Some pics of me...Canyoning!

So these are just a few...i will upload the rest when Im not typing a paper at the same time! lol...

this is me before the second jump...the biggest jump. and the pretty scenery.

this was one of the smaller jumps. supposed to do a little cannon ball...its hard to move in all that gear. lol.



the first jump. off a waterfall. supposed to lean back. i apparently lost control of my legs...lol.

the bigggggest jump. so crazy. about 15-20 feet high. felt like you fell forever.

in preparation for the first jump. standing at the top of a waterfall...so cool.

repelling into the canyon.

my helmet said..straber...which apparently means geek in german. couldnt be more perfect. lol

i will write all about it later...the jumping, the sliding, the lazy river aspects. it was unbelievable.

Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Capri, and Pompei!

So this past weekend we left at about 9:30 to head down to Sorrento with Bus2Alps, the same organization we went to Switzerland with. So we got there at about 5 in the morning, and they too us in the dark in the woods on this trail and dropped us off in our...bungalow. yes, bungalow. lol. it looked really tiny from outside. but it was pretty nice on the inside. there was one room with bunkabeds, a kitchen table, and a tiny kitchen. then there was stef and my room...two beds and a chair in between the two used for a night stand, and then the skeevy bathroom. the bathroom coulda been better, but its a bungalow....it coulda been worse!

So we got up at like 9-something...went to get our free breakfast...two rolls. and then we got on the bus that took us on a pretty ride to positano. we had to get dropped off on the side of the street and walk down thru the town on these crazy steep stairs. so we got down there, bought sandwiches, that were really good, and went on the beach. we laid there all day, ate, and went swimming in the mediterranean sea! yea, i swam in the mediterranean sea! so cool. i mean, it was really pretty chilly, but it was so clear and blue and pretty and it was nice cuz it was so hot. Cinnamon (Simon the director of the organization) and Big C, later named Charcoal (also known as Charlie...an employee) hung out with us for a while. it was fun. From there we got on a boat and went to Amalfi. where we got some really good gelato and walked around the little town. i also met the meanest italian ever and he made me cry. but then we met a really nice man at a store we went in, so it was ok. we took the bus back. hung out for a while in our bungalow...and then went to dinner at the restaurant on the campgrounds. it was so cheap, so we literally had a 5 course dinner...it was pretty good. we went back to the bungalow, hung out and passed out.

Saturday we woke up at 7:15, but i had to get up at 6:45 to shower. it was horrible! its either scourching hot, or freezing cold and its too small, and it seriously trickled out...so bad. so we followed Cinnamon down this path on the grounds to the dock/swimming area where we got on our private boat that took us to beautiful Capri. Before we got onto the island, these little boats came along and picked us up and we got in it, and had to sit on the floor and we went into the Blue Grotto! we had to lie down in the boat to get into the opening of the cave cuz its so small. but it was unbelievable! this color blue...it was crazy. and i cant believe the color blue that the sun caused. From there we went near the Green Grotto and that was really cool too....then we got stopped by the coast guard for no apparent reason...it was random and pointless, but pretty funny. From there we got onto the island of Capri, and we had to hike up to the main center of the town. where we went and saw a really pretty garden with unbelievable views. Then we went into a perfumeria (? i dont know). Then we had lunch. it was pretty good. From there, we were supposed to meet Cinnamon at the bus station, so we got there, but decided to pay liek 3 euro more to take a convertible taxi up to ana-capri...the higher town on Capri...cuz Capri is like just rocks and cliffs. the ride was awesome and gorgeous and i called mom and told her we had to move there (sorry mom, i forgot that it was only 7am on a saturday!).

So up there, they took us to this store that sold limoncello and capri sandals and lemon soaps and candies and everything lemon, cuz capri is known for them...so the people that werent shopping or ordering custom sandals, aka. me and my friends, we went to this place and saw this amazing view. of the clear blue waters and the rocks and cliffs and it was awesome. then we took a chair lift up to the very top. ok. it was a 12 minute ride up and a 12 minute ride back. and it was basically a ski lift...but...they were single chairs! so you had to sit by yourself and on the way up you couldnt see any of the views cuz you were going away from it and it was horrible...so we were all yelling to each other so we didnt lose our minds. apparently we cant handle being alone for 12 minutes. so at the top there is this restaurant and then theres this spot where you can go and basically go to the very edge of the cliff and hang your legs over while you sit there if you want. we went there, but there was no hanging over the edge. except for allison's head. haha. it was beautiful. i could have just sat there all day. so we went back down, bought postcards. got on the most crowded and awkward bus ride ever....and then we had to hike back down to the marina and get on the boat. they took us completely around the island and finished the tour they started on the way there, and it was awesome. the boat ride back to sorrento was really long, so we slept. and then i had a headache. so stef found someone with advil, and we just ordered take away from the restaurant. we ate in the bungalow and went to bed early.

Sunday we got up at liek 9, got our rolls again, and left on the bus at 11 to go to pompei. we watched the beginning of my cousin vinny. got there. had about an hour to do whatever, so we ate sandwiches at this cute little restaurant outside. then we went on a two hour tour of pompei. it was pretty cool. a little long though. got a little restless at the end. but so did cinnamon and charcoal, so its all good. the bus ride wasnt too bad. we finished my cousin vinny, watched devil wears prada, thank you for smoking, and then at the end they put in the worst movie in the world. sooo bad. but the ride was good, we got back at like 9:30...and we friended cinnamon on facebook and he put pictures up, so i will be copying them and stealing them and putting them up here at some point when i have time. so...be looking for them.

oh also, we decided to go to switzerland tomorrow for the weekend so that we could go white water rafting. and cinnamon is going to be there so he is going to help us with everything, because Bus2Alps is going next weekend, so he knows all the stuff anyway.

cant wait!

see you all in 2 and a half weeks!!!!

Cinque Terre and Portofino!

So 7 o'clock saturday morning we were getting on a bus heading to Cinque Terre on a trip with the school, and it ended up being the most laid-back school trip i think of the semester. it was nice. The ride wasnt too long. 3 hours, including a half an hour break. lol. So we got to Santo Margherita Ligure which is where our hotel was at like 10. we hung out there for alittle bit, and met the bus...right by the beach. It was gorgeous. I mean, they dont have sand, they have rocks. but it was still realyl nice and the water was gorgeous. The thing with the italian riviera is that its the seacoast and the water is crystal clear and a gorgeous blue, but that its also mountainy. so sometimes your like ona cliff looking at this amazing view. bella.

