THE LAST ONE ....Thank God

Blah blah blah, I know I am the world’s worst blogger…maybe we can just say I’ve just been way too busy studying and doing good things?  Yeah, we’ll stick with that.

Ok so, a lot of catching up to do. This is going to be a very very shallow and quick summarization of my last few weeks in Italy, and then my final thoughts and all that nonsense.

EASTER IN TUSCANIA:  So my family and I don’t really celebrate Easter that much anymore so this was actually a pretty cool experience because Easter is INTENSE there.  On Good Friday, everyone in Tuscania met at one of the town piazzas and watched a reenactment of the Passion of the Christ.  Then everyone walked around to all the different churches within the town walls kind of like a parade.  At every church everyone stopped and watched as a bunch of guys dressed sort of like the KKK (creepy) walk through carrying huge crosses and dragging prison chains.  There was also this huge platform thing being carried with a lit-up cross on it as well as a crying Virgin Mary and what looked like a blow-up doll Jesus.  It was quite intense.  After just a couple of churches, we all went and got gelato (reason #1 of why I’ve gained so much weight over this semester)…mmm.  Sunday morning, we went over to the Nicolai house and had a traditional Easter breakfast with them.  This consisted of about 4 different kinds of cakes and a big chocolate egg (reason #2).  We then went to a church, and to my surprise I did not catch on fire upon entering and was able to watch the entire service.  It was surprisingly really short compared to the long sermons I remember from when I actually went to church years and years ago.  After that, we went back to the Nicolai house and had a HUGE lunch (reason #3) consisting of like…5 courses…and another huge chocolate egg.  After playing cards for a few hours, we then had ANOTHER huge dinner there.  I probably gained about 10 pounds that day…so worth it.  So I’m not a huge religious church girl, but it was actually really cool to see how a different culture celebrates Easter and how seriously they take it.  Pretty cool.

LAST FEW WEEKS:  I went to Rome about…3 times in a two week period, and it was wonderful.  I managed to fall asleep at a loud bar and spend some time at a cat sanctuary (aka heaven) / where Ceasar was killed.  I love Rome.  I also got to go to some places I would’ve never gone to on my own that turned out to be pretty cool, like Bomarzo and Vulci.  The last night in Tuscania my family came and we all got to have a huge dinner at the Nicolai house.  I’m so glad they got to actually witness what authentic Italian culture is…this way, they wont be so mad at me and will actually understand when I want to move back.  With my family, we went to Florence, Cinque Terre, and Venice.  FLORENCE: eh.  You already know how I feel about that city.  I actually saw Snookie and Jwoww getting into their car!!!!!!!!....who cares.  We did a wine tour of the Chianti area of Tuscany though, which was really fun. CINQUE TERRE:  Loved it.  The landscapes reminded me a lot of the Amalfi coast but a lot more colorful.  We got to lay out on the beach some and Zac and I also took a hike in between some of the towns.  The place was so beautiful.  VENICE:  First impression was amazing.  I loved riding in boats everywhere and all of the canals were so pretty.  Basically though, it’s just a huge inescapable tourist town.  No matter how far back into the town you go, it’s still touristy.  I still enjoyed it though.  We then caught a flight back to the U.S…..ugh.

OK SO…I don’t even really know where to start.  This next paragraph is basically going to be really mushy and dumb, so just stop reading here if you don’t wanna see that stuff (please stop reading...). 

Best experience of my life.  I came in here hoping my semester would be immersion into the culture…but I would have never guessed it would be this.  Being in such a small group and having to speak Italian all the time in this amazingly beautiful town was more than I could have ever imagined.  I completely fell head over heels in love with Tuscania and Italy and the Italian Culture and I can’t imagine not living there.  I have never been so happy with my life as I was when I was there.  Maybe what I’m feeling right now is just re-entry culture shock, and yes you may call me a pussy, but I literally want to cry when I think about or see a picture of Tuscania.  I miss it so much.  Italy itself definitely exceeded all expectations I ever had.  I cannot wait to go back, and if somebody told me today that I could catch a plane in an hour and go back and live there, I would.  Over the semester, I learned that life is just one chance and that everyday should be spent like it’s my last…that no matter what, I should be happy.  And I will be happy.  I have become more confident with myself as a person and now have a new perspective on life. I am so thankful for every minute I had there, every place I got to travel to, all the food I got to eat (and the 15 pounds I was able to gain….), and all the amazing people I’ve met and life-long friends I’ve made. I hope to study abroad in Italy again before I graduate but if not, I know that I AM going to live there someday….you guys can visit me.  Half my heart is now in Italy (and in particular, Tuscania) and always will be. 

