Things Europe Taught Me

Since my time here in Florence is coming to an end, I've been thinking a lot about what being abroad has taught me and everything that I have done. It is such a bitter sweet thing, I am SO excited to go home and hug my family & friends and meet my puppy, but to know I may not be back here for a while makes me pretty sad. This experience has been just so amazing- I can't begin to say how lucky and blessed I feel to have had this opportunity. I have traveled the world to these beautiful places, learned a lot, and have made friendships with people that I don't know how I've lived without them for 21 years! :)

Now, I have learned a lot here in my classes and what not but these are some of the things that I have learned either the hard way,on my own, or things that people have brought to my attention:)

1. Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself. 
    There have been many times in the U.S. where I've felt like I could eat a whole pizza, but always stop after a couple pieces. Here in Italy, you order a pizza and they do not cut it for you- so you take the special pizza knife and cut your own slices any size you want. Then, they normally do not have take away boxes.. so you are pretty much forced to learn how to eat an entire pizza. They are different though because at home, the crust on the bottom of the pizza is thick as well as the crust around the edge, here the bottom is super thin and then is not much on the top. :)

2. The more places I go, the more I realize how big the world is.
     I have traveled quite a few places while here, and still haven't seen half of the world. Now that Ive seen just these small parts I can't wait to see what else is out there and am really interested in learning about different cultures and everything these places have to offer- its really amazing to think about. Also, being abroad has changes my perspective on where I come from and not just wanting to travel the world- but the U.S. in general. There are so many states and things I haven't seen or been too like the Grand Canyon or Hollywood that people are shocked to hear that I am from America and have not been to these places..

3.You have to mentally prepare to go grocery shopping-
  Grocery shopping here has been one of the major stressors in my life. I DREAD going there and I just want to be in and out. First of all they are small stores, so they get packed with people very easily. Italians don't shop in bulk, they will go to the grocery store every day to pick up what they need, so they really only need small stores- but not me.. I like to shop and get things for a couple weeks and I fill up my little shopping roller that my roommates and I bought and get pretty mean looks when I go to check out. But I would rather do that than go through the stressfulness that is the grocery store every single day. They also charge you for plastic bags, I know that happens some places in America but there have been a few times where I have to climb back up the 2 flights of stairs to get the shopping bags that I forgot.. I will also forever thank the baggers at Giant Eagle because they are lifesavers so that when you are trying to unload all your groceries and pay and pack them back up at the same time.

4.NEVER ORDER SALAD-
    You're in Europe.. Salads are only okay in America

5. Dressing for the season not the weather-
    Its March and 70 degrees, its still spring, you don't wear anything less than a raincoat and forget about showing your toes!
6.Being on time isn't a thing-
   Meeting time at 5:00 means leave wherever you are at at 5 and still be the first one there.
7. Lines?
   People are impatient.. thats all I have to say.
8. Its best to pretend Euros are Dollars-
    Its just best…

9. Europe is exhausting- 
    I have not felt completely rested since December and I blame it on Europe! No matter how long I sleep, what time I go to bed or where I sleep I am always tired. Maybe it has to do with all of the stairs I have to climb every single day but with that, also comes the power to sleep anywhere and during anything.. You don't really need complete darkness or silence after living next to the train station, thats for sure!

10. Dehydration- 
     Ive never felt as dehydrated in my life as Ive felt being here in Europe. Water is not free here.. and if you get it they usually bring a liter that you have to share with the rest of the table.. No such thing as tap water and if you ask you just get the weirdest looks, oh and forget about any ice in your drinks.. Sometimes a glass of wine is even cheaper than the bottle of water, but I won't complain about that :)

11.Always time for gelato and/or wine-
   Sometimes a glass of wine is cheaper than water, and gelato is everywhere.. always room!

