Athena Blogs

4:45pm (US time)

I am officially back in America. The past couple of days have been a complete whirlwind of events. In the midst of stressing about finals I am glad that I was able to find time to hang out with the amazing friends I have made over the past semester and say some final farewells to the city I have come to love as my own.

During my last few days in Florence I had some quality bonding time with my friends, explored the real Florence, and revisited some of my favorite sites. One the Wednesday night before we all left my friends and I had a farewell/Christmas party where we ate at our regular restaurant, Il Porcospino, and played the game white elephant (or what I like to call Dirty Santa).

I’d say it was a rather successful night considering I got to spend quality time with all of my amazing friends, AND I walked away with a bottle of wine from the present exchange. It was a night full of mixed emotions. On the one hand I was sad that this was one of the last times I would see these people but at the same time I was happy that I had met all of these great people and could hang out with them one more time.

7:57pm

So I’m not going to lie, this blog is the production of pure procrastination. Finals are this week and I am in denial that my time here in Italy is almost up so I have decided to compose this blog to help me detach from reality. And so far it is succeeding tremendously. So this past weekend there was a holiday on Thursday so we got a 4 day weekend. I didn’t really want to go anywhere since it was my last weekend in Florence so Libby, Jessica and I decided to go to Siena for the day on Thursday.

It was a very relaxing day and it turned out to be a great way to sort of say goodbye to Italy. We were able to see the countryside one last time before our departure for home. We left in the late morning and basically just spent the day walking around Siena. We walked through the stores and I got a lot of my last minute souvenir shopping done and we just hung out around the main square all day.

We walked through the side streets as well which was really cool because in Siena they have broken up the city into several different ‘neighborhoods’. These ‘neighborhoods’ are the result of the big horse race they have 2 times a year. In this horse race each neighborhood has a rider and they race around the central square until the first person reaches the finish line. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well you see, in this horse race anything goes. There are no real rules as to how you get to the finish line; it’s just that you have to.

10:18pm

This past weekend I went on the school trip to Venice. I was a little hesitant to go at first because of all of the school work I had but I had already paid for the trip so I had to go. And I am so glad that I did. I had an absolutely amazing time exploring this wonderful city. It was so great to get to go on a trip and not have to plan anything. I didn’t realize how much I enjoy not making plans until this trip.

Yea it has some disadvantages, moving in a crowd with a huge tourist stamp on your forehead, but at this point in my travels I didn’t even care. I was just happy to not have to think about making the right reservations or moving fast to make sure I get to see everything that I want to. It was a very relaxing trip and I ended up loving the city more than any other city I have visited in Italy.

We got to a town close to Venice early Saturday afternoon where we ditched the bus and hopped on a private boat. In no time we were cruzing down the Grand Canal and after about 15 minutes we found ourselves on the shores of the little island of Murano. Murano is a very popular island in Venice that is known for its glass. We were only on Murano for a couple of hours but it was great because during our time there we were able to watch the masters of the glass work their magic.

10:11pm

We left right after class on Thursday afternoon. Myself and 4 of my friends we off to Berlin, Germany! I probably should not have left this past weekend due to the immense amount of unfinished projects and homework I have but how can you say no to Germany? We got there kind of late Thursday night so after we found and checked into our hostel we booked it to the world famous Christmas markets. We only had about an hour or so at the markets because it was late and they were closing down but we had a blast anyways.

We were running through there like little kids, cameras poised and ready to click. We spent that whole glorious hour going from booth to booth looking at the little things they had to offer and of could trying samples like nobody’s business. Now if you have not caught on already that day was Thanksgiving. So in light of the American spirit we decided to have a “traditional” Thanksgiving by going to the nearest, open restaurant (which are much more difficult than one would think at 11:00pm) and eating as much as we could fit in our stomachs.

Since we were in Berlin we had to skip out on the turkey and mashed potatoes however we did have a delicious German cuisine that consisted of beef, potatoes and vegetables. It was amazing! Not a bad alternative to Grandma’s home cooking. (Not that your dinners aren’t spectacular Grandma. I just said that for emphasis. ;) ) Although Thanksgiving was a little different this year I am very blessed to have been able to spend this time of thanks in as great a place as Berlin with my family (even if not biological).

11:14pm

After living here for just over 2 ½ months I finally made it to Rome. My friend Kelsey and I left Saturday morning bright and early on the 5:50am train. Or at least that was the plan. It ended up that our train had some sort of trouble so we had to get on a different train. Luckily since it was a train issue and not our own error we were able to use the same ticket as the first train. We good time and got into Rome at around 8:45am. Only 15 minutes later than our first train was supposed to arrive. Once we got to Rome we found our hostel which was conveniently located a couple blocks from the train station.

12:56pm

So once again I know this entry is a little late but I have been so busy with school work since I have been back that I didn’t have time to write this until now. The ends of semesters always suck. Anyways, enough of me making excuses, you want to hear about PRAGUE!

We left on our 12 hour bus ride (yes I said 12 hours. Not a typo.) at 8pm Thursday night. Jessica, Kelsey and I decided to go to Prague through the group Florence For Fun so we had our own private bus which was extremely nice considering the amount of time we spent in the bus. It was pimped out with DVD players and everything! On the way there it wasn’t too bad because I ended up passing out for the majority of the time (and when I say pass out what I really mean is slept off and on between getting jolted awake by the bus).

We got to Prague the next morning and we had about 30 minutes to wash off the nights grime in our awesome hotel rooms before we headed out on our guided tour of the city. That’s the beauty of traveling though a group…hotels instead of hostels. (Ka-ching!)