I must say though, the number one thing I learned this semester is: I absolutely hate keeping a blog.  I’m way too lazy and I procrastinate way too much to ever do this again…so I hope you enjoyed this over the semester.  I do appreciate the love and the fact that you’re actually reading this crap!

Ti amo, Italia.  Ci vediamo molto presto.

CIAO TUTTI, VI AMO! 

AMSTERDAM

Absolutely amazing.  Everything I wanted it to be and more. And that's all I can really say on that...

Amalfi Coast!

Yeah yeah I know, I've been slacking and I suck at keeping up with this blog.  Don't wanna hear it!  It's called being a lazy person and I can't say I'm not proud of who I am....

sunset in Sorrento

Anyway, I guess it was about 2 weeks ago I went to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast on a school trip.  Once again, it was just Iva and I and then a bunch of girls from Lorenzo de'Medici Rome.  So, Friday, after spending a lovely day at the beach, Iva and I caught the train to Rome.  The school was putting us up in a nice hotel FOR FREE for the night so after dropping our stuff off, we got a lovely dinner with our friends from Rome.  The next morning, at a miserable 9 am, we met everyone at the main train station to go to Naples!  Once we got to Naples, we immediately rushed outside to get into the van we were taking down the coast.  I would have loved to just linger around and enjoy the wonderful scenery of extremely creepy looking men, murderers, and trash of Naples, but there just wasn't enough time...

Amalfi

We then drove to Gragnano, a really small town near Sorrento known for all of the pasta it makes.  After getting a tour of a small pasta factory, we then went and had this amazing like 20 course meal outside in the beautiful courtyard of some guy's house.  All of the food was fresh and local and I probably gained about 20 pounds.  We literally took 4 hours to eat everything and then just laid out in the sun for a few minutes before heading to a place where they make Limoncello!!  I personally hate that stuff, but it was pretty cool to see how it's made.  Basically, it's just a ton of lemon peels, sugar, water, and alcohol.  After a few samples, we headed to Sorrento!  After checking into our hotel, I went with Iva and some of our friends from Rome into the town to explore and get some food.  Luckily, after racing down the street like idiots, we caught the last few minutes of the sunset and got to see the pretty view of it over the cliffs.  So beautiful.  Sorrento actually turned out to be a lot bigger that I was expecting.  There were so many little streets filled with places to shop and so many people.  I don't even want to imagine what the place is like during the summer, I bet it's impossible to move or walk on the streets.  After totally living up to the fatass image I have for myself now by stuffing myself with tons of greasy fast food, and doing some shopping, we finally walked back to our hotel.

Amalfi

The next morning, we all got in the van to drive down the Amalfi Coast!  Our first stop was Positano.  We got out of the van to take in the view and buy any fruit from a fruit stand if desired.  I got to see GEORGE CLOONEY'S house. no big deal. The guy has a freaking elevator that goes straight from his house down to the private beach.  Must be nice....ugh.  We then made our way to Amalfi.  Let me just say the drive in between all these little towns is GORGEOUS.  Ok, here's my attempt and explaining it.  Imagine you're on the Blue Ridge Parkway, like on the parts right on the edge of the mountains.  But, take away all of the other mountains you have a view of and all of the trees beside and below you.  Replace everything below you with ocean...with beautiful, bright blue ocean.  Amazing.  Let me just say that if it had been me that was driving, we would all be dead.  You're literally like 2 inches away from falling off the side of the cliff, one swerve of the car and BAM, you're dead.  In fact, just on this one drive, we had to be stopped because of two different car accidents, both with people being taken away in ambulences.  Kinda scary.  So anyway, we spent the day in Amalfi.  At first, I wasn't very impressed with the city.  One of the main ''beauties'' of the town is supposed to be this church.  Hell no.  If I am forced to walk into another church to admire its 'beauty' and frescoes, I might kill myself.  So a group of us instead just ventured off in search for the beach.  We got lunch in this cute little restaurant and sat on its covered deck right on the beach.  It was pretty touristy but still cute.  The sun finally came out so we then spent the next hour or two laying out on the sand!  I got the worst shorts tan of my life.  So worth it though.  There were even people swimming, but I personally think they must've been crazy-the water was freezing.  Everything was SO pretty.  Just looking into the town from the edge of the pier on the beach was breathtaking with the cliffs and the buildings and everything.  It looked like a painting!  After buying some gelato, and then proceeding to drop the entire thing on the ground, we got in the van to head back to Naples.

