venerdì 13 maggio 2011

Last Day in Firenze :(

This week was a hectic week with final exams, packing, and checking off everything on our Florence bucket list. I leave early tomorrow, and even though I am sad to leave this amazing city, I can’t wait to be back home. With this experience, I feel that I have gained a great sense of confidence and maturity. After travelling throughout so many different countries I also feel more patriotic than I already was. I didn’t realize how good we have it until really experiencing other cultures. I thought I’d write a list of things I will miss in Florence and what I can’t wait for back home so I can remember my trip better when I am older.

What I’ll Miss
-travelling
-my roommates
-being of legal drinking age
-the Italian food
-walking everywhere in the Florentine streets
-living in the moment

What I can’t wait for at home
-to see my family
-Topher
-my bed/own bathroom
-to be able to use my debit card everywhere
-mexican food
-Tivo/going to the movies
-to bump into someone on the street and them actually apologize (no one can ever call an American rude)

Here are some pictures we took during our last week
4 Roommates at the farewell dinner

Me, Julia, Tiff, and Kat at the farewell dinner



last real Italian pizza at Gusta Pizza

Kat Tiff and I at Gusta Pizza

Kat and I at Piazzale Michealangelo

Again


Roommates






mercoledì 11 maggio 2011

Mom's Trip to Italy

On Wednesday my mom and Patrick flew into Florence. It was a last minute trip, but I was super excited to show them around the city. I met them at their hotel after a brutal flight and no sleep. I took them down Via Tourbouni and then into my favorite piazza, Repubblica. After that I showed them the Duomo, Patrick had never heard of the Duomo before so it was funny to see his face when we turned the corner and were standing in front of it. I then took them to Salumeria Verde for lunch, which is my favorite sandwich shop. After that, I took them to the piazza next to my house, Santa Croce. I showed them my apartment and they were also impressed with the coziness. Later on we met up for appertivos across the bridge in a non-tourist part of Florence. We went to Nengrone for appertivos and to experience the Florentine lifestyle, and then we walked to Mama Gina’s for dinner. By this time Patrick was discussing his plans to move to Florence because of his love of Italian food and red wine, he was sold. After dinner we of course had to stop for gelato on the Ponte Vecchio to finish a very authentic day in Firenze.

On Thursday my mom and Patrick went on a tour of Siena and then on a wine tour while I had two class presentations. We met for dinner that night at Acqua al Due, which is a famous restaurant in Florence that recently opened another on Capitol Hill.

On Friday I met up with them around lunch time and took them to another sandwich place, Al’antico. We went to two different leather markets where I finally got dad the bag he wanted and Patrick bought some belts. After some vigorous shopping we sat outside at Gilli café in Piazza Repubblica for some cappuccinos and canolis.  I then took my mom down my favorite shopping street Via Corso while Patrick was ripped off on art. We caught some sun and hung out in Santa Croce for a little before heading back to the Ponte Vecchio to jewelry shop. My mom had her nose pressed on each window for about 20 minutes. Earlier in the day Megan and Heather (my future Crawford roommates) had arrived in Florence. They were doing a 2 week tour of Europe after their semester in Barcelona ended. I left my mom and Patrick for the night and went to meet up with Meg and Heather and Nikki to have a roommate reunion dinner and night out. We went to pizzaiuolo for dinner and then back to the apartment to meet my roommates and get ready to go out. We all went to a new discoteca, Central Park, and had a lot of fun.

The next day I was supposed to meet my mom and Patrick at the train station at 6:30 am to go to Rome. Unfortunately I had a little too much fun the night before and woke up to a 6:40 am phone call from my mom. I got a taxi to the train station and surprisingly had money in my wallet to pay for it. I sprinted into the station, and we made it on the train with about 30 seconds to spare. Straight from the station we checked into their hotel and then were off to the Vatican museum for our 4 hour tour. The Vatican museum was the one thing in Rome that I still really wanted to see, which is why I went to Rome with them for the day. People had told me that it’s absolutely amazing if you get a great guide, sadly we didn’t. I also felt like we were on an ESL tour. So about 45 minutes in, we used our guide book and conquered the museum. After the museum we went to St Peter’s basilica, and I still really enjoyed it even after seeing it twice before. We then went to lunch, and after that I was sent back on a train to Florence to meet up with Heather and Megan. Nikki and I took them to Dante’s for a long Italian dinner, and since we were all still tired form the night before we just showed them the bars and walked around.

Sunday was mother’s day and my mom and Patrick got back into Florence sometime that night. We met for a mother’s day dinner in Borgo Antico and celebrated with a lot of good food and wine. After dinner Tiff and I took them to vivoli so they could try the world’s best gelato.

