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.

Pretty Parts of Florence

Last night I ended up going to the Piazzale Michelangelo where I sat with some friends, and watch the sunset over Florence. It was one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen, the way the city just lights up with the sun behind it. My friends and I were seriously there for 3 hours, just sitting, talking, and taking pictures. Today I went to the Boboli Gardens, which are located about a 25 minute walk from central Florence (where my apartment is). This place was beautiful, we spent most of our day walking around enjoying the nature around us. Living in a city is it hard to find a place that only has trees and flowers so it was the perfect change in scenery. We then walked back towards the center, with a gelato stop of course. Now I am tired and going to start my homework that is due next week. Off to Venice in the morning! Ciao!

Blurring together

Wow! Haven't written in a few days, sorry. Not much has really happened, I am finally settled and loving my life in Florence. The days here are beginning to blur together and all the traveling I did last week is starting to catch up with me. My class is going well. I have my first paper due next Thursday. It is suppose to be 6 short writings about my views of Italy. Yesterday in class we were given 30 minutes to roam the streets of Florence find someone and watch them. We then had to come up with a character and dialog of them. Florence is the perfect place for this, because it is filled with tourist from all over. Yesterday I also attempted to do laundry; I have learned that I don’t understand Italian that much. I ended up with a pool of water and soaked clothes that are still drying. I also cooked dinner by myself which came out good, and I threw together a fruit salad. It is about 1pm here now and so far today I went to the Accademia Museum and saw David. It is weird to think I have lived in Florence for a week and have yet to really see any of it. I tend to walk by the Duomo everyday, like it is nothing while people from all over come and stand in line for hours to see it. Tonight I am headed to Piazzale Michelangelo so I can see all of Florence lit up from above. Hope all is well with all of you!

Be who you want

Today was my first day of my Travel Writing class. During the class we did our first piece of writing which really explains the inner reason I wanted to come to Italy to study abroad. Our topic was on being a stranger. So I decided this blog would be different and I would share with you my first piece of work.

Where I am right now, I am a stranger. I come from a small town and a small school in a place that is comfortable. I come with a preformed background of expectations, a place where everyone speaks English and we have these shopping centers that have everything you need. The majority of people don’t walk around, they drive because it’s faster and most things are owned by big commercial companies. Here where I am right now everything is so different. I am living in a big city where no one knows me, everything is small shops, and no one speaks English. Here I now have the ability to form exactly who I want to be. I don’t know any one meaning no one knows me so, I have the opportunity to completely start over, start a new life and be who I am. I have the choice to put barriers up or let them all down. Every choice I make here has an affect on how I am going to be defined as a person here. Here I am a stranger to not only everyone around me, but to myself. Everyday I am learning something different and surprising myself in more ways than I imagined. Living in this place is hard and challenging but I am learning more about the culture, the people, the city, and my self then I ever could learn about my home. Being a complete stranger to not only the people around me but to myself is something in life I needed in order to find myself.  

Holy Camogli! Cinque Terre

Wow, what a wonderful weekend full of amazing site seeing. First of all I hate the fact that the pictures I show you guys don’t even compare to being here. This blog is going to be a little longer because it is the weekend. I started my weekend at 6am leaving Florence and heading to Camogli (it’s pronounced like canolli with an m). When I first saw this place I thought it was the most beautiful place I ever saw, but it doesn’t even compare to the Cinque Terre (pronounced Chin-kay Terry). At Camogli we laid out on the beach, walked around and got some lunch. It was a beautiful and relaxing spot filled with a lot of tourists. From there we took a boat to a little town that I have no pictures of or remember the name. On this boat ride there was a older lady who lived in Camogli and gave us all a good life lesson. She told us that if you do what you want to do you will be happy, and to never do what people expect of you do what you expect of yourself. This was very meaningful to all of us. We then took the next boat to Portifino which is a town that is only accessible by water. It has recently become a tourist hotspot and where a lot of famous Italian actresses and models are living, making the prices of items very expensive. After that we took another boat which led us to meet our bus, where we went to the hotel. At the hotel we had a meal that literally lasted 2 hours, it was so much food! In Italy, it is impolite to leave food on your dish so we were all shoving the food down our throats. Because this trip was with the school, I had the opportunity to live with these two girls I didn’t know. They were both from long island, and convinced that I have an accent from upstate New York.

