Italy Blog

Greece!!!

2008-05-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

Heres some other pictures

2008-02-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

SORRY!!! Swizerland day 2 and 3!!!

2007-12-24T08:51:00.001-08:00

Sorry this took so long! i'm home now, as you might already know... i'm at my parents house and i'm going to do my best to get the rest of the pictures up! This is it for Switzerland! I loved it and i miss brenda so much!!!

Brenda and I in Zurich!

The Roads were so awesome.

This was a resturant NEXT DOOR to Patti's house. It was run by an old german speaking woman. It was basically a house with some tables. There was only one other table there and it seemed to be the womans guy friends. They sat and smoked and drank. We couldn't speak any German and she couldn't speak English so a guy helped us order. The woman was the one who cooked too! We got a giant slab of pork, YUM!, and potatoes looked like hash browns. It reminded SO much of Grandpa. It smelled like Smoke, Pork, Potatoes, and Beer.

The Next day, brenda and i went up a hill RIGHT behind Patti's house and it was BEAUTIFUL!

NEXT: Mom and Dad in Italy, and GREECE!

CIAO CIAO!

GRRR....

2007-12-04T05:35:00.001-08:00

.... ok so i'm at the school right now trying to upload photos on this because the internet in my house isn't working, and of course!!! the photos aren't uploading!!!!

So frustrating.

I'm sorry!!

I'll try again tomorrow!

I'll be back in Boston in 12 days! can you believe it??? i'm starting to pack today which is really weird.

But i have a ton of work to do... two 2500 word papers due tomorrow and thursday. (i've only done 1500 words of the first) and i'm going to greece on thursday RIGHT after class (which is awesome but means i have no time to pack because i'll be writing my papers) and then i get back sun, have 2 midterms on mon, can packing on tue, midterm on wen, and then midterm on thurs!!! and finish packing on friday! LEAVE SAT!!! i can't believe it!

well back to the paper!!!

Ciao!

i know i know...

2007-11-23T23:35:00.001-08:00

.... i'm behind. BUT NOT ON PURPOSE! my parents did make it here as you most know. And so far it has been nothing short of amazing. they love it, i love them here, and we are having so much fun.

the pictures from switzerland will be finished being put up soon, i just haven't had time because we've been doing so much!!

and shortly after that, i will put up the very few pictures from my parents being here i have. they took most of the pictures. (which was awesome, because then they can show you the pictures when they get back!)

I miss you all.... and i cant wait for christmas.... but i wouldn't mind staying here and ya'll moving here with me!!! : )

more to come!

Ciao Ciao!

Hot Chocolate and Cheese in Zurich.... (Part 1)

2007-11-17T08:19:00.001-08:00

This is the first part of the SECOND day.... theres just so many pictures!!!!!!!

It started to snow at first when we were there, but after a few hours it turned into rain... but that NEVER stopped us. It was such different weather than what we're used to in Firenze, so it was actually kinda nice.

middle of the city.

Swatch watch store.

Train and bus station.

Museum in Zurich or Musee Suisee

After the museum, we spotted a starbucks and I just HAD to get hot chocolate (there is none in italy, really). Plus it was a taste of home, which was nice.

Old Town, Zurich.

On of the bridges from one side of old town to the other.

Other side.

Fondue at Swiss Chuchi. VERY yummy.

We found of from Patti that the Swiss make a Swiss wine that isn't really exported. I guess Switzerland makes and distributes a lot of their goods only to their own country. Its kinda cool.

Prepared.

Before....

Dipping....

Eating...

After...

Fondue graveyard. We almost finished all of it.

Next up.... Hot Chocolate and Cheese in Zurich (part 2)......

Switzerland Day 1.

2007-11-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

SO! Switzerland was FREAKING BEAUTIFUL.

Technically this post is 2 days. BUT the first day (thurs) we traveled for 14 hours!!!!! This was our travel lineup.... Train to bus to plane to bus to train to train to bus to the house. But it was all worth the travel time and money because it was one of the most breathtaking places I've ever been. Don't get me wrong, i love Firenze. But Switzerland was just a whole different culture. It was probably one of my favorite places in to world(so far, i still have to go to Greece : )) The great part about it was that we were staying in the hills and countryside with lillys mom. This gave us the chance to experience both the country and city (zurich) parts. And both were amazing. So heres some pictures...

