, me and my Introduction to Florence class went to the Cathedral Museum (Duomo). It was interesting to see the history behind the historical building. For those of you who have not seen the Duomo, it is hands down the most beautiful structure in Florence (at least in my opinion). I was a little bummed because I forgot to put my memory card in my camera so I was not able to take many pictures, but I am sure I can look up things online.

My favorite piece in the museum was the Pieta, which was created by Michealangelo. According to Wikepedia, The Deposition (also called the Florentine Pietà, the Pietà del Duomo or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ) is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo. The sculpture depicts four figures – the dead body of Jesus Christ, newly taken down from the Cross, Nicodemus (or possibly Joseph of Arimathea), Mary Magdalene and another, incomplete, female figure – rather than Mary in mourning with the body of Christ on her lap, which is standard fare for a pietà. The sculpture is housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence. I am attaching a picture of it with my blog entry.

I am going to see the David statue next month with my parents at the Academia. I am very excited!

Not much else is going on today- I am going to be studying for midterms and fixing up my ethics essay which is either due tomorrow or Friday. Thanks mom for looking over it! Later tonight I am going to my first Opera which is the La Boheme. It should be very interesting! The operas here go on for a lonngg time though. It starts at 8:30 and then we will not be getting back till close to one! I am stoked though; I get to dress up! I think me and some friends will take a taxi because my foot still hurts, and that way we can be decked out in heels, dresses, etc.

The foot feels quite a bit better today with the meds. It still hurts to walk, but its not as sharp of a pain. My friends like calling me gimpy... so nice ha ha.

Well I am off to lunch- I wonder what it is today! I am starving.

Talk to you later!

BTW thanks Chris for the postcard! I loved it!

A normal Tuesday...

I am currently just hanging out at the Gonzaga campus. Sometimes it's nice to get away from the pensione and do homework here or just catch up on emails, phone calls on Skype, etc.

I just talked to my friend Martha and she and her friend Tara are planning on visiting me the weekend of November 14-16! She is a good friend of mine from Gonzaga and she is currently studying abroad in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. I am also going to be visiting her in early December. Me and a bunch of friends are going to Amsterdam for a day or two, and then me and my roomie (see pic) are staying one night at her apartment. Fun stuff!

Not a whole lot is new today- midterms are approaching quickly and I am getting pretty stressed! I have a huge ethics paper that is due on Thursday that I am working on. I got started on it pretty early next week so that I could have time to send it to my mom to look at. (Thanks mom!). Tomorrow I am going to an opera with a few friends, so that should be really fun. It is the opera that is based off the musical/movie called Rent.

I do not have an update on my grandfather as of right now. I know lots of my family from Houston are traveling to Seattle to visit him in case this is his time to go. I just have to remain hopeful and continue praying. It is just hard being so far away...

I went to the doctor today and he prescribed me some anti-inflammatory pills for my foot. I am pretty sure it is just a severe case of tendinitis so he said if it is not better in 4-5 days than to come back and see him. We will see what happens, right? I am glad he did not think I have a stress fracture. That is quite a bit more serious.

Well I am going to keep this post short. I am feeling a little un-creative at the moment. I have so much on my mind with all this school work, my foot, grandpa, and other day to day problems that I am finding it hard to find something interesting to talk about. I have to take it easy with walking so nothing in my life is too exciting at the moment. Today we had lasagna for lunch which was amazing; I have not had that since the states! I wonder if Karen will serve chow mein next? Haha fat chance! I will just have to hit up Chens (my favorite Asian restaurant in Seattle) when I get back home. Dad, if you are reading this you should know I really miss our chen's outtings! Italian food is amazing, but I like variety once in awhile!

Well I will most likely post tomorrow- until then!

*Note* The picture above is of me and my current room-mate Lillian. We have become great friends! :-D

An update on my life!

Today has been a much better day than yesterday so things are looking hopeful. I have many people who have been great listening ears and the support from family and friends from here in Florence and back home is great. Thanks so much :)

My mother ended up writing a complaint letter to Dean Burke and forwarding it to two of the study abroad staff members back in Spokane. I am going to be speaking with Shelley (student life Dean) in about an hour so we will see how that goes. I have talked to most of the staff here in Florence on numerous occasions and they are well aware of my problems-- the question is what now? What is the exact plan of action that they plan to implement? This is what I should be finding out momentarily...

