Cinque Terre

This past week has been my spring break. Not that I really needed a week off considering my weekends start on Wednesday anyway, but it's nice to have the whole week free. Believe it or not I have another break in a week for Easter. Have I mentioned how much I am loving it here!?! 

Anyway for my "Spring Break" I decided to head to the Mediterranean Coast. There is a place just south of the Italian Rivera called Cinque Terre (five lands). It's 5 beautiful little towns that literally sit on the coast. They are nestled in the mountains directly on the water. I only visited two of them as I stayed only two nights/three days, but I am going back and I think I will venture to the others. I spent the first night in Riomaggiore. It is supposed to be the first town of the 5 and if you hike through all of them, you'd start here. Needless to say I didn't do that, but I did find a nice spot on the cliffs to read in the sun :). That was the point of the whole trip, read, relax, and get some sun. Unfortunately it was just a little too chilly to actually lay out, but I definitely got some new freckles on my face lol. I stayed in a hostel that I shared with two boys from California. One of them had quit his job and been traveling Europe for the past 3 months and the other was his friend visiting him. They were interesting characters, but fun to talk to and keep me company. 

The next day I headed to Monterrosso al Mare. This is actually the last of the five towns, as I skipped Manarola, Corniglia, and Vernazza in between. But Monterrosso is the only town that had a decent sized beach so I was naturally drawn to it! I spent two days just laying in the sun, reading, and eating Caprese salads (fresh tomatoes, mozzerella, and basil). Who'd of thunk, I hate tomatoes at home but for some reason I like them in Italy. It's a good thing because it's used in everything here!

It was great being in Cinque Terre, but I was glad to get back to Verona. It really has become my home away from home, and I find comfort in returning after each of my trips. 

Next this upcoming week Mom and Lanie are coming to visit and we will travel down to Rome, the Amalfie Coast, Naples, and Pompeii. I can't wait as I've yet to make my way to Southern Italy. Should have some good stories coming up!

Ciao for now!

Dad and Alex Arrive!

After my wonderful weekend in Ireland, Dad and Alex arrived to spend the rest of the week with me. They go in on Tuesday and headed out Saturday with a trip to Lake Garda, Florence, and Venice in between.

At about 7:30 on Tuesday I headed to the train station to pick them up and we wasted no time. We dropped their bags off at their hotel and headed out to explore Verona. By noon I had showed them Juliet's Balcony, the Arena, Teatro Romano, Piazza Erbe, Piazza Bra, and Castle Vecchio. They were worn out after spending the last couple of days in Scotland, England, and France, so we had some lunch, I showed them my school and they went back to the hotel to rest. After class we decided to have pizza at the restaurant connected to their hotel and call it an early night.

The next morning after Art History class, I took them to Malcesine (a town on Lake Garda). It was a 2 hour bus trip either way, but we thought it'd be worth it since there was a lift we could take up into the mountains that would give us a 360 degree view of the lake. Lucky us we made it all the way there to find out the lift was closed for maintenance and the big castle in town was only open on the weekends. We made the most of it though and wandered through the cute medieval town, taking pictures of the lake and the alps. When we got back, I showed them my lovely apartment and we met a handful of the people from my program for dinner. We went to this great place that is an old church turned into a restaurant. Dad and Alex finally got to meet Kate, Jamie, the Annies, and my friend Dani. We had a great time, laughing and telling stories of our crazy adventures thus far. Luckily afterwards we realized the Annies and Dani could walk the boys back to their hotel because they lived in the same area, but I'm pretty sure they could have found their way back on their own. Verona is pretty easy to find your way around even after you are there only a day or two.

The next day we headed to Florence on a very early train. We arrived about 9 and decided to have a quick breakfast before we walked around. We made the mistake of sitting down to order our cappuccinos and ended up paying 5 euros for each of them. What made it worse was the guy was very rude to us and told us the prices were on the menu at our table (very hidden under numerous things). It was easier for dad and Alex to shrug it off than it was for me and they were the ones paying. But that is the second time I've been ripped off in Florence and was angry. It didn't spoil the day though as we made our way up to Michelangelo's piazza, to San Croce cathedral, the Duomo, and of course to the leather markets. After a long day we headed back home for another nice dinner and early to bed.