So we take the boat to this other place called...comogli. We hung out there for a lunch time. right on the beach. ate a salad at this restaurant outside. pretty good stuff. and then we went and put our feet in the water, it was pretty chilly, but refreshing. and then we got gelato and just sat on this wall and looked out over the cliffs and at the water and stuff. then we got on a boat...which was ridiculous. lot of laughs on that one. stef you know why! lol. and then we went to some other place. i dont know the name...possibly san fruttuoso. but i really have no clue. lol. there we just took a tour of this abbey and monastary and stuff and it was right on the cliffs and it was gorgeous. we were onyl there for liek 45 minutes before we got back on the boat and went to portofino. which is where all the rich people live and bring their yachts to port. so we watched this one yacht come in. and then we took some pictures. and then got nonalcoholic pina coladas. I apparently dont like pina coladas and wasted 10 euro on it! stinkin portofino and their expensive places.

then we took the boat back to santo margherita ligure where we took naps and then went to a hotel around the corner for our local cuisine dinner. we had lasagna pesto which was ridiculously good. swordfish, which i didnt eat, and potatoes, and then tiramisu. it was good.

after, we went to the solarium, which was basically the really nice roof on our hotel. and hung out there, took some action shots cuz stef likes to do that, and they usually come out pretty hilarious.....we actually got to go to bed early and sleep on this trip, so that was nice.

we got up at 7:30 and had breakfast, checked out and were on the bus by 8:30. we drove about an hour to levanto. There, stefano and franco (the leaders on the trip) handed everybody a pass that gets you on the trains or the hiking trails from one village to another. there are 5 villages along the coast that make up cinque terre (levanto was not one of them). So we hung around in levanto a while. which basically means, we laid on the beach for an hour and half. took the train to the last of the 5 villages an dworked out way back. so 25 minutes later, we're getting off the train in Riomaggiore. We bought some icecream there. It was a cute little town. Then we took the hiking path (which was basically a sidewalk...kim walked barefoot lol). It was called Via del Amore *street of love. and it was up in the cliffs along the edge, overlooking the sea. it was gorgeous.

That took us to Manarola where we had lunch. So the italian riviera is also known for its faccacia and olives, so i got a pizza on faccacia bread with olives on it. it was divine. we sat and ate it outside overlooking the coast. it was just really pretty.

from there, we took the train to Corniglia. which is one thats way up in the cliffs, but we didnt have much time there because of the train schedule and its a 20 minutes hike up, that we just stayed around the train station...finally found a bathroom lol....took some pics cuz we were already up pretty high.

train to Vernazza where we got this lemon ice drink, cuz cinque terre is also known for its lemons. lol. it was sooo good. it takes like those lemon italian ices we used to get as kids on the beach. we were walking along when we heard somebody playing instruments and singing Stand by Me. so we went back and there was a guy on the viola, the base, and the guitar singing and stuff. they were really good. so we hung out there for a while. then went and did a little shopping. danielle got a really pretty necklace. then we hung out down by the water.

Fromt here we took the train to the last of the cinque terre, monterosso. there we bought some postcards and hung out on the beach. stuck our feet int hew ater. it was really pretty. from there, you could see all five villages down the coast and up on the cliffs. it was pretty sweet. the bus picked us up there and we left at about 6. we got home at about 9:15. took showers, ate a little, did a little homework and passed out.

it was a great weekend, and im really glad we went on the trip.

two days and im off to capri!

miss you guys. be back in 3 and a half weeks!

Ceramics field trip.

So this past friday I had a field trip with my ceramics class that I was really not looking forward to at all. It turned out to be ok.

We took a train about an hour away to this little town called certaldo on the way to siena. then we had to take two cars for about 15-20 minutes on these curvy, hilly streets. We got to the place to do the raku firing (its when the pots turn black and look crackly where the colored glaze was applied), and it was beautiful. It was totally in the middle of tuscany. Surrounded by all these vineyards and groves and things. bella.

So the guy takes us into the gallery and shows us some stuff, we sit outside having tea and coffee and cookies. and then we go and we put the glazes on the pots. they go into the kiln. so while the kiln is slowly heating up, we go have lunch. we had to walk to it and it was a half an hour walk cuz we were in the middle of nowhere. but it was pretty and i actually saw in italian squirrel, which is really rare...they look different than the squirrels in the US. anyway, lunch was good...fresh bread, then pasta with like a meat sauce, then a different kind of pasta, then salad and proscuitto and cheeses. then coffee. not too bad for 12 euro.

so we walk back and we jack up the heat. like all theway. i played with the dogs that were there. this one, charlie. he didnt look like a puppy anymore, but he totally still was. the guy that worked there threw this stick down all the way in the backyard and there was a lake down there! it was really pretty. well the stick went into the lake, and so did the dog. so the dog comes running back up and we're all sprinting all over the place cuz he was soaked. he was a cool dog. i became friends with him. wouldnt leave me alone. kept having to throw that stinkin stick. lol.

so after they were in the kiln for a while, we took them out and stuck them in a pile of sawdust and they lit on fire! then we covered them with the sawdust so that they would be black and crackly. put them in water, cleaned them off. hung out for a little while and went home.

it was a pretty fun day. I think the fact that the 7 of us in the class get along really well helps. most of us are actually going to see a beatles coverband together tonight. should be fun.

Perugia and Assisi

So this weekend, Stefanie and I went to Perugia and Assisi from Saturday to Sunday.

Saturday morning we caught the 11:00 train and got into Perugia at 1. So we go and we ask the woman at the information booth what bus we take to get to the street with our hostel on it, but she has no idea, and she wasnt very nice. so we decided we'd walk around, try to find some food, maybe walk to the city center and just try to figure it out from there. So we start walking and we see signs for the city center, but things start to get sketchy, so we turn around and start walking in a different direction and its not working, so we go to this park, sit down and have some toast and nutella (thank you Old Florence Inn for those! lol). It was beautiful in the park. but by this point, we're all turned around and cant really figure out how to get back to the train station to get tickets and catch the bus somewhere...anywhere at this point. so i ask some random guy. and i guess he could tell my italian wasnt that good so he gave me the simplest directions ever. "Qui. (points down a path) Sinestro." which just means "here. left." lol.

So we managed to get back to the train station, so we went inside the train station and found a different information booth, so we hand the guy the paper with the hostel's address on it, and apparently that place is outside of perugia. so he tells us to take bus number 8 to this other bus terminal. so we do that and go and find another information guy, he sells us tickets for bus 8c. but i saw this big arrow painted on the ground that said, Escalators to the city center. so since we were there, we decided to do that and then just head to the hostel when we're done with perugia. so we start talking all these escalators. underground. outside. up. down. inside cave-like buildings. weird. but we come out and the historic city center of perugia is really nice. so theres a perugina store, so of course i buy some baci candy, cuz how can you not? so we see some parliament places, some churches, a fountain. then we walk to th is church and see a raphael fresco...and our ticket is good for this underground etruscan well....so we go there. it was so cool. you have to like climb down these stairs and its damp and pretty dark and everythign is wet. and you actually get to like stand on this bridge over this ginormous really old well and it seriously felt like somethign out of an indiana jones movie. it was by far my favorite part of perugia. oh, and i had the best gelato ever there. the pizza i bought had a gnat in it, but everything was really cheap there, so that was pretty cool.

