20 things I'm looking forward to and 36 things I'm going to miss

I only have approximately 3 weeks left on my study abroad experience, and in preparation I have been doing some reflecting. I decided that I wanted to compile a list of everything I'm going to miss and everything I'm looking forward to. This is what I've compiled: 

20 Things I'm looking forward to: 

1. Seeing all of you wonderful friends and family, and maybe most importantly, Coco Bambina. 
2. Having a working washer and a dryer. 
3. My car. (I'm going to be such a bad driver)
4. Driving to get groceries (and being able to pack the cart!!)
5. Not getting hissed at when I walk down the street alone. 
6. Lake Michigan and all it entails (sailing, beach, swimming, Lake Shore Drive)
7. Chicago/Evanston/Bloomington
8. Summer
9. Baseball (well all American sports really, basically not soccer) 
10. STARBUCKS
11. CHIPOTLE
12. Being able to wear stilettos (No cobblestone). 
13. No longer having to study art. 
14. Trees (Florence lacks foliage)
15. Not having neighbors that yell at you in Italian. (I swear were innocent!)
16. Losing my new found gelato weight. 
17. Being able to walk down the street without being bombarded by gypsies and tourists. 
18. Being free of the Euro. 
19. Being free of cigarette smoke.
20. Getting carded!!

36 Things I am going to miss about Florence/my study abroad experience:

1. Doing things solely for my pleasure. 
2. Freedom
3. Gelato
4. Being surrounded by amazing art all of the time. 
5. The "Grazie Lady" every morning on the Ponte Vecchio
6. My incredible apartment
7. Laying out on my terrace of said incredible apartment
8. Having time to read
9. Having the ability to pick up and go to another place in Europe any weekend I wanted. 
10. The prevalence of vino over beer. 
11. The Tuscan hills
12. Looking at the duomo while brushing my teeth
13. My new found friends and roomies
14. Kebab
15. Italian television
16. Speaking Italian out of the classroom
17. Lockness Club
18. The old man that inches down my street every day. 
19. The fresh produce
20. The fantastico shopping 
21. The class of Europeans in general (and no I'm not referring to the skeezy Italians who hang out where the American girls are...)
22. Karaoke at Michael Collins 
23. Beatles cover band every Tuesday at Bebop
24. My teacher Franco's odd humor
25. Vespas
26. Relaxing at the Boboli Gardens on a sunny day
27. Terracotta rooftops 
28. The jazz musicians that play in the square near my house
29. The best cappucino. As well as getting cappucino 5 times a day. 
30. The charm that Florence carries
31. Football (soccer) fans- and being able to hear the screams of the games from my window. 
32. The church bells on Sundays (as well as the churches)
33. Being able to walk everywhere
34. Festivals at Santa Croce and the San Lorenzo market
35. The "Va Bene" (It's good) mentality
36. Having absolutely NOTHING to complain about. 

Just some pics from Conor's visit and Greece

Conor's Visit, Spring Break in Greece and My Birthday!

I have been tremendously negligent of the blog. So I have a lot to catch up on. 

6 days after I went to the Chianti region (3/8/08) Conor came to visit! We had a great time. I took him all over Florence. We saw the David, went to the Boboli Gardens, climbed the duomo and the Michelangelo hill, and got amazing gelato. We also went to a jazz concert at the theater across the street from my house. That week wasssss midterms, however. AND, on top of all that it was Kelsey's 21st birthday. It was one of the best weeks I've had here nonetheless. 

The week after that was spring break, and my birthday!! We traveled all the way to Greece. Trisha and I led went ahead of everyone else. It was a long stressful trip (like missing a train, almost missing a second, and then not being able to find our hostel at 1 in the morning...) but it was all worth it. We stayed the night in Athens then took an 8 hour ferry to the island of Ios where we were welcomed by a man named Petros, who owned our hotel. The next day, the rest of our 11 person group joined us. Our hotel was on the beach and the island was basically deserted. It was incredibly beautiful. Petros took care of us and was so sad to see us leave. 