Heaven.  I mean Amalfi

Ok, I'm sure you're tired of these stories (the one I'm about to tell) by now, but this is my life.  SO...the plan was for everyone to take the train from Naples to Rome, and then Iva and I were to take a train from Rome to Civitavecchia where our driver, Massimo, would pick us up.  The adviser we were with showed us the exact train to get on, so who were we to second guess her?  Mistake.  We should have second guessed her.  After about an hour on this train, that we thought was going to Civitavecchia, the train worker came around checking tickets.  He looked at both of ours and kind of smiled and then said this train doesn't go to Civitavecchia.  Like naive idiots, we say it's ok, as long as this train goes to Viterbo, Orte, Tarquinia, etc....  Nope.  We were headed back south to Naples.  Rattled and feeling like idiots, we got off at the next stop, which was some ghetto town called Latina, and asked a worker what we should do.  Luckily, there was a train leaving 10 minutes from then that would go straight through Rome to Civitavecchia.  We called poor Massimo to tell him we would be there to be picked up at 1 am instead, poor guy had to turn around and go back home.  We got on the train.  Scariest experience of my life.  It was a night train and Iva and I could both foresee the very likely event of our brains being bashed in on the window right next to us by the guys sitting with us.  It felt like everyone around us was in it together and were conspiring to either take us or murder us.  Luckily, before the men had the chance to, we got kicked out of our seats (because we of course didn't have tickets) and had to go stand in the aisle.  The train sat at the Rome train station for about 30 minutes before people started to ask questions and freak out.  The train had broken down and they needed to change a few of the coaches and wouldn't be ready for at least two more hours.  It was 12:30 am at this point so we just awkardly called Massimo again and told him we wouldn't be coming and the poor guy had to turn around to go back home AGAIN.  We walked through the extremely creepy homeless-men-filled train station to take a taxi to our friend Jessica's apartment in Rome.  THANK YOU FOR SAVING OUR ASSES, JESSICA because or else we would probably be face down dead in the Tibre somewhere.  Completely rattled and exhausted, we then got some sleep before SUCCESSFULLY returning to Tuscania the next morning.  Good times.  We didn't die....."Tutto è bene quel che finisce bene."

Despite ANOTHER train mishap, the weekend was so much fun and Amalfi was SO pretty.  I had never seen anything like it before except for in pictures or paintings.  Can't wait to go back.

A Series Of Unfortunate Events- Milan

So, this past weekend the plan was to go to Milan!  I was meeting my friend Ksenia from back home there on Friday afternoon…and then leaving Sunday morning to come back to Tuscania.  Just a simple little weekend trip.

Or so I thought.  The plan was for me to wake up really early on Friday, catch the 6:45 am bus from Tuscania to a nearby town, and then from there another local bus to the train station to catch the train at like 8:30 to Rome.  Then from Rome, I would take another connecting train at 10:15 or so for Milan.  I was supposed to get to Milan at 1:45pm on Friday.  I woke up Friday morning at 6:38 am.  After jumping out of bed and sprinting to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth, I realized that there was absolutely no way in hell I was going to make that bus.  I then texted Massimo del Papa, this local driver who is usually available at any time, but after sending the text I remembered he was in Kenya for the week.  After an awkward conversation on the phone with his wife, I reluctantly accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to make my original train.  I finally figured out online bus times and train times and planned everything out again for a later time.  The plan was to leave from another nearby town’s train station into Rome, then from one Rome station I had to take another train to a different Rome station, and then from there to Milan.  I was supposed to get there around 3:45 now.  I caught the bus to this train station, and being an hour early, I just sat on a bench on my computer.  Around this time, Iva called me just warning me that there is a train strike and so I should just see if my train really is coming.  I talked to other people at the station and to my relief, they said that they thought the train was definitely coming.  So, 10:30 or whatever it was rolls around and there’s not a train in sight.  Other people at the station were still hopeful that the train might come so I figured I would be too.  30 minutes later...still no train.  At this point, I was basically freaking out with no idea of what to do.  I emailed one of my advisers at my school in Tuscania and asked her opinion.  When I was halfway through reading her reply email, my computer died.  GREAT.  Luckily she called me and explained to me that the only way I was going to get to Milan that day would be to take about 100 different buses and then the train and then get to Milan really late that night.  She suggested I just try again in the morning.  Whatever, Ok, I’ll try again in the morning, the strike ends tonight.  I then basically walked from one side of the town to the other (keep in mind, this is Viterbo- a MUCH bigger town than Tuscania) to get to the bus stop to go back to Tuscania.  Completely sunburned from sitting outside the train station, I finally got on the bus to go back home.  Just to add insult to injury, my nose randomly started bleeding when I got on the bus…great.

