The end.

I wrote this entry yesterday while I was on the plane, so keep all the timing in mind...

Ciao all,

It’s hard to believe how fast the time has gone by. Nine months seems like nothing now, especially because I can relive my first days in Florence down to the hour. Our last week consisted of countless hours of studying (which we resented considering the fact that our days were severely numbered), rushed shopping sprees for the last-minute things, wild nights out, and insane binge-eating of anything Italian we could find. Since my last update that brought a few tears to my eyes, I’ve both studied for and taken my Italian Literature exam, encompassing the works of the Sicilian writer, Giovanni Verga. Exam day was full of pressure, as expected, seeing that I always stress the poor organization of the Italian education system. Claudio (our tutor, if I haven’t mentioned him before) had signed us up for the exam and we had been scheduled to take ours in positions 1 and 2. We were very excited and anxious to get it over with, so we had been thankful to be the highest on the list.

Naturally though, things never seem to go according to plan with the Italian university. We arrived at 8:30 am on exam day to find out that there had been two other “hidden” lists, for different students. So right there, we moved from numbers 1 and 2 to numbers 6 and 7. The worst part about the whole Italian-style exam is the actual waiting experience. Each person’s one-on-one session with the teacher was scheduled to take 30 minutes, so that put me, the first of Kevin and I, scheduled to take the exam around noon. I was tired of studying, so we sat there for 4 hours chatting with Italians who were completely freaking out, and playing games on Kevin’s iPhone. According to us, what we didn’t know at that point we weren’t going to learn under stress, the last few hours leading up to the exam. So, we threw in the towel.

Because Italians are so wild about their mid-morning coffee breaks, good ol’ Professor Bruscagli decided to take his right before giving me my exam. Watching student number five exit his office with a smile on her face was a good sign, and it caused me to jump out of my seat, ready for my fate. However, I suffered from the false alarm when Bruscagli followed behind the student, announcing that he was going for a coffee. “Great,” I thought, “another half-hour stuck in this window-less building on such a beautiful day.”

When Bruscagli returned, I finally got my chance at showing him what I had sweated over since February. I was very nervous and shaky, but tried my best to look calm. However, when you’re speaking in a foreign language, one can hear the uneasiness immediately. My excellent grammar skills had pretty much flown out the window as soon as I asked him permission to close his office door. (Italian exams are a public event; anyone can sit in and listen if they want to). He sighed and said something like, “Yeah, if you want. I guess you Americans aren’t used to taking oral exams, let alone public ones.” So right then and there, we started the exam. The first few questions I knew very well. I know I sounded like a complete fool because I just blurted out everything I had studied in no specific order. The final question however, was one that I hoped he wouldn’t ask me. I knew exactly what he was referring to when he said the “Sciascia article,” but I conveniently attempted to compare it to the article that it was positioned next to in my book, as I knew more about that one and Sciascia had completely escaped me. To be honest though, I actually didn’t study any of Verga’s critics too closely because I had been so focused on the novellas, his short stories that were the basis for the exam. Claudio had told us that the critics would be supplementary material, information to add to a conversation about one of the novellas. When I completely bombed that question, I assumed that it had brought me from a 30 to a 26 or something, considering that fact that I literally knew NOTHING of Sciascia and that Bruscagli was known to be a tough grader.

With that last question, he digressed and said “Well, I know that you (meaning collectively, Americans) have studied. I’ve seen you in my lessons, and you’ve taken the class seriously. So, I’m going to give you a 29/30.” I was blown away, and soooo relieved. I escaped as fast as possible. Kevin followed after me and received a 28, and Claudio, who was present and anxiously waiting the results, was very proud. When it was time for us to get out of there, Claudio popped his head in and thanked Professor Bruscagli. Apparently he said to Claudio, “Well, they knew the material, but their Italian…” and while saying that, he made some sort of negative, Italian person’s gesture. Guess he wasn’t interested in considering that fact that we were very nervous and probably speaking in stream of consciousness. And, above all, we were taking his class to practice and use our Italian in an intelligent way, not because we had an insane interest in reading Verga, an author I had never even heard of before second semester.

With that, we had finished with the Italian education system and nerve-wracking pressure that we could never have become completely comfortable with. We were out by 1 pm, just in time to meet everyone else with Maria and Piero for a farewell cappuccino. Right after all the exhilaration, it was pretty painful to say goodbye to Maria and Piero, easily the most genuine, fabulous and wise Italian couple that I have ever been privileged to know. After saying goodbye, I spent the rest of the day running errands and enjoying the sunshine, knowing that I had no studying waiting for me. We went out that night to an outdoor techno concert that was a bit of a flop, as I think we arrived a little later than we probably should have. We also witnessed the results of a fatal moped accident, sheeted body and all. Needless to say, that put the icing on the cake for an unpleasant night that we would have rather avoided.

That day and night passed in a blur and now we arrive at yesterday. It was a disgustingly rainy day, but I woke up early to meet Elia (our cultural adviser) for a goodbye breakfast. The only others to make it so early on that gloomy day were Maggie Rossi and Maggie Wright. Elia had 95 euro remaining that he had to spend on us, so we just went crazy at a café, picking out every sweet, croissant and quiche that looked appetizing. It was really enjoyable, even though not many of us were there.

After breakfast, I spent some time walking around alone and soaking in whatever I could of my last day in Florence. My window-shopping on the Ponte Vecchio turned into real shopping when I bought a gold-plated, Florentine style filament ring. I had been looking for a gold-colored ring that wouldn’t turn my finger green and there was no way that I could afford gold, so I was delighted when I found this ring for 22 euro. It was much more in my price range. I met Andrea, Grace, Jeff and Carla for our final lunch at Borgo Antico at 1:30 and I ate a great veggie pizza. Then, we walked over to Gelateria Carraia, one that I had really wanted to try because everyone else had already had the chance to do so. I got the flavors “After Eight,” “Yogurt and Nutella,” and “Cookies.” It was fabulous, but still doesn’t compare to my all-time favorite gelateria- Vestri. I can taste my favorite flavors so perfectly when I think about it.

Yesterday afternoon, we had crisis in the Maria Pia- Andrea- Elsa household while we packed.  As far as space goes, I had guessed really well in my packing, but I was having some too-close-for-comfort weight issues. I had no idea how accurate or inaccurate Maria Pia’s scale was, so I did my best to be as close to 23 kg per bag, without going over. One was over by .8 and I was kind of banking on the airlines giving me a break. Poor Andrea’s flight was leaving from Milan (not Florence, like mine), so she had to drag her luggage on the train by herself to Milan central station, and then take a bus from the station to the airport. She had a HUGE problem with the weight and I’m pretty sure she decided just to accept the inevitable fees that came along with overweight baggage.

Maria Pia’s final dinner with us was delicious, as expected. She made my favorite pasta, spaghetti, olive oil, garlic and pepperoncino for our primo piatto. For our secondo, she made chicken cordon bleu, salad, and stuffed tomatoes. We LOVED the stuffed tomatoes. Earlier in the day while we packed, Maria Pia had given us her gift, a Toscana calendar and little Florentine mementoes, which were all very cute. So after dinner, we gave her our gifts. Together, Andrea and I had bought a beautiful hand-engraved silver frame from the metal artisan that Elisa had taken us too early on in the year. We inserted a cute picture of the three of us from our joint birthday celebration that Maria Pia had thrown for us in January. I alone gave her a set of beautiful stationary from a really famous store, called Pineider. In her letter, I told her that the purpose of the stationary was to keep in contact with me. She was very moved. Andrea gave her a gift certificate to a bookstore in the city center. All in all, Maria Pia was very excited with her gifts and I was so pleased to present them to her.

Last night, Maggie Rossi, Carla, Andrea, Kevin, Grace, Jeff and I met up on Piazzale Michelangelo for some champagne and quality time during our last few hours. It was a picture perfect night looking down on Florence, but my camera was unable to capture the beauty that we were fortunate enough to admire. We sat on the cement stairs where a bunch of different groups were seated, and Maggie began a toast by pouring us all champagne. Each of said something, every speech equally moving. Following our reflection session on a perfect year, we were rudely interrupted by 4 wasted Welsh boys, who were singing incredibly loudly and chugging bottle after bottle of wine. When Grace said something to us that I suppose these boys thought amusing, they found an opening and came over to talk to us all. In the beginning, they were all very presumptuous and rude, insulting Americans through their slurred vocabularies. I spent a good 15 minutes ignoring all of them well Carla requested tunes for them to sing. With time though, we all started talking a little bit more. Some were cooler than others, but there was one kid who was a complete fool. He and Grace seemed to have a bit of a personality clash, as they spent a good while insulting each other back and forth. This kid was way out of line and too egotistical for me, so I told him that he was definitely the most annoying person that I had ever met and that he’d have been better off staying quiet. (Yes, that was the best I could come up with. I’m not really good at dishing it out.)

After our lengthy fights, conversations and jokes, we walked Maggie home because she had an exam early the next day and it was already 1 am. The rest of us made an attempt to go dancing but the club (Twice) reeked of European B.O. so we got out of there as quickly as possible. We then gave some drunk kids directions to their hostel and walked to Piazza della Repubblica and said our goodbyes. We all took turns hugging and talking to each other one by one. We were exhausted and emotional and really feeling the reality of the end of our amazing experience together. We all got in our respective cabs and went home.

For the past two weeks or so, I had been bothered by the fact that I hadn’t shed a single tear between all the goodbyes and gifts. Even at Piazza della Repubblica, I was shockingly one of the kids with the dry eyes. Typically, I’m one of the emotional ones, so I really beat myself up about the fact that I couldn’t seem to cry. I didn’t even feel a build-up or desire to and it made me feel uncomfortable, as if I had been ungrateful and unable to recognize the amazing year that I’d had. I did my best to let it go and imagined that I would have had an explosion of tears at some point. I guessed that my chances of that happening were most likely at the airport.