This picture was before 14 hours... happy and excited.

This is after.... tired and still excited.

This was the next morning (friday). We walked to the store down her street to get breakfast food. It started to snow when we were walking. It was gorgeous.

This is the house we stayed at. It was Lilly's mom's house, Patti.

Making breakfast.

The house

Views from the window.

Lindt!!!

MMM... chocolate.

We walked down the street from the factory and walked along the lake. The factory and the lake was in Kilchberg, about 10 min outside of Zürich.

This was a park in Wadensvil- the town where we got off the train to get to a bus to go to her house... : )

Snowing again.

In a window, it looks like our guinea pig from years ago!

Next up.... Day 2, Hot chocolate and cheese in Zürich.

As Promised...

2007-11-14T05:49:00.000-08:00

HALLOWEEN!

My costume was a dress with a mask and gloves... cheap and simple.

Brenda was very, um, silly on Halloween.

For some reason, every picture taken of me on Halloween, i pursed my lips. so get used to it.

Lauren threatened to pat me down, i was scared.

At the club.

Brenda in the bathroom in front of a condom machine.
i thought it was ironic. and really funny.

We had drinks at my house first, and then we went to Mericana. It was a lot of fun.

Next up... SWITZERLAND!!! (theres a TON of pictures. actually 165 to be exact. ready?)

ciao!

OK soo......

2007-11-13T04:32:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind. I just got back from Switzerland last night.... yes, switzerland. Awesome. It was amazing and i have like 300 pictures. So i'm resizing and everything right now. They should be up tomorrow or the next day.

I also have Halloween pictures which i'll put up tonight (today your time).

And my mother and father are the best people on the freaking planet. Guess whos going to Greece?? This guy. (meaning me). whos more excited than me? no one! AHHHH!!!! My moms the freaking greatest.

ok. so thats a quick update. more details when the pictures go up!

-Ciao!

Pictures with Simon....

2007-11-01T14:18:00.001-07:00

Next to the Uffizi, on the bridge, people in love write their name on a lock, lock it, kiss, and throw the key into the river. We're in love. : )Duomo.

Piazza Michaelangelo.

Duomo 2.

Piazza Della Signoria

Duomo 3.

Ponte Vecchio.

Sunset on Ponte Vecchio.

Bobli Gardens

Santa Croce.

Piazza Michaelangelo

Look closely, theres a rainbow.
We were walking along the bridge to Piazza Michaelangelo.

Rainbow 2.

Duomo

Piazza Repubblica

Next up.... Halloween in Florence!!!

I'm back!!

2007-10-30T05:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been MIA! The week before last was midterms week so i was doing NOTHING but studying. So far i know i got a B in Italian and an A++ in political philosophy. So far so good!!

Then on that Thursday, Simon arrived in Firenze for the week (until last Thursday morning). I have pictures from that but I haven't finished resizing them and such. They should be up this week. We had a BLAST! I was so glad he was here. We walked around everywhere! The only thing that sucked was that it rained for a few of the days and it was FREEZING! Which is weird because it had only rained like 3 days since I got here and it had been like 60-70 the whole week before. AND after he left it rained for 2 days and then went back to 55 and sunny! I joked with him and told him he brought the bad weather with him. : ) he didn't of course. We went to the Piazza Michaelangelo, 5 museums (Uffizi, Bobli Gardens, Leonardo Da Vinci museum, torture museum, and the serial killers museum), and walked to places in the city I have never been! We went out to eat twice and I cooked for him the rest of the dinners. We did do lunch a LOT though. He loved the Kebabs here (its kinda like italys fast food!). We also went shopping for his family and such... i'm not going to say what he got because i know JoDee reads this (HEY JODEE!! MISS YOU!) but we did SO much and had SO much fun.