After getting back into Tuscania, I went to the school and figured out reservations for the train to Milan the next day and schedules and everything.  Everything’s looking up and everything’s cool.  We all ended up getting frozen yogurt and walking around the town in the beautiful weather that day before going to a wonderful dinner at Iva’s host family’s house.  The day ended up being pretty good and I just laughed about what had happened earlier that day.  I kept getting asked by Noah, “So, how was Milan?....oh wait. HAHA”  Such a nice boy.

The next morning rolls around and I caught the 6:45 am bus again to the train station and then caught the bus to Rome.  Success.  When I got to Rome I grabbed a quick bite to eat before going to find my platform to catch the train at 10:15.  Couldn’t find the platform.  I must’ve been on the complete opposite side of the station.  I found signs leading to the underground hallway that comes up at each one and walked down into it.  There was a huge gate blocking me from getting to my platform.  I then walked back up and searched around some more, continuing to just follow signs to my platform... and it’s about 10:10.  I was frantically asking workers there how to get to my platform, and they all told me to go back to the underground passageway.  I figured that maybe the gate was open now.  It’s 10:14.  I was literally running (with a backpack) looking like a complete idiot through this underground hallway to find that the gate is STILL there.  I missed my train.  I had to go to this kiosk and change my reservation for the train (it was a fast train and therefore needed a reservation) and ended up having to get one for the train at 12:15 because the one for 11:15 was full.  After an hour and a half of sitting in a little café in the train station, I finally found the correct platform and caught my train for Milan.  Phew!

the park behind the castle!

Finally I was in Milan!!  I walked about 25 minutes from the train station to meet Ksenia at our hostel.  I got there around 4:30 absolutely exhausted.  But, knowing I only had about 16 hours in this city, we immediately left the hostel to go explore and fit in all the major sites of Milan.  We first took the metro to the famous and beautiful Duomo!  It actually was really pretty.  It had such intricate detail. We went inside the church for a few minutes just to look around.  It was really beautiful, but a church is a church.  I’ve seen way too many churches painted like that that this one didn’t faze me, call me spoiled.  The piazza around it was really neat and there were a ton of people just hanging out. We of course got some really good gelato and then walked down this one street that was basically an outdoor chocolate market!  There were literally like 50 tents set up, each selling their own kind of special and decorated chocolate.  Amazing.  We then walked to the old castle at the end of the street.  We walked through it, which was pretty cool, and then on the other side there was this huge park.  We just stood there relaxing and looking at it for 15 minutes because it was so nice out.  So many people were just lying out in the park, playing Frisbee, or strumming their guitars.  Pretty relaxing.  If I had had  more time in Milan, I would have loved to join them and just lay in the grass for a few hours.  We then walked all the way to this other church where The Last Supper is held.  We walked through the church, looking at every wall and at every painting, and even after double-checking in a guidebook as to where it should be, we never saw The Last Supper.  I’m convinced it’s a lie and that they must’ve been holding it somewhere else because there is no way it was there.  Oh well.  We then just walked around the city some more and saw this outdoor gallery thing and the opera house.  We grabbed dinner at this little restaurant and sat outside and had a nice glass of wine and some pasta.  The weather was absolutely amazing.  After dinner, we just walked around some more.  Milan must’ve just won a soccer game because EVERYONE was going INSANE in the streets.  Every car that drove by would beep its horn 10 times and everyone was yelling and drinking beer.  It was a lot like Franklin Street after UNC beats Duke minus all the bonfires and people climbing on street signs.  It was pretty cool.  Absolutely exhausted, we then took the metro back to near our hostel.  The next morning I got up early and caught the train by 10:15 back to Rome (and then all of the buses back to Tuscania). 

