Winter Break

^ Cathy, Ali, and I in front of Notre Dame. Paris, France.
^ The Mona Lisa in the Louvre. Paris, France.
^ Ali, me, and Cathy on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, France.
^ Ali and I eating French Onion soup. YUM!  Paris, France.
^Cathy, Ali, and I all liked different wine. Mine of course is the Red. Ali is the white, and Cathy is the rose. Paris, France.
^ New Year's Eve in Nice, France. Cathy, Ali, me.
^ Cathy, Ali, and I being silly in front of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, France.

So my old roomie from Sonoma, Ali, is here visiting me! She got here on December 27th. We saw Michelangelo's David for free which was great!! The David was absolutely amazing! He is 13ft tall, and flawless. He was definitely a sight to see. On the 29th we went to Rome and stayed there till the 31st. Rome was great. I showed Ali all around since I have already been there. We saw the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and St. Peter's Basilica. I love how it is so easy to get around Rome on the Metro that only costs 1euro to ride. We had a blast there. Then on Dec 31st we flew off to Nice, France. There we met up with Cathy (my friend since childhood) and her boyfriend. Nice was pretty, but it was not a youthful place for New Years. It was all decorated and everything, but everything cost way too much. Good thing we were only there till the next morning. On Jan 1st, we took a 6hr train to Paris, France. We stayed at a Best Western hotel, which is definitely an upgrade for me, since I've gotten used to always staying in hostels. In Paris, we saw the Eiffel tower and climbed 669 steps to the second floor! It was an amazing view! We also went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa! Ali and I pushed our way to the front and got some pretty good pictures. We also saw DaVinci's Madonna of the Rocks, which is one of my favorite paintings. We saw the Arc de Triomphe. We got to climb all the way to the top for free and got an awesome view of the Eiffel tower. It was nighttime, so we got to see it all lit up, and then for about 10mins the whole tower sparkled with a million twinkling lights. We also saw Notre Dame, and it was so cool to see all the gargoyles on it. I loved the food in France. I had onion soup as my first meal. Absolutely delicious! I have been craving it ever since. We stayed in Paris till the 5th and then Ali and I flew off to Bristol, England. Our hostel there was sooo nice! The rooms were big, the was a restaurant and cafe inside, and even a games room! We didn't see much of Bristol, because the two days we were there, we took a coach bus to London! The coach bus took 2hrs 40mins, but definitely worth it to see London! I loved it there. But I have got to say, it was definitely a different experience being in a country where they speak English again. I kept getting confused on whether to say "Grazie" or "Merci" or "Thank you". London was awesome and I even liked the food there. A lot of people have told me that the food in England is very bland and not good. But I definitely have to disagree. I had Sheperd's pie and loved it! It was meat with mashed potatoes on top and gravey all over, and a side of carrots and green beans. It was such a hearty meal. The second night we were in London, we saw the play, Dirty Dancing!!!!! It was soooo close to the movie, it was amazing. And they even sang most of the songs, and as we all know that soundtrack is great! As all you know, I am a die hard Harry Potter fan, so we went to Kings Cross station and got to see platform 9 3/4!!!! It was soooo cool. The only thing that sucked was that the train station is under construction, so the Harry Potter platform was really on platform 8, not between 9 and 10 like it is supposed to be. And the "brick wall" was not even brick, it was a poster of bricks. But we looked past that fact, and I thought it was so cool to actually be there where they filmed it in all the Harry Potter films. We also saw Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. Everything we saw was so awesome. I really hope I get to go back to London soon. On the 8th, we flew back to Rome, and took a train back up to Florence. Tomorrow (Jan 10th) is Ali's 21st birthday!!! I am so glad I get to have one of my friend's from home here with me :) 

Ciao!!!

xoxoxoxo

P.s. I added a few more pictures to the post before this one in Brugge. Check them out! 

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.