Monday:
What a great way to start of the week.
Classes were relatively normal. Erin and I had a 2 minute presentation in Intro to Florence that turned into about a 1 minute presentation because she cut us of and moved on to the next person. Oh well, we got an A.
The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. After dinner I spent the rest of the evening studying for my Intro to Florence test that's tomorrow.
Tuesday:
After watching everyone else freak out and worry about the Intro to Florence test, I feel a little bad when I say that I didn't find it that difficult.
After the test, Italian went well and then it was lunch. Day over? Oh, I wish.
After lunch I started studying for my Finance test that's on Thursday. People are already freaking out about that one too. Is there something wrong with me? I don't have anywhere near the anxiety or stress that half of my friends do about these tests..
After dinner I went to the school and studied with Jaclyn, Gmo, and Conner for Finance. Surprisingly we actually got work done! But of course we did have the occasional YouTube video study breaks. And before we all went home we did make a gelato stop. Hey, we deserved it.
Wednesday:
Carl and I have been scheduled to give our Holocaust presentation since last Wednesday, but we finally got it out of the way today. I feel like it went really well, and Professor Baranova seemed to like it. Praise the Lord.
Other than that presentation, class was pretty boring.
Once again, after History was over I spent the rest of my afternoon studying for Finance. I again met up with Jaclyn and Conner to study. Erin and Gabby took it today and they came back both pretty crazy. They kept telling me how hard it was and everything... they almost got me a little panicked. But when we were studying, Jaclyn and Conner both told me that everyone they had talked to said it wasn't too bad. I don't know if Erin and Gabby are trying to psych me out, or if they legitimately thought it was hard. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
Thursday:
Woke up and had Finance right off the bat. I actually think it went really well. I felt bad though because after I ran into Gabby and she asked how it went. I made the mistake of saying I thought I did well because she decided to be snappy with me for the rest of the day. Oh well, whatever.
Italian kind of dragged on, and when I got home I started talking to Nina about the test. Turns out I had messed up a little. On the first page was 2 long answer questions. I answered both, but only really felt confident in the first one. I didn't read directions and it just so happens that we were only supposed to answer one. I quickly emailed Professor Screti and explained what happened, and asked very nicely if she could grade the first one. I got a nice reply saying that it was totally okay and to have a great weekend. Love her.
And so the weekend began...
A bunch of us girls decided to go to Gusta Pizza for dinner. I had the most amazing pesto pizza OF MY LIFE. I am honestly never eating pizza in America again, even New York pizza. Nothing will ever compare to the pizza I've had in Italy.
We went home, changed, and headed out to the Fish Pub to meet the boys. We had another great night, returning home close to 3AM. If we had been in the right state of mind we probably would have realized the time was perfect to go to the Secret Bakery, but we didn't. Next time.
Week 1 of Midterms has commenced. And we made it out alive. Only 3 more to go next week. I can't believe we only have a month left in this wonderful place.
Monday, October 24th - Thursday, October 27th
Friday, October 28, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Gang is Back Together
Friday:
After staying out quite late on Thursday, we allowed ourselves to sleep in until about 11 Friday morning. A bunch of us were going on the wine tour offered by the school at 2:30PM so we decided to get dressed and head out to a nice brunch at The Diner for some good old American breakfast foods.
My pancakes and omelette (split between Audrey and I) were absolutely delicious. After breakfast we headed back home to get a few things done before we left.
The wine tour was a fun thing to do. It was perfect weather for wandering around vineyards and learning about the wine and olive oil making processes. We got to see the entire behind the scenes action of a successful winery.
At the end of the tour we had the chance to sit down and taste the 3 wines they make, and the 2 olive oils. I am not a wine fan, which probably explains why I was the only one at our able to leave wine in all 3 glasses. I took a few sips, admired the differences, and was done. The olive oils were very good- so much better than the ones we have at home. Or atleast they tasted that way... probably had something to do with the freshness... who knows. After that was over with we headed back home.
I ended up going to dinner with Jaclyn, Felicia, Fallon, Nicole, Amanda, and some guys from my pensione. We went to Dante's and Jaclyn and I got to experience our first time together. It is a great restaurant across the Ponte Vecchio that gives students free wine. And limoncello. It was great company, great food, and a great time. Even though we all got tiramisu at the restaurant, on the way home we passed the 1 euro gelato place and had to get some. It was basically a night of indulgences.
After dinner Jaclyn, Fallon and I decided to hit the town once again. It was Elise's 21 run and we had been told where it was starting, so even though we didn't head out until an hour later we expected to find them somewhere. When we got to Shots they weren't there. There is only so many places they could be so we started going from one to another looking for them. When we realized 21 had a 13 euro covercharge we knew they were going to have to end up at Twice sometime during the night, so we headed there. We stayed for close to an hour and never once saw any Gonzaga kids. It was 1:30AM at this point and we were tired, so we bailed.
Not too bad for a Friday.
Saturday:
The original plan for Saturday was to wake up at 6:30AM and meet Jaclyn, Felicia, Fallon and some other girls and catch the 8AM train to Perugia for the Chocolate Festival. I must have turned my alarm off in the morning because at 7:30AM Jaclyn showed up wondering what was going on. So basically, I didn't make it to Perugia. Oh well.
Instead, Allie and I slept in and got a very late brunch with Audrey and Erin. We meant to walk home right after but instead wandered through the outdoor market and mercato centrale for awhile. I've been looking for an infinity scarf for months and finally found one I like at the outdoor market, so I bought my first official Italian made garment. We finally headed home, 3 hours later, and tried to be productive. Allie and I did work on homework for awhile, but if you looked at how much we finished you would think we did nothing all day.
The gang had made plans to get together once the boys made it back from the soccer game. Us girls went to a place close on Nazionale for dinner and caught up with some of them that we haven't seen in awhile.
As we were getting ready back at our pensione, Gmo showed up. We were meeting the rest of the guys at 10PM at Red Garter so we headed out.
They ended up being an hour and a half late,but it was okay since we were having a pretty good time anyways. Once they did show up we left for Twice. After being there a half hour Jaclyn and I were bored and had Nathan walk us home. After we dropped Jaclyn off we sat outside Bonifacio and talked for like an hour. Good old Nathan, what a trooper.
Sunday:
Even though they didn't get home till quite early in the morning (they had tried to find the Secret Bakery, again without success), Allie's alarm went off at 8:30AM and we headed downstairs for breakfast.
The rest of the day was spent, and I am not kidding, in our room doing homework. The only two times we left were to get lunch and dinner. And we only got food, no wandering about.
Other than the homework and the stress of upcoming tests, it was a pretty relaxing and quite day. Definitely needed after this weekend.
It was so nice to have everybody in town. Its been a month since we all have been together and I had almost forgot how much fun it is with everyone. It was one of those weekends that is going to make Monday be interesting. Breakfast was already funny, so I'm curious as to what the rest of the day is going to hold.
Friday, October 21st - Sunday, October 23rd
After staying out quite late on Thursday, we allowed ourselves to sleep in until about 11 Friday morning. A bunch of us were going on the wine tour offered by the school at 2:30PM so we decided to get dressed and head out to a nice brunch at The Diner for some good old American breakfast foods.
My pancakes and omelette (split between Audrey and I) were absolutely delicious. After breakfast we headed back home to get a few things done before we left.
The wine tour was a fun thing to do. It was perfect weather for wandering around vineyards and learning about the wine and olive oil making processes. We got to see the entire behind the scenes action of a successful winery.
At the end of the tour we had the chance to sit down and taste the 3 wines they make, and the 2 olive oils. I am not a wine fan, which probably explains why I was the only one at our able to leave wine in all 3 glasses. I took a few sips, admired the differences, and was done. The olive oils were very good- so much better than the ones we have at home. Or atleast they tasted that way... probably had something to do with the freshness... who knows. After that was over with we headed back home.
I ended up going to dinner with Jaclyn, Felicia, Fallon, Nicole, Amanda, and some guys from my pensione. We went to Dante's and Jaclyn and I got to experience our first time together. It is a great restaurant across the Ponte Vecchio that gives students free wine. And limoncello. It was great company, great food, and a great time. Even though we all got tiramisu at the restaurant, on the way home we passed the 1 euro gelato place and had to get some. It was basically a night of indulgences.
After dinner Jaclyn, Fallon and I decided to hit the town once again. It was Elise's 21 run and we had been told where it was starting, so even though we didn't head out until an hour later we expected to find them somewhere. When we got to Shots they weren't there. There is only so many places they could be so we started going from one to another looking for them. When we realized 21 had a 13 euro covercharge we knew they were going to have to end up at Twice sometime during the night, so we headed there. We stayed for close to an hour and never once saw any Gonzaga kids. It was 1:30AM at this point and we were tired, so we bailed.