Friday we went to Venice for all of about 3 hours! They were both very tired at this point, but I insisted on them seeing Venice since they were so close. We walked through the wonderful maze of houses, sat for a bit in St. Marco's Square, and then hit up the street vendors for some excellent blown glass souvenirs. We headed back early in the day so the boys could do some shopping in Verona, and so they could try an apertivo. Apertivi are before dinner drinks, usually a spritz, that the Italians are very fond of. We sat in Piazza Erbe for a bit, walked around, and then had a nice dinner of lasagna. They had to catch a flight very early the next morning so we had to say our goodbyes that evening. I had such a wonderful time with them as they are very easy-going travelers. It was so good to see my boys and I already miss them like crazy, but luckily Mom and Aunt Lanie are come to visit in under a week. Not long after that Kate and a few girls from home will be visiting and then I come home. Time is flying by!

Ciao for now!

St. Patty's Weekend Festival

It seemed only right to send St. Patty's Day weekend in Dublin, so that's what Kate, the Annie's and 3 of my other good friends did! It was a wonderful weekend. Ireland was beautiful, even though we didn't travel outside of Dublin. We had planned to make our way to Galway on Friday of that weekend, but it was rainy and we'd been told not to make the 3 hour train ride if it was rainy. Galway is supposed to be beautiful, but it is mostly known for it's gorgeous country-side. We would have been walking around in the rain, so I think I am going to have to make my way back to Ireland hopefully in the near future and see Galway and more of the Irish country-side.

All we did all weekend was eat delicious food and meet nice people. We got to Dublin about noon on Thursday and found a pub that served us delicious Guinness Beef Stew so we sat, ate, and sat some more laughing and unable to move because we were so full. Guinness seemed to be the theme of the weekend as we ate Guinness Stew, visited the Guinness Factory, and of course had a pint or two of Guinness. Can't really call yourself Irish if you don't have a pint of Guinness watching the Ireland vs. Scotland rugby match at a pub ;)

We visited the very touristy Temple Bar area like Rick Steve's told us to, but found it to be full of Americans. Believe it or not we did not come all the way to Ireland just to meet more Americans, so we asked the nice waiter what other pub he would suggest for us. He told us that all of the college age crowd was heading to Quinn's that night, so we made the half hour walk there. It was a big bar that was near empty when we got there, but by midnight it was so packed we could barely move. The Irish boys are true to their stereotype...cute with their accents and pretty blue eyes, but always ready for a fight!! I think we witnessed 3 big fights in a matter of about a half hour. The best on was when a boy was asked to leave the bar. He of course could not just walk out without saying a few words to the bouncer, and in no time was fighting off 3 huge men. The bartender joined in on the action and leapt over the counter to help throw the boy out. All in all, he was no match for the bouncers and he was practically carried out of the bar.

On Saturday, we found a great place that served a great Irish breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, hashbrowns etc. I have to mention all the delicious food we had because I haven't had a proper breakfast in months! We were all so excited, we made a plan right away that we would go back the next morning. Don't get me wrong, Italian breakfast is great....delicious croissant and cappuccino, but it felt so like home to be having proper breakfasts and stew and mashed potatoes for dinner!!!! Enough about the food. After breakfast we headed to Kilmainham Gaol. It is the second largest unoccupied jail in Europe, and was used during the Irish Rebellions. It was a really cool tour, somewhat sad, but still really cool. Our tour guide said it is used a lot for movies and the TV show the Tutors films all of it's beheadings and hangings at Kilmainham.

