snow :)

^ View from the top of the tower! One of the many Chirstmas markets in Brugge. 
^ Cherry Beer!
^ Chocolate Beer!!!
^ Haha, the only place you would ever see a kid at a bar, EUROPE!
^ me :)
^ A boat ride that we took.
^ All the houses looked like this! They look like gingerbread houses!

December 17 marks the first snowfall of the year. It was amazing. You could definitely tell that we are all from California by the way we were jumping around in the snow, trying to touch every snowflake. It snowed pretty much the entire day. There was so much of it that they had to close down the Florence airport, the train station, and all buses. It hasn't snowed since then, but there is still snow everywhere. I am really hoping it snows Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 

2 nights ago, my roomies and I all made home-made lasagna. It was so much fun making the noodles and the recipe was surprisingly not that hard. 

Last weekend I was in Belgium, which was amazing!!!! I loved Brugge. I love how I am falling in love with pretty much every European city I have been to so far. We were only there Friday-Sunday, but the city is so small that that amount of time was just right. I fell in love with the Belgium flavored beers! I had cherry, which was my favorite. And then I had Chocolate beer, which was so cool!!! The best thing was to have a sip of chocolate beer, hold it in your mouth and take a sip of raspberry beer, then the flavors mix together and it tasted soooo good. I had lots of waffles with chocolate sauce and I had a Belgium hamburger, which is quite different from an American hanburger, but of course still good.

It is almost Christmas!!! I can't believe how fast these 4 months have flown by!

its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Florence is completely decked out in Christmas decorations! All the streets have Christmas lights and there is even a big Christmas tree in front of the Duomo. It is beautiful and definitely makes it feel like the Christmas season. We got a small Christmas tree for our living room and we are planning to do a little secret santa between my close friends. There is also a German Christmas market going which is really cute and they have hot apple cider which is perfect since it's so cold here! 

I have a new favorite type of tea now. Twinings English Breakfast. It is delicious, especially with a lemon slice in it. I usually have tea now, instead of coffee since I figure it is much easier on my stomach. 

Tomorrow I am headed to Belgium! We are going to see Brussels and Bruges. I am really excited to eat a real Belgium waffle. I know a couple people who have been there already and they have all loved it. I think it might be snowing there (or at least snow on the ground). I am just really excited to find a cute, warm cafe and hang out. I figure this will be a good trip to get caught up on reading. 

CIAO !!!!!!!!!!

a taste of home!

Walking along the water in Sliema, Malta ^
a great view in the citadel of Gozo, Malta ^
Red sand beach in Gozo, Malta ^
Calypso's cave in Gozo, Malta ^
21st birthday drink ^ Gozo, Malta
St. Peters, Vatican, Rome, Italy
Trevi Fountain. Rome, Italy. Liz, Michelle, Devon, Me ^
Colosseum. Rome, Italy. ^ 

I just received a care package from my mom! Yes I know that I am in italy with the best food imaginable, yet I do miss some of my American junk food. Here's what i got:

sunflower seeds

trader joes creamy tomato soup

hot cheetos 

dried mangoes

trail mix

fun dip

skittles

sour skittles

starbucks ready brew iced coffee

hot cocoa

crystal light 

boston baked beans

oatmeal

sudafed medicine

gel pens 

skippy peanut butter

campbells chicken noodle soup 

crest toothpaste 

taco seasoning

HOME BAKED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!

most of these things you cannot find in italy. They have oatmeal, peanut butter, and taco seasoning, but it is ridiculously expensive!!!! So, thanks mom!!!!!!! 

anyway,

I went to Rome 2 weeks ago and loved it! it was extremely different from Florence. For starters it's a huge city and you have to take the metro everywhere. I went to all the sights in ancient rome and everything was extremely interesting. Then we went to the vatican. It was pouring, but we got in right away because we were on a school field trip and had reservations. The Sistine chapel was beautiful. I was so happy I took an Art History class back at sonoma, because I actually knew what I was looking at on the ceiling. By far, my favorite part about rome was the Trevi Fountain. It was huge!!!! I didn't expect it to be that big, so it pretty much blew my mind! My school organized everything for us and we all stayed at a 4 star hotel!!! We all felt like royalty compared to all the hostels we stay at when traveling on our own. We all definitely took advantage of the heater, and long hot showers. 

