Fiesole and Sicily

We just got home from Sicily, and it is about time I hit the books because we have mid-term exams this week. It is weird how the school plans mid-terms because we still have classes all week, which makes it even more stressful. I am just relieved that I dropped my Wine Tasting class and don't have to worry about that exam. Yes, Jill, I dropped Wine Tasting because I didn't feel like it was worth my time. The professor spoke barely any English, which made the three-hour class even harder to sit through and understand. I am learning enough about wine outside of class. :)

Last Thursday, Pot, Samantha and I went to Fiesole, which is a little town in the foothills of Florence (picture below). It is a 20-minute bus ride up the mountain, and it brings you to a quaint little town that is so quiet, relaxing and calm. Of course in the middle of our bus ride the bus broke down and the impatient Italians were throwing their arms everywhere in the air (reminded me of my father!), which gave us a clue that something was wrong. We met a woman on the bus who is from California and took her business to Florence. She is a chiropractor doctor and was very nice. We met another old woman on the bus who brought her dog with her, and she spoke with us in Italian and loved that we wanted to pet her dog!

The three of us took a hike through Fiesole and just sat, taking in the views. Fiesole is a very popular spot to watch sunsets. I am sad I didn't get to bring Mark there when he was here becuase we would have had a lot of fun hiking through it and watching the sunset. But anyways, we hiked up the entire mountain and to the spot of Leonardo Da Vinci's "flight," which is famous because he flew off of the mountain from the platform. I didn't know this story, but apparently he wanted to see if he could fly, so he made wings for himself and flew off the mountain - kind of inspired the first airplane. We met an older couple on the mountain, who had a puppy and we stopped to pet it (of course). The couple was so nice and talking to us in Italian, which we love because it helps us practice. After our hike and busride back to Florence, we passed out becuase it was a long afternoon! To the right is a picture of Samantha and me in Fiesole, with Florence in the background!

On Friday, Pot, Rebekka, Stachay and I went to Sicily. We flew into Trapani and stayed there because it was the cheaper and most convenient flight. We had no idea that Trapani (or Sicily in general) was big and more modern than the other cities we have visited. We figured this out when we walked out of the airport and there were highways surrounding us, clueing us into the fact that we couldn't walk to our hotel. We hopped in a taxi, which took us 30 minutes to our hotel. We were really skeptical about our hotel at first because the "receptionist" is an actual cafe - Cafe Noir. They were so confused when we told them we had a reservation for two nights and we gave them our confirmation number, but they still acted like they had no idea people were staying there that weekend. We figured out that Sicily is pretty deserted at this time of year and tourists are rare. They took us back outside and into a door that looked like a trap door, which led to a little alley, and then stairs. Once we got ot the stairs, we were relieved because it started to actually look like a hotel. Our rooms were perfect and probably the best we have had yet. Anyways, it worked out perfectly fine, but it was a humorous situation looking back on it.

After we settled into our hotel, we attempted to find the port and take a boat to the Favignana island. My tour book said it was a beautiful island that is an "Italian playground in the summer." Well, the tour book also failed to tell us that it is completely deserted at this time of year. We tried to find a bus to take us to the beaches on the island, and when we figured out where to go to catch a bus, we found it parked in a corner around the street. A picture of the sunset on the island is below - it was absolutely beautiful! Literally, no one was on the island except a few natives, so we just watched a beautiful sunset - seriously the most beautiful I have ever seen - over the water. Meanwhile, I decided I wanted to pet another dog. I knew that petting random dogs would come to bite me in the butt one day, and this was the time. The dog jumped all over me, and I thought he was playing around with me as a puppy until he started biting me everywhere. I have a bite mark on the side of my knee and am going to get it checked out this week, according to Mom's (and Mark's) orders. It was a hilarious scene, looking back on it, because Stachay is deathly afraid of dogs, Rebekka ws running from it and Pot was somewhat laughing and telling me she had no idea what to do. We couldn't catch a ferry back to Trapani until another two hours, so we sat in a quaint pizza shop and had some pizza and wine until the ferry came.