There was only a couple restaurants open. There was a family restaurant (or shall I say "house") we went to every day for lunch. They would make us these amazing meals while we hung out for hours. They had a little son named Orphaeus. He was our primary form of entertainment. The family was so nice and thoughtful. They knew it was my birthday a few days in advance, and we told them we would come. The woman made me a cake! It was delicious. 

We celebrated my birthday at the one bar that was open on top of the mountain. We basically took over the place. A good time was had by all. The day of my birthday we left for the island of Naxos. We went out to dinner on the marina. We had the owner bring us his favorites on the menu. It was the most spectacular seafood I've ever had. Then Trish and I left on a ferry back to Athens. It was an overnight ferry back, and we fell asleep watching American television (Prison Break) with the lights on. Needless to say, it was not the most satisfying sleep.  

We arrived in Athens at 5:30 in the morning. When the sun finally rose, it was a gray spring day. We made friends with a metro employee (he will remain anonymous for his protection) who took our bags (after getting turned down by our previous hostel- yuck). He was more than helpful. A perfect example of Greek friendliness. In fact, every Greek person I met was super duper friendly. They put the Italians to shame. They also start speaking Greek to me whenever I walk in anywhere. Way more than the Italians actually. Sorry tangent. So Trish and I traveled around Athens. We found this adorable little neighborhood where this little old lady, literally stuck half of her body out of the window to give us directions, which were translated by a Greek man standing on the street. This is where we found STARBUCKS. It was a very happy moment. We sat and discussed the rest of our day outside, while drinking an Iced Grande Skim Vanilla Latte. Heaven. We then went and climbed the Acropolis.  

The Acropolis was as cool as I remembered. Unfortunately, they were doing some type of restoration on it while we there. Still, it had the most magnificent view of the city. While Trisha and I were standing there looking out, it slowly started to rain. I couldn't help think how appropriate, as it was Good Friday. So we walked down (slipping quite a bit) and explored the city. When we were too tired to walk anymore (around 2) we went to the airport to catch our flight. 

When we arrived in Florence, I walked across the street from the train station to the Hotel Baglioni, and my family was there! It was a great end to the best spring break ever. 

Update...

So I started writing this a really long time ago and never finished. 

Last weekend Daddy and Sue came to visit FIRENZE! It was fantastic. We had a great time. I showed them around (well more of reminded them...) and did a lot of touristy things. We went to the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace. It was so nice, I needed nature and fresh air. We also went to see Michelangelo's David. It was more amazing in real life than I had ever imagined. It was enormous. We really spent most of the weekend eating- the only way to do it in Italia. It was so nice to see them. Thanks for coming guys!! I miss you! 

Today was really fun. We went to the Chianti region. We went to Montalcino, Pienza, Montelpuciano. It was really beautiful looking out on the Tuscan hills while drinking amazing wine. 

For those of you note on Facebook...

Photo album of Barcelona:
http://indiana.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2385521&l=17b29&id=6829156

Albums of Prague:
http://indiana.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2382774&l=1a910&id=6829156
http://indiana.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2382881&l=14479&id=6829156

Prahahaha e Barcelona!

So I have been negligent of the blog lately. Mi dispiace. A lot has been going on. The weekend of the 7th a group of 10 of us went to Prague in the Czech Republic. It was really an incredible trip. It was such a beautiful city. The architecture is similar to that of Paris. We jam packed the weekend. We saw the Communist Museum. It was depressing, but it was crucial to understanding the people and the city. We went on a tour of the Jewish quarter, which was very educational. Did you know that Prague used to have the largest population of Jews is Europe? Just some trivia. We also went on a river tour. Apparently numerous movies are shot there because of how cheap it is, and also its ability to look like many different places. After the river boat tour, we stumbled upon this festival! It was great there was live music and lots of meat and beer. haha. The next day we went to Prague castle which was soo incredible from the outside. We didn't go in, primarily because we were being cheap, and also lazy. haha. While we were there we also went to some fantastic restaurants. Czech food is very hearty. We also took 2 trains to get there. It took 17 hours! We could've gone to Australia! It was nice because it was a sleeper train though. It was quite the adventure. By the time the trip was over we were all overly excited to be back in Florence. It was so familiar and safe feeling.

