Say Cheese!! And Proscuitto and Balsamic Vinegar...

So it's midterms week. Hence the long wait for me to write my blog about Friday. But I will take out some time now and catch you up on my adventures from Friday to Parma and Modena.

It all started at 4am. and yes, I'm sure you just reread that sentence. I said it....4am I woke up to catch our bus and the Piazza Independanzia at 5:15 am! It was crazy! I can easily say I got 4 hours of sleep that night. It was pretty terrible. When we get on the bus, I pass out. Are you really that surprised? Our first stop? Parma!!! Land of the Cheese! When we first arrived there it was freezing outside and a woman came out and told us about the cheese factory a little bit because it's loud once we got in there. Then she comes out with this box. What's in the box?? Uniforms! Because it's a factory we had to dress up in these foot booties, lab coats and funky hats. Oh we were attracitve. Trust me. We were all the epitome of supermodels. Don't you think so? The first room that we all entered was where all the milk came in. They were placed in these large vats that were very hot and then mechanically mixed until the milk would start to cook and eventually curdle. And you all know that when milk curdles it produces cheese (for the most part). Then this man that worked there went to each one of the vats and took what look like a giant whisk and stirred it. These men that worked in this factory were so strong. Who would've thought that working in a cheese factory would make you that much stronger?

After standing in that freezing room for over a half hour watching the milk curdle and continuously being stirred, we were taken into another room. Inside this room, you could see the cheese inside the molds that produce their "wheel-shape". Our tour guide showed us the piece of fabric that they put aroudn the wet cheese after it's put into the molds which gives it that writing on the side that says Parmigiana over and over again with the date it was produced on it. They imprint it onto the cheese themself. After being shown that, we were taken into a room where there must be at least 300 cheese wheels sitting in fluid that helps enhance their flavor. They stay in there, the guide stated, for about 25 days. The wheels floating on the fluid reminded me of buoys in a swimming pool and all I really wanted to do the whole time was jump on them to see if they would hold me up but I think that may have gotten me kicked out of the factory, so I witheld. But it did look very cool and couldn't believe that cheese took this much effort. After, they took us back into that first room to show us the process of how they turn the milk into the cheese wheel. So what they did was they got what looked like
canvas nets and they would dig it down into the hot milk and pull out the curd. Then, two guys would spins it so that the curd would become a large ball of cheese. Being still hot, they then placed the cheese into these large molds, to form their wheel shape and place what looked like heavy plates on top to keep the cheese down and in the molds. They continued to do this until all of the molds were full. I actually filmed a video of them doing this whole process so watch and see exactly what I saw!!

But I would have to say that my favorite part by far was the room we went to afterwards. I call it, the Cheese Room! This is where they place the cheese after it is done being prepared, it will sit in this room for years to age. The more years that the cheese ages, the better the cheese. With my love of cheese, it was like a chocolate lover walking into Willy Wonka's Factory. See for yourself:

After the tour, we recieved free samples and it was quite delicious cheese. But what cheese isn't, right? We then continued to get onto the bus and head to the next stop also in Parma. The Proscuitto Factory! We walked in and took a quick tour of the factory and then we had a proscuitto tasting! Let me just say that the smell was VILE! Everyone in there thought they were going to throw up, including me. Just seeing all of this pig hanging around sitting there for months and months forms this smell that is like poison to your nose. But then afterwards when we got to do the tasting, and it was amazing! I ate my whole plate plus bread, plus a quarter of another plate. When meat of any kind is put in front of me? Oh, trust me, I will eat it all up. Then they brought out dessert which wasn't all that great but I was stuffed from the Proscuitto anyway. That was definitely a good lunch for me. I would eat that again anyday.

Once we left the Proscuitto Factory, we hopped on the bus for one more ride to Modena, to see the Balsamic Vinegar Factory. We were on the bus for so long during this day that I just wanted to take an 8 hour nap, but the bus rides were so short that it's impossible to get a good rest while traveling back and forth. So just imagine how tired we were.