awkward pic. but only one of just me and the duomo so suck it up

I AM glad I went to Milan, even though it was such a pain in the ass and I only got a little bit of time there.  It is a beautiful city, I just wish I had been able to fully experience the 'shopping' aspect of it, what it's really known for. Maybe if I had had more time there, I would’ve fallen in love with it, but my first impression of the city was just alright.  I left with a positive attitude on the whole weekend, though.  I wasn't going to let Italy and its stupid train strikes ruin my weekend! 

Galway Girl

This was my FAVORITE song while in Ireland, Galway Girl.  If you’ve seen P.S. I love you (if you haven’t, then this entry might be really boring to you, I make a lot of references) then know that it’s the song that Gerard Butler sang to Hillary Swank in the pub when he kissed her.  So good.  Anyway, back to the point…for the second half of spring break, I went to Ireland.  Loved it.

me in the Irish countryside!!

            After arriving in the Dublin Airport, we took a city bus into the center of Dublin.  Carrying a 5000 pound duffle bag,  we then walked and finally found our hostel called “Four Courts” – it was directly across the river from the courthouse!  We stayed in a room with like 12 beds in total.  It was also connected to another room with about the same amount of beds (where some people actually LIVED) and then we all shared one bathroom.  Yeah, it was a lot of people.   In my first 10 minutes there, when I was standing at the sink in the bathroom, one of the guys living there rushed past me wearing only tidy whities....hmm. When we were unpacking our stuff and getting settled, this writer that lives in the hostel came up and introduced himself.  He was about to go to a book launching party at a nearby bookshop that he had to make an appearance at and invited us to go with.  Hell, why not?  We figured if it seemed like he was about to take us into a back room and sell us into sexual slavery, then we would turn around and leave.  So, we went with him and he actually showed us different parts of Dublin that we probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise.  It was a nice little first impression of the city.  We then got to this cute little bookshop and saw the book launching for “The Bad Karma Diaries,” I think it’s a children’s book.  But it was cute, and reminded me a lot of little events that go around in Chapel Hill.  And hey, I got free wine out of it…so it’s all good in my book.  We then went back to the hostel, showered, and went for dinner.  In Italy, we don’t even think about eating dinner until after 8 pm.  When we went out searching for food in Dublin around 8:45 or so and nothing was open!  We finally found a TGI Fridays and just ate there.  After just going to a little pub for a little bit, we were exhausted so we went back and went to bed.

Glendalough

            The next day, we had a scheduled free tour of Dublin around 1 or so.  The plan was to meet up where the tour starts.  I didn’t really want to go, so instead I went to lunch with Jaan and Jaye (these awesome people staying in our hostel from Australia) and then went shopping and exploring by myself.  It was a really nice day, got myself some new clothes, some gelato….and a haircut!  Spent an hour in a little café with some chamomile tea and a muffin…it was very nice.  I then returned to the hostel and met up with everyone else to go to a pub-crawl!  Stacy was sick and said she wanted to stay in, so it was just Noah and me.  The pub-crawl was something organized by a bunch of different hostels in Dublin.  You pay a little to get in on it, then at every pub (there are 5 in total) you either get a free shot when you arrive, a free shot with every drink you order, a free Guinness, or a discount.  I met and made friends with some pretty cool people from different parts of the U.S., Brazil, and Ireland!  I love those Irish accents…  The last pub we went to was the one from P.S. I love you!!!!!  Pretty awesome.  Some of the other pubs had live music, one of which had 2 guys on guitar singing GALWAY GIRL!  I was so excited.  This was the first time I had heard the song since the movie, but little did I know that any place with live music would play it at least 2 times a night for the next few days.  Anyway, I wont go into any more detail from the night, but I’ll just say it was a lot of fun.

