IL mondo è mia

So i guess its that time for my super sad and depressing last post. I am going home tomorrow! Im getting on a train and going to Bologna then to Copenhagen then ill be in good old Chicago. The thought of being in my house, seeing my friends and family, being in the familar is absoutely frightening. I have become so used to being here and the living the life style going home is really going to be different. This city has not just been a town i go to college in, it has become my home. I have created a family here. My roommates, my sisters. Samantha, the woman from the bakery down stairs our mother. My apartment, my home. This place has become a part of me and i will never forget it or the experiences i have had. Waking up everyday and walking past the duomo. Eating the fresh food. Hearing italian and pretending i know exactly what they are saying. Trying to speak italian and pretending i know exactly what i am saying. I am truely going to miss this city. It has made me a stronger and more independent woman and i know where i want my life to lead me. I have made a promise to myself that the people i met here will not just be a memory but ever lasting friends, I promise to learn from my adventures and use the lessons to become a better person every day, i promise that one day I will return again and see the place that i called my home for four months with new eyes, I promise to live every day like it is my last and to appreicate all things in life, i promise to never give up on my dreams and to never stop dreaming. Thank you Florence for giving me the best four months of my life.

Il mondo è mia.
The world is mine.

To be a travler.

My life on this adventure in picture quotes.

Hiking in the alps

So our trip started off in Verona. We stopped at a castle that used to guard Verona and saw the old roman bridge it was cool still had some original stone. Then we went to the church that showed a panormaic of Verona. Very cool, the piazzale michangelo of Verona. We saw the infamous house of Juilet and the old court house and government building, a few more buildings importaint to Verona and the arena. It was a beautiful day, we had some free time at the arena so we walked around there for a little bit. It was like a mini collesum. Cool to see because its still in tact and is used for shows and concerts. Then we got on the road and drove to Lake Garda, Sirmione. It was so beautiful. The land is a peninsula so it was surrounded by the water and beach. The water was so cold but it felt amazing! There was a cool old castle that was surrounded by a moat so that was awesome. I loved it there! Then we went to Trento. We got to our hotel and had dinner. It was traditional 3 courses and was very good! After dinner we walked to the historical center and saw the duomo, it was night so it was lit up. It was very pretty. Nothing like florence but pretty. After we got back we passed out to get up early for day 2.

We drove through these towns that were literally built into the side of the mountains it was incredible. Once we got to madonna di campiglio we met our guides and began our tour we saw two waterfalls and this open area with an amazing view of the mountains! The one waterfall was so big it was 3 falls pouring into one the second was so tall to get to the top we crossed bridges build all the way up. The trail it self was slightly dangerous.. no rails, narrow paths and a long way down! But it was amazing. Breathtaking and unbelieveable!! I conqured hiking the Alps im very sad this is my last trip and that my time in italy is coming to an end. Next weekend im spending time with family because i dont know when i will ever see them again

But in 2 weeks from today i will be sleeping in my own room, my own bed and curled up with my nephew (because hes not leaving my sight for at least 24 hours). I can’t believe how fast these next 14 days are going to go..

Ciao!

Munich, Germany 25/4/2013-28/4/2013

This weekend I got to go to Munich for springfest. It’s the second largest fest compared to Octoberfest. We got into the hostel around 2 because we had to make an extra stop becuase of the stupid law that the bus driver has to stop every 4 hours. We got to our room and passed out.

Friday we got up at 8 had breakfast and went down for the walking tour. The tour was 2 hours long and took us around to some great spots in munich. Not

only was it a historic tour it was fun. It being springfest it was a beer drinking tour. We had 6 kegs that Were on wagons and we pulled with us. It was a great time. After the tour was over we went to the hofbrahous for lunch it was so cool. Lunch wAs great. We went back to the hotel and then left for spring fest at 5 it was much closer to our hostel than the tour was. Once we got there it was not what i expected it was litterally a festival. There were rides and games and prizes and food and of course beer tents. There were 2 tents one held 2500 the other 3000 people. You can only be served if you are sitting down so it took us forever to find a seat and get our beer but it was a blast. People on benches people on tables on the floor people everywhere. There was a band and they played both traditional german music and regular music a lot of it in german. It was cool as well because everyone was dressed up in traditional outfits! The only Weird thing was in Germany you need to be 16 to drink beer so a lott of the people there Were super young kids. It’s basically the summerfest but all the high schoolers can get drunk. It was still fun and the night couldnt have ended any better but with fireworks! My fav! It was beautiful weather and a great start to the weekend.