I went to bed around 3:30 am and woke up at 5:45 am to give myself ample time for the physical and mental preparation for my departure from the country that I had inhabited for the past 9 months. I weighed my suitcases a final time and tucked away my teddy bears. I took pictures of all the rooms in the house and then had my final, Maria Pia breakfast. She had made my favorite cake- apple, and also served me a yogurt and a cup of tea, as usual. I ate slower than I normally do, as the reality of my departure was finally starting to hit me hard and I was stricken with nausea. Maria Pia got herself ready, and we were out the door by 7:30 with 3 enormous suitcases, one backpack, one purse, and two heavy hearts.

At the airport, I grabbed one of those carts and thought about how lucky I was to have Maria Pia, willing to take me to the airport. I knew that most of the other kids would be taking taxis and, expenses aside, I was incredibly grateful for her presence. Once the suitcases were out of the car, I had told her to go home. However, she insisted on coming inside with me, which I ended up being incredibly thankful for, during the disaster that we faced.

We got ourselves into what we thought was the line, and were called forward by one of the attendants, who freshly told us that we were in the wrong line and needed to wait in the “Economy” line, “just like everybody else.” We were immediately rubbed the wrong way. When we arrived at the same woman about 5 minutes later, she started to weigh my bags. I was well aware that I would be paying for a third bag, so her rudely telling me that I would be shelling out 160 euro for that didn’t bother me. What bothered me is the fact that she spoke ENGLISH to Maria Pia, who was visibly lost by it and really only trying to help me. In weighing my bags, each was overweight by a kilogram or less, and she told me that I would have to pay 120 euro for each overweight bag. Then, she weighed my purse and carry-on together (which I’ve never seen done) and they totaled 14 kilograms, while they “should have” collectively weighed only 8. The fees that she rattled off to me caused my immediate waterworks, and this stupid woman didn’t even flinch. She said “get out of line and come back when you have figured it out.” At the end of that awful encounter, I had to tearfully explain the whole thing over again to Maria Pia, who was rudely ignored by this woman. She was so calm but felt horrible for me, as I was desperate. She did point out the fact that she was pretty sure our oh-so-friendly attendant wasn’t Italian.

I tore open my bags and did what I could to re-arrange and throw things out. The toss-able things that I found were minimal, and only totaled a kilogram between all 5 of my different bags. Maria Pia collected me and rushed me back over to the lines, as she saw that the rude attendant was busy harassing another customer. The second a nicer-looking attendant became available, she shuffled me and my stuff over to the respective counter as quickly as possible, with me hyperventilating at her side. I was still as pleasant as possible because even in situations of panic, anger doesn’t solve anything. Our new attendant couldn’t find my permission slip to check two bags without charge (when I left in August, the rules still included two free checked bags. As of January, it’s been changed to one. I had called the company and  been told that I would be permitted two.). Fortunately, I had printed out the flight change confirmation that blatantly stated my allowance for two checked pieces. Saved there, thank goodness. Maria Pia hustled my 3 overweight bags onto the belt, and the check-in process continued onward without our friendlier attendant saying a word about the slightly overweight situation. Maria Pia did a great job chatting her up, talking about the fact that I faced a grand challenge packing for 3 seasons, etc. The lady sent me off to pay for the one extra piece, and that all went fairly smoothly.

When I returned to the desk, my three enormous bags were gone, my boarding passes were ready, and the attendant had given my carry-on/purse combo a quick glance, an “OK” and a smile. We breathed a huge sigh of relief, narrowly escaping about 400 euro in fines. Maria Pia and I walked to the exit and she explained that when she had been conversing with the attendant, she had been able to confirm that our original attendant was not Italian, and was actually driving the other two check-in attendants crazy. All I have to say is God bless those who can see our sides of the story and know what it’s like to be a passenger dealing with the complicated airline industry.

Maria Pia gave me a brief speech on staying well, saying hi to people, and returning soon. I started crying in her arms and she started to cry too, which I was touched to see because she hasn’t found the reason to cry very much following her 2 painful divorces. We separated and I made it through security senza problemi and full of tears. See, I knew the tears were waiting to burst out at some point. The first leg from Florence to Frankfurt was uneventful. We arrived a half hour late and I got an immediate flashback of my Christmas horror story, so I booked it through the terminal, knocking through anyone in my way. It’s not like I’m going to see them again, right? I was unsure as to the size and distances within the airport, so I wasn’t risking a thing. I arrived at my gate, 10 minutes before boarding. Then, I finally stopped sweating.

So here I am on the plane, sitting in my chosen aisle seat and enjoying the concentration I am putting towards my final blog entry. We just breaked for what I guess would be lunch, even though the time has me all confused. I received a rude awakening by the spaghetti we ate and had the sad “I’m not in Italy anymore” realization. I would probably compare this spaghetti to a high-end play dough. Very appetizing. Maybe this diet I’m putting myself on will be easier than I thought, considering the fact that I’m pretty sure no food will be as good as Italy’s food and therefore, not worth eating.

For those of you who have made it to this point in my epic entry, bravi, because I am on page 6 in Microsoft Word and I’ve still got a ways to go! Allow me to digress with the list I have been compiling, the highs and lows of my nine-month, Italian experience.

What I will miss:

Pizza the Italian way- while I have always loved American pizza, the freshness of the ingredients and lack of soupy oil on the Italian pizzas have really made them winners in my book.

Piazzas- most likely the best architectural concept, certain to automatically relax a person

The Italian pace of life- while I had difficulty adjusting to what I thought was laziness in the beginning, I now appreciate the time that Italians devote daily to food, family and rest. That’s why everyone looks so much younger and lives so much longer.

Italian children- There’s nothing funnier than talking to a 5-year old who speaks better Italian than I do.

Public drinking- Yes, I’m guilty of the regular wine-drinking session on the Ponte Vecchio. The view is too breathtaking to miss for a drink, so why not do them both at the same time!?

The “pausa”- an Italian phenomenon that happens around 10:30-11:00 am when everyone heads to the “bars” for a cappuccino.

The cappuccino- I actually hate coffee, but there is a special place in my heart for Italian cappuccino. They have really mastered the art of coffee-making, from the dainty cup to the heart form that they create in the milk foam.

Outdoor discotecas- there is nothing better than breaking it down and sweating half as much as you would dancing inside.

Wine- Italy is wine capital. It’s cheap and delicious, so there’s not much else to say here.

Shopping- even though the supermarkets are strictly food and your shampoo must be bought only at the pharmacy, EVERYTHING can be easily found on the streets of Florence with a little extra thinking.

Italian family/friends- I now have discovered a whole other half to my life and people that I will love and appreciate forever.

Sitting down to dinner every night- As they always say “a family that eats together, stays together.”

I can guarantee that there is more, but I think that sums up most of the aspects of my life abroad.

What I can most certainly live without:

Senegalese immigrants- I think I’ll be able to breathe easier now that I won’t be followed around Florence by these horrendously smelling men, saying “Ciao bella” and trying to sell me tissues, umbrellas or light-up Duomos.

White-faced gypsy women- By saying “white face,” I am literally referring to the white paint that they cover themselves in while they chase people (and me) around, begging for money, making freaky kissing noises, and giving me the finger.

Every-day bus travel and etiquette- It’s hot, it smells like B.O., people fight for seats, people pick-pocket, there is yelling, babies cry, it’s never on time, it doesn’t come, the company goes on strike at random. It’s just a terrible combination and system.

Albanian men- They never tire of hitting on American girls that don’t speak Italian. They use the girls’ lacking knowledge of the language to convince them they are Italian themselves, and then they try to seduce the girls. They never won with our group.

Chain-smoking 14-year-old Italians- Italy definitely needs to crack down on the smoking problem

Italian drivers- They are MANIACS on the road.

Mosquitoes- Because Italian homes don’t typically have screens on their windows, the little critters enter by night and attack your body. The results are far bigger than those in America, and I don’t know why.

The University system- Everyone already knows my opinion, as I’ve ranted about it in probably ¼ of my entries.

Ridiculous superstitions- for example, Maria Pia thinks pepper (the spice) is terrible for you and clogs your arteries. Maggie Rossi’s host mom thinks ice is bad to put in your drinks. Maria Pia thinks that drenching foods in olive oil after they’ve been cooked is healthier than cooking olive oil with food. I will never understand where these ideas come from.

So in the end, this year abroad has taught me so much that I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I have made some incredible friendships with such wonderful people. In thinking about my relationships with the other Holy Cross students, I am so grateful for the design of our study abroad program. Because there were only eight of us for a full nine months, we learned the good and the bad of one another and also learned to adapt to different personalities. Had we been in social situations where we could choose our friends from different groups, we never would have learned what it means to acclimatize and create friendships with those who you wouldn’t necessarily choose as friends from the beginning. Being able to feel so comfortable around each other is what made the year so successful and fun. No one was ever ashamed to get crazy, or cry, or fall on his or her face. And, I’m only now finding the words for all that I would have loved to have said to my friends last night. On top of benefitting tremendously from my full-Italian immersion, I have learned tolerance, acceptance and self-discovery, and I couldn’t be more proud with this huge milestone that I have overcome both individually, and with my group. While I feared the intensity of Holy Cross’ program, I now completely understand their thinking and would always recommend what I did to others. Host families are a golden opportunity for immersion and cultural acceptance. Staying for two semesters provides for the perfect balance between traveling Europe and creating a life for yourself in your respective host country. While there were many low points, those were the scenarios from which I have learned the most, as they have taught me how to enjoy the good as fully as possible.