Monday afternoon I met my mom and Patrick after my exam for some lunch outside at Il Ghibilini Ristorante. I then took them to my grocery store to show them what I usually buy and what is offered. My mom kept saying Europeans must freak out when they come to America and go in a Costco. After that I took them to Piazza Beccheria which is on the outskirts of Florence. We met again later on to have drinks outside their hotel in piazza Repubblica and then made our way over to Piazzale Michealangelo. Piazzale Michealangelo has the prettiest view of Florence at sunset and I wanted to get some good mother daughter pictures there. Of course everyone had the same idea so it was super crowed. After that we went to Golden View Bar for dinner which is a nice restaurant adjacent to the Ponte Vecchio and has a great view of the water and city. We had a great long Italian dinner in a not so typical restaurant in Florence.

Tuesday I had a review class for my Italian final and was studying for my other finals for most of the day. I opted out of dinner to get my work done but of course met up with them later to send them off with one last gelato. They left early this morning to go back to home and “reality”. Lucky for them it will only be 3 days before I see them again!

Having both of my parents come visit me was by far one of my favorite experiences while abroad. I grew up with two people who had a love of the Italian food and culture, but had yet to experience it first hand. I am so glad that I got to show both of them around my favorite European city.

My mom and in front of piazza repubblica

Standing in front of Piazza Repubblica
Infront of the Basilica of Santa Maria Fiore and the Duomo behind the basilica


Standing in front of my piazza, Santa Croce

On the Ponte Vecchio at night

dinner at mamma Gina's


On the Ponte Vecchio

Again

Walking through Florence, Ponte Vecchio behind us

Trying the cannoli's 

Having a cappuccino at Gilli cafe

In the Vatican Museum

Outside St Peter's Basilica

Heather, Megan, Nikki, and I in my apartment


Dinner at Dantes

Megan and I 

Standing in front of the Clemson tee shirt hanging from the ceiling 

My mom and I in front of a tripe stand, her mom used to make it a lot

Florence from piazzale Michealangelo

Mom and I at piazzale Michealangelo



Again

again

Sunset view of Firenze






domenica 1 maggio 2011

Nice, Monaco & Monte Carlo- The French Riviera!

This weekend we took our final trip to the French Riviera.  We were planning on going on a bus trip, but it was cancelled last minute due to the lack of people signing up.  The French Riviera is very close by train so we were still able to go.


Friday morning we woke up early to begin our day of torture.  We had to take 3 non air conditioned trains with Europe's finest body odor to get there.  We arrived in Nice around 7 pm and already loved it because of its resort and ritzy feel.  We took the tram down to the main square for dinner and drinks.  It reminded us of a  tropical and clean version of Rome.  Tiffany and I had predisposed notions that all French people were rude and very metro sexual. They do smell awful, but they turned out to be very classy and fabulous people.


Saturday morning we woke up early to see the beach and go shopping.  It was windy but I still bought a huge hat to try and fit in with the crowd.We window shopped at Cartier, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton (the usual) and then walked along the boardwalk to enjoy the sun.  It was still too windy for beach weather, but it was gorgeous out.  We decided to try the French cuisine, but could not find the baguette stands we expected to see everywhere. The French food was ok, but it was the setting and scenery that made the trip. We felt a little out of place there because we were dressed like Italians.  All of the French people were wearing bright colors and less clothes, when even in 70 degree weather Italians still wear winter jackets. A few people even spoke to us in Italian thinking we were, which never happens to me.


After our day in Nice we went back to the hostel to try and make our clothes as ritzy as possible for our night in Monaco and Montecarlo.  We took a 20 minute train to the land of Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Maserati's and yachts. We were almost star struck by the extreme level of lavishness Monaco was. We went to a sit down pizza place for dinner assuming it would be our cheapest bet. We ordered a bottle of wine, and when the waiter brought it out to us he had me taste it before pouring it.  We were both laughing so hard because we usually buy our wine in cardboard juice boxes in Florence. After dinner we went to the Buddah Bar which was the coolest restaurant/bar I have ever been too. We literally felt like the shit.  Once we were done at the Buddah Bar we went to the famous Monte Carlo Casino to get our gamble on. We found slot machines much less amusing then we thought they would be and were too intimidated to play any card games so we decided on 17 euro cocktails at the casino bar.  


My camera unfortunately died in Monaco so I wasn't able to capture as much as I wanted to. This was definitely one of our favorite trips, and we promised that we would one day come back and not be sleeping in hostel bunkbeds.

 Night out in Nice
 Again

 Having dinner in a French piazza
 The main square in beautiful Nice!

 on the boardwalk
 attempting to rock the hat in the wind
 In the gardens in the main plaza



 Monte Carlo Casino

First arriving in Monte Carlo

At the Buddah Bar

At the bar in the Monte Carlo Casino