Not too bad for a Friday.
Saturday:
The original plan for Saturday was to wake up at 6:30AM and meet Jaclyn, Felicia, Fallon and some other girls and catch the 8AM train to Perugia for the Chocolate Festival. I must have turned my alarm off in the morning because at 7:30AM Jaclyn showed up wondering what was going on. So basically, I didn't make it to Perugia. Oh well.
Instead, Allie and I slept in and got a very late brunch with Audrey and Erin. We meant to walk home right after but instead wandered through the outdoor market and mercato centrale for awhile. I've been looking for an infinity scarf for months and finally found one I like at the outdoor market, so I bought my first official Italian made garment. We finally headed home, 3 hours later, and tried to be productive. Allie and I did work on homework for awhile, but if you looked at how much we finished you would think we did nothing all day.
The gang had made plans to get together once the boys made it back from the soccer game. Us girls went to a place close on Nazionale for dinner and caught up with some of them that we haven't seen in awhile.
As we were getting ready back at our pensione, Gmo showed up. We were meeting the rest of the guys at 10PM at Red Garter so we headed out.
They ended up being an hour and a half late,but it was okay since we were having a pretty good time anyways. Once they did show up we left for Twice. After being there a half hour Jaclyn and I were bored and had Nathan walk us home. After we dropped Jaclyn off we sat outside Bonifacio and talked for like an hour. Good old Nathan, what a trooper.
Sunday:
Even though they didn't get home till quite early in the morning (they had tried to find the Secret Bakery, again without success), Allie's alarm went off at 8:30AM and we headed downstairs for breakfast.
The rest of the day was spent, and I am not kidding, in our room doing homework. The only two times we left were to get lunch and dinner. And we only got food, no wandering about.
Other than the homework and the stress of upcoming tests, it was a pretty relaxing and quite day. Definitely needed after this weekend.
It was so nice to have everybody in town. Its been a month since we all have been together and I had almost forgot how much fun it is with everyone. It was one of those weekends that is going to make Monday be interesting. Breakfast was already funny, so I'm curious as to what the rest of the day is going to hold.
Friday, October 21st - Sunday, October 23rd
Saturday, October 22, 2011
The Best Week Ever
Monday:
I was in a good mood Monday, not entirely sure why.
Woke up, went to class, and by the time my 3 hour econ class rolled around I decided I was done with classes for the day and instead went to the library to be productive [sorry, mom]. I actually was productive and went home just in time for dinner. After dinner I again worked on homework and hung out with some friends. Good day.
Tuesday:
Again, was in a great mood all day.
Classes were nothing special. After lunch did some homework and random stuff. Walked to the gigantic grocery store with Allie where we FINALLY found peanut butter. By the time we got back it was close to dinner time.
It was Glee night, so we hung out with some girls, ate baked goods, and watched a very odd episode of Glee.
See, nothing special, but still a very good day.
Wednesday:
For the third day in a row, I was in a great mood. Today actually had a reason though..
The tour for Intro to Florence wasn't bad today. We went to the museum behind the duomo and it was pretty interesting.
For Italian we also went on a field trip. We all met outside Piazza San Lorenzo and went to mercato centrale. It was a scavenger hunt in groups of 3, trying to find different meats, cheeses, vegetables and fruits. It was really fun and actually quite educational.
Because we had been at the market, class lasted a little longer than usual, so by the time I got home it was lunch time.
After lunch, had class again. Didn't have to do my presentation because she moved them to Monday, so that was awesome.
Once class was finished I tried to get homework done before dinner because the night was shaping up to be a good one.
I did a little bit of homework after dinner, skyped Hayley which was great, and then skyped Matt. It was so good to talk to both of them and actually see/hear them! Email just isn't the same... While I was talking to Matt the girls decided to go out. I wasn't really in the mood, and wanted to keep talking to him, so I bailed. I would later find out the night was pretty boring and I didn't miss out on much.
Quite a good day
Thursday:
A good way to end the week.
It decided to rain, all day. Classes flew by, and with the weather the way it was I felt like it would be an ideal time to curl up in my bed and watch Grey's Anatomy.
After lunch we didn't do much of anything, just hung out. When dinner time rolled around we wandered over to Mostodolce for burgers. I love that place.
Thursday night=Florence students Friday night. And with that the gang had been planning a reunion (since this was the first weekend in almost a month we were all here for the weekend) to the fish pub. We went home and changed and met everybody at the pub for a night of epicness.
Details are unnecessary, all that is important is that we had a great time. I love my friends. It was by far the best night out in Florence to date.
And so we welcomed in the weekend the best way we know how. Cheers, to the best week ever.
Monday, October 17th - Thursday, October 20th
I was in a good mood Monday, not entirely sure why.
Woke up, went to class, and by the time my 3 hour econ class rolled around I decided I was done with classes for the day and instead went to the library to be productive [sorry, mom]. I actually was productive and went home just in time for dinner. After dinner I again worked on homework and hung out with some friends. Good day.
Tuesday:
Again, was in a great mood all day.
Classes were nothing special. After lunch did some homework and random stuff. Walked to the gigantic grocery store with Allie where we FINALLY found peanut butter. By the time we got back it was close to dinner time.
It was Glee night, so we hung out with some girls, ate baked goods, and watched a very odd episode of Glee.
See, nothing special, but still a very good day.
Wednesday:
For the third day in a row, I was in a great mood. Today actually had a reason though..
The tour for Intro to Florence wasn't bad today. We went to the museum behind the duomo and it was pretty interesting.
For Italian we also went on a field trip. We all met outside Piazza San Lorenzo and went to mercato centrale. It was a scavenger hunt in groups of 3, trying to find different meats, cheeses, vegetables and fruits. It was really fun and actually quite educational.
Because we had been at the market, class lasted a little longer than usual, so by the time I got home it was lunch time.
After lunch, had class again. Didn't have to do my presentation because she moved them to Monday, so that was awesome.
Once class was finished I tried to get homework done before dinner because the night was shaping up to be a good one.
I did a little bit of homework after dinner, skyped Hayley which was great, and then skyped Matt. It was so good to talk to both of them and actually see/hear them! Email just isn't the same... While I was talking to Matt the girls decided to go out. I wasn't really in the mood, and wanted to keep talking to him, so I bailed. I would later find out the night was pretty boring and I didn't miss out on much.
Quite a good day
Thursday:
A good way to end the week.
It decided to rain, all day. Classes flew by, and with the weather the way it was I felt like it would be an ideal time to curl up in my bed and watch Grey's Anatomy.
After lunch we didn't do much of anything, just hung out. When dinner time rolled around we wandered over to Mostodolce for burgers. I love that place.
Thursday night=Florence students Friday night. And with that the gang had been planning a reunion (since this was the first weekend in almost a month we were all here for the weekend) to the fish pub. We went home and changed and met everybody at the pub for a night of epicness.
Details are unnecessary, all that is important is that we had a great time. I love my friends. It was by far the best night out in Florence to date.
And so we welcomed in the weekend the best way we know how. Cheers, to the best week ever.
Monday, October 17th - Thursday, October 20th
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Tally Hoes Take On London
And so the adventure begins...
Thursday:
Even though we didn't get to bed until close to 3AM, we were up and out the door by 10AM.
After grabbing a quick breakfast we headed to the subway station to get our day going. We bought an all day subway pass and headed towards the center of the city.
We found our first Starbucks in almost 2 months and about had a field day. The only disappointing thing was Starbuck's in Europe don't do the Fall Menu, so no Pumpkin Spice Latte's for us.
We began the day, coffee in hand, at the London Eye. You know, the really big ferris wheel. We would have gone on it but it cost 12 pounds which is close to 30 dollars so we said no to that.
After that we wandered around Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and random places all throughout the city. It wasn't the greatest of days, it kept sprinkling on us, but we had a blast. And what's more London than some fog and mist?
We grabbed lunch at this little caffe that advertised crumpets. I did in fact have a crumpet and it wasn't too bad.
After lunch we found an empty, and clean, telephone booth and took the super cheesy tourist pictures with it.
We also wanted to find platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross so that's where we headed to next. We knew that there was a Harry Potter 9 3/4 Platform but, silly us, we thought it was legitimately between the main Platforms 9 and 10. We wandered all around the station trying to find it. It wasn't until a station worker noticed we looked confused and came over to us that we found out it was right outside of the station. We did eventually find it and took our fan-girl pictures.
At that point in the afternoon it was close to 5PM. None of us were hungry, but half of us were exhausted. Three of the girls decided to keep exploring and the other of us headed back. The plan was to take a quick nap so that we would have energy the rest of the night, but that didn't really happen.
We got back to the hostel an hour and a half later and layed on our bed for like 20 minutes. No nap. The other girls weren't far behind us, so we all changed and headed out to find some authentic fish and chips.
