Allora.

These weeks have been going way too fast; I can't believe I'm going to Rome tomorrow when I feel like I just got back from Barcelona!

So let's start where I left off--last Tuesday. Lo came over and we made tomato and mozzarella pesto bread things for an appetizer and then spinach and ricotta ravioli. It was sooo good! We pregamed here and headed over to Campus to catch the bus to Alter Ego, one of the discotecas in Verona. However, getting onto the bus was about the same madness as trying to get on a barndance bus, so somehow we got in a taxi and headed on up to the mountains! Alter Ego was really fun, and in the end our new friends ended up taking us home. I woke up in the morning with Lo on my floor and a bag of chips next to me like usual. We had an Art History field trip to San Zeno church that day, which is normally my day off. After strug city happened, I decided to do a little shopping and buy a new spring coat for the weekend! I also needed to pick up my paintbrushes and such. It was a beautiful day out! Thursday in Art History there weren't that many of us but Andrea took us to one of the towers in Verona since it was such a nice day! I came home and that night we finished Dexter season 2. We've vowed that we aren't going to start any new shows once we get through Dexter.

Friday began my journey in Barcelona! The girls for the weekend were me, Lo, Kalyn, and Mia. We took a somewhat early train to the station and then got to Bergamo airport where we met up with some of the boys (Jake, Chad, and Peter). When we got to Barcelona we got to the hostel and met up with Dardi and Dennis. All we did before dinner was go to the store and get alcohol and snacks, and then did a quick pregame before trying to find dinner. We got off the metro and it was pouring, so we just ran into a pizza place. It ended up being a Chicago style pizza place which we were all disappointed about because we wanted some Spanish food, but it was alright since we didn't want to venture back into the rain. After dinner we headed back to the hostel to finish pregaming, and Groebe met us. He took us to a bar called the Dow Jones bar. It was really cool! There are monitors throughout the bar with the drink prices on them, and they fluctuate like the stock market. Every hour the stock market crashes and the drinks become really cheap. After that we headed to Shoko--a discoteca. The end of the night proved itself very interesting, and I ended up falling asleep around 5.

In the morning we struggled out and switched rooms at the hostel, and then began our day around 12. We all met up with Connor and he took us around the city. Barcelona has such a different feel than so many other places I've been (both in the US and Europe) but I absolutely loved it! The group stopped at the Gaudi apartment and the girls and I took a guided headset tour which was helpful. The boys took us to a kebab place for lunch that they love, and let me tell you it was worth it! What I had was kind of like a huge burrito with lamb and chicken and sauces and oh my gosh was it amazing! After eating more than we should have, the gang headed to Parc Guell for an amazing view of the city! I wish we had more time there but we had to head back after about an hour and a half so the boys could get ready for their dinner with their friends. The girls just got food from the supermarket to make for dinner, and then got ready and pregamed. That night we went to a huge bar which I don't remember the name but we just kept getting pitchers of beer and then somehow we switched to tequila shots. It was Groebe and Connors birthdays so that was fun celebrating! After terrorizing that place, we got in taxis to go to a discoteca. We were getting into a cab with Dardi and all of a sudden this random girl gets in the front seat and starts slurring "sabes" to the taxi driver. We drove a few euros and then just yelled at the girl and stopped the taxi and got out. Oops. Dardi was randomly in the middle of the street so he let us get in the taxi with him. The next discoteca was pretty fun, tequila followed me however. Chad and I wanted to leave so the two blackout queens wandered around trying to find our way out. When we finally got there we waited at a bus stop for a taxi, and then somehow Connor came outside and got us one. When we got out, we had no idea where we were at all. I hailed us another taxi and in my slurred awesome Spanish I asked the taxi driver to take us to the Apollo Theater. I couldn't understand what he was saying, and he finally pointed and we realized that we had been there the whole time. Oops again.

Sunday morning we walked around to this castle, but had to leave pretty soon because we had a flight to catch. Our flight ended up being delayed, not too much but just enough to make us miss our train back to Verona by about 5 minutes. Our other options were to take a bus for two hours then take a train back, or to just get on this train with this nice 18 year old Spanish boy who was going to Padova and get off at Verona. We opted for that option since there were some really sketch men wandering around the Bergamo train station. We chilled at McDonalds with our new friend Ivan and got on the train. At one of the train stations we had a layover at, we realized that Ivan probably would be no help to us if we got attacked since he sounded like his voice hadn't even dropped yet. But we made it home safely around 2:30 in the morning.

