I've been here for more then two months?!

It's crazy crazy crazy to think that I've been abroad for longer then two months (ten weeks to be exact). The longest I've ever been away from home is less then a month when I'm up at school which is only an hour away, but now I'm separated from home by 7 different time zones! But for some reason it doesn't really seem that far away, probably a little help from the internet.

Since I haven't posted on here since my weekend trip to Rome, which was way back in February I thought I would do a quick re-cap since then and talk about my spring break week in the next post!

The week after my Rome trip was pretty laid back, which was a nice change.  But exciting things were happening in Arezzo that weekend! On Friday, February 15th Arezzo celebrates the Madonna Conforto (Mary of Comfort) where they have a big festival mainly around the Duomo and inside. Businesses donate flowers and line the interior cathedral with big flower arrangements, which makes the church smell amazing! The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, drinking coffee, and probably studying ;)

On Tuesday I was ready to expect Aubrey from the train station after my Italian class! She got into town in the afternoon and I gave her a walking tour before my meeting at 4:30.  Afterwards we cooked a typical Italian dinner of pasta, cheese, bread, and wine.  The next day we headed off to Florence for our first art history class trip in the morning where we saw Michelangelo and Galateo's tombs! And also Masaccio's Trinity in the Santa Maria Novella Church. The art historian in me was freaking out by this point.

The next day Aubrey and I took a noon train to Rome for the weekend! On Thursday we hit up all of the monuments: colosseum, piazza novana, pantheon, and trevi fountain.  This time I got to go inside of the Pantheon and see the Trevi fountain at night. I highly recommend seeing the fountain at night, so pretty! The next morning we got in line early to go to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel! The line went by pretty quickly with great people watching to keep us entertained. I could not wait till the end to see the Sistine Chapel so we went there first instead of last.  Every time I saw a sign directing us to the chapel I got more and more excited and then finally we were there! We probably spent about a half hour just inside the chapel, just gawking at how incredible it is.  Tears were probably shed not gonna lie.  After spending time in there we fought an uphill battle against the crowd to get to the rest of the museum where we spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon in. The rest of the day consisted of pizza eating, walking around Rome, and ending the night by seeing the Colosseum at night! On Saturday we were pretty exhausted, but we snuck one more church in to see Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. Again, more art history freak outs for me.

On Monday I was saying goodbye to Aubrey at the train station, which always stinks. But that night we played Italians vs. Americans at a game of volleyball. Let's just say that I'm out of practice... The rest of the week was pretty chill and I stayed in Arezzo for the weekend because the Antique Market was in town, which meant lots of great people watching!

By this time we are in the first week of March and that weekend was my trip to London! Katie and I left Arezzo at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday morning to catch a plane out of Rome and landed in London at 2 p.m.! We met a really nice girl from Florence that helped us get into the city center of London at half the time! Around 4 p.m. Katie checked into her hotel and we met up with Hilary! I was so excited to see a familiar face. She took us to Chipotle since we haven't had mexican food since January. It. Was. Delicious! And we finished that night by seeing Wicked!

The next morning while Hilary was in class her friend, Kelsey took Katie and I around London to see St. Paul's cathedral, the Millennium Bridge, and Abbey Road! That afternoon we met back up with Hilary and Jackie to head to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. I could literally write an entire blog post just about that, but I will keep it brief :) The tour started with us being in an auditorium where we watched a brief clip about the tour, the screen rose, and there was the Great Hall Doors. THE GREAT HALL DOORS. By this time I was flipping out. The doors opened and I walked into the great hall, the actually one they filmed! Total fangirl moment. The rest of the tour was amazing to, every time I turned around I saw something that made me freak out. I probably looked like a fool. Halfway through the tour you could get a drink of butterbeer. SO GOOD. Then the rest of tour consisted of the more detailed work that went into the making of the movies. Including the actual Hogwarts that they filmed! This thing was huge, which ensued more freak-out moments. Afterwards we ate at a cheap place called Hunger Inn where I had my first burger since I've been abroad! Not as good as what I can get in the States, but it'll do until May.

Saturday was total tourist day! Hilary took me around to all of the big monuments and landmarks in London. For lunch we had a traditional fish and chips along with Apple Cider :) For dinner we had another go at Chipotle, why not! And then met up with more of her friends at the Metropolitan Bar then finished the night by seeing Parliament and the Eye lit up at night! It was a perfect weekend in London!

On Sunday I met back up with Katie where it took us several tube, train, and plane rides to finally get back to Arezzo! It's always so nice getting back home, but reality hit whenever I had to start studying for midterms :( I won't go into that.

This brings us up to Spring Break where my mom and sister made the journey to come see me! Here are some pictures of this past month to entertain you while I work on my next post about spring break!

Candy stand outside of the Duomo for the Madonna Conforto Festival 

Michelangelo'stomb! 

