Venice, Scotland, and Greece

I know,  I know; I'm very VERY behind on my blog. These past few weeks have been crazy! This is about to be an extremely long post because I'm going to catch you all up on my last three weeks. So get comfy because here we go.

So lets start with my trip to Venice. Three weekends ago my roommate Mackenzee and I decided to make a day trip to Venice. In order to save some money, Kenz and I decided to take the night train up to Venice. The train left Rome at 10:30pm on Friday and we got into Venice at 5:30am on Saturday; it was a longgggg ride. Because we got there so early Kenz and I were planning to wait in the train station for a few hours for the sights and shops of Venice to open. However, after about an hour Kenz and I got bored, so we decided to go and look for the single McDonald's on the Island. Once we found it, we spent the next two hours eating hash browns and taking advantage of the free wifi.

Once the city started to wake up, Mackenzee and I set off to explore the Island. Venice is crazy beautiful. The canals and bridges that simultaneously connect and separate the Island make it one of a kind. The streets of Venice are like a maze and even though we bought a map, Kenz and I got lost several times. But that was okay because we were lost in VENICE. How many people do you know can say that?

Around 3 in the afternoon Kenzie and I went back to the train station to meet up with our friends Ben, Ryan, and Amanda. Our three late arriving friends traveled to Milan on Friday and decided to meet up with us to explore Venice for the rest of the day. The five us had a blast walking, talking, shopping, and eating our way through the streets. At 11:30pm the five of us split up so Amanda, Ryan, and Ben could go to their hostel, and so Kenzie and I could go back to the train station to catch another night train home.

Here are some Venice pics: (the Grand Canal, a random canal, and me in front of another random canal).

Okay that was Venice, now onto Scotland. I flew to Edinburgh, Scotland with my friends Ryan and Amanda on a Friday afternoon. I absolutely loved Scotland. It was my favorite trip I have taken since I've been in Italy. The people were friendly, it was cheaper than London, and I got to see some amazing scenery. 

We got into Edinburgh around dinner time Friday night. After we checked in at our hostel Ryan, Amanda, and I went in search of dinner. We found this great little Scottish pub close to our hostel and I ate the best cheeseburger of my life. After dinner we wandered the streets of Edinburgh for a little bit before we went back to our hostel to get some sleep.

The next day, the three of us got up and took a bus to St. Andrews. For those of you who don't know I love golf and St. Andrews is credited for being the home of golf. Once we got to St. Andrews Amanda and Ryan patiently waited as I walked the famous Old Course and took about a thousand pictures. Next on our agenda was lunch and while we were strolling through the streets, we accidentally stumbled upon this great little diner where Prince William and his wife Kate met for coffee. We decided to eat there and we were pleasantly surprised at how great the food was. I had pancakes. I haven't had pancakes since I left home so Saturday was a big day. 

St. Andrews is also famous for its University and it's castle. Amanda, Ryan, and I also stopped at these places before boarding our bus back to Edinburgh. Once we got back to Edinburgh and ate dinner, the three of us took part in a rather infamous British tradition; we went pub crawling. While the pub crawl was a blast it made getting up the next morning extremely difficult, but you'll all be happy to hear I powered through.

And its a good thing I powered through because we spent a good part of Sunday climbing this huge hill called Arthur's seat. At the top of this hill is the supposed location of Camelot and King Arthur's Court. Arthur's seat was crazy high but I sucked it up, climbed to the top without crying from the height, and got some great pictures. After our hike we stopped to check out Edinburgh Castle. Scotland is renown for it's castles and the two I saw did not disappoint.

Now mom and dad don't be too mad but Amanda, Ryan, and I skipped class on Monday. We did it so we could get the cheapest flight back to Rome. So really you should be proud with how frugal I'm being.

Anyway, I spent Monday morning exploring The National Museum of Scotland. This place was great. It had so many different and cool exhibits; and the best part, it was free! After the museum I met up with Ryan, and Amanda, we grabbed lunch and then went back to the airport to catch our flight home.