So we are at the bus stop for bus 8c. and we dont know what stop we get off or if it even goes to our street, so we call friends and family and finally get the number of the hostel and call them as we're gettin gon the bus, and they tell us to ask the driver to drop us off there! lol, so stef said it was my turn since she called the hostel. so i walk up to the guy an dim like...When....here? (only in italian) and i point to the address on the paper and im hysterically laughing an dhe starts laughing at me, and he asks (in italian) if im talking about the hostel. yes. so he is like near...something or other that i have no idea what he said, so i just stare at him and he tells me twenty minutes. and then tells me twenty minutes in english. i think he thought i was really stupid. but i probably was acting the part, so ya know... lol.

so stef is hysterically laughing at me in the middle of the bus cuz she could tell it wasnt going well lol. so we just laugh about it and more people get off so we move up and stef is behind him and im like practically next to him and every time he turned he saw me and laughed. so he did drop us off right outside the hostel and he pointed it out for us too. my friend the bus driver. lol

but the hostel was really nice. we stayed in the building that looked liek a castle! it was cool, and we practically had the room to ourselves. it was sweet. we went to the food store and bought some chips and bought tickets for the bus in th emorning and went to a pizzeria...no gnats, so that was good lol. then we just played cards for hours cuz we were in a small town an dthere as nothing to do. some spit. some blackjack. we used the baci and as our bets. lol. so we went to bed at about 11 and got up at 7. checked out. 7:25. had breakfast. at the bus stop 7:50. bus gets there 8:15ish. we get back tot he train station. 8:50 to find out that cuz its sunday, the earliest train to assisi is 10:21. so we walk to mcdonalds which apparently isnt open early in perugia. so we sit and read and stand and play war. lol. it was greeeeaaat. lol.

so we get on the train and like 20 minutes later get off in assisi. bought tickets and got on the bus just in time. so we got there and we walked to a church. san francesco. it was really pretty. i felt funny walking through it. there was a service going on. but it was a nice church. from there we walked and got lunch. sandwiches. prosciutto. and ate in the most awkward place ever. then we decide we'd try to catch the 1:19 train. and run around and get lost and cant even find the bus stop. so we took it a little slower. bought some post cards. stef bought some stuff for her grandma and this realyl cool wooden necklace an di bought this big green cross necklace. lol. its pretty.

then we found the bus, got back to teh station, bought our tickets, and went to mcdonalds. of coruse. lol. then we got on the train. an dit was the hottest train ride ever! so it was sleeping on and off and on and off and we were wide awake for th elast hour cuz it just got so hot and stef couldnt feel her hands and i kept slidding off the seat cuz i couldnt take the heat. lol. so we played air war to pass the time and three italian guys next to us just stared at us th ewhole time. we probably looked like we werent doign anything but handing each other random cards. it was a never ending game and we got back, ran to the food store, and then ran home.

it was a fun weekend.

this weekend...cinque terre! only with the school, so that means less problems! lol. hopefully.

oh, and possibly ravenna tomorrow. so i'll write later.

miss you all....4 and a half weeks i think!

ciao.

Easter

So sorry it ha staken me so long to write again. things have gotten crazy here lately!

So easter in florence.

Jess and Lindsay got here Friday night, so we of course went out to celebrate lindsay's 20th birthday! I took them to reginella where lindsay had gnocchi for the first time, in the pesto sauce. the guy picked on her a little bit cuz its hard to pronounce but gave her a hug at the end and said happy birthday lol. he also gave her some brandy candy...that apparently tasted ok when you first put it in, but then you had to spit it out when you got to the center...it tasted like brandy.

after we tried to get a hold of brandon, but couldnt...so we just went to his apartment to pick him up and he came with lindsay, jess, and i to festival del gelato! soo good. lindsay loved it and we ate a ton of gelato that weekend! lol. after, we just hung out at my house talking and goofing around until about 3 in the morning.

Saturday we woke up late, had mcdonalds lol, and went to the Boboli gardens! it was beautiful and sunny and we took tons of crazy pictures with lindsay in her neon pink tights! lol. From there we rushed to the food store for stuff for dinner and back to my apartment cuz we were meeting brandon to see the sunset from piazzale michelangelo. so we walked over there and kidna missed it, but saw it actually set. and it was gorgeous! we hung out there for a while an dit started to get chilly, so we went home. hung out and went to bed.

Easter Sunday we woke up early and Brandon, Lindsay, Jess, Kim, Natalie, Cassie, Laura, Traci, and I all went to the duomo to see the festivities. it was crazy! we saw like parades and people playing instruments and throwing their flags and stuff, and the cardinal came and blessed the flowers and eggs, and they handed them out and brandon caught the flower head that was for the next person who is going to get married! so funny. And the oxen pulled the cart out and they hooked up all the fireworks while this was going on and they moved the oxen. and then this dove came out of the church on like a zipline (a mechanical dove, lol). It hit the cart, shot back into the church and then the fireworks began! and it was ridiculous. it went off for a few mintues and then stopped and we were in this thick red smoke. like i could hardly see the people around me! and then that stopped coming adn the fireworks started again (luckily the wind shifted so we could see what was happening the whoel time lol). and this cart seriously exploded for liek 15 mintues. it was pure insanity!

After, we showered and took naps. walked around the market. Went to a park area near my house and saw the cute little ducks in the pond near the fountain and i sketched. then we came back and made lazy man's lasagna for dinner. with bruschetta and lindsay and i had a competetion to see who could eat more. i ate more for dinner, but we did establish that she is in fact, bigger than i am and probably could beat me up. we went back to festival for gelato. lol. that was easter.

Monday we went shopping! and hung out with kim for a little bit. we also climbed the duomo so that was fun and tiring.

Tuesday, their last day, we went to danielle's house to check on stuff for venice cuz thats where they were flying out of. and then we went to the good sandwich place on faenza for lunch. then it was to the market for more gift shopping and a homework assignment for me for my photography class. after that, we walked over to piazzale michelangelo again and saw the half of the sunset we missed saturday night. it was absolutely beautiful. we went up to san miniato (the churhc up there too) and the view from there was even better.

after we waited for kim and then met her at the restaurant next to our house where we had a really really good dinner and some gelato (this was our third time of having gelato that day lol).

Wednesday I had class in the morning and they got up early and headed to venice to spend the day before they had to fly back to ireland.

it was good times and im glad i got to spend easter with some friends... :-)

miss you girls already!

pics stolen from efren...

