Julia Comes to Italy!

Following the weekend after Morocco, I headed to Venice on Friday (4/15/11) to meet Julia who was flying in later that evening. I met Julia at her water ferry in the main area of San Marco (where our hotel was located) that night before we headed to dinner.

We got up and began our week adventure starting with exploring Venice for the day. After seeing some sites and walking though out the city we were ready to move on. While Venice is beautiful and has a lot to offer it can also be overwhelming and take a lot of energy. We boarded the train and headed back into Florence in the evening.

Sunday morning we got up at 5am to catch a 6am train to Cinque Terre or "Five land" for the day. We got in and took a short walk from the first of the 5 towns to the second. From here we skipped the 3rd town and went straight to the 4th by train (you can hike between all of the 5 towns or take the train). We sat and had lunch and then went out onto the dock to sit in the sun. After some sunbathing we got back on the train to see the last of the 5 towns where we got gelato, walked around and then sat in the sun again. We got on an afternoon train back to Florence. My roommate cooked us dinner with balsamic chicken and eggplant parmesan. Of course after dinner I took Julia to my favorite gelateria, which was conveniently located on my street a block away (this became her favorite spot in the city).

Monday morning I got up and went to class while Julia slept in to catch up on some lost sleep and overwhelming traveling. We met up got gelato (from the same place) and walked around a little bit before Mari arrived. After getting Mari some food we walked / hiked up to Piazza Michelangelo to see the view overlooking all of Florence. Before heading back to meet everyone for dinner we stopped and had apperativo with Belini's. We ended up eating quite a bit for apperativo and weren't super hungry for dinner, but went out and joined some of my roommates anyway.

Tuesday morning we all woke up and got on the train to Milano to meet Ms. Mobley for a viewing of the Last Supper and then an afternoon lunch. Julia and I left in the early evening back to Florence, but had to wait an hour for our delayed train. Being so full from our huge lunch Julia and I decided to get gelato and call it a day.

Wednesday Julia and I got up and walked to school. I had one class and after I took a quiz we headed to the bus station and went to Siena. We met up with Krissy in the main piazza to climb Siena's famous clock tower. Krissy had to leave after, but Julia and I continued to explore Siena walking to the Duomo (which was unfortunately closed due to a ceremony - we did get to see the procession into the Basilica). Before ending our day we went for apperativo at the same place Krissy took me the first time I was in Siena. After arriving back in Florence we went to dinner dinner at "Yellow Bar". We ended up getting two pasta's (a fresh nocchi with a tomato cream sauce and spaghetti with tomatoes and basil) and a side dish of beans, but we decided it was worth it. Florence hosted the MTV TRL awards in Santa Croce so we decided to check it out. We didn't really know too many of the Italian artists so we ended up leaving pretty soon after arriving, but it was still cool to see the piazza all lit up with the stage.

Thursday was Julia's first day to "relax" and stay in the city. I had class all day so I gave her my keys and left in the morning. She had my museum card (which allowed her to skip lines and get tickets for free to the major museums) so she visited the Ufizi and Academia. She also got some shopping in before we met up in the afternoon. We met my friend Libby at my favorite wine bar for tastings along with small corstini before we went to dinner at "Quattro Leoni" (Four Lions). All three of us had a mixed plate of three pastas including my favorite pasta in Florence of Pear Ravioli in a asparagus cream sauce. Of course we ended the night stopping at the gelataria on the way home.

We spent Friday shopping and finding last minute gifts. In the early evening we met up with Libby and her brother for apperativo down the street and had belini's before having dinner at "Aqua al due". We each had a greek salad and shared gorgonzola macaroni and my favorite balsamic steak. Of course after dinner we headed straight for the gelateria to have a final treat before Julia left the next morning.

A Trip of Firsts

I never thought I would be heading to Africa when I left for Florence. We decided (my friends Mady, Libby, John and I) that we would go on a "Snow or Sand" trip to Morocco to lean how to surf in the town of Taghazout. With an afternoon departure from Pisa (04/07/11) we had a relaxed morning. When we got to Morocco it was a different story. We had to take a bus from Marrakech to Adigar, but unfortunately our bus was full and we had to wait two hours before the next one, which meant we got into the Surf house at 1am. It turned out to be a long day of traveling. Also in Morocco when you buy your bus ticket you have assigned seating, which was new to us, but worked out fine.

The next morning we woke up early to have breakfast and then head out to the beach to begin our surfing lessons at 9am. Along with the four of us a group of 6 other American students (who were studying in Padova - a small city 30 min from Venice-) were on our weekend trip. We started off with just getting used to the board and eventually learning more as we were in the water. With the waves crashing against you and continually we got tired pretty fast and at about 12 we got out of the water for lunch. After still tired Libby and I decided to continue our break and take a nap on the beach. Unfortunately we didn't apply enough sunscreen and felt the effects for the rest of the weekend. After a long day learning how to surf we went on camel rides down the beach. 8 year olds (or thats how old they looked to us) ran our camel rides, which was interesting. They are not the easiest animals to ride. Finally at the end of the day we showered and had dinner followed by traditional tea and a water pipe.