            The next day we had a small bus tour of the Irish countryside scheduled at 9:45 am.  If you know me at all, you know I don’t do well with public transportation early in the morning…and then add the issue of zero sleep and lots to drink the night before.  No good.  We’re on the little bus, which was more like a van, and we’re sitting in the back.  Noah and I are basically dead.  I’m passed out, but then suddenly awake and need to get off.  “Stacy will you ask him to pull over?”  Stacy: “what?”  Me: “Sir you could please pull over?!”  I start to get up and stumble through the aisle.  “Yes, I’m going to pull over, don’t worry” (thinking I meant so I could take a picture.)  He realizes I’m trying to get out and I try to open the door and trip while getting out of the van.  As I do my thing, the others have a pleasant little break on the hillside accompanied by tea, coffee, and cookies.  Good times…but I did get to sit up front with the driver for the rest of the day.  Score.  We saw Wicklow and Glendalough.  In Wicklow there is the bridge where Gerard and Hillary walked on during P.S. I Love You- we of course stopped for a photoshoot.  The area was beautiful.  Rolling Hills…but not the kind one sees in Italy.  They were a lighter color and just looked so different, so irish…so beautiful.  In Glendalough we saw this old settlement and a really old graveyard.  It reminded me of the Lord of the Rings or something.  We then walked to these 2 lakes which were absolutely beautiful.  Mountains towering over it, the lake we spent the most time at was breathtaking.  Too bad I was basically dead that day, but I still appreciated and enjoyed it.  That night, after returning from the tour, we went to a free bbq at a pub with a bunch of people at our hostel.  It was a lot of fun and the food was SO good.  A few of us then went to a couple of different pubs to listen to live music and drink. There is always a fun pub to go to, no matter what day it is. 

            The next day, we decided to journey off on our own to Howth, Ireland.  We took the train from Dublin there and it took about 25 minutes, give or take.  The town was right on the ocean and was absolutely adorable.  One of the first things we saw when we arrived was seals in the harbor!!! Awesome.  A man even came out with a bunch of fish and fed them.  The kept making these weird grunting noises and looked so fat and lazy….I would probably be one of those seals if I were an animal.  We then walked this trail that takes us up this huge cliff.  I’m not much for hiking, or any form of exercise for that matter, but this was absolutely beautiful.  All up and down the cliff were these yellow flowers that smelled like coconuts and the water below was a pretty shade of blue.  It looked like a typical Irish postcard.  My battery was basically dead so I wasn’t able to take that many pictures, but I tried to get a few in.  Just sitting on one of the rocks on the cliff and looking out over the ocean was the PERFECT way to end our trip in Ireland.  It was so peaceful.  We then got some fresh seafood at a local restaurant and then headed back.

Howth

            Overall, I loved Ireland.  This is one place that I can’t wait to go again (although I’d rather stay in a smaller more authentic town than Dublin).  I loved the culture, the accents, the music, and the scenery.  The country went above and beyond all of my expectations…and mine we really high to begin with.  

LONDON!

      So it was spring break, and we decided that we wanted to go to London and Dublin for the week.  On Friday we took the bus (at 6:45 in the freakin morning…fml), then the train, and then another bus to Roma Ciampino airport.  After 2 hours of wasting time and waiting at the airport, we finally took off on our cheap RyanAir flight to London!  The flight was very uncomfortable and the seats in front of you are a lot closer than what I’m used to at home.  Did not like that part.  Two hours later, we finally arrived.  London made a WONDERFUL first impression on us with the cold weather and pouring rain…

      We actually stayed in a holiday inn express (we waited until the night before to look up hostels, so there wasn’t much available…oops) in the town of Crawley, about a 45 min train ride from London.  The hotel was SO nice and definitely spoiled us for a few days.  The first night we just walked around Crawley, where we got denied from a pub because Noah was wearing ‘trainers’….THANKS NOAH.  …It was very odd.  But we finally did find a good pub to eat at.  Had a burger and fries!!!!!!  Such a delicacy compared to the straight up pasta and pizza I'm used to. The most entertaining part of dinner though was just seeing how incredibly slutty all the girls were dressed…and it was ABSOLUTELY freezing outside.  I don’t know how they are comfortable with their 2 inch long mini skirts and 10 inch heels…but oh well, to each his own.

