Making the most of every day!

Gondala ride!

I LOVE the little canals!

Beautiful grand canal of Venice!

Cinque Terre!

The view from our last hike to Monterosso!

We made it to the beach of Monterosso after 1 and 1/2 hour hike!!

Last Wednesday Katie and I moved into our apartment in Florence and it feels so good to have a permanent home for the next few days! I am living with Katie Stockton, Mary Louise, Mary Southgate and two girls named Jenna and Meagan! All six of us realized that we do have four weeks ahead of us but they are going to fly bye, so we decided to jump on the train on Saturday and head to Venice for the day! In the ticket line at the train, we met a group of college kids from Penn State and two of them, Lauren and Chris, decided to come to Venice with us! Venice is such a cool little town on the water! I’ve never been to any place like it before! We walked all over the town and stopped to take pictures and take in the views of the water, colorful houses and gondalas! We saw a stand of fresh cut of fruit that we couldn’t resist since we haven’t had fruit in days ahh! Let me tell ya….it hit the spot! We went to a restaurant that is right next to the grand canal so we had a beautiful view of the water! Funny moment: Lauren, our new friend from Penn State and a Long Island New Yorker, out of nowhere whips out her box wine for the whole table…hilarious. The waiters quickly informed her that that kind of wine is solely used for cooking in Italy haha! They LOVED making fun of her for that! After eating a delicious margherita pizza (of course) we jumped on a gondela! The gondalier quickly realized that we didn’t care about the history of random buildings because A) we wouldn’t stop taking pictures and B) we were so curious about his life and kept asking him questions! He was probably annoyed with us curious southern girls! He said that It takes 4 years of training to become a gondalier…woah!!

Today (Sunday) we headed to Cinque Terre with the Bus2Alps tour group for the day! We were so excited to put on shorts and running shoes since we've actually dressed nicely the past week! My running shoes have never felt so good! Cinque Terre is a group of five towns on the coast of Italy right by the Tyrrhenian sea. It was amazing! Unfortunately we couldn’t hike through all five towns because there was a mudslide in October and three of the trails were blocked off. We walked from town 1 to town 2 then took the train to town 3 and got the best pesto spaghetti I’ve ever had! Pesto originated in Cinque Terre…yummy!! We then hiked from towns 4 to 5 which took 1 and ½ hours. The hike was all up hill for the first 40 minutes, but it was worth the incredible views of the beautiful aqua sea and colorful towns! With a sense of achievement and sore legs, we made it to the beach of Monterroso (the last town)! We grabbed a strawberry daiquiri, sat on a bench and enjoyed watching hysterial Italian and American beach bums including a man who was dancing by himself in the water…hilarious. I loooove people watching! We all agreed on the way back that it could not have been a better weekend!!

Italians obviously don't know what deodorant is...

In St. Peter's Square

We were so close to the pope as he made his procession!

Top of St. Peter's Basilica!

Katie and I spent the day at the Vatican and surprisingly enough, so many things fell into place! We got up early and hopped onto the metro or "bus" for the first time on the trip and successfully made it to the Vatican! In the security line a lady told us that the Pope was going to have his procession this morning…we couldn’t believe it! We somehow got a very close seat in front of St. Peter’s Basilica where the procession would take place! The Pope came out and rode around the crowd then was lifted up on stage. He read his sermon in Italian and thankfully someone read scripture in English! It all was so surreal!! After the procession/service we went on a guided tour through the Vatican Museum, the Sistine chapel (Michelangelo spent 11 years painting the ceiling and one of the walls…woah.) and St. Peter’s Basilica (the largest church in the world apparently)! Katie and I were given great advice from our friend Hollister to climb everything we can so up we went to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica! After many very narrow winding staircases, we made it to the top! It was so worth the dizziness! We could see all of Rome and most of the monuments from the top! On our way down we noticed a little pudgy foreign girl who was determined to go as fast as possible down the stairs and before we knew it we heard CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK and she had fallen flat on her face down 6 stairs. Her parents came and quickly picked her up and scolded her in some crazy language we didn’t know. At that moment Katie and I were very thankful that we have very compassionate and loving parents…unlike those crazies!! We traveled back onto the metro bus where we confirmed the fact that Italians don’t know what deodorant is, as Katie had an Italian man’s armpit in her face! Disgusting. We got a bite to eat at restaurant near the train station and ended up sitting with a lady named Stephanie who lived in Australia (originally from St. Louis) and who was traveling by herself. I don't think I could ever travel by myself like that. Side note: Katie and I have LOVED traveling together :) We then got to the train station and we somehow made it on our train after a minor panic attack when we couldn’t find our train and we forgot to get our ticket punched. By the grace of God we made it to Florence and met Mary Southgate at our hotel! We walked around Florence grabbed some gelatto and now we are off to bed. Katie and I feel like these past few days have been perfect and we have gotten our feet wet a little bit! Not to be to sentimental or anything but we just feel like God has made it clear to us that he has been with us every step of the way as we have made our way through this country. He has shown himself to us in people and timing, as he put WONDERFUL, loving people in our lives these past few days, he brought us to the Vatican at the perfect time to see the Pope and he got us on that train. Those are just a few of the many ways he has shown himself to us :) I am looking forward to seeing all of our UNC friends tomorrow and permanently setting in our apartment tomorrow!!

