Perugia Chocolate Festival!

So today I ventured up north to Perugia for a European chocolate festival! Perugia is near Assissi/Tuscany and was home to the Amanda Knox trial. It is three hours north of Rome, meaning that it was FREEZING! I am used to 80 degree weather here and it was in the mid-50's there. The train ride was gorgeous and I never knew Italy was so hilly and mountainous, but it really is. There were farms after farms and gorgeous villas hidden up in the hills...I would not mind living there! Perugia is also beautiful--it is propped on a large hill that you either have to walk or bus it up (we took the bus). The architecture and views were incredible and the chocolate was delicious! They had free samples, chocolate kabobs, and hot chocolates (the hot chocolate is more of a pudding here...it is literally melted chocolate with no milk. I really miss regular Dunkin Donuts hot cocos!) It was a nice getaway from Rome and I can't wait to go back to that area for my Tuscany wine tasting and Assisi trips in November!

When we got back to Rome, we learned that there were huge protests that day! It was so scary because there were police everywhere and we didn't know if the buses were going to be safe..but the protest had ended by around 8 that night so we got home safe and sound. I think the protests are done, so I am very happy about that. I have so many midterms this week and I am so stressed out with all of the work I have to do! I just have to get through it because come Friday, I will be in the AMALFI COAST!! and then the next week is my ten day break!! I am counting down the days. Can't wait!

 Chocolate Kebabs! Chocolate shavings with whipped cream on top.

 All the tents and beautiful architecture in Perugia center

Yum!

The amazing and breathtaking view!! LOVE IT HERE.

Me with the view!

That's all for now! I will update again after Amalfi&midterms!!

Out and about in Roma!

I know I haven't updated in a while, but that is only because my parents came last weekend and school has been so hectic with midterms coming up! I have had an amazing past two weeks and discovered new and exciting parts of the city-- like the Vatican area and Colosseum area.

My parents came last weekend and I had an absolute blast with them. They got in Thursday and we went to sightsee all day Friday before their flight to Ireland on Saturday. On Thursday, they came to my apartment, went grocery shopping, and then we all went to the Trevi fountain and to Giolitti's (the best gelato place in all of Rome). Friday was crazy busy as we woke up at 8 am to tour the Vatican. We first went on St. Peter's Basilica tour, which was my favorite part of the experience. It was breathtaking and is full of so much history! I got a rosary there and then we trekked to the Vatican Museums, where the Sistine Chapel is. The museums are a ten minute walk from St. Peter's Square, and are annoyingly positioned so that visitors have to tour 1-2 hours of galleries BEFORE getting to the Sistine Chapel. It was ridiculous because we were on a time limit and just wanted to see the Chapel. After that, we took a cab right over to the Colosseum and took a tour of that and the Roman Forum! That tour was also really cool and we took a ton of pictures there. For dinner, we got eggplant parmesan, pasta, and lasagna at La Carbonara in Campo de Fiori. After, we got gelato and then pizza at Dar Poetas (best pizza i've had here)!! I made sure my parents tried every staple of Italian food that was available! On Saturday morning they left and went to Ireland for the week, which they loveddd! I am excited to go later this semester!

Today was the first real fall day in Roma because the temperature finally fell below 75 degrees. I went for a run to the fruit markets and then me and Meg went shopping! It was such a fun day and we even managed to find a Burger King, so obviously we stopped and got burgers!! I am officially more than a month into my abroad experience and once fall break hits (Halloween week), I will be 2/3 of the way done!! I absolutely LOVE it here and can't wait to travel Italy more. Sometimes I get waves of homesickness, but then I go out with my friends in Trastevere and realize that Rome is so beautiful and has so much culture and history that I haven't even discovered yet.

 All my friends and I went to an AS Roma soccer game, and boy was it an experience. People here take soccer so seriously! There are two teams in Rome- Roma and Lazio (Lazio is the region in Italy where Rome is located). There is a bitter rivalry between the two teams, so much so that going to a Roma vs. Lazio game is extremely dangerous because of the fights that break out. I went to a Roma vs. Siena game and it was still pretty intense! They sing long chants in Italian and light sticks and flags on fire and throw them on the field in the middle of the game! It was a really fun/interesting time and I definitely want to go back! I even got a Roma soccer jersey!

 Colosseum

 Me and Mom!!