12. Doing things you've never imagined you'll do-
    If you told me my freshman year of college.. no, even a year ago that I would spend a semester away from my family and in a completely different country and unable to come home every weekend, I would look at you like you were crazy. I think my decision to come here was a shock to most people because of the fact that I was always home. But for some reason, when this opportunity opened up to me I just had to do it. Applications were due,I think, 2 weeks after I thought I wanted to come. That was  probably a good thing, though, if I had too much time to think about it I might have chickened out:) A whole semester.. away from comfort.. away from normal.. away from my amazing family and friends.. what was I thinking?! Ha! No, as much as I have missed everyone terribly, I am SO glad I made the choice to come to Italy and take part in this amazing experience. I taught english to Italian students, I traveled with people that Ive only known for a short period of time and trusted them and myself to know how to navigate Paris or get from A to B.  Yes, me the girl that misses the exit EVERY TIME to get to Great Northern Mall was able to navigate the metro through Paris and get to airports by myself. Or go to a concert alone- or anywhere alone really.. I am proud of myself, I went out of my comfort zone and experienced something incredible.

I have learned so much more than this, there are so many cultural differences between here and home, someone I hope to take with me and others I don't mind leaving behind. Ha! But, there is nothing that I haven't done or anything about this trip that I regret, I am completely- overly content with my experiences here. I can't wait to come back to the USA and be able to share even more about my experience and remember what an amazing time Ive had while abroad:)

Lickety- Split of a Weekend!

Okay, so this title wasn't as clever as my past ones- but I didn't have many options about Split, Croatia!

This past weekend was amazing, just like all the others- Croatia was the entire package.. History, beaches, adventurous things,shopping,good food and nature.. what more could I have asked for for my last trip during my time studying abroad?!

The worst part was the bus ride, we left on Thursday night and drove for 12 hours to get there the next morning. After we got settled in to our hostel we joined a walking tour that took us around Split. I learned that the region we were in was  Dalmatia and that is where the Dalmatian dogs came from- but I didn't see any there:(

The tour led us around the town and then to the Roman emperors palace that was built there. It doesn't really look much like a palace anymore, souvenir stores and restaurants have been built in to the walls and throughout the palace. Some areas are still available to tour through though, I didn't get the chance to do that unfortunately, but we did go through the public areas and it was really cool- these ancient walls and rooms still standing.

So, apparently if you go up to this guy and touch his toe and make a wish it will come true!

After that finished, we went and had some dinner and I tried their special lemon beer, it just tasted like lemonade but was really good! After that we went back to the hostel because we were exhausted.

The next morning we woke up early and took about an hour bus ride to get to the river where we shot wetsuits on and our life jackets and helmets and went on our way whitewater rafting! Before we got to the rapids I was dared to jump in the water because a lot of people were, and of course I did! And regretted it immediately because the water was FREEZING!! Ha! After that, we were in the sun most of the time and the wetsuit helped a lot.    The ride lasted about 2 and a half hours and we went through a few rapids, got to drink from a freshwater waterfall that was directly from the mountains ( I closed my eyes and pretended to be at the cottage drinking from the spring). We went under a waterfall and then had the chance to climb to the top of a big rock and jump into the water, I didn't do it because I did not want to get back in to that freezing water and Ive been cliff jumping before but from much higher heights so I don't think I missed out on anything:) After that, they gave us a lunch and we were able to buy a disk with all of the pictures that the guy in a kayak took of us so thats nice!

We got back to our hostel pretty late so we just got some dinner and went to sleep!

The next day was another early morning! We took about a 2 hour bus ride to the Krka national park. It was absolutely breathtaking, you could see straight to the bottom the water was so clear and then the park around it was beautiful as well. I could have sat there and just watched the waterfall for hours!

After some lunch we left for another long bus ride back to Florence.

I can't believe how fast the time has gone and that I am already done with all the trips I planned, its crazy!


I finish classes tomorrow(Thursday) and then have my only final on Monday and then I have finished my junior year of college and my study abroad semester!

You Should Have Seen My Smiling Face :)

Another one of my life long dreams has come true, and that fact that it was during this wonderful trip of mine makes it that much more special- I got to see James Taylor in concert!