The weekend before Rome, I went to Malta! I fell head over heels in love with Malta. I want to go back sooooo bad! The weather was beautiful (in the high 70s) and I was wearing flip flops for the first time in a long time! I spent my 21st birthday there, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Devon and I went to a small island off malta (called Gozo) and roamed around it all day. My first "legal by USA standards" drink was a sex on the beach. My second was  a bloody mary and my third was a kamakazee. It was definitely a great and relaxing day. Malta is my second favorite country, because of course Italy is number 1 :)

This weekend, we are going on another school field trip to Ravenna. This trip is from Friday-Sunday. I'm hoping we stay in a nice hotel again!

It is getting REALLY REALLY COLD HERE!!!!! My daily outfits include many layers, gloves, a scarf, and a hat. And its not even December yet!!!!!

Ali, my friend/roomate from sonoma is coming to italy in less than a month! She gets here December 27th. maaaan am I excited! We are planning on traveling to France and meeting up with Cathy, my friend since kindergarten, since she will be there on vacation! 

On yet another brighter note, I found the most adorable coffee shop! In most coffee shops here, you order your coffee and usually drink it standing at the bar, because they charge you extra to sit down. But, this place I found doesn't do that! It is two stories and it is loft style. All the furniture is mix matched, and there are book shelves everywhere filled with a million books. You can sit in there as long as you would like, and they are always playing jazz music. My new favorite thing  is to go there and order coffee or hot chocolate, and read for hours. It kind of reminds me of the coffee shop in the TV show, Friends, yet waaaaay cuter!!! 

getting into a routine

Real school started last Tuesday. By real school, I mean our fall semester. The first two months I have been here, my classes were considered summer school classes. Those classes were Beginning Italian 2 and Italian Culture. Grades were posted and I got A's in both. My schedule is as follows for fall semester:

Monday: Italian Literature + Film: 11:30am-12:50pm

Italian reading and conversation: 6:30pm-8:20pm

Tuesday: Italian Literature: 10:00am- 12:45pm

Intermediate Italian 1: 1:30pm-3:30pm

Italian Opera: 5:30pm-8:15pm

Wednesday: Italian Literature + Film: 11:30am- 12:50pm

Italian reading and conversation: 6:30pm-8:20pm

Thursday: Intermediate Italian 1: 1:30pm-3:30pm

Friday: No class!

I like my schedule, but Tuesday is definitely a rough day. I like all my teachers, especially my Italian reading and conversation teacher, Carlo. He is really funny!! I am really glad that now I have a routine because I felt like I was still in summer mode up until last week.

I just bought some yarn today, and my roommate Liz is going to teach me how to knit and crochet. I am really excited to make some scarves, especially since it is getting so cold here!!! I have been wearing many layers when I go outside now. It is especially cold after my night classes. It's been pouring day and night and lots of thunder! It is only November, so I can't imagine how cold it will get in December and January! On a warmer note, I am going to Malta this weekend!!!!! I am going there for my 21st birthday with my roommate Devon. It is going to be a lot warmer there compared to Italy. I absolutely cannot wait!!! 

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I am really sad that I am going to miss it. It is my favorite holiday. I am not sure if my roomies and I are going to try to make a make-shift thanksgiving dinner or go travel instead. We will see. 

Ciaooooo

Barcelona and Milan

                                              Just a few hours after Lauren got here! ^
                                              Yes, the stairs really were that steep!!! ^
                   Lauren and I climbing 400-something steps to the top of Florence's Duomo ^
                                             Beach in Barcelona at night ^
                                            Boat tour on the coast of Barcelona ^
                                            Sangria in Barcelona with our hostel roommates ^
                                                 Milan's Duomo ^
                                                 Panzorotto in Milan ^
                                            Gelato in Florence ^

                                                          Barbie doll gelato cones ^
                                            Standing in front of the carousel in Florence on a rainy day^