Once I got back to Rome, I spent the rest of my week studying for all of my midterms (hopefully I did well on all of them; I get my grades this week).

Here are the (highly anticipated I'm sure) pictures of Scotland!

From top to bottom: The Old Course at St. Andrews, a view of St. Andrew's Castle from the water, looking up at Arthur's seat, a pic of Ryan and I at the top of Arthur's seat, and finally Edinburgh Castle.

Now last but certainly not least, let me catch you all up with my spring break adventure in Greece. My last midterm was on Thursday so my roommates and I left for Greece on Friday morning. We booked a trip through a travel company called Bus2Alps, and Bus2Alps organized all of our travel plans and hotel accommodations which was awesome. A friend of mine from Oshkosh, Patrick, flew out to spend his spring break with me and my friends which was also awesome. Oh and my friend Leslie who studies in Florence booked the same trip my roommates and I did and this too was, you guessed it, awesome. 

Our first stop in Greece was the Island of Corfu. We spent three days here and I got to Kayak, swim, lay out on the beach, and shop in a little town. While in Corfu I also made some new friends. Kyle from England and Peter from Canada were Patrick's roommates and they fit in well with my group of friends. I also met two really nice girls named Kittsie and Claire who are studying at St. Andrew's in Scotland.

After our three days in Corfu, everyone on the Bus2Alps trip headed to Athens where we spent an additional three days. Athens was amazing! I finally got to see the Parthenon with my own two eyes and it was incredible. The Parthenon and the Acropolis are the only two places I have seen that beat the Colosseum in beauty. 

I spent my three days in Athens exploring the ancient ruins and taking hundreds of pictures. I also got to see the old 2004 Olympic stadium. On my last night in Athens I took a short trip to the southern most point of the Grecian mainland where a temple built in honor of Poseidon still stands. My friends and I watched a breath taking sunset here. Greece was everything I expected it to be. I only wish I got to spend more time there. 

My friend Patrick flew back to Wisconsin today and I miss him already. It was nice seeing a face from home. Sooooo if anyone feels like visiting I would love to have you! :)

Okay I think you all are now sufficiently caught up on my life. Classes start up again tomorrow so I'm going to post some final pictures and head off to bed!

Top to bottom: beach in Corfu, Patrick and I in front of the Olympic stadium, Leslie, her roommate Cierra, Patrick, and I in front of the Parthenon, and finally Amanda, Mackenzee, Mackenzie, and I in front of the Acropolis.

London

This past weekend I got to check taking a trip to London off of my bucket list! Brittney and I decided to make a trip to the UK to visit our friend Cora who is studying abroad in Winchester. Cora met Britt and I in London and the three of us spent the weekend exploring the city with Britt's roommate Allison! I had so much fun and London is everything I thought it would be.

Britt, Allison, and I flew out of Rome on Thursday night and we met up with Cora Friday afternoon. While Britt, Allison, and I were waiting for Cora's train to get in we made a quick stop at King's Cross station to visit the fake platform 9 3/4 they have in honor of the Harry Potter novels. Taking a picture at this platform has been a goal of mine for a while, so this photo makes me incredibly happy.

:)

Britt, Cora, Allison and I hit up all the tourist destinations. We saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, Trafalgar's Square, Abbey Road, and a lot of other sights! We also rode the tube (the London subway system), a double decker bus, and the London Eye. At first I was terrified to ride the Eye, but it was actually really fun. The ride was really smooth and even though it was raining the views were incredible! 

Me in front of the Eye!

Cora, Britt,and I being weird inside of the Eye with Big Ben in the background.

My friends and I decided to partake in a free walking tour on Saturday so we could see all of the sights and get a little background info on all of them. We learned a lot of fun facts from our delightful tour guide, Eddie. For instance, Big Ben is the name of the bell, not the tower. The tower is named the Elizabeth Tower after the queen and the tower didn't even have a name until the year 2012! 