I had no idea that he was going to be in Florence, let alone on tour at all. I was checking my Facebook yesterday and saw someone post that they were going to see him that night and I immediately googled "James Taylor Florence Italy Concert" and sure enough he was a 20 minute drive away from me and the concert was starting in 2 hours. As I am looking this up, I texted my dad: "Dad! James Taylor is here is concert tonight" and his response "GO!".   Now, If you know my dad and I, this is a pretty typical move of us, always deciding to do things last minute and just hoping that when we get there with our half of a plan that it will work out:) Ha! We are known for our random/split decision trips to Pittsburgh to maybe get a ticket to see the Pirates or hope to find the guy that is selling his tickets on Craigslist before the game starts.. Anyway- I channeled my inner 'Dad and Natalie' and left my apartment and got in a taxi in hopes there would be a ticket with my name on it at the theater- and I got one! It was a lot cheaper than I thought and my seat was actually really close, I saw him and heard him perfectly. It was great- I was so lucky!

The concert started at 9, and I was in my seat waiting since 8:15 :) I didn't even mind that I was alone because the only people I would really want to see him with are in America so I was just fine!

I knew just about every song and I can thank my parents for that..Ha!

He opened with "Something In The Way She Moves" and I got chills right away, he talked about why he always likes to start with that song and its because that was kinda his starting song- he played it for Paul McCartney and George Harrison before he was signed with Apple Records- how cool is that!

Then he played some of his new songs because he is 66 years old and still making albums..just great! His newest album was made with the band he played with there, he had a pianist, bass player, drummer, electric guitar and 3 backup singers. (The one guy was from Cleveland!)

He also played some of my favorites, Fire and Rain, Carolina In My Mind, You've Got A Friend, Shower the People, How Sweet It Is, Mexico, Handy Man AND my absolute favorite Your Smiling Face:)

I had such a great time and can finally check this off of my bucket list- Im sure I will be singing his songs the rest of the time that I am here:)

Just Another Manic Monday.. And a weekend trip with gerMANY beers:)

I can not take credit for this posts awesome name.. my parents helped me with this one:)

I thought I would make a video of my normal Monday! So, this shows my walk to the first school building and I go up to the Library. Then, I head to my second school building which is next to Santa Croce! My classrooms are in there and then in between classes I go to Pino's, its the BEST panino place in Florence- I love it! And after that, of course Gelato! Im sorry its so bumpy but I had to fast forward it or the video would be like a half hour haha but I tried


http://youtu.be/CWO9TNCtrGw


So, I spent last weekend in Stuttgart, Germany with my friend Julia! She was a foreign exchange student in Amherst about three years ago and I was able to go and stay with her and her family for the weekend! It was great:) Stuttgart was beautiful, it was so nice to see green trees and grass- you don't see much of there here in Florence. My plane ride there was scary.. the plane was so tiny I felt every bit of turbulence :/ But when I landed, Julia was waiting to pick me up and we went to her house for some lunch. I tried Maultaschen ? (don't ask me to pronounce it) but it was delicious:)

And then I had a German beer that tasted like sparkling lemonade :)

Julias mom had a brunch on Saturday morning with some great food too!

After that we went Dirndl shopping! That is what the typical dresses that you think of when you think of German outfits are called. I love mine!

Saturday was the festival and this thing was HUGE! You walked in and through so many stands of food and games and there were a bunch of rides, it was great! Then there was a huge tent where the concert and stuff there, it was so much fun:) Everyone was so happy and it was just great!

Then, we got these huge beers-that the waitresses were carrying four of these in each hand at a time and taking them to the tables.. My hand was hurting just holding the one and I had to use two hands! It was so huge that when I would drink it,it would cover my while face and I kept having to wipe the foam off of my forehead! Ha!

Another great trip:)
On Thursday I will be headed to Croatia!

I am so excited that the next plane ride I will be on will be the one that takes me back home!! 19 more days:)

A Night at the Opera!

"Was that a high C or Vitamin D?"- Otis B. Driftwood, A Night at the Opera (Groucho Marx) :)

Groucho Marx gave me high expectations for what goes on at operas.. My night was much less. . . interesting than the night in the movie "A Night at the Opera" but it was still an amazing experience:)Haha!