When we got to the Balsamic Vinegar factory, a woman took us up to the second floor wher there was vinegar sitting in barrels aging. She said that a good, expensive balsamic is in the barrel for 25 years while some are in there for 12 that are really good as well but just cheaper. When she finished talking about the production process, she took us downstairs for a tasting. These were incredible! My favorite by far was the Apple Balsamic Vinegar. I wanted to just keep trying it. I think that and the white pear was everyone's favorite. Silly me forgot to bring in my wallet so I never bought any but a lot of people went home that day with bottles of balsamic vinegar. (Don't you worry though, all of these products can be bought in the US!)

After we left that factory we finally got on the bus to head back to Firenze. I think I definitely got the most sleep on that ride home. When we arrived home I knew that it was time for bed. The tours were amazing and I would definitely tell anybody to go on them because watching the process of how to make cheese, balsamic vinegar, and proscuitto was was actually very invigorating and I think it's an important trip especially when you're in Italy.

For right now I must say Buona Notte.

May the travels continue and the memories be made for a lifetime.

Ciao!

This Week Would Be Above and Beyond if it Wasn't for This Weather

Why Florence why? I simply don't get it. Last week, I was wearing a tshirt and taking a six mile walk in the mountains surrounding Firenze. This week? I'm carrying an umbrella 4 out of the 5 days this week because it's 31 degrees and snowing!!!! Seriously?? Snowing? in Florence? In March? Not okay. Not okay at all.
Monday was just a normal day of classes so i'm going to skip that because nothing exciting happened that's worth me writing and you reading about. I just made cake with a pastry cream and jam. But tuesday was a fun day. After going for Ganzo after my restaurant management class I recieved a phone call from my relatives Ronni and Ernie! Ernie is my mom's cousin. They asked if me and my roommate would like to go out to dinner with them that night and we agreed ver yhappily since I never get to see these relatives often. So around 7pm, we meet up with them at their hotel near San Lorenzo and Mercato Centrale. They told us that their concierge recommended a Trattoria that is inbetween their hotel and our apartment. So after getting lost, we finally find the Trattoria and go inside. We get there around 7pm. Keep in mind, it's Italy. People don't eat dinner here until at least 9pm. So if you are coming to Itly anytime soon, just get used to that, it's their way of life.
We order two appetizers, 2 bottles of wine, bread, we all get meals for ourselves with sides, and then every single one of us got a dessert. I got tiramisu and oh my god was it INCREDIBLE! Last thing i knew, it was 10:30pm! We were there for three and a half hours. Just talking. Do you ever have one of those conversations where you just talk and talk and don't realize the ti and when you finally look at your watch, it's hours past when you got there? That's what this was. We talked about EVERTHING! From traveling, to school to food. Anything you could think of. For that whole dinner, I thought I was in America because my relatives were with me and we were talking English constantly. It was so nice to see people in my family, in the city that I'm living in for four months. It was very comforting, and I loved it.
Wednesday was a very strange day. I met my friend at Ganzo for lunch again and got ribs!!! AMAZING as well. The service at Ganzo that day was horrible and it kind of put me in a bad mood. But it was sunny while walking there so I didn't feel too awful until I left Ganzo and it was raining. Shocker right? So after that I seriously can't remember what I did. It's horrible. My memory is just disappearing constantly. My memories of Florence are fading away and I'm not liking that very much. But at 6pm I went to my Italian class and learned definite articles (yeah, I know this is so interesting to you which is why I'm moving on)
Later last night I had to meet Massi. Who is Massi? Well, let me tell you. In the beginning of the year, I signed of for a conversation exchange which is where the school sets you up with an Italian native and you are supposed to converse for one hour. Half an hour in Italian and half an hour in English. Well, on my application, I put intermediate because I'min intermediate italian class so I figured that was accurate. Well boy was I wrong! This guy knew more english than I did Italian. Also, it was really awkward. I mean, he bought me a drink, which was very nice of him and polite. And we talked and he tried to hard ot make me feel comfortable with my Italian but then would laugh at how horrible I was. There are days when I think I'm on top of my game with Italian and let me tell you, Massi made me fall down in failure. Halfway through the conversation kept pausing and getting a little awkward so I texted my roommate to come meet me to "go out". When she got there she sat down with us and talked to the both of us. Then all of a sudden, for the first time, we witnessed something happen. We watched a bar fight. With girls! They were grabbing each other's hair and one fell into the table and fell on the ground. That's when the bouncer came in and took control and kicked the girl who started it out of the bar. It was definitely a frightening sight to see that fights like those exist, even in Florence, and really in real life. That was our cue to leave the bar and go back to our apartment. I said goodbye to my partner and went on my way.
Today is an AWESOME day. Why is that? Because my parents and sister are in Firenze!!!! They arrived at around 2pm and I have been with them since. It was sooo good to see them because they are such a huge portion of my life and now they get to experience Florence with me; with my new home. However, it was freezing today! It must be at least 30 degrees. We went for Tripe but of course when we get there, it's closed!!! Ugh! the horror! and we walked a mile and a half to get there. But they were starving so we go paninis and pizzas instead and I bought them chocolate from my teacher's store. Then we continued to walk back to my apartment because every part of every single one of our bodies was freezing!! We got back into the apartment and talked for a little and then I let them go back to their hotel now and rest a little.
Tonight I'm taking my sister out to my favorite winebar for an amazing meal and some wine (of course, it's a winebar). Then tomorrow I have to get up at 4am!!!! to be at a bus by 5:15am for another school trip, day trip thankfully, to Parma, the land of the cheese!!! Oh man, being a cheese-lover, I cannot wait! :D . When I return back at night, hopefully my family will be back from their day trip to Venice and I am taking my dad out for a beer, you know, because it's legal for me to do that. Saturday I'm finally going to the Uffizi and then shopping day with my mom and that's always a good day!! and then my friend Chris arrives with one of his friends and I'm very very very excited to finally see someone from college back home. This weekend/week is just getting better and better and I cannot seriously wait to do everythign with them.
I probably won't update this until next week because I want to spend time with family, but we'll see. I'm always full of surprises ;)
And so this blog ends......Buona Notte.