Next week is midterms and I am beginning to feel very overwhelmed emotionally (from everything going on) and mentally (with school work). It will be hard to focus on studying for midterms and writing papers in the midst of everything else going on. I hope I can remained focus and be able to "push through" this hard period. I know I will, its just a matter of time. My boyfriend Chris keeps telling me to smile and stay positive and know that all hard periods lead to something greater and amazing in the end... how profound!

As far as the foot situation is concerned-- I scheduled an appointment with the doc tomorrow so we will see what he says. Perhaps I'll need an x-ray, perhaps its merely just tendinitis and simple inflammatory meds will do. I will keep you updated :)

So I just found out that my cousin Julie and her family (husband and three kids) are going to visit on November 3rd and me and my parents are going to have dinner with them somewhere in Florence! I am so excited! I have never met her kids (my second cousins) just seen them in pictures. They are pretty cute! I am hopefully going to visit Julie in France (where she is from) on the weekend of Jan 30th and me and my friend Cierra are going to tour around her area and then go skiing in the Swiss Alps! How fun!

What else is new?! Chris (bf) is going to be visiting for a week sometime next semester. We were thinking he wouldn't be able to get time off because he has not worked for his company for a year yet. Also, with the current economic condition and him being a crucial element to his work, it was looking unlikely that he would have time/money to make it down here. ANYWHO, he was able to convince his bosses to let him have a week off so he is thinking about coming down sometime in January or February. W00hoo!

Another brighter note-- (anything helps!) I got a 100% on my Italian quiz! I also got a B on my journal entries for Introduction to Florence, but now I know what I did wrong (I guess I didn't explain enough historical information about my tours, etc and I could work on being more accurate about incorporating historical information). Its all about a learning experience, right?

Anyways, I probably should go but continue to pray for my grandfather as he is still very sick :(

Love you all!

Note: The picture of the waterfall was taken on my hike in Almafi. I decided to post it with this blog entry because my cousin Carolyn suggested that when I am dealing with times of hardship it often helps to look at beautiful pictures that provoke fond memories. Thanks Carolyn! :)

Sorrento, Almafi, Capri, and Pompei

Hey everyone-

My weekend to Sorrento, Capri, Pompei, and Amalfi was amazing-- but lots of other things are going on right now in my life that has been making my study abroad experience less than enjoyable at times.

I do not like complaining all the time, especially when I am presented with this once in a lifetime opportunity but these past few days and even weeks really have been pretty emotionally stressful and draining dispite my chipper and upbeat blog posts. Many of you knew the room situation that me and my room mate Lillian went through this past month, but many other things have recently come into play. The deal with my foot has only gotten worse- I am pretty sure I have a stress fracture because it hurts to walk in any type of shoe regardless of padding, ointment, heavy socks, etc. I am hopefully going to the doc's tomorrow to get it checked out so we will see...

Also, the past few weeks my grandfather has not been doing well. He keeps having episodes of pnenumia, which can be very serious for the elderly. My g-pa is in his early 90's so any cold is a potential threat. He has been in and out of the hospital and right now he is staying in his adult family home with nurses that take care of his needs. Apparently he is having significant troubles with eating, and swallowing. He can no longer walk and he is very weak. This makes me very sad because I probably won't get to say goodbye if he passes away within the next few days, weeks, even couple months. :( I guess I just have to pray and know that this is in God's hands and not my own. Its just hard when all these things come at once.

Things within my pensione are still not getting fixed either-- such as the internet which we are paying 30 euro for a month (and still have not gotten). It still takes about 3 mins to load a page on a good day, and skype is only as good as texting and not conversations on the phone.

As far as the weekend-- it was fabulous but hard to enjoy with my foot being in constant pain. I went on one of the optional hikes on Friday which probably wasn't the best choice but I knew I would have to miss out on the challenging hike the next day so I thought I would "wing it". It just made it worse-- oh well. The weather was really nice this weekend and it was a bit different because we ended up traveling most to the surrounding islands by either a large ferry or small boat. Today we went to Pompei and had an audio tour of the archaelogical site. This past weekend we stayed in little cabins in Sorrento. This experience was a bit more rustic than the past few weekends but it was nice.

I'm sorry I don't have much else to say-- lots are on my mind and I'm sure you can gather a lot of what I did through my albums on facebook. I hope you like the ones I have posted on here!

I will write later!

* The picture was taken from the little boat ride from Sorrento to Amalfi Coast. Gorgeous, huh?

My feet pain!!!