Here are some pictures from my spring break with the family....if you want to see the rest of the pics...check out..http://travel.webshots.com/album/558494290ilfWxL oh, the captions are underneath the pics....and their in no particular order, sorry! but enjoy! :-)


resting in rome. we look funny in this pic....me, grandma, mom, cait, and jess...jess, what are you doing? lol.

on top of the tower of pisa...dad, me, caitlyn, grandma, and pamela...

jess and efren at fountain of trevi...

random parade we saw outside the duomo on their first day of arrival...

efren punching the statue....what else?

me, jess, and caitlyn outside san miniato...

erica asleep. this was the only way her head wouldnt fall down. lol...

efren being a statue now...boboli gardens, by the way...

grandpa leaning on the tower of pisa...


tower leaning on uncle bob...


cait, grandma, dad, and pamela on top of leaning tower of pisa...


efren, grandpa, and dad on way to church...san miniato...



mom and grandma in boboli gardens...

efren thinks we look hungry...jess, pamela, me. piazza le michelangelo...

jess and efren on the way to piazza le michelangelo...

jess and pamela at piazza le michelangelo...

some kids in rome :-)

efren holding the tower...

group decision time...

jess and efren on top of duomo!

erica and gelato...

jess, mom, me, pamela, and caitlyn in florence on the way to piazza le michelangelo...

me, jess, pamela and cait in pisa...

merry go round...

Me and the random cat that laid on my feet in the boboli gardens...

Uncle Bob, Aunt Sharon, Rachel, Erica...

my cousins, Rachel and Erica...

Dad with the camera of course....

stairwell of bell tower....jess, cait, and pamela

top of bell tower, me, jess, dad, and cait.

efren giving the lucky boar a kiss...

pamela patting the boars nose...

boboli gardens... bella.

Spring Break...

So this is the third time I am attempting to post about spring break, so it may not be as long or as good as the first two were...sorry guys, tired of typing, and tired of this internet. lol.

so thursday i finished my midterms which went smoothly enough for being midterms...all of my housemates left thursday night, so what did i do with myself? 5 loads of laundry, cleaned everything i could get my hands on, had a quiet dinner, read a book, and slept. it was beautiful.

Friday mom called to tell me Aunt Sharon got in and had been trying to reach me, so i called them at their hotel...i like to call it a villa cuz it was that nice..dont know if it was or not, but thats what we're going to refer to it as...so she told me to come over, so i threw some clothes in a bag, literally...i ended up forgetting pajamas cuz i was so excited and in such a rush to get there. i got on the bus and asked the girl next to me where fiesole was...she said it was the last stop, so i got comfortable for the twenty minutes bus ride. lol. well its a good thing i didnt take out my book because i saw the sign for their villa, and we werent in fiesole yet! so i got off the bus and walked down this curvy crazy street. it definitely should have been a one-wayer, but it wasnt. lol. so i see another sign, so i start walking down this crazy steep curvy driveway...it was really long! so im thinking to myself, this better be the correct because 1. i didnt want to have to walk back up that hill for no reason, and 2. i didnt want to waste time. but as iwas about to walk over to this old man who was like pruning a tree or something, I hear, "ciao bella!" and look up to see Aunt Sharon and Erica and Rachel in a window. so as i wait for uncle bob to open the door, I hear a scream and turn to see a dog sprinting at me. there were three dogs there...all nice ones, and ive basically gotten over my fear of big dogs being in italy.

so we went to fiesole where i passed as an 18 year old (big surprise, right?) to be a part of a family discount to go and see this old theatre..it was awesome. like an ampitheatre. and then there were all these things..like the pool and the hot, warm, and cold baths, the toilet, the ovens. it was just interesting. like roman times an dstuff...we ate there, walked around and went back to the villa. had dinner there. it was good.

saturday we decided to go to siena for the day, so we went to florence, bought the train tickets and then killed the hour wait by going to my apartment to get clothes for me for the next day and for pajamas, which i ended up forgetting again. lol. anyway, we went to siena. we saw piazza del campo, where they race the horses while we were looking for this restaurant to have lunch at. we ended up asking an old lady for directions, and she walked us there. up the hills and steps. cane and all. aunt sharon tried to tell her that she didnt have to walk us cuz we felt bad, and the woman didnt speak english so she didnt understand and thought we were asking about the horses that race in the piazza. lol. i laughed pretty hard at that one.

we ate near st. catherine's house. it was good. then we were heading to the bus station and past st. domenico's. so i went in to show st. catherines head to aunt sharon. then uncle bob came out, and couldnt find it, so i went in with him to see it and he showed me the finger he found in there...hers. gross. so then we came out and then aunt sharon wanted to see the finger. we're freaks. i know. lol. it was pretty funny though.

we got back to florence, then to fiesole. and then started walking to this restaurant we had reservations at which was supposed to be right up the street, but totally wasnt. so we're walking on the same street i described earlier, only this time in the rain, in the dark, with little hungry kids in strollers. we got to what we thought was the restaurant, but wasnt. tried to call and get directions, but couldnt figure it out, stopped a car, and the guy happened to be the owner of the restaurant (not the bus driver aunt sharon ;-P ) so he gave us a ride! and then he translated the entire menu for us, and the food was divine! i know im always talking about how great the food is, but this was seriously the best meal i have eatten since i got here in italy, and i told him that. so its official. i had gnocchi in a cheese sauce. delicious. oh, and we had some bread and chicken and a dessert sampler. they should have them in the US,. forget appetizer samplers...dessert samplers are so much better! so we asked about a taxi, and hes like, no! that iwll cost 15 euro...i'll drive you back. so he did. nicest man alive.

sunday we woke up and forgot about the time change and i ended up being late to the bus station to pick up the rest of my family...but they called from the hotel, so i met them there....then we went to my apartment. they took naps. we went to the duomo, piazza signoria, and the ponte vecchio. oh! and by the duomo, we're wlkaing away and im like, "is that drums??" and we turn around and theres a random parade....still have to research what that was all about. lol. we ate at reginella's. i got a heart shaped pizza. the food was good, they liked it. but it was salty. so we didnt go back. they've got salty food there...but i like salty, so i like it there.

after we went and got gelato of course. it was great seeing efrens face. i think it was the best. we went to festival of course, and everybody had a hard time picking from the 74 flavors. bed.

so monday, we decided we'd go to the uffizi..its closed on monday. plan A. (and take 1) then we were like, ok boboli gardens...closed the first and last monday of the month. plan B. piazza le Michelangelo for lunch at the nice restaurant...closed. plan C. go back tot he hotel to see if aunt sharon and uncle bob arrived...ran into the by the duomo, never made it to the hotel. plan D. climb the duomo....line was too long. plan E. so plan F finally worked and we climbed the bell tower instead. and of course, we're almost at the top, and right on the other side of the wall of the staircase we're in is the bells, and they start ringing. pamela and i both jumped and flew into the wall. it echoed and was so loud in there! if you want to have a taste of what it was like, dad has a video of it on his camera....lol. there was also a lil merry-go-round action in there somewhere.

we had dinner at my apartment. awesome huge dining room was finally filled! bought some sandwiches, cut them up, some bruschetta, and pasta. and gelato and snacks from the snack fairy (my dad lol).

tuesday we went to venice, but the ride there was so long and we decided to walk to san marco (where all the pigeons are), that we got to see that, the grand canal, eat by the grand canal and then walk back to catch the last train home. oh, funny story. we were eating outside and there was a finch on the umbrella above efren and pamela was like, that bird is going to poop on you, and he leans back and opens his mouth, and the next thing we knew, there was poop falling onto his coat. all this happened in like a split second. it was hysterical. he was so lucky...a few inches over, it woulda been in his mouth and if pamela didnt say anything, it coulda been on his head. lol....oh we laughed. got back, and had gelato of course.

wednesday we went to pisa. climbed the tower. that has to be one of the bizarrest things to climb on the face of the earth. we putzed around, goofed off, took lots of pictures, had lunch. it was fun. rachel and erica and caitlyn got to run around on the grass so that was good too :-)
got back, and had baci mcflurries!

