Roma! Roma! Roma!

January 29 - Woke up at 5:45, showered, and we all had to meet at the Piazza della Repubblica to take the bus to Rome. It was a 3 hour bus ride and I slept most of the way. I woke up that morning feeling like I had a cold coming on (which sucks, because I just got over my other cold not even a week ago). As we were coming into the city my ipod was playing "Pocket Full of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield. Perfect song, it was like I had my own soundtrack =) We got to our hotel (Hotel Arenula), unpacked our stuff and we had about an hour to go get lunch then meet back up to go on a tour. I didn't eat, I drank a coke zero (I had almost a whole box of Ritz on the bus!) We went to the Roman forum, colosseum, and the pantheon. Pantheon was my favorite!


January 30 - Felt WORSE today. Woke up so achy, felt like I had a fever and this was the day I was most excited about. I ate an orange and a kiwi for breakfast and brought along with me a huge water bottle. We left at 9:30 a.m. and the first thing we went to see was the Vatican museum, then we walked through the grottoes, its where every pope that has died is buried. There were so many people praying and crying around the tomb where the most recent pope that died had been buried. It was so eerie. I didn't like the feeling I had after walking out of there.

Then we went to St. Peters Basilica. This was my absolute favorite of the entire trip. I walked in and just stopped in awe. After learning about the Gold and Bronze keys from Nero and learning about the story of St. Peter and Jesus and how this breathtaking church came to be, I was just awestruck. Everywhere I walked, there was another section to walk into . It just kept going, and going, and going. I saw pictures of it from the lecture, but never imagined the extravagance of it. The altar in the very center of the church was HUGE and made of all bronze. Right underneath it is where it's said that St. Peter's bones are buried. They're underneath the actual church. I walked by the Blessed Sacrament Chapel (a room dedicated to only prayer), the confessionals, St Peter's statue (his toes are completely gone from people touching them - people pray and ask that he be merciful and open the gates of heaven for them). I went to the altar, took a couple pictures then felt compelled to pray. After researching, I found that where me and Peyton chose to go pray was called "St. Joseph's Altar" - Here's a link that talks about it: http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Info/PrayerPlaces.htm This site talks about the Top Prayer Places in St Peter's and it shows a picture of the tomb of Pope John Paul II I was talking about earlier.

The day ended with a trip to the catacombs. It was only about a 25 minute tour, not very exciting though. I was ready to get on the bus and sleep my sickness away...As soon as I got home, I showered and went straight to sleep.

Today, I literally was in bed all day resting. Im trying to get better by Saturday for Carnivale in Venice and then Super Bowl on Sunday. Supermarket in the a.m. and school tomorrow. Then hopefully skyping with dad and Jer at some point.

BUONA NOTTE.

Quick Recap #2

January 20 - SICK. On my death bed. Went to a clinic and found out I had a sinus infection. Took antibiotics and got a little bit better before our trip to Interlaken, SVIZZERA! (THANK GOD) We left the next day at 11:30 p.m.- Jan 21 - with Bus2Alps. (8 hour bus ride) I stayed at my first hostel (Balmer's) - it had its own bar in the basement called "Metro" We went there every night. *This picture was the view from outside our hostel window.

January 22 - Arrived at Balmers around 7:30 a.m. then we went sledding at noon. OMG, it was so much fun! It was only Me, Stef, Bolling, Charlotte, Peyton, Kelly, and Joe. We did two runs and by the second run I got the hang of turning and stopping. Although, I caused a MAD pileup! I was going so fast down the mountain and came around a really sharp corner and I couldn't turn fast enough. I ended up falling off my sled and sliding like 3 feet! Then Joe ran into me, then Stef, then Bolling. This 4 person pileup, all caused by me. It was so funny though! I was wearing my white North Face, Burberry earmuffs, and Ray Bans and our guide, Ian, said I looked like I was about to go on a television interview! lol (Dad, are you even surprised?) We ate dinner at a little pizza/kebob place next to the hostel. Meal wasn't that great. Our fries tasted like they had Ramen noodle spices on them and I had a little chicken patty. Everyone else ordered a kebob that was drenched in thousand island dressing. My choice was the better of the two, in my opinion. Went to Metro (in the basement of our hostel-perfect location!). *This picture is the Fab 4 (roommies) right before getting onto the gondola to go up to the mountain to sled.

January 23 - While everyone was skiing, me, Kelly, Bolling, and Peyton stayed back and had some bonding time at the hostel. We walked around all afternoon to find somewhere to eat and everywhere we went was closed. Our last resort was an overpriced Mexican/Indian restaurant. We ordered some Indian bread, chips and salsa and guacamole, and some nasty, warm margaritas. 7 francs for a champagne glass filled with grossness. As Kelly would say "They raped us!" We made reservations at the Little Thai Restaurant next to Balmer's at 7. We get there on time and they tell us to come back 15 minutes later (this happened twice!) We finally get seated and have a delicious meal as a group. I had chicken fried rice (not really Thai, but whatever.) We had a little party in Room 15 after happy hour. Me and Kelly went down and bought 20 francs worth of shots (4 shot glasses) and snuck them up to our room, but every step we took vodka spilled. We kept saying "there goes one franc, two francs, three francs..." Kelly was making me laugh so hard, which then made more spill! Not good...We finally got to the room, took shots, played "pterodactyl" (where you try to say the word without showing your teeth and without laughing). The without laughing failed instantly. Kelly caught it all on tape! This was the night Clay came back and we got into a "poking war" -naturally I won. I don't lose. We made gator mating call noises and when we thought Clay had passed out all of the sudden we hear "Go Gata" come from the corner. We all BUSTED out laughing! Went to Metro.