The most AMAZING fruit ever that I got from a market close to school this week! They have the freshest and best produce here. I am going to miss it when I come homee!!

I am almost done planning my trips! Before I leave, I will be visiting Venice, Amalfi Coast, Berlin, Prague, Amsterdam, Paris, Ireland for Thanksgiving(Dublin, Galway, Cliffs of Moher), Tuscany, and hopefully Austria! I am kind of disappointed that I won't get to London or Spain, but it's impossible to travel to all the cities I wanted to go to in such a short time! I am super excited for the fall weather and can't wait for the end of October so I have a week off to travel! I also budgeted my money so that I can buy leather boots and a Longchamp bag in Paris! Ahhh I am so excited because the shopping is great in Rome and I imagine it is ten times better in Paris! That's all for now because I have to get back to studying! 

Nice, Monaco, Cannes, Eze

So France was amaaaaazzzzzing. I had the best time!

We boarded the train on Thursday to go to Florence, and from there we took a bus seven hours to Nice. The bus ride wasn't bad and we stopped for food (i finally found pringles!) and we arrived at around 2 am. I went with 3 of my sorority sisters and with a bunch of people we knew from John Cabot, the other university in Rome, so it was a blast! Our hostel wasn't too grimy, but the window was broken and the room was full of trash. We told the management and they cleaned it up, but couldn't fix the window so all of my roommates were pretty nervous about someone stealing our things (it never happened, though).

The next day, we woke up at 11 am to go to Monte Carlo, Monaco!!!!! This was by far my favorite spot because it was clean and just breathtaking-- it is the richest country per capita in the world I believe, so the cars were amazing and the casino was so cool! We actually walked the entire country in about 2 hours and started out walking up a steep hill to the Prince and Princess' palace. We then went shopping and continued down the hill to enter the church where Princess Grace Kelly was buried. After that, we got lunch (just pizza, though, because the food prices there were outrageous) and then went to the casino! The cars rolling in to gamble were so expensive, and I must have taken at least thirty pictures of them. Bentleys, Ferraris, Range Rovers, Mercedes, you name it and one was there. You had to pay ten euro to go in, so my friends opted not to gamble and to save our money for dinner. That night, we went out and got Japanese food and then went to a few bars in Nice center which were really fun, but expensive! 9.50 euro for a drink--close to 13 american dollars! Such a ripoff. The French that night seemed to be so rude to our group of friends...I found that many french don't tolerate Americans who butcher their language. French men are also really smelly!

Cannes was our next destination because it is one of the only cities along the riviera with sand, not pebble, beaches! We took a 40 minute train ride and laid out on the beach all day. The sea was super warm, but wasn't as clear blue as I thought it would be and resembled the color of a Cape Cod beach. The beach was also topless-- it was so strange!!!! Many girls had their tops off and the men wore skinny Speedo suits. For lunch, we ventured to a small cafe in Cannes center and I got a ham sandwich on a baguette with a peach smoothie. I actually only wanted a peach, but with the language barrier, our waitress thought I wanted a smoothie. It was delicious anyways! The baguettes are so fluffy and crisp at the same time and were soooo much better than the ones in the U.S. I don't know how they do it! After, we walked along the shopping strip and I was really tempted to buy a Longchamp bag because it was only 75 euro! Hopefully I will pick one up if I go to Paris! That night when we got back to Nice, I had the most amazing meal of my life. We went to a fancy seafood place downtown that was actually reasonably priced, and we all got escargo, which was SO good! It had a buttery garlic sauce and was kind of chewy, but I ate it with bread and it tasted great. Then, I ordered scallops with linguine in a cream sauce and that was so delicious, too!  For desert, we went to a small pastry shop and got eclairs and almond donut/bread treats! We went out for a drink later to the bars again, but then headed in early because we were so tired.

On Sunday, we went to the medieval town of Eze before we left for Rome. It is in the Provence region of France, so of course I bought a bar of lavender soap! Going to a town like Eze has always been one of my dreams and I am so happy I got to go! It sat atop a hill overlooking the water, and the buildings were all made of stone and there were countless boutiques hidden in every corner. It was nice and breezy and was the perfect place to see before we left for another 7 hour bus ride to Rome. That night, I got back into Rome at 5 am!!!! The trip coordinators said we would be back at 2, so we were all mad because we had early classes the next day. I couldn't even go to my classes because I was so unbelievably tired and at that point I was running on two hours of sleep.