I’m now three hours from the “real world” and preparing to close the most memorable chapter, and best year of my life. Adjusting back to the life I left in August is going to be a huge challenge, and I know that a lot of my friends may not understand the things that will upset me at home, but I’m going to work through it all as best as I can, and have an amazing senior year at Holy Cross.

Well all, thanks for reading my 9-month blog, and let’s hope that when this plane lands, my 3 overweight bags have made the journey along with me.

Baci e abbracci,

Elsa

Visiting La Coruna

Ciao everyone,

This weekend, instead of shipping off to Ireland as initially planned, I hopped on a trip to La Coruna, Spain with Kevin, Maggie Rossi and Carla. I thought about the Fanelli's a lot and sent along a few prayers throughout the weekend.

On Saturday morning, the 4 of us took the train to Rome and arrived at our hostel around 5 pm. It was a great place and soooo clean. That was Carla's first hostel experience, so I'm glad it was a good one for her. Once we were settled in, we met up with Lindsey Madlinger who studies through Holy Cross' classics program in Rome. The 5 of us went to Trastevere for dinner at Dar Poeta. For some reason, they weren't taking reservations for that night, so we had to wait about an hour and a half to get a table. We got a few drinks and stood outside while we waited in the pleasantly warm evening air. I was a little nervous when everyone started to get antsy about having to wait so long, but when we finally sat down and started eating, I wasn't worried anymore. Everyone went crazy over the pizzas and the nutella and ricotta calzone. We all decided that it was well worth the wait.

After dinner, we went to a bar/club in Campo dei Fiori and danced for the rest of the night. A few of Lindsey's friends joined us (some from HC, some not) and we had an awesome time. We arrived back at our hostel around 3 am and only had 2 hours of sleep before getting up for our long journey to Coruna. At 5 am we woke up and walked outside of our hostel, where a shuttle should have been arriving to bring us to the airport. It never showed up, so we called a cab who proceeded to yell at us in Italian about the shuttle that should be there instead. We had to call him twice, and both times he yelled at us. We didn't understand why he was so against coming to get us when it meant a good fare for him. While we waited for this asshole to arrive, another driver pulled up and said that he would take us to the airport. We didn't have much time to spare, so we started loading our things into the taxi. Bad idea. As we were prepping to leave, the asshole pulled up and started screaming at us and at the other driver for taking his fare. Nobody wanted to hear it from him, so we told him to calm down and moved all our things from the other guy's taxi to this jerk's taxi. Once we closed the door and told him where we were going, he shot off down the road, speeding like a maniac and making ridiculous turns. We were scared out of our minds and this guy didn't say a word. If we were still half asleep before the ride, we were certainly terrified awake after it. There was definitely something wrong with him.

We flew into Santiago de Compostela airport in Spain and waited 2 hours for our shuttle bus. We took the shuttle from Santiago to La Coruna and finally arrived there around 2 pm after traveling 9 hours. Kathryn, Chrissy, Hadley, Erica, Kathryn's boyfriend Pablo and his friend Carlos greeted us at the spot where the shuttle let us off and then got us settled in to our hotels. We went out for a great lunch, Spanish style (which means huge because lunch is the big meal in Spain). We shared salads, meats, cheeses and breads and it was all delicious.

After lunch, we walked around along the water. It was gorgeous! It made me think so much about the Vineyard, even though it looked nothing like it. It was refreshing to see water being that Florence can feel a little too cramped with buildings to see the dinky (and brown) Arno. After walking around, we went back to the hotel and showered, and then met for tapas at a really great place. According to the girls studying in Coruna, it was one of the best places, so it was evidently very crowded. Most of us got what we wanted to try, and we all stood outside to eat with the rest of the Spaniards taking their tapas. I had a fried veal filet with a grilled pepper and potatoes all on a little stick. I also had a tortilla (which is something like a quiche but much better) which I loved. Then, we went back to the hotel for drinks because bars don't open until around 2 am in Spain. When that time rolled around I was obviously exhausted but rallied to go out and experience the Spanish nightlife. The bar was great and made some awesome mojitos. Around 4 am, things turned a little sour for me when I fell asleep while dancing, and also discovered that my new jacket had been taken. We searched everywhere for the jacket and Pablo (Kat's boyfriend) felt so terrible. I was a little sad about it, but more tired than anything, so Kat walked me home to hit the hay. I heard the next day (Sunday) that everyone had stayed out until about 6:30 am, which is the norm- something I would never get used to.

On Sunday, Kat woke us up around 11 for breakfast at a great cafe, called Cafe Vecchio, that had some awesome muffins and chocolate chip cookies, two things that are non-existent in Italy. We were exhausted, so it took us a while to eat. After breakfast, we walked around some more and saw the rest of adorable Coruna. At a certain point after lunch kebabs, Kat went back for a nap and homework and Kevin also left for the hotel while Chrissy, Maggie and myself decided to walk a little more. We got some beautiful views of the water and then stopped for some coffee and tea at Cafe Vecchio for the second time. I headed back to the hotel to freshen up and change, and then Kevin and I went back out to meet Kat's host family. Her family is adorable- especially the two little girls, Maria (8) and Camino (5). But, they are serious balls of energy that never leave Kat's room and certainly drive her crazy sometimes. They were very excited to meet the famous Elsa and Kevin that they had heard so much about, so they climbed all over us and gave us little performances that were adorable but got a little tiring.

After meeting the family, we snuck out on the crazy kids to play "Assassin" with all the Coruna HC students before dinner. It was a lot of fun. Simple concept, but a great thrill. Then, we got a little dinner at a tapas place and headed home for bed. We had been exhausted from the night before, so we ended up sleeping until around 11 am. On Monday morning, all of the Coruna kids were in class until 12:30, so Maggie and I went for breakfast at Cafe Vecchio, which was hilarious because we didn't know a word of Spanish and English was completely foreign to the Coruna natives. We managed to survive and get exactly what we wanted, but with quite a struggle. After breakfast, we did a little shopping and then met up with Kat and Erica to continue the fun. Kevin was pretty ticked about the whole shopping thing, so it didn't last very long before we decided to go for lunch.

Kat, Hadley, Erica and Pablo took us to a great sushi restaurant and we all got Bento Boxes that came with Miso Soup, white rice, a beverage, and a dessert for only 8.25 euro! It was delicious :) Afterwards, Kat took Kevin to her cooking class so that the girls could shop more, but we didn't end up shopping and Kat and Kevin ended up skipping the cooking class anyway. So, Chrissy took Maggie and I to meet her host family, and Kat spent some time showing Kevin around. Chrissy's host family was very hippie and absolutely adorable. They were so excited to have visitors that they did their bests to speak in English and make us comfortable. It was much appreciated. After the visit, we stopped back at Kat's house with my teddy because the girls had requested to see it the day earlier. They loved him. This time, Maria was very sassy and insisted on singing and dancing to us while we "controlled the music" according to her demands. Little firecracker. Camino was a total doll and just crawled all over everyone.

We left Kat's host house around 8:30 and then went for a tortilla at one of Kat's favorite places. It was delicious. Then, we met up with Hadley, Erica and Carla for a nicer dinner at a new restaurant in town. It was the kind of place where they made everything on a wood-burning grill, and the food was incredible. Kat and I weren't that hungry, so we shared grilled tomatoes, grilled peppers and grilled chorizo. I loved it. The Corunians made sure that we also tried a Spanish after dinner liqueur that tasted something like Bailey's, but shockingly better. At the end of the dinner we bid farewell to everyone because we had to head back to Florence early the next day.

Yesterday morning, we woke up around 6 am and were in a cab to the station by 7:15. Our total trip back to Florence lasted 11 hours because we had to deal with so many different legs of the trip:

Cab from hotel to Coruna train station
Train from Coruna station to Santiago station
Cab from Santiago station to Santiago de Compostela airport
Plane from Santiago de Compostela airport to Rome Ciampino airport
Bus from Rome Ciampino airport to Rome Termini Station
Train from Rome Termini Station to Florence Santa Maria Novella
Bus from Santa Maria Novella to HOME with Maria Pia.

In the end, the trip was very successful and we all had a wonderful time. Coruna is a real gem, and I'm so glad that we could make it despite the distance we had to travel. I both loved and felt freaked out by my lack of communication with the Spanish language-only culture, but had a great time laughing about it. All the girls were great tour guides, and I felt that the vacation included just the right amount of relaxation and adventure. Kat's Pablo is a great guy, and probably the only Spaniard in Coruna that speaks fluent English (though Kat doesn't use it with him). Now, I'm back in Florence and the forecast looks like rain until at least Sunday which is kind of a bummer, but I do have a ton of work to do, so it's a blessing in disguise I guess.

I also found out today (the day I would have been scheduled to fly out of Dublin) that there have been more ash emissions from the volcano in Iceland and that the Dublin airport, along with many others, is closed. Therefore, Grace and Jeff are stuck in Dublin until Friday AT THE EARLIEST. I think I would have been beside myself if my vacation in Ireland had gone as originally planned. It's so odd how things happen.

A dopo!

Weekend on the Amalfi Coast

Ciao all,

This weekend was absolutely amazing. One fun thing after another for a solid 3 days! After an awful day of stressful tutoring on Thursday, our bus left the station at 6:30 pm for Amalfi. We watched a bunch of movies during the trip (there was a TV) and also discovered the hard way that there were no bathrooms on board. We stopped at an autogrill for a little dinner around 9:00 pm and then continued the journey. Around 1 am, we started to get into the Amalfi Coast area, as I awoke to the bus taking some ridiculous curves on this road which was dangerously placed on a cliff. It was a little scary, but the view was gorgeous.

