…come to Florence, here are the places you HAVE to go to:

FOOD (difficult to narrow down my favorites):

-Dante’s: our group of friends would go there once a week…Hani is the owner and ALWAYS treated us to unlimited wine and shots..he’s the BEST! Claudio’s awesome too! Order their lasagna…it’s unreal! You also have to drink some Grappa!

-Due Fratellini: cheap AMAZING sandwiches! #27 is my personal favorite…goat cheese with spicy salami. It’s pretty hidden too!

-Festival of Gelato: so many flavors & during the warm months they even sell granita, which is like a slushy!

-GROM: the infamous gelateria that everyone has to go to at least once!  They have a “flavor of the month” that never disappoints.

-La Carraia: my absolute FAVORITE gelateria!! Our Italian friend Angelo told us it was the best in Florence & I would have to agree 100%! Across the river, on the corner before Dante’s Trattoria…go check it out ASAP! Very inexpensive and with tons of flavors!

-Oil Shoppe: another cheap, popular sandwich place, known for their delicious combinations

-Zaza’s: my second favorite restaurant (after Dante’s) located near my apartment, in Piazza Mercato Centrale…also in all the tour books so you know it’s delicious!

-Cellini: first restaurant I ate at! & their tortellini is to die for :)

-Amor Divino: order their gorgonzola gnocchi…best thing I’ve ever eaten! Also, located in Piazza Mercato Centrale

-Mercato Centrale: a HUGE indoor market where you can buy just about anything! & you can eat there as well. My food-heaven!

-Aqua al Due: a little more expensive, but their Blueberry Steak is a popular item on their menu & word traveled fast that I needed to try it! (but their second restaurant is located in San Diego, CA!!!…convenient if you don’t have time to go in Firenze)

-The Diner: the same owners as Aqua al Due and located right next to it! They serve American dishes…so when you are craving some pancakes or grilled cheese they are the place to go to!

-Last, but definitely not least, there is a sandwich place (if facing the Fish Pub) to the left of the “Fish Pub” (in Piazza Mercato Centrale) that has the most amazing, delicious sandwich I have ever eaten.  The name of this place is still unknown to me, but I do know that if you go there, order the “American Student” sandwich. Ironic, I know…but I asked the lady what she recommended and that’s what she said!

BARS:

-Kikuya: nice, tavern vibe…you HAVE to order a Dragoon (very strong beer)

-Red Garter: first bar I went to! Known as the oldest American Bar in Florence. Hold different events/themes each night, such as Beer Pong or Karaoke, also have great live music & cover bands.

-Lion’s Fountain: became my absolute FAVORITE!!! Can’t go wrong with their Long Islands…also have Karaoke nights :)

-Bigallo’s: gets pretty crowded, especially with Marist students haha but great place. They have an awesome “3 drinks for 10 Euro” deal that never disappoints.

-Bebop: Beatle’s cover band on Tuesday nights!…enough said.

CLUBS (the ones you should and shouldn’t visit):

-Twenty One: has a lot of creepy Italians…I do NOT recommend. But they do have the “3 drinks for 10 Euro” deal if you’re interested. Free entrance.

-Twice: I’ve always had a good time, but it can get old. VERY crowded on the dancefloor, but if you manage to sneak into a VIP section & get some free drinks, you’re set for the night! :) Free entrance.

-Babylon: very hidden, only went once and stil have no idea how we found it. There’s a “swing” room full of patio swingsets. Awesome. Music & people were different, but so much fun!

-Central Park: went here for my roommate Cara’s birthday…one of my favorite nights! Basically 5 dance floors, each with their own DJ, some indoor, some outdoor and a ton of bars in between.  It was the only time we had to take a taxi since it was a bit further from everything else, but definitely worth it, and probably still walkable.  10 Euro entrance fee + drink.

-Space: If you’re craving some dance parties, this place is perfect! First club I went to & such an epic night. Huuuge venue with tons of lazers/ lights… When I went the entrance fee was 6 Euro + drink. http://www.spaceelectronic.net/

-YAB: in the same building as my classes (haha), a little fancier, more expensive but depends on the night & time that you arrive. First time I went, entrance fee was 16 Euro!!! but it was a special “Italian” night. Still an awesome place, just double check the price before you go.