The next day we left the hotel to go to the one place I was waiting a month to see Cinque Terre! Cinque Terre is five villages that are only approachable by boat, hiking or a train that runs through the 5 of villages. Each village is unique in its own way and they are all absolutely gorgeous. Neither I nor the pictures can explain the beauty of this place. I had two favorite villages, the first being Monterosso which in Italian means the red mountain, don’t really know what it’s named that because it was all beach, and walking. The view of the water and sand was absolutely amazing. The other place that I think I liked the best was Manarola. This village is where I ended up buying some Wine and Pesto. The Cinque Terre is known for their white wine and pesto sauce. Manarola really stole my heart, I ended up putting my feet in the water which felt refreshing and the site seeing was so awesome. I could have just sat on the rocks all day looking at it, it was like a postcard. Over all I had an amazing weekend. It was actually weird to be in Cinque Terre where I could actually speak English to people and they understood me. My Italian is actually improving and I can have a conversation with others and they understand. Well class starts tomorrow, and I have yet to meet someone who is in the same class, so this should be interesting. Teniamoci in contatto! (Keep in touch!)

Jersey Shore and more...

So due to the lack of internet in my apartment, meaning it is not working at all and someone has to come and fix it here are both today's and yesterday's blog.

May 26

Today was supposed to be relaxing; instead it turned into a very exciting day. We started our day off by trying to get a taxi, apparently 10am is a busy time and there are no taxis that hold 5 people. What we ended up doing was filling the taxi with our entire luggage and squishing in. From there we arrived at the train station by 11, yes it took an hour to find a taxi for a 5 minute ride, Rome is intense. We found our train with a few minutes to settle in. We were all separated throughout the train and I was sitting with all people who didn’t speak any English. This was a huge wake up call and I had a moment where I thought to myself what am I doing here, this is so challenging, and I just wanted to break down because no one understood me and I couldn’t understand them. All I needed was to put my luggage above me but I couldn’t lift it, eventually a guy came over and lifted it for me but it took a while. Then the whole ride to Florence I was thinking how I was going to get the luggage down to get off the train, so I whipped out my Italian dictionary and figured out how to ask for help and thank them. I ended up having a mini conversation and the whole situation was such a learning experience. Once I arrived in Florence we checked in, my apartment is absolutely gorgeous. It has a patio are, kitchen, living room, and bed room. It is kind of a disappointment that there are no students living in this building but there are a lot close by. We then went to go get lunch and as we were sitting outside waiting for the food we saw from afar the boys from Jersey Shore. We then saw them heading our way and they actually ended up being seated to eat right next to us. I probably could have touched Paulie D if I stuck my hand out but the secretly guards asked us nicely to follow what they wanted us to do, and if that gets aired I will definitely end up on the show because all the cameras were facing my way. After that we walked around to find different locations of things, where I ran into Snookie and Jwow. Towards the end of the day we met some really nice guys that are attending LdM, and they are planning on stopping by in the morning to walk to orientation together. Florence is so different from Rome; it is definitely more homey and easier to get around without learning the language. This is posted late because I have no internet in my apartment.

May 27

Today was really boring, I attended the mandatory orientation and met a few people. My neighbor across from me in my apartment is about 50 years old and attending LdM, she has been trying to be my best friend all day which is cute.  I am currently at these boys I met apartment with my friend so I have a connection to the internet, so I could write this blog. After orientation I met my landlord who is very nice, and speak pretty good English. Not much has happened today. I just got back from a welcome dinner for all students, you know you go to college in Florence when you get free wine. Well tomorrow I am off to Cinque Terre for the weekend and I probably won't be able to post until Sunday night (hopefully I have internet by then). Hope you enjoy my blog so far! Ciao! 