Masaccio Trinity 

Pantheon at night

Colosseum at night!

Ajax and Achilles Playing Dice!

Sistine Chapel taken from inside my purse haha

Trevi fountain at night!

Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa! 

WICKED!

The Millennium Bridge

Abbey House on Abbey Road 

One of the coolest props

SO GOOD

It's truly magical 

Can't get enough of those double-deckers 

Sotto il cielo di Roma

This weekend I made my first overnight trip to Rome, Hostel and everything! I was a little worried about it at first but it ended up being fantastic. For this trip I was the one calling the shots which is difficult for me because I'm never the one to make decisions. But I was the "girl with the map." Once you figure out how the subway (metro) system works, Rome is a synch to figure out. But getting to that point proved to be quite difficult.

We left comfortable Arezzo around 10 a.m. on Saturday and arrived at the Roma Termini station a little before 1. First obstacle, finding our hostel.  I intentionally booked a hostel that was very near the train station, which ended up being a great idea. It wasn't in the most populated area but that made it much cheaper. After asking for directions, the first of many times, we were walking up to our tiny little hostel that could pass for a normal apartment building.  We checked in, got our keys, found our rooms, and then we were off to explore the city!

The two things I wanted to see were the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain.  The colosseum was either a half an hour walk or a 5 minute subway ride, we chose the shorter route. But by the time we actually found the right station and line, it had been a lot longer then 30 minutes. We finally found the correct line that would take us to the "Colosseo" station. During the ride I had mentioned that as soon as I stepped out of the station I wanted to see the Colosseum, and I did. You literally walk up from under the ground and BAM there's the Colosseum. It took my breath away.  Seeing well-known objects in person is one of the most surreal moments, I cannot describe the feeling. We opted out of actually going inside to avoid waiting in a 3 hour line so we just walked around it, marveled, took lots of pictures, and marveled more.

Around the Colosseum is pretty spectacular also. Right next to it is the Arc of Constantine, Arc of Titus, Palatino, Cico Massimo, and so on. So many historic sights are in that area, I just wish I knew a lot more about them. After spending some time in BC Rome we walked up the street to see the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II building, also known as the "Wedding Cake" building.  This was the largest building I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen big buildings, the Empire State Building has nothing on this thing. I might have strained my neck from looking up so much, it was just so beautiful. But it was time to see my next stop, the Trevi Fountain. We got turned around a few times but ended up seeing the Teatro Marcello, which looks like a miniature Colosseum. Realizing we were going in the exact opposite direction, we turned around and got to see all of the beautiful buildings again!

I'm pretty sure I squealed whenever I saw the fountain, it was spectacular and I never wanted to leave. The piazza around the fountain was swarming with people, but we pushed our way through to be right up next to the water.  I grabbed my penny and what happened? I didn't know what to wish for! I had been so excited to see it that I hadn't even thought about what my wish was going to be! I finally thought of one and threw in my penny. Hopefully it'll come true! After we all made our wishes we were off to see the Pantheon, Piazza Novana, and Spanish Steps. Dinner proved to be very difficult to find because we are cheap college students. We were going to settle for just an apertivo, but the place we found had the worst selection of appetizers but we had already ordered our drinks so it was to late to leave.  Liz and I were still starving so we found a cute little restaurant near our hostel that didn't have a coperto (cover charge) and they were playing the local soccer match also!

The next day we packed up, checked out, and were off to see the Pope! Finding the Vatican was very easy because you just follow the crowd.  We made it in the Piazza around 11 so we spent time looking around, taking pictures, and people watching.  Seriously some of the best people watching ever. Then finally at noon, the windows open, curtains are drawn, the crowd goes crazy, and then the Pope steps into the window for everyone to see him! He was very very tiny because his window is really high up, but we still saw him and got to hear his weekly address. It was such an amazing experience. 15 minutes later we were attempting to leave the Vatican to go back to Rome. Picture thousands of people trying to leave the same place at the same time through the tiniest entryways. It was poor planning. But we made our way through the crowd, back into Rome, on the subway, ran to our train, and barely made it on the train before it pulled out of the station!

This trip was definitely a growing experience for me. From picking the hostel, train times, what to see, and where to eat. It was all in my hands, which is a lot of pressure! I think I'll let someone else take charge of the next trip.

Lessons learned:
-Always have a plan and a back-up plan
-Don't eat at places next to important monuments or Piazzas (you will get charged 5 Euro for a cappuccino)
-Always have a decisive person with you
-Plan out the train schedules into your schedule
-Don't wear cute shoes that are "sort of comfortable"
-Be a tourist first, then a knowledgeable traveler
-Always ask if there's a cover charge

Things I ate and drank:
-Margarita pizza (I always have a pizza everywhere I go to see who has the best)
-Weird appetizers
-THE BEST PENNE PASTA w/ Zucchini
-House wine from the best penne pasta place
-5 Euro cappuccino with an incredible view of the Colosseum
-3 Euro cappuccino and my first muffin since I've been here!