-Cavalli: Yes…Roberto Cavalli’s Club & restaurant!! Beautiful, classy place! I don’t remember if there was a cover charge though… http://www.cavalliclub.com/

So as you can see there are TONS of great places to visit while in Florence…and there a many more that I didn’t list. (This was just to give you a “general” idea of where I went and where I recommend…)

But overall each restaurant, nightclub, and bar has a different memory for me, whether it be the night we pretended to be “Peter” in the VIP section of Twice, or the time we sang Blink 182 during Karaoke night at Lion’s, or even the time I “lost” my wallet at Due Fratellini.  Each place and person that I shared these memories with will always be a part of this thrill of a lifetime that I was fortunate enough to experience so soon in life.

Thank you to everyone I met along the way. It wouldn’t have been the same without a single one of you!

xoxo

Sorry for the lack of updates…it has been a VERY busy couple of weeks. But now that I am back and settled in California, I can now post updates on the last of my Italian travels! So, the last school trip that I went on was to the Amalfi Coast: Pompei, Sorrento, & the island of Capri!  Luca, one of the LdM professors, was one of the funniest Italian men I have ever met.  Just read part of the e-mail he sent us all before the trip telling us what to bring:

-Comfortable shoes, not fly flot specially in Pompeii where the path is not comfortable to walk and very dusty

-In Pompeii you will need water with you, organize yourself accordingly. If you don’t have a flask you can buy water bottles before entering the site.

-Wear in layers (like onions) because on the morning will be cooler then on the rest of the day.

-Last thing but the most important bring your “happiness”.

First of all, fly flot means flip flops as in the sandals, in case you didn’t catch that. Secondly I don’t think any of us brought flasks, therefore we were all in definite need of water bottles.  And lastly, we were all “happy” onions.

Pompei (spelt with 1 or 2 i’s depending on the language) was unreal!  It was amazing to be able to see a view of Mount Vesuvius from all over, while at the same time viewing bodies of the victims that were killed by the ash.   

That place is definitely a maze though! So after our tour of Pompei, we visited the beautiful, vibrant town of Sorrento, which is known for the production of Limoncello (a lemon-based Italain liqueur).  I just loved the overpowering taste of the lemon! If you haven’t tried this liqueur yet, I definitely recommend it!  So after our Limoncello tasting at a cute, brightly decorated factory, a group of us wandered the streets at night until we came across a beautiful seaside view. We couldn’t help but stay there for a while and soak up that Sorrento memory.

Oh and by the way the lemons in Sorrento are MASSIVE!..as you can see. 

                                  Our Limoncello tasting! Round 1…

The next day we took a boat to the beautiful island of Capri!!  & spent 6 hours wandering through the stores, flower-filled pathways, and restaurants that complimented the beauty of the island.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side that day. It was a bit overcast and rainy, which prevented us from visiting the “Blue Grotto”, a famous cave of the island where the color blue is stunningly bright (I googled the picture below).  But we did, however, take a boat ride around the island. And when I say ride, I mean riiiiide. The waves were so rough that we had to hold on for our lives or else we were sure to be hearing some “man-overboards”, but we didn’t.  Don’t worry.

After that adventure, a group of us walked down a very steep and windy path that took us to the beach.  By that time, the weather had cleared up and we were dying of heat.  I guess college kids are just never satisfied with the weather!  Haha.  But the view as we descended to shore was amazing!

At the end of the day, Cara, Sarah, and I took a chairlift to the very tippy-top of Capri.  Such a fun ride resulting in an unbelievable view!  On the chairlift ride down, I waved to a few people coming from the opposite side, and there was a husband talking to his wife (who was in the chair behind him) in English.  So…I asked where they were from & he said California.  Like a normal Californian, I got excited!  They were from San Francisco but said that they loooove Orange County.  Small world, huh?

After our second ride of the day, we regrouped with Luca, took a ferry to Naples (where everyone was passed out from exhaustion), and took our long bus ride back to Florence.  A memorable weekend at the Amalfi Coast!

PISAAAAAA…I finally went!!! Even though there is nothing else to do there but pose in front of the leaning tower, I still had fun!  Here are some pics from the infamous photo shoot…their pretty epic.

the PUNCH

the CARRY

the LEAN

the GRRR face & “TIPPY” pose (tippy is short for “typical” in Pittsburg slang: shout out to Cara&Sarah)

it was also leaning…I just had to.

TEAMWORK!!!

THE END :)

Cinque Terre- my new favorite place!!!!  The day we went was the warmest it has been in Italy (or so it seems).  The sky was blue blue blue & so was the water…but instead of telling you, I’ll show you…

                        The girls of Santa Reparata, 85 :)

                      Got to hike all along that beautiful BLUE coast!

These are Love Locks..basically over the years couples who come to visit Italy attach a lock with their names and the date. Super cute idea! And their also all over Florence…

                            Typical Cinque Terre scenery :)

                                        HAPPY 21st MATTY!!!