The only thing that stinks now though is that he made me homesick! I mean i LOVE it here and i wouldn't leave yet but I do miss the season changing, my friends and I know I'm going to miss Thanksgiving dinner! But at least I'll have my parents here with me for Thanksgiving. That will make me feel good! I also am sad that I'm not going to be able to decorate the apartment, and I'd ask Simon to decorate, but he isn't to much into decorating for any season. Maybe I'll do it when I get back. eh. who knows!!

Anyway, I've been doing a lot of knitting. I took a break from the circular needles because i think i messed something up. And when Simon was here we found an AWESOME shop with tons and tons of yarn! So I bought some and made one scarf in 2 days and started a second 2 days ago. Of course, I haven't been able to really put much time into it because I have classes started again. But I will keep you updated about my knitting (haha).

ALSO!! I'm going to Switzerland for 4 days with Brenda! I'm staying with my friend Lilly's mom! So we get free accommodation's but the flight was a little pricey. When i first looked it up it was only 51 euro. But I wanted to make sure that Lilly's mom was ok with having us there. So I decided to wait a little. Well I waited a little to long because it ended up costing 95 euro instead (130 dollars)! Which is still not that much but enough to make me go, AH! haha.

So thats the update. Pictures soon!

Ciao Ciao!

Wine Tasting in Tuscany!!

2007-10-15T05:23:00.000-07:00

On Friday the 12th the school had a free wine tasting in Tuscany. So I decided to go! It was beautiful!! i couldn't believe it! Here are some GREAT pictures of it!
Mom- i have the address and info! we should go!!!

These are the grape vines.

This is at the really pretty wine house. It used to be owned by the Medici family (like everything in Firenze) and was a watch house.

My new friend Craig and of course Sarah!

My new friend Mike! He doesn't like pictures!

Gorgeous!

New friends!

Olive Oil buckets.

Wine Barrels.

The wine tasting! YUM!

I discovered a new kind of yummy... cheese with honey!!!

I bought 2 bottles and a jar of honey.
They sell wine, olive oil and honey. YUM!

Sitting outside!

Last But not Least, Day 1 con't... Eze and Monaco!

2007-10-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry that took so long to upload all of them!!! I had 400 pictures to shift through and resize!!

Heres the second half of Eze and all of Monaco.

Beautiful!!

We saw this really cool art store!!! i looved it! i bought a postcard for myself! : )

In a church. i liked this painting.

Outside of the church.

Awesome looking graves.

Views.

Little restaurant in the Medieval town.

Bronze Elephants in the gardens below... this ones for mom!

View.

Monaco!

Monte-Carlo!

Cartier!

mountains in the background... it was breathtaking!

View from the Monte-Carlo looking out!

Dior

Right behind the crane is Grace Kelly's Palace.

House that looks fake.

The races at Monaco...

The bottom one says defibrillator. i thought that was funny.

Princess Grace Kelly.

the french REALLY want you to keep your clothes on.

Next up... a Wine Tasting trip i took with the school!

Day 2.... Antibes and Cannes.

2007-10-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

We went to Antibes, ate, hung out for an hour... then went to Cannes.

This is a gross add for water at the train station.

This is Emily licking her plate.... Hilarious.

The restaurant we ate at.

Port at Antibes.

Cannes.

Me on the red carpet.

naked guy riding a unicorn.

fancy hotel

looks like maimi or something!

the boring auditorium.

stairs we climbed to get to the castle.

cool street.

dorky me.

Love this foot one.

haha.

Day 1 still to come!..... Monaco and Eze!

ok soo... these will not be in order... but i will label them Day 1, 2, 3, etc!

2007-10-09T02:32:00.000-07:00

This is the DAY 3 in Nice... We were able to do what we wanted so we went to the port at Nice and Swam in the Med. Sea... it was SO amazing. these pictures only begin to explain how stunning it was!

Palace across from the port.

The walkway .

French Rivera.

Me and my new friend Emily.

Feet on the pebble beach.

ME IN THE FRENCH RIVERA!

Huh?

Sun bathing.

The Med Sea makes my hair really pretty!Mountains on the ride home.

