Ducks in Italy - Spring Break with Nicoco

This is the longest post yet, I hope you’re ready!

Another crazy trip has come and gone, and I’ve officially been abroad for two months! Although I really can’t believe how fast time is flying by, it feels like I’ve been living here forever… I can’t believe that I have less than two months left. The past week or so I’ve been realizing how limited my time is here and how much I’m gonna miss Florence and the things it offers..  gelato, piazzas, artwork everywhere, apertivo, street musicians, all the amazing people I’ve met here, being legally able to drink… you know. But it’s just making me make the most of the time I have left here so it’s all good. Plus I really miss all of you at home, and I can’t wait to see everyone once I’m back.

Anywayss…. I made it through my midterms.. they were pretty tough but I actually studied a lot… probably more than I usually do, so I think I did well. I finished those up on Wednesday and then it was finally spring break! Absolutely one of the best weeks of my life. I feel like I say that in every post, but things just keep getting better. Nicole got in on Friday, and we spent the weekend in Florence. I tried my best to show her all of my favorite things in town… most of them being food. We did apertivo, ate gelato everyday, went to Gusta pizza, did a bar crawl for St Patty’s day, went to Ponte Vecchio, drank wine and laid out in front Palazzo Pitti… you know just everyday life.

Ducks at Santa Croce

Ducks at Santa Maria Novella

 Monday we left for the Amalfi coast. We woke up way too early, and dragged ourselves to the train station where we both were so fortunate to sit next to old men instead of each other. But it worked out, cause we just slept anyways. We took the train to Napoli and then took the city train to get to our hostel. The train was really uncomfortable at first… we were standing next to a lady with a severe staring problem, but it all got better when we found seats away from her and soon after we met our asian friends. We pulled up to a train station, and I kid you not, a tour group of Asians stampeded onto the train. They were running and scrambling to find open seats. It felt like an awkwardly intense game of musical chairs… An older asian woman sat next to Nicole and started talking to us about all the places she’s been and asking about our travels. She was so sweet and hilarious without knowing it. Then there was Asian Don Juan (long hair and all) sitting across from her/us and he was asking Grandma Asia to translate various questions mostly about where our boyfriends were or if we thought he was cute. Then he pulls out a plastic bag filled with cans of beer and plastic cups – that he got on sale according to Grandma Asia – and starts passing out cups of beer to all his tour group and to Nicole and I. Nothing funnier than watching Grandma Asia and her husband throw back cups of warm beer. Our stop finally came up after over an hour, and we parted ways with out new friends, which seemed to really bum out Don Juan and Grandma Asia. Bummed me out too to be honest… But onto the next adventure which was finding our hostel. This consisted of awkwardly asking locals where the hell we were and led to Nicole walking up to a group of guys and blurting out “uhhhhhh HI. Doveeee….. seven hostel?” Classic. We haven’t stopped quoting it.. probably never will. But we finally made it to our hostel, which was no hostel! It was absolutely beauuutiful. There was a “cool and trendy” bar (direct quote from their website) and roof top terrace. And the bathrooms have showers those HUGE showerheads that make you feel like you’re standing under a waterfall, or rainstorm, or something tropical. Our rooms were so nice too. We stayed in a 12 bed mixed dorm, but there were only four of us staying there! And the last night it was just Co and I. 20 euro a night for a semi-private room? I’ll take it.

Co and Grandma Asia!

After we got settled in, we took a walk to get our first postcard view of the coastline. The closer we got, the giddier we got… I don’t know what it is but whenever I’m about to see something cool I turn into a five year old. Happened in Switzerland, and happened here too… Not mad about it though. Makes it all more exciting! We had good reason to be giddy though.. the view absolutely did not disappoint. Straight out of a postcard, and too beautiful to process at first. We sat there for a while just taking it all in and then hunger took over so we went and got a Panini. After refueling we went into Sorrento for a few hours and explored the city. Sorrento is so lively and colorful and beautiful. The buildings are all different colors, some bright yellow or orange, some creamy white. There’s lots of little alleyways with shops filled with food, jewelry, pasta, souvenirs and an unbelievable amount of Limoncelo everything. I didn’t know that Sorrento was the birth place of Limoncello, but it clicked after walking past 10 shops in a row with limoncello shot glasses, table cloths, aprons, fancy bottles, plates, cups, and realizing that there were lemon trees everywhere you looked. We stopped in for a beer at a random Irish pub where we met Momma Maria. Maria is a middle-aged woman who works at this bar with her husband. She has braces and the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. She was a gem. She helped us pick out a good beer and then helped us plan our entire stay. She told us where to go and how to go there, what to do while we there and what not to do or where not to go. She was straight up and honest with us about everything, and told us that she has daughters around our age so we should think of her as our momma while we were there. She was just as feisty as she was sweet, though. Her husband disappeared and she tells us “my husband has gone and disappeared… AGAIN!” Then there was a boy in the bar who turned out to be 15, and once she realized this she told us that he better f-off. Our Italian Momma. Loved her so, and meeting her was the perfect way to end the night.