This year, instead of going to Palm Desert with the BEST group of friends, I had to settle for spring break in Greece…and it was the craziest, most amazing week of my life!  We did this trip through a company called EuroAdventures (definitely recommend it if you study abroad) which basically takes college students who are studying abroad on different trips to multiple countries.  It was a group of about 120 students, but we were with two other companies, which made it about 200-250 combined.  A BIG group.  It was an awesome deal though, since you pay one price that includes everything: accommodations, transportation, meals, activities, etc…  It was exactly what I wanted as my spring break, to just be able to relax and have everything taken care of.  And our group leaders were super young and fun guys that made the trip that much better.  :)

And the memories begin…

It all started on the overnight cruise ship from the port of Ancona to the Greek island of Corfu!  The cruise ship had about 12 levels, including multiple garages that held huge trucks, a mini discoteca (nightclub), a swimming pool, and a few restaurants.  Luckily, my friends and I made reservations for a cabin beforehand, or else we would’ve had to sleep in airplane seats, and sleep was much needed after a long week of midterms.  We arrive to a port in Greece in the morning and have to take a ferry to the island.  Corfu was beautiful!!! The weather was so amazing considering we had been living in our pea-coats the past two months.  My white self was finally exposed to some sunlight!  Thank God for Greece. 

In Corfu, we stayed in the Pink Palace, all 3294623746 of us students.  This place was so much fun & right on the beach! There was always something going on.  And it was definitely pink all over! Super cute.  The first day was spent laying out on the beach…so weird to be able to do that. haha.  At night they served us a traditional Greek meal, which was delicious! The soup was the best. :) After dinner and a 5 hour-long happy hour, the room turned into a discoteca!  SOOO fun.  This basically happened each night… 

The second day we went on a Booze Cruise around the island.  This little pink boat held about 40 people and took us to different areas: a cliff to go cliff jumping, a private beach, & a bat cave, and of course there were activites on board.  Such an entertaining boat ride…we all definitely bonded during those 6 hours!  :)

As soon as we got back from the cruise, all of us jumped into the huge, warm hot-tub (which is the size of a pool) since we were so cold from being wet all day! (Hence why I am still sick).  And after that, it was Pink Toga Party Time!!!  The Pink Palace provided everyone with pink sheets, but without any form of safety pins…bad idea.  Haha.  But Alex and I managed to use up all my bobbi pins, which worked successfully, for her.  There was another amazing dinner, Greek dancing, fire shows, plate smashing on our heads, & ouzo shots.  The best night yet. :)

The next day we relaxed some more and got ready for our loooong bus ride to Athens! Woo!  It was an overnight ride, in apparently a sauna.  EVERYONE on the bus kept yelling to the bus driver to turn the heat off.  But it was off…there was something wrong with the radiator.  But ironically enough, I was freezing the entire time on the bus, getting weird looks from everyone else as they took off layers and layers of clothes.  Pretty funny.  Either way, no one slept… and we arrived in Athens.

Such a beautiful day at a beautiful place!  I loved everything about Athens, even though I had been many years ago, but don’t remember too much.  As soon as we arrived, our hotel rooms weren’t ready, so we all went on a tour looking the way we had for the past nine hours on the “bus ride from hell”.  It was actually pretty hilarious now that I think about it.  But the tour was great!  We saw the Olympic Stadium of 1896, Zeus’ Temple, and of course, the Acropolis! 

That night was the “all you can eat and drink wine” dinner that our program provided for us.  Unfortunately, my table didn’t fit inside with the other hundred kids, and we had to eat outside, while constantly being pestered by “rose men” & “trinket selling people”.  You know, the people on the streets that try selling you useless little toys? Yea, them.  Haha.  But we were all playing along and having a good time.  We ate a bunch of food like Greek salad, french fries?, pita & tzatziki sauce,  chicken, souvlaki,… Delicious!  After dinner, we all walked to this area close by that was full of clubs and bars. SO much fun!

Basically, those were the highlights of the trip.  Two nights later, we were back on the cruise ship going to Italy.  Everyone was so sad to leave after an amazing week in Greece, but at least we can all still hang out in Florence!  It was such a great experience, & I would go back in a second!  The leaders, Pink Palace hosts, & all the other students were what made the trip one I will never forget.  Hey, maybe I’ll just come back for Spring Break next year!! :)     

It’s been a while, and I’m sorry for that. But while you’ve all been constantly checking my blog on a daily basis (don’t lie), I’ve been having the most amazing few weeks!! I just got back from the best Spring Break in Greece, but for now, I will update you on my adventures in France that occurred the week before!

