"Grazi-as?"

We arrived in Barcelona last night and had the first of our adventures in Espana! After trekking through the city we were somehow able to find our hostel which is a little outside the city. We expected to be able to read the native language of Catalan (with minimal sucess). It looks like a combination of many languages with a bunch of symbols we've never seen and random letters like "x" thrown in occasionally. I also discovered my true calling to become an advocate for Catalan independence (Google it).

When we got up to our hostel room we met one of our roommates who loved to "Compre compe compre... mamma mia!" She was frantically trying to fit three pairs of boots into her suitcase (all of which she bought new). We went to find a place to eat dinner and stumbled upon a little mall across from our hostel. We attempted to find tapas but with no luck (it was pretty late so most things were closed), and somehow ended up at a German restaurant. After we explored our neighborhood before heading to bed so we would have energy for the next day.

Today we started our day with a free tour of the city we discovered. Our British tour guide took us all over the city to see all sorts of churches and neighborhoods. He was surprisingly entertaining for the whole 2 and a half hours and we learned a lot about Spanish history. After the tour we attempted to find tapas again. We thought we found a decently priced one, but it turned out their "Daily Special" included pasta, steak, and wine (sounds awfully familiar doesn't it?) ... because they were out of paella. It was still delicious and was a great deal for the amount of food we got. We then went to La Sagrada Familia which is a huge gothic church that looks like it's melting. It was a strange site, but is considered a must see in Barcelona. 

We ended our night seeing "The Magic Fountain" which was a free water and light show in the heart of the city. We all got a little homesick when they did a Disney medley in Spanish. And then went to a GIANT mall that was converted from a bull fighting arena. You could look off the very top of it (which was open outside) and could see the whole city. Everything was brand new and resembled MOA. Not gonna lie, it was kinda great seeing two malls in two days after going two months without one. So overall I'd say Barcelona is a little strange, but definitely worth it.

Colosseum and Finals Week

This morning Kate and I got up early to have our obligatory tour of the Colosseum. We'd seen the outside of it many times but never got to actually go inside because we aren't enrolled in the history class. There was no one there when we got there so we took a few pictures and rome-d around for a bit (sorry bad pun). We didn't have a tour guide or an audio headset but we made due the cheaper way by reading the signs as we walked around. It reminded me of a giant baseball field the way it was set up like a stadium. I'm really glad I got to see it up close and personal finally and it was well worth the 12 euro we paid to get in!

Afterwards we found this adorable Italian bakery where we got delicious chocolate filled pastries. They were folded in half and were coated with an almost crunchy sugar glaze and had a nutella filling. Such a great find.

In other news, it's officially finals week now. We had our LAST class in Rome on Thursday which was a sad day for everyone. Theology final is going to be rough seeing as we've only had four class periods that were three hours each. Our professor isn't much help either, having a teaching style resembling that of Professor Snape (his British accent doesn't help) but I'm sure I'll survive. Lots of cramming these next few days though as well as trying to fit in everything we still need to see in Italy. I thought studying for finals in St. Joe made things difficult to focus, but Rome is a thousand times more distracting. I should probably stop procrastinating now and hit the books. I just keep reminding myself, less than a week and I'll be in Spain!

Vineyard and Wine Tasting

We had unique experience this week in that we got to take a trip to an Italian vineyard. We were taken through the rows of grapes and were shown how to tell based on the leaves what the final product would be like. Then they brought us to where they make the wine in giant holding tanks each kept at a specific temperature. This vineyard also grew hazelnuts so we made sure to collect some of those along the way.

CEA provided us with a massive lunch which was delicious (as most Italian foods are). It was complete with homemade pasta, fried vegetables, and a fancy bruschetta mozzarella side. Then there was a course of potatoes and meatballs, and we finished with a cream and chocolate dessert. There were five different wines served with lunch, two white and three red. We got to try each of them and see which we liked and didn't like.

After lunch we had an hour to ourselves before we had to get back on the bus. We were all pretty sleepy from the wine so we just napped in the fields out back. It was a beautiful day for it too, cooler in the countryside than it was in Rome. I bought a bottle of my favorite white wine we tried and Dana bought her favorite red wine (both of which they gave to us for a pretty good price) at the end of the day. It was definitely something I wasn't planning on doing until I was in my 40s, but it was a great experience I would love to do again someday.

A weekend in Florence

Florence is the most beautiful city I think I’ve ever been to and is officially my new favorite. We saw so much in the first two days it was insane. We took the train right after class on Thursday afternoon, which was only 2 and a half hours from Rome. We arrived and then headed straight to a museum to see The David by Michelangelo (so we could write our assignment on it).  After that Kate, Dana and I headed to a Kabob shop, which was easily our favorite food for the weekend (not to be confused with American kabobs on a stick). We sat on a bench while we ate and people watched for a while. A drunken man approached us and started yelling at us in Italian saying we were stupid and unintelligent Americans for getting Kabobs. He was saying we should be eating pasta or spaghetti not Kabobs because they aren’t Italian and stormed off in a huff. (Although this did not deter us from purchasing them three more times over the weekend...) After our little dispute we headed back to the hotel to get ready before going out.

            The next day in Florence was just as great as the first day. In the morning Kate and I walked down to the river to find a coffee shop and see the city before we had class at 11. We got two iced coffees and a fancy looking orange pie pastry thing. We checked out one of the street markets and just looked around to see what there was. There wasn’t much time though so we headed to class. We went to more museums and looked at the architecture of Florence. Our professor explained the Duomo, which is literally right next to our hotel. That night we went out for dinner with Paulo (or professor) and I got a lovely dish of spaghetti and clams in a white wine. It was delicious and gave us an excuse to get all dressed up.

