First day in Vienna

After a long and exhausting eleven hour bus ride from Florence to Vienna, we finally made it into our hostel called Meininger City Hostel around 3:00 A.M. At least the hostel is not too ghetto- there is actually a personal bathroom and SPACE! A lot better than the hostels in Paris and Innsbruck. And the best part is there is free, FAST internet! Woo hoo!

After a very short sleep, I got up around 9:30 and then got ready quickly and ventured down to Breakfast. It actually turned out to be pretty good- I had some delicious tea, some granola and cornflakes with regular yogurt, and a roll with cream cheese. Georgina originally screamed out, "Laura! Look! Its bagels with cream cheese!" I gasped and said, "REALLY!?" (bagels and cream cheese are hard to come by in Europe)and then someone bursted my bubble when they said, "no, its actually just a roll..." oh well. It was still good; I barely made it out though because one of the workers said that I had to pay an extra 1 euro to take things out of the eating area. I just simply explained that I was in a rush and I was taking this to go... she ended up letting me off the hook but said I should come to Breakfast earlier next time haha.

We all met outside the hotel around 10 A.M and then got a one day pass for the metro. Peter (one of our student life guides) took us all around on a walking tour even though it was cold, windy, and rainy. He is really incredible- he knows English, German, and Italian fluently. He grew up in Austria so he knows all the nooks and crannies (haha Chris :-p ) of the area. The architecture in Vienna is absolutely breathtaking. I love it! We walked around the "Ring" (New Gothic Town Hall, Parliament, Theatre, Heldenplatz, Imperial Palace, Spanish Riding School, Judenplatz with the
Memorial to the Jews of Vienna, and St. Stephen's Cathedral). The tour was definitely long, but everything was worth seeing in my opinion. We took a pit stop at a Starbucks, which I was very excited about. I got a
grande nonfat raspberry latte. It was delicious! It was a nice taste from home. Is it sad that I really miss Starbucks? OH man... I am such an American haha.

After walking around a few more hours and taking pictures and stopping at various locations, a group of us went with Peter to a local restaurant and sat down for a lovely lunch. Georgina and I split the famous German/Austrian dish called Weiner Schnitzel. This is like the 3rd or 4th time I have had this dish- I absolutely love it! I don't normally like pork that much, but pretty much anything fried is good (that's probably why the only seafood I'll eat is fried calamari- go figure). We also had a yummy class of wine that Peter recommended.

Once lunch was finished, Georgina and I got directions on how to take the subway back to our hostel because we were tired from the night before and needed a break. The other group went to the amusement park and went on the huge Ferris Wheel. I think this would've been fun to go to- but at that point I just needed some time to relax and take a load off. The normal me 6 months ago would want to be go, go, go but now I have learned the beauty and value of a few hours of pure relaxation.

Once we took the metro back to our stop, Georgina and I walked around our area and peeped into a few shops. They were pretty fun- we went into a mall type place with the most random assortment of department stores. I ended up getting some Loreal hairspray that was much needed, and a cute black/white purse that is big enough to hold all my stuff. I am kind of sick of carrying the same black H & M purse that I have had since the beginning of this study abroad trip. You guys should see my huge collection of purses at home! Its insane... really... After our little shopping adventure we went into a grocery store and got some snacks to have for later. I hate being without snacks; I hate the feeling of hunger and I am more of a snacker than a huge meal eater.

And for the past few hours I have been relaxing, uploading pictures (check them out on face book), talked to Chris on skype, and now I think I am going to take a brief nap before dinner/going out. I think Georgina and I are going to go to a hot dog stand near our hotel and grab a bratwurst or something; something easy to save some money. Food eats up all my money over here! It's ridiculous!

Anyways, that's the main highlights of my day with randomness spilled in. Hope all is well with everyone!

bye bye

A tour to Piazza della Signoria, Davanzati Palace, Orsanmichele, and Dante's area

Today me and the Intro to Florence group went to the Piazza Della Signoria, which is located near the fake statue of David, and the Uffizi Museum. We learned a little background of the Piazza while we stood in the center of it. We learned that all Ghibelline tower houses were destroyed after their defeat in 1267. It was created by Arnolfo di Cambio, and it was originally built to house the Signoria or government of Priors (Priori). We are currently learning about all these people and the history of the government in class. Next we ventured to the Signoria's Loggia. This project was traditionally attributed to Andrea Orcagna.

We then walked over to the Palazzo Davanzati, which was currently under restoration, so the entrance view was waived. It smelled like rubber cement in the whole building because they are cleaning the wood to depose of termites. Yuck! I thought the mini tour of this Palace was very interesting though. The palace contained all its original furniture and artwork. The second story consisted of a main room with holes in the floor to watch the customers entering the shop downstairs. It also housed a portable safe with a very elaborate lock (see picture). We learned about how to tell which era the furniture came in based on the wood structure and colors. Pretty cool :) Like for example, the bed in the picture above is in the Baroque period because you can see the transition to using gold which means it was done in the 16th century.