I went on another school trip with about 120 people to the French Riviera, Nice, Monte Carlo, Monaco, Cannes, Eze, and St. Paul.  The first day was spent in the Riviera area and the weather was beautiful!! Our bus guide said that the area of Monaco is known to be the “California” of France, and I would have to agree.  There were palm trees everywhere…the first ones I’d seen since being abroad.  That brought me back to my happy place.  A few towns later we went to Nice, which was absolutely gorgeous.  It was so lively and colorful! Probably my favorite of the cities.  That night, we had a ”typical French” meal that was included with the group trip: salad, chicken & vegetables, and dessert.  Little did we know that the vegetables were french fries, and the poor vegetarians at my table enjoyed a nice French meal of fries.  You can probably imagine our disappointment, considering everywhere we ate in France consisted of amazing food!  Just because the word French is in the title, doesn’t mean it’s FRENCH!

Wooo..ok I’ve calmed down now. haha. Day number two was a less exciting one considering the weather wasn’t as warm and we had less time to venture around.  Cannes was probably my least favorite of the cities.  It was really beautiful, but just not very interesting to me.  Maybe because all of the stores were closed?  But Eze was a cute little town.  There we went to a perfume factory called Fragonard.  It was interesting learning about the production of perfume.  We were even given a little test to see how well we could distinguish different scents.  Not as easy as you would think though!  And that is why it takes 10 years for someone to become a professional perfumist. So crazy.

The following weekend Alex and I went to Paris! If our school didn’t have such a strict attendance policy, we probably would have just stayed in France after the Riviera trip.  But no. We had class.  Who knew that’s what studying abroad meant?

So the story starts like this:

We are students, therefore, saving money is key.  So instead of taking a direct flight into Paris, we had a few more things to do first.  We had to take the train to Pisa in order to get a flight to France, since Florence’s airport isn’t very large.  After getting to Pisa we had to take another train to the airport.  Once we got there, we waited around for our RyanAir flight, which was only two hours.  Then, landed in the Beauvais Airport, which is in a city outside of Paris.  From there we took an hour long bus ride to Paris.  Nope, we’re not there yet because we still needed to take the metro to our hostel.  I’m getting tired just thinking about this all over again!  Finally, we get to our hostel after almost 8 hours of traveling.  Little did I know, we would be in for a funny treat.  So Alex and I walk into our room around 11:30pm and both of the other ladies are sleeping.  The lights are off so we try to get ready for bed as quickly and quietly as possible.  Of course, we have both top bunks…icing on the cake.  After trying to sleep for about 5 minutes, we hear this horrible noise.  WAAAAARRGGGGGHHHHOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!  (hard to imitate a sound on here)  I kept asking myself, what the heck is in this room!?!?! The lady under Alex screamed the loudest, scariest noise I had ever heard!  And the fact that I was finally falling asleep when it happened contributed to my mini heart attack.  Oh man…it was a little awkward knowing that the other three of us had definitely heard this noise, but we were all too confused to acknowledge it.  So I tried to fall asleep…  The next morning, I’m woken up by yet another weird sound.  Thump drag thump drag thump draggggg.  And then I hear the voice of what sounded like an 11 year old British girl.  When I looked down from my bed, it all came together.  Apparently, this British lady had broken her ankle falling down the stairs of the Louvre the day before.  That explains the thud noise.  As for the scream???  We think that Alex accidentally shook the whole bed at one point in which the lady hit her ankle.  But there is no way the lady knew that she screamed so loudly.  Maybe it really was night terrors. Haha.

I’m realizing that this post is getting pretty ridiculously long, so I’ll speed things up.  So for the next three days in Paris, Alex and I wandered the city eating Nutella and banana crepes every chance we got.  We visited the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, went to the Notre Dame, and went to the very tippy top of the Eiffel Tower.  That was absolutely amazing! We went at night so we could see everything lit up and what a view! Of course, me being scared of heights made it hard for me to walk to the edge or even look out the window of the cable car…but I eventually made it to the top!  So worth it!

After that long trip back home and midterms that following week, it was so nice knowing that Greece was waiting for me in a few days!  And that story comes next. :)

So a few weeks ago, I went with my friends Joe and Sarah to the Ferragamo Shoe Museum, which is located right under the store!  It was soooooo awesome.  I couldn’t take pictures so check out the website: http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/Ferragamo_museum.html

Basically, Ferragamo is known for making lasts (wooden moldings of a persons foot) in order to have the best fit possible.  In the museum were lasts of celebrities like Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren,…

Here are some pics I stole from the site :)

                 I want this shoe color wheel!!!!