Around 2 am, we finally arrived at our hotel in Sorrento, completely destroyed. We had traveled about 8 hours, so the second we were assigned our rooms, we crashed. At 7 am, we woke up for breakfast and had to be walking to the ferry for Capri at 8 am. Needless to say, it was a rough morning. Cassandra, our awesome tour guide, led us all the way down a windy highway (most certainly a very dangerous thing to do with 45 American kids in tow) and we made it to the marina within an hour. On the way, I was excited to pass The Bristol Hotel, where my parents had stayed on their honeymoon and where my Grandma had the same room every year that she visited. It was only a half mile down the road from our hotel! What a coincidence! Anyway, when we arrived at the marina, we waited for about 20 minutes and then hopped on the ferry over to Capri. The ferry took about 45 minutes and was filled with old people. I guess Capri is a pretty popular destination for the elderly. When we arrived, we were a little disappointed with the cloudy, ominous skies. It rained for about 10 minutes and then remained cloudy for quite a while.

During that time, we hopped on another smaller boat to take a tour around the island and see the Blue, Green and White Grottoes. For the entire duration of the journey, we had pretty significant cloud cover, but we dealt with it and I took about 100 pictures anyway. All of the cliffs were so different from one another, and all equally breathtaking. Our first stop was the Blue Grotto, which was indescribably awesome. In order to enter the Grotto, we had to get off the bigger tour boat and into small wooden rowboats, 4 or 5 at a time. Our tour guide was a riot, so he made the smooshed conditions within the rowboat exciting and fun. With me in my rowboat were Maggie Wright and Maggie Rossi, along with a couple in our group that would not stop hugging, kissing and touching each other. It was a little awkward, but I guess that's besides the point. Anyway, all the little rowboats lined up to get into the Grotto, whose entrance is a tiny hole about 3 feet high. We were lucky that the Grotto was open to the public because it appeared as if we were nearing high tide, when people can no longer enter. We were all instructed to lay as flat as possible in the rowboat while our guide pulled us into the hole with a chain that was attached to the Grotto rocks. The interior was absolutely breathtaking. I was amazed at how enormous it was, as the entrance hole was so unassuming that it would never be able to reveal the secrets inside the Grotto. The water was lit with a beautiful blue (hence the name) that naturally comes from the reflection of the sun on the sand. All of the tour guides in the different rowboats sang the typical songs of Napoli (O Sole Mio, etc). The whole experience inside the Grotto lasted all of 8 minutes, when we squeezed back out into the daylight. Needless to say, we were very satisfied customers. Words really cannot describe the uniqueness and beauty of this Grotto. I am just amazed that the whole thing is completely natural!

The rest of our boat ride consisted of visits to the Green and White Grottoes and a little snooping of the summer houses of Sophia Loren, the Gerber family (Mussolini's former residence), Donatella Versace, and Giorgio Armani. When we arrived back on land, we took one of Cassandra's lunch recommendations and found a great restaurant down an alleyway, pretty close to the main piazza in Capri. We were the only ones there for a good while, and we loved it that way. The place was very cozy and trendy, with white couches and green pillows, and beautiful wooden ceiling beams. We all ate very well. We shared fried calamari and prosciutto and melon. I had pasta with tomato sauce, mozzarella and eggplant for my main course.

When we exited the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised to see bright sunshine. I guess Capri is a lot like the Vineyard in that it needs some time to burn off the morning haze and rain clouds. Carla and Grace split off from Jeff, Maggie, Maggie, Kevin and myself in search of Caprese sandals high on Anacapri. Our little group of five got some lemon granitas and then walked all over the island. We saw the beautiful gardens of Capri and from there, took a winding path down the side of a cliff, all the way to the bottom. There, we dipped our feet in the water and I collected a ton of sea glass. When we had finished there, we took the bus back up to the main area of Capri and stopped in a limoncello store for some souvenirs. Then, we coincidentally ran into Grace and Carla and together, went to a bar to drink some limoncello together.

Our whole group (all 45 of us Americans) met back at the port and took the ferry back to Sorrento around 6:30. We filled in the evening by showering and prepping for the nightlife. At 8:45, we had our included dinner at the hotel which consisted of bruschetta, pasta, salad, oranges and unlimited wine. It was pretty good. After dinner, we let Cassandra lead us into town for some drinks and fun. We hung around at this English bar for a while and then, around 12:30 headed right upstairs for some dancing. The discoteca part of the bar was soooo awesome because it was outside and the terrace was covered with trees and funky lights. It was a great atmosphere to dance. At this point, Grace, Jeff, and Maggie Wright had decided to go home. Kevin, Maggie Rossi, Carla, Cassandra and myself hung around and danced for a few more hours. We had a blast and took the long hike back to the hotel around 2 am.

We were able to sleep in about an hour longer on Saturday, and left for Positano around 10am. We took a 30 min bus ride that took us along the beautiful coastline road. We drove right along the cliffs for the whole way and it was a little scary, but absolutely gorgeous. Despite being exhausted, I couldn't close my eyes for even a second because I hated the idea of missing the view! When we arrived, the bus driver was in a sour mood, so he dropped us off at the very top of the cliffs, about an hour walk from where we wanted to be in Positano. But, va bene. The road we conquered on foot had a continuously beautiful view, so no one felt the need to complain too much. Before braving the walk, we stopped at a quaint fruit stand and bought some mega-lemons (I bought one for Maria Pia, and one to squeeze in my hair) and other fresh fruits. We walked down the winding road for about a half hour and then reached the famous stairs of Positano. However, when I say famous, I don't mean one special flight of stairs. I'm referring to the fact that Positano has no roads and that the townspeople and visitors get around using stairs to climb up and down the side of the cliffs. So, after finishing with the road that circled just above Positano, we took about 60 flights of stairs to make it to the bottom area and beach community. Our legs were completely destroyed when we finally made it. Who thought that walking down the stairs could be so difficult!? We sat on some benches to soothe our legs and they violently shook for as long as we put a little weight on the balls of our feet. So weird.

Once I was half-recovered, I re-traced my steps back to a cobbler that Cassandra (as a reminder, our tour guide) had pointed out. I fell in love with a pair of white leather sandals with gold grommets and good old Giovanni made them right there in front of me! He fitted my feet and everything! It was so cool and everything was so well and reasonably priced. My plan had been to buy a pair of sandals for my Caprese souvenir, so I'm glad I found what I was looking for. Even if I hadn't gone to Giovanni, I'm sure I would have found sandals at the hundreds of other places that I saw hammering and nailing the similar sandals, though. After my purchase, I met the rest of the HC gang on the beach. I set up camp and then hopped off the sand to get a personal pizza. All the good ones come from the Naples area, so I knew that I had to try one. I bought a margherita pizza with onions on top and ate it on the beach. My friends' mouths were watering, and this salivation was completely legitimate because the pizza was delicious. We did nothing all afternoon but relax and catch some rays. The temperature was perfect enough that I didn't break a sweat or have to jump in the water. Thank goodness for that because the ocean was pretty chilly.

Towards the end of the afternoon, we cleaned up camp and headed off the beach for some yummy granitas. Just for the record, they were better in Capri. Then, we walked up a few flights of the Positano steps and met the rest of the 45 Americans at the bus stop. The bus was able to drive us up the cliffs and closer towards where our tour bus had dropped us off that morning. Once we scaled the mountain road with the great view, we made it to the tour bus. We arrived at the hotel, showered up, and had dinner. While the dinner was alright, I would most certainly say that the first night's was better. Our second night consisted of pizza and then a weird fish that seemed a little too slimy to be fully cooked.

After dinner, the HC kids and myself went downstairs to our rooms for a few glasses of wine and a hangout session. I tried to learn how to juggle, and almost had it when I lost the 3rd orange. Oops. That was the end of that, but it didn't matter because we headed off to the club for a little dancing and fun! The rest of the interested Americans had already left the hotel, so the 7 of us met everyone in downtown Sorrento at the same place that we had been the night before. The dance terrace was pretty dead when we arrived and people were wallflowering it like crazy. Since 7 was a pretty ample number of people and we really didn't care what other people thought, we were the first to step on the floor and start dancing. We weren't there alone for more than 15 minutes when everyone else in the club felt comfortable enough to join us in the disco festivities. A few hours later we, the very own party-starters, were inadvertently kicked off the dancefloor as a result of lack of space. At that point, we called it a night.

On Sunday morning, we checked out around 10am and then walked around downtown Sorrento and bought amazing sandwiches for the trip. We left Sorrento at noon and succeeded in getting the 8 bus seats right up front, which was a huge feat. People were literally pushing for them (because it's easiest to see the TV from those spots). Grace wouldn't have let those seats slip out of her way. She's good like that. So, we settled into our comfy seats and ate our enormous sandwiches. We were happy as clams. I passed out on the bus and about an hour and a half later, we arrived in Pompeii, the stop that I had been awaiting the entire weekend. The usual 11.00 euro entrance fee was waived that day because it had been La Settimana di Cultura, so we were thrilled about that. We only paid 5.00 euro for an optional tour guide that came with our travel package. Great deal!

As soon as the tour started, it began to downpour. I stayed as optimistic as possible and really enjoyed seeing everything that I had learned about so thoroughly in my Archaeology of Pompeii class sophomore year. We saw the Pompeian restaurants, one of the theaters, wealthy and poor homes, brothels, temples, the baths, the bodies, and the forum. I loved it! I would have loved to have been able to explore more on my own because the House of the Faun and the large Amphitheater were on the other side of the town and I had really been hoping to see them. But, by the end of the 2 hour tour, I was thoroughly soaked and, though optimistic, I couldn't bring myself to walk all the way to the other side. I guess it just means I'll have to go back! I was a little disappointed because my friends didn't seem very thrilled to be there. It would have been nice if the sun had been out. I know they would have enjoyed it more had they not been soaking.