Amalfi Coast May Be My New Home

Do you ever want to do something and you sit down to do it and just stare and stare at it and just don't have the motivatation to get it done at that specific moment. Well, that's how I feel with this blog. I sit down, open my computer, go to my blog page and open a new post, and then I think, this is going to take me forever and I'm tired so I'll do it later. Hence my once again apology for the late blog. But this weekend was a weekend that I know I will have to talk about to all of you. It was my first free trip with my Culture class and it was to the beautiful Amalfi Coast, specifically, Napoli, Sorrento, Capri, and Pompei.

It all began Friday at 6:45am, and yes, I looked like the walking dead. We all met at a piazza where our buses awaited for u to board and take a lovely 6 hour drive to Napoli. After the long drive, we ended up in Napoli, which honetly shocked me, and not in a good way. When we first entered the city, I looked around and it reminded me of a really bad area in New York City. I was seriously afraid to walk off that bus. Not to make it any better, but when we got off the bus, it started to rain and of coure, brilliant me, forgot to take her umbrella off the bus. Before we went on our guided tour, they took us to what they said was "The Best Pizza you can find in Napoli." So me and my friends stupidly believed that and went to this retaurant with a fixed price of 15 Euros for an appetizer, drinks, and pizza. I couldn't eat the appetizer so they brought me out a ball of mozzerella...a ball!!! What am I supposed to do with that? Well, I'll tell you what I did. I ate it. And it was too much. And they brought this out to me AFTER i ate that pizza. Want to know about the best pizza in Napoli? Yeah, wasn't the best. Can say that without hesitation.

After the pizza, we continued with our guided tour. It began with this building: It was said to have an egg underneath it that no one knows about. And legend has it that, that egg is still there that no one knows about. I'm sorry, but for something that I've made my breakfast with, I don't think there is an egg under there, nor do I think a building this beautiful sculpture-wise should have a horrible story as an egg sitting underneath it that could or could not be there. Then the tour continued. I would love to tell you everything we saw and be able to describe it in some way, but unfortunately, I can not, and for that, I blame my tour guide. She was awful. Every time that she stopped to talk, I wa literally standing up against her side praying that I could hear just one word that came out of her mouth. But sadly, I could not. She hated us though. I have no idea why, but our tour guide couldn't have despised our group anymore than she did. If me and one of our chapperones were talking you would see the horns popping out of the top of her head. Luckily, I met some really cool people along the way. People that are actually going to be in Florence until May like me. There was Taylor and Jonah, Austin and Joel. They were really nice people and luckily I had them in my group to have reasonably humorous conversations with during the horrible guide. Let me just say, humor will beat any bad mood. Trust me...I know. But since I can't explain to you what I saw, I will show the pictures. The ones of inside the church were definitely not allowed to be taken but I wasn't told that until after I took about 15 of them. Jut a warning now, you can never take a picture inside of a church. Doesn't matter what kind, you just can't. But we saw some beautiful churches, a palace, and castle while being on this tour that I think you should see:

After the dreaded tour was over, we got back on the bus for another 2 hours and headed to Sorrento, our home for the next two nights. It was beautiful! compared to Napoli. Just the drive to Sorrento made me fall in love with it. Our bus drove on the highet road on a mountain and it overlooked the whole city. While some of the girls on the bus were closign their eyes thinking we were going to drive off the road and die, I was mesmerized by what I was looking at. Sorrento is pretty much one main street. Everything and anything you could imagine is placed on this main street, Via Italia. So don't worry about getting lost, you either go one direction or the other. But the views? Oh, I think they speak for themselves:

And these pictures were just on the dock waiting to retrieve our boat to take us to Capri for the day. The boat ride seriously looked like an airplane. I don't know if Italy has thing backwards or they are just weird like that. But there were four columns in rows of three and four and I was sitting thinking that a drink cart was about to make it's way down each aisle. Thankfully they didn't, otherwise I'd be really creeped out.

So you know how everyone has their dream place to live? YOu want to move to the Carribean or Japan or Europe? Well, Capri, is mine. I fell in love!! Even though it was an island and I wouldn't be very close to any other civilization besides Capri, i would be okay with that. The ocean was beautiful! The houses? amazing. the architectual detail that you saw around this island would astound you and unfortunately you can't be there in person right now but my pictures will show it's incredible potential to be the location of your next dream home.

The first couple of these picture were just when I got off the boat. Everyone got to go their own path. Me and three friends decided to just go walking and find some viewing spots so we could see Capri from high up in the mountain. We started walking and decided to folow this path. We found a map that said if we kept following that ame path we would end up at a viewing point called Villa Jovis. On the weay we saw some of the most beautiful houses and their entry ways (and this wa about the time me and my friend decided we were moving here later on in our live whether we have the money or not). About 2 miles later of climbing the steepest hills and sweating because of the beautiful weather it was outside, we finally reached the top at Villa Jovis. Apparently this was a meeting place for a very royal being back thousands of years ago. No one was up ther when we all went, but the views we got out of it were unlike what anyone else probably had seen that whole entire day.

After we left, we passed a small restaurant called Bar Jovis. It was this tiny restaurant that overlooked the entire city. We didn't care if it was going to taste good or not because we were starving after climbing a mountain that day. But to our surprise it was amazing. We all got these panini's which we were expecting to be hard and have no flavor but little did we know that the bread was perfect, the mozerella was fresh, as were the tomatoes. Despite the fact that the degrees outside dropped about 20 degree, we decided to sit outside and enjoy our view, and we definitely did. Afterwards everyone got cupaccinos which I heard were incredible! but since I don't drink coffee, I got a hot chocolate which was the perfect ending to my lunch. And we got to enjoy an amazing view and food for only ten euros. The day was perfect from then on. We had some time to spare before we got onto the boat back to Sorrento so we took a bus to AnaCapri, which is another area higher up. There really wasn't anything there but a lot of houses really close together. We got lost but it was so much fun because it was like a maze and we had a blast just running through all the old houses and down the small cobblestone roads. Everyone that went to Capri was going to go into the Grotto, however, because of the rough waves (which were about 6 inches high, if I may add), they cancelled that portion of the trip which made it hard to find something to do for 8 hours, but me and my friends explored and filled the time doing incredible and random things. But that's the fun in the adventure right? Around 6:30pm, our boat departed from Capri :( and headed back to Sorrento. But I knew that the night to come was going to be amazing because we all decided to go out that night. So around 11pm we all ended up going to this Irish Pub called The Pub (creative right?) It was the most fun I've had at a bar. It's this old man and his wife that own and bartend and they love when Americans come in. They play music and give us really good drinks for a very reasonable price. They are soo much fun and my whole school was in this bar having the time of our life. We definitely achieved a good night that night.

