Interlaken!

Happy Leap Day Everybody! I hear that people on the East Coast are getting lots of snow!! Just to rub it in a little bit, I didn’t even wear a coat today and tomorrow it is going to be 70 degrees here...I’m loving it. ANYWAYS. This past week has been great. Last thursday my roommates and I made our way to Interlaken, Switzerland for our first big trip outside of Italy and it was definitely an adventure and started with a bang. We went with an organized tour group so we took a coach bus to get there and the ride was 10 hours. While walking to the bus station, Kelly and I were walking under some trees and these birds decided to ruin our lives and POOP on us!!!! People say that that is good luck but it was all over my favorite sweatshirt and my hand and I was walking onto a 10 hour bus ride. Not fun, but we laughed it off and figured traveling in europe does not include being clean all the time. Then, as our new found luck would have it, within the first 20 minutes the mirror on the bus broke, and then, get this, a girl who was sitting behind us projectile vomited and it got everywhere. Some even landed on my seat!!! Talk about torture. The bus had to pull over at a rest stop so she could clean up a little bit. Once we got back on the bus and got going again, she decided to puked again. UGH. The whole bus smelled like vomit for the remaining 9 hours. I was not happy. When we stopped for dinner my roommate ate an orange and gave us all some orange peels to smell for the rest of the trip, I was practically eating the peel because it smelled so bad on the bus. The tour guide was spraying hairspray to try to make it smell better. Although I felt bad for the girl, a little warning would have been nice! Anyway, we arrived in Interlaken at 5am and had to wake up at 8am to sign up for activities. We obviously did not get much sleep but it was totally worth it. Friday was absolutely perfect, it was like 50 degrees and sunny outside, you could see all of the alps and I can officially say Switzerland is one of my favorite places in Europe. Everything was so clean and the people were so nice. Cars stopped for us and the men weren’t nearly as creepy as they are in Italy, we were amazed and sometimes I felt like I was cheating on Italy a little bit because I loved it so much. 

Later on Friday I went PARAGLIDING over the Alps. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. I went with these two girls I didn’t know and three instructors. We drove all the way up this mountain then climbed up a little more to a hill. While climbing up the hill, I fell twice, the swiss instructors thought I was a hot mess, which is typical I guess. Once we got on this hill we got all ready and you basically run down a hill with a dude and his parachute strapped to your back and somehow you just start flying. Absurd. It makes no sense. I have no idea how it actually works but you end up in the air and you barely feel like you are moving. It’s actually very tranquil and peaceful! Here are some pictures I took while in the air!

Our Guides!

My Leg just chilling over Interlaken

Unreal

After this crazy crazy experience, we explored Interlaken a little bit more. If any of you watch the Bachelor, Ben (aka the dude with the bad hair and horrible taste in women) took the final girls to Interlaken this week. The town is super cute and Interlaken actually means in between or something in german and its because the town is positioned in between two beautiful lakes. That night we got wraps from a place owned by an American woman from Long Island who moved here when she feel in love with a Swiss professional sky diver (A girl can dream...) We loved her so much that we even went back again on Saturday night. On Saturday during the day most of my roommates went skiing but me and Shannon decided to go into Grindelwald for the day. Grindelwald is a smaller town closer to the mountains and it was beautiful. 

Later that night we went on a chocolate tasting and I literally died and went to heaven. This chocolatier wasn’t that bad either. We watched him make chocolate cows and shoes and got to taste a ton of chocolate and got a voucher to buy some from the store! Amaze. Strangest part, Katherine (my roommate from school, neighbor in ohio, AND friend studying abroad in Rome) walked into the same chocolate tasting! It was really nice to see her!! Small world. 

I never really had the desire to go Switzerland but I am so glad that my roommates convinced me to go on this trip, so far it has been a favorite. The bus ride back was thankfully uneventful and we watched Home Alone which definitely made me miss my siblings and parents since we watched it together this christmas (Buzz, your girlfriend, WOOF). BUT My mother happily pointed out that this past weekend was the halfway point of not seeing each other! I am beyond excited to share Florence with my family in April! I miss them all so much. Although I am really sad Lucy can’t make the flight over!! If only dogs could survive 8 hour flights! 