To Be Continued!

1st day in Nice....

2007-10-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

This is the Hostel.

The road to EZE.

Shoreline at Nice.

Road to Eze.

Quick photo opp at a rest stop.

This is at Eze. Make sure your dressed!!

One of the cool little shops.

TO BE CONTINUED!!

so i'm here...

2007-10-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

.... in Nice.

It is absolutely stunning. I love it and have so many pictures to put up!!

Everything about this place is great.... the hostel is so awesome... clean... theres aircon in the rooms, and the beers are only 1 euro!! everyone here at the hostel is so nice and great to hang with. the only issue i have is with the girls that came on the trip with us. they are mean and ungrateful and really really daft. they don't know what their doing and need someone to hold their hand... and they bitch about EVERYTHING!! it'll tell you more about that individually... but I'm not going to let some peoples negative energy bring me down. it is too beautiful and too fun!!!

today was Eze and Monaco... tomorrow Cannes and somewhere else?? i'll write about it when i get home! (home being firenze.... its weird saying that!!)

Ciao Ciao!!!!

Raya's crazy face...

2007-10-01T08:46:00.001-07:00

So, update.

A. The internet in the apartment started working again. We have a theory that the people who's internet we are apparently are piggybacking on dont pay their bills on time. so it gets shut off at the end of the month for a few days. Maybe. We think.

B. I'm going to Vodefone tomorrow morning to bother them about getting the internet to work or getting my money back. Whichever is best.

C. I finished my first scarf. I still have to sew in the little ends from starting new colors (which i'm having trouble figuring out... any help missie, jess?) I also bought a circular needle at this knitting store called Scandanavia. so i'm starting a hat. we'll see how it goes.

D. I go to Nice in 3 days. I'm really very excited. I will be putting pictures up as soon as i get home.

E. I got my Uffizi pass! Which mean for the 25 i paid for it, i get into the Uffizi, Gardens, The Medici chapels and more museums than that for free. Its good for a year. So excited. I think i'm going to see the david tomorrow. we'll see.

F. I CANNOT believe its October already. where did the month go?

G. Simon is coming in 16 days and counting. I cannot wait.

ok... so longest list ever... not really but. I'm sure theres more.

Oh and i'm going to write what all those pictures are from....
picture 1. (top left) me kellet and sarah at Astor.
2. (top right) me at Santa Croce. In that church Galileo and Machiavellli are buried.
5. (bottom left) ok so funny story.. kellet, bren, cori and i were walking around and we walked into the piazza signoria that had been blocked off for some reason, but the guards didnt stop us and we didn't even notice them there until we were in the middle of the piazza by ourselves. we thought at first that it was a wedding procession but found out it was a protest for illegal immigrants. weird.
3., 4., 6., (both middle and bottom right.) me at pisa, acting like a goof.

So other than that... nothing. ok. so.

Peace out Playas!

ok....

2007-09-29T04:34:00.001-07:00

.... just so you know, i dont have internet in my apartment this weekend because.... A. the internet in the apt isn't working and B. my internet that i bought isn't working.

so i'm going to Vodafone to get at least MY internet fixed, hopefully.

wish me luck!

Ciao!

So heres another....

2007-09-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

Picture from the piazza Michaelangelo..

Cute huh?

So the reason we went to the Piazza Michaelangelo was because Sarahs boyfriend (mike) and his buddies from Vanderbilt were having wine, cheese and bread on the steps. So we joined them, and watched the sunset... it was beautiful. and a lot of fun.
Then after that we (being these four^ and mike and will, mikes friend) went to dinner at this place that our neighbor serves at. It was so yummy.

Me at Ponte Vecchio

Over the weekend i did a whole lot of nothing. Not nothing in the sense that i sat around, but just hung out and relaxed. On friday, Bren and I walked around Firenze for five hours and just strolled, took pictures and looked in little shops. We found the BEST jewelery store ever. I dont usually care about jewelery but this place was so great. there wasn't any, like, diamonds or gold but everything was handmade in the store. Inside, where you pay, there was girls sitting and beading and making stuff right there. and when they were done, they'd hang them up on the displays. and they said EVERYTHING was handmade, even the beads and shapes. a lot of the jewelery was awesome because it was colorful and all shapes. its hard to explain.
next time i'll take a picture. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in there.