My cousin Lauren came to visit me!!! It was amazing to see her! We spent the first two days catching up and I gave her a tour all around Florence. Then, we were off to Barcelona, Spain! Our hostel was sooo cute and the staff were so friendly. We stayed in a room with 6 other people. In Barcelona we saw the beach, took a bus tour, and a boat tour. The weather was really nice in the day but at night it was pretty chilly. Unfortunately, both of us did not enjoy the food. All we could find was Paella (Which is rice and sea food). But both don't like seafood. And the other food were Tapas(Which are appetizers). They grossed us out though because they are all just sitting at the bar for who knows how long and they pretty much all had ham in them. It was so funny because the Spanish really like their ham. They even had ham flavored chips! Milan was cool. We stayed at a hotel and it was just us 2 in the room. The owner was so impressed that we were from San Francisco! He was so cute. We shopped pretty much our entire time in Milan. Our feet hurt pretty bad after all that walking. We ate the most delicious bread, tomato sauce, and cheese thing. It was fried and it was soooo good. It was called a Panzorotto. It looked really small but it filled us up! We were happy to come back to Florence to eat some good food. Lauren ate pizza almost everyday!! I introduced her to Grom (My favorite gelato place). I discovered my new favorite kind-- Egg Nogg and Vanilla! They taste amazing together.  I was really sad to see her leave, but I am so glad that we had such a great time together. I think we laughed the entire week :)

OKTOBERFEST!

Oktoberfest was craaaaaazy! There were so many people there and it was a lot of fun. I actually really liked the beer! I was very surprised! My favorite was the one in a liter because it had lemonade in it, it was soooo good. The bratwurst was really good too. I also had a pretzel. So basically I feel like I have gained 10 pounds this weekend. German is such a hard language!!! I kept speaking to them in Italian on accident, I just couldn't remember any of the German words I learned before going there.  I am definitely glad I went because it was a great experience.

Sorrento, Capri, & Napoli

                                              ^Our Pizzas in Napoli
                                             ^ The beautiful Australian as we ate our paninis 
                                                       ^The amazing Blue Grotto
                                                 ^ Coming back from a swim in the Green Grotto
                                              ^katie, michelle, erica, me, wayne(the australian), travis, & jake
                                                        ^ On our private boat in Capri

My trip this weekend was amazing! It was the best vacation I have ever been on. On friday, we left Firenze at 1:15pm. We had to switch a bunch of trains, as that was the cheapest way, and finally got to Sorrento at 11pm! When we got to our hostel, we found out that our roommate was a gorgeous Australian. He was sooo nice and soo cute. We immediately got some limoncello, since that is what Sorrento is famous for. We went to sleep after that and woke up early to catch a boat tour of Capri. But we missed the boat by about 2 minutes. So we decided to take a ferry to Capri and just go from there. When we got to Capri, we found out that we could actually take a private boat around the whole island! So we jumped on and saw the whole island for about 2 and a half hours. It was beautiful! It was very warm out, but not too hot. We saw the white grotto first, then the green grotto, where we jumped of the boat for a swim in the Mediterranean ocean. The water felt so nice and was extremely salty. After our swim, we lounged around on the boat until we got to the Blue grotto. To get inside we had to get into a tiny 3 person boat, because there is a tiny little cove that you have to go under to get there. It was scary because we went straight into darkness. But once we were in there, the water was SOOO blue, it was like aquamarine color. Everything was dark, except for the illumination of this water. There was singing from the men paddling the boats and it was absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything like it before. I actually got pretty emotional since this was the place my Dad said was his favorite in Italy. It was as if going into this grotto gave me some closure. It made me feel more connected to him, which made me feel very happy. I am very fortunate that I got to experience this.  After we got back on land, we ate at a panini place. Then we walked up to the main square, which was quite a hike, but definitely worth it for the great views. Later we went back to sorrento and went to an outdoor bar/club, where we became friends with some Canadians. It was absolutely amazing hanging out with an Australian and Canadians the whole weekend. It is actually funny because hearing their accents all the time made me aware of my own American accent. I've never noticed my own accent before, but hearing theirs made me hear my own. On sunday, we went to Napoli because we wanted to eat at the place in Eat, Pray, Love. When we got there, it was closed!!! But the pizzeria across the street from it is owned by the same family so we went there. The pizza was delicious!!!! But Napoli is not a place I would ever want to visit again. It is such a sketchy place. I had to hold onto my bags really tight because there are creepy people everywhere. It is not a very pretty place. There is lots of litter that no one bothers to clean up. But I am glad that I experienced going there. At 2pm we boarded the train and took only one straight back to Firenze. We got back at 8pm and I was exhausted! I came back with lots of great memories and a souvenir bottle of limoncello. This was definitely my favorite trip and I want to go back very, very badly!!! I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to visit Italy.