Im sure you've probably guessed,but I went to see an opera last night! It's called "La Traviata", I am sure you've heard of it- if not I know you have heard some of the songs that are in it. When I signed up to go to this I had no idea I would recognize any of the music that they would play-but I did! They are actually the songs I think of when I think of opera!  (Like I knew of the one song, Sempre Libera, because it is preformed in the movie The Princess Diaries 2!)

                                          I guess the theater is pretty new, it was huge!

It was conducted by Zubin Mehta, the main character Violetta was played by Eva Mei, along with the other main role of Alfredo played by Ivan Magri. According to my Wikipedia search- they are very successful! I guess they would have to be though, they are preforming in a major opera in a huge city!

What was really amazing to me was how surrounding the sound was, the orchestra played beautifully and it filled the room and then the singers sang over it without any microphones- it is SO impressive. I can't even count how many times I got goosebumps because of the sound in that room, I can't explain it!

So, we had a meeting the night before and someone came in and talked to us about the show and the background and told us what we should expect.. I mean, the opera was in Italian- so how were we to know what was going on without this preview! So they told us the whole story and what happened at the end and even watched some clips of it- and it turn out that they had screens set up above to stage that showed english subtitles! So I was able to really follow along, I was really happy about that.

The show began and there were these huge mirrors that were lifted up from the stage and used as the backdrop so it was set at an angle where we could see the floor- and instead of having backdrops, the scenes were on the floor on these big sheets and as the scenes would change, they would just drag the sheet off of the stage and the new one would be under! This was great because it let us see everything that was going on besides what was just going on at the front of the stage.

I wish I had a better picture- but you can kinda see here how the mirrors are and that you can see everyone in the background because of it:)

SPOILER ALERT-      I am going to give away 

the ending.. Skip down past the picture of me and my friend if you don't want to know what happens:)

Ill give a quick summary of the 3 act play- In the first Act, they are at a party in Paris that is put on by this woman named Violetta who is has a fatal disease that nobody knows about except her. Alfredo comes in to the party and confesses his love for Violetta but she tells herself that there is no such thing as true love and she could never really love anyone and that no one would ever truly love her. Alfredo ends up convincing her of his love and that moves to act 2 where Violetta and Alfredo are living in the country and very are happy. One day while Alfredo is away, his father comes unexpectedly and pressures Violetta to leave his son because his daughter can not get married to the one she loves if Alfredo is together with Violetta. So, she ends up leaving him but does not tell Alfred the reason. Alfredo gets pretty angry about it and goes to find her at another party that is in the city. She arrived with another man and Alfredo goes crazy and said some awful things to Violetta and immediately feels bad about it. That leads to act 3 where Violetta is very very sick and weak and can tell that the end is soon. She gets a letter from Alfredo's father saying he has told Alfredo the truth and about the sacrifice she made for his family and that they are coming to see her and to hang on. Eventually, they arrive there and all is forgiven- shortly after she sings about feeling no pain and that she has all the strength back that she had once before but it was actually that she is finally at peace and happy again and falls to the ground and dies.. :(

I guess this play is based on a true story about a woman that lived in Paris and died very young. It was great, the costumes, the set, and the sounds were all so beautiful! I am so happy to have had this opportunity- and an excuse to dress up:)




P.S.- This has nothing to do with the opera but when I was looking for a good quote from Groucho about the opera and from the movie I found myself looking at so many others that I just have to share because they are so funny! Divertiti!

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read"

"I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member"

"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know."

"Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know."

"He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot."

"Ive had a perfectly wonderfully evening.. But this wasn't it"

Haha okay, Im done:)

Ciao!

Greece-ster break! :)

I know, I know- the titles of my blogs are just getting better and better.. Instead of Easter Break-Greece-ster Break.. its perfect!!:)

We went on this trip through a student travel company, so there was a huge group of people with us. We left Thursday morning for a 4 hour bus ride to the coast and then got on a cruise/ferry boat for a 17 hour trip to get to Greece. When we got there, it was another hour and a half ferry ride to get to the island, Corfu, where our hostel was. SO. MUCH. TRAVELING.