Monday we had Italian, and afterwards I had my final cooking class. It ended with a bang consisting of fried artichokes, fritelli, fried squid, fried anchovies, and home made gnocchi. I was in heaven with everything :-) I am so sad that class is over but can't wait to try out all the recipes on my own. Tuesday was a lazy day after painting class and photography, but Wednesday was a great time. It was an absolutely beautiful day outside, but we couldn't leave the apartment because the cleaning lady was there. So I sat outside on the patio for a little bit to write some postcards. That night we pregamed at Lo and Kalyns apartment, and headed to Campus for a great rager. Our friends Giocamo and Andrea from the discoteca were there, so we hung out with them until it was time to go home. Giocamo was being the DD for the night so he drove us to a doughnut place and then home. The doughnut was amazing--chocolate creme filled!!

Tomorrow Mia, Lo, Steph, Courtney, Kalyn and I head to Rome! Maura is coming too and meeting up with her brother and sister. Next weekend from Wednesday to Monday I'm going to Vienna to visit Caitie and I could not be MORE excited!! I'm traveling by myself though which is a little nervewracking, but I'll figure it out and be fine!

My Life Isn't Real.

I can't believe we are in our 6th week of being in Italy. Time has gone by so fast it is unreal. I'm enjoying everything so much, but I do not want to EVER leave!

Last week we started taking real classes. And by real I mean painting, photography, and art history. We are still taking Italian but it is only once a week for 3 hours instead of every day for 3 1/2. Last Monday after Italian class I had cooking at Rafaelas. It was a good class, but I enjoy Francescas food so much more! We made meatballs, pasta with sauce, tomatoes stuffed with tuna (hello Derek food), and deviled eggs. I was really excited though because she had a cat. I was in heaven for a few minutes thinking of Sam haha. After cooking I came home and probably watched a few episodes of Dexter, the most addicting show in the world. Tuesday I ended up being late to my first painting class. It was alright though because we were just mixing sand. I thought class started at 9:30 instead of 9. We're painting frescos in class, and what we've done so far is make the base for our paintings and put it on our canvas, and then chosen a picture to paint. I'm painting "The Girl with the Pearl Earring." Class is really nice and relaxing which is a nice change of pace from school in Champaign. My photography class was cancelled that afternoon because the teacher was in America--is my life real? So I napped and hung out with the roomies until it was time to go to the girls apartment for dinner. The girls decided to cook dinner and hold a pregame for my birthday which was really nice! They made bruschetta, pesto pasta, pasta with tomato sauce and eggplant, and salad. They also bought cake and ice cream. As they were moving the table into the living room though it just all of a sudden shattered. Once again our lives aren't real. Everyone else came over for the pregame which was really fun like always, I opted for vodka since it was my birthday (almost). We all took bottles of wine with us to Campus and on the way we got them taken by the Italian militia. When we got to Campus I decided that tequila shots were the best choice and so we had to take a cab home at the end. Thank goodness I didn't have class on Wednesday so I could sleep off my hangover. The roomies and I finished Dexter that night so it was a great birthday all in all. I also received some gifts from my parents and family (some haven't arrived yet, I know) so I was very surprised and happy! Thursday after Art History class Maura and I packed and headed over to the train station to begin our Prague journey!

About 11 of us took a train from Prague to Bergamo, which is a smaller town close(ish) to Milan that we flew out of. We got to the airport around midnight since it was the latest train we could do, and our flight wasn't until 7:55 in the morning. Let's just say that sleeping in airports is not very fun, and not much sleeping occurs. Our plane was even delayed almost 2 hours. But in the end we made it to Prague! After checking into our hostel (which was so nice) we got some lunch at the Spirit Bar. I had an amazing lunch of garlic soup, a meat platter with sausage, bacon, pork, and steak, and our table got 2 desserts. It was a much needed meat filled meal! Our group decided to walk around for a while, but when we started becoming incapable of functioning in that huge size, Lo, Maura and I walked around for a few hours. It was so great being in a smaller group because we got to find sights on our own and begin to figure out the layout of the city. We went back to our hostel to get ready for dinner, and Maura, Lo, Lily and I went to grab something quickly. I ended up giving in and having gnocchi, but it was the best gnocchi I have ever had! It had tomatoes and mozzarella in it--so light and amazing! When we got back to the hostel some of the other girls were going to dinner for Claire's birthday so we joined and had some brews. When we got back to the hostel we went to the bar downstairs for our free shot, followed by some absinthe shots and tequila. Mia and Meg finally met up with us and we got in the free limos to take us to the strip club for Claire's birthday. Mia, Maura, Meg, and I opted not to go in since we saw more nakedness then necessary just on the walk in with all the pictures. We sat at a sports bar and waited for everyone else to come out. Around 1 everyone else was done, so we walked to the tram stop to go to a discoteca. On the way we had to stop and grab some fried cheese--amazing! We went to a discoteca called Golden Tree which was really fun. Lots of dancing and dare drop it like it's hot. Which will be making an appearance back in the states. We were tired around 4 so we got a cab home and paid in monopoly money (aka Czech monies).