Britt, Cora, Allison, and I also made a quick stop in the British Library. This library is quite infamous because it houses King George III's private library. Over 85,000 books are stored in a giant, 6 story, glass case. The library also has a couple of really old documents like the Magna Carta. Unfortunately the documents room was under construction so we didn't get to see any of them. But I was happy just seeing King George's library. I wish I had a personal library of that size!

The Kings's Library.

Camden was another fun stop during the day on Saturday. This area of London called Camden, has this huge market during the day. So of course, the four of us girls were thrilled to spend a few hours walking from vendor to vendor. I was a good girl and only bought a ring. That took A LOT of self restraint. 

Another great thing about London was the food. I love my Italian food but it was nice to eat something other than pizza and pasta for a weekend. Over the span of the weekend I had a delicious chicken sandwich from this popular UK restaurant called Nando's, a proper British meal of fish and chips from a pub, and the best cheeseburger I've had in a long time. 

I loved nearly everything about London. My only complaints are that London was really expensive (one pound is equivalent to two american dollars) and two days was not enough time. There was so much I didn't get to see! I will make it back to London eventually. I'd even love to live there someday! 

I had an amazing weekend and I'm so happy Britt and I got to meet up with Cora. Those two make the best travel companions!

Cora, Britt, and I with Big Ben and parliament in the background.

Firenze!

I apologize for falling so far behind on the blog everyone. These past few weeks have gone by so fast! Two weekends ago (February 21 and 22) my roommates and I went to Florence for a few days. Florence (aka Firenze) is only a two hour train ride from Rome. And while Rome is known for the art and accomplishments of the ancient Romans, Florence is a renown Renaissance city. For instance Michelangelo's famous David sculpture is housed in a museum there. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to go and see the sculpture but I here its breathtaking.

I spent the weekend with Mackenzee, Mackenzie, Shannon, Katie, Amanda, Stephanie, Maddie, and Kirsten exploring all of the churches and markets Florence has to offer. Il Duomo is the renaissance age church that Florence is most known for. Il Duomo was impressively decorated on the outside but it was surprisingly stark on the inside. The markets were my favorite part of Florence. Florence is renown for its leather, and the leather market did not disappoint. I bargained with the vendors (in mostly Italian, yay me!) and bought myself a leather jacket and purse for a great deal! Florence also has a great indoor food market. You can buy nearly any kind of fruit, vegetable, meat, fish, pasta, oil, cheese, spice, bread, and or baked good at this market. It was incredible. And all of the food is so fresh; the heads of a lot of the animals were proudly on display in the meat cases to prove this point.

My friends and I decided we wanted to spend a night in Florence so we all stayed in a hostel together. The hostel was actually really nice and really cheap which is always great. The best meal I had in Florence was pizza from this place called Gusta's. Pizza in Italy is a lot different than pizza in the U.S. Instead of tomato sauce, most pizzerias use slices tomatoes or some kind of cheese or oil sauce as a base. The pizza I had at Gusta's had tomatoes, spinach, and two kinds of cheese. It was delicious. And it was HUGE. I ate the whole thing of course.

Florence is a much smaller city than Rome; even though it was small it was still pretty. I don't know how many of you know this, but I had to choose between studying abroad in Rome or in Florence. I'm so incredibly happy I chose Rome. Florence is just so much smaller than Rome and a lot of American students choose to study in Florence so the city seemed to be set up for american students and tourists. Rome is obviously a major tourist city as well, but in Rome I think it is easier to get away from the tourist areas because the city is so massive. I enjoyed my time in Florence but one weekend there was enough for me!  

Enjoy the pictures of Firenze!

Il Dumo!!

Mmmmmm, yummy. Just what I wanted, a pig's head!

A view of the river and a bridge in Florence. 

Gusta's pizza. My mouth is watering just looking at this picture. 

YORO

YORO: You Only Rome Once. The other day my roommate Katie came up with this saying as a joke but all of my friends loved it so much it quickly became the catch phrase of our trip.

I have now been in living in Rome for 18 days. 18 DAYS!!! It feels like I've been here for months. Even though I can't speak the language, I'm starting to feel like a local. I love taking the metro to different parts of the city and I've walked the city so many times that I'm actually familiar with street names. I was even able to give a lost Australian couple directions the other day!