Rome pizza. I ate it all. No regrets. 

First sites of the Colosseum. Truly remarkable 

Arc of Constantine 

Best view you can get!

"Cake" Building. Pretty incredible 

I seriously almost cried whenever I saw this. 

Fav

Throw what you know 

We went to another Country! 

The Pope! He's up there don't worry :) 

Just a Reminder

Sometimes I need to remind myself how lucky I am....

Today wasn't the best of days. I probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something, but I was almost late to class with nothing in my belly, I was not dressed warmly enough for this weather today, I basically sat in front of my computer all day looking up trips/getting excited about trips/getting bummed out about trips I can't take, found out I probably can't go to ACL this year, and I'm kicking myself for not buying tickets to the Mumford and Sons concert in Florence when they were only 30 euros.  They are now $130.

So I needed to blog about the things I'm EXTREMELY grateful for, because I need this reminder especially today.

-I got to message my mom, dad, and sister today
-I got gelato tonight
-I'm in the process of planning a trip to Ireland
-I live in Italy
-I'm going to Rome on Saturday
-I might see Aubrey in a few weeks
-I'm going to London in a month
-I love all of my classes
-I get to see my Mom and Sister in a month!
-I'm going to an Of Monsters and Men concert in a month
-I'm going to see the Avett Brothers in June
-I live in Italy
-I have the best support system back at home


So definitely the good stuff outweighs the sometimes bad days, but I just needed a little reminder.

Thanks for letting me complain for a little bit, I promise the next post will be full of awesome things because I'm going to Rome on Saturday!!! :)

You Had Me at Firenze

Today I went to Florence, here it is called Firenze which I think is a much prettier way of saying it. The town is just fabulous, much different then the little town of Arezzo that I'm used to. I'll take you through my day, so I can re-live it and hopefully everyone can feel like they were there also!

Got up early to get on a train, met up with a friend, train ride, arrive in Florence, walk around, walk around, BOOM there's the Duomo.  Seriously, you just walk around the corner and there it is.  

So after staring at this huge huge building, being haggled by a gypsy wearing wedge heels, maybe shedding a couple of tears whenever I saw the Baptistery of St. John doors (one of my favorite Renaissance artworks), it was time to grab a cappuccino and pastry. 

We found this really cute cafe right next to Piazza Della Signoria. This was one of the prettiest drinks I've ever had so I needed a picture. The barista gave me a weird look when I took the picture so I said "It's pretty!" then he smiled and straightened his tie, thanking me for calling him pretty! Some people just have the best humor. Haha 

After breakfast it was a trip to see the canal and then off to the leather market to meet up with more friends. All of the vendors kept telling us that for us everything is free. Yeah right. I didn't end up buying anything, but a few people did some price haggling. 

The rest of the afternoon we walked and shopped around. 

Some of our group in front of the Duomo 

Next was to make the climb up to Piazza Michelangelo to see the most beautiful view of the city.  We luckily made it right before sun set! The sightseeing and people watching is pretty great, this brings so many tourists so you get all kinds of people. We were even treated with a small concert going on! A man playing acoustic guitar singing some classic songs, like Elton John and The Beetles, in Italian. I tried singing along, but it didn't work out. 

I could spend all day, everyday here

After walking back down the hill it was dark and time to go back home. We made it to the train station and within 10 minutes we were on a train headed home, seriously the best timing ever. Getting back to Arezzo was the best feeling ever. I love the big city feel of Florence, but it is so nice coming back to a small quite area that I'm familiar with. 

I'll have to post more pictures on facebook later, I think I took around 200! But right now I'm exhausted!    

Ciao and buona notte! 

A Day of Firsts

In a nutshell, today was absolutely crazy busy. It gets its own blog post! So let's start from the beginning:

Today was the first day of classes. This past week we have been blessed with no classes and almost everyone forgot we were here to actually study instead of hanging out and eating delicious food...bummer.

First class of the day was Italian. Our teacher is born and raised from Arezzo so she knows her stuff. We worked mostly on the alphabet and how to pronounce letters....I definitely need to look over that before I go to bed. Right after class I went to grab a cappuccino at Coffee O' Clock! Probably the closet to America tasting coffee you can get here. After being haggled by a traveling salesman for about 5 minutes, I headed out to go to the grocery store.  I thought shopping in America was difficult, try it when everything is in Italian. It consisted of a lot of "I think this is ham?" Thankfully I have my handy pocket dictionary for use.