10:39pm

So we arrived in Paris Tuesday evening after only 2 hours of sleep the night before. We found our apartment (which turned out to be epic!) and got settled in. We rented an apartment for our stay which turned out to be a great idea because we had full access to a kitchen, great sleeping arrangements, privacy, and awesome location. Not to mention living there made us really feel like we were living in Paris, not just visiting on vacation. The next day we woke up rather early and hit up the Louvre. We did not nearly have enough time inside but we hit the highlights (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, etc.).

I really love going through Museums with Jessica because since she is an Art History major it’s like I have my own personal tour guide. It’s awesome! The Louvre was massive though and I do kind of wish that we would have scheduled more time to see more of it. There were entire sections in there that we didn’t even hit and we were in there for 2 hours. After the Louvre we had lunch at this famous café called Café de Flore. Apparently back in the day famous philosophers such as Caums used to eat there. It was very cute inside and it made me feel very Parisian.

After lunch we decided to tackle the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line for a good while to get tickets for the stairs but it was totally worth it, and so was the hike up to the top. The view from each level was spectacular and gave you a different vantage point of the city.

1:35pm

Let me just start out by saying that I am having way too much fun over here for my own good. We had a week off of school for our fall break so Jessica and I met up with her friend Nora from school and we went to Ireland and Paris for the week. The week was full of so many fun times I don’t even know how I am going to relay them all to you. I guess you will just have to settle for the highlights. I think the best way to do this will be to write a separate entry for each country I was in. Are you ready? Here we go!

Ireland!

Ireland has been by far THE most beautiful place I have ever seen in my entire life. We spent a total of 5 nights there. We started out in Dublin and spent the first couple days there. While in Dublin we took a tour of the Dublin Castle (worth the 5 Euros), walked around Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells (beautiful), toured the Guinness Factory (where I got officially certified to pour Guinness…..yes, I even got a certificate with my name on it), spent half a day at Wicklow Mountain National Park (spectacular!), and of course hit up the pubs!

Now while all of these activities were amazing I know you don’t want to hear the details about all of them so I will just bore you with the details of my favorite. Wicklow Mountain National Park was my favorite thing we did in Dublin. Don’t get me wrong the city was amazing but when I think of Ireland I think more about the countryside so when we were able to see this for the first time on our way to Wicklow I was in high Heaven! Now for those girls out there reading this and don’t know what Wicklow Mountain National Park is let me tell you. You remember the movie P.S. I love you? Yea, this is the park where Gerry and Holly meet.

10:27 pm

This weekend my friends were being very successful at procrastinating. Thursday night a big group of us had a pizza and wine night. We all went to Gusta Pizza just across the river and got out pizzas and then we headed for our destination, which was originally going to be Piazzale Michelangelo but we were too hungry so we just went to the piazza in front of the boboli gardens and ate there. We ended up sitting there for a good 2-3 hours just eating, drinking and talking as only girls can do. It was a blast to get everyone together again and to meet new people. That's one thing I really love about here; I feel like I meet someone new every day. It is awesome.

Friday, Jessica, Libby, Amanda and I all went horseback riding. The morning started off great but we ran into a bit of a problem once we got to the town of San Gimignano. We could not find a taxi to save our lives! We kept asking different people inside the stores of the town and it seemed like they were all telling us something different. We were half an hour late to our appointment because of it and then we had to wait even longer once we got there because the person who was going to take us left because they thought we weren't coming (even though we called once we got to San Gimignano to tell them we were there). Anyways, we finally got on the horses and started our tour a mere hour after our original departure time. The guy was really nice who took us on the tour but I was a little disappointed that the whole tour basically took place in the woods, which wasn't bad, it was just different than I was expecting. I was thinking I was going to see more beautiful country side like I saw last weekend but instead I got to see a different part of the countryside I guess. It was still really fun despite our difficulties getting there and our late departure time. My horse (Rocky), well let's just say he had a lot of character. I am convinced they had not fed him in a while because he was stopping at LITERALLY every bush to tear off a branch to eat. If this were not annoying enough he then proceeded to bushwhack me every time he tore something off to eat. He would grab the branch, bending it back as he walked and then once the branch let go into his mouth the rest of the branch would come back and smack me in the face. THEN once we were finished riding we helped the guide put the horses back in their fields and as I was walking Rocky down he almost knocked me over several times as he continued to try to get food! Needless to say Rocky and I had a love-hate relationship.

9:38pm

Let me start out by saying that if you are ever in Florence for more than 2 days you HAVE to go on a vespa tour of Tuscany! It was the most fun I have had in Tuscany so far! Sunday morning some of my friends and I went on a vespa tour through a company called Fun in Tuscany. This company is so sweet. They do vespa tours, horseback riding, wine tasting and all sorts of fun activities. Not to mention the staff is super nice and very easy going. We met them by the train station at 9:30am where they proceeded to bus us (well I guess technically we rode in vans but you get the point) to the location where we were to begin. We all got fitted with our helmets and headed out back to choose our vespas. One by one they put us on our vespas (after instructing us how to us them of course) and let us practice driving them around the track until we all pretty much got the hang of it. Then we were off!

We drove in a line through the back streets of Tuscany opening us up to amazing views that one would generally not see if driving through the area. It was so much fun to drive a vespa and get this whole new vantage point to the already beautiful landscape. We drove first to a place where they make wine. We stopped here and walked up the driveway to find a small building and a vast panoramic view of the countryside. To be honest I didn’t really pay much attention to what the guide was saying, not that it wasn’t interesting, I was just really distracted by the views around me. Plus it was nice being able to take photos without the risk of crashing a vespa (you should have seen me trying to take photos while I was driving.... it was rather entertaining).