This week, I am just doing a lot of reading for classes and trying to get ahead in my lessons. On Friday, I have to be at the school at 6:30 a.m. for a trip to Campania (the Naples area) for my marketing class. I am actually really excited to see Naples and eat pizza from the place it was first invented! I am also excited for my parents to visit next Thursday before they go to Ireland! I can't wait to show them the best places in Rome to eat and see! I am also busy planning trips for the rest of the semester, as I really want to go to Ireland and Spain. Hopefully that happens!!

xoxo

 Train to Florence

 Royal Palace!

 Amazing views

 Overlooking one of the many harbors

 Casino Monte Carlo!

 A shop in Nice center

 Cannes!

 Mountains in the background--the beach was gorgeous

Me and Julia in Nice about to go out for seafood!

 Escargo

 Scallops!

 Eze

 Overlooking Provence

Me and my friends Jessica, Erin, and Julia!

France Bound!

I am so excited for my trip to Nice, St. Tropez, and Monaco this weekend!! I leave tomorrow at 5:00 and I am taking a high speed train to Florence and am then leaving from there. I hope the weather is hot and sunny!

This week has been really hectic with classes and homework...and I already have a five page paper due next Wednesday! But this week has also been fun- I have been running to the Tiber River and back everyday which is 3 miles and it is absolutely gorgeous with a view of the Vatican and all of the little shops in Trastevere, and all of my friends went to the Hard Rock Restaurant Rome last night for some american food! Since we have been a little bit homesick and craved burgers and fries, we ventured out to a part of the city near the Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain that was very touristy. I got nachos and buffalo chicken!! It was sooo good and was a break from the heavy carbs of bread and pasta. After, we went to Giolitti's gelato, which is the most famous gelato place in Rome! It was SO amazing. I got peach and strawberry and it was the best thing I have ever eaten. After that, we walked off everything we ate and then caught a bus near the Victor Manuel monument, which was beautiful at nighttime. However, on the bus we had a few problems. When we reached our stop, the doors didn't open and we couldn't get out and none of us knew how to say "wait" or "stop" in italian, so we had to scream at the bus driver in english and it was so embarrassing and so american of us. My friends and I are really trying hard to fit in but it is just so hard when we can only understand broken italian! I am getting better at it though and I can count to ten and say my name/address/where I am from/where I am going! A lot of people speak english, so it is actually easier to understand people than one would think.

Today I have just been concentrated on finishing all of my homework for the weekend. I also watched the Hurt Locker for class and it is so amazing!! Well, that is all for now...I will write when I get back from France on Monday!!


More things I have learned to love about the Italian culture:
-the cups and plates are MUCH smaller than in the U.S., so our portions are always small, which is great.
-they don't have bagels here--they only have bruschetta bread (hard bread) used to put jam on for breakfast in the morning
-the white bread is actually good for you here because there are no preservatives and it is made from only natural products...we can't even find whole wheat bread in the grocery store!
-instead of hotdog or fried food stands on the streets, they have fruit stands where you can buy slices of watermelon or fruit cups of peaches, pineapples, apples, oranges, etc.! These are everywhere!
-everyone here wears birkenstocks which i find to be a really strange footwear of choice...literally everyone wears them

Trips I am hoping to plan soon: Vienna and Salzburg!!!! I really want to go on a Sound of Music tour.


xoxo

Pantheon and Discotecas

So it is three in the afternoon and I just got back from the flea market in front of my apartment (called the Portuense market) and I bought two cute rings for 15 euros! Now I am about to eat lunch and finish up my homework for the day/night.

Yesterday, a group of my friends and I found the Pantheon! It is so easy to get to and is about 15 minutes away from me. It was gorgeous and I never even realized it was a church or is home to two tombs- that of the first Roman king and the artist/sculptor Raphael. I also didn't know that when it rains, the maintenance people actually have to mop up all of the water on the floor of the building because they do not cover the opening on the top! It was super touristy and there were definitely some thieves there, but it was a great experience and absolutely beautiful! I actually live close to all of the famous sights in Rome- the Spanish Steps, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and Pantheon and now I know how to get to all of them! I also have to be careful next time to wear sleeves because yesterday I was wearing a tank top and I wasn't allowed to go into any of the churches I wanted to go to because it is rude not to dress conservatively. For example, men are not allowed into the Vatican unless they are wearing long pants and a nice shirt.