Saturday we got up early, had breakfast and went to dachau concentration camp. It was not what I thought it would be like but it was very intense. It was heavy. The things we Were reading and the stuff we saw it was crazy I can’t believe that the things I learned about in class I was seeing with my own eyes. I didn’t know dachau was the 1st camp and was used to model they other ones. On our way back we tried to take this path of rememberence that the prisioners took from the train to the camp but we got lost and took a bus back. We got some brats for lunch and bought sme souivners and went back to the fest. When we got there they already made a line and we had to wait but things got crazy and all of a sudden people were charging the doors and we just got out of the way.after about an hour we got in and it was a blast we sang and danced and had a good ole german time. It was fun!

Sunday morning we got up had breakfast and checked out of the hostel. After we checked out we walked around town and saw some sights and then went back and waited for the bus. The bus was late of course abut finally it arrived and we made our way back to florence. On the way it was slightly raining in austria and after it stopped we saw a beautiful rainbow and a lil later another one. I have never seen anything like it. You could see it touch the groud it was so beautiful!

Paris, France 19/4/2013-22/4/2013

The flight was actually really easy. Super fast and other than the baby next to me who cried a lot the almost 2 hour light was only about 1.5 hours. When I arrived in Paris I took a cab to the hostel. As we Were driving I saw the top of the Eiffel Tower and it literally took my breath away. I’m pretty sure my driver got lost because He kept looking at his maps and driving in circles and at one point He just stopped the money counter haha i felt Kinda bad it was about a half hour drive from they airport. Once I got to the hotel I went down to the bar had dinner and listened to the live music it was a nice way to end my night before my busy next couple of days.

Saturday I got up at 6am, had breakfast and hopped on the metro to go to the Louvre. It was amazing. I was almost first in line and it was not crowed at all. I can’t believe how beautiful all the things there were. I spent over two hours there and I’m pretty sure I barely saw anything. They had a large egyptian exhibit which was very cool, i spent a lot of time in there. After I left the Louvre I went to the Museum d’Orsay. It was more paintings than sculptures but it was very cool. I spent over two hours there as well. After I walked around a little I found my way to the Love Lock Bridge. If you know the legend it says that if you take a lock and write the name of your friend, partner, whom ever you want and throw the key into the river you will be forever tied to that person. So I wrote Stephanie’s name on it and threw the key into the river. Now she will forever be tied to Paris, I thought that was only right to do. After I left there I had some lunch and went to Notre Dame. I lit a Candle for my friend Donna, She is battling cancer now and I said a prayer for her to beat it because I believe she can! After I walked around for a little bit and found a park with a really cool building and just sat there for a little bit. I still had time to kill so I hopped on the nearest metro and just got off and walked around. I found the Opera house so I sat on the steps and listened to a man who was singing outside. He was very good! Then I made my way back to the Sainte Chapel had dinner, changed into my nice dress and saw my opera concert. It was amazing. Beautiful place and beautiful music. I had an amazing time, can’t wait for my birthday tomorrow!

I was able to be on skype with my sister and nephew and On the phone with my mom when the clock stroke midnight in paris. It was so emotional for me not because i was not with them , i am usually at school for my birthday but because of being in paris and being able to talk to them both and idk i was tearing up. On Sunday i woke up again at 6am to start my day. After breakfast i got on 3 different trains to get to Versailles. It took forever to get there. But i spent over 2 hours there just walking around the gardens i didn’t want to spend the whole day so i hopped back on the train and back to paris. I got off at the Eiffel Tower and as i walked up and could see it whole with my own eyes, i literally couldnt breathe. It was so amazing it took my breath away. It isn’t as tall as i thought it was but man its huge. After finally standing in line for 2 hours i was up on the second floor. I walked around took too many pictures but man was paris even more beautiful from above. After i came down i got to talk to mom and dad and nick and that was great! I had dinner at the cute place i found after i saw the Arc d’Triumph i had steak it was great. Then walked around and now back at the Eiffel Tower for the sunset and light sho. What an amazing birthday!! Couldnt have asked for a better day