I've also decided to take pictures of my feet in different place.... lame, maybe, but i think its cool see i've had my feet in such and such a place.

ok. thats it. for now.

Ciao!

Piazza Michealangelo......

2007-09-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

I'll write some later.... but here are some pictures.....
Also, HEY Mr. Daly!!!!
(P.S. everytime someone says Istanbul, I hear in my head and see you singing "Take me back to Constantinople, no you cant go back to Constantinople, cause its Istanbul not Constantinople.." HA!)

"Pahck the cah in hahvad yahd".......

2007-09-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

.... Every single time i tell an italian i'm from boston they say either that or "Big Papiii!!".

What the hell.

ALSO, when i tell them my surname is Mutti, they always go, "Are you related to Ornella Muti?" After much research, i find that Ornella Muti is a very famous actress here in italy and was actually "Voted "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World" in a world wide poll of readers in 1994 by the magazine Class."- IMDB.... Heres a picture of her.....A lot of the Italian boys try and pull the, you look like her, line but i'm not buying.

Last Night was a lot of fun. Lauren called me and i met her for a bottle of wine. We sat for 4 hours chatting and after that i went back home, showered (my water in my apt was being fixed all day!) and then went back out with her to this place around the corner from me that is a sandwich, wine, espresso Cafe type place. She's been here for a year already so she has a lot of italian boy friends. So we hung out with all these guys, and it was so fun to be able to hang out and joke around with people other than american girls. so that was a blast.

Today I went to Fiesole and it was breathtaking! i took some pictures.... here....

So yeah... it was beautiful and relaxing.

I'm going to go eat. I'm hungry!

Sarahs Birthday in Florence....

2007-09-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

I mean, nothing else can sum up the night better than these pictures, but i guess i'll try!
It was Sarah's (shes the one on the right) 21st birthday, so we went out to Astor for some drinks....
Things of course got silly and we took a ton of really fun pictures.

Here's me drinking my vodka redbull in honor of Cortney.
This was of course about 4 hours before i drank too much and was sick at home.
Thats why i dont drink that much!!!!

And here is Sarah and Brenda on the dancefloor getting their groove on.

It was all in all, a great night. Sarah had a blast, and i got sick on HER 21st birthday! haha.

So other than that i have been mostly sitting around the apartment doing homework and hangin out with my roomies.

This weekend, though, all of my roomies are going to be gone for the weekend. Risa is going to Capri tonight until Sunday and Brenda and Sarah are going to Rome from tomorrow till saturday. It's all good though because i really wanted to go to fiesole on saturday and sit around and read and write. I feel like its important for me to really get to know Firenze before i go out and see the rest of Europe. I mean i want to see as much as possible but i'm not really one for missing whats right in front of me. So Fiesole, for those who don't know, is this little town on a hilltop overlooking Firenze (Florence in Itlaian) and is really beautiful. So i'm kind of excited to go there.

Then on Sunday Brenda, Sarah and i are going to go to the Gardens across the river and take pictures and read. Maybe we'll have a picnic there! So i think i have a pretty good weekend ahead.

I will post pictures from those places after the fact.

Also! i'm going to get a job at a phone place i think. i really would like to work like 10 hours a week. just to make a little more cash in pocket.

Also! My mom just told me shes going to put an article in the Agawam Advertiser about me in Florence which is pretty awesome!

Ok... gonna go hang out.

Ciao!!

Also.....

2007-09-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

.... I just booked a trip to Nice, France for a 3 night 3 day trip with Bus2Alps.com.

Its awesome and really cheap for what it is.... you go to the alps and cannies. I'm so excited!

I even looked up the site for the hostel and look at how awesome it is... http://www.vsaint.com/photos.html
And here are the facilities.
http://www.vsaint.com/facilities.html

Look at all they offer! i cant freaking wait!

AH!