Asian Invasion!!

Capri!

Our new friends!

Top of the mountain before the rain!

Top of mountain with Jeanne and Natalie!

Soaking wet with Antonio!

We had an awesome day on the isle of Capri yesterday despite the yucky/cold weather! We traveled with several people we had traveled with to Pompeii…, Julie and Bill, Jeanne and Natalie (the mom and daughter from Michigan) and we had some Argentian newcomers named Cukey and Henry (who were so giggly and happy and we loved attempting to speak spanish with them) :) We met Antonio, our FAVORITE/hysterical tour guide at the ferry then went for a very choppy ferry ride across the Mediterranean sea. When we made it to the BEAUTIFUL Island, some of us were worried about our later travel plans to different parts of Italy that day, but Antonio said, “Unlike you Americans, we Italians take it step-by-step…and that’s what we are going to do!”

We first went to the lower part of the island called Capri where we walked around and looked at the incredible view and shopped around and then we went up to the top of the island called Anacapri! Both parts remind me a lot of Martha’s Vineyard! While we were shopping around, we got corrected multiple times about the way we said “Grazie”…gollee…we are trying people!! After lunch is the funniest part…

Jeanne, Katie, Natalie and I rode the chair lift up from Anacapri to the top of the mountain. It was absolutely freezing but the view was so worth it! Katie and I decided to spend some extra time on top and take some more pictures, but we regretted that when it started down pouring! We quickly went undercover and got a latte in the small coffee shop. We weren’t the only ones that had that idea... aka ASIAN INVASION!!! Literally 40 Asian tourists rushed into the coffee shop and were pushing us every which way. Katie and I decided we needed to immediately relocate ourselves and the only option was to ride the chairlift down in 40 degree weather in pouring down rain…so off we went! Katie wore her jacket backwards so she could protect her camera and put the hood up to protect her face. I felt so prepared with my umbrella AND rain jacket. I soon found out that my rain plan of protecting my face with my umbrella wasn’t so brilliant after all. I hopped on that chair lift and my umbrella immediately flopped inside out because of the wind...MAJOR fail. We got off the chairlift soaking wet but we did not fret because we had Antonio to take care of us!!  Needless to say…there have been zero dull moments on this trip! We traveled back to Rome and we said bye to our new friends, which was sad. So thankful for email and facebook!

Limoncello?

Today Katie and I had a “day of leisure” and spent the afternoon exploring the little town of Sorrento! Last night we saw that the weather said 70% chance of rain and we were afraid that we wouldn’t see this beautiful town lit up with sunshine, but thankfully the weatherman was wrong!!! It was so sunny and gorgeous. We hopped on the hotel shuttle and got dropped off at the main Piazza. We walked down the main street of very nice shops! We ate lunch at a restaurant in the Piazza where I had a mozzarella and tomato Panini…yum! We decided to try this licker drink that Sorrento is known for called Limoncello. Side note: Sorrento is known for its huge lemons! The waiter brought out the Limoncello and a “present” (as he called it) of little cookies (more free things!) and took a very small sip and immediately chased it down with water. It was absolutely disgusting! I poured the lemoncello in my water bottle to make it seem like we drank some of it. We didn't want to be rude! Katie and I decided we would just stick to Chick-fila lemonade :) In order to get rid of the lemon taste in our mouths, we decided to grab some Gelato! After lunch, we walked down beautiful alleyways of cute markets and found a hotel with a porch where we saw a gorgeous view of the Mediterranean sea! After a few hours we made it back to our hotel and went straight to the pool where we soaked up some rays!

Katie and I can’t get over how much we love Italy, especially the people. It is so much fun to hear so many different accents and guess where people are from (there are a lot of tourists but not an overwhelming number of them)! Also, the concierges gave us free Internet again and told us to keep it a secret from his boss :)

We had another stupid American moment that actually just happened as I am wringing this. The door to our terrace was “stuck” and we were so stressed out about it because we didn't want to have to call the maintenance man up again who showed us how to use the hair dryer. After a lot of pushing and pulling we discovered that all we had to do was push the handle down! Ahh! So embarrassing!

In the Piazza of Sorrento!

the beautiful view we found from the random hotel patio!

I didn't really drink the limoncello...