Afterwards we had a tour of the Guinness Storehouse/Factory. It was a self guided tour through 7/8 floors of how Guinness is made, the 200 year celebration, and all the advertising campaigns done for it. The whole storehouse is shaped like a pint glass, so when you reach the very top you are supposed to be at the top of the pint. It is one of the best views of Dublin from up there since it is glass all the way around. It was great, you get to relax and enjoy the view of Dublin while drinking a free pint of Guinness. 

We headed back to a pub near our hotel to watch the rugby match in which Ireland beat Scotland. It was so fun to watch even though I really don't understand it. My flatmate Jamie is going to try to explain it to me better. But the best part was after Ireland won, the pub played all these great Irish songs while the whole pub sang along. Everyone we met was so nice and we could have listened to them talk forever (my absolute favorite accents)! Ireland is definitely a place I will come back to in the future!

Ciao for now!

Chocolate Festivals and BBQ

This weekend I ended up staying in Verona again. It was the most perfect weather, mid-upper 50s and sunshine....it couldn't have been more lovely. My favorite part of the weekend was the Chocolate Festival that went on from Thursday-Sunday. In the main Piazza of town, there were 50 booths set up of all different chocolate makers. Some made chocolate pastries, some had truffels and fruit covered in chocolate. There was a cute one that had chocolate formed to look like cheese wheels and little chocolate mice on them. Another one of my favorites was a man making big sculptures out of chocolate. Needless to say it was wonderful, and I had my fill of delicious chocolate for awhile!

My friend Dana and I went exploring yesterday around the area where we live. It was wonderful to just walk around and find new places. We were so inspired by the weather that we decided to have a BBQ for dinner last night! We made fresh corn salsa and hot dogs. The choices were a little limited on what we could buy for a BBQ, but it was delicious all the same. 

This week I have class until Wednesday and then Thursday morning we are leaving for Ireland! I'm really excited about the trip, and even more excited that when I get back, only have a day until I get to see my daddy and Alex! I'm so excited!!!!

Ciao for now!

New photos and NEW ROOMMATE!!!

I finally got around to posting all the pictures from the past month, so there are new pictures up from Venice, Florence again, Barcelona, and Lake Garda...just click on the link for the gmail albums called "first pictures of Verona". Enjoy!

So this past weekend Kate and I had a weekend of rest and relxation in Verona. The weather was beautiful so we just lounged in the sun, read books, and cooked great food. I read and finished both "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham and "Northern Lights" by Nora Roberts. Both really good if you have some free time. Playing for Pizza actually takes place in Italy so it was cool to have him talk about places I've already been!
The only bad part of the weekend is when we ventured out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town. It was delicious and Kate and I both got the nachos, but later on around 3 in the morning we both got food poisoning! That'll teach us for eating mexican in Italy!

So I woke up today to our crazy land lady barging into our apartment to tell us we're getting a roommate. We had no other notice and he actually moved in today. Yes I said he. His name is Jamie Priestley and he is studying abroad at the University in Verona. He's 22, from London, and goes to the University in Edinbourgh, Scotland. He's really nice and easy to get along with so I think he will be fun to have as a roommate. I will keep you updated on how it goes!

Ciao for now!

Barcelona

Well as I mentioned in my last note....my weekends start at noon on Wednesdays, so this past Wednesday I headed to Spain after class! It still amazes me that I can just hop on a plane for an hour and I am in another country. It's going to take some getting used to. So Kate and I made our way to Barcelona to visit my roommate from home (Ariana) and her boyfriend who are both studying there. Our plane got in at about 8:30 Wednesday night and we just crashed for the night since we were tired from traveling. The next day we met up with Ariana to do some walking and site-seeing. 

Barcelona is a huge huge city compared to Verona so it took some getting used to. I think that the difference in size of Champaign and Chicago would be a safe comparison. The weather was gorgeous the entire time we were there. Very much like spring when you can wear a cardigan and jeans out and the sun is shining all the time :) We stopped for lunch and Ariana and I split Patatas Bravas which are kind of similar to large hashbrowns in a spicy mayo sauce, and Paella. It was delicious and just the first of the amazing Spanish cuisine I would have that weekend. We walked around the entire rest of the afternoon and made our way to the beach. They have gorgeous beaches in Barcelona that sit right on the Mediterranean, so we went to bask in the sun for a little bit and relax. While we were sitting there we noticed a nudist woman doing yoga and some other work out on the beach!!! It was definitely the first time I'd seen anything like that, and the image of her doing yoga poses in the sand in probably going to be permanently burned in my brain lol. 