Today I am leaving around 3:40 to go to Sorrento with the Gonzaga Group. It is going to be quite the schlep there-- the bus is going to be over 6 hours. Yesh! I am sure it will be worth it though. We are going to be staying in cabins apparently. One thing that worries me is there is going to be lots of hiking. I love hiking, but my right foot is in SO much pain right now.

Let me explain... here in Florence we walk EVERYWHERE-- and when I say everywhere I mean it. I don't even have to worry about gaining any weight from the fatty Italian food because I burn it all on walking from place to place. This has been a bittersweet thing because although I am getting great excercise and get to explore Florence and other parts of Italy, my feet are definitely suffering. On opening tour I was dumb and wore my flip flops on a four hour walking tour and got pretty bad tendinitis in my left foot for a week or two. I ended up having to wear tennis shoes the rest of the trip, which was unfortunate because I am very much a "flats, sandals, and flip-flops" kinda girl. Well, I got over that, and I thought I was getting used to the constant walking, but lately after all the traveling, walking around Florence, and hiking my feet have been in so much pain. In both legs I often get shin splits (especially if I am walking at a quick pace) and as of last week my right foot now has gotten the tendinitis even worse than my other foot did on opening tour. This time it is not so much from flip flops, but the flats with no structure and support. I know its probably my own fault, but even when I wear my sturdy tennis or athletic shoes my foot still kills!

My mom suggests to take ibuprofen, and ice it (which I don't really have to access to) but that only mediates some of the immediate pain. It still is very painful to walk with shoes or without shoes, and all the time. This weekend trip is going to be filled with more moderate to difficult hikes and I hope I can make it without being in too much pain.. often times its a very sharp pain and depending on the shoe it can pretty excruciating. I think I might see the doctor next week because it is getting worse by the day (since last week).

Anyways, enough of that! I am done with classes for the day and I'm about to have lunch so I probably should get going, but again if you have any suggestions for topics for me to write about go for it!

**The picture above is from my tour yesterday to Santa Croce. This is where famous people such as Michaelangelo and Dante were burried!

Dining in Firenze

So I have a random hour in between my Italian class and lunch so I thought Id post another quick blog entry...

I think the change of style in my blog posts is favored among my readers, am I right? I would love some more comments with your feedback! I got a suggestion yesterday to talk about the restaurant differences between Italy and America. I think I might have touched base on this topic at some point in previous entries, but I will dedicate a post that highlights some main observances I have made thus far in my trip.

First of all, when you go to a restaurant you are often presented with the option of "self service" or sit down. I was confused for the longest time on what "self service" meant exactly, but basically it means that you go up to the counter, pick up your food right then and there and either take it to go or you can sit down at a nearby table. Sometimes you have the option to sit in the restaurant portion, and it is usually a bit nicer seating and has more decor. The menu is often similiar, but it is significantly more expensive, and you are usually given bread (il pane) before your meal. The bread is usually included in the cover charge, which is anywhere from 2 to 4 euros depending on how nice the restaurant is. The cover charge generally replaces the tip that we would give in America. It is sometimes nice not to worry about doing the math that goes along with a tip, but at the same time if the service is less than acceptable I get frustrated I have to pay the cover charge. Especially if they do not even offer us bread!

Drinks are a whole different topic. Wine is commonly ordered for an entire group at a table either in 1/2 liters or full liters. (it's way cheaper than by the glass). Also, most of you know that in Europe you have to pay for water (or in Italiano acqua minerale). There are two types of water that you can choose from in Italy on a regular basis: natural water and "fizzy" water (which is just like sparkling water). Normally I just say con no frizzate (which means with no FIZZ). If you order water during dinner, you are usually given a glass bottle of water and generally you split it amongst the people at your table. It is usually around 2 to 3 euro per bottle. I find this pretty annoying because it seems like they will charge you for every possible thing they can in Europe. Customer service is definitely not their aim in most of Europe. They realize that us tourists are often desperate and will go through drastic measures to get we want. For this reason, the waitors do not normally come around your table mid meal and ask how your food is. It makes sense though because they are not really working extra for a tip. They usually just offer you minimum service where you have to ask for EVERYthing. Dont get me wrong, the food is amazing! It just comes with its pros and cons.

Thats about it for the dining topic. If you guys have any other comments or observations feel free to post it in the comment section!

I miss you all very much!

Differences between Europe and America

So I decided to take a good friend's advice and perhaps redirect the focus of my everyday blogs. I am now going to only give a day by day description of all my activities when I travel over the weekends. My other blogs while I'm in Florence will have a particular theme to them... of what you may ask? That depends on my mood I guess!