This weekend we are staying in Florence for my roommate Kelly’s 21st birthday and we have a lot of secret plans, in addition to getting some chicken fingers, fries, and margaritas from the Hard Rock in Florence for a little taste of home. I also had my first iced coffee here today!! AMERICA!!!! They don’t do iced coffees in Italy so you have to go to an American place to get them and I have never been more excited for a coffee with milk, sugar, and ICE! Tonight we went to a cooking class with Fairfield put on by an Italian student and we made Tiramisu..and it was disgusting. Apparently it is more common to soak the cake in coffee here instead of Rum like they do at home, so it was different. I will just stick to gelato, which continues to be amazing and dangerous. I wish I could send you all some of my favorites, but I guess that is what visiting is for! Talk to you all soon! Ciao!!!

Carnevale in Venice and Viareggio!

Ciao everyone!!! I am so excited to know that people are actually reading this thing! This week has marked what seems to be the beginning of the nicer weather here in Florence with temperatures in the 50’s! It is amazing how much the weather can change my mood. It is so much easier to get out of the apartment when you don’t have to wear leggings under your jeans, 4 different shirts, a sweatshirt, and a coat, which is what I have been doing for the past couple weeks. Anyways, I am really looking forward to the warmer weather and I got a really nice taste of that in Venice this weekend!

We left for Venice at 9am on Saturday to go to Carnevale. I don’t really think that my roommates and I got the point because as soon as we arrived in Venice, everyone had an open bottle of wine, and we were walking around with our maps. Typical. Anyways, we decided to avoid the party scene for most of the day because none of us had really seen Venice. We went to two of the smaller more well known islands for a couple hours before heading into San Marco which is where the party really is. First we went to Murano which is famous for the glass they make. Everyone else got to see a glass blowing demonstration but somehow we got lost and missed that one, but that was fine because we shopped around a little. 

Glass Beads

Glass Bird

The glass here really is beautiful and famous, so it was nice to see where it is made. Next, we went to the island of Burano. I’m really not sure why the people of venice named the islands basically the same thing, but I’m pretty sure it was just to torture me. All day I was so confused and I just wanted to name them something else. ANYWAY. I LOVE Burano!!! It was one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I have ever been.

The weather was really nice during the day so we walked around Burano for a while, stopped got some lunch and obviously some gelato as well. Eventually we realized it was probably time for us to head back into San Marco and really experience Carnevale. The really cool part of Venice is that obviously the only real mode of transportation is by boat. We got an all day pass for the water bus, which is basically the RIPTA but on the water, and a boat. Strangest thing ever. On the water bus back to San Marco a grandmother and her granddaughter asked me for directions. As flattered as I was that they thought I knew where I was going,which I did not,  I had no idea how to communicate with them. I started speaking my typical Spanish/Italian/American Mash-up Language only to realize that they were from Israel and spoke perfect English which really made me look stupid. This grandma was the sweetest thing ever. When she found out that I was American she said, “Why are you so far from home? You’re mother must miss you terribly. Do you miss her doing your laundry?” This was kind of an odd moment of clarity. I did not know how to answer her, I guess it really does seem insane for a 20 year old to be thousands of miles away from home for 4 months without her parents. The only way to answer was to say that yes, she missed me, but I miss her way more, and not because sometimes (aka all the time) she does my laundry. This experience of studying abroad is literally crazy. Cannot get over how lucky I am. So I guess thanks to the Israeli Grandma who gave me something to think about? So strange. 

ANWAYS as soon as we got to San Marco, I realized I had voluntarily gotten myself into another Ikea-type of situation. Mass crowds and no sense of directions yet this time everyone else had been drinking since like 11am. Oh well, I guess this is all part of the experience, I am just not one for the crowds. We finally made out way into the center and San Marco was really cool.