(This next part is not really in chronological order....) 4 days later (Valentine's Day) I left Florence again for Barcelona, Espana! It was also quite a trek, but much faster than Prague. I flew Ryan Air from Pisa. It was an experience in itself. I then had to take a bus from Girona to Barca. I hadn't eaten anything but a croissant all day and I was starved and had very little cash. Soooo I finally checked into the hotel at about 9:30 pm and waited for Jess to come get me. We then went out on a Valentine's Day date to Hard Rock Cafe, but by the time we ordered it was after midnight. Sooo I couldn't get a juicy hamburger (Lent for all of you who don't understand) and went for the Salmon. Sooo delicious. We went out to a club in Placa Reial with a few of Jess's friends. The next day we first went and sat in a park and watched dozens of pigeons fight for food. Later, we went to the beach and relaxed. It was so amazing. I miss beach. We then went to the Catalan history museum (Jessica had homework...) and had a great time surprisingly. We took too many pictures for a museum... That night we had Tapas and Sangria for dinner. I love Spain. :)We also had bagels and Starbucks two days in a row. That night we went to Mont Juic to watch the fountain show. It was amazing. We also went out to a club called Chuipitos(?) which was a lot of fun. The last night we went out for Paella (YUM!) with more friends. Later we went back to Placa Reial and went to this bar called Tastey and this club called Downstairs. We met Holland's men's field hockey team. They were fun. It was a great night. Greaaaat successssss! The next day we finally found some of Gaudi's architecture so I could fill my only requirement for the trip. Then I caught the bus to the aeroporto.... THANKS JESS FOR HAVING ME! IT WAS A BLAST!

TV e Martedi Grasso!

Soo yesterday I finally figured out how to work our TV! I was so excited that I could finally veg, even if I couldn't understand completely. There was one ad I really enjoyed it was for Kinder Cereali(?)



But there was also that stupid Dolce & Gabbana ad that they play at home. Ugh. It just brings the D&G brand to a lower level. I found some really corny soap operas and lots of dubbed television shows I hadn't seen. (British maybe?) All in all a great success for team LACKK.

Yesterday was Mardi Gras (Martedi Grasso) the end of Carnivale. I haven't really mentioned this before, but Carnivale has been going on for the past couple weeks. On the weekend, the streets are filled with little children dressed up as if it were Halloween. Grown men, in addition to the children throw confetti on people walking by. There is just a light-hearted atmosphere all the time. I love it. But anyways, last night, being Mardi Gras, we went out bar hopping. We originally went to our favorite bar, Lockness Club, but it was PACKED, mostly with americani. We then went to this fairly new club called Glamour (where we went for the Super Bowl). This place was again packed, but we were the only Americans there. It was the first time I had gotten dirty looks from Italian women. It was fun, but I had the impression that we weren't wanted.

After Glamour, we stopped a few places on the way home, and we noticed this red door that we noticed around the corner from our house. We saw it during the day and thought it looked like a club, but it was completely dark and it said "associazione privata." There were a couple guys standing outside the club, and I could see a little inside. We decided it was a strip club, but we clarified with the men outside and found out it was a gay club!! We were so excited but they wouldn't let us in, they said it was men only. How sad. I was looking forward to not being hit on for once...

So today was Ash Wednesday or Mercoledi delle Ceneri. It was really odd, for a country full of Catholics, all day I did not see any ashes on anyone's forehead. After class Trisha and I tried to go to mass at the duomo. Apparently they didn't have one. So we walked to Santa Croce, and we were right on time. The mass was all in Italian but we understood the gist of it. :) What we learned is that in Italy, they put the ashes in the hair above your forehead, not a cross ON it.

Domani we are off to Prague! yayy