We came across this pub that advertised fish and chips and since we had already walked a good 20 minutes decided to just go for it. Best. Decision. Ever.
These were the most delicious fish and chips I have ever had. And yes, as most of you know, I absolutely hate fish. And I ate them. AND LOVED THEM.
We got to sit in the super cool VIP room because there wasn't a big enough table for all of us anywhere else. After dinner we headed back. We were exhausted from all the traveling and exploring, so at 11PM we said goodnight.
Friday:
CONCERT DAY!
We woke up, had a quick breakfast again, and went out to the shopping district.
Not that any of us really needed anything, but why not go window shopping in London? We split up and Erin and I wandered around, looking at expensive clothes, bought fake eyelashes for the concert, and eventually found a Starbucks. It was a really gorgeous day so we took our muffins and coffee and went and sat in a nearby park to people watch and it.
Everyone was laying on the grass in the sun doing the same thing. It felt much like one of the small parks you find all over New York. There were a bunch of squirrels running around too so it made it feel a little bit like Spokane.
When it was time to meet the girls again we headed back to the station. Nina and Jo met us, without the other two, and said that they had talked to the people at The Body Shop and they had said they would do our makeup for the concert! When we got back to The Body Shop Gabby and Audrey were gone. They are the last two people you want wandering by themselves in a big city because neither of them know how to read a map or suwbay schedule... but we didn't really worry about it because we assumed they would show up eventually.
We all got our eye makeup done by one of the salesgirls and had a good time. I managed to score a super awesome deal... I really liked the eyeshadow she had used on me, and I've been looking for a red lipstick/gloss so when I saw they were advertising a buy 10 pounds worth of makeup and get the 10 pound lipgloss for free I decided to do it. Now, the eyeshadow was 8 pounds and the lipstick was 10 pounds so I was expecting to spend 18 pounds for the three items. When the salesgirl rang them up she looked at me confused and said it would be 10 pounds. I asked her to repeat it since it was way cheaper than I had expected. She didn't really question what had happened, just said I must have gotten lucky. Somehow the eyeshadow only rang up as 1 pound. I spent 10 pounds all together for eyeshadow, lipstick and lipgloss. Not bad for London.
In the middle of us getting our makeup done, Gabby and Audrey showed up. They had left to find us... even though Nina and Jo had told them to stay at the shop and we would all be back. Figures.
While the rest of the girls were getting made up, we went and looked in some of the boutiques close by. If only I had all the money in the world... we found some of the cutest clothes!
3 hours after we had planned to be back to our hostel, we finally left the shopping district. We raced home and got ready for the concert and headed out again.
We had tickets in the standing area of the floor so we wanted to get there early to make sure we got good spots. But, we were running a bit late... We got to the O2 about an hour and a half later than what we had planned. The line was pretty long, but not too terrible. We took a lot of pictures standing in line. The doors were supposed to open at 6:30PM but they didn't even let us in until 7:30PM.
The first opener started at 8PM and she wasn't terrible. She was a local up and coming artist so whatever. I won't be running out to buy her album anytime soon. The other opener was a DJ from California. He was good but it seemed like we were the only ones who liked the songs he was playing. Apparantly kids in London only like Adele and Katy Perry.
Then came Katy.
She was absolutely amazing! I much prefer her in person than on recordings. Her voice isn't made over with all the technology gadgets when she's singing on tour. It's just her voice, and if you didn't go to one of her concerts you would never know how good of a voice she actually as.
As expected, it was high energy, many costume changes, and all around extremely entertaining. We danced and sang until our feet and throats hurt. It ended all too soon....
It took us forever to get out of the stadium. We got on the subway we needed to take to catch the other subway we had to take to get home. We got off at the station where we needed to transfer only to find out that the last train to the station we needed to get to was at midnight. It was a little past 1AM at this point. Our options at that point where to either 1: take a different train to a station close by and walk the rest of the way or 2. catch a bus/taxi. We didn't want to pay more money to get home so we just took the other train. We didn't know which way to go out of the station towards home so we asked some people. After walking 20 minutes we came to the conclusion they had told us the wrong way.
We eventually made it home. Almost an hour later.
Saturday:
We slept in a little and grabbed a quick breakfast at the diner across the street. Again, we went in search of a Starbucks to waken up our senses.
We continued to do the touristy stuff. We took a ferry from Greenwich to the London Tower. This included going under the London Bridge.
Our initial plan was to check out the London Tower, however, we had no idea it was going to be so expensive to get in. None of us had the money to pay the entrance fee, so instead we just walked around the outside and read the signs we could.
We then went over, and onto, the London Bridge and took a few pictures there.
At this point we were bored with the city and wanted to get out and see the countryside. We went into a tourist information place to ask if there was a train or something we could take for cheap to get outside the city. After a half hour of looking at maps, subway schedules, and talking to a British tour guide we came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to be able to happen. Instead, we got on a train to Camden to check out the markets.
Camden was pretty. It was packed full of people and vendors, but still nice. Again, we had no money so it wasn't like we could buy anything, but looking was fun.
Some of the girls were hungry so we stopped into a bar for some food. We made friends with the owner and had a good time. A lot of the clubs in England won't let you in unless your 21, so he told us if we wanted to go out later in the evening to come back and he would let us in. He was such a nice guy we felt bad having to pay in all coins. Probably why we spelled out 'sorry' and then ran out before he could see/say anything.
It was close to 5PM and we were all exhausted. It took us an hour and a half to get back to Greenwich and at that point we were starving, on top of being tired. We found a bar that served what looked to be good food. It was. We stayed there for quite awhile drinking our tea and having girl talk.
We crashed once we got back to the hostel. I would say a good last day in London, for sure.
Sunday:
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:20AM, so we thought we would be good leaving the hostel at 8AM. We would have been fine if the trains ran on the same schedule as every other day. But no, on Sundays they have a different schedule we didn't know about. Instead of getting on a train at 8:10AM like we thought we could do, the first train we could take didn't leave until 8:54AM. When we got to Whitechapel station we ran to the bus ticket center. The next bus was leaving in 10 minutes so we ran outside to catch it.
The bus takes an hour to get to the airport. We were leaving the station at 9:25. Not good.
We got to the airport close to 10:30AM. All the signs in the airport were saying that our gate was closing at 10:50AM. We ran through the airport to the check in desk, but someone thought we didn't need to be there so we ran to security (they're very close to one another). When we got up to the podium they said we needed to get our tickets tamped at the check in desk. So back we went running to the desk. A nice Ryanair employee took us to the front of the line and stamped all of our tickets super quickly, and off we went back to security. We hastily pulled off our shoes and took out our liquids. Erin and Gabby were in front of Nina and I and we were on the other side waiting for our bags when we saw Erin's first bag appear. Instead of coming straight down it was shifted to a middle lane where we couldn't get to it. Gabby's stuff did the same thing. We started panicking, but Nina, Jo and my stuff all came down where we could grab it. Audrey's bags also got shifted to the middle lane. While they were freaking out, the three of us put our clothes back on and decided we needed to leave them and try and catch our flight.
Our gate was literally as far from security as you could possibly get. We had 5 minutes to get there too. I am not kidding when I saw we outright sprinted through that airport. I have never ran so fast in my life, not to mention wearing boots and wearing a hiking backpack.
When we got in sight of our gate there were still people in line. We didn't even end up being the last people in line. We kept a look out for the other girls but they were nowhere in site. As the plane was taking off we sat there wondering what was going to happen to them...
We landed safely in Pisa 2 hours later and caught a bus back to Florence. When I got home Allie told me that the other girls had been on Facebook. They had had to buy a new plane ticket, spending 200 euro. I am so glad I didn't miss our flight.
For the rest of the night I didn't do much. Close to 8PM I met up with Felicia, Jaclyn and Fallon and we went to Astor for burgers. It was nice to sit and eat a chicken burger while watching some American football. It almost felt like home.
We stopped for gelato on the way home and for the rest of the night I worked on homework.
All in all, the trip to London was a success. A whirlwind, but a fun one. However, I'm not sure how soon I will be going back...
Thursday, October 13th - Sunday, October 16th
Thursday, October 13th - Sunday, October 16th
Thursday:
Even though we didn't get to bed until close to 3AM, we were up and out the door by 10AM.
After grabbing a quick breakfast we headed to the subway station to get our day going. We bought an all day subway pass and headed towards the center of the city.
We found our first Starbucks in almost 2 months and about had a field day. The only disappointing thing was Starbuck's in Europe don't do the Fall Menu, so no Pumpkin Spice Latte's for us.
We began the day, coffee in hand, at the London Eye. You know, the really big ferris wheel. We would have gone on it but it cost 12 pounds which is close to 30 dollars so we said no to that.
