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.