      So, Saturday morning we finally went into London.  On the train there, we were talking to these 2 men who know a lot about London on what to do, where to go, etc.  I, with my obsession with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, had to ask about Notting Hill.  They didn’t know much about it, but LUCKILY, this really nice girl named Millie overheard and came up to us after the train got to London.  Turns out she lives in Notting Hill and she told us we had to go that day for the outdoor market.  So, we ended up taking the bus with her all the way to Notting Hill.  SUCH a cute area.  We saw the gate where Hugh Grant apparently climbed over with Julia Roberts and said “whoopsie daisies”…such a cute scene.  The outdoor market was incredible.  We originally thought Notting Hill would just be a small fraction of our day, but we ended up spending about 4 hours just walking down one side of the market.  For some reason, the area reminded me a lot of Carrboro or something.  There were flowers, clothes, music, food, and jewelry.  Loud music was playing in some parts too, so it was really lively.  I was determined to find the bookshop where Hugh worked, and when we found one that looked like it could be it (after asking around) we went inside.  Stacy asked the worker there if this was the bookshop from the movie, and she immediately responded with “that was in a studio.”  I refuse to believe it, and therefore, I can say I was in that travel bookshop from the movie.   All in all, if I were to live in London, I would want to live in Notting Hill.  It’s really cute and has a cool atmosphere.  Yeah, most of the houses looked like they were probably really expensive…but hey, a girl can dream.

      Sunday, we did all the typical tourist stuff.  We saw the Buckingham palace first.  Ok, so I’m kind of hesitant in even telling this story, because I got the nickname “MCC” (mentally challenged Cam) after it, but I think it’s worth telling.  So there were these HUGE statues all around this fountain in front of the palace.  One of the statues was a lion.  A bunch of people were climbing up onto the statue (which was really high off the ground) to take a picture sitting on the lion.  When it was my turn, I got up there fine.  I got the picture, everything was good.  Then it was time to get down.  I couldn’t.  I literally was about to have a heart attack and had to yell for Noah to come help me because there was no way.  I thought I was going to fall and was hanging on for dear life…and I know I looked so incredibly stupid in this process.  In my defense, I was wearing these black boots that have metal on the bottom of them, which makes them REALLY slippery.  So I’m not REALLY mentally challenged…I’m just blaming the shoes.  5 minutes later, I finally just took my shoes off and climbed down…with absolutely no dignity left.  Oh well.  We then went on and saw Parliament Square, The Big Ben, and The London Eye.  We actually rode the London Eye, which gave a pretty good view of the city.  It’s more of something you do just  so you can say you did it…but it wasn’t like OH MY GOD THIS IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!  But it was cool. 

      So Monday, it was time for some shopping.  We ended up walking from the train station through most of central London on all these really nice streets.  One street in particular was filled with REALLY expensive stores and very rich people.  I guess it was like London’s version of Park Avenue.  I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would run into Hugh Grant or somebody famous…but to my disappointment, I didn’t.  We then just spent most of the day just shopping on one of the main shopping streets- which in my opinion, means it was a good day.  Then I went and met my friend’s sister, who lives in London, Ellie, at a major metro station.  Stacy and Noah ended up never finding the station so Ellie and I just ended up standing around the station talking and people watching for over an hour...oh well.  We finally found Stacy and Noah and said our goodbyes to her and went to dinner.  The next morning it was off to Dublin!

      Although I did miss Italy, I liked London.  It reminded me a lot of New York City though with its size and everything, yet it was a lot cleaner and prettier.  The major problem in London is the exchange rate for pounds was TERRIBLE.  Everything was SO expensive.  I basically had to double the price of everything to get an idea of how much it would be in American dollars.  The prices weren't less either.  For example, a shirt that would be 7.99 dollars in America, was also 7.99 pounds in London...which means it was about double the price that it would be at home.  Ridiculous.  But, I can't say it stopped me too much from shopping....but hey, you only live once.  It was pretty cool though seeing the red phone booths at every corner and hearing the amazing British accents everywhere.  I randomly say things in a British accent though, and it was pretty hard to quit doing that for a few days to avoid offending everyone…or at least attempt to quit.  Oh well.  