The following day was our last day and we went to the infamous Pomepei. You may know it as the home to Mt. Vesuveus. But we didn't get to climb it. We got ANOTHER guided tour of the ruins but this time, it was definitely worth it. This guy was full of so much detail and he was very funny too. Being inside a town that existed over 2000 years ago before the volcano ruined it was insane. Just to think that people were living where I was walking was just so surreal. Although it was ruins, it was truly beautiful. I think this trip was definitely the perfect ending to the weekend. Walking around and seeing all of the different pieces of the town that lasted from the tragic incident is almost like a miracle and an opportunity for all of us to see what life was like back then and what information can be attained from just the ashes and pieces of rock being left behind. The amount of land we covered was ridiculous and the site we saw were just as unbelievable as the history of the land.

After Pompei, we got on the bus for a lovely 6 hour ride back to Florence. This weekend was filled with so much beauty, history, architecture, and friendships. Italy, you never let me down.

Running doesn't exist in Florence, but Chocolate Raviolis Do

So yesterday is probably the slowest out of all of my days because the only class that I have to take on Wednesdays is Intermediate Italian....at 6pm! So what do I do? I wake up at 11:30am, and never regeret it. After I woke up I watched all my tv shows on Hulu (which i'm doing not very legally..shhhh), and started reading my new book, yes....I still do read while in Italy. It's very relaxing after a long day of doing nothing. Around 3pm, my roommate comes back from class and we were going to go to the winebar so she comes outside with me and it starts drizzling and I come up with the genius idea, "Hey, why don't we go running? It won't ever thunder here and the rain will cool us off." Next thing I know, I'm upstairs putting on sneakers, sports bras, and underarmor with my ipod in hand to go running outside. Running!! Do you know the last time I went running?? Probably sometimes in early January, i was was still huffing and puffing while running a mile even though I was doing it 4 times a week.

When we start running, it's already drizzling, but it's nothing bad so we continue. We start off running on the side of the Arno River and continuing up and around all these bridges. About a mile through, I'm feeling strong. So we decide to go all the way to the second bridge after the Ponte Vecchio, which, let me tell you....isn't close at all! So crossing over the bridge in the middle, we continue running, and running, and running. Now, this is the point when I start to realize we're running on a little bit of a slant. Which means, this is the point at which I started to die. I pushed through and continued over that goal bridge and then we both stopped. I'm DYING! I'm panting like a dog on a hot summer day. The rain started to fall harder and harder, luckily no thunder or lightning. But we decided to walk a little bit to catch our breath but while doing that, what we noticed was that there were other people out running that we kept passing. But the weird thing is.....every single one of them? American! I'm telling you, this made me realize that American girls and guys are so obsessed with their bodies. With how they look on a daily basis. If they don't go to the gym one day or do some sort of hardcore workout, they think they are going to blow up like a balloon. New Flash!!! The Italians never run and look how thin they are. Italians walk EVERYWHERE and they eat what they want when they want. But when combining that with the amount of physical activity they get during one day, it all evens out. Italians look at the Americans wondering why we're running outside, just look at their reactions to you. And running in the rain? It's as if we're showing desparation. Desparation to look like them, to wear a bathing suit, to be thinner than your friends. If I just walk everyday and eat what I want to eat but in reasonable portions, I will look like them, without the running and constant exercising at the gym. But back to my original story....
After about five minutes, we decided to run again but this time we split because I wanted to run more in the streets of florence then on the river where there were a lot of crowding tourists. As the rain was pouring harder, my ipod was getting soaked because being the genius that I am, I didn't buy one of those cases to cover it to protect it from the rain. So that gave me incentive to run harder and faster. So about 15 minutes later I arrived home, luckily meeting my roommate at the door at the exact same time (because I didn't have my key). I got upstairs and just died on my bed for a couple of minutes before heading to class. Let me tell you...I slept sooo well that night. But honestly, I think i'm done with adding on the extra exercise. I'll go on walks, sightsee, because that all includes me moving my feet, hence, physical activity.