(There have been a few moments through out this trip where i have said. I can’t believe im here. Im actually doing this or seeing that but sitting here on the Eiffel Tower looking out over paris i have once again realized how truly blessed i am that i am here. Not just here in paris or florence, how truly blessed i am that i am alive. That i have family and friends that love and support me. That i know at the end of this amazing semester my life will have been changed and those people who care about me and who i care about will be able to see that change. I believe that there are things out in the world i cannot change and that is okay because even if i don’t know right away the reason i know that everything happens for a reason. I feel like i have missed so much at home but really you all are missing so much here. Life is all about the small things so appreciate them because you never know when tomorrow wont come and today is your last. So make every minute of your life mean something, make every moment count.)

So It’s finally monday and my last day in Paris. I checked out of my hostel and went to Sucre Coire. It was very pretty, you could see for miles. All of paris, it was a beautiful day for this. After I went to see Moulin Rouge. It was not what I expected. If you didn’t know any better you would just pass it on the street. It was not like the movie! Afterwards I headed back to the Louvre area for some shopping and on my way to the airport i stopped at Luxemburg gardens. I sat there for a little while but it started to get chilly so I got some food and headed to the airport. I sat there for a little bit and then got on the plane to come back to florence. I loved Paris and I can’t wait to visit again. Best weekend of my life!

busy busy busy

Ciao a tutti! sorry I have been busy with school and traveling I have not been able to update lately. Last weekend I went to Paris for my birthday which you all know and it was amazing! The best weekend of my life. I will post a blog on that trip shortly. Tomorrow I leave for Munich Germany for the weekend so as soon as I get back I will post about both places but I wanted to give you a little update :]

 

24 more days and I’m back in the states.. this trip has gone by to fast!

Italiano post

Arrivo a Parigi fra 3 giorni. Sono felice ma triste. mi auguro steph poteva essere con me, ma lei non può. Mi manca lei. Vorrei vedere effiel tower, arc de triumph, notre dame e più. dopo il fine settimana è finita, sono triste a tornato a firenze. sto per l’opera alla chiesa su sabato e ci sono molte persone che vanno alla opera. Fatto!

Va bene. Tutto in italiano. No Lo so è bene. Aiutòme è non va bene.

Grazie e ciao.
Baci tutto

——————————-

I arrive in paris in 3 days. Im happy but sad. I wish stephanie could be with me but she cant. I miss her. I want to see the effiel tower, arc de triumph, notre dame and more. After the weekend is over, i will be sad to return to florence. On saturday i am going to an opera at a church and there are a lot of people are going to the opera. I’m done.

okay. everything is in italian. i dont know if it is good. help me if it is not okay.
thank you and bye
kisses to everyone

aggiornare su mia vita

So I figured since I didn’t go anywhere last week and i’m not going anywhere this weekend this blog would just be a quick update on life. So I have been super productive the past week. I have been writing a lot of my papers and doing stuff around my house. Even though I didn’t go anywhere it was nice to be in Florence and do stuff here. It has been a beautiful past few days and I have loved walking around without a coat on!

I got my grades back from midterms and I rocked them. 2 A’s 2 B’s and 1 C but it is a high C so that will be a B no problem. I guess i need to participate more in class. There are only 5 weeks left of school and then its SUMMER! I cant wait, i just wish my summer was here not back in swood.

I leave for Paris next Friday and I will be gone until Monday which means my birthday is in 11 days! Paris is going to be amazing even though I wish someone was there with me but she will be in spirit.

Well thats all folks. io penso che mia prossimo post sara in Italiano.

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and  leave a trail” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Corfu, Greece 28/3/2013-1/4/2013

So we had to be at the train station at 7 to catch the bus, my family was still in florence and they were catching a train at 7 so i was up even earlier so i could meet them at the station and say bye! It was sad to see them go but that meant i was going on sring break to Greece so it was okay and it means the semester is half over and ill see them soon. We got on the bus and it was a four hour drive to the port of Ancora. We watched 21 jump street, friends with benefits and napped. Before we knew it we were there.

