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

So I fell in love this weekend...

 with Rome.  My old dream was to live in New York City after college…but now I say screw that.  Rome is like New York City, except 10 times cleaner, 10 times prettier,  10 times more historic, 10 times more fun, more cultural, the people are nicer, better food….not to completely bash nyc, but this list could go on and on.  I loved it.

So, we’ll start my recap on Thursday.  I went to bed around 4:30 am or so Thursday morning, and had to wake up at 8 am.  We had a fieldtrip for wine class to Montefiascone and Orvieto, so after my Italian class, I went and got a cappuccino before we had to leave in the van.  Bad idea.  I hadn’t had too much to eat that day, and so the coffee was actually a terrible idea.  I already started to feel nauseous before we even leave the school.  Then we get into our tiny school van, with Massimo, one of our advisers, driving…on windy Italian roads.  I love Italy but people just drive like maniacs.  So basically the whole ride there I think I’m about to throw up at any second and it was miserable.  It was so pathetic.  At one point, I took a big sip of water and realized that if I swallowed it, I would throw up.  So Iva gave me her water bottle to spit the water back into.  Complete fail. Basically just spit it into my lap…it was pretty funny though.  So, to summarize the day….the wineries were pretty, the weather was really cold and rainy, and I was the most pathetically gross person alive.

Friday I had to catch a train to Rome to meet HANNAH!!!  I took a quick one hour train from Tarquinia, and walked a nice 20 minutes until I found the apartment they were staying in.  The apartment was so nice.  It was right near the Vatican and a bunch of shops.  It was like a legit home and had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchen.  After getting a quick lunch, we had a tour of the Vatican museum/ the Sistine Chapel.  The museum was all really pretty, but it seemed to go on for miles and miles.  Finally, at the very end, we got to the Sistine Chapel.  Maybe I’m just an emotionless soulless person, but I honestly don’t see how anybody could cry from the “beauty” of this.  I mean, yeah, it WAS really really pretty…but the only thing I came close to crying of was from the pain my neck was feeling from looking up so long.  It was pretty cool to see such a famous, historic sight, though.  After that we went back to the apartment and basically slept from like 6 pm until 8 am.  I felt their pain from being soooo exhausted from the plane so I didn’t mind just staying in bed and just being able to make up on the lack of sleep from the week before. 

Saturday, we first saw St. Peter's Square, and then went and saw basically all of central Rome.  We saw the Coliseum, the Trevi fountain, the pantheon, etc.  I had seen the Coliseum before so it wasn’t a big deal but the Trevi fountain was absolutely gorgeous.  We went to Piazza Navona where there were more fountains, people playing music, tons of people eating outside at restaurants, and groups of people in costume doing plays and songs for Carnevale.  It was so lively and fun.  I would love to live near there or near the pantheon or something.  There was so much shopping!!! I FINALLY bought a leather jacket, it was basically the happiest moment of my life.  We never found a tattoo parlor, so I didn’t get to get my tattoo as planned, but oh well.  I’ll get it soon enough!  So for dinner, Hannah and I met up with ALLISON DOHERTY AND ERIN HUDECEK.  Top 10 happiest moments of my life.  We went to a nice little restaurant and then to an Irish pub.  So nice to be reunited!

So Sunday, we went on a nice little walk in the park to the Trastevere part of Rome.  This apparently is the more ‘authentic’ roman section that is less touristy and has more actual romans.  It was really pretty and there were a lot of families…and of course the food was pretty good.  Poor little Hannah was a little ‘bleh’ from the night before so she was on the ‘struggle bus’ as Stacy would say.  We then went back and met Erin for some shopping!!!!!  Bought so much stuff- SO happy. 

So that’s basically everything…or at least the main parts.  I did love Rome, and although there were a lot of tourists in certain areas, I was still surrounded by Italian.  It did really piss me off though when I would speak to someone or ask someone a question in Italian and they would answer in English. SO annoying.  I understand why Tuscania is so much better for actually learning the language because nobody can actually speak English so Italian is their only option for a response.  Hannah and her parents are in Tuscania now!  They’re spending the week here and just taking day trips out to other towns.  We’re going to Siena and Montepulciano tomorrow!!  We also have this huge carnival party in town tomorrow night that everyone has to wear a costume for and I still don’t know what to be…I guess I’ll just see what I can throw together.  But I’m so excited!!  And I’m SOOOO happy that Hannah and her family are here with me this week!  

Ciao Ciao!!