After that we wandered around Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and random places all throughout the city. It wasn't the greatest of days, it kept sprinkling on us, but we had a blast. And what's more London than some fog and mist?
We grabbed lunch at this little caffe that advertised crumpets. I did in fact have a crumpet and it wasn't too bad.
After lunch we found an empty, and clean, telephone booth and took the super cheesy tourist pictures with it.
We also wanted to find platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross so that's where we headed to next. We knew that there was a Harry Potter 9 3/4 Platform but, silly us, we thought it was legitimately between the main Platforms 9 and 10. We wandered all around the station trying to find it. It wasn't until a station worker noticed we looked confused and came over to us that we found out it was right outside of the station. We did eventually find it and took our fan-girl pictures.
At that point in the afternoon it was close to 5PM. None of us were hungry, but half of us were exhausted. Three of the girls decided to keep exploring and the other of us headed back. The plan was to take a quick nap so that we would have energy the rest of the night, but that didn't really happen.
We got back to the hostel an hour and a half later and layed on our bed for like 20 minutes. No nap. The other girls weren't far behind us, so we all changed and headed out to find some authentic fish and chips.
We came across this pub that advertised fish and chips and since we had already walked a good 20 minutes decided to just go for it. Best. Decision. Ever.
These were the most delicious fish and chips I have ever had. And yes, as most of you know, I absolutely hate fish. And I ate them. AND LOVED THEM.
We got to sit in the super cool VIP room because there wasn't a big enough table for all of us anywhere else. After dinner we headed back. We were exhausted from all the traveling and exploring, so at 11PM we said goodnight.
Friday:
CONCERT DAY!
We woke up, had a quick breakfast again, and went out to the shopping district.
Not that any of us really needed anything, but why not go window shopping in London? We split up and Erin and I wandered around, looking at expensive clothes, bought fake eyelashes for the concert, and eventually found a Starbucks. It was a really gorgeous day so we took our muffins and coffee and went and sat in a nearby park to people watch and it.
Everyone was laying on the grass in the sun doing the same thing. It felt much like one of the small parks you find all over New York. There were a bunch of squirrels running around too so it made it feel a little bit like Spokane.
When it was time to meet the girls again we headed back to the station. Nina and Jo met us, without the other two, and said that they had talked to the people at The Body Shop and they had said they would do our makeup for the concert! When we got back to The Body Shop Gabby and Audrey were gone. They are the last two people you want wandering by themselves in a big city because neither of them know how to read a map or suwbay schedule... but we didn't really worry about it because we assumed they would show up eventually.
We all got our eye makeup done by one of the salesgirls and had a good time. I managed to score a super awesome deal... I really liked the eyeshadow she had used on me, and I've been looking for a red lipstick/gloss so when I saw they were advertising a buy 10 pounds worth of makeup and get the 10 pound lipgloss for free I decided to do it. Now, the eyeshadow was 8 pounds and the lipstick was 10 pounds so I was expecting to spend 18 pounds for the three items. When the salesgirl rang them up she looked at me confused and said it would be 10 pounds. I asked her to repeat it since it was way cheaper than I had expected. She didn't really question what had happened, just said I must have gotten lucky. Somehow the eyeshadow only rang up as 1 pound. I spent 10 pounds all together for eyeshadow, lipstick and lipgloss. Not bad for London.
In the middle of us getting our makeup done, Gabby and Audrey showed up. They had left to find us... even though Nina and Jo had told them to stay at the shop and we would all be back. Figures.
While the rest of the girls were getting made up, we went and looked in some of the boutiques close by. If only I had all the money in the world... we found some of the cutest clothes!
3 hours after we had planned to be back to our hostel, we finally left the shopping district. We raced home and got ready for the concert and headed out again.
We had tickets in the standing area of the floor so we wanted to get there early to make sure we got good spots. But, we were running a bit late... We got to the O2 about an hour and a half later than what we had planned. The line was pretty long, but not too terrible. We took a lot of pictures standing in line. The doors were supposed to open at 6:30PM but they didn't even let us in until 7:30PM.
The first opener started at 8PM and she wasn't terrible. She was a local up and coming artist so whatever. I won't be running out to buy her album anytime soon. The other opener was a DJ from California. He was good but it seemed like we were the only ones who liked the songs he was playing. Apparantly kids in London only like Adele and Katy Perry.
Then came Katy.
She was absolutely amazing! I much prefer her in person than on recordings. Her voice isn't made over with all the technology gadgets when she's singing on tour. It's just her voice, and if you didn't go to one of her concerts you would never know how good of a voice she actually as.
As expected, it was high energy, many costume changes, and all around extremely entertaining. We danced and sang until our feet and throats hurt. It ended all too soon....
It took us forever to get out of the stadium. We got on the subway we needed to take to catch the other subway we had to take to get home. We got off at the station where we needed to transfer only to find out that the last train to the station we needed to get to was at midnight. It was a little past 1AM at this point. Our options at that point where to either 1: take a different train to a station close by and walk the rest of the way or 2. catch a bus/taxi. We didn't want to pay more money to get home so we just took the other train. We didn't know which way to go out of the station towards home so we asked some people. After walking 20 minutes we came to the conclusion they had told us the wrong way.
We eventually made it home. Almost an hour later.
Saturday:
We slept in a little and grabbed a quick breakfast at the diner across the street. Again, we went in search of a Starbucks to waken up our senses.
We continued to do the touristy stuff. We took a ferry from Greenwich to the London Tower. This included going under the London Bridge.
Our initial plan was to check out the London Tower, however, we had no idea it was going to be so expensive to get in. None of us had the money to pay the entrance fee, so instead we just walked around the outside and read the signs we could.
We then went over, and onto, the London Bridge and took a few pictures there.
At this point we were bored with the city and wanted to get out and see the countryside. We went into a tourist information place to ask if there was a train or something we could take for cheap to get outside the city. After a half hour of looking at maps, subway schedules, and talking to a British tour guide we came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to be able to happen. Instead, we got on a train to Camden to check out the markets.
Camden was pretty. It was packed full of people and vendors, but still nice. Again, we had no money so it wasn't like we could buy anything, but looking was fun.
Some of the girls were hungry so we stopped into a bar for some food. We made friends with the owner and had a good time. A lot of the clubs in England won't let you in unless your 21, so he told us if we wanted to go out later in the evening to come back and he would let us in. He was such a nice guy we felt bad having to pay in all coins. Probably why we spelled out 'sorry' and then ran out before he could see/say anything.
It was close to 5PM and we were all exhausted. It took us an hour and a half to get back to Greenwich and at that point we were starving, on top of being tired. We found a bar that served what looked to be good food. It was. We stayed there for quite awhile drinking our tea and having girl talk.
We crashed once we got back to the hostel. I would say a good last day in London, for sure.
Sunday:
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:20AM, so we thought we would be good leaving the hostel at 8AM. We would have been fine if the trains ran on the same schedule as every other day. But no, on Sundays they have a different schedule we didn't know about. Instead of getting on a train at 8:10AM like we thought we could do, the first train we could take didn't leave until 8:54AM. When we got to Whitechapel station we ran to the bus ticket center. The next bus was leaving in 10 minutes so we ran outside to catch it.
The bus takes an hour to get to the airport. We were leaving the station at 9:25. Not good.
We got to the airport close to 10:30AM. All the signs in the airport were saying that our gate was closing at 10:50AM. We ran through the airport to the check in desk, but someone thought we didn't need to be there so we ran to security (they're very close to one another). When we got up to the podium they said we needed to get our tickets tamped at the check in desk. So back we went running to the desk. A nice Ryanair employee took us to the front of the line and stamped all of our tickets super quickly, and off we went back to security. We hastily pulled off our shoes and took out our liquids. Erin and Gabby were in front of Nina and I and we were on the other side waiting for our bags when we saw Erin's first bag appear. Instead of coming straight down it was shifted to a middle lane where we couldn't get to it. Gabby's stuff did the same thing. We started panicking, but Nina, Jo and my stuff all came down where we could grab it. Audrey's bags also got shifted to the middle lane. While they were freaking out, the three of us put our clothes back on and decided we needed to leave them and try and catch our flight.
Our gate was literally as far from security as you could possibly get. We had 5 minutes to get there too. I am not kidding when I saw we outright sprinted through that airport. I have never ran so fast in my life, not to mention wearing boots and wearing a hiking backpack.
When we got in sight of our gate there were still people in line. We didn't even end up being the last people in line. We kept a look out for the other girls but they were nowhere in site. As the plane was taking off we sat there wondering what was going to happen to them...
We landed safely in Pisa 2 hours later and caught a bus back to Florence. When I got home Allie told me that the other girls had been on Facebook. They had had to buy a new plane ticket, spending 200 euro. I am so glad I didn't miss our flight.