I thought I might start by talking about some of the main differences between Europe (especially Italia) and America. One thing that me and my friend Cierra noticed today is the road conduct in Europe. The vehicle is KING here. If you are a pedestrian-- watch out! There are crosswalks all over the streets of Florence but if you walk in them you still have to watch your back and look BOTH ways several times to make sure no crazy buses, fast vespas (mopeds) or angry cars charge your way. I am used to being able to walk blindly across crosswalks(practically) in Seattle because the drivers are trained to constantly be aware of pedestrians on the streets and if a pedestrian runs right in front of you and you hit them, 95% the time the driver is punished. This is even if this occurs in a non-cross walk zone. Crazy huh? This definitely not how it is done in Italy...

Also, the sidewalks are extremely narrow here in Florence. You have to practically dodge the people around you to get around them, and almost everyone in front of you is walking at what I like to call a glacial pace. I attribute this to the fact that they are on what we like to call "Italian time" a.k.a no rush, very leisurely, without any cares in mind. Us Americans may have something to learn from the natives of Italia, because they seem to be way more easy going, even if they are "fashionably late"-- to EVERYTHING! The Americans are constantly on the go- we always have places to go and people to see. One great example of this was after my last class of the day, which got got out at 12:40, me and Cierra had some essential errands to run before lunch at one. I had to get money from the atm (I was completely out) and she had to put down a deposit on an apartment that she and her boyfriend are going to rent out for 16 days later in January. The real estate agency was relatively close to school but the lady in the office did not understand that we were in a "rush," and had somewhere to be. She asked Cierra a million questions, took her sweet time, answered a phone call, and wrote up a receipt on her computer which took a good five minutes. Cierra thought she could just drop off her 200$ deposit and peace out. The Italians expect you to stay until the task is done-- in a well ordered and timely fashion. If you have somewhere to go, it can wait. After more minutes than we were thinking, she asked "would you like to view the apartment now?" Cierra and I look each other and she responds (again), "No thank you, we have somewhere to be right now...but maybe later?" Ha ha. We ended up booking it back to our pensione, which was a loonngg walk down Cavour. We were about 6 minutes late and our feet hurt so bad. Both of us are getting shin splints from walking long distances without supported shoes. Our own faults I guess ;)

That's about all I have to say. I am going to go to the library for another two hour study session, and right now I am sipping on my second, delicious caffe latte of the day. If you go to Italy, make sure you say you want a CAFFE latte and not just a latte, because they will give you just steamed milk hehe.

Arrivederci!

PS! The above picture is of me in front of a typical "vespa" that you would see on the streets of ITALY!

Southern Tuscany weekend

Southern Tuscany was absolutely gorgeous. I have never been to a prettier part of the world-- seriously! Although there was not much to do in this area, it was more than made up by the beautiful vineyards, the countryside, and the architecture.

We left for Southern Tuscany on the buses around 7:45 in the morning on Friday and the ride was about two hours (A lot less than past weekends). We first stopped at Montalcino, which is a small medieval town. It is known for their Brunello Wine. Once we got off the buses, Peter (one of my travel coordinators) led a group of us to a nearby historical castle (See picture above of me and Lillian in front of the monument). We then looked around for a cheap place to get something small for lunch. Me and Lillian stumbled across this little cafe which served sandwiches, coffee, and pastries. We ended up getting a caprese sandwich which consists of tomato, mozzarella, olive oil, and spinach on foccacia bread. It was so yummy!

We were there a little over an hour so we just looked around at the open-air market and local stores or bottegas as they call them in Italian. Once we all loaded unto the buses we were off to Sant'Antimo for a 1.5 walk, which led to a gorgeous Romanesque Church. This hike was mainly downhill the entire way and it first started off on a rocky path and then it narrowed down to a steep rocky terrain. I ended up getting quite a workout going on a downhill hike. I was actually very sore the next day! Quite the surprise... once the hike was over we visited the old church which had amazing architectural columns on the inside. There is a picture of the Romanesque church below.

We got onto the buses again and headed to Bagno Vignoni, which was the home of a small medieval spa that had hot springs. It costed quite a bit to get into the hotel-- 14 euro! But this included a lovely swim cap (see picture below of me and Lillian) that was required to wear inside the springs. I am still in awe of how the springs are continuously hot (like a sauna) all year long. How does it stay so hot all year?? haha. Apparently in the winter the hot springs steam all over. I think the hot water comes from underneath the earth or something scientific like that. Anyways, it was pretty cool and it was very relaxing. It smelled a bit like sulfer but it wasn't too bad.