Saturday morning we were all exhausted, but we got up and got stuff done anyway! A few of us went to a little breakfast place where I had eggs and ham. We then went to the clock tower for our free walking tour. Even though it was so cold, it was worth it! We learned so much from the 3 1/2 or so hour tour that we would have never learned on our own. We even got to take our break at a bagel place. I had been craving bagels since there aren't any here! After grabbing a quick hot chocolate, me, Alyse, Lo, Meg, Katie, and her boyfriend went to the John Lennon wall for some pictures. It was really awesome seeing that and fun to take pictures with. Around 8 Meg, Lily, Alyse and I went to dinner at the UPrince hotel. I got lobster soup for a starter, and then veal ravioli for dinner. After that we met up with Mia, Maura, and Lo at the Beer Factory for the rest of the night. This place was so cool! Every table has a tap in the middle of it, and you are essentially racing the other tables in the bar. It tallies how many beers your table has drank. Our table was in second only to another group of American boys, and we weren't that far behind them. We went home and on the way grabbed some HUGE bratwursts that were so heavenly. I really needed a meat fix after eating so much pasta in Italy. I took a power nap before going to the airport at 4 am. We were all a little drunk still, but managed to make it home around 10. Since we were exhausted and hungry and the convenience of McDonalds was there, we decided to grab some.

Around 11 we finally made it home!! Mia, Maura, and I were going to take short naps, but we ended up sleeping until 8 pm! We didn't want to be too lazy, so after getting ready we drank some wine and walked around Verona. Since it was a Sunday night around 11, nothing really was open, but we were able to sit outside at a bar in Piazza Erbe and have a spritz or two. There was even a Chinese restaurant open for us to grab some spring rolls on the way home!

This week is already going by fast. Yesterday we had Italian class, and then I had cooking class again. This meal was absolutely amazing! We made friend artichoke, fennel, broccoli pasta, fritatta, and pizza. I was stuffed afterwards and now have some great meals to make when I get back home (and even over here). Today I had painting and photography, both of those classes are going to be really fun. In painting we added the base colors to our frescos. I'm excited to see how this turns out since I'm not that great of an artist, but, when in Verona! Tonight Lo is coming over to make dinner and then we are going to the discoteca, Alter Ego, for Hannahs birthday and Fat Tuesday. This weekend should be exciting, Lo, Kalyn, Mia and I are going to Barcelona! A bunch of our friends are going to be there, staying in the same hostel too so I'm very excited!!

He Took a Lot of Medicine.

Mia's Birthday was last Tuesday making our otherwise boring week full of studying very fun. Lo, Meg, Maura, Mia, and I went out to dinner at a sushi place called iSushi which was right by some of the girls apts. It wasn't half bad and after that we went back to our apartment for a small pregame. This pregame ended up being the 5 of us drinking bottles of wine, bonding over ex boyfriends, and ended with us singing "Boom Box" to the tune of "Oom Bop" as I stood and held a boom box over my head. When we got to the bar everyone was sober, so naturally we made fools of ourselves. An interesting night ensued and let's just say class wasn't so hot in the morning, however we made it through somehow. When I got home I took a nap and attempted to study. Thursday I actually got some studying done before the exam Friday, which wasn't too bad. After our exam Maura and I came back to the apartment and showered and got ready. We were ready at 5 so we opened up a bottle of wine and turned on 2000-2009 best of hip hop and r&b power hour. Mia and her friend Bridgette came home to us about to open our second bottle of wine each. I had to go to bed around 9:30. Fail.

