Venice! Carnival! Masks! And SO MUCH WINE!

I woke up yesterday at 7:00 a.m. and went to bed at 4 a.m. Needless, to say, it was a long and crazy day. My friends and I spent the day in Venice, on of the most beautiful cities I've seen, celebrating Carnivale (it's basically like the European version of Mardi Gras, except there are no beads and boobs involved). The Italians celebrate it like halloween, dressing up in all kinds of crazy costumes. I went the easy route and just bought a cheap mask to wear all day.

Since the best way to navigate the city is by water, we purchased water bus passes and were able to hop on a big ferry to take us wherever we wanted any time of the day. We started the day in San Marco (the only main square in the city) which was PACKED. We felt like sardines all day. It was interesting to say the least. First stop: ATM. And we found the most unlucky one. It ate Monica's debit card. After some assistance from an Italian couple and two Spanish students, we gave up, and are still waiting to hear if she successfully cancelled the card.

We stopped at a lovely restaurant after the whole ordeal to comfort ourselves with some food. Although we were charged just to sit, the food was delicious. But we weren't ready to continue our exploration without some wine. Lucky us, we found a cafe selling 3 bottles of wine for 9 euros. So obviously, between the six of us, we got six bottles. It was a good deal. 

Murano is a smaller island across the water from Venice. It's known for glass blowing. So obviously we really wanted to go. We left about 20 minutes before sunset, but guess what? It takes about an hour to get there by boat if you don't really know where you're going. So we gave up about halfway through the ferry ride and just enjoyed our delightful cruise across the water.

Back in San Marco we joined in the celebrations, throwing confetti, drinking, and meeting U.S. army guys. It was a good time.

6 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of strawberry champagne, and 3 euros worth of bathroom visits later, we boarded the bus back to Florence at about 11, and made it home before daybreak. It was a crazy day, but so much fun.  

there was SO MUCH confetti! heather, you would have
had too much fun with it all.

Lists

What has happened in the past 4 days:

I saw Albert Einstein (the Italian version)
I saw a girl with neon green hair
I froze my butt off on several occasions (yes it's still cold here, unlike in Texas)
I've worn Toms (which makes me happy)
I baked a cake from scratch
I ate said cake (big deal, b/c it's chocolate)
I talked about Russian Terrorism for 30 whole minutes
I met a girl from Holland
I watched every episode of How I Met Your Mother that I hadn't seen before
I recognized how lovely the sun is (it's hard to feel that often here because of all the tall buildings)
I booked trips to: French Riviera, Amalfi Coast, and Prague
I've rediscovered the wonders of frozen pizza (even that kind of pizza is better here)
I watched a giant pigeon dance on the window sill across the street (literally, doing that right this second)
and other dull things that aren't so dull because it's my life and I'm in Italy.

Tonight I am going to eat a hamburger and milkshake. Hopefully some french fries too. All between a couple glasses of wine at Monica's :). Yup, that's Florence.

Siena

It really has not been that long since I blogged (mother dearest), but I went on a day trip this past weekend, so it's probably somewhat important that I update. Friday I went with a large group of students (from both TCU and Sienna College - still don't know where that is and, no, I did not meet anyone while on the trip) to Siena, Italy with my program ACCENT. It is a small town just south of Florence (still part of Tuscany), and a little higher up in elevation. Our trip included a one hour bus ride followed by a three hour tour of the main tourist locations: San Domenico, the Duomo of Sienna, the Duomo museum, and Museo Civico.

Ok, I'm going to put something out there, which I know my father would totally disagree with, but three hours touring things is just TOO MUCH. I was completely zoned out the majority of the time. Don't get me wrong, I totally appreciate the beauty of the architecture and the history behind it all, but I really don't care to know about exact dates and all the names and blah blah blah. In addition, our tour guide's English (while impeccable for the most part) was difficult to understand because she was talking so dang fast.

The churches really were beautiful though. And we got to climb up a tower connected to the Duomo museum to look across Sienna. The main piazza (Piazza Pubblico) was also gorgeous. I enjoyed the town itself. It's pretty cool because it's located on tops of hills, so each street goes up and down at very steep angles. You always know which direction you're going though: if you're going uphill, you're going away from the main piazza, and downhill you're going towards it. The whole town is set up like a sun with sun rays (the streets).  Needless to say, I did not get lost.