The biggest difference between grocery stores here is they charge you for plastic bags, so you have to bring your own.  Which is cool for them being eco-friendly, but not if you forget your bag-pack at home :(

After shopping I had another class at 1; Italian Culture through Literature and Cinema. It should be a very interesting class with a LOT of reading. I have to read 15 chapters by next Monday. YIKES!

Since I'm an avid coffee drinker I need to save money on buying it at cafes everyday, so after class I went to the home goods store to buy a moca maker and back to the grocery store for things I forgot. On the way back home I bought my first bottle of wine!

Pinot Grigio from Michalengelo's cafe

After all the grocery shopping I had to rush back to school for a Student Advisor Council (SAC) meeting where we had elections, and I got elected to be secretary! 

The rest of the night consisted of cooking my first actual meal (with the stove and everything), buying my first gelato, and actually doing assigned reading before class! 

Tomorrow should be a pretty adventurous day as well, with more classes, food making, and attempting at learning this language I'm surrounded by. 

I'll leave you with some pictures in the meantime! 

Spinach ravioli with pesto sauce for dinner :)

First gelato! Nutella and a Cream flavor. Super delicious.

Falling in love with the Tuscan sun

Well I made it! Which I'm sure most of you know already.  These past five days have been the most exhausting, yet incredible days ever. So I'll take you day by day to share what I've been up to!

Sunday/Monday

The 8 and a half hour flight wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I got to my seat first (I sat in the middle section on the isle, it was perfect!), shortly after an Italian couple came to sit next to me.  I think they argued for about 5 minutes who was going to sit next to the weird American girl. The husband didn't win the argument, so I got to enjoy a long flight next to strangers who didn't speak a lick of English! I'm pretty sure about 25% of the people on that flight were not Italian. There was even a nun on my flight, so I knew I was okay :) 

I finally arrived in Rome, well really a half-hour outside of Rome. I got my bag just fine, and passport control wasn't as near bad as I thought it would be.  After that I was walking to the exit and saw the most beautiful thing, an OU in Arezzo staff member holding an OU sign. It was the most relieving thing yet. Since I was 1 of 5 early arrivals I didn't have to wait at all to make the drive to Arezzo! Around 2 hours later we arrived in my new home. Getting there was interesting, but that's for another story. 

The rest of the day consisted of finding wifi, finding an ATM, and finding food.  All of which I did on the street I live on, Corso Italia! 

Tuesday

In the morning a staff member came to our apartment to basically teach us how things work, nothing much different then normal apartments.  Afterwards a couple of my roommates and I walked around town and ran into someone in our program! We found a grocery store (the wrong one and more expensive one) and we loved it when they started playing Bruno Mars and Coldplay music! 

Later that afternoon we met up with our group to do a walking tour of Arezzo.  Kaydee, the Resident Advisor, showed us all around the town and we went to see the most amazing view of the city. I'll post pictures later :) The tour ended in our study center, where all of our classes are held.  The place is so pretty and it's just for us! For dinner, Lucio, one of the staff members cooked us his famous ragu dishes! Then we were off for our very first gelato! I didn't buy any myself, but one of the girls couldn't finish hers so free gelato for me! It was pistachio :)

Wednesday/Thursday

These days were full of orientations/filling out paperwork/more orientation sessions/more filling out paperwork 

But on Wednesday we had our welcome dinner at Antica Fonte Restaurant. It. was. delicious. Seriously one of the best meals ever. I could go back there and have a full meal with just the bruschetta.

Friday

This brings us up to today! In the morning we had our first Getting to Know Arezzo class where we went around the town to find places to buy meat, cheese, bread, chocolate, and then finally to the grocery store. We learned that you have to wear a plastic glove to handle the fruit, you cannot touch the fruit in the grocery store with bare hands! Afterwards we toured around the UNISI campus which is the local college in Arezzo. We can use their library to study in and eat in their cafeteria :)

Tonight we are doing a Faculty-in-Residence Progressive Dinner! 

I hope to post more then just once a week since there's so much going on! Stay tuned for pictures of my apartment/town!

Ciao! 

Is this really happening?!??

I cannot believe it. I only have less then four days left in the States until May! All of my deadlines, applications, reservations will finally be put into use.

Everyone keeps asking me how I feel, and honestly I think I'm feeling every single emotion possible at the same exact time.  Whenever I look at pictures of my apartment or of my town I get excited.  Whenever I start to think of packing I get flustered.  Whenever I have to say goodbye to friends I get extremely sad. Everything is just so overwhelming, but fantastic at the same time.  So far I've gotten so much out of this experience and I'm not even there yet!

These next few days bring more frustrating attempts at packing (or just looking at my suitcase), some of the hardest goodbyes, and every single appointment I could squeeze in. This will probably be my last post until I'm in Italy (unless I get bored at my layover in Philly).

Please please please send thoughts and prayers for my safe travels!!!