I did feel great in the morning however when we had to be at the train station for Carnival at 9:30 though! A pretty big group of us headed over to Venice in the morning, and got there around 12:30 in the afternoon. After taking a ferry to San Marco, we bought masks and started walking around the streets looking for a place to eat. Venice is absolutely beautiful! I can't believe how pretty it is and that is completely built on the water. I'm excited to go back there with Claudio and also with my parents in May. After wandering around for a while we settled on a small place run by azns. I got gnocchi which was great--I'm obsessed with gnocchi now. Since we needed to start drinking we found vino that was 3 bottles for 8.50 euro, so naturally we got 6 bottles to split between 5 of us. It's legal to walk around the streets with open alcohol here (at least that's what Claudio told us--if we get in trouble he is bailing us out) so we cracked open our first bottles and started walking. Since Carnival was just kicking off that day it wasn't so crazy yet but it was still really fun. We did get a lot of stares from people in disbelief that we were all drinking our own bottle. We ended up standing in a dark corner to chug so we wouldn't get as many stares but instead we got hit on by these creepy Americans from like Oregon and Virginia. Weirdos. For the rest of the day we walked around the square and had a lot of fun--the train ride back we passed out after Lo and I played some cards.

Today was a Claudio trip that I felt pretty well rested for for once! It started off with us going to Salo' to see a villa that was built for D'Annunzio. He was friends with Mussolini but got exiled into this villa because Mussolini wanted him out of the way for a little. The villa was amazing inside though. The guide had to take us in in groups of 10 and she didn't speak much English so she had a speaker system that she played the descriptions out of, and they were in this great British accent. After the tour of the villa we had about 1 1/2 hours to kill walking around the gardens and such so we did that. They were so pretty and we all had a great time taking pictures. We ate our lunch on the bus, and headed over to Borghetto. It was such a pretty day out so after walking around for a while a group of us climbed the rocks by Lake Garda and layed on those for about an hour or so. I was so scared while climbing on them that I was going to fall in the lake but I didn't! It would be beautiful to go back there when it's nicer out, I'm thinking that I will def. have to. We stopped in one more town-Sirmione-before dinner. It was really nice having the whole day to just relax and do our own thing and walk around without everything being too structured. We finally made it to dinner around 6:30 after feeling like either a) the bus driver was going to kill us by running us off the mountain or b) Claudio was going to drop us off in the middle of nowhere, followed by him telling us we only had 12 hours to make it back to Verona before our belongings got set on fire. Dinner was absolutely amazing, and I think I am still going to be full tomorrow from it! For antipasta we had prosciutto cotto (cooked) and crudo (raw), salami, breads, and hot peppers. Then we had risotto with sausage and gnocchi in a butter sauce with cheese. Our main course was amazing; rabbit, donkey, steak, potatoes, polenta, and I had some of Mias spinach. I was absolutely stuffed from all that food and wine. Dinner lasted a little over 3 hours, and it was so nice to be dropped off and be back at the apartment!

Tomorrow starts our first real week of class. I have Italian 2 at 2:30, followed by cooking class. Tuesday I have Painting at 9:30 followed by Photography at 2, and then some of us are cooking dinner and celebrating my birthday because most of us don't have class Wednesday (my actual birthday). Wednesday I'm thinking about going out again, maybe just for happy hour or something because we leave for Prague on Thursday! Our first real weekend trip out of the country...I'm so excited for another stamp in my passport!!

Fabiano Hates Me, and I'm Pretty Sure All of Italy Hates Me...

Wow am I exhausted! Let's do a quick recap of my past week and then I'll tell you all about Florence! Last week was pretty chill. Well besides Wednesday. Wednesday was Matts birthday so we all went out for him. Let's just say it was a top night for all of us. It was also the night I decided to eat an entire can of pringles and pass out mid conversation on skype, only to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to all my lights on and my hand hurting because it's been smushed under my computer for about 3 hours. It was really fun though and everyone was feeling a little rough in the morning. It was also the first day that people actually didn't make it to class. I did though :-). Thursday Mia and Maura left for Paris, so after class I did some errands (and got some gelato) and then came home and made dinner and just hung out by myself catching up on some TV and getting everything ready for the weekend ahead!