Now it's time to tell you about TODAY...wonderful wonderful thursdays!!!
First class of the day: EVERYTHING CHOCOLATE! my favorite class in the entire world. We had a guest speaker today named Andrea who was another teacher/chef at Apicius for the Advanced students. He tought us how chocolate can be used in a normal menu other than desserts. So what did we make? Chocolate Raviolis stuffed with an olive oil gelatin with a permesean cream sauce. How was it? How do you think? It was delicious! And ther ewas so much of it which means a lot of it went into my mouth. The raviolis weren't as chocolatey as I would have liked but they were still good. The sauce was cheesey and milky (clearly). People didn't really like it, but I'm a huge cheese lover so of course I fell in love with it.
After class, we are supposed to have our cuture class but since we have that trip tomorrow, class was cancelled! So instead I went to Ganzo with a couple of people from Chocolate class and enjoyed a lovely veal meal. I know i know....Thursday is Trippa day, sadly no one would go with me so I had to settle for Ganzo. But don't worry....Next monday? Trippa! You can count on it.
For some reason I had no motivation to go out today after that because it was rainy and you know that kind of weather. The "I just want to stay inside and be all cozy and dry" weather. So that's exactly what i did. While my roommate went to the gym with another roommate (<---Look at that! more physical activity that isn't needed but we do it anyway!) I stayed in and looked up some trips that I may want to do in the future. I'm staying here for an extra week after we move out of our apartments and I found great flights to Paris!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The city of love. <3 I have been dying to go there ever since I was a little girl and this just may be my chance. However, I need to find someone to go with before I can book it. Wish me luck!

But that was my last two days experiences....ran my brains out for four miles the first day and ate all that I lost yesterday, today. Seems to be working quite well for me. Tomorrow I have to be up at 5am to reach a 6:45 bus to start my first FREE weekend trip with my class. Off to Pompei, Sorrento, Capri, and Napoli!

Then next Thursday...in ONE WEEK! is going to be the start of the best week ever!! My parents and sister come!!!!!! <3 I'm BEYOND excited for this. Then on saturday my friend from school at home is coming to visit and is bringing a friend and then the following week my cousin is coming and I get to take them out and can't wait for that either! Then 2 weeks from this saturday, GREECE Spring Break 2010!!!!!!! I have been waiting for this for about a year and can't believe it's finally creeping up on me. after spring break, I only have two months left....it's insane!!!! I cannot believe it'll be two months pretty soon. I feel like I just got here yesterday and am still getting used to it.

Bon Voyage! (I know that's french but I don't know how to say it in Italian haha)

If You Ask Me Where I Am....I Could Not Even Tell You

So yesterday was once again, my single most boring class ever, Restaurant Management, however, the bright side was that it was sixty five degrees outside! It was what I call "T-shirt weather" So I left the class, took off my jacket and headed over to Ganzo with my new friend Kevin who's from Portland and Brittany for lunch. The conversation was so interesting, because Kevin is one of those kids that has done so much in his life and as many aspirations in the future. He was talking about how he wants to go to Africa eventually and travel all over the world. Listening to him speak just makes me want to do the same thing eventually. I think I've come to the decision that once I graduate I would love to do some sort of Habitat for Humanity or backpack all over the world. After enjoying our 2 hour lunch conversation, we separated and went back to our apartment. My roommate decided to go out shopping while I went back. But once I returned back, I was sitting in my bed and kept saying to myself that it's such a beautiful day outside, there is NO way I'm spending it in my bed in the air conditioning. So I grabbed my small purse, put on shoes, keys, and phone and left. Where was I going? I wasn't sure. There was a fort that I wanted to visit that was built by the Medici Family back long ago. I knew the general way to get there so I just went across the river and started walking. I ended up on this street that was a huge hill, and with my boots on, I was not pleased but refused to turn around. So I kept going and eventually found the fort and then realized that it was closed! I should have read my guidebook because I reread it today and it says that you can't go fully in until the summer. But I did manage to get a picture before I continued on with my journey as well as some pictures of random stuff on the way there:



The first picture is part of that fort that I was looking for and then the second is the monstrosity of a hill I walked with a picture of the Arno during that beautiful day with the water running faster than ever.