The next morning we again got up early for breakfast and headed to a different more advanced beach. The waves were bigger, stronger and faster, which kind of made it easier, but warred us out a lot faster. By 12 again we were eating lunch and no one wanted to really go back in. At this point we headed back into the city of Adigir to shop in the Bazzar. It was crowded and full of stuff. Literally stuff. We got to try on Moroccan outfits and a traditional almond butter with honey and bread. To finish up in Adigar we headed to a traditional Hammam spa. That was also interesting experience. After we headed back to surf house in Taghazout to have dinner.

We all had an even earlier morning when we had a bus come pick us up to take us back to Marrakech to fly home. We all ended up being on the same flight (all 10 of us) back to Bologna, but the people had us leave at 3am when we could have easily left at 5am. Basically we sat in the airport sleeping for 4 hours before our flight. Again it was an experience, but a good one.

Copenhagen Take II

After being at home for a short week (Sunday evening through Thursday) I headed to the Florence airport Thursday afternoon to head back to Copenhagen for Mari's 21st Birthday weekend. Since I had already been through the Copenhagen airport I just met Mari at her apartment. Mari again had classes on Friday so I slept in and went into the city center to meet Katherine for chai tea latte's in the early afternoon. This time the trip to Copenhagen consisted of eating as much food as possible.

We tried all different bakeries cinnamon rolls, chocolate croissants, and lots and lots of bread We also drank lots of Chai latte's and fresh juices, which were everywhere. My favorite place was called Joe's Juice and my favorite juice of theirs was ginger, strawberries and apple. I have decided I want a juicer to make fresh juices anytime I want. Besides eating we went shopping and walked around the city (mostly we just ate though).

A couple things I learned were you eat hamburgers with a fork and knife (it's really hard) and pretty much every restaurant has the exact same menu. Also if your baby is sleeping and your eating its pretty common to leave them in the stroller outside of the restaurant. On a side note it seemed like all the women were either pregnant, had a child or was pregnant and already had a child.

I had to leave Sunday so I didn't actually get to spend her birthday with her, but we celebrated with a piece of traditional cake, a apple cinnamon bread and a tart with fresh orange juice before I left, which was all after a chai tea latte. I was on a sugar high for quite a while afterwards.

Spring Break Continued

I arrived in Copenhagen in the early evening on Sunday. Mari picked me up to the airport and we rode the very convenient tram to her apartment. We went out and got Chai tea latte's (they are really good there - Starbuck's will never compare) and fresh pastries before heading back to make dinner. Monday Mari took me to the oldest tea shop in Europe where we bought a couple of their famous tea mixtures to try. My personal favorite was a white tea mix. Mari still had classes until Wednesday so she gave me a map and a guide book to explore the city while she went to class. I walked around the city and covered most of the "important" sites in the guidebook. 

On Wednesday morning Mari and I headed back to the airport for Dublin. We met up with our other good friend from high school, Brian who was studying in Dublin. Like Mari, Brian had classes that week so Mari and I spent the two days exploring the city. We decided to do the "hop-on hop-off" to tour the city (it's much bigger than Copenhagen). The tour included the Guinness Museum, which at the end both of us decided we still had not developed a taste for the beer yet. 


Friday morning all three of us (Mari, Brian and I) again headed to the airport for another short adventure this time to Edinburg. We spend most of our short time here doing our own "Harry Potter Tour". We began with the Edinburg Castle (which Hogwarts is based on and you can see from where she wrote the first book) then to the Elephant House for lunch, tea and coffee, which is where J.K. Rowling created Harry potter, then to the cemetery right next door for Tom Riddles grave stone. We made it into a game to try and find the tomb stone first. Mari and I tied. Unfortunately HP was more important than the Loch ness Monster so we never made it there.... Also our first day in Edinburg Mari and I were carded about 10 times, 4 of which were at the same place. Apparently we really look under the age of 18.... Also fun story we tried to go to this pub, but I didn't bring my license only my ISC card and a photocopy of my passport. The bouncer told me I photoshopped it all. I told him I didn't even know where to even start that process. So yeah we didn't get in....  

After a week of traveling I parted ways with Mari and Brian and headed back to Firenze for another week of classes. 

The Beginning of Break - Göteborg Sweden

Instead of going south for Spring break like most people I ended up going north. 

I began my week long adventure (3/18/11) outside the city of Göteborg Sweden visiting Lenny a good friend from the farm school. He is the farm manager of the Farm school his mom runs. We spent the first day in the city of Göteborg with two of his friends. We got to go "backstage" in Universeum a science discovery center with one of his friends who is in charge of the reptiles. The Universeum takes you through Sweden's natural habitats in which you begin walking in north and going down to the south. The science center interactive activities as well as real animals that lived in the habitats. After "going through" Sweden we got to behind the doors. Lenny's friend offered to let me hold the snakes, but I opted not to. We also learned that the center works on peoples phobias. For example if you have a phobia of snakes they have a room where you can work out a time to come and they will work with you to get over that fear by holding them. After the Universeum we walked around the city and then went on their version of the Lodon eye. After having dinner in the city we went back to Lenny's friends apartment to hang out. We ended up playing scrabble (they played in English for me), but I still came in lost. It's not something I was really surprised about.... 