            No surprise the next day we went to a few more museums and took notes all day long (but of paintings this time). Then later we found a little place by our hotel for dinner. We decided to check out the nightlife in Florence after hearing that’s where they filmed this season’s Jersey Shore. We found a nightclub called Space which was really modern looking and was packed full of people.  The whole group of us went out which was a lot of fun. We somehow managed to get into the VIP section on the third floor, which was really fun to see.

            Our last day in Florence was spent checking out some last minute stops. We had to go back to the leather market (because Florence is known for their leather) so I could replace my second purse that broke. I got a cute black leather cross over purse that says ‘Made in Florence’ right on it. Then I also got a little red clutch for times when I don’t want to carry my whole purse with me. We then made our way to the gardens of Florence were we got in for free with our museum passes. The gardens had amazing views of the city and were HUGE! They had fountains and grottos and seemed to go on forever. We took a  quick nap in the park and then decided to make our way back to the market one last time. I got my final Florence purchase that was a hardcover journal with a beautiful Florentine cover decorated with gold and colorful swirling flowers. It was my favorite thing I got there by far. We took lots of pictures by the river and of the city itself before boarding the train. We got back pretty late at night and we were all exhausted. It was by far one of the best weekends I’ve had here in Italy. I will come back to Florence someday, that I know for sure.

Soup Kitchen and seeing Emily!

This week we got to volunteer at a soup kitchen in the center of Rome. When we arrived we learned that it is actually a homeless shelter as well. They divided us up into three different areas. Some got to refill water for dinner, others cleaned out the rooms, and a few of us divided up clothing donations. In theory it sounds easy enough to do, keep the better quality clothing and throw out the crummy clothing. It makes it significantly more difficult when you are working with two old Italian women who don't speak any English and have very different opinions of what garbage is. Not to mention European fashion is quite a bit harder to decipher whether clothes are for "Donna" (women) or for "Uomo" (men). Purple velvet pants with a satin stripe can go either way here, in case you were wondering. We did increase our clothing vocabulary at the end of the day and I'd say it was an excellent way to spend our time here. Everyone there was so grateful for our help. Seeing a place like that truly makes you appreciate how lucky you are. I would say it was even more so than usual volunteering because of the experiences I've been privileged with through studying abroad.


Last night I was able to finally meet up with my good friend Emily who goes to Loyola in Chicago. She's studying here in Rome too, but for the entire semester. She brought me to the most modern looking bar I'd ever seen called Fluid. The walls were glowing and the floor squished with lava when you walked over the tile. There were trendy white couches everywhere and heat censored artwork even. It reminded me of something you'd see in Sex in the City.



There were over 200 different kinds of girly mixed drinks there so it took me about 20 min to pick something out. I chose a Mango Frozen Daiquiri, which was HUGE but so delicious. Then with your drink purchase you got free appetizers which we had for dinner. They had all sorts of fancy foods in a buffet style. I had no idea what I was eating, but they were phenomenal as well. I'll definitely be going back there with my group. We even grabbed chocolate dipped gelato afterward, which was a first for me. One of the most fun nights I've had in Rome!

It was great catching up with her and comparing our experiences abroad. It was so fun to see another familiar face in this foreign city. Hopefully I'll get to see her again before I leave for Greece!

Pizza and Gelato Crawl + ROMA football? Yes please!

This week we went on a Pizza and Gelato crawl with our guides from CEA. They brought us to two of the best pizza places in the city. We started out with what they called a snack pizza you could choose blanca (white crust) or rosa (crust and sauce). Naturally I chose rosa and proceeded to spill sauce onto my white tank top on the first stop haha. But we moved on to a real pizza place where I had one slice of potato pizza and another with tomatoes and spices. Next they brought us to a famous coffee shop in Rome where we had what's called granita di caffe con panna, which was an iced coffee treat with whipped cream essentially. That was amazing, I will most definitely be going back. Then the last stop was to a gelateria where I got two flavors: Bueno (The candy bar) and Foresta Nera (Black Forest). Both of which are officially my two new favorite flavors. So overall I'd say it was a success!

The next night a bunch of us went to the Roma football game, which ended up being a lot of fun. Everyone got really into the game with their flags, scarves and chants. It was kinda funny because tickets for women were 6 euro but men's tickets were 13 euro. I think they have had issues with having rowdy crowds in the past so this is their way of deterring this. So that was nice perk getting a discount. Unfortunately the game tied 1 to 1 and everyone went home. I'm so used to always having a clear winner and loser so this seemed strange to me when they just left it at that. We got pretty lost trying to find our way back home and it ended up taking almost two hours to get back. But we got to see a lot more of the city along the way so no one was really that bent out of shape about it.

Just Volcanos and such...

We just got back from our weekend trip to Pestum, Sorrento, and Pompeii! Pestum is the best preserved Greek city in the world (located in Italy). So there were several temples to Greek gods and other remains of the city. We had quite possibly the most awkward tour guide possible who informed us that he would also join us in Pompeii (woo!).

Afterward we piled onto the massive coach bus again to Sorrento. Our drive was right along the coast of Italy and went right up into the mountains. We stayed at The Grand Hotel, which had free live music at night (where we may or may not have started a conga line with the elderly staying there).

We left in the morning for Pompeii which is an ancient Roman city that was preserved as a result of a volcanic eruption. It was a HUGE historical site. There were lots of vendors outside, one of which thought I was Australian and gave me a free postcard!

So I'd say it was a successful weekend overall! Miss you all!