On Saturday, we decided to sleep in and then take a bus to Palermo, which was the best part of the weekend. The scenery of the bus trip was absolutely beautiful. It had a lot of mountains, rolling hills and sea - very picturesque. I wish the States was as pretty as Italy is! We spent the day in Palermo and went to Monreale, which is about eight kilometers outside of Palermo. We went there because my guide book talked about a beautiful cathedral it has, as well as a beautiful view of Palermo (picture of Pot, me Rebekka and Stachay in Monreale with a view of Palermo - to the left). The cathedral was very beautiful on the inside, which had a mixture of Gothic, Byzantine and other styles. We ate at a little cafe on its patio (it was such good weather!), where a bird proceeded to poop on Stacey, while we were ordering our dessert from the waiter. It was absolutely hilarious, and obvious that the waiter didn't know if it was offensive for him to laugh or not. Eventually, he started laughing and making fun of Stacey the rest of the time. On our bus ride back from Monreale to Palermo, Rebekka got in trouble with the bus ticket people becuase we didn't realize we had to buy another ticket for the way down. Somehow Rebekka was the only one who got in trouble for it, but the rest of us did not. A nice girl behind Rebekka her ticket and everything was fine, but, again, it is a funny situation to look back on. We got back to Palermo and asked our hotel "receptionist" for a good Italian restaurant. They took us to a restaurant around the corner, which was absolutely delicious! I had a calzone, but couldn't eat all of it because it was HUGE.. I could only eat about 1/4th of it! I felt bad, especially because the waiter asked me if I liked it. I told him it was "benissimo!" and that I was full. We really need to learn how to say "I'm full" in Italian.

Today we just walked around near the port and stopped to get pastries at the pastry shops. We learned that Sicily has the most amazing pastries in all of Italy. We probably eahc had about five per day. Yummy!

Now I am back in amazing Florence and will be spending the rest of this week studying for mid-terms. I am not too worried about them and know that it will all be fine. I have great teachers who want us to do well and are just great in general. On Saturday we are off to England, and then to Ireland for the week! We are thrilled. After that, Mom and Daddy will be here! This month is going by way too fast, and I know that that means the rest of this semester will go by even faster, which sucks.

I don't ever want this semester to end!!!!!!!!!

Mark's visit!

I just got in from a three-mile run during a beautiful day in Florence. The weather has turned to spring for the most part, and it is absolutely beautiful. It makes me never want to go inside and it makes me want to run every single day. I love running through this city because it still amazes me and I still can't believe I am here. The Italians look at me so strangely when I am running in shorts and a T-shirt (in 65-degree weather) and they are still in their fur coats and hats. Now I know where Grandma gets it from...!

Mark finally made his trip to Florence last Friday and was here until this past Saturday. I picked him up at the Rome train station and it felt so good to finally see him! We took the train back to Florence, got settled in the apartment and then went to my favorite panini shop where we both had a turkey, salami, cheese and pesto panini. We then walked towards the Arno (the river) and I showed him the Ponte Vecchio. He came at perfect timing because the weather suddenly turned to spring that day! Lucky him! After that, he was pretty whiped out because of all of the traveling so we went back to teh apartment and he slept for a few hours while I hung out with Pot. Later, we went to Dante's Pizzeria with an entire group of friends so he could meet everyone and have a yummy Italian meal. (Pot, Mariul, Niema, Maredith, Shannon, Samantha, Lindsay, Austin, David, Stacey and Rebekka were all there.) Marielle and Stacey told them that it was my birthday so we could get free dessert... haha... they brought us an entire cheesecake and actually sang happy birthday - it was a lot of fun! We went to Red Garter afterwards and hung out there, but a lot of our friends had to go on the Milan trip for the weekend with the school program so we didn't stay out late because they had to get up at like 4 a.m. It was a great first day in Florence and I was so excited to bring Mark to see the rest of the city!