The view from the roof of the hostel

Our first view of the coast!

Sorrento

More Sorrento 

Tuesday we went to Capri! Talk about living a dream. We took the Ferry from Sorrento and the anticipation kept building the closer we got, and then we finally arrived! Everything is really expensive in Capri, so we decided to stick to a boat tour that went around the outside of the island. We took some time to explore the front part of the island, collect sea glass, sit on the beach, and get harassed by locals who really wanted to take us for a ride on their boat.. hmm… But then it was time for the boat tour. You’re gonna have to look at the pictures from this, because it really was too beautiful to explain. The water is such a deep blue, and the rocks and caves are breathtaking. The tour lasted an hour, and by the time we got back onto land we were somehow exhausted. Probably a combination of being on the water, taking so many pictures and of course, being hungry. So we said our goodbyes to the island and headed back to Sorrento where we got an early dinner. Then we headed back to Hostel and drank rum & ananas juice and watched Italian boys play soccer from the roof. Perfect ending to the day.

Wednesday we went to Pompeii. It was crazy seeing it after learning about it for so many years. It was really overwhelming for a while. Vesuvius was just looming in the background and the ruins are so well preserved that it makes you feel like the people of the city were living there yesterday. It really does seem like it’s frozen in time or a snapshot or something. We walked down old streets, through little houses and giant mansions. We saw old mosaics, vases, statues, and bodies frozen in fear during their last moments on earth. It was uncomfortable yet amazing to see those bodies. I know these people died 2000 years ago, but it felt like I was witnessing them die or seeing their last moments on earth. I felt like I was invading their privacy, it was really odd. It was also crazy to think that it could happen again at any time. There’s a thriving culture and so many cities all around Vesuvius.. it’s crazy to think that it could be wiped out again at any moment. I know I don’t live next to a volcano, and I’m not gonna be swept away by lava, but it definitely made me thankful for the life I have and reminded me not to waste the time I have here. Anything and everything can change at any time. After a while, the awe was replaced by antsy-ness… once again Nicole and I are five year olds. We got lost trying to get out, and by the time we made it out we were loopier than ever. We went back to the hostel early, showered and took naps. I’m not kidding – we are toddlers. After we rested up, we tried to find somewhere to eat in Sant’Angello (the town our hostel was in) we wandered around for a while and then found a family-style restaurant. Our waiters were hilarious and I’m pretty sure they got a kick out of us… and how much we could eat. One of the waiters brought over some sort of friend dough something and says “here.. is a present” free food? Yes. So we scarfed those down, and then we were greeted with a basket of bread and the waiter says “you want olive oil and balsamic, yes? I know the American way.” Italians don’t dip their bread in anything by the way. That’s an American thing. Apparently that waiter had gone to school or something in Miami, so he knew the deal. So we went to town on bread, olive oil and balsamic…. and finished the entire basket. The waiter came back and goes “wow, you ate the whole bread” Yes, yes we Americans ate the whole bread. We both got gnocchi for dinner – which we didn’t finish just in case you’re wondering. Nicole asked for Parmesan on her gnocchi & clams and got scolded by the waiter because “you don’t put cheese on fish!”, and I got an eye roll when I asked for separate take away containers. WHATEVER.