The next day (I was staying in the farmhouse) I woke up around 9 to help Lenny with the farm chores. It was almost like being back on the farm. After chores we had fresh bread and made breakfast with the eggs we collected and cheese that had been made from the milk. After we got ready and headed out into the countryside. We took a short hike to a waterfall that overlooked one of the many lakes in the countryside. Lenny informed me that in the summer they take the boats out and go fishing all the time. In the winter when the ice is still thick enough they also go ice fishing (but not as much). After our hike we went into a small town to try and find a traditional cake that he said I had to try. The small cafe that we went to was run by one of his neighbors. Unfortunately they were out of the cake so instead we had two other desserts with an orange soda. The first was a coconut chocolate cake and the other was some sort of paste covered in chocolate (I don't know the actual names or what exactly it was, but they were both amazing). Deciding that we needed to do something else to counter the treats we went back and picked up basketballs and headed to a elementary school to play. Lenny really wanted me to try this "special" pizza for dinner so after we headed to pick it up. It turned out to be a "kebab" pizza meaning it had all the meat, sauces, lettuce and french fries on it that would come in a "kebab". To my surprise it was quite good, just a little heavy. Also you cut pizza with scissors here in Italy as well as in Sweden (it works quite well). We spend the night eating pizza and reminiscing about our time at the farm school.

Sunday morning I got up again to help with chores. We then hung around on the farm for a while until he took me to the airport where I was off to Copenhagen.  

Tuscany & It's Wines

On our third Cultural Introduction to Italy class field trip we explored the Tuscan countryside (3/11/11). Starting in Pienza, a small town in the province of Siena is known for its renaissance architecture as well as Pecorino (a cheese made from sheep milk). The town was built under Pope Pius II on top of the medieval castle of Corsignano and then was transformed leaving several landmark works of architecture. We were given a short history and then free time to explore the small town.

We then moved on to a wine tasting at Bindella a famous winery outside of Montepulciano. Bindella was founded in 1984 by a Swiss entrepreneur who took over the estate outside the city of Montepulciano. With Sangiovese grapes as the base of the wine Bindella's aim is to create a genuine authentic Rosso Montepulciano and a Vino Nobile Montepulciano docg (which as I have explained before is a traditional label given for a certain process or protocol to make the wine). After a tour of the winery and some of the vineyards we sat down for the tasting of three red (rosso) wines accompanied by traditional light lunch.

After our wine tasting we got back on the bus to go into the city of Montepulciano. We were dropped off  outside of the city walls, which meant we had to climb. Montepulciano is built upon a hill overlooking the tuscan countryside so to get to the center we had an uphill almost hike to get there. After reaching the top our guide for the day Mossimo (one of the schools wine teachers) began to explain the city. One thing we learned was that the second twilight film took place and was filmed at the city center. Apparently that has made the town quite a bit more famous. After hearing a brief history we were given free time to explore. With views from every opening you couldn't go wrong in any direction you walked.  After our free time in the city we headed back down to the bus for the ride back to Florence.

Roma

After arriving home around 8:30pm after our Parma and Moderna field trip, I got my pre-packed bag and headed to the train station (about a 3 min walk from our apartment) and got a ticket for Roma. I got on the three hour train (it can take an hour, but its about 30 more euros and I had the time) and arrived just after 1am in Roma where my roommate met me and we went to the hotel our program had set up (the program I am studying through has set up a couple of trips that are included). Unfortunately I missed the first day of visiting Tivoli because of my class field trip, but met up with the group for the rest of the trip.


We woke up early (7:30) got ready ate breakfast and met the school group in the lobby by 9am to begin our walking tour of Rome. We got tourist headset pieces, which clearly point you out as a tourist, but I assume being in such a big group anyway would do the same thing. We were divided into two groups (because our program is so big), I was put in the group with my teacher from my cultural class and began walking to the Colosseum. After walking through the Colosseum, we continued on our guided tour to the Foro, Palatino, Pantheon, and Fontana di Trevi. After we had free time until dinner.

We stumbled upon a restaurant near the Pantheon ate lunch and then headed to the Vatican for the rest of the afternoon. Rome is much bigger than Florence, the maps of the cities are comparable, but we found out the hard way that the street sizes while on one map might be a 5 min walk in Florence are more of a 20 min walk in Rome. So we ended up not having a lot of time after walking through the Vatican (we spend 2 hours there) and arrived back at the hotel changed our socks (it had been raining all day) and got ready to leave for dinner. We had a traditional Italian dinner with the entire group near the Pantheon. After my roommates and I headed back to the Trevi fountain to see it at night. Then we headed to the Spanish before going out for the night.

Sunday was a big more relaxing, we still woke up early again and after breakfast had a sightseeing bus tour of Rome. After we had a bit of free time for lunch before we boarded the buses to head back to Florence. We arrived back in Florence around 7. I went straight to bed after the really really long weekend of sightseeing.