Thursday we stayed in Florence. we went to the boboli gardens. i love it there. definitely will be spending more an dmore time there as the weather gets better. after we tried the uffizi, but the line was ridiculous and we wouldnt have gotten in before it closed, so we left (take 2). so we shopped instead. oh, we ate at this place. so funny. aunt sharon found it in a book, so we go and its the tiniest thing ever. i was at the head of the table and didnt have room to take my coat off, and there was some random drunk guy at the other end of the table for the first few minutes. the food was decent and came out ridiculously fast, but the waitors didnt seem to like us. i dont know if it was cuz we were tourists or american, but either way, if you dont like them...you should get your restaurant out of a tourist book. gelato.

friday we went to rome. went on a tour of the colosseum, which was really interesting...better than the last one i had in there...then the roman forum. then we went to the trevi fountain and threw coins in. then the pantheon, which we ate near. fettucini alfredo! which turned out to pe spaghetti in a butter and parmesian sauce. lol. we got fries too. random, but not bad. then the spanish steps. i think the italian universities were on spring break too cuz there were a ton of college age italians there, singing and stuff. random. we climbed the steps. managed to get on the last train to the station in florence we needed after some interesting experiences trying to find the bus to the train station lol. no gelato that night. too tired and late.

saturday morning we climbed the duomo! awesome. same view as the bell tower only higher. and the climb is never dull with the random walls jutting out at your head when you are in the actual dome part. at one point we were stopping on this spiral staircase for a good ten minutes or so. no clue why. you could only see th etwo people in front of you, and the two behind you. turns out there was a guy up there directing traffic between the people going up the dome, and down the dome. it was cool. after we tried the uffizi and the same thing as thursday happened (take 3) and no, we never got in it. sorry mom :-( but we went shopping instead :-) we had dinner and gelato and said goodbye ...it was sad.

saturday night i did get to have dinner and gelato with aunt sharon and uncle bob and rachel and erica, so that was very nice. then it was back to classes. kinda boring. nothing is really going on. i dont even have any homework. so i have read two books since my family left. lol. va bene. i have friends coming on friday who are studying in ireland, so that will be nice to celebrate easter with them....alright, well thats all for now. i'll write if i think of anything else....or after i see the exploding cart outside the duomo for easter!

miss you all and love you.

see you next month!

baci!

We are men.

Sorry it has taken me a while to blog. mid-terms were this week, and the internet in the computer lab was down...so....you know...ok. this weekend. we went to interlaken, switzerland and i think it is by far one of my favorite places. i mean, ive only gone to 4 other countries since i got here (only, haha)...but its my favorite out of them.

ok, so thursday night we get on this bus to find out that the organization we went through, which is usually ridiculously full...like 3 buses, hundreds of kids...theres one bus. 10 of us. me, laura, kim, stef, danielle, jess, and traci all went together. and then the three other girls were only there cuz stef is friends with one from a class and told her to come. so we got to spread out which was awesome. and we watched a bunch of movies - guy movies (you'll shortly understand the title of this blog). slept a little. and got there in pretty good time.

so its like 2 in the morning, and kim and i are questioning about snowboarding...so we are told that we have to be at the rental shop at 8 int he morning, so of course we just go and pass out.

so friday morning, we get up at like 7, throw on some clothes, get our coats and hats and stuff together and go to have our breakfast at our hostel, Balmers. we get down there, and you have your choice of oatmeal and a fruit, or toast and bread adn jam and stuff. so we are like, what a great breakfast...but this bread was ridiculously good! and so was the jam and the honey. delicious. so we walk over to th eplace, and they're like, you any good? to kim, and shes like, no. and we rent pants and they give her boots, and they're like you. and im like not at all, they're like beginner, and im like oh yea. so they give me a board and show me how to strap my feet in and all that, and then they send us off.

so we get on this bus that we think we're supposed to get on. then we decide to just follow all the other people with snowboards and skis, so we get off when they get off, and get on the train they get on, and then from there, the train stops and doesnt go any further, so we get off and get on some other random train. by the time we got off that train we were actually at the bottom of the mountain we were going to go up. so we just follow everybody else and get on the tram. that takes us to the very top of the mountain! so we're up there and we're lookign at a map, and theres no beginner slopes, and we skipped the bunny slope and she had been snowboarding once before in her life, and i had never been, so of course we decide that we might as well just go for it cuz we're int he swiss alps, and we go down the intermediate slope.

it was hysterical. i mean, im not gonna lie, at parts i laid there on the ground in pain and said, "im laughing because I dont want to cry" - and i did get pretty frustrated at points. but it was quite the experience. i only face-planted once. and was going pretty fast, so my legs and board kept going and i managed to smack my arm with the board....kim face-planted like 4 times. i became a pro at flying through the air and then summer-saulting down it. lol kim nearly peed her pants. no for real. she almost did. apparently i looked that funny. lol. so we only got to do two runs. cuz she would get control and go down real slow, and i really had no clue what i was doing and would fly past her, freak myself out adn fall...shed pass me while i tended to my wounds lol. jk. kinda. lol. and then we'd repeat. ok. so best story. kim is going down all nice and slow and in control in front of me, and sometimes she would have to sit and wait for a long time for me to get the courage to come down more cuz i hurt myself. lol. so shes in front of me, and i keep veering off towards the right, and no matter what i do, my board just wants me to go off the trail. so i start picking up speed and i end up off the trail and flying off this 3 or 4 foot ledge onto another trail! i actually landed fine, but kept going and was about to end up in an area that i didnt want to be, so i made myself fall. was all disoriented, sat up, and there is a couple. sitting there having a picnic cuz they hiked there. and they're like staring at me, apparently a girl flying and screaming and coming from nowhere is startling. and im liek, first time, and the guys like, tiring? and im like yea. and shes like maybe skiing is easier? and im like, i dont know. and i get up and go some more and fall again, and shes like...maybe its not good snow, and im like i dont know. and i kept going. but it was so random and it felt like somethign that would belong in a movie. lol. but i got back onto the trail that kim was on cuz ours connected and it was a huge fiasco, cuz she was heading back up the mountain looking for me, and i was down further than she was...oh brother...lol.
so anyway, by 4 we were starving and decided we should probably eat so we had the biggest meal ever and it was divine. i had hamburgers. no bread. just the hamburger in some exquisite sauce. with fries. a salad with real dressing! a roll and a piece of chocolate cake. delicious.

