Tuscan Dinner, Fiesole, Mozart, And FIORENTINA

Here is a recap of the amazing weekend I had here in Florence...

Thursday Night: Tuscan Dinner. For 15 Euros some of the students here could sign up for the chance to indulge in an authentic Tuscan dinner with some of the faculty of the school. We went to this restaurant called Trattoria Marione. It was delicious. We had about 6 different types of Tuscan dishes ranging from rustic bread soup, ricotta crepe roll ups, and roasted turkey and fried potatoes. Mmmm and let's not forget the huge coconut shaped wine bottles they so graciously provided for us. Definitely a delicious way to spend Thursday night.

Friday: Fiesole. Friday some friends and I decided to hop on one of the city buses from the Piazza San Marco and take it all the way to the neighboring city of Fiesole. About a 20 minute bus ride (which only cost us about 2.40 Euros round trip) up and around the winding streets up the hills surrounding Florence. Fiesole is such a small and quaint town with picturesque scenery and out-of-the-movie Italian houses each equipped with is own Vespa and private gate. The city center is very small and is much less busier than Florence. The view is totally worth the trek though. Overlooking all of Florence and being able to see hill to hill and all the Italian vineyards was incredible. Definitely someplace I wouldn't mind going again.

Saturday Afternoon/Night: Classical Concert. On Saturday we had the opportunity to attend a classical concert at the historical Teatro della Pergola (Pergola Theater) right here in Florence. The theater itself was beautiful, walls lined with expert carvings and box seats along the walls. While our seats were in the very back, we still were able to have a good vantage point of stage and the musicians. The concert consisted of two musicians, Viktorija Mullova and Marielle Labeque, one a violinists the other a pianists. Both were incredibly talented and put on an amazing show. Playing some of Mozart's most demanding pieces and had so much passion and talent to share.

Sunday Night: FIORENTINA! On Sunday it's all about the football, only here it's European football. We were able to go to a real football game with ACF Fiorentina playing the Roman team. Big rivalries, and so much fun. While we did not know any of the chants or cheers the game itself was great. So much people watching and to see how passionate Europeans are about their football was so cool.

Overall another great weekend here in Europe and my first weekend spent in Florence. It was so much fun and so excited about all the opportunities I have been able to take part in so far. I will post pictures soon from everything this weekend. This upcoming weekend I will be spending it in Budapest, Hungary. That should be exciting. I will leave Thursday and be coming back Sunday night. Hope all is well back home and sending you much love from Italia soon to be Hungary! Talk to you guys soon and ciao for now!

More Pictures From Roma

Amy, Felipe, and Me

Felipe and his best friend

Reuniting in Rome

Spanish Steps again

Vespa Cutie

Coffee Break

Amy and Michele riding on a Vespa

How To Roam Like A True Roman

A Three Year Reunion and A Vespa

So I went back to Rome this past weekend (I know very short turn around from the last time I was there) but I went this time to go visit my friend Felipe. Felipe was one of my good friends during my senior year of high school and he lives in Brazil. I hadn't seen him since we graduated high school and we just happened to be in Italy around the same time so before he left for Brazil, a reunion was absolutely necessary. My friend Amy came with me and we had a great time. We just explored Rome again, only this time we didn't have to do it with 150 other kids, we could just do what we wanted to do. We also did a Vespa tour on Sunday, our last day in Rome. The vespa tour was amazing! Of course we did not drive the vespas ourselves (we would have definitely crashed and I probably wouldn't be typing this blog post with both my arms haha) but instead we had two vespa drivers and we got to ride on the back. Our guides/drivers, Michele (Mee-kelay) and Mimo (Meemo) were awesome and so funny. They showed us another side of Rome between the tiny alleyways and some true Roman history. We also got to visit some of the seven hills that Rome was built on, we walked on the oldest street in Rome (the original stones from the first century where chariot marks were still engraved in the stones!!!), and massive ancient Roman bathhouse, and Circus Maximus (a huge open space for an ancient amphitheater for chariot races - back in the day it held 200,000 people!) this place was HUGE! We also got to see the grave of John Keats, and several great vantage points of overlooking all of Rome. Overall an amazing weekend in the eternal city and I can't wait to show you guys all that we saw! Also feel free to add me on Facebook or Instagram as there are a lot more pictures on there than probably here on this blog! Alright hope all is well back home! Ciao for now!

Pictures of Roma

The Roman Forum

Spanish Steps at night

Me and my friend Lauren

My friend Amy and I taking on the Vatican

Roman Sunset

Inside the Colosseum

Hotel terrace - not a bad view

The Pantheon

St. Peter's Square - The Vatican

Pope Francis speaking during the weekly Sunday Blessing

Wake Up For "Scuola"