After I realized that it was closed, I decided to just follow the road that went to the other way from the Fort. I took this private road with a couple of nice houses, maybe 4 cars passed me on the two miles that I walked and rarely people. Then there were doors with holes in them looking out into beautiful greenery. It was like looking out into another part of Florence that I didn't know existed. The views all around me were spectacular, I almost didn't know what to do with myself. With the sun shining and the clouds clear, everything I saw looked unrealistic. Take a look:

After walking on this long path, I ended up on the complete outskirts of Florence. I honestly had NO clue where I was.....I walked where there was absolutely no city. No bicycles, only cars, and some random people walking. But I looked ot my left and I see the city of Florence, and let me tell you, I was NOT close to it at all. It was so quiet where I was. No students around, no tourists, no music being played, buses, ambulances. Nothing but cars and some people walking on the outskirts of this greenery. So I decided to start walking around hoping for it to take me somwhere that I found familiar. Thankfully after another 30 minutes of walking or so, I found out that I reached the Piazza di Michiangiolo (yes....again). But the way I got there was not only the longest route I think is possible, but the single most beautiful one as well. I got to take amazing pictures of Florence and even some more pictures off of the Piazza once again while it was actually sunny out. Well, before my camera died, that is.

I walked six miles, got lost, sweaty, and gross, BUT, had the most incredible day all by myself and after seeing what can happen just exploring, I'm ready to do it again, even if I end up in a different city, I'll find my way back eventually. I'm just going to wait for this rain to disappear and then I'm on my way.

I'm Not Going to Die...I'm Not Going to Die

Once again I apologize for the delay but here is the last blog about the weekend. Saturday was quite the day, let me tell you:

It all started off with me and my roommate meeting my friend at Ganzo for their infamous brunch. If I have a free saturday morning, you will find me at their brunches. It's set up as a buffet with such high quality food and then they'll make you eggs if you ask and it's all just so delicious. But the only problem with it is that they tell you that you HAVE to finish the food on your plate. You are really not allowed to leave any food leftover because they dont' want anything to go to waste. So I pretty much ate my brains out and was beyooond full but it was the most delicious meal I've had and I loved it so I didn't regret any of it. After brunch, we had to decide what we wanted to do for the remainder of the day. The Duomo is one of those sights that you need to see when it's sunny out, otherwise the sites arn't as worthwhile.

Me and my two friends were standing on line to enter the Duomo but we wanted to the do the one where you walk up all the steps to get the amazing view of Florence and one of my friends said it was the Campinile Tower (aka Giotti's Bell Tower) right next to the Duomo, so we got off line and then headed over to the tower. We paid 6 Euros to walk 413 steps up this building to the right -->.

About a quarter of the way up, I was dying. I couldn't move anymore. My legs were throbbing, I was panting my brains out, couldn't have been a clearer way to say, "Hey Emily, you're really out of shape." But the stairs were really steep and there were a lot of them, and the hallways were sooo thin. An elevator would've been so much more convenient. Just saying.

But about 10 minutes later, and a lot of panting, sweating, and climbing, we all made it to the top and the views that we were able to see were INCREDIBLE. It beats the Piazzale di Michiangiolo by a landslide. For some reason though, the sights I saw remninded me of Willy Wonka...I'm not sure why, but maybe one of you will see what i mean. But just admire these views. If you go to Florence, this is something you should not even consider missing. Pay those six euros, climb your brains out, and go see the sights it has to offer for those who successfully made it to the top.

We were probably up there for almost an hour. When you see the views, it's just that you never want to leave. The weather was beautiful, the views were spectacular, it really makes you think. We all started talking about just how surreal it still is, even after a month to be living in Florence for a semester. Think about it, who REALLY has the opportunity to do this. It's a once in a lifetime chance, and us three go to live it. Already we started talkinga about studying abroad again next year, but who really knows what will happen. For a while though, we all just separated on the rooftop and continued to look out into the distance. My mind kept wandering about life and what I want to do once I graduate and how lucky I am to get to study in such an amazing city to help me determine where my future can take me. I've been here a month and so many doors have opened for me.

After we all left the Campinile Towers, we decided to go back and decided us three would go out for the night again to our popular bar, Amadeus. We all got dressed up and went over there to see our favorite people once again. They love us there. That's one tip I have to give. Find YOUR bar/club. The place that you always go to, make friends with the workers there, and make memories and close friends. We love being there because everyone knows us and they treat us incredibly well every single time. I wish I could remember my whole night, but that just means I had a good night right? Hahaha. I love the weekends because they are always filled with adventure and surprises.

This coming weekend, with my culture class I'm going on a free trip to Sorrento, Capri, Napoli, and Pompei.....I wonder what surprises are going to come then? I guess there's only one way to find out....