On Saturday we went to the Central Market so I could show it to Mark. We decided that we would make dinner at my apartment that night and to buy all of the ingredients in the Market too. He also bought me pink tulips in the Market - my favorite flower! They are sitting on my desk right now and looking beautiful! I then took Mark to the Duomo so we could climb it. However, there was a REALLY long line of tourists waiting to climb it! I couldn't believe that the tourist season came so quickly. I had never seen a line waiting to get into the Duomo before. We didn't want to wait on the line, so instead we climbed the Bell Tower of the Duomo, which I hadn't even done yet. I think it was about 267 steps to climb. We got to the top and viewed the entire city, which is still unbelievable to me. Mark said he never realized that Italy was so mountainous, which I didn't either until I got here. You are able to see the mountains in the view and the Arno and every single building from the view. It is still amazing to me and Mark enjoyed it too. We then went to Piazza de Michelangelo - the piazza on top of Florence where you can see EVERYTHING from the most beautiful platform. It is right in front of the Arno, which makes the view even prettier. We got so many great pictures in these locations! The one to the left is of us on top of the Bell Tower with Florence in the background. We later went back to my apartment and made my three-cheese chicken pasta with fresh cheese. It was really fun to cook together, and it was a new experience for Mark since he's never seen me cook before. I hope he was impressed ... and hope he doesn't get used to it (ha!)! Niema, Lindsay and Maredith came to hang out with us three at my apartment and we sat around our table with wine and talked until 4 in the morning! We had no idea it was getting that late, but we had a lot of fun together and I am glad that Mark got to know a lot of my close friends who I have met on this program.

On Sunday we traveled to Pisa so we could take a flight out to Paris. We got into Paris extremely late and honestly had no idea where we were going because we didn't know what the metro stop was for the hotel. Basically the only way to get around Paris is by the metro, which we figured out the hard way. Luckily we met four girls who are studying abroad in Paris for a year and they live near the hotel and were able to get us there very easly on the metro. They also gave us a lot of helpful advice for the metro system and getting around Paris. We got in extremely late and of course there was a McDonald's across the street from the hotel, so we went there and got a late dinner/snack since it was the only thing open at the time. On Monday we went to the Louvre where Mark had lots of fun being himself and immitating the statues (to the right) - go figure. The Louvre was exhausting for me (I try too hard to understand the art and appreciate it!), but we walked to Notre Dame since it was so close to where we were. On our walk to the Cathedral, we passed the Palais Royal (Royal Palace and the Palais Justice - the court! It was so pretty! The Notre Dame was really pretty on the inside as well and it had a lot of history to it ... there was Mass going on so we weren't able to see the Altar very well at the time. Mark bought his Mom a BEAUTIFUL rosary from there, which was so sweet and thoughtful of him! Right afterwards, we took the metro to the Arch de Triumph. We ended up being there at perfect timing because it was sunsent and we got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling and the entire city at sunset when we climbed the Arch. We got so many beautiful pictures (below)!! I vaguely remember doing this with my parents when I was younger, but I am so glad that I got to do all of this again and have a more vivid memory of it all for when I continue to get older. Mark and I then took a walk down Champs-Elysees, the famous street with designer stores and cafes. We stopped in one restaurant that looked appetizing and ate there for dinner. We sat outside in the patio with the little tables and chairs, all of which align in rows and face the sidewalk (which I remember from my first trip to Paris). I was sitting near the window to the restaurant and looked in and saw a RAT running across the floor in the restaurant! I was sooo disgusted because it would not go away! Mark said he had heard about cafes and restaurants always being dirty in Paris, so we didn't do anything about it and just continued to eat there. I ordered the BEST meal ever - a ham and cheese melt with an egg on top of it. It was DELICIOUS, and Mark loved it too! I continued to eat that the rest of the nights in Paris, and I ate tuna and egg sandwiches on baguette for lunch all of the days. Mark was so shocked to see me eating these things and said he never thought he'd see the day where I was eating ham and tuna. Hahah... I guess my taste buds are finally maturing. We also had chocolate crepes for dessert during a lot of the meals because France is famous for their crepes and they are soooo delicious. Marielle makes them in our apartment a lot and they are so good, so I knew what I was in for!