We were at the springs for about 2.5 hours and then we finally headed to our hotel at Vescovado di Murlo. The town we drove into was extremely small-- there was only one bar in the entire town! It was almost refreshing though that there wasn't a huge night life; it allowed our group to finally relax and enjoy the nature surrounding us. We relaxed for about an hour and then our hotel provided dinner for us. It was alright-- we had pasta with meat sauce and then pork slices with gravy and green beans. The pasta was good but I am not a fan of pork so I was still pretty hungry after dinner. For desert we had ice cream cones. (kinda random-- reminded me of american icecream "drumsticks".) After dinner me and a few friends met at the one bar in the town and socialized for awhile and then me, Lillian, and my friend Elliot explored the town and my friend accidently fell in a construction site (see picture of her struggle below haha) She's OK-- don't worry! It was really funny at the time.

We had a curfew at our hotel for 11:30 so we made sure to get back by then. This is not your typical "hotel". The hotel was apparently opened just for our group because this is not a typical time of year that tourists visit. I'm not sure why-- Fall is so pretty in Southern Tuscany! The next morning we had breakfast at our hotel as well. It wasn't really a very satisfying Breakfast though-- it was just a croissant and yucky coffee. I really miss American breakfasts. We are talking your typical bacon and eggs, and omelets! Oh yes, and of course pancakes and syrup. I am not much of a Breakfast person, but I sure do miss my dad's eggs in the morning! (or the cog's omelets back in Spokanistan) Once we all got on the bus and headed to the vineyard where we were having our wine tasting. Peter suggested for us to where comfortable shoes, so it probably wasn't the best idea that I wore my cute new flip flops, but I ended up being OK (Hopefully the tendinitis foot doesn't come back!). It was quite the schlep up the mountain to the vineyard but it was definitely worth it. This place was phenomenal! We tried three types of wine: a white, a red, and a reserve red. I am not much of a wine drinker yet, but these were pretty good. I ended up buying the white and the red for my parents so we can share them when they come up here on the 31st.

After the tour and tasting at the vineyard, we stopped at the smallest town I have ever seen, Murlo. Basically we walked around an Etruscan museum for like half an hour and then walking around the town literally took less than 5 minutes. The town did not have any stores, or restaurants... just a museum and cute little houses and a great view of Southern Tuscany vineyards. The last thing we did as a group is visit Pienza, which is a Renaissance town of Pope Pius II. We were given a ridiculous amount of time at this location-- almost 5 hours! Me and Lillian basically just went shopping crazy and had a bite to eat at another local cafe. The town was quaint and had another great viewpoint of the countryside, but we were exhausted from walking around for that long. After Pienza we had dinner at our hotel again which was friend pork, french fries, and some red-sauce pasta. It was alright-- I am not always a fan of the planned dinners but at least I dont have to pay any extra out of my pocket.

That night I just hung out at the hotel (because there is literally nothing to do except go to that bar) and just chatted with some friends. The next morning I had Breakfast, and as a group we made one final top at San Galgano where we visited the abandoned Cistercian Abbey and the Chapel of Monte Sipei with the sword in the stone. Now don't get too excited-- the stone is one of five that claims to be the "real one". There is a picture of the abbey below.

That pretty much concludes my weekend in a nutshell. Sorry the entry was so long- its hard to write one post about an entire weekend that was full of things that I saw and did!

Ciao raggazzi!

A stressful week in school!

Its been so long since I have been able to write! This week has been crazy busy. Classes are finally starting to pick up so its been pretty stressful. This week alone I had my first Italian quiz, principles of marketing test, and oh yeah I got assigned a huge essay in my ethics class. Joy! The Italian quiz went really well- I got a 99%! I also stayed up with my friend Cierra until like 2:30 studying. That probably wasn't necessary, but you never know how hard the first quiz/test in a class.

Tomorrow we are heading to Southern Tuscany and we have to meet at school at 7:45 and load the buses. I am very excited! Apparently there is hot springs where you can go. I have never been to one so that should be interesting. I heard they are pretty but they smell... hmm... I think I'll take my chances and go! They are naturally hot and you are able to swim in there I'm pretty sure. Haha, we will see!

I am so exhausted right now. I have been running off a sleep deficit the past week. Ironically I got more sleep on my last trip to Cinque Terre than this past week at school. I have been studying up late every night and I went out one night just to take a break from studying. Perhaps that wasn't the smartest idea but I came back around 12:45 which was a lot earlier than my friends who went clubbing till 4 am. Geez!