Either way, it was awesome to be able to recognize everything in Pompeii that I had learned about. Capri, Positano and Sorrento were breathtaking, so this trip was most certainly worth the money. We only paid 200 euro and got a hotel, 2 dinners, 3 breakfasts, transportation to Capri, reduced transportation to Positano, and reduced boat tours. When I come back to Italy, this area is the first place I'll be returning to.

Today, I received the good news that I have been chosen as a Fall Orientation Leader for incoming transfer students. I am so excited! Class registration was this afternoon, and I got everything that I had wanted (with a little extra pleading on one of the them). I'll be taking Dante, Italian Women's Autobiography (in Italian), Kids Today: Perspectives on Development, and Psychology of Adolescence. My adviser says that I may even be able to count the Women's Autobiography towards my Childhood Studies minor, because it discusses mother-daughter relationships and growing up. That would be AWESOME!

Chelsea is coming on Saturday and I will be meeting her in Pisa, where she flies in. I'm really looking forward to it and I have lots of plans for her!

I'll update the next time I have a spare moment.

A dopo!

Dad's fun-filled vacation

Ciao a tutti!

If I were to write and describe everything my Dad and I did in the last 10 days, I would miss dinner tonight. So, I'm going to make a concise little list and inform everyone that we had a fabulous time at everything we accomplished! No negative experiences to report!

Here's more or less how it went:

Dad stayed in my extra bed at Maria Pia's house, which worked out just splendidly.

Day 1 (Florence, Tuesday):

• Santa Maria Novella pharmacy- Dad loved it!

• Delicious dinner at Maria Pia's.

• Pub Night at "Dexter's Laboratory" with my friends. Dad bought everyone drinks. What a guy.
  

Day 2 (Florence, Wednesday):

• Galleria Palatina in Palazzo Pitti.

• Sandwiches at Antico Noe. Dad was crazy for them.

• Gelato at Vestri. Another place that Dad loved.
  

• Bargain shopping in San Lorenzo Marketplace.

• Dinner at Alberto and Maria's with Benedetta, Antonio and Anarita. Antonio and Anarita wanted to see my Dad before they left for Vienna the following day.
  

Day 3 (Florence, Thursday):

• A few random errands.

• Had cappuccinos on the rooftop terrace of Rinascente. Took some great pictures of Dad "living the life."
  

• Bargain shopping again in San Lorenzo Marketplace.

• Mercato Centrale meat market. Fascinating and disgusting.

• Italian Literature tutoring= damper on the day. Dad shopped around for an hour in the bookstore downstairs from CLIDA.

• Lunch at Natalino. Warm and deliciously toasted sandwiches.

• Gelato at Grom. Yummm.
  

• Piazzale Michelangelo. It had been raining all day and then cleared up. The view was perfect.

• San Miniato church on top of the Piazzale.

• Dinner at Maria Pia's. Dad brought beautiful flowers.
  

• A walk around the center and a Charlie Chaplin impersonator.

Day 4 (Venice, Friday):

• Took a VERY early train to Venice and arrived around 10:30. 

• Dad bought a TON of glass souvenirs.

• Used Rick Steves' tip to cut the line and see St. Mark's Basilica. (His tip: Use the free bag check that not many people know about and get a card that allows you to skip ahead of everyone else).

• Found a nice family from Wisconsin and took an amazing gondola ride through the canals. Split the price 6 ways instead of 2= very key.

• Tried to get to Murano island to see the glass museum and demonstration, but discovered that it was too far away.

• Got the last train home.

• Ate dinner at La Giostra at 9:30. OUT OF THIS WORLD, as usual. Dad loved it.

Day 5 (Florence, Saturday):

• Dad bought beautiful suede shoes. (I insisted that he buy some Florentine leather for himself)

• Boboli Gardens. We were glad to have waited because the previous two days were cloudy and rainy. This day was perfect.

• Lunch at Antico Noe, again.

• Train to Siena for an evening visit.

• Saw the Duomo and Piazza Il Campo, famous site of "Il Palio."

• Searched for about an hour for Uncle Roger's dinner recommendation and failed because Maria Pia and Andrea had misread us the information on the business card which we had left at home.

• Had a pricey, but lovely dinner right in the piazza.

• Took the train back to Florence.

Day 6 (Florence, Sunday, Easter):

• Decided to skip out on the Scoppio del Carro outside of the Duomo because we really needed to avoid sickness and get some sleep. (The Scoppio del Carro is an Easter tradition where they throw a plaster dove at the Duomo and then light off fireworks. Oxen are also involved, as I understand it.)

• Leisurely bussed into the city center around noon, got cappuccinos, and walked around San Lorenzo.
  

• Met Maurizio (Alberto and Maria's son who still lives at home) who brought us to the Easter celebration at their house.
  

• Celebrated Easter from 1:30 until about 9:00 at night. We ate for about 4 hours non-stop and at the 9:00 mark when we were preparing to leave, Maria was in the process of making dinner. She was confused as to why we were leaving, and we were confused as to why she was making dinner after a 4 hour meal. No hard feelings though.

Day 7 (Rome, Monday):

• Took the 9:15 am train to Rome.

• Settled in at our hotel near the Vatican.

• Found one of Paul's favorite sandwich places from his study abroad experience. The sweet lady was still there and made us some fabulous sandwiches.

• Spent a lot of time walking around. It started to pour. 

• Walked to the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and all the way to the Vittorio Emmanuele II monument.

• Soaked, we stumbled upon one of Paul's favorite bars from his study abroad experience. We went in for a drink.

• Upon emergence, the sun was shining brightly, thank goodness.

• Searched for an internet cafe (our hotel didn't have wireless) so that I could check my email on interview updates with the Citi Performing Arts center in Boston. Didn't receive anything.

• Walked all the way back to the hotel and stopped briefly.

• Walked all the way to Trastevere.

• Ate a fabulous dinner at Dar Poeta.

• Stopped for some twilight pictures of the Vatican on the way home.
  

• Went home, exhausted.

Day 8 (Rome, Tuesday):

• Woke up at the crack of dawn and walked to the Vatican Museum.

• Skipped the line because I had made reservations.

• Spent 3 hours touring the museum and saw the Sistine Chapel at the end.

• Broke for sustenance in the Vatican Cafe.

• The weather was perfect, so we walked to the Roman Forum.

• Almost forgot to eat lunch, so we just grabbed one of those terrible sandwiches from a cart vendor and shared it.

• Toured the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill with the help of my trusty Rick Steves book.

• Skipped the line at the Colosseum because we had bought our tickets in the Forum (thanks to Paul's suggestion).

• Toured the Colosseum and filled Dad in on the history.

• Dragged our aching legs and feet to a Rick Steves recommended cafe, Cafe dello Studente, and had a light snack because it was too close to dinner for a big lunch.
  
  
• Stopped at an internet cafe. No word at that point.
  

• Opted for a cab back to the hotel.

• Attempted to walk to dinner, but only made it half way before running out of time and taking a cab.

• Had some incredible fried zucchini flowers and spaghetti at a spaghetteria called, Archetto.

• Took my Dad on Rick Steves' "romantic night walk." (Campo dei Fiori --> Piazza Navona --> Pantheon (where we stopped for gelato at the famous, and crowded Giolitti) --> Trevi Fountain --> Spanish Steps (where we were harassed by an Indian man selling roses).

• Took a cab home and went to bed.

Day 9 (Rome, Wednesday):

• Got up early, once again. (This time, we were incredibly tired and sore).

• Took a cab to the Borghese Gallery, whose tickets I had reserved a week before because they only allow 360 people in per time slot. What an incredible museum. Bernini is a genius.

• Walked around the gorgeously green Borghese Gardens.

• Took a cab to Basilica di San Clemente.

• Toured the Basilica and were amazed by the underground passageways and Pagan altars.

• Had lunch on Via Cavour and soaked in the sunshine.

• Found the bus near Circus Maximus and took it outside of the Roman walls and to the Catacombs of San Sebastiano.

• Toured the Catacombs. SOOOOOO COOOOL!

• Took a bus back to the center and found an internet cafe to check my email for an internship response.

• Received a rejection from Citi Performing Arts Center (thumbs down).

• Proceeded to walk towards the area of dinner, but stopped when we saw video cameras and people outside of a governmental building near Vittorio Emmanuele II.

• Discovered that Berlusconi was inside.

• Waited for 45 minutes and decided to leave, laughing to ourselves about the amount of film that had been wasted on Berlusconi-less cars with tinted windows.

• Stopped in Piazza Navona for a cappuccino.

• Became the first guests, with a 7:30 reservation, at a restaurant called Tre Archi. 

• Ate a wonderful final dinner.

• Bought gelato from a gelateria that was blasting techno music.

• Walked home.

• Went to bed early.

Day 10 (Rome, Thursday):

• Got up at 6:15.

• Had breakfast with Dad and then put him in a car to the airport. :(

So clearly, we had a very full vacation together. It was a wonderful time, and I'm so glad that he was able to come and see and understand my life in Italy. When I arrived home this morning, I checked my email and received something from the Avon Foundation in NYC. Turns out, their first person had turned down the position and so, they offered it to me! For my whole train ride back to Florence alone, I had been thinking about my career and getting used to the idea of spending another summer on the Vineyard. Looks like that's all changed and I'll be part of the workforce this summer in NYC!! At this point in writing this entry, Dad doesn't even know yet because he's still in the air. I've left him two voicemails that he will check when he's on his layover in D.C. I know I'll be getting a call. It's too bad I hadn't checked my email just one more time yesterday. The email came through at 10:30 pm last night and I would have been able to celebrate with my Dad. Oh well, he'll still be very happy.