For the rest of the night I didn't do much. Close to 8PM I met up with Felicia, Jaclyn and Fallon and we went to Astor for burgers. It was nice to sit and eat a chicken burger while watching some American football. It almost felt like home.
We stopped for gelato on the way home and for the rest of the night I worked on homework.
All in all, the trip to London was a success. A whirlwind, but a fun one. However, I'm not sure how soon I will be going back...
Thursday, October 13th - Sunday, October 16th
Thursday, October 13th - Sunday, October 16th
Monday, October 17, 2011
Whilrwind Week
Monday:
Had class until 6:30PM like every Monday. The day went by pretty slow, yet fast? I know, doesn't make sense. Class went by really slowly, but the day zoomed by. Didn't do much after dinner, except homework.
Tuesday:
Again, had class until 12:45. Or was suppose to anyways. When I got to Intro to Florence at 11:45, Erin was waiting outside the classroom and talked me into skipping. Of course I said yes, and so instead of wasting an hour of our life doing nothing in class, we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. We took our laundry to the tourist laundry place we use and then headed to the market.
We entered the building at a different entrance this time. We ran into the fish market, which we didn't even know existed. It smelled like Pike Place, home sweet home. Since we had the time, we wandered up and down every aisle. In the corner was this little bakery that had all sorts of goodies. In particular, they had this mini whoopie pie/cake pops. One being a lemon poppyside with lemon frosting and the other being a strawberry and chocolate frosting one. They were delicious! We vowed there and then not to share this secret discovery with any one else. Before we left we got some dried fruit for the weekend. I had to give my bag to Erin so I wouldn't eat any of it...
After lunch I got some homework done. And Erin and I went shopping down past the duomo. We gave ourselves only an hour so we could get back and do homework. I had plans later in the evening to work on my Holocaust presentation with Carl, but as we were walking Erin reminded me we had made plans with our Italian friends for tonight as well. It didn't look like I was going to be able to make it... and the other girls weren't really feeling up to it so Erin was a little bummed that we would probably have to cancel.
After dinner I went to the library to get some work done. While there I decided that it was worth going out with the guys, and that Carl and I would work on our presentation until 10PM and then I would leave. I mean, come on, Tuesday IS the night everyone does something fun!
So, after dinner and studying, Erin and I headed out to meet the boys. We went to the Red Garter again (the karaoke bar) and had a blast. Some of the guys we live with showed up halfway through the night too. We both seemed to forget we had a tour for Intro to Florence at 8:30AM and an Italian quiz... by the time we got home at 2AM we passed out.
Wednesday:
Somehow I managed to get myself out of bed and ready for the tour by 8:30AM. Not entirely sure how, but I'm going to attribute it to my young person bounce-back abilities.
The tour wasn't as interesting as last weeks, but still nowhere near as dull as the first.
My Italian quiz went off without a hitch. After, I could only think of one question I knew I had missed... good sign.
We went and got our laundry after class, and took a nap until lunch.
After lunch I had my Holocaust history class. I don't know why, but it seemed to drag on even longer than usual.
Once class was finished I went home and packed for London. We weren't leaving until 6:30 for the train, but I had nothing else better to do. I basically did nothing from 3:30 until 6:30, which was nice.
Getting our train ticket to the Pisa airport wasn't too bad. Except that there was no train going straight to the airport. We had to get off at Pisa Centrale and take a 4 minute cab.
We were running a little late, but we got through security and our passport checks with like 10 minutes to spare. Talk about cutting it close. Erin and I sat next to each other on the plane, and both fell alseep the minute the plane took off. We landed in London close to midnight and expected it to be an easy exit out of the airport. Oh no.
We had to stand in line for almost an hour and a half at customs. It was beyond ridiculous. THEN when we did finally get up to a counter, Gabby and Audrey had to act like complete idiots almost getting us sent to the back of line.
Since we hadn't expected customs to exist, or even take as long as it did, we had missed the last train to Greenwich. Some random guy saw we were struggling and told us the best/cheapest way to get to our hostel. So we boarded a bus, took it about 30 minutes, then had to take a cab the other 20 minutes. Thank goodness there was 6 of us so nobody had to pay too much of the bill.
We finally got to our hostel at 3AM... two hours after we had said we would be getting in. Lucky for us the owner had stayed up to let us in. He politely reminded us of this fact as he checked us in. Erin, Audrey and I roomed together in the 9 person dorm, while the other 3 were in the 8 person dorm. We said goodnight and passed out the minute our head it the pillow.
Welcome to London.
Monday, October 10th - Wednesday, October 12th
Had class until 6:30PM like every Monday. The day went by pretty slow, yet fast? I know, doesn't make sense. Class went by really slowly, but the day zoomed by. Didn't do much after dinner, except homework.
Tuesday:
Again, had class until 12:45. Or was suppose to anyways. When I got to Intro to Florence at 11:45, Erin was waiting outside the classroom and talked me into skipping. Of course I said yes, and so instead of wasting an hour of our life doing nothing in class, we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. We took our laundry to the tourist laundry place we use and then headed to the market.
We entered the building at a different entrance this time. We ran into the fish market, which we didn't even know existed. It smelled like Pike Place, home sweet home. Since we had the time, we wandered up and down every aisle. In the corner was this little bakery that had all sorts of goodies. In particular, they had this mini whoopie pie/cake pops. One being a lemon poppyside with lemon frosting and the other being a strawberry and chocolate frosting one. They were delicious! We vowed there and then not to share this secret discovery with any one else. Before we left we got some dried fruit for the weekend. I had to give my bag to Erin so I wouldn't eat any of it...
After lunch I got some homework done. And Erin and I went shopping down past the duomo. We gave ourselves only an hour so we could get back and do homework. I had plans later in the evening to work on my Holocaust presentation with Carl, but as we were walking Erin reminded me we had made plans with our Italian friends for tonight as well. It didn't look like I was going to be able to make it... and the other girls weren't really feeling up to it so Erin was a little bummed that we would probably have to cancel.
After dinner I went to the library to get some work done. While there I decided that it was worth going out with the guys, and that Carl and I would work on our presentation until 10PM and then I would leave. I mean, come on, Tuesday IS the night everyone does something fun!
So, after dinner and studying, Erin and I headed out to meet the boys. We went to the Red Garter again (the karaoke bar) and had a blast. Some of the guys we live with showed up halfway through the night too. We both seemed to forget we had a tour for Intro to Florence at 8:30AM and an Italian quiz... by the time we got home at 2AM we passed out.
Wednesday:
Somehow I managed to get myself out of bed and ready for the tour by 8:30AM. Not entirely sure how, but I'm going to attribute it to my young person bounce-back abilities.
The tour wasn't as interesting as last weeks, but still nowhere near as dull as the first.
My Italian quiz went off without a hitch. After, I could only think of one question I knew I had missed... good sign.
We went and got our laundry after class, and took a nap until lunch.
After lunch I had my Holocaust history class. I don't know why, but it seemed to drag on even longer than usual.
Once class was finished I went home and packed for London. We weren't leaving until 6:30 for the train, but I had nothing else better to do. I basically did nothing from 3:30 until 6:30, which was nice.
Getting our train ticket to the Pisa airport wasn't too bad. Except that there was no train going straight to the airport. We had to get off at Pisa Centrale and take a 4 minute cab.
We were running a little late, but we got through security and our passport checks with like 10 minutes to spare. Talk about cutting it close. Erin and I sat next to each other on the plane, and both fell alseep the minute the plane took off. We landed in London close to midnight and expected it to be an easy exit out of the airport. Oh no.
We had to stand in line for almost an hour and a half at customs. It was beyond ridiculous. THEN when we did finally get up to a counter, Gabby and Audrey had to act like complete idiots almost getting us sent to the back of line.
Since we hadn't expected customs to exist, or even take as long as it did, we had missed the last train to Greenwich. Some random guy saw we were struggling and told us the best/cheapest way to get to our hostel. So we boarded a bus, took it about 30 minutes, then had to take a cab the other 20 minutes. Thank goodness there was 6 of us so nobody had to pay too much of the bill.
We finally got to our hostel at 3AM... two hours after we had said we would be getting in. Lucky for us the owner had stayed up to let us in. He politely reminded us of this fact as he checked us in. Erin, Audrey and I roomed together in the 9 person dorm, while the other 3 were in the 8 person dorm. We said goodnight and passed out the minute our head it the pillow.
Welcome to London.
Monday, October 10th - Wednesday, October 12th
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Studyin Studyin Ya!
Saturday:
Erin, Audrey, Nina and Jo had plans to go to Venice on Saturday. Since I'm going with my mom in December when she comes I decided to bail and stay in Florence.
