Florence

Apartment- Corso Tintori 19

View from Piazzle Michealanglo

Ponte Vecchio

Lion's Fountain Pub- Endicott College

At the public library- coffee and the Duomo

Watching over the Ponte Vecchio

Piazzale Michealanglo

Piazzle Michaelanglo

Piazzale Michaelanglo
Thursday-Thursday August 29th- September 5th

We have arrived in Florence!! It is so beautiful here and I am so excited to finally be settled in and not living out of a suitcase anymore. I am living with two other girls from Endicott and a girl from San Diego. From other student apartments I have seen, I think that we have the best one simply because of our view of the Arno. It was awesome to have these huge windows that look right out over the water-makes me feel more at home! Since we are at the top floor we have 85 stairs to walk up so I will definitely be getting a good leg workout everyday! We all are unpacked and settled. We first had to move the room around a little bit though because the way the bedroom was set up was very strange so at least we moved it around and it is alot better now and we have more room for people to come over. The first few nights we have been here I have found the best panini place which always has the longest line but it is so worth it. And I have been able to try many new gelato places yum yum. So far we have been to a few bars which all have been so fun because they are Americanized a little bit with all US college t shirts hanging from the ceiling and last night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for my roommates birthday for a nice burger and American meal.

My favorite place so far in Florence is the Piazzale Michaelanglo. It is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment and has the most beautiful view of the city! You never really realize how huge the Duomo is until you see it compared with the rest of the building in the city. I went up to the Piazzle Michaelanglo twice the other day, one at noon and the other at sunset. It was so pretty, I will definitely be up there alot more throughout the semester. Another place I loved is the Ponte Vecchio at night. The other night a few girls and I went and got gelato and sat on the Ponte Vecchio and just listened to these two men sing and play guitars. I love all the music here and it's funny that any store you go into you always hear American produced songs. I have found a running route along the Arno that is really pretty, which I will need to keep up with since all this fresh food is around! I have only cooked one or two meals so far but that will change soon, I need to pick up a few recipes! Well if I think of more things I will certainly come back and write them but thats just about it for now!

Summary of my first travel week

Architectural garden

First glass of wine in Roma!

Vatican, St. Peter's Church

Bolgheri Vineyard in Tuscany

Forte dei Marmi

Trevi Fountain

                                                                 

Colosseum

                                                                

Il Colloso

Etruscan Village- Populonia

Friday August 23, 2013

We finally arrived in Rome. After a seven and a half hour flight we got to Rome at around 7:30 am. It was a little chaotic arriving in a foreign with twelve other girls but we managed to find our way around to where we were supposed to be to meet one of my professors, Humberto. Humberto led us through the airport and helped us buy our train tickets to the actual city of Roma. From there we met up with my resident director Olympia and arrived at our hotel around 10:30-11. We were not able to check into our rooms right away so a few of us girls went out to explore. We had our first italian pizza and some wine. We then ventured back to the hotel and were able to take a long nap and try to make up for all of the jet lag! That night Humberto and Olympia took us to a restaurant translated to "The White Hen" where we had more pizza and wine! Seeing as we were all excited to see the city Humberto took us through a three hour tour of Rome at night. We were able to see the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Colosseum and the Forum (all the main attractions of Roma).

Saturday August 24, 2013

Saturday morning we woke up early all dressed nicely to go explore Vatican city. It was our first experience with the subway in Rome but well worth it. Once we got there we were able to walk around and take pictures. We went to St. Peters church with a tour guide and was able to explore all of the fine details that you would never have noticed if we were not on a tour. Many people bought rosary beads. It was funny to walk into a store across the street and see all of the different items that had the pope's face on it. He is considered a people's pope because many people love him over in Rome. From then we went to a famous market and got a salad for lunch. I also picked up some ten euro Ray Bans that actually look pretty real!

Sunday August 25, 2013

Today we got up and went straight to see the Colosseum. It was awesome and so much bigger than I thought! We had a tour guide us through the Colorsseum, the Forum, and the Pantheon. We then got a bus transfer to an architectural garden in what it seemed, the middle of no where. This artist made these giant sculptures and hand put all of the glass pieces on herself, so everything sparkled and shimmered when the light hit it. It was really cool and unlike anything I have ever seen before. After spending an hour at the garden, we went to the resort for the night. We were all exhausted so it was nice to have time to ourselves and we went out to dinner as a group within the resort. After dinner, we all sat by the pool (it was the only place to get wifi) and talked together until late in the morning.

Monday August 26, 2013

Today was my favorite day we have had this week. We got on the bus and went to the Truscan village of Populonia! One of the prettiest places I have ever seen. We hiked up the mountain and to  the roof of an old church to get an amazing view of the Mediterranean Sea. I could have stayed there all day looking out at the endless ocean, it was crazy. From there we went to the Bolgheri Vineyard and had a wine tasting! I learned the proper way to taste wine. Smell, spin, smell, check the color, sip, gargle it in your mouth, and then fully take a sip. It is a process but it was fun to learn! We tried white, red, and pink along with the best food. We had a cheese plate with different jams and honey to eat it with, a platter of deli meats, brushetta, cheesy bread, and more. At the end of the tasting I got a bottle of white for myself and a bottle of red for when my parents come to visit! :) From there we got back on the bus and headed to Forte del Marmi.

Tuesday-Thursday Augsut 27, 2013

We are at a resort right by the water at Forte del Marmi! It was so nice relaxing out by the pool and by the beach. It reminded me of something you would see at a resort type town such as Miami. You look along the beach and see just thousands of resorts with cabanas, umbrellas and people, SO many people. The bathing suits are alot different here too. Noone wheres a one piece no matter what size you are and most of the bathing suits are very small! haha Alot of the little girls also did not wear tops either. We went to Carraca all the way up in the mountains to see the marble quarries which was really neat. The streets to go up the hill were so narrow and tiny I thought our bus was going to tip every turn we made but thankfully our driver was able to squeeze through! We also went to this insane market. It was almost too much you could not move anywhere you walked, too crowded for me! Our last night in Forte del Marmi, we had a huge dinner consisting of two pasta entrees, seafood and vegetable platter, french fries, and dessert! There was fireworks too! It was beautiful to be at a beach in a foreign country and see these awesome fireworks across the ocean. The fireworks symbolized the official end of summer in Italy.

The Chart Room