The weekend was wonderful overall. The weather stayed very nice the whole time and it was so great seeing someone I know and love so much from home. We spent a lot more time site-seeing and we made our way to Parc Guell and La Segrada Familia....2 of Gaudi's famous artworks in Barcelona. You should really look them up if you get the chance, I've never seen anything like it and pictures barely do it justice. We also did more authentic food tasting and I found the Croquettas to be my favorite tapas. 

One of Tedd's roommates is in culinary school in Spain right now and we were fortunate enough to have him cook for us the last night we were there. He went to the market first thing in the morning and got us fresh tuna and salmon to make us sushi and it was amazing!!! Besides it tasting amazing, it was plated so beautiful that I didn't want to touch it. He is going to be a great chef someday!

Spain's culture is so different from Italy or the US. They wake up early, eat late lunches, take siesta naps at 7-9pm, eat dinner at 10, and go out dancing from 2-7am! It is something my body is not used to and I barely slept the entire weekend I was there. Needless to say I am still trying to recover from no sleep, but it was fun and worth the experience. I think my favorite place we went was a night club called Sutton (not the english pronunciation, it's French) where they had a kind of mock Studio 54 set up with cool costumed dancers on stage. I think next time we go we are going to venture out to the clubs along the beach. They are supposed to be fantastic, but they are kind of far away.

I am fortunate enough to be spending one of my spring breaks in Barcelona, so I will be back in a few weeks to soak up some major sun and see more of the city. It is very big and kind of overwhelming city at times. Especially since I had to forget all the Spanish I learned in high school because it confused me when learning Italian. One the other hand it was nice to be in a place that kind of reminded me of home. I am very excited to go back!

Ciao for now!

New classes=weekends start on Wednesday at noon!

I've started my new classes and I absolutely love them!! Mondays are a little long because I have Theater in the morning and Italian in the afternoon. I think that Theater is going to be my most challenging class, but I do still enjoy it. We are learning about Greek and Roman theater and we get to watch different plays. A lot of the class is in Italian though, so it is very difficult. We are not allowed to just say single vocab words as answers either, Georgia makes us try to put together full sentences before she will answer us. It is great practice, but it is very frustrating and it is the only class I have where I find myself looking at the clock at all. 

Italian 2 is with Maurizio again and I'm thrilled. All the girls that were in Italian 1 with me are also in 2, along with about 5 or 6 other girls. It is a strictly conversational class, so it is more frustration, but Maurizio is patient with us and we laugh a lot!!

On Tuesdays I don't have photography class until 2pm so I get to sleep in! My teacher's name is Mauro Fiorese and he's actually a famous photographer. You can google him and find his website, and it's actually very impressive. The first day or two we watched videos and learned about the history of photography, but now we are learning new picture taking techniques on our digital cameras. He always teaches us a new technique then we go out in town and try them out. It's always super interesting and he is a really laid back teacher so it's nice. 

My last class is Wednesday morning and it's Art History. It is by far the most fascinating class I am taking! We are learning so much from roman mythology to history of ancient Rome. Our teacher Andrea is the cutest little guy. He has his nose pierced and I've noticed he is a little nervous when teaching and says "Va bene" a lot which means ok or it's good. This class only goes until 12 pr 12:30, so after that I am done for the week! It is so nice to be able to relax for the rest of the weekend or travel somewhere for a long weekend. The other nice thing is that we don't really get homework for any of our classes. This is the way it should be in America.....it's so not stressful and I think it is conducive to great artistic abilities!!!

Ciao for now!