After my long afternoon walking around the Pantheon area, I went home and made some pasta for dinner until around 10:30 when I got ready to go out. We went to an area call Testaccio, which is famous for discotecas (if you watch Jersey Shore), or clubs. It took forever to get into one of them, called Coyote, but it was really fun and my friends and I danced all night until around 3 when we left! (it is very normal to go out until 3 or 4 in the morning here) However, there were some really creepy Italian guys there so we had to avoid them. But it was nice to go out and have a fun time with a bunch of my friends.

Next weekend I am going to the SOUTH OF FRANCE! I leave thursday and come back late sunday night which will be really hard because I have a 9am class on monday. But I am going to Nice, Cannes, and St. Tropez! I am soooo excited because I have always wanted to go! That's all for now because I have to do homework...here are some pictures from yesterday!

 I went on a run yesterday to Campo de Fiore and came across a giant fruit market! I got a watermelon for only 1 euro! And I got pears, which taste like olive oil. The peaches are amazing!!

 The Pantheon

 Me in the Pantheon

 Raphael's tomb

The discotecas--what you see here are the creepy Italian men. I was with a huge group of friends so we had fun!!!

Peroni & Pasta

Today is Friday and because I don't have classes on fridays, I got to sleep in and sightsee all day! But before I tell you about today, I will fill you in on my week.

This week was really stressful because I had to find all my classes and buy my books. It is going to be really hard to travel all the time and study, but I cut down to four classes so hopefully that takes a load off of my back. We all went out on tuesday to Scholars, an irish-american bar, for karaoke night and it was so fun! It was also really strange ordering at the bar and I didn't even know what to get so I just asked for a Rum&Coke which was good. The drinks here are expensive- like 5 euros (7 US dollars), but the Italian beer Peroni is cheap. I haven't tried that yet and I don't really want to because I would rather have a mojito or my new favorite- sex on the beach (a peach vodka/juice cocktail). We went out around 11 because the culture is to go out between 11 and 12 and stay out until 3 or 4! I still have to get used to that. Because I had school in the morning, I only went out until 2.

On Thursday, all of my friends went into the heart of Trastevere where all of the shops and bars and restaurants are. It is so beautiful I can't even describe it. Winding cobblestone streets with tuscan orange and tan buildings-- it is breathtaking. My favorite part of Rome so far. We went to a little restaurant where they give you bread (although you have to pay for it), water (which is 2 euro-annoying), and the house wine. I liked the red wine more than the white wine, and I really loved the bread. I got lasagna and it was SO good!! It doesn't come in squares here, it takes up the entire plate and is a mush of cheese, sauce, and meat. For dessert they give you watermelon and it is the perfect ending to dinner. They charge you a service fee (5 euros) which includes tip and watermelon. You don't tip here because waitors and cab drivers get paid much more by the hour than in the US and in some instances waitors will be offended if you leave them a tip because you are insulting them. After that, we went to a small italian bar and got a drink (rum&coke) and sat and talked for a while. Then we made our way to Campo de Fiori which is a huge Piazza (square) with bars and restaurants and it is also where all the Americans hang out. We went to the Drunken Ship- an american bar- where we got $20 pitchers of sex on the beach and they were delicious!! Then, we went to Sloppy's and had a great time dancing to American music while sipping on our drinks. After that, I took a cab home for 10 euros because I live far from the friends who I was with and got in around 2:30-3. It was such a fun night and I saw so many people from my classes there!

Today, me and my three other friends went to sightsee and started at Campo de Fiore but walked to the Trevi fountain, the Colusseum, and another really cool monument. We also decided to get lost and wandered the windy streets and got gelato and ended up right back where we started- at the location where Julius Caesar was stabbed! It was absolutely gorgeous just walking around and window shopping at all of the boutiques-- it is the most beautiful place I have ever been!!!!

Tomorrow, I want to go to St. Peter's square and the Spanish Steps, which are supposed to be beautiful. On Sunday, I might go to the beach with my school and friends!

 Where Caesar was killed!

 Campo de Fiore

 Restaurants in Campo

 Chocolate chip&oreo gelato

 Trevi Fountain

 Colosseum!

 Roman Forum

 Most beautiful church I have ever been to

 Prosciutto, olive oil, bread

Pasta!



Ciao!