On Tuesday we went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed it. We only climbed it to the second floor because it was getting so cold the further we went up! It also got more and more expensive the further we wanted to go. The second floor was still an amazing view, but we couldn't imagine what it would look like from the very top. We had a great view of Champs de Mars, which is a huge field extending from the Eiffel Tower that used to be a battlefield. We also visited the Catacombs, which was a way different experience than the Catacombs in Rome. The Catacombs in Paris was sooooo much bigger and it had a LOT more history to it - including skeletal remains of the people who were buried there! I was so shocked that they still had those. The Catacombs weren't really discovered or open to the public until 2006, which was only three years ago, so that made me even more shocked that the skeletal remains were there. They had all of the bones stacked up as walls, even the skulls of people (picture to the right). It was a really interesting experience. Mark wouldn't let me touch the bones though. For some reason I really wanted to, even though it is so creepy. I bet there are so many ghosts in that place. At the end of the tour, they had to check everyone's purses because apparently they have problems with people stealing the bones and leaving with them. As we were walking out, I noticed that the security had taken a skull and other bones out from some teenagers' purses. Why would anyone want bones?

We ate dinner in the Latin Quarters for our last night because we heard that it was very beautiful at night time. As we were leaving the Latin Quarters we saw some amazing dancers on the street who were attracting a huge crowd. We stopped and watched them and were amazed and their talent and skill! We also stopped to view the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River from the bridge we had to cross. Paris is a beautiful city and no matter where you are it seems to have a beautiful view!

Overall I had a lot of fun in Paris, though I wasn't expecting much from it because of our last trip there. We didn't have a bad trip last time, but I don't remember much except that I was pick-pocketed as a 10-year-old. I also remember not eating anything there because of how picky I am. I also remember the French being extremely rude to us, which is not how I found them to be during this visit. They were actually very polite. One of the days we went to McDonald's to get a bottle of water and I was ordering, the cashier had apparently said "good evening" to me in French, but I didn't know that becuase I didn't know any French, so I just started ordering the water. I noticed he was staring at me and not even typing anything into the cash register and then he said something to me in French again. I turned to Mark, who of course was just sitting there laughing and not helping me figure out what this guy was saying to me in French, so I said "what?" He said something to me in French again, and then just said "Good evening. In France it is polite to greet people. We like being greeted. Good evening." Mark started laughing hysterically and I said I was sorry and I didn't know French and good evening to him too. It was interesting and embarrassing because he basically put me in my place and rolled his eyes at me as an American. I was expecting to encounter many more of those conversations with the French, but we did only once! Mark was supposed to help us with French when we needed it, but he wasn't much of a help because he couldn't remember any of it! Regardless, we got around perfectly fine and had a great trip!

We returned to Florence on Wednesday night (more like Thursday morning - our flight got in so late!). On Thursday we went to return the leather wallet I got Mark because he thought it was too big and he wanted to exchange it. However, Luca didn't have the one he specifically wants, so I am going to have to wait for it until May and keep my eye out for it. So we basically spent our day walking around to the leather shop, through the market and then to see the David. However, the David was closed at the time so we had to go on Friday. Instead, we went and got some delicious gelato...my favorite! We went to dinner with Patee, Matt and Marielle and then we went out to 21 with all of my friends and we had so much fun! On Friday Mark and I got to see the David, which was absolutely amazing! It is so huge! I loved seeing it because I have been learning a lot in class about art and sculpturing, especially Michelangelo's works since he was part of the Italian Renaissance. We first went through the Museo de Piazzo Vecchio because I mistakenly thought the David was in there ... ha, I was wrong and we took a tour of the way wrong museum. But hey, at least we got to see another museum in Florence! On Friday night, Mark's last night, he and I had a date at Acqua al Due, which was recommended to me by Theresa and Jeff Dugas. A lot of my friends on the program had been there before too and highly recommended it - it is famous for its special steaks that it has, like blueberry steak and balsamic steak, which is all right up Mark's alley. Mark got the balsamic steak and I got spinach and ricotta canteloni, which was delicious!

Unfortunately Mark left on Saturday, so we went to Rome and I dropped him off there. I can't believe his trip has already come and gone so quickly. :( That makes me realize that the rest of this semester is going to go by so much faster. We are going to Sicily this weekend, and then we have midterms next week and go to Ireland and England for spring break, and then Mom and Dad are here, and then it's April already! This is going by way too fast!

Anyways, I need to catch up on some Italian homework and readings. Marielle and I are going to the grocery store later and then doing some spring cleaning in our apartment. It is so beautiful out and it has inspired us to clean! :)

Ciao!