This week my friends and I finally made it inside of St. Peter's Basilica. Vatican City is beautiful on the outside but the inside is so gorgeous its almost magical. It's hard to explain exactly how I felt standing inside of the basilica. I guess overwhelmed would be the best adjective to use. The statues, mosaics, paintings, and other decorations that adorn the church are massive but they are breathtakingly beautiful at the same time. As a Catholic it was so cool to be able to see the heart of my religion.  My grandma would be proud to know that I took the opportunity to pray in one of the designated prayer rooms.

My friends and I went to the Vatican on Thursday when the weather was sunny and in the high 50s/low 60s so we decided to climb to the top of the basilica. For those who don't know, I absolutely hate heights so this climb was a big deal for me. However in the end I wasn't even that afraid. I was way too busy focusing on my breathing and trying not to die as I climbed the hundreds of stairs that lead to the top. Although the view was worth all of the fear and exhaustion.

I don't have class on Fridays, so this Friday I spent the day at the wedding cake monument and the Colosseum.  The Colosseum is everything I pictured it to be. I can't wait to book a tour and see the inside of it. The way that modern day Rome is built around all of the ancient ruins like the Forum and Colosseum blows my mind. Its crazy to me that on my 20 min walk to school I pass buildings and statues that are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.

This week was also kind of crazy because three of my new friends celebrated their birthdays. We celebrated in small ways during the week (I made a cake, my roommates made sangria), but on Thursday my friends and I all went out to dinner to celebrate properly. We went to dinner at this rather infamous restaurant named Tony's. The owner, Tony, loves american study abroad students so he gave us free appetizers, dessert, and champagne. We had a blast.

On Saturday my friends Mackenzee, Shannon, Katie, Mackenzie, and I took a day trip to this little town named Tivoli. Tivoli is this little town outside of Rome that is know for its fountains and gardens. It was a fun and peaceful day trip to take with the girls. And it was cheap! We took the train and the whole day (including lunch) cost me about $15.

I think that's about it for this week. Here are some pictures! Enjoy!

(From top to bottom: me outside of the Vatican, my friend Ryan and I inside of the Vatican, the view from the top of the Vatican, the Colosseum, fountains at Tivoli, more Tivoli fountains)

Assisi

My first week of school flew by!! So far I'm liking all of my classes. I am taking beginning Italian, Film and Mafia (a class during which we watch movies about the Italian mafia), Art Therapy, Sketchbook Rome, and a literature class. My two art classes are my favorites by far. I don't spend a single day in a classroom for my Sketchbook Rome class. Instead we meet up at different spots of the city and spend the time sketching different things! This week we drew different items we liked in a cathedral and we also sketched what we saw in the Piazza del Popolo. 

Even though classes started this week I have still been getting out to explore the city. I also partook in a wine tasting workshop at my school on Monday.

On Friday my friends and I decided to venture outside of Rome so we took a day trip to Assisi. Assisi is this little town north of Rome. It's famous for its stone houses, narrow streets, stunning views, and patron saint; St. Francis. In order to get to Assisi my roommates Mackenzee, Mackenzie, Shannon and I took the train. All four of us fell in love with the tiny town. Because this time of the year isn't prime tourist season, we pretty much had the town to ourselves. We saw several smaller cathedrals but we ended our day with a visit to the famous Cathedral of St. Francis. The basilica was beautiful and we even got to see St. Francis's tomb (he's buried underneath the church). 

After our encounter with St. Francis my friends and I went back to the train station to wait for our train home and to grab some dinner. We ended up at eating at McDonald's because every other restaurant we came upon was closed! The menus at Italian McDonald's are pretty different than the menus at McDonald's in the U.S. Here in Italy they offer a "Taste of America" menu. This features several different cheeseburgers all named after major U.S. cities like Chicago and New York, mozzarella sticks, star shaped chicken nuggets, and waffle fries. Oh and Italian McDonald's also make you pay for ketchup. Not cool McDonald's. Not cool.