Yesterday my introduction to florence class went to the the church of Santa Maria Novella. It was beautiful! The frescos were especially gorgeous-- its hard to believe all the artwork and building was done by hand in the 13th century! Take a look on facebook under "sight seeing florence" to see more pictures. I am including a picture from the tour yesterday.

Well thats all I have suprisingly. Today I was pretty productive and did some laundry-- I was pissed though because it ate my 5 euro and I ended up having to pay an extra 7 to do my laundry that is already expensive before they jipped me! Its annoying because there is no supervisor-- just a security camera by the door. Its bizzare. Anywhoo well I'm off but I'll write when I get back to Florence on Sunday evening.

Ta ta!

- Inside the Spanish Chapel

Lillians Complaint List, funny!

The following document is an official complaint list that my roommate Lillian is sending to the Dean of Gonzaga. I do not think she could have written this any better! I almost cracked up on a few of her points but we really are frustrated! She gave me permission to post this on my blog, because sometimes its interesting seeing a different point of view besides my own. I hope they fix up the problems around here! Haha enjoy the letter, its pretty funny!

From Lillian my current roommate:

On my medical forms, I explicitly stated that I was severely allergic to mold, and yet I was placed in a room filled with mold. It affected my health and eventually I was relocated, but now I am in a room that is constantly filled with cigarette smoke. I have asthma and cannot live with cigarette smoke. The smoke is blowing in through the windows. When we complained, they gave us a fan to blow the air back out, which is not effective.

· At first, we were given one desk for the two of us. When we complained, we were brought another desk with two drawers, but of which do not have handles. I have to pile everything on top of my desk rather than use the drawers.

· The cleaning of the rooms is inconsistent. My room has not been cleaned in over 3 days. My trash is overflowing, I’ve run out of toilet paper, the sheets have not been changed and there is dust piling up on the floor.

· In my first room, the main doors were French doors and one of them would fall off the hinges whenever we tried to open it. The bathroom door would not close, so there was no privacy. The toilet would barely even flush toilet paper, let alone anything else. When we took a shower, the water would leak all over the floor, which is a safety hazard.

· When we asked to be provided with hangers, we were given children’s hangers, which were not large enough to fit our clothing. We ended up having to buy our own hangers just so weren’t living out of our suitcases any longer.

· In our bathroom, there is one towel rack and no place to put the toilet paper. That would be fine if the entire floor of our bathroom wasn’t the drain for the shower. Our entire roll of toilet paper gets ruined every time one of us takes a shower. Then we have to both squeeze our towels onto one rack, which is a breeding ground for mold growth, which is a medical problem for me. It also is unhealthy for anyone to be living with mold.

· I don’t have class until 9:35. By the time I get to breakfast, all of the food is gone. When I ask if there is more food, I am told I need to wake up with everyone else at 7 in order to get food. I don’t think that is reasonable to ask of me.

· We don’t have internet in our pensione, which means that I either have to walk all the way to school to be able to use the internet to call home, or I have to pay for expensive phone calls. As a student, I need internet to do research, to stay in touch with professors, and get in contact with my peers who are in other pensioni.

· I go to a university other than Gonzaga and we base study abroad programs off recommendations. If our current living situation does not get improved or if those who have worse pensioni than other GU students don’t get partial reimbursements for the difference in living conditions, I will definitely be giving the GIF program a bad review. I don’t feel at home here in my room. There are constantly things I need fixed that just aren’t getting done. If we all had rooms with balconies that overlook the Duomo, TVs in our rooms, and consistent internet, that would be a different story. The unequal living conditions are unacceptable and unfair. We are all paying thousands of dollars to be here and it is not acceptable for some people to have luxurious rooms while others have to get sick from mold or shower over their toilet. I do believe that the difference in living conditions needs to be reimbursed to the parents who are giving so much to this program. We deserve better than we are getting. I will not recommend this program if things don’t change.

A weekend in Cinque Terre!

I had another fabulous weekend of traveling. This past weekend as many of you know I went with the Gonzaga group to Cinque Terre, which means five regions. This place is so beautiful! We had another great weekend of weather, and me and seven other girls were lucky in that we snagged the only 8 person apartment and the rest of the group stayed at a hotel about fifteen minutes walking distance from us. Our apartment overlooked the water and we had a balcony that we could sit and watch the ocean. It was gorgeous! Even though the apartment was less than par, the view made up for it. It was funny though because the guy only gave us three towels for 8 of us, and we had no toilet paper. We ended up snagging some from the hotel where everyone else was staying. Oh well…

The first night we got there we were pretty tired after having school and then traveling, so we ended up just finding a small little Italian restaurant and chatting for a couple hours. I found out that Pesto (which is basil, pine nuts, garlic, and olive oil) originated in Cinque Terre so I was stoked. Pesto is one if not my favorite Italian food, so I went crazy with the pesto this weekend. The first night I had gnocchi al pesto which was so yummy! It was very rich, but really good.