Ciao!

the duomo and my first A....

2007-09-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

This is a Pamphlet from the service on Domenica (Sunday... i'm going to start to use more Italian in my blogs... but i will translate for you!)

Theses are some pictures of the inside of the Duomo. It was multa bella(very beautiful). Actually it was breathtaking! I walked in a was overwhelmed by how huge it was and the smells and the sounds were astounding. Even the sermon was beautiful, even though i couldn't understand a thing.
Also there will be a picture of me Brenda and Sarah up when i get it from brenda.

SO! today, i received my first A in Italy (YEAHHH!!!) on my Political Philosophy presentation. I felt like i did ok but i always get very mumbly in front of the teacher cause i want her to know that i KNOW what i'm talking about, but then i get lost in the explanation of it all.

Whatever... I still got an A! wooot!!!!!!!

I feel like home here. is that weird? i mean, i need simon here to really feel fully at home, but it is very natural being here. I think the only thing i need to really do to truely feel totally comfortable is to learn the language better... which i am doing.

So i dont know what else to say.

thats if for today....

Ciao.

LOOK OUT!!

2007-09-07T11:49:00.001-07:00

BUILDINGS ARE FALLING!

ha. i'm lame. but this is awesome.... me and the leaning tower of Pisa.
It was absolutely awesome and I cant believe i was there. Actually my Italian experience was validated with this experience. I was so taken back i HAD to call my mom. It was 5:30 in the morning their time and i talked to my dad. But ya.

Here is a picture of me and sarah with the Pisa.

It was also really funny to see all the people all around taking funny pictures with the tower.

Sweet.

Here is me at the train station. you can see the name of it in the backround. It was called Livorne Centrale.

I'm a dork.... i know. but it was awesome.

Also in honor of my dork of a father i made this in the sand....

Its funny cause everyone else just layed out and read or did nothing and i'm the kid that makes animals and plays in the water and picks up rocks.

awesome.

Homework tomorrow.

Wednesday, sept 5th....

2007-09-06T01:10:00.000-07:00

Thank god for the school having free dinner and wine! they brought us to this BEAUTIFUL little setup on the grass 2 feet from the river looking onto the ponte vecchio.

It was so good and the it was free so, what can beat that?

It wasn't the whole school, because yesterday they had the same diner with half the school. But all the people we've been hanging out with were at this dinner, so it was awesome and we had a blast.

So after the dinner we went to Tori and Coris apt. for a glass of wine. Their apartment is giant compared to ours. But it is also like 20 min away from the school, and i leave for school 5 min before i have to be there. so.

Yesterday day i just had class, talked to mom and did homework.

Oh, i'm going to have a ton of homework this semester. i think i picked the hardest classes in the school. for real.

here is the yummy dessert i had....

2007-09-04T15:28:00.001-07:00

So this is the yummy dessert i had at Za-Za's sunday night. The cappuccino has the word Za and so does the chocolate on the plate. the dessert was a eggless custard with chocolate sauce... homemade. yum.

Also, i went there tonight for diner with Risa, Mike and Sarah. I had the Fettuccine with a truffle sauce..... Oh.... My.... God. it was excellent. I think i'm going to bring my mom and dad there when they visit. its reasonably priced and SOO good. the Gnocki is also so good.

This is me shopping at the open markets for dresses on the 2nd day.
I had a blast. It was actually really cheap. I got 2 dresses for a total of 22 euro which is like almost 30 bucks. not bad if i do say so myself.

This is one of the dresses i bought.

Obviously it looks better when i'm not so sweaty and i have it on right, without the shirt underneath.

Its getting colder here and i love it.

I have so many sweatshirts. i want to wear them.

Today i didnt have class so i went to this dept store called Coin, and bought really overpriced, on sale sheets. and a blanket cause my sheets were really itchy.

then i came home and sat around. and made some food, and then went out for diner at like 9, like i said above.

oh, and i did some homework.

thats it for today.

tomorrow school.

Monday..

2007-09-04T03:10:00.001-07:00

....i had my first day of school.

My schedule for the week is as follows.