Now, it's back to work mode. I have a lot to catch up on.


Ciao!!

Wine, cheese and white bathrobes

Ciao!

Yesterday, we had plans to take the 9:40am train out of Santa Maria Novella to Ravenna. There would be a stop in Faenza and there, we would transfer to a bus that took us to Ravenna. That slight inconvenience changed the price from 30,00 euro to only 8,35 euro, so we obviously went for it. Me, Andrea, Grace, Jeff and Carla were all on board waiting for the train to leave, but Maggie R was really cutting it close. When the train pulled away, there was no sign of Maggie and her later reports informed us that she had taken off her shoes and took off running down the platform to get the train. She was right behind it when it left without her. So, she had to take the 30,00 euro train at 10am, but at least she had the option for something else.

We arrived after Maggie, because her train had been a faster one, and we all got together and checked into the hotel. It was called Hotel Mosaico and had 4 stars, but we only paid 30,00 a person because it was in an ugly location, next to the train station. That was perfect for us anyway. Andrea, Grace, Carla and Jeff shared a 4 person room, and Maggie and I shared a double across the hall. We would have easily all fit in the 4 person room, but it was nice this way anyway because we could all have our own beds, and eat breakfast legitimately. The hotel was GORGEOUS inside. The bathrooms were all mosaic-ed, so it was very pleasant. I wanted to steal the mosaic-ed mirror, but it was too big to carry, and I don't steal.

Once we put our things down, we set off to see Ravenna and search for the mosaics. We didn't have to search very hard. We found the Basilica di San Vitale very quickly and bought a complete ticket for that church, and all the others in Ravenna for only 8,50. Words can't even describe how beautiful these mosaics were. First off, the structure of San Vitale was so unique and I absolutely loved it. Instead of the more typical cross-shaped design for a church, the inside was round, with arches and columns to separate the "inner" circle from the "outer." Above the alter and all around that area were gorgeous, sparkling mosaics. The entire floor was also mosaic-ed. I was astounded at the amazing condition the mosaics were in. They looked practically new, but had actually been there since around 500 A.D., when the church was built. I read that mosaic is a type of art that withstands damage really well, and it made sense that they were in Ravenna because it's a town on the water and any art would have had to hold up against the salt air.

Foto di Ravenna "Basilica di S. Vitale" a cura di Globopix.

I didn't take this picture, but I thought it would give everyone a good idea of how amazing the mosaics looked.

After San Vitale, we saw il Mausoleo di Galla Placidia and that too, was filled with gorgeous and shining mosaics. There was also some kind of baptismal pool in the middle of the mausoleum with lots of different money currencies that people had thrown in. I was able to take some great pictures, thanks to the intelligently designed natural lighting that came through the door.

After the mausoleum, everyone had worked up quite an appetite, but it was too difficult an hour to find a restaurant. (Everything closes at 2:30 and then re-opens at 7 for dinner). It was around 3, so we were out of luck. We did manage to find a little bar that doubled as a tiny and tacky restaurant, so we had no choice but to eat there. When we walked in, I felt as if I were in an American diner. There were fake flowers on the tables and stupid gold candles, and those ugly diner-type pink and green colored tablecloths. The waitress was incredibly tanned and pretty crazy. She had an Indian, sparkly bindi on her forehead, even though she was Italian! I think she was just really excited to have a few customers, so she certainly gave us friendly treatment. We all ordered different plates of pasta and despite the fact that this place was deserted, everything tasted delicious. We left around 4 to finish our tour of Ravenna.

We saw the Battistero Neoniano and then the Basilica di Apolinare Nuovo. They were both equally beautiful and unique. I really loved how the architecture was so simple. It really made me appreciate the complexity of the art of mosaic-ing. I can't even imagine how long it took the artists to make those things. They were absolutely breath-taking.

After we saw everything we wanted to see, we found a mosaic artisan and his store, and I bought a little mosaic turtle. It's really cute :) Then, we went to the supermarket and went crazy buying food for dinner. We got champagne, wine, 3 types of pecorino, mozzarella, 3 baguettes, olives, olive oil, prosciutto, salami, apples, chocolate, cookies, cantucci, and probably even more stuff that I can't remember. We brought it all back to the hotel and showered. Then, the night got fun.

When we had arrived that afternoon, the people in the 4-person room had received white bathrobes. Maggie and I, in the double room, hadn't gotten them, so we asked for 2 at the front desk, and they kindly gave them to us. Once we were all showered up, we put on our bathrobes, popped the champagne, and enjoyed the spread that Grace had kindly set up in their huge room. The hotel had satellite TV, so we put on music channels and danced and played games. Several times throughout the evening, someone made a point of looking around the room and saying: "We are all wearing white bathrobes right now." It really was a funny sight to see, especially because they had hoods.

Anyway, I hadn't stayed in such a beautiful hotel in a really long time. They had all the amenities that I always forget about, like a mini-fridge, a bidet, an awesome shower, a blow-dryer, and ROBES! The bed was enormous and unbelievably comfortable, and we had a great flat-screen TV, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Breakfast this morning was in quite a variety and absolutely delicious. I ate yogurt and granola, which I had really missed from home. We took the train back today around 1:30 and had to stand because all of the seats had been reserved. It wasn't bad though, especially considering the fact that it only cost 15 euro to return, instead of the 30 euro for the fast train. Now, I'm home and I have a lot of work to do. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I was interviewed for the Avon Foundation internship in NYC this summer. There are 4 other Holy Cross students up against me, but I think that it went really well. The interviewer even asked me to send over the articles I had written for Holy Cross' newspaper, and the Powerpoint presentation from my research experience at Salve. I think that's a good sign and I can't wait to hear back! I will be interviewing with another company soon, as soon as they get in touch with me. That one is for Edward Street Child Services in Worcester and for them, I would be doing research on effective education tactics for young children, and the importance of parents' education of their children at home, in addition to at school.

Tomorrow night, Elisa is taking us to La Giostra for dinner. It is supposed to be amazing and very expensive, and Holy Cross is paying! Then, we're going to see an Italian orchestra. I can't wait!


More updates later. Ciao!

Dave Matthews in Padua

Ciao everyone!

Last night, we went to the Dave Matthews concert in Padua, which is up near Venice. We amazingly purchased the tickets this past Saturday, so everything fell together very quickly. Me, Maggie and Kevin met the Florence for Fun travel agency at 5 pm at the train station. Then, we and 40 other kids boarded the bus for our 3 hour trip! Kevin and Maggie had picked up some delicious Chinese food, and Maria Pia had packed me a sandwich, so we had plenty to eat. We also brought along champagne and beer for the concert, since we knew they wouldn't check our bags. Good way to save money :)

On the bus, we met some cool kids that were sitting behind us. Their names were Jordan and Tasha and they're studying here for a semester. We played games and kept ourselves entertained with them for the whole ride.

We arrived at the concert about 15 minutes before it started, so that was perfect timing. The venue was great. It was small, so that made it perfect to see Dave. All of the standing room tickets down on the floor had been sold out a long time ago, so we had actual seats. It was less rowdy in our section, but it was nice because it wasn't full, and we were able to move up and spread out a little more. We had a great view. Dave played lots of songs from his new album, probably because the Italians don't know many of the obscure songs. However, I expected more of his popular old songs, because I figured the Italians would know them best. He wanted to go in a different direction, I guess. I found the whole experience pretty funny because I'm so used to seeing him in America, where everyone speaks English. This time, after every song, he said "Grazie mille" instead of "thank you," so that was weird to hear. After saying "Ciao, grazie" right in the beginning of the show, he then said "and that's all I know of Italian. So, from here on out it's English for the rest of the night." I'm sure most of the Italians understood him anyway.

The concert ended around midnight and we got back to the bus. We arrived in Florence at 3:30 am. Before we left, I had asked the guides if it was possible to stop mid-route, when we passed by my area. I was expecting a "no" but wanted to try so that I could avoid a 15 euro cab. Surprisingly enough, they were fine with it! So, when we got to my area, the bus driver let me off and I walked about 10 minutes to my house- for free :) I got in around 4 am and crashed.

On a side note, we booked a trip to the Amalfi Coast yesterday and I'm so excited! We'll be going April 15th to the 18th. It's an incredible deal. For 200 euro, we get bus transportation there and back (which by train alone is 140 euro), 3 nights in a 3-star hotel, 3 breakfasts, 2 dinners, a boat to Capri, discounted entrance into the Blue Grotto, discounted boat trip around the island of Capri, and transportation to Sorrento, Positano and Pompeii. Sooooo awesome! I can't wait!

So glad it's finally the weekend. I have lots to do today so that I can have plenty of time to hang out with Lindsey tomorrow when she comes. She's one of Carla's friends who lived in my hall last year, and she is from Basking Ridge, New Jersey. She's studying in Rome for the semester, so it will be fun to see her.

A dopo!

Amsterdam

Goedemiddag friends! That means "good afternoon" in Dutch, a word that I learned after a fabulous weekend in Amsterdam. I have a ton of interesting and amusing stories, so this is going to be a long, and hopefully entertaining, entry.