Happy St. Patty’s!! Hope you’re all enjoying it..while I study for my last midterm…boo. But then it’s Spring Breakkkkk! :)

But what is it exactly that the Romans do?  I can’t answer this question or even tell you why I kept repeating this phrase randomly throughout the trip…but I do know that Rome is one of the most amazing cities that I have ever visited!

It was a jam-packed weekend of adventures and fun that started as soon as we arrived on Friday.  First thing we did was check into “The Yellow Hostel”, also known as the sexiest hostel in Rome (don’t know why), but it wasn’t bad at all…especially since we made friends with our Brazilian and Canadian roommates!  Later that day we ventured around town and visited the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain.  The fountain, to me, is like the Duomo of Florence; it left me in complete awe.  We took some nice group shots by the fountain, had some gelato, and kept walking around Rome.  And when you didn’t think things could get more beautiful, the sun went down and the city lights illuminated the streets and buildings. 

                 The girls! [At some random fountain. Trevi is below.]

[photo courtesy of Sarah B.! since my battery died right at this moment. sad day.]

The next day was craziness considering this was our only full day in Rome, and there was so much to see in such little time.  So Alex and I got up early and took the metro to the Vatican City (which is actually its own city-state).  After getting a nice student discount and barely having to wait in line, we walked through the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and of course, St. Peter’s Basilica.  Everything was unreal.  I couldn’t believe I was so close to the Pope!  Too bad I didn’t get to see him…guess I’ll just have to go back again one day!

After taking over the Vatican City, we rushed back to our hostel to meet up for a walking tour of Ancient Rome.  It ended up being the BEST tour considering our tour guide was about 24 (his name was Tad & he wishes to be the first white American rapper of Italy haha) and there was only one other person with us on the tour!  Worked our perfectly.  So basically, I learned everything about the history of Rome in just a few hours.  Since I’ve never taken any Renaissance Art or Roman History classes (or paid attention during them), this was all pretty new to me.  Tad was great because he presented the history in a simpler manner by using “college people” terms, so I was actually really interested in everything he was talking about.  Three and a half hours went by amazingly fast.  We covered Circus Maximus, the Palatine Hill- according to the legend, this was the location of the cave where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf that kept them alive; Mouth of Truth- which is mostly known for its appearance in the Audrey Hepburn movie Roman Holiday, and is originally thought to have been a manhole cover.  Now all it really does is take pictures with crowds of Chinese.  Then we visited an apartment building that looks like a smaller version of the Colosseum where Sophia Loren currently lives!  Pretty sweet.  Then we visited the Pantheon, where Tad told us some scandalous and interesting stories about the Romans buried in it.  Our next stop was the Ruins of the Roman Empire, which was so amazing to see after learning how much went on in that exact place centuries ago. It’s crazy to even imagine!  And last, but definitely not least, was the beautiful & majestic Colosseum.  Tad took us up to a hill so we could experience the Colosseum at its finest.  Wow is all I can say! Unfortunately, by the time our tour ended it was closed for inside visits, but don’t worry! We were able to go inside it the next day! Enough of me babbling…here are some pictures.

All in all, roaming around Rome was a success, and will be a weekend that I will never forget.

So last Saturday morning started off not so great.  Traveling with a group of 10 people is really difficult, (I learned the hard way) but still tons of fun. But basically, half of us missed the train.  I was in that half.  Our entire day was put on hold until half number 2 (as I will refer to us) arrived in Perugia.  We met up with half number 1 and started our wandering…in the rain, of course.  But Perugia was beautiful.  I thought it was very similar to Florence, except for the fact that it is the chocolate capital of Italy!!! 3 thumbs up!  I definitely got a nice heavy bag of chocolates that somehow already disappeared. My belly maybe? Who knows…

Ahhh! I want some more it was so good! But sadly, that journey ended quickly because we had to catch the metro to take us back to the train to take us to Assisi! Woo!..minus the running.

We finally arrive in Assisi after a nice, short train ride.  Although it was a still raining, the sun was nice enough to come out and join us.  Everything just lit up beautifully!  And the rainbows (yes, there were two) added to the majestic feeling of this cute, quaint town.

After walking around and taking pictures with the rainbows, we ended up at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (the place where St. Francis died). We stayed there for a while, just sitting in on the mass, catching little phrases here and there.  It was so gorgeous on the inside, but especially the outside. 

Breathtaking :)