Verona is amazing like always. I feel like I'm never really here though because of all the traveling I've been doing. When I'm not on a trip that I've planned with my friends I'm on a trip planned by Claudio (much appreciated). I finally got a weekend to be here (last weekend) but we'll get to that eventually! Nothing too exciting has been happening while I've been here though, just class and whatnot. Our Italian is starting to fall behind but I'm sure we'll be able to study and get it right for the test. Painting and Photo are my two favorite classes. Painting is so relaxing even though it's at 9 am, and Photo is fun because of Mauro, our teacher. Also i haven't been doing too bad with my photos. He's like the ones that I have done so far so that's exciting! Art History is growing on me. My class is done with classroom meetings for the semester and all we have are two field trips left.
Last week we had our first of 2 breaks--Spring Break. Maura, Mia, Kalyn, Lo, and I went to Galway and Dublin, Ireland, and then Lo and I headed off to Amsterdam. Mias friend Kelly was with us in Ireland too, and Maura's friend Erin met up with us in Dublin, so we had a pretty solid crew. We got to Dublin on Thursday the 18th, but we were just there for the night before taking a 3 hour bus ride to Galway. That first day we just walked around the city after stopping for lunch at what we thought would be a Mexican restaurant. It wasn't what we expected, but I got this breakfast burrito which was really good. We walked around and picked our our Claddagh rings and other jewelry for a few hours. When we were done with that we just walked around by the water and then headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out. Mia had another friend that was there for the night and it was her 21st, so after pregaming we went to meet her at a few bars. Let's just say the night resulted in going to McDonalds and me ordering a quarter pounder, 2 medium fries, and a coke. Operation diet is going into effect the second I land in STL in May. The next day we woke up early, grabbed the free toast the hostel had, and got on a bus to do a Cliffs of Moher tour. We stopped at the Aillwee Caves first, which were really cool since there are only 2 cave systems found in Ireland. After that we saw a tomb, and then headed on over to the Cliffs. The view was absolutely breathtaking and I wish we could have spent a little more time there. The weather was extremely nice the entire time we were on this break also, so we were able to get away with just wearing a light jacket. After the Cliffs we stopped at a few more quick stops and then made our way back to Galway. That night we weren't really feeling going out, so Mia, Maura, Kalyn, Kelly and I found this small Chinese restaurant and finally got some really good Chinese food!
After another 3 hour bus ride back to Dublin, we went to the hostel, got Erin, and headed to the Temple Bar to grab a sandwich and our first real Guinness. After getting some food in our stomaches we walked around the city and saw some of the Medieval buildings and Dublin Castle. We met up with Kelly's cousin who actually lives in the city, and he took us to a few parks and such. We made a taco dinner that night, and after pregaming we headed to the Temple Bar area and went to a small bar with a live band. It closed kind of early (1--I mean it was Sunday) and so we went to a club called Sin with some British boys that we had met. Dare drop it like it's hot ensued, and by the end of the night I was demanding taco fries sans taco meat, but with gyro meat. Very good. In the morning we woke up a little later than expected, and hopped on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour to take us to the Guinness factory. We didn't actually get to see the beer being made, but we did learn a lot and got to enjoy a free pint of Guinness each at the end. Somehow we ended up with more beers than people, so a few of us took advantage of that and left feeling a little tipsy. Mia, Lo, Kalyn, Kelly and I got back off at a prison for a prison tour which was interesting, and after that we headed back and took a really long time to get ready. We went to a little bar that night that was pretty chill, and we headed back somewhat early because we had big dreams of getting up early so that Lo and I could do some things before leaving for Amsterdam. That of course didn't happen and we woke up a little later than we wanted so Lo and I left and went to the airport for Amsterdam.
We finally made it to Amsterdam after being a little delayed, and her Uncle picked us up from the airport and took us to his apartment. Lo and I went to the store to get food to make for dinner after he supplied us with some appetizers and wine. We opted to make cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes, and beer. We went out that night to a bar that her Uncle told us to go to, and then another bar called Nasty. I ended up breaking my camera which wasn't fun at all, but I didn't let it ruin my weekend. We got home pretty late (around 4:30) but made sure we got up around 10:30 to start seeing things in Amsterdam. Around 2 we met her Uncle outside his show, Boom Chicago, and he walked us throughout the city. We went through the Red Light District and then stopped at the Anne Frank house. It was a very sombering but I really enjoyed it. After grabbing dinner we headed back to her Uncles house where we passed out for 4 hours until 10:30. We got ready really fast and headed to a bar we found called the Pirate Bar, where I decided that 5 tequila shots were a really good idea. We went to Paradiso, a discoteca, after we had a few and danced the night away to the most random collection of music ever. Thursday morning we biked down to the Van Gogh museum--yes I said biked. Lo's Uncle let us use two extra bikes that he had to get down to the city center. It was about a 20 minute bike ride and I struggled most of the way but it was worth it. We even saw a collision. Anyway, after seeing the museum we went to a park to walk around, stopped in the Heineken museum, and then found a street market which provided us both with a package. That night we went to Boom Chicago where Lo's uncle was the technical director. It's kind of like Second City--very funny and so much fun! We had some drinks with some of the cast and her uncle after the show, and then Lo and I spent some more quality silent time around the city and ended up in an Italian restaurant at 1 am. The next morning we had to be up early for our plane, and after what was the best week I could have asked for I was back in Verona.
Mia, Maura, and Kelly didn't end up coming back until late at night, so we didn't do anything until Saturday. Saturday we took Kelly around Verona and went to Castlevecchio, Piazza Bra, Piazza Erbe, and so on. That night we went to Campus for British night which was fun like always. Since Sunday was daylight savings for us over here, we didn't even get out of the house until 5 pm (we were a little confused and hungover) but we walked around for a little and then sat in Piazza Erbe and had a spritz before going to a really good pizza place for some pizza. I got tuna and onion which was amazing! I've had two days of class this week and normally I wouldn't be done until Thursday afternoon but this week we don't have Art History scheduled so I am actually done until Monday the 12th of April! We have our Easter Break and most of us are going to Santorini, Athens, and Cinque Terre for the break! It's going to be amazing and absolutely beautiful. I also get to see the one, the only, Caitie Holmes so I'm pretty excited!!
Our program ends in 39 days (which I am very sad about) and the only reason I am somewhat counting down is because my parents and Woj are coming then.
I promise I won't be so lazy and there will be another update right after I'm back from Greece and Cinque Terre!!
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