Beth and I had a wonderful lunch at one of the little restaurants around the Piazza. And she convinced me to order a LOT of food. We had pizza, risotto, spaghetti, and an antipasta of prosciutto with mozzarella cheese. Followed by some gelato, of course.

Besides Siena, (which actually I just realized how ironic it is that a group of kids from Sienna College went to Siena with us), this weekend was filled with work work work. I have to give a 30 minute presentation tomorrow in my history of terrorism class on Russian Revolutionary Terrorism. Woo! I also have a quiz tonight, a short report due tonight, another quiz tomorrow, and Italian homework. Yes, I actually am in school. Unbelievable, I know.

A few of us discovered a delicious sushi restaurant the other night though! It was soooo good. I had something with salmon in it. And it was kind of crunchy. And not too expensive. Oh and another important update: there is no such thing as Mexican food in Italy. We tested out a place called Tijuana on Thursday night that's supposed to be "The best Mexican food in Florence!" Um. No. I had a burrito. It had chicken (actually very good) with mozzarella cheese. Ha. Good try. But no. I need my cheddar. We also tried some "queso" which actually tasted like cheetohs. Overall it tasted good, but it was NOT what I would call Mexican.

This blog post is much too long. I don't believe anything else epic has happened in the past week. So that is all.

Rainy Day...

Not quite sure why I've decided to post something today. Partially has to do with being a copy cat (Beth just posted) and also my procrastination. I should be studying for my Italian quiz that I have tomorrow. Today was rainy and gross. So I stayed inside pretty much all day with the exception of my one class this morning, during which I actually went on a field trip to the church of San Lorenzo.

It's probably my favorite one thus far. It's not as overwhelming as the Duomo, or as dark as the church of San Miniato, but it is beautiful. My professor described it as the "most Renaissance-y church in Florence." It was designed and built by Brunelleschi, Dante and a lot of the very important relatives of the Medici family are buried there, and Renaissance style paintings cover the walls and dome.

In addition, to further emphasize my nerdiness, I was assigned my topic for my paper in that class, and it's on the history of the templars, and I am so stoked.

Besides all of that excitement, I have done almost literally nothing today. Which was actually really foolish. Because that meant a lot of Facebook, which meant a lot of homesick feelings, and a lot of cravings for hamburgers and burritos. However, tomorrow I'm planning on going to the one and only Mexican restaurant in the city. Even if no one joins me (although I know I've got Beth hooked on the idea), I'm going. I'll let you know how it compares to Tex-Mex.

First Travel Weekend

This weekend I experienced the Italian railway, Italian modern art, my first hostel, Roman ruins, real tourism, oh, and more delicious Italian food. Friday morning, I left for Bologna (a smaller city north of Florence) on a train. My eight friends and I split the price of a hostel where we checked in and left our stuff so we could go exploring. Bologna is a lot different from Florence. It has a much more lively night life, a lot more modern art, and is less smelly and noisy. As I've been having a difficult time adjusting to the city, Bologna gave me a little bit of a relief. Beth and I were able to sleep with our window open at the hostel without being woken up by loud busses and ambulances.

After walking around the main piazza a little bit, grabbing a bite to eat and walking down the most adorable market street (which I much prefer over Colleyville's "Market Street" grocery store where the people who work there are obnoxiously friendly and want to know obscure details about your life - actually a perk to the language barrier here), we visited the local modern art museum called MamBo. I really hope you all are singing Mambo Italiano now. It was stuck in my head that whole day. Italian modern art is so interesting. It was cool to see the similarities and differences between American and Italian art.

Beautiful flowers in one of the little markets on the street in Bologna. 

Beth and I "forced" (it was quite an easy task) all of our friends to check out a small crepe vendor after lunch. A few of us had HUGE crepes with fragole (strawberries) and mascarpone. SOOOO delicious.

That night we all went to dinner (an Osteria recommended by a girl who worked in our hostel). It was the best food we've had yet. There were very few tourists eating there, it was packed, the menu was all in Italian (a first) and our waiter spoke zero English. I got some fantastic baked pasta (as did half of our table) while we all shared a couple pitchers of wine.  Afterwards, we went to experience the nightlife right around the area where most of the university students there hang out. We met people from all over (Holland, Germany, Colombia, England) not to mention someone who actually went to my high school in Grapevine. Small world.