January 24 - I was so close to going Paragliding on Sunday morning with Peyton before we left, but I chickened out (remember my fear of heights?) Ate lunch at a pub we found downtown. Had a delicious BBQ chicken sandwich and water (too much alcohol for the weekend) Then got on the bus. Unfortunately, we were stuck on top of the double decker and I had a headache the whole ride home. We got back into Florence around 10:30. I wanted to take a taxi back to the flat so badly, we had so many bags and such a far walk. We ended up walking...I was NOT happy. I came home, showered, and went straight to sleep.

January 27 - Dinner at Vespucci! Vespucci is one of the three apartments that FSU has. It's right along the Arno River and its huge! Kelly and I went for a run, and then Stef, Bolling, Brandon, and Charlotte met us at the apartment and we all went to the supermarket to get stuff to make dinner. We also bought 6 Heini's each. We ended up making a HUGE salad - sweet butter lettuce, green olives, red pepper, tomatoes, chick peas, pecorino cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. SOOO yummy. We also had a little bit of bow tie pasta with red sauce. Brandon went home because he had bad brie and too many shots of peach tea. The entire night we played "Kings" with sex cards. So funny! Stef started out with the rule: If you cuss, you have to keep your hands up in an X position until the next person cusses. Well, we all curse like sailors. The night went from taking shots of beer to taking shots of red wine (bad idea.) The next day, I was supposed to run with Ryan, but slept in til 11. Took a taxi home (which cost me 15 euro), shower, and get to class by 1:30. I was rushing, but I made it - lookin' flyyy as always!

Here's Peyton with her hands up in "X" position...she cussed and kept them up probably 80% of the game lol

*Stole this from Stefani's blog (it's such a perfect explanation!)
Explanation of shots shots shots:
Shots. Like the drink. Began to be used as a unit of measurement. All beverages were taken in the form of a shot. Wether straight from the bottle (as te) or with the use of a shot glass (ie. shots of wine) It was also used to describe how far or close you are from something (ie. "I bet brandon is about 15 shots from home by now") or as a unit of measurement ("That looks to be about 17 shots worth") A shot is not a set distance or an amount, but simply a "going off" type of point.
The term "shots" came into full effect this night, and continued to grow and be funnier as the weekend came to be. -So now whenever you read this term, you'll understand the context and the meaning.

January 28 - Lecture with Nero about the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica before our trip the next day.

QUICK RECAP #1

It's been a month since I've been here. I flew from the United States on the 6th of January and got into Florence on the 7th around 8 p.m. after a LONG ass 32 hours of traveling. Me and Stef were stuck in the Frankfurt airport for 8 hours. It was awful. We had a beer to pass the the time, met a couple people traveling to Florence as well with different programs.

On the 8th we went to the school for orientation, at lunch at this place called Natalino's (which we are now obsessed with - we eat here almost every single day!) We went on a group tour of the city then went to a group dinner at the Natalino restaurant right across from their sandwich shop. Afterwards, I dragged everyone across the street to the pub, Lions Fountain. Bet the bartender I could fill up a drink card (20 spaces) in one week for a free pint. Needless to say, I finished it and got a free t-shirt. (But it was not easy, they stopped stamping my card, I had to basically fight the guy for my free pint...it wasn't even about the pint it was the principal of the matter...)

January 9th - We went on a tour to Fiesole a little town about 30 minutes away from Florence. It was absolutely beautiful! Saw some Etruscan/Roman ruins and went to a little church on the top of the hill that overlooked Florence. Unfortunately it was raining the entire time and it was FREEZING! Met Leo this night at Lions, and it was the first night we went to Red Garter.

January 10th - Sandwiches @ Natalino's with Stef, Charlotte, and Bolling. I will NEVER get spicy salami ever again. I had massive heartburn the whole way up to San Miniato. We met up with everyone at the Ponte alle Grazie bridge. I had to take a taxi back to our apartment because my heart and chest hurt SO bad! I drank 2 cup fulls of Pepto as soon as I got home and was back to normal. Pepto's my miracle drug. :)

January 11th - Went running for the first time around a little park I found by our flat. Had my first Italian cappuccino & Italian donut @ La Loggia. First Italian class of the semester. Got our Italian cell phones - they are effing ancient (Nokia's).

January 12th - MOST hungover I've ever felt since I've been here. Long night at Lions. I didn't even have motivation to get ready for the day. I wore my gray "neckbrace" sweater, hair in a pony, and my glasses (that should explain everything - I never wear my glasses in public!)

January 15th - Day trip to Siena. So cold. Went on a tour through a museum and went into their duomo. It was beautiful, the entire inside was striped. We were able to explore Siena alone after lunch. This was the day we have the pictures of me, Stef, Bolling, and Charlotte climbing on each other trying to get on a cliff wall. I'm deathly afraid of heights, the pictures are HILARIOUS (all on Facebook). When we got back to Siena we went to Eby's (a mexican restaurant by the school) and had sangria and crepes. We had a giggle-fest at dinner! Such a fun night.

January 16th - Bought tickets for the Firenze futbol game. Marlee's birthday - we all met in front of Lions but it was packed. Went to Red Garter, packed too. Twice, PACKED! It was miserable, and to top it all off we were wearing heels and had a far ass walk home. Me, Stef, and Char kept saying "Omg guys, we're SO close" being extremely sarcastic because we had, what seemed like, MILES to go. It was the walk from HELL.

January 17th - Firenze futbol game against Bologna. Afterwards we went to the American Diner - had a hamburger and fries! SO YUMMY. I know it's hard to believe but I effing miss the greasy American food. Its nice that we have this diner on days that I crave it. haha!

(TBC...)