When we left off, I was getting ready to head into the center of Florence to wait for our 3:30 am bus to Pisa. Andrea and I took our last bus #23 at 11:45 pm, planning to go and sit in Mac Donald's for a few hours, since that was the only place open so late. We didn't get off to the best start because as soon as we boarded the bus and turned the corner, I started talking about the time Kathryn almost forgot her passport for our London trip. That quickly made Andrea realize that she had forgotten her passport. Great. She immediately called up Maria Pia, who was most likely sleeping in her comfy chair, as she does every night. She immediately responded and said that she was not able to move her car, but would come in Gianna's car with Andrea's passport. About 20 minutes after Andrea and I arrived downtown, Maria Pia and Gianna were there, with passport. Seriously, she's a gem that Maria Pia. She'd really do anything for us. So, around 12:30, the crisis had been averted and Andrea and I went to Mac Donald's to sit down. I felt obligated to buy something so that we were allowed to sit, so I got a little milkshake. Around 1am, Kevin showed up and ordered himself a full meal (chicken nuggets, fries and a soda). I really envy boys in that respect because late night Mac Donald's would very quickly turn me into a cow.

Unfortunately, we got kicked out of Mac Donald's at 2 am because they needed to close. So Kevin, Andrea and I walked over to Piazza Santa Maria Novella and sat on a bench. It was pretty freezing, especially because there wasn't much between my butt and the cold marble bench. We distracted ourselves by watching the drunk, under-dressed Americans stumble by and chatting while listening to music. Maggie Rossi showed up soon after we got to the Piazza, and we sat there shivering until about 3:00 am. At that point, we decided to walk over to where the bus was scheduled to arrive, just to ensure that we didn't miss it. There were a ton of homeless people sleeping under the station's awning, so we avoided that area and waited further away so that we could keep watch on the happenings of late-night Florence. The bus arrived on schedule at 3:30 am and we had no problems getting tickets, thank goodness. There were a lot of other kids there that had already ordered tickets, so we were a little nervous until we made it on the bus. Most of the kids were either going to Amsterdam as well, or Morocco. Pretty cool!

As soon as I sat in my seat, I passed out. I guess Kevin, Maggie and Andrea had a little more trouble sleeping because some idiotic American spent the whole 1 hour, 15 min bus ride calling people- at 3:30 in the morning! Maggie was pretty pissed about that. When we arrived at the airport in Pisa, we had to wait about a half hour before check in began. Everything went smoothly through our boarding at 6:30 am, and we slept again on the 1 hour, 30 min plane ride. We landed in Eindhoven, The Netherlands around 9 am and hopped on a shuttle from the airport to get to the train station. At the train station, we got situated on a train heading into Amsterdam, with a little help from some kind Dutch people that conveniently spoke perfect English (I suppose just about all of them are bilingual). The train ride lasted a little under 2 hours and we arrived in Amsterdam around 11--- finally. We got our hands on a map and decided to walk to our hostel because it didn't look like it was very far away. While admiring the unique scenery (canals, quaint buildings, etc), we got a little turned around and had some trouble getting to the hostel. From the beginning, Amsterdam was pretty hard to navigate because it is built around the canals, and they don't have much of a pattern. It's certainly no New York grid. To make matters worse, all of the street names were about 12+ letters long, and varying only very slightly. Here's what I mean; Our hostel was located on OUDEZIJDS ACHTERBURGWAL, while other streets were named OUDEZIJDS VOORBURGWAL and NIEUWEZIJDS VOORBURGWAL. Forget trying to pronounce them, let alone find them.

Anyway, after a few wrong turns, we found ourselves in the Red Light District, which appeared much more tame than we had expected. Yes, there was a store dedicated to selling only condoms, and sex shops and peep shows lining the streets, but it really wasn't that bad. I saw the windows where I imagined the girls would appear later in the day, and then marveled at the hundreds of white swans in the canals. Turns out we didn't lead ourselves in too wrong of a direction because we quickly found our hostel, called The Heart of Amsterdam, smack in the middle of the busiest street of the Red Light District. Oops. From the information online, we had no way of understanding its actual location. I just laughed it off, saying that it would be a great way to get a full, Amsterdam experience. Maggie was a little nervous, but I think that subsided once we got settled in.

The hostel was pretty nice. It was designed in a movie theater layout, so the front desk was the "ticket booth" and all the walls were black and red, with movie posters and paintings all over. It was pretty cool. The stairs up to the third floor (where we were staying) were treacherous, but pretty entertaining to climb at the same time. If memory serves me correctly, our room was called "Fight Club." It was an 8-bed room and at the start, we had a quiet Asian boy, two middle-Eastern boys, and a boy from Brussels to share our space with. The room was cozy and all black, perfect for good slumber. We also had a great view from our window of some lovely naked women across the street. We were intrigued watching men shadily sneak in and out of the different doors.

Once we got settled in, we found a pub and got some lunch. I had a burger, which I hadn't had since the summer. It was great. We also all ordered Heineken's in honor of being in Amsterdam. After lunch, we headed over to the Van Gogh Museum, despite being completely exhausted. We knew we had to get at least one activity in for the day if we were to finish everything that we had planned for the weekend.

I really liked the Van Gogh Museum. It was very well laid out and though kind of big, it was not overwhelming. I loved all of his paintings. It was very interesting to see how much his style changed over the years, based on different influences. Previously, I had really only known him by his style in his famous works, but there were a lot of other very interesting subjects that he painted throughout his life. I really appreciated them all. Maggie and I finished viewing last, after Andrea and Kevin had already parked it in the lounge. We found Kevin sleeping and Andrea just about to do the same. So, we headed back to the hostel for a nap (around 4:30 pm).

When we awoke, it had already gotten dark, so I think it was somewhere around 7pm. We had an intense craving for Asian food, which is very popular in Amsterdam, so we found a nice little place for dinner. After dinner, we snooped around the Red Light District for a while and did some people watching. For the record, the Red Light District did not feel at all dangerous. There were lots of people walking around and generally minding their own businesses. Not everyone hangs in the area to get prostitutes. There's just a lot of activity there at night because there are so many bars and coffeeshops (the places where weed is sold) in the area. Also, the prostitution is pretty controlled. None of them walk the streets or anything like that. Instead, they all stand behind glass doors, usually wearing a teeny tiny bra and underwear set and dancing under red neon lighting (hence the name of the area). These doors can be either ground level or one story up, sometimes both within the same building. The most desirable prostitutes get the best windows on the main drag, while the pregnant, overweight and old prostitutes get the smaller alley-ways. Those buildings that don't display the prostitutes are usually sex shops or theaters for peep and porno shows. Oh yea, and there were also hostels, like mine.

We poked our heads into a few weed-infested coffee shops to see what was going on and then wound up at a nice pub. We got some Heineken's and a few Coke's and watched some hilarious 90s music videos on TV. At one point, a really drunk man turned around and started talking to us, asking to buy us drinks. We refused about 5 times before he got the message, and when he complimented Kevin on his choice in women, Kevin fooled him into thinking that he and Maggie were married. It was entertaining. We left the bar, got some incredible Dutch pastries and then called it in early night.

The next day, we woke up completely refreshed and headed off to the train station to pick up a free, 3-hour tour that we had read about. Our tour guide, Mason picked up those interested and we all walked to Dam Square, the original heart of the city with the Queen's Palace, etc. From there, he divided everyone up and we began our tour. I am not kidding when I say that it was one of the best tours that I had ever taken. 3 hours was most certainly a really long time but Mason had the most interesting and hilarious stories to share about the city. He was 25 and from New Zealand. He moved to Amsterdam a year ago, when he fell in love with the city and explained that he chose to be a part of this tour company because he liked their ideals: everyone should be able to learn about the history of a city, regardless of how much they can afford. As a college student, I'm in full agreement. We covered all parts of the city, including, The Old Church, The Red Light District, The Jewish Quarter, The Royal Palace, The Anne Frank House, The Jordaan District, The Begijnhof Convent, Hidden Catholic churches, Dutch Art, Multatuli's Giant Head, The Hash, Marihuana and Hemp Museum, Widest Bridge and smallest house, leaning buildings, The Dutch East India Company, and more stuff that I probably don't remember.

I learned sooooo much. For one, Amsterdam is very liberal, if you haven't figured that one out already. Mason explained that prostitution has been around and legal since Amsterdam first came to be. With all the canals, it was predominantly a sea-trading town, with lots of sailors coming in from long journeys on the ocean. This easily explains the presence of the girls back then, when sailors, just paid, were looking to have a little fun before going back out to sea. I found it funny that the main church in town was right next to the Red Light District. Turns out it was purposely placed there, so that sailors could come to repent their sins of the nights. The church benefited from charging a fee to all confessors, so business worked out just fine. Nowadays, the girls are all self-employed and there are no pimps involved in the prostitution. They usually do pretty well in the business, as they charge 50 euro for 15 minutes, and additional costs for anything "out of the ordinary," like pretending to actually like the customer. It's a very regulated business, as Mason explained that all the men must take showers when they arrive before even being able to touch a prostitute. I also know that they are regularly checked for STDs. The oldest prostitute in Amsterdam is 73 (I'm pretty sure we found her accidentally.. ew), but doesn't get very many customers. I think she should consider retiring. Anyway, Mason sadly informed us that the prostitutes are starting to get a lot of trouble from the government and are slowly starting to disappear. He thinks that there won't be much left for the business in about 10 years. I thought that was kind of sad considering Amsterdam's unique reputation based off prostitution and decriminalized marijuana.

Mason also explained how literal the Dutch people are when it comes to naming things, hence "The Old Church," "The New Church," "The National Monument," and "The Royal Palace." I guess they didn't want mess around with names (like they did with their streets!). I also learned that there are more bikes than people in Amsterdam, and that Amsterdammer's will run you right over if you are in their bike lane. I had a few close calls. I learned that marijuana is not actually legal, but decriminalized. According to Mason, the Dutch believe that the things one does on his/her own time, are his/her personal business. So, if you run up to an Amsterdam police men claiming that a man is selling marijuana behind the counter of a coffee shop, he will look at you and tell you that they are only selling coffee, tea and lattes, and that they are very tasty. I thought this was funny.