Next we ventured onto Orsanmichele which initially had a small church in this area built during the Lombard period (c. 700). The interior of this church was gorgeous- one can tell that this was not born a church since there is no central nave like the other churches in Florence. (see picture). The exterior was awesome too; during the first twenty years of the 15th century the 7 major guilds and 7 of the 14 minor guilds decorated the exterior niches of Orsanmichele with statues of their patron saints. Here is a picture of a sculpture I took outside the church.

Towards the end of the tour we went to the Palazzo dell'Arte della Lana. The Lana Guilt or "Arte della Lana" was one of the wealthiest of the 7 major guilds. Lastly we went to Dante's Neighborhood. We saw the Torre della Castagna, or Chestnut Tower. It was the meeting place of Guild directors (Priors) to judge and deliberate on the most difficult problems in the guild corporations. See picture on your left :) Just down the street was the Santa Margherita dei Cerchi, which was Beatrice's Portinari's parish church. Beatrice was Dante's long lost love-- as learnt in class. He always had a spiritual kind of love for her, but back then marriages were prearranged and they both ended up marrying other people, although he always truly loved her. It made me sad to think that marriages a lot of times were not out of love. I am glad things are not the same anymore! Apparently marriages were prearranged until the early 20th century. Yeesh!

That pretty much concludes the tour for the day in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed some of the history (thanks to my notes and handout from my Professor Carrara). The rest of the day will probably be spent catching up on homework and emails and such. I got my web cam to work, so I got to see Chris for the first time since I have left for Europe. It was very nice!

Uffizi visit with my parents

Today was a cloudy and rainy day in Florence. While I was in class, my parents walked all over town and went to Santa Maria Novella, the Santa Marco Museum, and a few other places. They definitely were on their feet all day!

My parents and I met up around 2:30 at their hotel and we walked over to the Uffizi Museum where we had reservations at 3:00. They recommended you to reserve spots to get into the Museum so that you can avoid the long lines that are formed outside the museum. It was definitely a good call! We walked right in and were on our way. My dad had his little Rick Steves book again, so he followed that throughout the large museum, and I listened to the audio version of the Rick Steves tour on my mom's ipod. She listened to it the night before so she could have a bit of the background before looking at all the artwork. I was very thankful to have the audio guide because it kept me from getting distracted (ha ha) and also it focused in on the highlights of the museum and the main pieces that are famous and have the most character.

After we walked around the museum for a good long time, we went into the bookstore and I got some postcards of my favorite pieces, as well a minature poster of my favorite painting called "Birth of Venus" by Botticelli. This piece is extremely well-known- but I was just struck by the colors and how the artist put all of them together so beautifully. I attached a picture of the piece :)

Anyways, we walked back and my parents got some overpriced, but very yummy gelato, and we took a couple pictures by the Duomo on the way back. Above is a picture of me and my mom in front of the Duomo. Even though I have been here for a couple months, I am still in awe of the church every time I am in front of it. It is absolutely beautiful!

So yesterday night me and Chris (bf) talked on the phone for quite awhile and we are starting to formulate his plans for his visit in February. I am so excited to see him! Its been way too long! He is going to leave Seattle in the early afternoon on Feb 1st (which I believe is a Sunday) and he will arrive in Florence around noon the next day (Mon). This is the same flight my parents took I believe... and then we are planning to go to Barcelona, Spain that next weekend. After my classes get out on Thursday we are going to leave, and then we will most likely get back on Sunday afternoon/early evening. I am stoked! Then he will go back home on Tuesday. It should be a nice trip.

By the way, I installed my web cam (thanks to my bro!) so for those that are interested in skyping with me and the web cam, I am down! :)

Well I am going to get ready for bed, its almost midnight here.

Buonanotte!

A lunch with my cousin Julie and her family

Today I had a great lunch with my my parents and my cousin Julie and her husband Thierry, and their 3 boys Benjamin (who is the oldest), Christopher, and Nicholas. They are just precious! Like I said earlier, this was the second time I have ever seen my cousin and this was the first time I had met her husband and their kids. We had such a great time!

I booked it over to the Duomo after class to meet my parents and the Motets, and from there we walked to this quaint little restaurant located close to the Archaeological Museum. I ended up ordering this delicious Penne pasta that had a ground beef sauce that was made of cheese and tomato. I also ordered a glass of the Chianti and a cafe latte after lunch. We were there for over an hour just chatting and making up for lost time. Julie is in the marketing field as well and so she told me all about her job and her husband works for Telecom in the financial field.

Above is a picture of all of us that was taken today. I am so glad that we were able to touch base through email. I am looking forward to my visit to Southern France next semester with my friend Cierra. She will be able to show me all around her area! :-D.