-Side note. When they got to the train station all the tickets for the train to Venice were completely sold out. They debated on whether or not to come back and get me (they decided to go to Pisa and Sienna), but ultimately decided not to. Thanks friends.
So, since I still thought they were in Venice until late Sunday, I had a very peaceful and relaxing day to myself. I again woke up at like 11, meaning this time I missed breakfast. I watched Grey's Anatomy and got ready for the day, so when the episode was over it was time for lunch.
I walked down Cavour and grabbed Subway and took a very long and roundabout walk back home.
For the rest of the day I alternated between doing homework, sleeping, watching Grey's Anatomy and repeating. I woke up at 6:30PM and went to get some dinner before it got too dark outside to walk around by myself.
The rest of the night I basically did the same thing I had done throughout the day. It was a little lonely. I'm not used to being by myself for that long here.
Around 11PM as I was getting ready to go to bed, I saw Erin get online. She came up and we talked about their day - that's how I found out about the mornings betrayal (she said she wanted to come get me...).
Sunday:
Since my friends were back, we all decided to wake up at a decent hour and get breakfast before they put it all away.
We all still had a ton of homework to do, but it was such a nice day and we didn't want to stay cramped up in our room, Erin and I packed up our backpacks and went in search of a cafe with WiFi.
We found a cute little place with outdoor seating right up the street from the duomo. We stayed there for a good 3-4 hours, drank 2 cappuccino's each, did some homework and people watched. It was a great afternoon. We only left because we started to get hungry and needed to get Audrey.
We went to a pizza place right up the street from our pensione and after lunch Erin and I continued to do homework on the patio of our hotel. That is until 5PM when we walked to the library to continue, you guessed it, studying. We were in the library until almost 8PM before we finally finished and headed to dinner.
We decided to go back to Mostodolce, and it is there we discovered the most delicious hamburgers we have ever eaten. It was seriously the best dinner we've had in awhile. The buns were hot, freshly made. And the patty wasn't dry like most of the other meat we are served here. It was yummy end to an exhausting day.
Once we got back we took on the task of finding a hostel in London for this upcoming weekend. We should have known it was going to be ridiculous. After researching and freaking out we finally decided on one that's close to the arena where the concert is being held. It's not in downtown London, but at least we have rooms. Only problem... 3 of us are in an 8 mixed dorm and the other 3 of us are in a 9 mixed dorm. Hopefully our roommates aren't creeps. But hey, we get free breakfast. Oh, the small victories.
Saturday, October 8th - Sunday, October 9th
Erin, Audrey, Nina and Jo had plans to go to Venice on Saturday. Since I'm going with my mom in December when she comes I decided to bail and stay in Florence.
-Side note. When they got to the train station all the tickets for the train to Venice were completely sold out. They debated on whether or not to come back and get me (they decided to go to Pisa and Sienna), but ultimately decided not to. Thanks friends.
So, since I still thought they were in Venice until late Sunday, I had a very peaceful and relaxing day to myself. I again woke up at like 11, meaning this time I missed breakfast. I watched Grey's Anatomy and got ready for the day, so when the episode was over it was time for lunch.
I walked down Cavour and grabbed Subway and took a very long and roundabout walk back home.
For the rest of the day I alternated between doing homework, sleeping, watching Grey's Anatomy and repeating. I woke up at 6:30PM and went to get some dinner before it got too dark outside to walk around by myself.
The rest of the night I basically did the same thing I had done throughout the day. It was a little lonely. I'm not used to being by myself for that long here.
Around 11PM as I was getting ready to go to bed, I saw Erin get online. She came up and we talked about their day - that's how I found out about the mornings betrayal (she said she wanted to come get me...).
Sunday:
Since my friends were back, we all decided to wake up at a decent hour and get breakfast before they put it all away.
We all still had a ton of homework to do, but it was such a nice day and we didn't want to stay cramped up in our room, Erin and I packed up our backpacks and went in search of a cafe with WiFi.
We found a cute little place with outdoor seating right up the street from the duomo. We stayed there for a good 3-4 hours, drank 2 cappuccino's each, did some homework and people watched. It was a great afternoon. We only left because we started to get hungry and needed to get Audrey.
We went to a pizza place right up the street from our pensione and after lunch Erin and I continued to do homework on the patio of our hotel. That is until 5PM when we walked to the library to continue, you guessed it, studying. We were in the library until almost 8PM before we finally finished and headed to dinner.
We decided to go back to Mostodolce, and it is there we discovered the most delicious hamburgers we have ever eaten. It was seriously the best dinner we've had in awhile. The buns were hot, freshly made. And the patty wasn't dry like most of the other meat we are served here. It was yummy end to an exhausting day.
Once we got back we took on the task of finding a hostel in London for this upcoming weekend. We should have known it was going to be ridiculous. After researching and freaking out we finally decided on one that's close to the arena where the concert is being held. It's not in downtown London, but at least we have rooms. Only problem... 3 of us are in an 8 mixed dorm and the other 3 of us are in a 9 mixed dorm. Hopefully our roommates aren't creeps. But hey, we get free breakfast. Oh, the small victories.
Saturday, October 8th - Sunday, October 9th
Saturday, October 8, 2011
We ownay peaksay in igpay atinlay
I'm going to do one big post for the entire week. Sorry again that it's so late..
Monday:
Well, after getting home at 1AM and not going to bed until 3AM, waking up at 7AM for class was a little difficult.
Classes were boring, nothing new. Other than taking our laundry to the guy we did absolutely nothing. It was great. I tried to go to bed early but that also failed. What's new.
Tuesday:
Had class. They were boring.
Tuesday is generally the night everyone goes out, but there was no way we were down for that. The school was playing the first two episodes of the new season of Glee so we all decided to do that instead. Great choice. Linda and Shelley even brought baked goods, whats not to love about homemade carrot cake?
Wednesday:
Went on the Intro to Florence field trip in the morning. It was by far the best one we've gone on so far; it was to Basilica of Santa Maria Novella.
After the tour I had more class, more boring.
The conversation partner meeting was at 8:30, so Allie and I headed over there while everyone else headed out. Our conversation partner is extremely awesome and this is going to be a fun semester hanging out with her, practicing italian and making some italian friends.
We were supposed to meet up with everyone after the meeting got over, but Allie and I knew there was no way we would make it through that so we went home. While everyone else was partying hard, we were laughing until we cried over random things we were remembering from Oktoberfest. And trying to speak German and pig latin. We were supposed to do 8 minute abs but after all the laughing we felt our abs had gotten a good enough workout.
Thursday:
I only have two classes on Thursdays, and that was enough.
After lunch we went to mercato centrale for some dried fruit. This is seriously the most delicious dried fruit we have ever had.
Allie and Gabby had to leave for the Amalfi coast at 6 so we didn't spend too much time wandering around the market.
I tried to get some homework done while they packed, and once they headed out I got ready for the night. Erin, Audrey, Nina, Jo and I decided to have a girls night. We went to Tijuana for dinner- the only Mexican restaurant in Florence. It wasn't exactly how we do things in the States, but still tasted great. Linda, Shelley, and Victoria were there and we bought them a round of tequila boom booms. We're hoping they put in a good word for us with our professors come finals time.
After dinner we headed out to this bar that Erin and some of the other girls had gone on Wednesday night. There was said to be karaoke.
It indeed did have karaoke, and the night was by far the best night we've had out in Florence yet. We met a bunch of Australian guys who are backpacking through Europe. They were a blast to hang out with.
The back part of the bar is karaoke and the front has a DJ so we kept wandering back and forth. Around 1AM we decided to bail and try and find the secret bakery.
We followed the directions Allie had left and we know we were on the right street because we could smell it. We knocked on every single door and.. nothing. We are going to have James take us there in the day and show us which door is the right one because we KNOW we were on the right street. It's hard to miss the smell of fresh baked bread.
Friday:
I woke up at 8:30, wandered downstairs and got some breakfast, brought it back up stairs, put it in my refrigerator, and fell back asleep until 11. I haven't slept that long since before I left home.
Audrey and I somehow talked Erin into going and chopping off all her hair, so we went out in the pouring rain and found this salon that had been recommended to us.
Her hair was almost as long as mine and it is now as barely over her ears, but it looks great!
We grabbed Subway for dinner on our way home and tried to do some homework before we went out for the night.
Nina and Jo showed up around 9PM and we decided to go to the bar across the street from Nazionale that everyone raves about. They are a brewery so we obviously had to try their beer. Compared to what we drank at Oktoberfest it wasn't great, but in comparison to beers from home it was pretty good. We also got fried pizza dough with salsa and french fries... the first fried fast food we've had since coming to Europe.