It's all fun and games until you have to go to school. Yep, classes have started. Actually I have already completed my first week of classes here in Florence. Gonzaga University actually has its own campus here in Florence, and while it is limited to a single gate way and one building, it is just enough space to accommodate the 150 students studying here. While not everyone goes to Gonzaga back in the states (some students come from Notre Dame, LMU, or even Lafayette like my roommate) they all attend Gonzaga's campus here in Florence. I am taking five classes this semester so only 15 credits. While 15 is not as many as the 18 credits I took last semester, it is still definitely a challenge. I am taking Ordinary Differential Equations (Mom and Dad I'll be sure to ask you questions about this one), Statistics for Experimentalists, Ethics, Mechanics of Materials, and Dynamics. Some of my teachers are actually Italian and while they do teach the course in English, understanding them through their thick Italian accents is a bit of a struggle. Two of my engineering professors are Italian (Dynamics and Mechanics of Materials) and my ethics professor is Romanian. While I have the same professor for both my math classes, he actually teaches at the Gonzaga campus back in Spokane. So it's cool having so many different professors in one place. All my classes are five minutes apart from each other and all located in the same room (think of it as the professors are coming to you - as my mom has me look at it). Overall the biggest challenge I have so far is finding the motivation to go to class and actually do my homework. While every one of my professors trust us to actually complete the homework on our own, it doesn't help when you have an entire city waiting to be explored right outside your classroom window. We are given three day weekends every week here so that is also nice. We end school on Thursday and get Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to travel or use to catch up on other things. I also don't have classes on Wednesday so I guess you could say studying abroad is insanely hard, and I do not know how I am going to manage only going to class three times a week :). Haha no it's pretty easy going from what I have experienced here so far, but I am excited to see how the rest of the semester will unfold. I signed up to participate in an authentic Tuscan dinner on Thursday night (YUM) and a classical concert Saturday night and a Florence vs. Roma football (soccer) game on Sunday night! So lots of things happening and to look forward to. I will be sure to blog all about it and share pictures. Hope all is well back home and sending all my love from Florence! Talk to you guys soon and ciao for now!

Roman Holiday

For the past four days I have been in Rome, Italy. The capital city of Italy, being both the largest in size and number of people. We left Florence on Thursday about 10 am and it took us about 4-5 hours by bus to get to Rome.

The first day we were there we got assigned a hotel and suite mates. I was staying in Hotel Tiziano (very nice accommodations and great location to the city center and to all major tourist sites) and my suite mates were Amy, Jessica, and Anna. We were given about an hour once we arrived into Rome to relax and refresh before going on our first three hour walking tour of the city. We were split up again into ten tour groups of about 10-15 people. Our tour guide was an older woman named Christiana Tetillini (probably not how it is actually spelled) and she had so much knowledge about the city. Born and raised in Rome, she gave us so much information about everything we saw. Our tour consisted of multiple Baroque churches, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, various shipping avenues (Rome only has the best - Armani, Burberry, Valentino, Gucci, you name it they got it), and the tour ended with a huge group dinner with everyone, all 150 of us. We went to this restaurant called Cavona. As much as I want to tell you all about the food at this dinner and everything about Italian food customs, it really does deserve its on blog post which I will be uploading soon! After the first day I was just exhausted so me and some of the other girls just went back to our hotel and crashed! But overall fantastic first day in Rome.

The second day we had two three hour tours we had to do. The first tour was of the Roman Forum and the Colosseum! Honestly, this was probably my favorite part of the whole entire weekend! The Roman Forum used to be the central district of ancient Rome. The ruins were leftover evidence of marketplaces, temples, Senate meeting places, and so much more! The view was absolutely stunning and you felt as if you could understand the story of Roman history a little better there! The Colosseum surpassed every expectation I had for it! This ancient amphitheater served as the main entertainment hub for gladiators and public executions and the layout of the facility is so advance especially at that time. To see the kind of engineering that took place in constructing and designing this massive wonder is unbelievable. Underneath the entire floor of the Colosseum are tunnels and trap doors designed to lift up the wild animals and gladiators. It's crazy! I promise I will post pictures after this post! Although pictures truly do not do the city any justice!

The third day was dedicated to Stato della Citta del Vaticano or more commonly known as The Vatican. Woah, craziness. I think since I do not identify myself as Catholic or any branch of Christianity for that matter, the Vatican did not have much of an effect on me, I didn't really feel any religious or spiritual enlightening or fulfillment, but it was something cool to look at. We then went to the Vatican Museum, where we saw both ancient and contemporary art. At the end of the museum is the Sistine Chapel painted in 1508 by the famous painter Michelangelo. It is absolutely breathtaking! Definitely something worth seeing at some point in your life. In the chapel you get to see the famous ceiling, the painting of "The Last Supper" and so many more! Did you know that Michelangelo actually did not want to paint the Sistine Chapel and did so when he was forced to by Pope Julius II. Mikey was actually living in Florence at the time and was forced to move to Rome.

Wow sorry I know this post is super long and props to you for reading this far, but lemme just finish up with our Sunday morning getting to see Pope Francis speak at St. Peters Square. It was awesome and we went to his Sunday blessing. Although he was speaking all in Italian and I could not understand a single word, it was still cool to be one among the crowd getting to see him speak outside his apartment window. It was too legit to quit!

Well so that basically sums up my Roman Holiday, but let me just end with a few final thoughts. Rome is a very beautiful city with so much history and culture and delicious food. Although it is very busy, and crossing the street is almost a near death experience every time, and things are almost ten times more expensive here than in Florence, I still loved it. It was nice coming back to Florence after Rome and it made me realize just how homey Florence is beginning to feel. I can't wait for more adventures like these and I will be sure to upload pictures of Rome soon! Hope all is well back home and everyone is staying warm. Sending all my love from Italia and talk to you guys soon! Ciao for now!

The Wonderful City Of Florence

Gelato with Amy and Kayla

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (aka The Duomo)

Florence street life

Not the real statue of David, but still pretty cool

Madie and Bridget (my roommates) enjoying our first night in Florence

Not your average Dominoes

View from the Ponte Vecchio Bridge

This is a real person!

L-R: Lauren, Amy, Madie, and Emily (all engineers studying abroad with Gonzaga as well)

Piazza di Signoria