We walked around there with our masks on for a little bit then decided to get some dinner and a bottle of wine. It was really nice and relaxing compared to the main square. Eventually it became time to get back on the bus for the 3 hour bus ride home. Now this part gets interesting. We went to Venice with an organized tour group for students so there were like 300 students all getting onto buses at 10:30 at night. Eventually we got onto the bus and most people passed out and watched the movie that they played. With 30 minutes left in the drive, I heard the girl behind me say how she had been throwing up for the past 3 hours in the bathroom on the bus because she and a couple of other friends (also on the bus) had the stomach FLU. Literalllly the worst thing I could have possibly heard. I immediately hid my face into my scarf and did not breathe for the rest of the ride. As the typical mother, I ran home and gave all my roommates multi-vitamins and showered for almost 45 minutes to ensure that I would not be barfing for the next 5 days. Thankfully, I am fine, but it was a close call for sure. 

We woke up on Sunday and went to Viareggio with Fairfield for a day trip to their carnevale parade. This parade is nothing like the Macy’s Day Parade. Crazy people were everywhere. It did not seem like the wholesome family environment that I would have taken my little cousins too, but there were children everywhere! The floats were huge and all of them seemed to have an intense meaning that none of us could understand. I’m also pretty sure a couple of them were making fun of America. Not cool.

This one also growled...which was scary.

Overall, I definitely don’t think that I would go back to Viareggio, it is a pretty small town but it is on the water, which was kind of cool and I got some pretty good desserts there! I really loved Venice and I wish that I would have been able to explore Venice itself a little bit more, but I would always suggest to go to the islands. This weekend my roommates and I are going to Switzerland, we leave tomorrow! We are staying in Interlaken and are planning on doing a couple of fun outdoor activities, so I am really excited. I am still having a very hard time believing that I am actually living in Italy. I feel like I have been planning to do this for so long and the time is going by so fast. Myy whole family (yes, 13 of them) will be here in a little over a month! I can’t wait! Talk to you all soon! Love you all! 

Hi Everyone! I am SO sorry for neglecting you all for two weeks!!!! I just went back to reading my first blog and I can’t even begin to describe to you all how long ago those days feel like. This past sunday marked our 3rd week here in Florence. TIME IS FLLYYYINNN!!! Obviously I cannot go through day by day events since it’s been 2 weeks since my last post so I will just inform you all on the most important events. I previously told you guys how I was nervous about my painting class......well.....that was an experience. I walked into the class and all the other students were Art majors and I am very very veryyyyy far from that. My teacher had to help me draw a sphere while the kid sitting next to me was drawing a gargoyle!! Let’s just say, tears were shed and I fought my way out of the class, much to the dismay of FUA (the home institution, which stinks). All my other classes are going pretty well. My Italian class is really fun and laid back but we do have our first quiz on monday so we will see how that goes. I am also taking an Italian American Experience class for my sociology major and it’ s really cool, right up my alley and the professor...well that’s a different story. My holocaust and History of Photography classes are just kind of what I expected, boring but not too bad. But enough of this boring learning crap!!! Let’s get to traveling! 

Two weekends ago we were supposed to go to Perugia, Assisi, San Gimiganio, and Siena with Fairfield but unfortunately that trip was cancelled because of the “snow”. It barely even snowed. Everyone is crazy. Although I was really upset because I wanted to see all these Italian towns, it was really nice to have a weekend here in Florence, especially because it looks as if the weekends here are going to be rare with all the traveling we are going to be doing. The weather here is definitely a LOT colder than I thought. Mom- you were right, I should have brought some warmer socks! (I hate when she’s right....all the time). BUT it finally seems like it is going to warm up soon. Unfortunately the weather did not hold out for my trip to rome this past weekend with my Cultural Introduction to Italy class. My teacher for the class is absolutely crazy. I cannot tell if she is actually legit crazy or just funny. She brought her parents and my Italian American Experience teacher on the trip with us. Apparently they are very good friends and he is going to travel with us for all the trips. The whole weekend my friends were trying to figure out if they were dating or not...turns out they aren’t and my heart literally broke. UGH. They are perfect for each other! Maybe I will play matchmaker. ANYWAY.