roman bath house

Thursday we checked out and spent the day tanning on the roof and awkwardly eating paninis and chips in the park in town before we headed back to Florence. Thursday night Nicole got to experience one of my favorite bars called the Old Stove. It was hilarious to say the least. Friday I fought off a hangover and we walked around the city, got iced coffee, pizzas from the Jersey Shore pizza place and gelato and walked through the open leather market. That night was Old Stove round 2… Saturday it was Nicole that was fighting through the hangover. We got brunch at Ganzo, then more iced coffee and then attempted to climb the Duomo but the line was too long, so we went inside the Cathedral instead. Then we went to Piazza Michelangelo so Nicole could see my favorite view, took some pictures, finished up souvenir shopping, and then it was already time for her to leave =[ She packed up and we went to get her a taxi and off she went. Blahhhhhh I can’t believe how quickly the week went, but every part of it was completely amazing. Co if you’re reading this, I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Wow. Okay that was an absurd amount of writing. But it’s all necessary, and I even left some stuff out believe it or not. Now it’s back to classes and real life… but only for three days cause I go to Amsterdam on Thursday!! Ciao for now!

Daily Life as a Florentine

I realized that I haven't posted all that much about everything I'm doing in Florence, and I've been doing and seeing a lot! Figured I've give you guys an idea of what it's been like to live here for the past month and a half.

First things first, this city is FULL of artwork and history. Florence has been a powerful city since the Roman empire and was even the capital of Italy at one point. Everywhere you go there is a church, museum, old palace or something historic and beautiful. I've had the opportunity to go to a lot of churches and museums with my art history classes and on my own. I'm kinda bummed that I don't have pictures to show you guys (pictures aren't allowed in some, and we're not allowed to take pictures while on a class visit), but if you're ever here, you HAVE to visit all of them.
The churches are gorgeous from the outside but are absolutely massive and breathtaking from the inside. They have high ceilings, beautifully decorated walls, artwork from masters of the renaissance & previous periods in art, tombs of famous artists and historical figures, and stunning altarpieces. I know it sounds like I'm pulling adjectives out of a thesaurus, but I'm not kidding. They are all incredible. So far I've been to Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, the Florence Cathedral (Duomo), San Miniato and Orsanmichele Church.. there might be a few more but it's getting hard to keep track of.
For Museums & Palaces I've been to the Academia, the Bargello, Palazzo Rucelli, Pallazo di Medici, Palazzo Pitti and a few more. Seeing the artwork that I've been learning & hearing about for years up close and in person has been an amazing experience. My favorite so far has been seeing Michelangelo's David at the Academia. It is incredibly massive in size and absolutely the most beautiful sculpture I've ever seen. I know a lot of you aren't art people, but anyone could go and appreciate it. I don't think it's possible not to... As for the palaces, those have been cool  because they hold art work and well as give you an idea of renaissance living for the wealthiest families on Florence. So I still have a lot more to see while I'm here, and it's really blowing my mind that one city can hold so much art history.. it's been amazing and definitely a culture shock from good old Chelmsford & New Paltz...

I've found that a lot of the people here think that they're as beautiful and important as the works of art in their city... sorry people of Florence, but you're not that important! This has been my only problem since I've been here. Although I love the Italian idea of loving & reveling in every minute of life, I don't love how they're all in their own world while they do it. I've found that a lot of people think they're the only person on the planet, or the only one that matters. They take up the entire sidewalk while they saunter down the street at a snails pace, and yet in stores and cafes they can be extremely pushy, and if you're not agressive, you're getting trampled or pushed out of line. A lot of men are extremely agressive and touchy, and many of the women are stuck up & rude (probably to ward of the gross men). It can be really frustrating, but it's not all bad. Many of the shop, cafe & bar owners I've met have been very kind, funny and giving. If you're nice to them, they're great to you. They'll slip in something for free or at a discount, or maybe give you a little extra pasta if you're a regular (or just polite!) It's an interesting mix of people here, but it's always refreshing to meet good people in a new place.

Other than that, we've been trying out some different restaurants and trying to find places we haven't been before. I've had mexican, japanese, middle eastern, american and obviously italian food so far. There's something for everyone, just like back home which is nice because as much as I love Italian food, I don't think I could eat just that for four months. Appertivo is my favorite part of Italian food and I really don't understand why it's not in the US. You buy a drink which is usually around 5-10 euro and then there's a buffet with all you can eat! It's perfection and just about every place here has some version of it.

We also found a really beautiful park that's about a 20 minute walk from the ponte vecchio. The walk here is so beautiful.. we decided it was the rich area of Florence because one lady had a remote controlled door to her apartment, and the buildings are all just ridiculously beautiful and huge. The park goes on for forever.. or at least a couple miles. there's a running trail, bike trail, benches, fountains, trees, open grassy fields... it's my new favorite place in Florence I think. There's also a hugeeee flea/open market there on Tuesday's and every Sunday until Easter and they sell everything from dried fruit to meat & cheese, and shoes for 8 euro to babyclothes for 1 euro... There's also an American style carnival that is set up for lent. Honestly, it was really weird to see something so American in the middle of upper class Florence, but it has made me crave fried dough for the past couple days...