"Perhaps, you speak American..."

Buonasera!

Today has been such a blur. We started at about 8am by taking the metro to Vatican City, because it was Wednesday Pope Benedict XVI spoke and did a prayer. Never in my wildest imagination would I think that I would get to witness in person the Pope speaking. From there we left and wen to the Museum and the Sistine chapel, of course we had to stop for some gelato on the way. It was so beautiful and amazing to see all the art work throughout the museum and of course the chapel. After that we went back to the Vatican where we explored the Basilica, and climbed to the top. The view up there was priceless, and the walk up 320 steps was completely worth it. We then went and got lunch where I enjoyed my first pizza in Italy. It was so delicious! The day didn't end there, we got lost walking to the Piazza Navone which was full of people playing music, and selling their pieces of art work. Due to the fact we are all exhausted Marie, ended up getting 30 euro worth of artwork for 20 US dollars because the woman thought US money was worth more. We didn't realize this until after we wer on our way out. For only being here for 2 days I am honestly surprised at how fast I am picking up the languagee and absolutely am in love with the culture. It is about 8:40pm here and I need to go get ready (do my hair with my European straightener I had to buy because mine broke) to go to the bar. Salute!

It's a different world...

Hey all!

So I have absolutely no idea where to begin with this post. I guess I will start with saying the plane ride went well, nothing was lost along the way. The only down side was that I have a maximum of 3 hours asleep which surprisingly got me through today. When I arrived in Rome we had to get a taxi, which was an adventure in a half. People say driving in Boston or New York is bad, I think I had about 15 near death experiences and we almost hit a motorcyclist head on. I guess it was an adventure but we all made it to the hotel in one piece. From there we checked in and decided that we were not wasting a day seeing it was around noon here and it was beautiful out. We then walked forever to the train station and finally have a way to Florence. YAY! After that we took the metro to the Colosseum, and then walked to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. It was quite a day. I then had my first Italian meal which was pasta and sauce with some type of Italian beer. It was really good and definitely made us feel like part of the culture. The day went by really smoothly, the only thing I surprisingly didn't think would be as big of a problem as it is, is the language barrier. There are a lot of people here that don't speak English at all which definitely creates problems for us as we don't know the area. Well It is about 9:30pm here and we have to get up early to explore tomorrow. Here are some photos to looks at:

One way ticket to Rome...

Ciao!

I am all packed and ready for take off! I can't believe today is the day I am leaving to go to Italy, but I am so excited to begin my adventure. Yes, it is true I currently do not have a plane ticket home, but will be purchasing one sometime next week.  As of right now I am scheduled to land in Rome at 11:20am (5:20am EST). From there I am hoping to check in at the hotel, and then go on a search for a train station. Seeing I need to make it to Florence on Thursday and don't currently have a ticket for the train. Rome is about an hour and half south of Florence by train. I am hoping the language barrier won't get in the way too much when I try and get a ticket. I have also heard about my apartment. I will be living with one girl who is from Keene and have heard it is in a great location about 5 minutes from everything, which sounds wonderful. Well, I am off to the airport shortly and praying everything goes as smoothly as possible. 

Talk to you all soon! 

-Katelyn

Two Weeks

Hey Everyone!
Welcome to my new blog. So I am not leaving for Europe yet, but decided I would make my first post while still in the United States. There is so much that I have to get done before I leave, one being buying a plane ticket back home from Europe. I also need to figure out where I will be staying, and traveling throughout my voyage. I am very excited for my trip, and I hope you enjoy following me throughout my adventure of a lifetime. Please feel free to leave comments as I will love to hear from you all.

-Katelyn