so then we went back to find out that all of our friends ended up skydiving! craziness. so we shared our stories with them. then...what did we do....we sat while they ate dinner and we bought ben and jerrys cuz i was upset that they canceled night sledding for saturday night without telling us. and then we went to bed. and the next morning we got up and went to go hiking. now at this point, i could hardly move, so im like. i'll go for a little bit. well, 3 hours later im at the top of a 3,918 foot mountain! it was soooo cool though. there is no way i can describe the view or what climbing up this mountain was like. oh, but it was cool, we were walking by this old log cabin looking thing and there was a freshwater spring there, so we got some really good switzerland water. so we're fooling aroudn at the top of this ridiculous mountain by this house that we had seen from the bottom and had joked about hiking to...and how we could never do that. and then we did. oh, at one point, we were sitting on a log taking a break before we got to the top and we were at the same height as some paragliders. it was pretty sweet. and it was so quiet. like there was not a sound...and it was just mountains. everywhere you looked. and trees and a tiny little town called interlaken in the valley in between two lakes. bella.

so we're at the top going down a slide....switzerland is realyl really random. and then we realize that its 1:45 and that the chocolate place we wanted to get to closes at4 and isnt open on sunday, so we have an hour and 15 mintues to make it down the mountain if we want time to wlak there and buy stuff. so we're going,and kim has her stop watch going. and traci, laura, and stef (the only other 3 out of the 10 that made it to the top with us) are going pretty fast, but kim and i want to see if we can make it down the mountain in an hour, so for the second half we sprinted down a mountain. like we had been jogging before, but we started full out running down the mountain. yea. it was ridiculous. but we did it. 52 minutes and 36 seconds only half full-out running and some stops to wait for our friends when we first started. yea, kimand i are dumb with our half-baked ideas. we got our chocolate though and it was heaven.

but yea, so saturday night we went out to eat...had some burgers and steaks and spare ribs and stuff, and then we went to the bar/discoteca that was in the basement of our hostel (more random stuff). it was fun. we went to bed and the next day kim and i rented a fun car...its like a smart car, but without the doors. and we drove to go see a glacier. it was fun and pretty sweet. just a little cold. after that, we ate...at mcdonalds lol. and bought some postcards and then played pingpong at the hostel until it was time to go. where we watched 4 more manly movies. oh and i bought the coolest hat ever. a beanie..winter hat. with the swiss flag on it. love it!

it was just amazing and its just indescribable. so thats all ive got for you. however, my family is coming! aunt sharon and uncle bob are supposed to get here with rachel and erica today...im gonna visit them in fiesole. and then monday the rest of the fam is coming! cant wait. and i found out today tha tlindsay and jess are coming easter weekend, friday to tuesday, so thats really cool too! so i probably wont blog for a while cuz i'll be busy on my break with the fam. but i will most definitely have a lot to write about after.

miss you all.

ciao!

switzerland...

its crazy here in interlaken. i went snowboarding all day yesterday....definitely hurting today, and hiked up a 4000 ft mountain today. dont know what tomorrow will bring, but im sure it will be awesome. will write mroe from florence

Torino.

So this past weekend, I went to Torino with Stefanie, Laura, Danielle, and Leanne. We left at about 6 on Friday. Well, that part was actually interesting. We knew there was a train heading to Torino at 7:24 or something like that, but it wasnt leaving from Santa Maria Novella which is our train station, so we got to the train station early because we didnt know where we were going only to find out that the people working at the train station were on strike! so we are wandering around, finally buy our stupid one euro train tickets and sprint over to the train thats leaving in 2 mintues...we could have easily waited for another train that was leaving in 5 minutes because nearly every train stops at this stop, but of course we didnt. lol. so we get to this other train station, and there is no one working there either. on strike. and the only machine that you can buy your ticket from is broken. so we go to the lone information girl who tells us to buy a regional ticket from the machine (with cash for like 20 euro) and then when we're on the train, pay for the rest. So we do that. and we wait around for it to show up on the screen with what track our train is on. so we get to the train, only to find it absolutely packed and that everyone else has seats on their tickets! so stef, danielle, and laura find seats near each other, and i find another seat, so i have leanne sit in. There was one english speaking girl who told me that i was on the right train (thank God cuz it had already started moving!) and that people are giving me looks because with this train, everybody usually gets on and has a seat reserved, so i ask her what i should do, and she said to find one of the guys that checks the tickets. so i go and leave my stuff with stef, and run through 5 carts, no joke, trying to catch the ticket checker.

so once we are in the last car, he turns around and i seriously have no clue what i was saying. the guy sittin gin the last seat who had been at the train station with us was laughing at me, but the guy seemed to understand what i was saying. so he has me paying for the ticket. and hes like va bene. and im like no! where am i supposed to sit. nobody was letting me sit with them. and he said that i am allowed to sit anywher ei want. so i go walking all the way back to stef to get my stuff...and i tell them. and i end up askign every person who has an empty seat near them if i can sit there, and they seriously all glared at me and said no. i ended up in the very last car where the guy was still checking tickets. the man i sat with was very nice, so it was ok. i did some homework, fell asleep and when i woke up we were already past pisa and the man was gone. i ended up talking with this carabineri and some kids. and actually, everybody around me thought i was italian, so i figured id actually seem italian if i didnt open my mouth to speak all that much. but the kids were cute. loved them.

so then we get to torino. its like midnight. (it was a really long train ride.) so we get a taxi to take us to our hotel. it was a nice hotel. definitely had an italian feel. and it was a lot nicer than the hostels and stuff. stef and i got there and basically passed out. We woke up at about 8:20 on Saturday. had our free breakfast. and of course took some to go with us for snacks. We picked up our torino pass and the woman working that morning at the hotel was very very helpful. Definitely recommend that hotel. so we go to the historical center of town, where there is a chocolate festival! apparently it was the last weekend too. it was crazy!

so we decide that we would hit up the chocolate festival later in the day when we dont think its so gross to be eating so much chocolate. its only like 10:40 at this point. so we start walkign and we head towards the egyptian museum because thats what everybody says is good in Torino. on the way we passed by a medieval castle. pretty sweet stuff....and an H & M - i wish we had one in florence. lol. So we get there, and it was ok. there was one really cool room....if you saw night at the museum...it was set up similar to the egyptian room in the movie. all dark with mood lighting and stuff. very cool. from there we went to look at the theatre that i found in the book...we wanted to go inside and possibly on a tour, so they told us to come back at 3. so we went to the Cinema museum to blow off time until our tour. This place...man, it was crazy. Seriously my favorite museum ever. You go in and its like dark with movies playing all over the place and in the middle there are two big screens and two sets of these big velvety red chairs that are reclined and have speakers in the headphones so you could just sit there and watch the movies. and then all around the outside of this, there are these other rooms that are set up so you can watch movies that are playing in those rooms. one looked like a fight had just ended up in a western bar. chairs and stuff tipped over and stuff...another had a big round red bed type thing with lots of pillows and you lay down on it, and the movie screen is in the ceiling. then there were some with mirrors all over so you see the movie everywhere. there was one with toilet seat chairs. haha. we took pictures there of course.