Once we arrived in Ancora we had to get on a ferry to Ingelesia. This was a massive cruise ship. I have never been on a cruise before so it was awesome. There was food and bars and a disco. The trip was 13 hours it was a long night. We had dinner and then we found some friends! We started playing some games and then made more friends Tom, Nate, Greg, Becca, Chelsea and Brittany and we hung out with them the whole rest of the weekend. We finally passed out around 2, we just found some floor space and got comfy it was so much fun we had a blast the first night and we weren’t even in Corfu yet!

We arrived around 8,30 to the port and we basically had to run to the second ferry that took us to the island bc the ship was so behind. We had to take a 2 hour ferry which was much smaller to the island. Once we got their we checked into our rooms, showered and went to get some lunch. Lunch was so cheap and amazing! After we went down to the beach which was covered in rocks instead of shells and some were so beautiful! So of course i took wayyyy more than i needed but they are so cool. We ran into our friends and we went down to the hot tub. This hot tub was huge. There were at least 50 people in there and still more were coming. we hung out in there for a while then went up to dinner. after the hot tub we went back up to the boy’s room and watched the sunset. We just hung out, it was a blast. Then we went down to Dinner, it was just as amazing as lunch if not more. The food in Greece is just fantastic. After dinner we went back into the hot tub and basically hung out in there the rest of the night. Then went up to bed around midnight because we had to be up early to sign up for activies the next day and it was getting cold out.

[For Trish: I will not change this paragraph. I wrote it when I got home from the toga party and was intoxicated, you asked for a drunken post and here you go.]

So we woke up at 7am to get in line for the booze crusie foor 10am but when we got there noone was there so why did they tekl us to get therwe at 7am!? So we waited till 9 and a ton of people gpt in front of us. But its okay we all wer able to sign up. So the crusie was like an hour late but it finally got tbhere and we hasd to swim out to the baot it was so cold but you got usdd to it but it was windy so the waves were higb and it was scarey. But we dfinally got on but i lost my waterbbottlkwe and my green ahorts but thbey were my favorite im really sad. Then we started drinking and things got weird. Im sad because it was so windy so i couldnt cliff jump of snorkle im mad bc thats the main reason i signed up but its ojay it was still a good time but things def got weird! Then when we tried to get to shore the wavges were so high we had to go halfway sdown the beach to anchor then jump out but it was dso hard to swim and tbhe water was gross! Then we jhopped in the hot tub and then came back to the rrom to relazzx around 8 we got out togas for the party and when to dinner. After dinner we rpegamed then at 10 went to the party it was fun we had pink togas and we had a lot to drink and a lot of oozu it was not awesome but other than that the drinks were gresat im pretty drunk. I got a plate smashed on my head and saw greek dancing and a man picked uip a tgable with his teeth! It was grewat but now im in bed and going to sleep gotta sign up for atv at 8 and its alrwsady 3 woo hoo lets get greecey!!!! YOGO

Ps the rooms spinnging woohoo

We got up today at 830 which was rough because of daylight savings plus Greece is an hour ahead of Italy. We went downstairs to register but because it was pouring we couldn’t atv. So we went down for breakfast. The stairs down to the beach (which was way more than i could count) were made of marble material so they were so slippery. I slipped and fell and now im super hurting . Im clumsy enough without adding water and dangerous surfaces. Im pretty sure i sprained my wrist, twisted my ankle and bruised my butt. Im in a lot of pain! but we had breakfast and hung out in the beac house and read our books and enjoyed our day. We met up with our friends and just hung out with them the rest of the day. We had to be checked out and ready to go at 5. We had to be back at the ferry by 630. While we were on the ferry we were jamming out and looking and pictures and we all felt like we were in the movie The Hangover, no one remembers taking half the pictures we were looking at, it was so funny. Lets get Greecey!! The saying for the weekend and YOGO: You Only Greece Once. Once we got to Ingeleisa we had to wait until 11,59 to catch the ferry back to ancora. But of course the boat was late. About an hour we got on about 1 and left about 145/2 which super sucks. Im tired and in Pain and need some ice and im just ready to be home. The second boat back to Ancora was so late getting home because we were going against the current. we were supposed to dock around 4 and we didnt dock until about 8. Then it took about 4 and a half hours to get home. We pulled into Florence arounds 12,30. Minus all the travel it has been an amazing weekend and a spring break that can’t be topped!