Carnevale e Firenze

Hannah was here all week!!!  On Tuesday, Stacy, Hannah, her parents and I all took a day trip up to Montepulciano.  Hannah's family had a rental car so luckily we were able to drive down country roads and see the beautiful views.  I had seen some of those typical rolling green hills before, but nothing like this.  This was like...the maximum amount of beauty a hill can have.  It was ABSOLUTELY freezing that day and raining, so that was a downer.  But we were still able to walk around the town, get some cute pictures, and eat some lunch.  Twilight fans:  First of all, you suck, those movies are terrible. Second of all, Montepulciano is apparently where some of New Moon was filmed..so be jealous I guess.

 Tuesday night was a huge Carnevale party in our town!!  After dinner, Hannah and I half-assed got dressed up as cats and went over to Iva's host family's house.  They were having a party with wine and snacks and costume was mandatory.  After a few glasses of wine...everybody walked over together in a huge group over to Bar San Marco where the town was having a huge costume party.  A lot of people went ALL OUT.  I felt kind of out of place.  The costumes were very creative and funny though.  After a little less than an hour there, everybody took a private bus to Viterbo to go the the discoteca!  So crowded, but so much fun.  Italian clubs are more like raves would be in the U.S. and I really liked it.  At 430am (I was like 15 min late...oops. but hey, not my fault) we took the bus back to Tuscania and went home and passed out.
Thursday I got to spend the entire day with Hannah just hanging around Tuscania shopping and sipping wine outside.  We had a little farewell dinner at the nicest restaurant in town before we had to say our goodbyes.  I am SOOSOSO glad they came, I miss you Hannahhhhh!

Ok, so now we're on the topic of Florence.  whatever.  Thats how I feel about it.  Why anyone would want to study abroad there beats me.  It was basically like I took a trip back to NC State's campus for the weekend to just go to bars with a ton of other americans.  Was it Italy?  No.  Was it pretty?  Yeah, I guess.  Do I have the dying urge to go back?  Not really.  It was a lot of fun though, I'll give it that much.

We got there Friday evening around 7 and Stacy's friends that we were staying with met us at the train station and walked us back to their apartment.  For dinner, we went to an American Diner.  I know, I know...bad.  But listen, in Tuscania, American food is completely nonexistent and all I've had since I've been here is pasta and pizza.  I ordered a cheeseburger and fries and Stacy ordered pancakes.  We split them half and half.  SOOO good, I miss all that stuff.  We then all went out to like 3 different bars/clubs that night which was a lot of fun.  We ended up getting free pastries from this one bar when they were closing, and if you know me at all, you can imagine how happy I was.  The next day we went to breakfast at the american diner again to continue with our americanized weekend.  So good.  Breakfast is another thing that doesn't really exist in Italy.  They find it acceptable to just have a quick cappuccino and croissant...I need real food.  So this was nice.  We walked around the city a little bit.  The huge duomo was pretty breathtaking.  In one of the piazzas near the duomo, they had a merry-go-round and music and people dressed up.  These 2 guys dressed as who knows what came up and literally yanked me out and started spinning me and making me dance.  I got a couple of pictures of this of course, but then left as they kept saying stuff to me.  I realized later that they expected a tip...but hey, I didn't ask you to dance with me....
I loved the bridge over the river that had buildings and shops on it.  I had always seen pictures of it, but it was a lot prettier in person.  We then took this really long hike up to this cliff-type thing to watch the sunset over Florence.  Seeing as though it was extremely cloudy and gross out, there wasn't much to see.  But we bought a bottle of wine with some plastic cups and sat out there listening to music and watched the city anyway.  At night, it was actually really pretty.  All of the churches and stuff have lights shining on them so it was almost unreal.  We then walked back down and went to dinner at the American diner...again.  Hey, this is the last time I could eat a cheeseburger for a while.  So good.  We went to another bar that night and then got up really early the next morning to catch the 100 different trains and buses we had to take to get back to Tuscania.
I was seriously so relieved to be back.  Although I'm glad I saw Florence, I am even more glad that I didn't study abroad there.  When I was there, I actually got a little homesick..of Tuscania.  I missed Italian culture, which is the reason I'm in Italy anyway.  If I had studied in Florence, I would not have been able to experience Italian culture at all and it would have basically just been another average semester in college.  Although I got a nice break from pizza and pasta, I'm even MORE appreciative of Tuscania and my decision to study there after this. 
Off to London on Friday for spring break!!!!  Then to Dublin on Tuesday!  So excited! Ciao Ciao