then as you go up there are pictures of famous actors and actresses and props from movie sets and scripts and stuff, and then there are interactive things. like if you stand on the circle or the feet, there is a camera on you and you are actually projected into the movie. there was one, where you stood on it and there are like tvs all over the place and there were about 7 or 8 different cameras on you from different angles, so you see yourself on all these screens.

we loved it there. so then we go to our tour. buy our tickets. get inside. and we're standing there. attempting to understand this woman who is going to lead us around on this tour for an hour and forty minutes in italian! so we sit down and we're listenign and we're trying not to draw attention to ourselves, and then stef's cell phone starts ringing. so then everybody gets up so we follow, thinking we're actually going to be getting to see some stuff now. but no! we only were moving to a different section of the entrance way! so we're standing there and i lose it and start hystericall ylaughing and couldnt even tell stefanie the reason, which was...that iw as about to ask her what language her tour in the Globe Theatre was.....the globe is in London. so she starts laughing and im like crying, but we're trying to be really quiet. and then laura comes over and she starts dancing for no apparent reason. you know those times when you have to be quiet so it becomes harder to stop laughign...well yea that happened. so i finally calm down...and then it hits me that we've been on this tour for like half an hour now and dont speak italian! an di lose it agian. its just so random. but we got to see a lot of cool stuff. we saw the theatre, and then we went on the stage...it was set up for oedipus rex. from there we went to the dance studio and then we saw the small theatre in the basement. and then we got to walk throughthe place were they were making the costumes. that was really cool. we did go to some other random rooms, but i dont realyl know what they were because i was not in the mood to concentrate and try to understand her. from there, we went back to where the chocolate festival was by the Po river. and looked for the boat the woman told us about...for a tour. but we missed it. so we searched for someplace to eat.

after sandwiches, we went back to the chocolate festival where stef and i bough blocks of dark chocolate with nuts on the bottom and just attempted to eat the whole thing. she did. i ate like 3/4s of it. it was intense. we just hung out there for a while. then decided to eat some more....pizza. with olives! was actualyl the first time i foudn them in the past 2 months that ive been here! so then we decided to go back to the cinema museum cuz we loved it there...and we went on the lift...which took us to the top of the dome on the building, and we got to see all of torino. it was beautiful. then we sat in those chairs watching tv. at about 9:45 we decided to leave because we wanted to see the Tango at the chocolate festival. but we got there and they were only on the poetry reading which was supposed to be at 9, so we just left cuz we were tired. On Sunday, we decided we would go shopping cuz we saw everything we wanted to see, but foudn out that all the stores are closed on sundays, so we just left and came home early. it was better that way cuz we were all beat and had classes in the morning.

it was a fun trip. we laughed a lot. laughed so hard we cried a lot too...hadnt done that in a while. so tonight, we're going to the movies. nice and relaxing. its in english which is good, cuz im still tired and would probably fall asleep if it was in italian.

then tomorrow Stefanie and I are doing a day trip to Verona and Padua. Wednesday i think we're hanging out cuz Kim has a friend over this week. and Thursday we leave for Switzerland and will get back Sunday night, then Mon-Thurs is midterms. Fri and Sat is visit Aunt Sharon and Uncle Bob in Fiesole, Sunday is the family arrives!!!!!!!!

Gonna be a crazy couple of weeks.... :-)

Shopping...

So today, I went shopping. first i bought a hat. of course. it says italia on it and has a little italian flag and its a greenish color...love it! then i went to the photo store and bought some more film and paper for my photography class....and then of course i went for gelato (for the second time today lol) with stef and kim...chocolate coconut is soooo good. definitely a favorite, if not the absolute favorite. then we went and bought some gifts. got something for Efren...yeaaa....then I bought.....a leather coat! Its brown and long and is stonewashed and can be worn in the rain, so thats a plus, and it buttons up and I got it for 120, and it is priced at 220, and i got the alterations on the sleeves for free....and they said that they have a store in LA, and that the same coat sells there for $420! I am so excited, I think im gonna live in it for a while!

just wanted to share...i'll probably write more on monday after my weekend in torino!

ciao.

ahhh!

I know i know, its my fourth blog today, but i cant believe i forgot about this!

I bought a Tutto Disney CD (everything disney) - its italian. and it is Ah-mazing!

they did a pretty good job at gettign the voices to match up with the american singers and stuff too...its awesome.

bibbity bobbity boo is by far kim and my favorite - just imagine that with an italian accent. awesome! and all the mary poppins and lion king and its AWESOME.

just wanted to share. 43 disney songs. its awesome.

ok, basta.

love this pic.

Dar, me, and Paul after spending a few hours in Italy together!

one of the best days here so far :-)

French Riviera Pictures!

Nice, France... Leeanne, Laura, Me, Danielle, and Stef.

Picnic on the beach. Traci, Me, and Stef. Nice, France

On the Ferris Wheel in Nice, France, during carnival, right before paul and dar spotted me cuz of my wonderful plaid coat. Laura, Traci, Me, and Allison. not the most flattering picture, lol, but still a fun one. you wouldnt believe how fast the french make their ferris wheels go...

Laura and I. Cannes, France. Bella!

and yes, I did end up takign my shoes off and going into the water a lil, but on the sandy part of the beach...

so yea, just a few pics cuz thats all that any of my friends have put online...more will definitely come when i have returned.

