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

Di che segno sei?

Ciao y'all as my roommate Libby says. She's from Texas. "Di che segno sei" means "What's your sign" in Italiano. We were reading the phrase book and I wonder what type of situation I would be in to have to use that phrase...

We have been trying to figure out our travel plans and it is really stressing us out. But then again, that's relatively low stress. It just seems like we're running out of time to go to all the places we wanted to go to.

We have been going out a lot. Saturday, we literally spent the entire day in the house and didn't go out because we were so pooped. Today we went to get American brunch. It was soooo good. I had my first cup of java, American style, in soo long.

I had a serious craving for Indiana yesterday. I was listening to Dave Matthews and thinking about Btown and summer. I miss summer. I realllllly miss Coco bambina. I feel pretty boring right now. Mi dispiace. Okay I guess that's my cue to exit. fin. haha