Friday after school I headed home to get my bags and go to the train station. Most of the crew was going on this trip plus others in the program so there were a lot of people that we knew! After making a stop in Bologna we finally made it to Firenze! We walked around and found our hostel pretty easily. There were 9 of us plus a few friends from the Milan program staying in the same hostel which was great! The hostel was actually pretty nice for 7 euro a night, except for the workout climbing the stairs haha. After getting settled in we went to a small shop for some wine, and the owner ended up giving us a wine opener and 9 bottles of wine for 19 euro! Dinner was next on the list; we went to a restaurant called ZaZa that was recommended to us by some of the girls friends (and Rick Steves). This place was amazing. I had this amazing pasta with a tomato sauce and cheese, and of course tiramisu for dessert. When we got back to the hostel the pregame began, and ended with Lebomb shots and pulls on a 5th of whisky. We all decided to go to Space Electronica for the night which was so much fun! It was our first discoteca and it did not disappoint. When you got there you get a card and they basically hole punch different spots on your card for different things and when you leave you pay with the card. It didn't end up being that expensive and we didn't need much to drink at that point. It was so much fun just dancing the whole night.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and I started my day with a cup of cioccolata calda (molto bene--the best I've had yet) and a pastry with creme. Our group got a little split up but we started off at the Duomo in the actual church part. It was huge and completely beautiful. I lit a candle while I was there also. After exploring the inside, a few of us decided that it would be amazing to climb to the top of the bell tower--414 steps. There were 4 different levels, so we got to take a break every once in a while and take some great pictures. It was worth it to walk all that way! The bells did go off when we were climbing though and it was extremely loud. The view of Florence from the top of the tower was breathtaking. The walk back down was a little scary--some of the steps were really narrow and it had been raining earlier so they were also wet. After the Duomo we ventured to the Academia to see the David. I have to say it was my favorite thing about Florence. It's funny because we walked right past the building at first; you would have never guessed that the building had no name and looked just like a random house. The rest of the museum was pretty cool, but I could have stayed for hours just looking at the David. We went to lunch at a small pizza place afterwards and Joanna and I split a pizza that had spinach, red peppers, and onions on it. It was amazing and just enough to tie me over until dinner later that night. When we were done eating we headed over to the Uffizi to look around the art galleries. Of course we stopped for some gelato on the way over. I had chocolate chip this time around. The Uffizi was really cool, it was awesome to see paintings and drawings that were done as early as the 1400's! My favorite part of the gallery was the "Birth of Venus" which was painted by Botticelli. We tried going to the Medici palace after that to go to the gardens, but by the time we walked over there we didn't want to be rushed and it was getting dark so we decided to call it a day and take a nap before dinner. Around 9 we went to dinner, and after a small fiasco ended up eating one of the best meals on this trip. We got free wine and lemoncello, and I also had bruschetta and pizza. It was the best pizza I have ever had: tomatoes, prosciutto, arugula, and parmesan cheese. Completely amazing. Dinner wasn't over until almost midnight, so we headed back to the hostel for a quick pregame before trying out a new place. That didn't end up working too well, so we settled for Space Electronica again. It was awesome though, I love that place.

In the morning we had to be out of there by 10, so we left and went to the Boboli Gardens in the Medici Palace. The gardens were amazing, and it was so much fun walking around them. I'm so glad we decided to go that day instead of the day before because it was sunny out and everyone was in a much better mood. We had to carry our stuff with us, but luckily they had a bag check so we could let them hold onto our backpacks. After walking around the gardens for a few hours, we went to drop off our stuff at Kalyns friends apartment. That made traveling around a lot easier. We were so hungry and wanted to go the the Oil Shop to eat, but it was closed so we settled for a place called "Self Service". If you ever go to Florence, do NOT go to the self service. As Joanna would say "I think this was the worst meal I have ever eaten. In my entire life." We all pondered that statement and agreed. I mean if you like balls of bread that you think are meatballs and chicken that is in no way chicken, then I guess it's ok. Oh and it was 10 euro. Awful. But at least it was entertaining. The girls needed to to some shopping so Alex left to do some more sightseeing and we went to the markets to get some goodies. I ended up getting a scarf, a leather journal, and a mask for Carnival this weekend. We also stopped in H&M and got a few things. Of course I was craving nutella gelato so that had to be had. We still had a ton of time to kill so we sat in a restaurant and I ended up with an 8 euro orange juice. At this point though I really didn't care and just laughed it off. We killed a little more time walking around and doing a little more shopping, got our stuff, and headed to the train station. Maggie, Kaitlin, Courtney, Joanna and I opted for the direct Eurostar which was really relaxing and worth the extra money. It felt so good to be home even though I loved being in Florence.

Now we have another full week of Italian, and our test on Friday! I'm so nervous because I feel like I'm still horrible at Italian. I'm going to start studying tomorrow though since it's Mias birthday today. Also I got a package from my parents...I am so excited about it! Sweatpants and lots of chips, cookies, and ranch. And about 8 cards for my bday and Valentines day. So great!!