The girls and I got back to Rome around 11pm Friday night. On Saturday morning I got up early and went to the Vatican Museum. That was spectacular. For those of you who don't know, I LOVE museums. I can spend all day in one, and actually that's exactly what I did on Saturday. Ryan was the only one of my friends who wanted to go with me, so the two of us spent over 4 hours exploring all of the different exhibits the Vatican has to offer. One of these exhibits was the Sistine Chapel. That place blew my mind. I wish I could have taken pictures to show everyone but taking pictures of the art on the walls in the Sistine Chapel is strictly forbidden. Ryan and I saw several people get kicked out for trying. After seeing the Vatican Museum Ryan and I wanted to go into St. Peter's Cathedral but the line was way too long. I do plan on going back sometime soon though and I hear you can take pictures inside there.

I saw Britt twice the weekend! We spent a lot of time planning our trip to visit our friend Cora who's studying in England. That was pretty much it for this week. Enjoy the latest pictures and I'll update again soon!! 

The Past Few Days

Like my roommate Liz likes to say, we killed it these past couple of days. Although it has been raining non stop for the past two days my friends and I haven't let the weather slow us down. We've explored some new areas and we've already ventured back to places like the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Today (Super bowl Sunday) we left the comfort of our dry apartment in favor of finding Terme di Diocleziano (the Baths of Diocletian) and Altare della Patria (the monument erected in honor of Victor Emanuele II, the first King of unified Italy). Both places were absolutely stunning and they were dripping with history. Because the weather was so bad, my friends and I pretty much had the places to ourselves.

In ancient Rome, it was very popular for the people to gather in the large bath houses in the city. The Diocletian baths were the grandest public bath house in Rome. Unfortunately today the actual bath parts of this amazing site are crumbling in ruin. The basilica (church) part, however, still remains intact and it is beautiful.

  The first picture is a view of the basilica from the entrance. The second picture is of the inside of the church. To give you an idea of how massive the building is, you can see my roommate Liz standing in the bottom of the second picture.

After the bath house it was on to the Altare della Patria, or as the locals call it, The Wedding Cake monument. Most Romans aren't a fan of this site. They think its far too large and gaudy. The middle of the monument houses Italy's version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the top of the cake offers spectacular views of Rome. Unfortunately because of the pooring rain, I didn't get any pictures from the top of the building. I promise to go back soon though and post the pictures I end up taking.

The past few days have also been exciting because my friends and I have figured out how to navigate the public transportation systems! We have successfully ridden the metro (subway) and the city buses without any problems or picked pockets. 

Last night while we were on one of our metro adventures, my friends and I stopped at a random restaurant for dinner and ended up making friends with the owner. After dinner the owner (Daniele) invited us up to his rooftop bar next door and gave us free desserts and a round of free drinks. 

It has been so much fun exploring Rome uninterrupted for the past four days. Tomorrow, however, I actually start taking classes. Wish me luck! Ciao bellas!

Day 2

So. Much. Walking. We walked over 10 miles today. My feet are killing me but I couldn't have had a better day. Orientation began at 10, but before we went to orientation my roommate Mackenzie and I walked to get breakfast. We ended up finding a bakery right next to our apartment and another grocery store a few blocks away. Mackenzie and I bought a delicious chocolate filled pastry from the bakery and some fruit from the supermarket. After breakfast we went back to meet our other roommates and new friends so we could all walk to school together.  My school has 21 kids. Total. Craziness. Through orientation  I was able to meet the other 20 students and I like every single one of them. At first I was kind of disappointed in the school's small size but I've gotten used to it, and I now really like the friendly, personal atmosphere the school creates. Orientation ended at  2 and that's  when the real walking started. For 5 hours my friends and I traversed through the heart of Rome. Our most notable stops were the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Pantheon.  All three monuments were absolutely stunning. I plan on going back to visit them multiple times. Another exciting thing that happened today was that I  met up with Brittney for dinner. It was so awesome to see her again and all of my new friends loved her. Here are some pictures from our hike around the city; enjoy! (In order: Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, Pantheon)