An amazing week with my amazing family

Thursday night i took a train right after my midterm and went to the airport to surprise the family. I stayed the night in bologna with them. I took them to their first real Italian restaurant and we all got pizza and they were so surprised how big the pizzas were. But it was very good. After we went to get some gelato and they loved it!

We left bologna Friday morning to get the bus for an 11,18 train but of course it would only happen to us that the buses were on strike, so our bus never came!! We walked the other direction to get on the airport bus but it was too full so it wouldn’t stop. So then we finally walked back to the hotel and called a taxi. The time is now after 12 so we had to change our tickets and we got on the 12,53 train to Florence, and finally we were in my beautiful city!

Friday I showed them around Florence. I showed them my apartment first then we got lunch downstairs and they loved Samantha as much as we do. Shes such a cute little women. After lunch we went to piazza signora and saw palazzo vecchio and the loggia, the duomo, the republica, the ponte vecchio and we had dinner at gusta pizza the best pizza place in florence!!

Saturday we left to go to Rome at 5am. Super early start of the week. Once we got to Rome we started to walk around a little bit and then realized it was going to be too much to see so we did a tour bus called Hop on hop off. We went and saw the Colosseum and the trevi fountain. Then came back and checked into the hotel we got some food by the hotel and then walked around some more. We saw this huge castle type building and it was this so cool! We also got to see Vatican city at night but we couldn’t get that close because they were blocking the streets for palm Sunday. After we got to the hotel me, mom and dad walked around a little bit and got our tickets for Pompeii

Sunday morning we left for Pompeii at 7am. We took the train to Naples then had to catch the metro to Pompeii we walked around the ruins for about 5 hours and still barley saw half the place it was amazing the most incredible thing i have ever seen. So much history, It is a place I have always dreamed of going and I will never forget that!!  We didn’t climb the Mount Vesuvius because we were running out of time and the waiter said its a waste of money and time because you cant really see anything. So we had lunch and headed back to Naples. We walked around Naples for a little bit and then we caught the train home. Me and mom and dad walked around again once we got to Rome. It was really nice to be able to spend that time with them i feel like we never do anything like that at home.

We got picked up by Michela and Domenico in Rome and went to Ortucchio on Monday. Its about an hour East. It was so amazing to be able to meet more of our family and see some i have already met again. My nana got to see where her family lived and got to sleep in the same room her nonno did. How special is that!! Once in a life time. We had an aperitif which i love and an amazing 3 course real life Italian lunch and dinner which Loredana and Michela made and it was so delicious!! Mi piaceva molto. Michela, Luigi and Melinda showed us around town and Gianluca met up with us for lunch! It was so good to spend time with them again!! We saw the church in town had a tour of the castle in town and after we all went to the farm they have. My family produces potatoes and nochies that they distribute all over Italy. We had an amazing tour of the factory, we got to see how everything works and had a taste test it was so much fun. We were laughing and crying and having an amazing time with everyone all day. Despite the language barrier we are family and boy could you tell  I cant wait to go back in may before i leave and spend a whole weekend with them!

Tuesday morning they dropped us off back in Rome near the Vatican city and we went into St Peters church and walked around, it was remarkable!! Im so glad we got to see that in person and despite the rain it was beautiful! Afterward we took the train back to Florence, had some dinner and checked into the hotel.

Wednesday we went to pizza Michelangelo, the market, had zazas for lunch which is my favorite place in Florence for pasta, went to the ponte vecchio during the day and saw all the jewels, saw some of ufizzi from the outside and went back to my place. The family met Jamie, one of my roommates and we hung out for a little bit and went back to the hotel because we all had an early morning on Thursday.

They had to catch the train to bologna and head back to the airport and I had to catch a bus to Greece at 7am. It was hard to say goodbye because i loved having them here and having the chance to show them my life here. I miss them already, but now they know why i love it here so much. Also now its only a month and half until i see them again.