London from a Train

So I amgoing to apologize in advance for the grammar and such throughout this piece. I am currently on a train headed to Preston from London. Not having the ability or time to post while in London I figured I should use my 3 hour train ride to my advantage. On Friday I sadly said good bye to Italy. I will one day return because it stole my heart. I then took a train to Pisa at 4am, let me tell you no one who is normal is on a train at 4am do I met some very interesting people. Once arriving in Pisa I took my plane to London. Landing in London I was freezing, the weather here is easily 20degrees less then Firenze. On Friday we didn't really do much around the city, mostly just relaxed and scoped out the area and what we wanted to do for the rest of our stay. On Saturday we got up early and headed to central London. Here we took a tour on the top of a two decker bus. We saw so much on our ride around the city fron the bus and with the help of a tour guide gain a lot of knowledge for the city. After that we went and saw big Ben, the London eye, the cathdral, the London tower, the oldest hurh in the city, and the house of parliament. We also took a boat red down the river and visited the moderb art museum and he globe theater. We then called it a night by relaxing in the bar at the hostel. Yesterday we got up a little later but still managed to see a good amount of the city. We first webt to Abbey road which was so cool! We went to the British museum whic had a lot of artifacts from around the world. It was huge we then took the tube to buckingham palace Whig was very beautiful. After that we wandered a bit and tried to go to the museum of natural history but missed enterig by a minute. That is my quick update of my tri as of now I am still on a train and excited to visit steph!

A Più Tardi Firenze (See you later Florence)

With tomorrow being my last day in Italy, I decided I would write a closing piece. The past 5 weeks that I have spent here, have been the most amazing time of my life. I came here with the need to explore, escape the busy life I live, and to have a chance to completely start from scratch. I have successfully managed to do all of the above. Living here I have felt so stress free, so at ease, and so genuinely happy.

First landing I remember the surreal feeling of how am I going to make it in Italy speaking only one word of Italian, the word being “Ciao”. Once arriving in Florence, I felt lost, and out of place. I came here not knowing anyone, and not knowing the area at all. After my time in Florence and having the ability to travel to 20 different places throughout country, Florence stole my heart. Florence is a place that people often come in and out of, filled with tourist who will never understand the true beauty of the city. When walking around Florence everything is man made, the streets, the buildings, the shops, you can honestly go days without seeing a tree, but it is still beautiful.

During my stay here I have had the opportunity to meet a wide variety of people who live in Florence, and who are just here visiting. Florence has helped me realize not to stress about things in life, and to not worry about other people and preformed expectations people have about you as a person, because you have to be true to yourself in order to be true to others.

I met a lady on a boat a few weeks ago and her advice stuck with me throughout my trip. I was talking about how one day I want to move and live in another place for a couple years, but I have the fear of leaving everything I have at home. She told me “Do what you want to do and you will be happy. Never do what other people expect you to do, do what you expect of yourself.” Being here I have learned it is true, if you live a life to only make others happy you will never find true happiness for yourself. 

Internally we all know who we really are and sometimes the person we display on the outside isn’t who we are inside. Most of you know I tend to get very stressed, so being here in a stress free environment has taught me to slow down, take a breathe and not to let the world pass me by. Overall, I have learned a lot about myself, the culture, and life while being here. One day I hope to get a job over here and return for a while, there is something about the culture, way of life, and language I just love. 

The Amalfi Coast

What a weekend, because there is so much to write about I am going to break it up by places.

Capri
On Friday I spent the day in Capri, which is a beautiful place. I enjoyed a 2 hour boat ride around the island with a stop at the blue grotto. To enter the blue grotto, I had to get off the boat and onto a little boat, where I had to lie down in order to fit through the entrance to the cave. Once inside it was amazing, and literally made my speechless. I really have no idea how to explain it to you, but I will try. The boat guys were all singing and chanting and it was blue everywhere, the water was so pretty. Once our boat ride was finished I got a granita which is a special drink that is lemon slush mixed with fresh squeezed oranges, it was delicious. I then spent my time walking around and looking at the little shops. There was a garden that overlooked the water that was so pretty. Capri was beautiful, and definitely a place I would recommend visiting.

Positano

On Saturday, I spent the day in Positano. I literally laid on the beach all day, got so much sun and now have crazy tan lines. The water here was so refreshing, and I ate the most delicious sandwich I have ever tasted. We missed the boat due to lying on the beach so I wasn't able to go cliff diving, which I am okay with. After 6 hours on the beach I was so tired, I chose not to go out to the club with everyone and instead get some sleep, which I was later told was a good choice because it wasn't much fun. 

Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius

On Sunday I spent the morning in Pompeii, what an amazing place to visit! I had a guided tour where I was educated all about Pompeii and the difference between it and the other cities that were destroyed from the volcanic eruption. It was so fascinating to see how the city was so organized and how it was still existing. After that we went to Mt. Vesuvius, where we climbed to the top. How many people can say they climbed a volcano? It was so much fun, and my legs have never hurt that much in my life, but it was so worth it. Mt. Vesuvius, is expected to erupt again at any moment, which made me kind of nervous. I stole a couple pieces from the volcano which is suppose to bring a lot of bad luck. Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius were definitely my favorite places of the weekend. This was an amazing way to end my last weekend in Italy. 