Mon 12,00-2,30 Political Philosophy
6,00-7,15 Italian 101
Tue NOTHING
Wen 12,00-2,30 Greek and Roman Mythology
6,00-7,15 Italian 101
Thurs 12,00-2,30 The Age of the Heros; the Ined, the illiad and the Oddosey (all spelled wrong)

SO the week is awesome. i sleep till 10 then go to class RIGHT around the corner and hang out at home for an hour or 2 and study and eat and go back to class at 6. sweet.

So yesterday, i woke up went to school. the class (pol Phil) seems pretty awesome. its going to be hard i think. which may be good or not? the italian teacher is rad, yes, rad. He actually taught in america for 15 years. so hes pretty awesome. and i'm exited to learn it. i want to stop being so american and not knowing the language.

So in between classes i bought myself internet through this company called votophone. its kinda good. its like 100 hours a month for 30 euro. and the start up fee is 150 but the 1st month is free. so it comes out to like 60 euro a month for a 100 hours. so thats good. i really needed it. untilll... i found out that the internet that wasnt working in my apt is working again. so pissed. however i'm still glad that i have the internet because i can use it anywhere in italy and i dont have to depend on an undependable internet source.

so ya.

so i got home after italian and the roomies had made a huge delicious dinner. and our friend brian came over and ate with us. it was yummy....

Sunday..

2007-09-04T03:05:00.000-07:00

.... I sat around and did nothing because my knee hurt really bad. REALLY BAD. so i sat around and watched tv on my computer while everyone else went and walked Fisole.

Then later on at like 8 when people got back we went to ZA, a resurtant like 2 minutes from my house. it was SO yummy. i have a picture of my dessert and capp. i'll put them up soon.

2007-09-03T13:25:00.001-07:00

Two of my three roomies and racheal... in this order... Risa, Racheal, Sarah, Me.
Yummy Sandwich..... mmmm....... (i mentioned this below)
My other roomie and sarah's BF... in this order.... Sarah, Brenda, Mike, Me.
Me in Freaking Italy.

here is sept.1....

2007-09-03T13:21:00.001-07:00

Saturday September 1

Today was really nice. After spending more than I wanted to last not (which was only 15 Euro but I wasn’t planning on going out! After all that’s why we bought groceries!), I decided to sit out on the trip to the beach.

I think everyone is trying to do everything too quick. They want to go EVERYWHERE ad do EVERYTHING but I think they are acting like they only have a week to do it. I want to go everywhere and do everything but in its own time. Not everyday. After all, I came here for ME not to go out and see everyone all the time. I need to be alone.

So I slept in a little, got up around 10, took a shower and decided to go find a park or something to sit and read. I walked for a while and ended up just walking around places that I thought were going to be parks but ending up being just government gardens or something. As I started heading back to my apt, I saw that right down the street from me there was a little park!!! DUMMY!

The park was nothing special. Just a few benches and some grass but it was awesome to sit there and read for a couple hours. After relized I was hungry I stated heading home again but decided to go into this open market thing in this warehouse. It was AMAZING in there!!!! Everything was super cheap and there was like TONS and TONS of like vendor shop things (its hard to describe without being there, I’ll try and take pictures next time) with fruits, veggies, meat, cheese, and other such items. I bought a chicken breast, green beans, two tomotos and a huge thing of iced tea for only 4 euros! That’s even cheaper than America!

I went put my future diner in the fridge, and made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. I ate and then started to knit while watching som funturama on my mac.

Then I heard the door ring, and it was Mike, Sarah’s boyfriend. Sarah had called him and asked him to come from sienna to help her with the money situation that she had going on, but because mike doesn’t have a phone, she could tell him that she went to western union and that she was fine for now….. oh, and that she went to the beach.

So mike and I hung out for a while, grabbed a bite to eat then walked around the city for a while until sarah and them got back. After they got back we made this HUGE meal with chicken, pasta, peas, rice and bread and ate all of it with some wine. It was SO yummy.