Today has been pretty rainy and cloudy... at least the weekend held up for my parents. It's finally starting to get colder, but we still have spurts of gorgeous and relatively warm weather!

Not sure what I am going to be doing tonight other than homework. I am hopefully meeting up with my parents for dinner and who knows after that.

Another great day with my parents!

Its been so nice visiting with my parents the past few days. They are having a blast in Florence and its been great for me seeing places that I haven't been to yet!

Today started around 10 am and I met up with my parents and we first went to the Medici Palace where many of the famous Medici family line lived. Michelangelo actually learned to sculpt at the location by having an "internship" for a few years. Interesting stuff, huh? :) The picture to your left is of one of the rooms in the palace that had gorgeous frescoes painted all on the ceilings.


After we walked around the palace, we ventured towards San Lorenzo where all the open air market shopping is (see post from a few days ago), and we went to the Medici Chapel where a lot of the Medici family is burried. My favorite part of the building was the chapel that Michelangelo designed which houses many of his famous sculptures such as "Night and Day" and "Dawn and Dusk". Too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures-- otherwise I would post one of my own! My dad was so cute because he has been researching all about Michelangelo and the famous artwork here in Florence that he was giving me a little tour of all the important sites in the chapel/palace. He also brought along his "Rick Steves" book which has a lot of good touristy information about famous locations. It was helpful to read when I had no idea what I was looking at. I might take a class on the Medici Family next semester (which is a continuation of the Intro to Florence class I am in now) so I will be a pro about the Medici family if I take that! I would probably be going back to both those locations on my tours if I decide to take the class. I am debating because although I think its great history to learn, I am already up to 15 credits and I would be taking 18 if I decide to add that one to the schedule. I don't want to be too stressed with school when I am studying here and learning about the culture. We will see what I decide to do...


After the chapel we headed towards the acaddemia and we saw Michelangelo's David! I was in such awe when I saw it. The sculpture was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. It is 14 ft tall and it is truly amazing. Me and my mom and dad listened to their little audio guide on their ipods. It was by Rick Steves of course... haha. We looked at some of Michelangelo's other marble sculptures, and we actually saw the original plaster figure of Michelangelo's famous Pieta. The current one is housed outside the Uffizi Palace in the Piazza di Vechio. We went over to that area yesterday, and I took the most gorgeous picture of the sculpture! We also looked at a small section of historical instruments. It was all pretty cool but overwelming seeing all of those places in a short perioe of time!

Once we were done looking around, we originally set off to go to my favorite place to get sandwiches called the Oil Shop, but unfortunately it is closed on weekends (which I didn't know)... so we ended up finding a fun little Italian restaurant and I got a delicious calzone (see picture) and my dad got this really yummy focacia with pruscitto cotto (raw ham) and arugola, and fresh shaved mozzerella. My mom got this eggplant dish, but neither me or my dad like eggplant so we couldn't vouch for itk but my mom said it was fabulous. We also split a 1/2 liter of white wine. Its interesting how they do wine here-- the cheap stuff (still great tasting though!) is in 1/4, 1/2, and 1 liter.

We were all so stuffed from lunch but my mom saved some room for gelato (she says she wants to have it once a day while she is over here!) so I took her to one of my favorite places. She got a chocolate kind; I was satisfied with just one bite because it was so rich! Then we walked over towards Santa Croce and found the leather school where students learn how to make leather products and they sell a bunch of cool leather jackets, purses, wallets, you name it they have it! We didn't get anything but it was fun to look around.

We were all so tired from walking all around that we decided to take it easy for a few hours and chill out. I went back to my pensione and relaxed and uploaded pictures on facebook, etc and they just hung out back at their hotel. A couple hours later we met up again to go to this gospel concert at a chiesa (church) near Santa Croce. I heard about it from the "Ciao" which is our little newsletter we get everyday via email from the student life office on campus. The singing was so upbeat and inspirational! I know my parents loved it too-they love soulful gospel music. The group almost sounded southern-- apparently they travel all over Italy and beyond and they have their own cd and everything. They were very talented for sure.

The concert lasted about an hour and a half and after we walked across the street to Istanbul (apparently its a chain!) and got kebabs. I recomended that they try them at least once while they are over here, even though they are not your typical Italian Cusine. They loved it! My dad got a beef kebab, I got a chicken, and my mom got a falafel. My dad was joking around that its funny that we went from an American gospel choir concert to a Mediteranean restaurant... in Florence. Haha oh well-- gotta experience it all, right?

Now we are all pretty pooped. We all went back to their hotel to make plans with my cousin Julie, who is visiting with her husband and their three boys from France. They are only here for the day tomorrow, so we are going to meet up for lunch and dinner. I am so excited!

Well thats all for now.

BTW Happy 21st Birthday, Kristina! :)

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! :)

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!

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!

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

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!