I poured it in my water bottle so it didn't seem like we were rude and didn't drink it :)

Gelato time! Banana Split and Caffe flavors...delicious but I like chocolate better!

One of the many markets in the alleyways of Sorrento!

This doesn't capture the beauty of the alleyways.

For my mom! Go tigers!

View from our hotel when the sun came out!!

Another view!

Katie and I are off to dinner and early nights sleep! Looking forward to exploring Capri tomorrow. That’s all for now!

These HAVE to be the Spanish Steps!!

Hey friends and family across "the pond" (as my dad used to say)!!

This is my first blog post of MANY in the next few weeks. I want to let you all know about my Italian adventures but promise to make these posts short and sweet!

I am doing the Florence, Italy study abroad program from May 23rd until June 23rd and my friend Katie Stockton and I decided to travel a little early and do the southern swoop of Italy. We have already done so much all ready and its only day 2!

In the Charlotte Airport about to get on the Plane to Rome!

After a 9 hour plane ride that included a long conversation with hysterical chatty guys, named Frank and Ryan, who were sitting right next to me (who are from the Missouri and they are backpacking for 7 weeks in Europe...aka they didn't have any idea where they were sleeping that night or any nights ahead of them...yeah, no thank you!) and included the first pasta meal of many, we arrived in Rome at 3:30am American time and 9:30am Italian time and hit the ground running! 

Katie's Aunt Wendy decided to spend the day with us and that gave me so much peace of mind. We saw that the bus tours were very crowded and walked ALL over Rome. While stretching our map every which way (looking like major tourists), we conquered the Colliseum, the incredible Vittoriano monument (which we thought were the Spanish steps for a while...stupid Americans!!) where I hear "MACON" and lo and behold, its Frank and Ryan...hilarious! We then found the AMAZING Trevi Fountain where Katie and I made a wish by throwing a coin over our heads and our last stop was the Pantheon. In between those adventures Aunt Wendy, Katie and I found a restaurant on a beautiful cobble stone street to eat a margherita pizza, sparkling water and a little chardonnay! That night the three of us ate lasagne outside at a restaurant near our hotel and had to sadly tell Aunt Wendy goodbye! After, Katie and I got our favorite hotel conciere, Lorenzo, (who called us "My friends!") to tell us where the nearest gelato place is because getting gelato on our first day in Italy was a no brainer! We went for the chocolate and it was pretty darn good. These Italians know how to eat and drink!!

 

Colosseum

Vittoriano Monument

Making a wish in the Trevi Fountain!

With Aunt Wendy!!

We woke up early this morning and hopped on a bus to visit Naples and Pompeii! We made a stop along the way and I got one of many lattes that I will be having the next few weeks. Lets just say that the Italians definitely don't drink grande and venti size coffee drinks!! We made it to Pompeii after a couple hours and we discovered the massive lemons that the southern part of Italy is known for! We walked around a little market and then explored the Pompeii volcano ruins. The ruins were very interesting but we could have spend 30 minutes instead of 2 1/2 hours walking around in them! Yes, mom,  I did listen to the tour guide :) I have never done a bus tour in a group like this and Katie and I discovered that you get to know the other people on the tour REAL well. We loved meeting Ginny and Natalie, a mom and daughter who we ate lunch with. There were several retired couples on our trip and the husbands were some funny old men! After we saw the formed bodies of the people who died from the Pompeii volcano, one of the old men spotted a lady lying on the ground and said "Look someone survived!" and Katie and I cracked up (you had to be there, obviously!!)! Needless to say that we loved the people we toured with today!

HUGE Lemons!

Beginning of the Pompeii ruins tour!

Inside the ruins

We then hopped up on the bus and made it to Sorrento and it has taken our breath away!! No words can describe the view from our window as we look right at the Mediterranean sea (may be hard to see in pics but believe me, its gorgeous)! We are definitely going to try to put our feet in the Mediterranean sea tomorrow! We also overlook the pool (with a hot tub in the middle?) that we will be hitting up as soon as possible! When we got into our hotel room we figured out that you use your room keys to turn on the lights but they kept turning off for some reason. We called down to the nice hotel concierre men and they told us that we must leave the key in the slit thing. WOW. We have proved ourselves to be crazy Americans who "don't get out much." We are slowly but surely learning the Italian ways! Katie and I decided that we loved Italian people because they are so friendly. The concierre men gave us free internet access because they "like our smiles" (apparently)...or they just felt sorry for us because we didn't know how to keep the lights on!

BEAUTIFUL Sorrento View from our Bus!

View from our hotel room window!!

Just soaking in our view :)

Katie and are so excited to walk around Sorrento tomorrow on our leisure day (meaning we don't have a guided tour)! Look for a post tomorrow or the next :)

I feel so blessed to be on this trip. Thank you Momma for making this happen!!!

Love to my mom, sister, friends and other family!!

Ciao!!!