The first full day in Cinque Terre was consumed by a massive, intense five hour hike that toured all of the five regions. Apparently it is pretty impressive to walk through all five towns in one day so props to us! At first we started off with the big group and the tour guide, but me and my friends Emma and Courtney were a little bored with the speech (not to mention we could barely hear what he was saying) and the pace was as I like to say “glacial”, so we decided to venture off and do the hike at our own speed. This ended up being a great decision, because apparently they took a loonngg leisurely time and they stopped frequently commenting on this rock and that tree, and blah blah. I much rather just take my own pictures and walk steadily. I took some pretty cool pictures which are all on facebook as usual. Free free to check them out! This hike was probably the most gorgeous I have ever been on. It was very challenging though; there were TONS of stairs and 75% of the hike was just straight uphill. It was definitely a work out, but totally worth it in the end. Half-way through we stopped at one of the little towns and had a nice lunch. Among the three of us we split some water, bread, pasta with Bolognese sauce, and of course a pesto pasta dish! After that we had some gelato and got a water bottle and we were on our way for the second half of the hike. Apparently a lot of my fellow peers decided to take the train back after stopping for lunch and being totally exhausted. I am glad we stuck it through even though it was hell for half of it!

Later that afternoon we were all pretty sweaty and exhausted from the hike so we all took cold showers (unintentionally because there was no hot water in our apartment the whole weekend) and then we met up for a big group dinner. It was nice eating with the whole GU group; although being such a large group we were all pretty loud! The menu consisted of bread, white wine, pesto pasta of course, and swordfish. I loved it all except for those that know me, you know I hate seafood. But hey, at least I tried it! It wasn’t bad as far as seafood is concerned—it didn’t taste fishy but it definitely was not something I would order for myself on a regular basis. I ended up getting some vegetarian option that looked green and quiche like. It was alright, but I was just fine filling up on the pesto pasta. After dinner we all went to a local bar and socialized for a few hours.

On Saturday we were all pretty sore from the hike so most of us just chill axed at the beach all day. In the morning me and some of my friends were really craving an “American” Breakfast… ya know, the works: sausage, bacon, eggs, pancakes, French toast, you get the idea. Well, we were happy when we saw a sign that said AMERICAN BREAKFAST HERE! We were soon disappointed though because all they really had was eggs and bacon (which was incorporated IN the actual eggs). We were really craving some hardcore pancakes and syrup but I guess they just really don’t understand what an “all American breakfast” is. The food wasn’t bad—just not what we wanted. After Breakfast we went to the beach by our apartment and then we ran into some other students that let us know of an even cooler beach that was just one train stop away. We decided to go with them and they were definitely right… this beach had crystal clear water and the sand was actually sandy! (At most of the beaches the “sand” has really been just small rocks). A lot of our group had the same idea, as many Gonzaga students were already there by the time we got there. We were there several hours, and me and my friend Jen went into the water and got attacked by the huge waves. It was really fun body surfing and getting dunked into the water!

That night me and some girl friends had dinner at another little Italian restaurant and I had a pesto pizza. It was so good! And after we went to a local festival a couple train stops over. It was pretty fun- there was an open air market and a place that was serving free doughnuts and vino (which is wine). Once it got dark, we walked over to the beach where there were lit candles on small boats all across the water. Around eleven thirty we sat down and got ready to watch a fireworks show. It was spectacular! It was right off the beach where we were, so we got a great view. I had never been so close to a fireworks show!

Today we left pretty early around 9:30 (on the earliest train available) and it stopped in Pisa and then from Pisa we transferred to a train that took us directly to Florence. The whole train experience lasted around 3 hours and then we had to schlep our entire luggage from the train station which was at least a mile and a half. My back really kills- I have quite the gargantuan backpack. I tend to over pack but now I learned the hard way that I need to learn to pack lighter. Anyways… the rest of today has been filled with unpacking, catching up the roomie, and doing loads of hw. Also tonight me and 4 other girlfriends got reservations at this amazing Mexican restaurant by the Duomo. I had a chicken burrito that was to die for and a cranberry mojito. We were all really craving Mexican food so this definitely hit the spot.