There's plenty more that I've done here, but I think that's enough for now. haha props if you read all the way through this, it was a long one. I'm off to finish my week of midterms and then it's spring break and the Amalfi Coast for me and Nicole!!

Ciao!

Heaven on Earth - Interlaken and the Swiss Alps

I honestly have no idea where to start with this one, but I just had the best weekend of my life. As some of you know, I spent this past weekend in Interlaken, Switzerland and got the chance to snowboard in the Swiss Alps, and now I want to go back and never leave. Switzerland is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Besides being ridiculously expensive, it’s heaven on earth and I want to live there… but then again I guess I could settle for a vacation house ;]

My trip started with Bus2Alps on Thursday night and we got to Interlaken at around 8 in the morning on Friday. From there we checked in, ate breakfast, got our gear, and went straight to the mountain. We left with no guides and no one who was the familiar with the country, language or transportation system. I feel like this could have/should have been disastrous, but it worked out perfectly. The excitement about snowboarding in the alps took away all of the tiredness from lack of sleep and replaced with giddiness (if that’s even a word). Most of you know how I get when I'm really excited... There was a lot of dancing around and a permanent grin was plastered to my face. In retrospect I probably looked a litte crazy, but that's nothing new. Getting to the mountain was a trek, but it was a beautiful trek! We took a bus from our hostel to the train station, then took two more trains to get to the mountain which took a while, but the whole way up I was snapping pictures like a crazy person (once again) and repeating over and over again how beautiful this place was, how lucky we were, and how I couldn't believe that we were about to ski the Alps.

Once we got to the top, we took the chairlift to Jungfrau which is “the top of Europe". Go big or go home right? This place was incredible, insane, amazing, beautiful - literally perfection. The mountain is wide open and covered in lots and lots of snow with a few trees and rocks scattered across the range. We spent the next two days taking the trails laid out for us and venturing off on and creating new ones. It was the most exhilarating experience of my life. I had a mountain covered in snow in front of me, and I could go wherever I wanted – no ropes, no blockades, no limits, just complete freedom. At one point, we decided we wanted to get over to another peak, so we decided to get creative and carve out our own trail over to it. We scoped it out and it looked okay, but as we made our way down we realized we were more or less scaling a cliff covered in snow..  Who knows what the vertical was, but it was the steepest slope I’ve ever gone down. But we did it, and honestly it wasn’t that bad, and I felt like a bad ass when we got down and looked up at what we had just done. it was absolutely unreal & I want to do it every day of my life. I’m finding that not much makes me happier than a good day on the mountain, and those two days definitely cemented that thought. 

View from the Train

Jungfrau

See the steep part in the back? that's what we went down to cross over to the other side

Heaven on earth.

Both days after we got home from snowboarding, it just so happened to be happy hour - talk about perfect timing. There is nothing better than a beer after a long day on the mountain, and two for one made that even better. Right next to our hostel was the Metrobar, which is one of the most popular bars in Interlaken. It felt like the whole town filtered in for the night. The drink prices were way more reasonable than the other bars in town (one of them was charging 19 frank for a cocktail - which is just about $21), and the place was filled with great people and great music, so no complaints - just two nights filled with dancing, singing and drinking.

Sunday morning we did a chocolate tasting at Schoh Chocolatier.. it was cool to learn about how everything is made, and it was even cooler that we got to taste a bunch of different kinds of chocolate, AND I left with a little baggie of truffles (that are already gone). 

Cocoa beans

After the chocolate tasting, we took the opportunity to explore Interlaken. The town was filled with rustic scenery and buildings which was contrasted with ultramodern and simplistic Swiss design. There is also a huge community into extreme sports, so we saw people parasailing everywhere. They would literally land in a giant park in the middle of town and go on with their day... no big deal.

Thanks for the pointers, Balmers!

So now I’m back in Italy, back to classes and preparing for midterms and wishing that I was back on the slopes in the Alps and wandering around Interlaken. This weekend was definitely one that I’ll never forget and hopefully something that I’ll get to do again someday.