We left Florence super early on Friday morning, like 7am. Obviously we had a 30min walk to the bus and I was wearing shoes that gave me blisters so it was not a great start. I took a nap on the bus and woke up in a random italian bus stop/winter wonderland. It was snowing so hard and everyone was falling everywhere. By the time we got to Rome the weather calmed down a little bit, but between the early start and the cold, I wasn’t super excited for the trip. We spent our first day touring the Vatican. Now, I am going to sound like a huge brat here, but I have seen the Vatican twice before and as beautiful as it is....I just was not in the mood. We walked around for 3 hours then of course as soon as the outside portion of the tour began, it started sleeting/raining/snowing. It was not pretty.

Vatican

 It was such a shame for those who hadn’t seen the Vatican before because it is so amazing when the weather is nice.  After the Vatican we had some free time then we all went to dinner and had some amazing pizza and bruschetta! After dinner some of my friends and I decided to go to the famous Ice Bar in Rome for a quick drink. This place is so cool. The whole entire bar is made out of ice and you have to wear these really big coats on over your regular coats because it is freezing inside. Even though it is really expensive, it is definitely an experience. 

Tory and I at the Ice Bar

They even have really cool igloos that have seats in them. The glasses that you get your drink in are made of pure ice. It was a really fun place to go but you cannot stay there for more than 20 minutes because it is so cold. My friends and I had a lot of fun but we were ready to go back to the hotel once we were done with our drinks. 

Little Igloo!

On Saturday we woke up early and toured around the city a little bit more. When I told my Italian class that I was going to Rome some girl told me to bring my rain boots and she literallllyyy saved my life. THANK GOD I had those. Everyone else was walking through the slush in their tennis shoes and I was prancing around, jumping through puddles! We walked around all day and saw a bunch of churches (which now all blend together) the spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, and Pantheon. Unfortunately the Pantheon was closed because of the weather and the spanish steps were blocked off, but my crazy teacher found away that so we could walk around them for a little bit. 

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

While we were walking back to the hotel we found Victor Emmanuel, which is a monument for some of the soldiers that died while fighting for Italy’s independence. More importantly, Victor and I go way back. When I was a Junior in High School my cousins and I got to go visit my brother who was studying abroad in Rome (Best Christmas present ever!) and it was at this monument that my cousin Ben told us that Victor Emmanuel will help you get anywhere. Well thank GOD for that. Throughout the week long trip my cousins and I got lost multiple times but  we somehow found Victor and he would lead us home. So far this weekend in Rome was disappointing because of the weather but as soon as I found Victor, I felt right at home and it brought back some great memories and reminded me of how thankful I am to have such a great family. Later on that night I was able to meet up with my roommates from Providence who are all studying abroad in Rome. It was the perfect night with them. We went out to dinner and then went to a famous bar in Rome that was close to my hotel. It was so nice to see them and I, once again, felt right at home. I will even be seeing this upcoming weekend! 

PC in Rome!

On Sunday we woke up early, checked out of the hotel and went to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Pantheon again. Once again, the Colosseum and Roman Forum were closed because of the weather but we walked around the outside and our teachers gave us a quick synopsis of the historical significance. Heres another dorky solo shot. Not even sure when these became socially acceptable but I guess the are when you’re traveling around the globe and sending pictures to family members? That’s what I am going to keep telling myself. 

Colosseum

Luckily, the Pantheon was open on Sunday and we were able to go inside. No matter how many times I see this thing, I am still going to be confused as to how there isn’t a ceiling! Romans are Cray!!!! (just kidding...but seriously). Thankfully, it warmed up a bit and we walked around with our class and I made some great new friends on the trip and learned a lot of italian through my teachers. But by the end of the day it was definitely time to go home to Florence. The whole trip I caught myself saying “I can’t wait to just get home” It is so strange that now Florence is home. I even found myself getting homesick for Florence. This city is amazing and as much as I like Rome, I am so glad that I picked Florence and I can’t wait to be here for like 3 more months, not even!  This weekend we are going to Venice and Viareggio for Carnival and I am looking forward to finally experiencing carnival. I have never been to Venice and it has always been on the top of my list! I can’t wait! Although I did just read that they don’t have a sewer system.....so all the household waste just goes into the water that you ride those little boats in........which is disgusting...Let’s just hope it doesn’t smell as bad as I am expecting. I will keep you all informed obviously! Miss you all! Ciao! Erin