My delicious pasta and wine. 

After a long night out, we drug (dragged?) ourselves out of bed the next morning to catch a train to Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet (woo, just my thing, right? - don't worry, there were also plenty of Roman ruins to look at). After a hectic morning, almost missing our train after standing at the wrong platform, arguing about directions, etc., we stumbled upon the largest Roman amphitheater still standing. Pretty cool if I must say so myself. The city was very crowded with people visiting for Valentine's day (there was a huge love festival going on - we did get some free samples out of it) and I am not a fan of crowds. I definitely liked Bologna more. Some of the girls had a really fun time climbing up to Juliet's balcony and writing letters to put in the wall (Beth was acting like a giggly 12 year old - it was quite entertaining).

We headed back to the train station, caught a train back to Bologna where we transferred to a train to take us back to Florence. During our "lay over" (is it still called that for trains too?) a few of us buckled and stopped by McDonald's. My homesickness was getting to me - I really needed something American. Luckily a place like this is super easy to order at no matter what language you speak: "Big Mac, french fries, coca cola." Done. It's way more expensive here than it is at home though, which will definitely hold me back from eating there very often. And they're so dang fancy. One my friend Monica and I went to last night actually had a club downstairs from it. We also discovered that here they actually sell cappuccinos at them. And man, they are GOOD. So, after a lovely weekend experiencing a more authentic Italy, we finished it off with an old American classic.

I'm definitely going to get fat here.

Today has probably been my best so far. After class, Beth and I decided it was about time we went into the Duomo (which we live right next door to, so yes, after being here for almost three weeks it was definitely time). Inside was so amazing. But we went one step further. We paid 8 euros to climb up to the very top of the dome. Here are a bunch of pictures of how claustrophobic and dark the stairwells were that we climbed.

  

Afterwards, we went to the BEST gelato place called Graum and ate our gelato on the steps of the Duomo. On our way home we couldn't resist ourselves and stopped for a couple of baked goods, some mille foglie (officially my all time favorite pastry) and a bombolini (it's just like a cream filled doughnut). 

We're getting ready to cook some fried mozzarella balls and fried eggplant (super healthy, I know). I also just finished packing a small overnight bag for Bologna. We leave tomorrow morning and get home Saturday evening. I'll be experiencing European trains for the first time. Our hostel should have wifi so I'll still be able to keep everyone up to date. 

Museums, Chocolate, Walks, Cooking, Class

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I figure if I can post at least once a week I'd be proud of myself, so don't expect more. Expect less. Anyways, to update, this weekend after my fantastic home cooked meal, I went to the Uffizi museum here in Florence. Basically, it has a bunch of boring Italian art. Except that it's not boring because I get really excited about seeing familiar things. Seeing as I've studied art history for a few years now, I recognized several things. One of them being The Birth of Venus by Botticelli. Blew my mind. Another amazing thing was that I saw a painting that I had just discussed in my Lost Symbolisms class here. It's called Spring, also by Botticelli. I'm including a picture of it so you can see. I also am not including what I know about it because it would take a very long time and I know some people (whose names start with H and end with ETHER) get turned away by things with a lot of writing.

Any-who, after the Uffizi we went to a chocolate festival. Woo. My favorite. Just kidding. It was kind of neat though because it was in front of the Santa Croce church and everything (even the gross chocolate) was super pretty.

We got to walk by the river and get a glance at the Ponte Vecchio, and then Beth convinced us to make the hike up to the Piazzale Michelangelo where we could see the whole city. I suppose it was worth it. Here's some pics:

Beth, a little too excited to be walking up a giant hill. 

Sunday night at midnight I went to an American bar to watch the Superbowl. Call me crazy. Seriously. I got home at like 3 a.m. And we left at halftime. It was pretty fun though. We accidentally got escorted into a VIP room where we got to sit and watch the game on a flat screen TV.

Monday I learned how to make risotto, pork chops, and almond cake in my cooking class. My contribution was breaking open the almonds. Literally. That's all I did. I think my professor can sense my lack of cooking skills.