Well I best be going—this was quite the entry! I hope you guys didn’t get too bored reading it. I’ll post more later!

*note* the first picture above is taken from the hike that I went on Friday. Pretty huh? :

The second I took during the fireworks show on the beach.

On my way to Cinque Terre!

In about an hour I will be loading the bus with my fellow peers and going to Cinque Terre! I am really excited. I heard from some of my friends back home who have already studied in Florence that this was their favorite side trip they went on. Apparently the five cities are all located off a large, steep hill. It will be interesting for sure; lots of hiking tomorrow but it should be good excercise. We are allowed to stop at various locations too to either shop, eat, or relax on the beach. I really hope the weather is good! It was such a surprise last weekend when it ended up being really warm in Elba. The bus ride to Cinque Terre is 3 hours long and we are free to take our own train ride back to Florence on Sunday. This will be nice not all traveling as a group because sometimes it gets a bit crazy.

As always, I will get you updated by taking lots of pictures! I am not bringing laptop because again, it is not probable that there is wireless internet. Plus, I am already on facebook enough as it is. I need to go out and enjoy Italy!

Next week is going to be pretty stressful in terms of school work. I have my first Italian quiz on Tuesday and then on Thursday I have my first mini test for my principles of marketing class. In addition, I have tons of journal entries to write for ethics and introduction to florence. OH! And my ethics teacher said he was going to give us our essay prompt next week. Kill me now! Things are picking up and I hope I can learn to balance all this traveling with schoolwork.

I forget if I mentioned it, but my parents are scheduled to come and visit me Oct 31 to Nov 10th. We are going to go to the academia where the statue of David is, and all the touristy spots! It will be nice to fill them in on all my adventures thus far in Florence. As much as I would like to call home and catch up, its super expensive and skype does not really work that well in my pensione because the internet is so unrealiable. I think its about as good as its going to get too unfortunately.

For all those wondering about the new room; I love it! The only bummer is we get a huge draft of cigarette smoke in our room. There is a window outside of Savanarola where guests and staff smoke. Unfortunately this is right by our room so we get all the smoke clouds into our room. Also, we are directly above the outside patio where people are free to smoke. I wonder if I should complain about it or just suck it up.

Well I am off to Cinque Terre!

Arrivederci!

A tour on the streets of Florence

Today we went on our walking tour throughout all of Florence. Most of the places I had walked around before but I was not aware of all the history behind all the buildings and statues. A few of the places we saw was the column of St. Zenobius, the baptistery of St John the Baptist, and the Roman theater. I will post more of my pictures on facebook for all that are interested in seeing more of the tour.

I still very much have my cold. Hopefully it will be over before this weekend. I don't want to be sick while traveling! I just checked the room listing today and apparently I am living with 7 other girls. We are living in a hotel that has an 8 person room. How bizarre! At least I am friends with 3 of the girls in my room. It should be fun; I just hope the weather is good!

Me and my friend Cierra are going to go to the theater tomorrow after Italian class and getting our "Maggio" cards. Basically its this amazing deal for students where you pay just ten euro for the card, and for every ballet, opera, etc we only have to pay an additonal ten euro for each show. Talk about a deal!

Today we had the best lunch ever! We had gnocchi (which is like small potato dumplings) with tomato sauce. It was deliciouso! For our main course we had grilled chicken with herbs and green beans. For desert we had a yummy orange. I loved it!

Not much else is new. Lots of people went out to the bars/clubs last night but I am sick so I had to stay behind. It was a pretty lonely night for me; I can count the times on one hand that I have felt really homesick but last night was definitely one for me. As much as I love it here, sometimes its nice just to have the comfort of the familiar. I talked to several of my friends from the states yesterday and its hard to know they are so far away. I guess this really is a true learning experience though. Hard times, good times... you gotta have them both to grow right? I just have to stay positive.

One thing that is exciting is me and my friend Cierra are in the process of making a trip to France one of these weekends to visit my cousin Julie. I have never been to France, so I am pretty stoked about it. She said she would tell us all about the area and perhaps she will give us a few tours! We are thinking either Oct 24th weekend or Jan 30th weekend. Its nice being able to travel on the weekends. I can't tell you enough how great it is having Friday's off of school!

Well I am going to maybe get some journal entries in for my Ethics and Introduction to Florence class. Next week I have my first marketing test, hopefully its not too hard!

Keep in touch everyone!

Arrivederci!