We decided we wanted to go back to the karaoke bar, but one our way we ran into the fish pub and hung out there awhile. We have become friends with some of the guys who run it, so we get free drinks/shots most of the time. Once we got the DJ to start playing some good dancing music the place filled up, we had a great time. We never made it to the karaoke bar.
That has been my week...
Oh, I forgot to mention. On Monday morning I was informed that I was going to the Katy Perry concert in London next weekend. I guess the girls found super cheap tickets online while we were gone and bought us all one. I love how in Europe you can do that... its no big deal to spontaneously buy a cheap plane ticket to London to go to a concert. We are having way too much fun.
Monday, October 3rd - Friday, October 7th
Monday:
Well, after getting home at 1AM and not going to bed until 3AM, waking up at 7AM for class was a little difficult.
Classes were boring, nothing new. Other than taking our laundry to the guy we did absolutely nothing. It was great. I tried to go to bed early but that also failed. What's new.
Tuesday:
Had class. They were boring.
Tuesday is generally the night everyone goes out, but there was no way we were down for that. The school was playing the first two episodes of the new season of Glee so we all decided to do that instead. Great choice. Linda and Shelley even brought baked goods, whats not to love about homemade carrot cake?
Wednesday:
Went on the Intro to Florence field trip in the morning. It was by far the best one we've gone on so far; it was to Basilica of Santa Maria Novella.
After the tour I had more class, more boring.
The conversation partner meeting was at 8:30, so Allie and I headed over there while everyone else headed out. Our conversation partner is extremely awesome and this is going to be a fun semester hanging out with her, practicing italian and making some italian friends.
We were supposed to meet up with everyone after the meeting got over, but Allie and I knew there was no way we would make it through that so we went home. While everyone else was partying hard, we were laughing until we cried over random things we were remembering from Oktoberfest. And trying to speak German and pig latin. We were supposed to do 8 minute abs but after all the laughing we felt our abs had gotten a good enough workout.
Thursday:
I only have two classes on Thursdays, and that was enough.
After lunch we went to mercato centrale for some dried fruit. This is seriously the most delicious dried fruit we have ever had.
Allie and Gabby had to leave for the Amalfi coast at 6 so we didn't spend too much time wandering around the market.
I tried to get some homework done while they packed, and once they headed out I got ready for the night. Erin, Audrey, Nina, Jo and I decided to have a girls night. We went to Tijuana for dinner- the only Mexican restaurant in Florence. It wasn't exactly how we do things in the States, but still tasted great. Linda, Shelley, and Victoria were there and we bought them a round of tequila boom booms. We're hoping they put in a good word for us with our professors come finals time.
After dinner we headed out to this bar that Erin and some of the other girls had gone on Wednesday night. There was said to be karaoke.
It indeed did have karaoke, and the night was by far the best night we've had out in Florence yet. We met a bunch of Australian guys who are backpacking through Europe. They were a blast to hang out with.
The back part of the bar is karaoke and the front has a DJ so we kept wandering back and forth. Around 1AM we decided to bail and try and find the secret bakery.
We followed the directions Allie had left and we know we were on the right street because we could smell it. We knocked on every single door and.. nothing. We are going to have James take us there in the day and show us which door is the right one because we KNOW we were on the right street. It's hard to miss the smell of fresh baked bread.
Friday:
I woke up at 8:30, wandered downstairs and got some breakfast, brought it back up stairs, put it in my refrigerator, and fell back asleep until 11. I haven't slept that long since before I left home.
Audrey and I somehow talked Erin into going and chopping off all her hair, so we went out in the pouring rain and found this salon that had been recommended to us.
Her hair was almost as long as mine and it is now as barely over her ears, but it looks great!
We grabbed Subway for dinner on our way home and tried to do some homework before we went out for the night.
Nina and Jo showed up around 9PM and we decided to go to the bar across the street from Nazionale that everyone raves about. They are a brewery so we obviously had to try their beer. Compared to what we drank at Oktoberfest it wasn't great, but in comparison to beers from home it was pretty good. We also got fried pizza dough with salsa and french fries... the first fried fast food we've had since coming to Europe.
We decided we wanted to go back to the karaoke bar, but one our way we ran into the fish pub and hung out there awhile. We have become friends with some of the guys who run it, so we get free drinks/shots most of the time. Once we got the DJ to start playing some good dancing music the place filled up, we had a great time. We never made it to the karaoke bar.
That has been my week...
Oh, I forgot to mention. On Monday morning I was informed that I was going to the Katy Perry concert in London next weekend. I guess the girls found super cheap tickets online while we were gone and bought us all one. I love how in Europe you can do that... its no big deal to spontaneously buy a cheap plane ticket to London to go to a concert. We are having way too much fun.
Monday, October 3rd - Friday, October 7th
Ein Prosit!
Sorry for the delayed posting... this past week/weekend has been crazy!
A bunch of us girls went to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. It was seriously the time of our lives.
Since the weekend consisted of many long hours drinking beer and partying, I am going to try and narrow the weekend down into a synopsis of sorts.
Friday:
We left Florence Thursday night around 11 and didn't get into Munich until close to 7:30AM. We basically got off the bus, changed our clothes, and headed out to the fairgrounds.
We were in line at the Schottenhamel by 9AM and got in a little before 10AM. Most of the tables inside the tents are reserved so you have to be in line early to get a seat at an open table. We managed to grab one with a couple from Germany. They were super nice, and eventually three more German guys would join us. The table right next to us had 5 German guys around our age, and by the end of the night we would be partying with them all day.
Jaclyn and I were at the tents for a good 12 hours on Friday. While everyone else left to take a nap and re-cooperate, we toughed it out and only left at 8PM to take Felicia home. We promptly returned at 9:30 and didn't leave until the tents closed at 11PM.
We made friends with the five German guys who were all from Munich. Four of them were studying at the university in Munich while one of their buddies is actually studying in Milan. I hung out with him for most of the day and we had a good time.
All throughout the day they had friends coming and going so we met quite a few people. Towards the end of the night a few of their friends decided to stick around and we had a blast with them. It was said when 11PM came since it meant the festivities were over for the day.
We headed home and crashed. Day 1 of Oktoberfest = Success
Saturday:
Today was explore Munich day. We took a bike tour of the city, and I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it is. We saw everything. I love how much history can be in one city.
We rode through the English Gardens, which is 3 times bigger than Central Park. Unlike Central Park they have a nudist meadow. That was an experience. Inside the park is the largest outdoor beer garden. We stopped there for lunch, it was quite delicious. After our lunch break we went and watched the river surfers. There is a man made river that runs through the park. When it was first built they realized the water was moving too fast so they put a cement rectangle in one section of it. This created a natural wave. Two guys from California saw it and decided to surf it. River surfing didn't become legal until last year though! It was crazy.
The bike tour ended around 4PM and Allie, Jaclyn and I booked it back to the hostel. We made a quick wardrobe change and headed back out to Oktoberfest. Saturday night is famous for being the most crazy night in all of Oktoberfest. We had been told all day that there was absolutely no way we would get in so late. We tried to get into the tent Allie had been in on Friday, but that turned out to be a fail. So at 7PM we started standing in line outside of the tent Jaclyn and I had spent the previous day at and gave ourselves an hour to get in. If we couldn't get in by 8PM we were just going to call it a night.
As we tried talking the security guards into letting us in, we quickly realized that unlike Friday, they were all about business tonight. It had only been twenty minutes, but we started losing hope fast. Then all of a sudden a waiter came up and asked us how many were in our group. We told him 5 (for us 3 and our 2 American friends we had met at the first tent) and he led us under the rope. We had made it half way in. Our friends found their comrades and the waiter led us to a table with 5 guys and a woman sitting at it. Turns out they had been watching us since we had shown up and decided to share their open table with us. As they said, "no one should be left out of the fun on Saturday night."
We hung out with them for awhile. They were all from Nuremburg... two were around late twenties/early thirties while the other three were our age. They were fun and nice, but we were out at the beer garden. We wanted in the tent. Not that we weren't having fun, but its a completely different atmosphere inside compared to outside. And we wanted to dance on tables and sing at the top of our lungs. Trying not to be rude we asked them if they thought we had any chance at getting inside of the tent. They pointed us to a door and told us that it would be our best shot. We told them that if we couldn't get in we would definitely come back and hang out the rest of the night; they assured us we would get in and we said our goodbyes.
It seemed as if everyone had the exact same idea, at the exact same time right then. The door got swarmed with people and it didn't take us too long to realize we weren't getting in through that door either. As we started walking back to the table, feeling very defeated, we saw another door with no one around it except the security guard. We asked him if he could let us in and he told us that once we finished our beers he would. We stepped aside and looked down. We had just gotten the steins 30 minutes prior, which meant it was still 3/4 full. We weighed our options and decided it would be worth it just to give it away or leave it to get into the tent. As we walked up to ask him this, he quickly opened the door and told us to hurry and get in. Thank you new best friend, we were in!