Buonasera People!!! I miss you all so much (I actually have no idea if anyone reads this so.....) but anyways it has been a very busy week since I have last updated you all. It finally feels like I have started my real life here in Florence. I have only been here 8 days but it feels like forever, which is bittersweet. I feel like I already have a feel for this amazing city that I am SO fortunate to live in and I am really enjoying myself. On Friday we had to go to the school to get our permission to stay work for the Italian police which lasted all of five minutes but we had to wake up at the crack of dawn!!...aka 9am... After an amazing nap my roommates and I decided to venture out to find the pizza place where Jersey Shore worked (Mom and Dad: this means Snooki and her Guido friends, the ones you hate) and the pizza was delicious...no surprise there, seems to be a common theme in my life. The place is called O' Vesuvio Pizzeria and has a bunch of the casts clothes hanging up on the ceiling. It has definitely become a tourist type place since the show aired and you could tell the real italians in there were not amused by my friends and I snapping pictures of Snooki’s bras that were hanging from the ceiling. Later that night we ventured out onto the town to a local american bar because we are still not comfortable enough to go to the real italian places. We ended up meeting a lot of different kids from different programs and making some new friends. Saturday was our leisure day and we were fortunate enough to sleep in and finally try to not be so jet lagged. Later that day we took an Art History Tour with an American who now lives her. She ended up being super nice and even asked me and some friends to babysit her 3 year old! Strange but I may take her up on the offer...a couple extra euro’s never hurt anyone! We walked around for 2 hours to different famous places within the city and I definitely learned a lot and took tons of pictures. Here are some of my favorite pictures: 

Piazza Della Repubblica

River Arno

My Roommates and I 

Little Market!!

Fresh Fruit!

The tour guide told us that it is a tradition that if you are in 
Florence and are in love then you buy a lock and lock it to 
somewhere on the Ponte Vecchio bridge and throw the key
 into the Arno River. So cute, these locks are everywhere!

Later on Saturday my roommates and I hung around because we had an early wake up call to go to IKEA then Pisa for the day. IKEA is literally my worst nightmare. Everything is everywhere and people just run around with bags full of crap and there are no signs. My anxiety was through the roof!! I did manage to get some towels, a pillow and a blanket which made my room seem much more settled and home like. After this we went got back on the bus and headed towards pisa.......Ohhhhhh Pisa...I despise you. There is LITERALLY nothing to do in this town. We arrived and walked through the worst part of town just full of people trying to sell you stuff and then we saw the leaning tower and the cathedral. That was it. Obviously everyone takes those really dorky pictures of themselves trying to hold up the tower. I really tried not to do one but was peer pressured....Here it is...... 

Soooo Dorky!

Everyone stood in front of the tower taking these pictures doing different positions of holding it up for hours! Like SO dorky and SO weird! We then found it funny to take pictures of random people doing it....

So Funny

After we stared at the tower for 20 min we decided to go grab something for lunch and luckily found a small little deli with a delicious panini. After that we walked through the Cathedral for a couple minutes...then we got so bored and cold that we went to McDonalds to sit in the warmth. Pisa is THAT boring. I’m pretty sure I got this point across already but for those of you who didn’t get it...Pisa was not my favorite. 

Monday was our first day of classes and so far so good kind of! The classes are definitely a little bit more challenging than I expected and we are not allowed to skip 2 or we get automatic failures. Hopefully this will change throughout the semester because that makes it really hard to travel around as much as we want. I also have my first painting class tomorrow and I am really nervous for that since I do not have an artistic bone in my body! But I guess I will just have to learn/learn to laugh at myself. Today I had my first Italian class and it is seminar style so there are 8 of us that sit around a table and attempt to say Ciao correctly. I am definitely really excited to at least learn a little bit of Italian in order to make life here a little bit easier. It also snowed today, which I guess is a HUGE deal. My one roommate heard that one year it snowed less than an inch and bus drivers abandoned the buses and people turned their cars off on the highway and just slept there....Definitely confusing for me since I grew up in Antarctica aka Cleveland, OH where I was used to 4 inches of snow a day. We got two separate emails from the school warning us of the impending half an inch of snow and warning us that we need to not be dependent on the bus system within the next few days. Stores are already planning on closing. Crazy Italians. It’s just snow!! 