I was also very intrigued by the extent to which Amsterdam government went to control public urination. All over the city, there are actually "pee deflectors" designed to keep men from peeing in public corners. They look like metal shields that are flat, and form a triangle with the corner of a building. They have little flaps on the surface so that if a man tries to pee, everything ends up on his pants. Way back when, they were equipped with electrical currents running through them, but that got nixed when some mischief-makers got into the circuit box and turned up the voltage. There are also standing urinals all over the city. I was pretty amused to see that the government actually spent a lot of time worrying about accommodating drunk people who felt the need to pee in the street. Like I said, very liberal.

Anyway, there was a lot more that I learned on the tour, but that stuff really stuck with me because it was so unique and Mason told the stories so well. At the end of the tour, he invited those who wanted to hang around to join him for a traditional Dutch lunch, called Stamppot. We happily accepted because being on his tour got us a free beer and unlimited servings of this dish for only 7 euro. The Stamppot was delicious and included a Dutch sausage and 3 scoops of mashed potatoes, mixed in with shredded vegetables, bacon and gravy. It was delicious. During lunch, we met this Turkish girl who had also been on the tour. Her name was something that we couldn't understand, so she told us to call her "Moon." Seriously. Anyway, she was 20 years old and taking a vacation by herself in Amsterdam. She was a little shy, but sweet and completely out of her element within this culture. We also found ourselves next to two Americans that were also studying in Florence. What a coincidence. Their names were Andrew and Dan and both go to Georgetown back in the States. Turns out one of them went to high school with Matt Harper, one of my good friends back at Holy Cross.

After lunch, we did a little souvenir shopping and then headed back to the hostel to shower and rest. When we arrived back, in place of the Asian boy on the top bunk was a girl who I thought was a boy until she stood up. She confirmed our suspicions of her sexual orientation when she invited the other newbies (that replaced the middle-Eastern boys) to a gay bar that night. Those other newbies were two girls from Canada who were a part of the circus. I couldn't believe it at first, but while talking to one of the girls, I realized that she was actually serious. She was a contortionist! When I asked her how she got involved with the circus, she said "I was born that way." I think she misunderstood my question, but I'm not sure if she meant that she's been able to bend her body for her whole life, or that she's actually been in the circus for her whole life. Either way, these girls were an interesting and very noisy addition to the room.

At 8, we met at a bar to join a pub crawl that Mason had suggested. We were the first to arrive, so we got first pick of the free t-shirts, and free unlimited shots of vodka and juice. We weren't in the bar very long when we witnessed a naked, middle-aged man run through the bar, right past me who was standing in his way, up the stairs, and out into the street. I guess he lost a bet? Kevin also found a random mullet wig on the ground, so he tried that one for size while we were hanging out. Next thing we knew, Moon showed up! I'm not sure if she knew we were coming or not, but she latched right on to us. She was a little awkward and Kevin couldn't stand her, but Andrea and I enjoyed chatting with her for a little while. Those boys Andrew and Dan also showed up because they saw a crowd. What a small world. Our second stop on the pub crawl was a bar where we were given free Jager shots and beer at a discounted price. At this place, we met a British girl named Robyn, who was insanely underdressed for the cold weather and had a ridiculous amount of mascara on. She was great company though and very fun. Our third bar was at St. Christopher's Hostel, and it was packed. We also got free Jager shots there. Moon was already very drunk and made a bit of a scene with the pub crawl leaders. She tried to take more shots than she was permitted, and had a hard time understanding what the leaders were saying since English was her second language. She was pretty ridiculous, but it cracked us up. At the fourth bar, we got more free Jager shots and discounted beers. We got to chatting with one of the pub crawl leaders and found out that she was from New York, so that was pretty cool. There was supposed to be a fifth and final stop on the pub crawl, but Andrea, Maggie, Kevin and myself decided to skip out. We were tired, hungry (we hadn't had time for dinner), and were ready to get away from Moon. So, we thanked the pub crawl leaders and found this amazing "Wok to Go" restaurant and got a late dinner. We got back to the hostel around 1 am.

Yesterday, we got up early and walked for about 40 minutes, trying to find Mike's Bike Tours. Needless to say, we got a little lost, but finally found it. Mike's Bike Tours is the same company that we used to tour Munich when we went in October. We had really enjoyed it, so that's why we decided to use the same company. When we arrived, there were two other Holy Cross students already there. We had run into them on Saturday while we were on the free tour, and decided to get together for the bike tour. Since it was a little chilly yesterday, the only people on the tour were the 6 of us, so it was great. We road all the way out to the countryside of Amsterdam and saw the classic windmill. We also stopped at a farm and got a cheese-making demonstration and tasting, and also watched the owner make the traditional wooden clogs. It was really cool and we took a few pictures with some cows, too. On our ride back into the city, our tour guide took us through Vondelpark and showed us a statue made by Picasso. He also told us that the park originally used to be private and was reserved for use by rich people only. When the owner passed away, she left the park to the city of Amsterdam, provided that dogs were allowed to go unleashed. Then, he told us a funny story about the park in the summer time. During the sixties, lots of people came to the park to sunbathe naked. At a certain point, a more conservative group of people moved into the city and complained about the public nudity. So, the city forbade nude sunbathing. Soon after though, the gay population got upset that nudity wasn't allowed because they used to go to the park at night to, uh "make love," and wouldn't be able to with this law. So, the government changed the law to say that nudity was not allowed, but sex was as long as the people had clothes on. I don't get it, but again, that's the liberalism that runs rampant through Amsterdam!

After our cold and long, but very exciting bike ride through Amsterdam's countryside, we split with the other Holy Cross students and got "Wok to Walk" for lunch. It was delicious. I had wheat Asian noodles with shrimp and peanut sauce. After lunch, we walked over to the Anne Frank Museum and got inside very quickly. I was so impressed with the way the exhibit had been set up. It was incredibly informative, but very touching and real at the same time. We got to see the rooms of "The Secret Annex" as they had been left after the Frank family was taken to the concentration camps. All of Anne's personal photos and interests were affixed to the walls of her room, just as she had left them. Anyone who visits Amsterdam CANNOT miss the Anne Frank museum. I liked it so much that I'm going to read her diary as soon as I can find it for a cheap price here in Italy.

After the museum, we scooted back over to the area of the Van Gogh Museum and took some pictures in front of the I amsterdam sign. That was a must-do for tourists. After that, we realized that we were in the area in which our bike tour guide had described the location of a Taco Bell. Kevin's favorite fast food restaurant is Taco Bell, so we had to go. Turns out this "Taco Bell" wasn't a Taco Bell at all, but a "Taco Mundo." Kevin carried his disappointment back towards the direction in which we had come when we stumbled upon a Dominoes Pizza, Kevin's second favorite fast food place! So, we stopped there and he got his America fix. After that, we ran up to the train station and got our information squared away for our journey home, and then went back to rest before dinner.

We chose to eat dinner at "The Pancake Corner" because we had heard that we couldn't leave Amsterdam without having tried Dutch pancakes. So, we shared a pitcher of Heineken and each got our own pancake. They were HUGE and I could not even think about finishing mine. I included tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese and onions in mine and it was delicious. After dinner, the other Holy Cross students met us at this restaurant to watch the Superbowl together. We got bored pretty quickly because they didn't turn the sound on, so we couldn't enjoy the commercials. So, we left soon after the game had started and just hung out for a little while before going back.

This morning, we woke up at 3:50 am and left the hostel at 4:30. Walking through the Red Light District at that time was a little weird, but not too bad. We got to the train station and hopped on the 5:00 am bus to Eindhoven. We had a very difficult time getting tickets for this bus, not because it was full, but because the driver sounded like he had a terrible speech impediment on top of his inability to speak English. I know that the tickets were supposed to be 23 euro, and I gave him 25. It sounded like he was trying to get another euro from me and I told him that I knew it was 23, so then he just shooed me away, without my change. Whatever, at 5 am, I just wanted to get moving. The entire 2 hour bus ride was absolutely freezing and since no one could communicate with this crazy bus driver, we suffered for a good while. We were so thankful to arrive at the heat of the airport. Everything went fine and I slept the entire flight. When we arrived in Pisa, it was sunny! The entire time in Amsterdam had been gloomy and foggy, with occasional mist. I think that's common for the area during this time of year, but it was really nice to get back to the sunshine. We missed the 10:30 bus back to Florence by 10 minutes, so we waited around until noon to get the next bus in. We ended up being the only 4 people on it, so that was nice. Maria Pia had lunch waiting for us when we got home. Oh man, did I miss her. And as a side note, as soon as I opened my Facebook back home, I discovered that Moon had found me—already!? She didn’t even know my last name. Oh boy.

Anyway, we had an absolutely wonderful time. Amsterdam is such a unique city and I would recommend everyone to go. It has more canals than Venice and some great little bridges. The houses are very quaint and leaning with time. It's definitely a city with lots of character. I guess I would most closely pair the style of the houses in Amsterdam to that of the houses in Old Town Alexandria, VA. Not exactly the same, but similar in their simplicity. Also, the people are just gorgeous! All tall, blonde and thin. I hope that I get to go back some day in the future. There's still more I want to see.

As a side note, Ryanair (the airline that we used) sucks. Sure, the flights are cheap; but, the schedules are almost impossible to work with and they never fly into the convenient airports. So, what you don't pay for in the flight, you pay for in transportation to and from the flight. We'll see if we can find another option next time.

I just spent 3 hours writing this entry, so I have to go and do some other things. I'll update later this week.

Ciao!