After celebrating our victory we wandered around the crazy party tent looking for open spots at a table. We only had 3 criteria:
1. Cute boys
2. Cute boys with no girls and
3. Enough room to fit 3 of us
After looking around a bit we found a table of Swiss guys. They ranged in age from 22-28 and they were a blast. We spent the rest of the night dancing, singing, laughing, and having a blast. Jaclyn made friends with a German guy our age at the table over and he joined us for the evening. When the tent at 11 we headed out and tried to find a club since it was still so early in the evening. First attempt would have been great, had us girls had our IDs. Second attempt would also have worked if the bouncer had decided to let all of us in, not leaving one person out.
At that point in the evening it was 2AM and we decided we would run home and grab our IDs. It would have been a great plan had we not lost the German guy. We only had a small idea of how to get ourselves back and we didn't want to get ourselves lost in Munich at 2:30 in the morning. So our night ended. Day 2 of Oktoberfest = Success
Sunday:
We got a late breakfast and decided to spend our short afternoon wandering through the festival. We had all spent the last 2 days in the beer tents and hadn't really seen the rest of the fairgrounds.
We went on a few rides, including the ferris wheel which gave us an amazing view of the fair as well as the city.
We grabbed some food and a chocolate covered banana and finished off the afternoon with some souvenir shopping and people watching. It was a fantastic way to end a great weekend in Germany.
Around 2 we decided to head back. The bus wasn't leaving until 3:30 but we had finished everything we had wanted to do and wanted to grab our stuff. Good idea. When we got back the luggage room was PACKED almost to the ceiling with bags. Sucks for everyone who got their last. Bags were getting tossed everywhere and the room looked like a volcano had erupted.
And so at 3:30PM we departed from Munich back to Florence.
Our weekend spent at Oktoberfest will never be forgotten. It's been a week and everyone still talks about it constantly. Probably because we have never experienced something like it.
It's so hard to describe the experience... we all try and every time it ends with, "you just have to go and see."
Before this I had already decided I loved Germany more than Italy. After the bike tour of Munich I can say without any hesitancy that I have fallen in love with the country. It's modern, yet historical. It reminds me a little of Washington with how green and open it is, completely unlike Italy.
Sorry, mom.
Friday, September 30th - Sunday, October 2nd
A bunch of us girls went to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. It was seriously the time of our lives.
Since the weekend consisted of many long hours drinking beer and partying, I am going to try and narrow the weekend down into a synopsis of sorts.
Friday:
We left Florence Thursday night around 11 and didn't get into Munich until close to 7:30AM. We basically got off the bus, changed our clothes, and headed out to the fairgrounds.
We were in line at the Schottenhamel by 9AM and got in a little before 10AM. Most of the tables inside the tents are reserved so you have to be in line early to get a seat at an open table. We managed to grab one with a couple from Germany. They were super nice, and eventually three more German guys would join us. The table right next to us had 5 German guys around our age, and by the end of the night we would be partying with them all day.
Jaclyn and I were at the tents for a good 12 hours on Friday. While everyone else left to take a nap and re-cooperate, we toughed it out and only left at 8PM to take Felicia home. We promptly returned at 9:30 and didn't leave until the tents closed at 11PM.
We made friends with the five German guys who were all from Munich. Four of them were studying at the university in Munich while one of their buddies is actually studying in Milan. I hung out with him for most of the day and we had a good time.
All throughout the day they had friends coming and going so we met quite a few people. Towards the end of the night a few of their friends decided to stick around and we had a blast with them. It was said when 11PM came since it meant the festivities were over for the day.
We headed home and crashed. Day 1 of Oktoberfest = Success
Saturday:
Today was explore Munich day. We took a bike tour of the city, and I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it is. We saw everything. I love how much history can be in one city.
We rode through the English Gardens, which is 3 times bigger than Central Park. Unlike Central Park they have a nudist meadow. That was an experience. Inside the park is the largest outdoor beer garden. We stopped there for lunch, it was quite delicious. After our lunch break we went and watched the river surfers. There is a man made river that runs through the park. When it was first built they realized the water was moving too fast so they put a cement rectangle in one section of it. This created a natural wave. Two guys from California saw it and decided to surf it. River surfing didn't become legal until last year though! It was crazy.
The bike tour ended around 4PM and Allie, Jaclyn and I booked it back to the hostel. We made a quick wardrobe change and headed back out to Oktoberfest. Saturday night is famous for being the most crazy night in all of Oktoberfest. We had been told all day that there was absolutely no way we would get in so late. We tried to get into the tent Allie had been in on Friday, but that turned out to be a fail. So at 7PM we started standing in line outside of the tent Jaclyn and I had spent the previous day at and gave ourselves an hour to get in. If we couldn't get in by 8PM we were just going to call it a night.
As we tried talking the security guards into letting us in, we quickly realized that unlike Friday, they were all about business tonight. It had only been twenty minutes, but we started losing hope fast. Then all of a sudden a waiter came up and asked us how many were in our group. We told him 5 (for us 3 and our 2 American friends we had met at the first tent) and he led us under the rope. We had made it half way in. Our friends found their comrades and the waiter led us to a table with 5 guys and a woman sitting at it. Turns out they had been watching us since we had shown up and decided to share their open table with us. As they said, "no one should be left out of the fun on Saturday night."
We hung out with them for awhile. They were all from Nuremburg... two were around late twenties/early thirties while the other three were our age. They were fun and nice, but we were out at the beer garden. We wanted in the tent. Not that we weren't having fun, but its a completely different atmosphere inside compared to outside. And we wanted to dance on tables and sing at the top of our lungs. Trying not to be rude we asked them if they thought we had any chance at getting inside of the tent. They pointed us to a door and told us that it would be our best shot. We told them that if we couldn't get in we would definitely come back and hang out the rest of the night; they assured us we would get in and we said our goodbyes.
It seemed as if everyone had the exact same idea, at the exact same time right then. The door got swarmed with people and it didn't take us too long to realize we weren't getting in through that door either. As we started walking back to the table, feeling very defeated, we saw another door with no one around it except the security guard. We asked him if he could let us in and he told us that once we finished our beers he would. We stepped aside and looked down. We had just gotten the steins 30 minutes prior, which meant it was still 3/4 full. We weighed our options and decided it would be worth it just to give it away or leave it to get into the tent. As we walked up to ask him this, he quickly opened the door and told us to hurry and get in. Thank you new best friend, we were in!
After celebrating our victory we wandered around the crazy party tent looking for open spots at a table. We only had 3 criteria:
1. Cute boys
2. Cute boys with no girls and
3. Enough room to fit 3 of us
After looking around a bit we found a table of Swiss guys. They ranged in age from 22-28 and they were a blast. We spent the rest of the night dancing, singing, laughing, and having a blast. Jaclyn made friends with a German guy our age at the table over and he joined us for the evening. When the tent at 11 we headed out and tried to find a club since it was still so early in the evening. First attempt would have been great, had us girls had our IDs. Second attempt would also have worked if the bouncer had decided to let all of us in, not leaving one person out.
At that point in the evening it was 2AM and we decided we would run home and grab our IDs. It would have been a great plan had we not lost the German guy. We only had a small idea of how to get ourselves back and we didn't want to get ourselves lost in Munich at 2:30 in the morning. So our night ended. Day 2 of Oktoberfest = Success
Sunday:
We got a late breakfast and decided to spend our short afternoon wandering through the festival. We had all spent the last 2 days in the beer tents and hadn't really seen the rest of the fairgrounds.
We went on a few rides, including the ferris wheel which gave us an amazing view of the fair as well as the city.
We grabbed some food and a chocolate covered banana and finished off the afternoon with some souvenir shopping and people watching. It was a fantastic way to end a great weekend in Germany.
Around 2 we decided to head back. The bus wasn't leaving until 3:30 but we had finished everything we had wanted to do and wanted to grab our stuff. Good idea. When we got back the luggage room was PACKED almost to the ceiling with bags. Sucks for everyone who got their last. Bags were getting tossed everywhere and the room looked like a volcano had erupted.
And so at 3:30PM we departed from Munich back to Florence.
Our weekend spent at Oktoberfest will never be forgotten. It's been a week and everyone still talks about it constantly. Probably because we have never experienced something like it.
It's so hard to describe the experience... we all try and every time it ends with, "you just have to go and see."
Before this I had already decided I loved Germany more than Italy. After the bike tour of Munich I can say without any hesitancy that I have fallen in love with the country. It's modern, yet historical. It reminds me a little of Washington with how green and open it is, completely unlike Italy.
Sorry, mom.
Friday, September 30th - Sunday, October 2nd
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