Speaking of snow, some friends and I have officially booked a couple trips. We booked a trip to Interlacken, Switzerland! We plan on going night sledding and some skydiving..Don’t worry Mom..not me, too much of a chicken! Tory and I also booked our flights for Spring Break, we are going to London, Galway (to visit Mary!!) and Dublin. This upcoming weekend we are going to Assisi, Perugia, Siena, and San Gimignano with our school. The next weekend I go to Rome and the following weekend is Carnivale, which is basically a big parade/carnival throughout Italy, so my friends and I are going to Venice and Veraggio. So I have some pretty exciting stuff coming up! Keeping busy and planning these trips are definitely helping me not think about being so far away from home. This is all definitely an adjustment and people don’t really talk about how it can be difficult sometimes. It is all worth it in the end! You just have to keep your eye on the final goal; growing up and learning more and more about myself! Can’t wait to talk to you all soon! Con Amore, Erin

Friends, Family, and Stalkers; Ciao from Florence, Italy! I have finally arrived and settled in, thank god! We stayed in a hotel on Monday night (our first night in Florence) and it was a miserable experience to put it nicely. Between lack of sleep, nerves, lost luggage, and boring orientation seminars, 95% of the kids on the trip were all unhappy, hungry and ready to go home.  We all definitely got to know each other at our worsts but i guess that’s how you make friends fast. On Tuesday we finally moved into our apartment and it feels great to be finally moved in. I live right off the Piazza Santa Croce, which is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to see it at it’s best once it gets a little bit warmer. All of the other student apartments are within a short walking distance so it really is the perfect location. We were quick to discover that most of the streets in Florence dump into Santa Croce, so it’s very hard to get lost. 

Santa Croce

 I’m meeting a lot of girls from PC that I never even knew existed and I couldn’t be happier about that. On Wednesday some of my roommates and I decided to get a panini and wander around. We got lost somewhere along the way and ended up at the Ponte Vecchio. We got some gelato and crossed the Ponte Vecchio to explore the other side of the city. Then we stumbled upon the Boboli Gardens, which we get into for free with our student card, as well as other museums (Super Dorky but so excited to use this throughout the semester!!!). The Boboli Gardens are beautiful. We went all the way up to the top and saw some really cool views of Florence. Later on in the day the school sponsored a walking tour of the city with some italian students and we went to the Duomo, a classic Florentine landmark and tourist trap. I hope to climb to the top of it but between the close quarters and extreme heights, I may need to bring a barf bag up with me, so I will see how that goes... 

Shannon, Me, Kelly, and Amie (My roommates) outside the Duomo

Anyways! That night we got our first italian pizza........I literally die for it. This is definitely going to pose a problem for my attempt to eat half healthy....along with the gelato....and the paninis.....and the wine....Guess I will just have to give that goal up!! So tragic...except not at all. Here’s a picture to make all of you die of jealousy. 

This ones for you Sammy J

 Today, Thursday, we went to a supermarket in the outskirts of Florence and it was so big. They even had escalators that you could take your shopping cart down, so euro people, so euro! I went to the register and this was the first time I encountered someone that couldn’t speak english and it was hilarious. We both stared at each other and laughed, eventually we figured it out with some luck but I believe it’s definitely time for me to learn some more Italian, not just ciao, gelato per favore, grazie, and vino blanco (even if those might be the essentials). Later on in the day we found a famous small panini place that was absurdly amazing. I can’t wait to take any and all visitors here. We have all begun to start planning some trips around Europe but I found it to make me extremely stressful and had to immediately pop in a valerian root vitamin. So far we plan on going to Pisa, Assisi, Perugia, Rome, Switzerland, Tuscany, Ireland, Ravenna, Greece, Cinque Terre, and Prague, some of which are day trips but nothing is set in stone. 

I am so lucky to be able to have this opportunity and I plan on living my life to the fullest while I’m here, even if I do get a tad bit homesick sometimes. I miss most of you all SO much! If any of you have an iPhone or an iTouch we can text for free with the app “Kik” and I’d love to be able to stay in touch. I will post again soon! 

Con Amore, Erin