They decided they wanted to go out and convinced me to go too. We drank wine here (thank god) and went out to the Fish Bar (eh) for like 5 min, then were going to go to JJ’s but decided on Astor again. We went downstairs and danced, and after a while, my partner-in-crime and I decided that we wanted to go and so we left. This time though, we didn’t get lost!! HA!

It is just so beautiful here. Its hard to describe. There is just so much to see, and there is beauty all around you. The only thing I hate is the LOUD noise on the street at night. The street cleaner is so loud you think the world I ending. Its outrageous.

here is aug 31....

2007-09-03T02:53:00.000-07:00

Friday August 31.

Well my second day in Italy was great. I got up late at like 12. And sarah and risa and I all met up with Rachael and went to get sarahs luggage across town.

While walking we really got hungry and stopped at this little hip food place on the way. I cant remember the name but it was really healthy moderately priced food. It was ok but not a fill-ya-up meal. So we walked over and got her luggage then took a cab back to our apt.

Risa and Rachel did their thing while I went to buy a fan and walked sarah halfway to the western union. I finally got the fan and brought it home and set it up.

After sarah got back her and I headed over to go grocery shopping and risa met up with us. It was surprisingly cheap considering everyone says that everything is more expensive over here. I think I’m going to be good with money as long as we just cook a lot….

Then, after we went shopping I sat around by myself for a while, walked over to the gelatoria and looked at the people around me while the sun set.

When sarah and risa got back, Brenda and them dragged me out to this place called pizzeria which is just past the Duomo and split a yummy calzone (ham and cheese) with Brenda and had wine. We met up with kellit, Lauren, and racheal to eat there and Lauren has lived in Florence for a year before this so knew the waiter which was pretty funny. He was really nice and his friends bought us lemon chello. MMM….

After that we met up with our friend Brian and went out to the Astor Bar which is an Italian bar and club downstairs. We had a drink and decided to go to a more busy club around the corner called Touche, which we call Twice. (spelled like touché but not said like touché). It was REALLY packed and sweaty and full of Americans, but it was free so we went in.

We saw tori and Cori there and danced for a while. Brenda and I aren’t exactly night owls so we decided that we were ready to head home. But the problem was that we were around the Ponte Vecchio and that’s like 20 min walking from our apt. we decided to tough it out and walk, BUT we got lost for an HOUR at 2:30. DON’T WORRY, we stayed on well lit streets. We actually were just going in circles for a half an hour and finally found our way back.

It was really funny because like 5 min later everyone else came home.

Oops.

So we went to bed and that was that.

First full day in italy...

2007-08-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

... and i'm actually feeling ok.

Yeaterday was bad. i was tired and really disorientated and i wanted to go home and see simon. But after a full nights sleep and a somewhat understanding of where i am i feel better. the school is ok so far, even though i haven't had any classes and the people are nice.

my roomies are ok. i'm used to guys so i feel weird with a bunch of girls. i feel like the guy of the group. and old. everyone (except maybe like 10 others) are younger that me. they are so psyched to drink and i've been drinking for 2 years. i mean i'm not saying i'm super old but i feel like it.

the apt is ok. i was hoping for a living room but beggers and be choosers. and the town is BEATUIFUL. we live like 5 min from everything. the school, tons of shops. when you look out the window you can see an outdoor market where they sell like clothes and shoes and other such things for really cheap(i just bought 2 dresses for 22 euro).

i had lunch with tori and her roomie cori. It was YUMMY. i had a Mozzerella and tomato sandwich (picture on facebook) and a red bull (jet lag is KILLING me). and the people were real nice.

I went out with my roomies, sarah and risa and my new friend brian for their lunch but wasnt hungry so i just drank. But it was funny cause we were walking by and this waiter (kenny g) stopped us and asked where we were from and if we wanted a free craft of wine. so the others ate food and i got to drink free wine. YYUMMY. water is more expensive than wine, which is funny but weird, so they loured us in with wine and we stayed for the food.

the waters are SOO funny. and really nice. we laughed and drank and sat for like 2 hours. at the end 3 guys from the school joined and drank too. it was great.

so, so far so good. but we'll see if it lasts!!

-peace out