Siena.

first of all, i just want to say that i love how random italy is. kim and i were just walking here, chatting and eating our valentines day lollypops, and some random waitor at a restaurant starts singing the lollypop song. was pretty funny. i love italy.

anyway, stef, danielle, and i went to siena for the day yesterday. I really liked it, it wasnt too sunny, but it was still very nice. we got there and decided to stop at the mcdonalds and eat there, all because i wanted a baci mcflurry. you seriously have no idea how good those things are. i decided that im goign to write a letter to ronald mcdonald and tell him that we need that flurry in the US.

so after that, we walked to campo del something. i dont remember. but its the really famous piazza, where they race the horses every july or something like that. so we were there and i had to take a whole role of motion pictures for my photography class by today, so i had stefanie running through the pigeons and taking running leaps and jumping and stuff in the middle of the piazza. it was pretty funny. oh the things i make my friends do for my art projects...

so after we goofed off in there for a while, we started walkign and attempting to get to the market. but got lost. and i took some more motion pictures of cars and vespas and things like that. so we got to see some random residential areas and got a nice workout on all the hilly streets, and we ended up back at campo. so from there we went to the duomo that was there...we didnt go in. but the outside was really pretty. gothic style. i really liked it. apparently they had started building it and were trying to make it better than florence, but they never finished it because the plague hit. so there are like unfinished naves and stuff, it was pretty interesting.

from there, we went back to campo again. and danielle got a pizza and i ran up to a pizza store just so i could get a picture with a pizza box in italy. really random day. i think i was delirious...tired and hyped up on caffiene. so from there we went to this saint's house. Saint catherine or something. so we went to her house, and it was pretty. and then we went to the church. san domenico i believe. and we knew it had st catherine's head. so im thinkin...its a skull, thats pretty cool, lets go see it. and stef is thinking...you're really not going to be able to see her head, and danielle didnt really seem to care if we saw it or not. lol.

so we look at a map when we get into the church and we go straight for the head, and im like, the heads to the right! the heads coming up to the right!! ew. it was really her head. like presereved. and we had seen preserved popes and other saints in other churches and it was creepy, but it was the whole body....this was just a head....and it looked liek they didnt preserve her right away. yea really gross. so we were scarred for life. yet couldnt stop looking at it, so we finally get too creeped out cuz we kept expecting her to open her eyes, so we walked around the rest of the church and sat down in the first pew. and decided that we didnt really like the style of the art in this church. the stain glass pictures were like picassos, but were just really creepy. bizarre.

and then we went back to mcdonalds to use the bathroom and stef wanted a baci mcflurry...yea, we're addicted. and then we got back on the bus and come home. it was a good day trip. i enjoyed it. excpet for the head.

so this weekend we go to Torino! so i'll write more soon!

oh, and im gonna try to import a few more pics of the french riviera from this weekend.

ci vediamo!

The French Riviera..

So this weekend, I went to the French Riviera with the school.....and it was amazing.

We had to be at the bus stop at 4:45 on saturday morning and we got into Nice, France at about 10/10:30. I didnt really like it at first. We went on a walking tour. and i was tired and some of the natives were a lil mean....but then they told us that we had about an hour to eat and hang out and they pointed in the direction of the beach. so we bought some sandwiches and headed in that direction. we got there, and i fell in love.

The beach didnt really have sand at all. there was like one section...the rest was like little rocks. but the water was like crystal. and this blue. crazy. it was so clear...but it wasnt caribbeanesque either...it was different. but i loved it. Took a ton of pictures. so no worries.

So then we got back on the bus and we went to Monaco, which is another country nearby. Its where princess Grace lived. It was really pretty there too...and we saw their graves...and there is constantly fresh flowers around it. oh, in Nice there was a flower market with all the fresh flowers that are grown in the area, Bella!

So then we got on the bus again and went to Monte Carlo. I wasnt about to pay 10 euro to go into a casino for 20 mintues, so i saw it from the outside and walked around the area. ridiculous prices. like 17 euro for a pizza for one person. craziness.

then we got to go back and i actually got to watch english news...so i kinda know a lil of what is going on over there in the US. lol. then we went to dinner. it was ok. we had french bread which is delicious. and stuffed vegetables. some sort of beef stew and potatoes. and lemon cake. there was another group coming to eat dinner behind us though and they like practically threw us out of the restaurant. we were really mad cuz we paid for it too. frustrating.

So THEN. we were going to go to another casino or something...but on the way, we ran into the Carnival parade! I dont know whats with me and ending up in these places when they're having these massive carnivals, but i love it. so we're walking along, taking it all in, and decide to go on the ferris wheel. So we're on it, and im like, hey, Dar and Paul's hotel is supposed to be right around here somewhere, i should look for their hotel and look for them....and while im on this ferris wheel, i turn around and see their hotel, directly behind me! So im like, thats it! No way. so we get off and Kim, Allison and I decide to look along the parade in front of their hotel and meet up with our friends at the casino afterwards, so we're walking along and getting sprayed with silly string and getting confetti thrown on us, and i had just decided to walk past the hotel and if i saw them, that would be insane, and if not, no big cuz i didnt really think id actually find them anyway. so we're crossing the parade, cuz you can do that in France. they dont have police that stop you from walking into the parade. you can join whenever you want....its crazy. so i hesitate cuz with my luck, id get run over by a float, and just as im about to go, i hear my name and turn around and there is DAR! apparently, they were sitting on their balcony and were looking down at the parade and saw my plaid coat! see, plaid coats are awesome. And seriously. i still cant believe it....what are the odds. I mean, even the fact that i wore my plaid coat when they were in florence, and that i wore my plaid coat in france is ridiculous. cuz i usually have my black one on, and they never would have found me. and i still have no clue how they managed to spot me from that high up in the midst of all that chaos. but it was awesome. and so much fun. And we ate nutella crepes.

After the parade was over, and dar and paul went back to their room, we met up with our friends on the beach, and got to see the lunar eclipse. its so crazy...there we were...a bunch of college kids...from america....in france...on the beach seeing a lunar eclipse. who gets to do that??

so then we went to bed. and the next morning we left our 4 star hotel! yea, 4 star...definitely different than the hostels we've been staying in lol. and we went to St. Paul or something like that. It was a cute little town. Stef and I sat down for most of the time. relaxed. took a breather. we did so much traveling in two days, it was needed to refresh for the next two places....then we went to Cannes. they have film festivals there. so we went to see that and saw - they have hand prints like we have the stars with the stuff....haha. so we walked around and took some pictures of the people we liked, or didnt like, or our fathers dont like, like chuck norris. hehe...and then we took some pics by the palm trees! and ate mcdonalds lol. and then we sat on the beautiful beach with our tshirts on an dgot some sun. the water was really cold. i had to take my shoes off and feel it. and i took a shell :-)

from there, we started heading back to italy....and we stopped in Eze...where we went on a tour of a perfume factory. it was ok. expensive stuff...and then we left. and hit traffic and our 5 hour bus ride turned into a 7 and a half hour bus ride. so we got back pretty late last night and i had to do some homework. haha. but it was a blast.

tomorrow we are going to siena for the day. and this weekend, we're traveling to Torino!

oh ps, we paid for the trip to switzerland today!!!

miss you all.

baci!

Carnevale in Venice pics!

Venice. I love it there.

Dinner in Venice. Kim, Me, and Brandon. This is one of a series of four pictures where I just laugh harder and harder cuz i have no clue what these crazy kids are doing.

Brandon and Kim. Told you they were crazy kids...

Typical Carnevale outfits. some are really creepy. some are funny...like giant pants.

You cant see it, but im in that gondola!!!

In the Duke's Palace ready for Carnevale to begin! Top: Danielle, Leeanne, Stef, Kim, Jess, and Allison. Bottom: Tracy, Laura, and Me.

Grand Canal in Venice.