We got there Friday afternoon and we were just exhausted, but luckily we got to do the most relaxing thing ever- lay in the sun on the beach:) We were really lucky with the weather, all week I had been checking it for the weekend and it said it was going to be rainy and cold- but turns out it was nice enough to be in shorts- I even got sun burnt!(Even though thats not a very difficult thing.. I was very pale) And some people were even swimming!!  We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach and then headed back and got ready for dinner at the hostel.

All of the food was very good, and most of the time I was so hungry I forgot to take pictures.. Ha! But I did take a picture of this awesome baklava :)

The next day we had to wake up pretty early to go sign up for any activities we wanted to do. There was a boat ride along the island, kayaking, and other things and we decided on the ATV tour around the island. It was a little cooler on Saturday so being on land sounded like the better option! We rode about 2 hours up a mountain and stopped at a beautiful area for lunch that had a great view of the island.

I guess Corfu is a vacation destination, so a lot of people have summer homes here. So, the population doubles when summer comes around! 

After our lunch we rode back down and stopped for a little bit at a cafe where I got some Greek coffee, it was very different- I've never had a coffee that had texture to it, it was very gritty and you aren't suppose to drink it all the way because at the bottom was clumps of the coffee. Very different!

That night we had another great dinner and it was Toga Night! We were given pink togas because we were at the Pink Palace :) My friends and I had a hard time trying to figure out how to tie a toga.. and the wifi was terrible so we could not look it up- but eventually we figured something out and they turned out really cute! After the dinner, there were greek dancers and plate smashing!!

I loved Greece! I can't wait to go back some day and explore the other islands:)

Oh no you MADRIDidn't!

Spring break 2k15: Madrid, Spain!!

I was incredibly lucky to be able to go to Madrid and spend some time with my cousin, Emily! It was so nice to be around family- and to see her because it has been a while. She moved and has been working as an english teacher in Madrid since the summer, so she knows the area very well. (Another reason why I was very lucky, a free tour guide:) ha!) 

Unfortunately, I brought the bad weather from Florence, so it was rainy my first day there and then pretty chilly the rest of the trip. It was okay though because I was in Madrid!

Monday, I flew out of the Pisa airport to Madrid and met up with Emily. We went back to her apartment to drop my stuff off, relax, and catch up! Our first stop was to get some food. We had tortilla (spanish omelet) and churros with the hot chocolate/chocolate sauce that you dip the churro in. It was so good! These are not like the churros you get at Cedar Point, these were freshly made and brought right out to you with a cup of pudding like hot chocolate to dip them in.. YUM!

After this, we started some sight seeing. We stopped in the Peurta del Sol where we saw the most famous symbol of Madrid, the bear eating from a strawberry tree. It is called El Oso y El Madrono, and it is 20 tons.

Next, the Santa Maria La Real de la Almudena Cathedral. Before coming to Europe, I had one set idea of what a Cathedral looks like and I kinda thought  that they would all be similar. Like the same tipes of paintings on the walls, nothing very bright or very dark. Having visited Venice and now Madrid, I know I was very wrong. Where the Cathedral in Venice was darker and had the mosaic art, this cathedral was so beautiful and full of bright colors. Not just colors as part of specific paintings, but the actual decoration of the ceiling were patterns with these great bright colors. I really liked this one for that reason, I wouldn't have picture these colors and patterns as any that would be in a cathedral, well on the ceiling- stained glass is different:)

We also went to Palacio Real de Madrid. It is the "Real Palace" apparently, but the King does not actually live there. We walked through the armoury,the area that had all the portraits of the royal family, and a bunch of different rooms that were really elaborately decorated, the patterns on the rugs matched the patterns on the walls and the furniture. My favorite room to see, though, was the dining room. This HUGE table was set up like they were having a dinner party that night! Like it was straight out of a movie! We were not allowed to take pictures, so I don't have any of the inside, but here is the outside and the flag that was in the entrance.(The only place we could take picture)

The next day we walked through some gardens which were really beautiful!

 These were everywhere! You could buy one of these legs at a grocery store, but these were at the central market.

 We had tapas one night, its pretty much appetizers they keep bringing you when you get something to drink! It was delicious!

 It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back to Spain some day and see more of this beautiful city!