Last night I was going to be super awesome and try making the pasta sauce we made last week in my cooking class. Unfortunately, I still can't cook. FYI: just because you're in a cooking class does NOT mean you can suddenly eyeball ingredient measurements and guesstimate on cooking times. The pasta was overcooked, I used WAY too much olive oil and salt, and I burned the tomatoes. Poor Beth actually tried to eat it. Luckily she saved me with the pesto, whipping up a much more delicious pasta for us to have.

Today I went on a field trip with my Lost Symbols class. I took the bus for the first time and we went to San Miniato Church. It's actually at a higher point than the Piazzale Michelangelo, so I very much regretted not having my camera. The inside of the church was pretty amazing, mostly decorated and designed in the romanesque style. So it was very dark, with very few windows. My professor talked FOREVER about it, and it was really difficult to take notes, look at the church, stay warm, and comprehend her thick Italian accent.

School is going well. It's not too difficult so far. However, I did just learn yesterday that I have to give a 30 minute presentation on some sort of terrorism or terrorist group in my History of Terrorism class in two weeks. Yay for public speaking! My Italian teacher is very sweet and good at dumbing down the lessons for us slow Americans. My Modern and Contemporary art class is probably the most interesting. I can stay awake and attentive for the full 2 and a half hours. That's saying something. I can't think of anything else epic that has happened recently. Oh, I'm going with some girls to Bologna for the weekend. Just Friday and Saturday. We also may take a bus to Ravenna or Verona while we're up there because it's all so close. I'll hopefully update after that lovely adventure.

Food, Food, and more Food.

Yesterday was food day. Woke up at noon, cleaned the apartment a little, and headed out to the market with Beth. We found an international food market where we bought salsa, chips, queso and peanut butter. Unfortunately, the salsa tastes like ketchup. Then we went to a bigger market to get our staple meats, cheeses, breads, fruits and veggies. Oh! Also found some honey nut cheerios. It's so nice to have familiar food every once in a while.

Then, Beth decided she really wanted to cook. So, after much deliberation, I decided to let her. She did, however, take the liberty of telling me to help her. I can officially say I cooked a good meal almost on my own! We made chicken with breadcrumbs (haha, unfortunately our bread crumbs were more like bread pieces, as you can see from the picture), delicious mashed potatoes, sauteed broccoli with onions and parmesan, and fried and baked eggplant. I swear I actually played quite a role in cooking this meal. And you can ask our friends, it was GOOD.

I'm hoping to make the simple pomadora sauce that my prof taught us in class within the next couple nights. I'll let you know how it goes...

Week One

Well, I've finished my first week of classes in Firenze. I managed to find them all on my own and make my way back to the apartment without much difficulty. Each class is very small, my Italian class only has 7 students including myself. I really think I am going to enjoy all of them. I'm taking the Food of Italy, Italian 2, History of Political Terrorism, Modern and Contemporary Art (which includes two field trips to two modern art museums/exhibits), and Lost Symbolisms and Secret Codes in Art (which includes field trips to the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte, the San Lorenzo Church, the Pitti Palace, a Freemason Temple, the Santa Maria Novella Cloister, the Laurentian Library, and the Santa Croce Church).

My Lost Symbolisms class is going to be so interesting. While it is an art history class, its unlike any I have ever taken. We spent the entire first lesson learning about pagan mythologies and astrology. Throughout the classes we will be interpreting art and architecture for pagan ideologies, including astrology, alchemy, and mythology. It requires a lot of reading and hard work, but I think it should be really interesting.

All of my classes require a LOT of reading. Plus, with the exception of my cooking class and my Italian class, I have to write a 7-8 page paper for each. Which, honestly, after my 21 page thesis I wrote last year, I'm not too worried. Just not excited that I'm going to actually have to do work while I'm pretty much on vacation.

Last night ACCENT hosted an aperitivo, which is kind of like happy hour, but with so much more food. We went to an American bar, paid 5 euros for our first drink and then got free food. The food included french fries, fried veggies, chicken nuggets, and chicken wings. It was so delicious. I didn't realize how much I was missing American food. We also got to meet some people from KU who are also studying here. Afterwards a group of us stopped by a bar downstairs, also catered to Americans, and had a really great time hanging out.

We're planning on going out tonight to a good Italian cafe for dinner and discuss plans for Prague! I think we've decided that's going to be our first big trip while we're here. Well I'm off to find school supplies and buy my books so I can start working on my homework.