Frolicking in Florence

Wow a lot has happened in the last couple days. Chelsea and I ended up going out to a club, and Jersey Shore was there which was wicked exciting. Today I accomplished a lot around Florence, I have noticed I am living in a wonderful city that is full of things to see and haven't been able to see it. Today I went on a field trip with my class to Fiesole, which is a city located above Florence. Up there I could see all of Florence from an amazing view. It was so pretty, and up on a mountain meaning I finally saw green! There was this cute little bird singing a beautiful melody, I have never heard a bird sing like it did. After that I went out with my friend Carmen to the new Hard Rock that opened up, seeing I desperately needed American food! Italian food is good, but it gets repetitive and doesn't live up to the standards. After that we climbed 463 steps to the top of the Duomo. There I could see Florence from another view along with seeing the inside of the 4th largest Cathedral in the world from above. Every day I walk by it and wonder how they managed to build something that beautiful, along with making it so symmetrical seeing it took 140 years. After that I went and got gelato for a Euro which was amazing! Now it is off to watch the lunar eclipse over Florence! Ciao! 

View from Fiesole

View from the top of the Duomo

View from the Duomo... Can you find my apartment? 

Adventures with Chelsea

This has been quite the weekend full of a lot of fun! On Thursday, I took my midterm and handed in my first paper for my class, I then took a train to Pisa where I met Chelsea in the ghetto of Pisa. We then walked everywhere to find our hostel where we checked in and met some nice people traveling from Brazil. After that we went to the leaning tower which is the only thing Pisa has to offer. I completed another mission which was to take a shot in front of the learning tower. After a nice photo shoot we hung out on the lawn, and made our way back to the hostel where we went out to dinner, and tried to find some kind of night life. Failing at finding any where to dance we settled with a Asian bar, some gelato, and a nice walk around the city. On Friday we caught a train to Lucca which was wonderful. Chelsea and I rented bikes and road all around the city of Lucca, we even road a two person bike for 10 minutes which can now be scratched off my bucket list. Everyone enjoyed the entertainment of us almost killing each other. We then heard music and decided to find it, on our walk we found a message in a bottle, and had to smash it to find what it said. Lucca didn't have any clubs either but the bar life was wonderful, we watch a little kid play in Italian and had a few drinks at the local hang out. Today we came back to Florence, we are now currently getting ready to go out on a pub crawl in a little bit which means I can check another mission off my bucket list. Talk to you all soon!

Field Trip!

So today we went on a field trip to the San Lorenzo Cloister, which was really peaceful. Below you will see what I wrote about it. Besides my field trip I have been working on my paper that is due Thursday, ugh. For some reason today I started to really miss home. Not home in general but the little things about home that I don't have here, like my coffee, the daily connection with friends, and surprisingly having the ability to get in a car. I love walking and all but there is something about a car that is so different. Also today, I went to the train station and got a ticket for 90km hopefully that gets me to Pisa on Thursday!

San Lorenzo

Walking through the daily commotion that occurs every morning in central Florence I can taste the sounds of the people selling all the gear with the words “Italia” written on them, to the unsure and lost tourist just trying to make their way around a city that they will never fully understand. After a short walk I find myself at a building that blends in so well with the rest of the city, I walk by it daily and never take a second glance at entering. As I make my way through the worn out walls all of a sudden I am hit with a fresh aroma of a garden which reminds me of my home. While inside I have finally managed to escape all the chaos from the outside world. These walls that stand high and open up to the sky have some magical powers that separates’ the inside. I can finally not only hear the birds singing to one another but my inner self begin to relax as my mind wanders. All of a sudden the feeling of tranquility begins to escape due to the thunderous sounds of tourist entering, speaking in a language I can’t even begin to understand.

Vibrant Venice

Yesterday I spent my day in Venice, what a beautiful island! I never realized how Venice was set up until I arrived and looked at a map. There are about 80 islands that are all connected by over 400 bridges. Everything that arrives or leaves must enter and exit by boat, which I don't know why I found so shocking. Venice was prettier than I imagined as well. So, I started my day with a 3 hour bus ride, followed by a train ride. The only way to enter Venice is by boat, or train. Once we arrived we took water taxis down the grand canal, which was a tour in itself. We then went to Murano glass for a glass blowing demonstration. Watching someone blow glass was crazy, the way it just forms and hardens. After that we had some free time to walk around and explore this side of Venice before crossing the grand canal on a gondola. The gondola ride was interesting and I really thought it was going to flip over. Once we made it across we went on a walking tour all around the city, learning about the history of buildings, and where famous people have lived. From there we had free time, we were told by our tour guide that "you can't go to Venice without having a Spritz". So during our free time a bunch of us went and had one. A spritz is a a drink that Venice is famous for, it has prosecco, bitter liquor and some orange sparkling water, toped with an orange and olive. It was surprisingly really good, but we were told if you get them outside Venice they won't be as good. The day flew by, and I got some more sun which I am happy about! Now, off to finish writing my first paper for class.