Florence I ADORE-ence.

This weekend we explored beautiful Florence, Italy. I met Ashleigh outside the train station on Thursday and we walked to her apartment through the colorful Italian streets that look like they were plucked straight from a movie set. Without a cellphone and virtually any form of communication it was a definite learning experience trying to stay in touch with my Lugano group and Ashleigh the whole weekend. What did they ever do without cellphones?? Messenger pigeons?? Smoke signals?? Real conversations?!?!

Thursday night we went to a family style restaurant called Il Gatto and La Volpe for dinner. Hands down some of the best food I’ve ever had and unlimited wine! Food baby is an absolute understatement. Four courses and top button of your pants pops after just the olive oil and bread. Needless to say we made a trip back Saturday night.

We explored the local bars and clubs on Thursday which are full of mostly American study-abroaders and creepy Italian men that know they are full of American study-abroaders…

We woke up bright and early Friday to explore the City. Went to see the David which might as well have its own museum. The David is like those barbies in plastic boxes that no one plays with. Puts everything else to shame. Pictures weren’t allowed but ofcourse one must try. 

We climbed to the very top of The Duomo for gorgeous views of the entire city. Over 50 flights of spiral, claustrophobia-inducing staircases. So worth it to get to the top and see the whole city.

Next we visited the Uffizi museum which was HUGE. We developed the “anything covered in glass is important” theory so we could focus on the major artwork. I decided the painting description boxes underneath each painting are useless and they need “art history for dummies” boxes that are more relate-able for your average bear. I don’t care how deeply intellectual you look observing these paintings you can’t possibly take “The Portrait of the Dwarf Morgante” too seriously..

Ashleigh took us to a great panini place, the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and then the leather markets. Quite the experience. Shop owners didn’t seem to appreciate my indecisiveness ailment.

Things shouted at us at the leather market to get our attention:

1.      1. You eh bottiful (Italian accent)

2.      2. You dropped something!

3.     3.  M’am is this yours?

4.      4. You eh Jennifer Aniston’s sista!

-        Fell for the "you dropped something" EVERY time. How can ya not??

Due to extreme leather envy I went back Sunday morning and finally splurged on the bag I had been mentally obsessing over. I tried the “PLEASE I’m a struggling college student” approach with tears in my eyes and bartered down to 75 dollars for a big, dark leather messenger bag. 

Saturday we took a wine tour through an old privately owned castle in Tuscany. Tried various Chianti wines and were able to explore the castle. SO now begins my hunt for an Italian, castle-owning husband..

Saturday night I was somehow convinced into staying up until 7am to watch the sunrise. Hiked up past the Ponte Vecchio Bridge in my three inch wedges to get a good view.

Some advice: figure out where the sun rises before you go to desperate measures to watch it.

Once second it was dark and then the next light. Either we unknowingly fell asleep and missed it or the sun was in back of us behind the hills. Did I mention I was in 3 inch wedges?? Still silently applauding myself. Made it back at 7am without a BLINK of sleep and a newly developed hatred for my favorite shoes.

Sunday, like any great tourists, we went to see the leaning tower of Pisa. Ofcourse in my head I imagined the famous leaning tower conveniently placed RIGHT outside of the train station.. But I guess they didn’t think through an easy sight-seeing location back then.. and it is NO hop skip away from the train, let me tell ya. Running on 3.5 seconds of sleep, lugging my 30 pound hiking backpack I somehow made it to the tower. I think I cried a little on the walk there out of complete exhaustion (symphony of violins.) One of those “could things get any worse?” and thunder strikes kind of moments. Had to remind myself I am traveling through the ITALY and cannot possibly complain.

(Jumping pics will be an ongoing trend. All captured on first attempt ofcourse.)

We ended up missing our train home which with a group of 20 plus Americans turns into a bit of a scene. We tried to nonchalantly sneak on to a later train without reservations but after getting booted from every seat we sat down in we ended up paying 8 euro to change our seats. We finally made it back to home-sweet-lugano exhausted, brain dead, limping, and probably a good 3 pounds heavier. 

Ciao for Niao!

Something learned: I can’t do a handstand.. tried in front of the leaning tower and it didn’t go as planned.

Next stop at Epcot: Munich, Germany!

I thought the Hokie Express bus driver was harsh driving away as I chased the bus out of Oak Lane in the pouring rain, frantically waving my hands… Eurail trains wait for NO ONE. I will definitely come home more time conscious..

First Eurail experience was fantastic and we met so many interesting people. German woman tried to help us with our pronunciations but there was virtually no hope... (“Goootin Tog???”). She let Kell and I read her German tabloid magazine full of casual nudity and 10 syllable words that I swear I go cross-eyed trying to read.

Seven hours later we got off the train in Munich and it was a beautiful combination of sideways-in-your-face snow and icy rain. We checked into Wombats hotel and went to a nearby club. Attempt # 3 at trying to request Destiny’s Child-Say My Name to the DJ. Much more promising response than last time but still no dice.. Absolutely not leaving Europe until I make this happen.

Saturday we woke up bright and early for a walking tour of Munich. Still subfreezing temperatures, snow/ice/hell mixture but we made the best of it and it was awesome seeing the city.

After the tour we went out to eat/tried to regain feeling in our toes. The menu was completely in German but luckily our waitress noticed the dizzy looks on our faces and brought out an English menu. Serious blessing because I noticed “small jar of lard” listed under “cold dishes”… ew.

I had my first bratwurst with fried potatoes! Germany is SO cheap compared to $witzerland that we couldn't help ourselves and stuck our extra free (FREE) bread in Jill's purse. We even took extra mustard packets because you never know when you’ll be in a urgent mustard-needing situation???

We wandered around the city walking through a market with fresh fruit, cheeses, meats and ATTENTION: the best street vendor of all time – chocolate covered fruit. They had apples, strawberries, pineapple, banana all dipped in chocolate. I fully intend on opening my own stand outside squires at Tech so no one move to Germany just yet.

We met up for a guided bar crawl around the city Saturday night. Visited 5ish bars including the famous Hofbrauhaus visited by Lenin, Hitler and Mozart.

Being the ultimate tourist I am I... 

1.      1. Got a pic with random German guy and his gravity defying beard…

2.      2. Convinced the guy playing traditional music on stage to throw up a gamma...

We woke up Sunday with all of our belongings and limbs still attached!

We spent the day Sunday visiting Dauchau, the first concentration camp, right outside of Munich. Haunting and heartwrenching to say the least... It was interesting from this perspective and much differenct from any holocaust museum I’ve visited.

The train home on Sunday was another great experience.. Took off my shoes and immediately regretted the fuzzy pink sock decision.. got some laughs from the locals who now think ALL Americans wear fuzzy pink and white socks...

I let the German man sitting across from us read some of my “Traveling Around Europe Guide” aka LIFELINE and got laughed at again when he saw I had double underlined/circled/highlighted the word “guten tag"...

The weekend ended up being a great success. Still cannot fathom the fact that I am able to travel like this every weekend.

Ciao for niao!!

Something learned: Things only cost an arm, leg, and torso in Switzerland.

Buon Appetito!

Enough said? 

Taking pics of ALL of the amazing food we eat. :)

Pizzeria in Lugano

Munich, Germany chocolate covered strawberries on a skewer (GENIUS.)

Florence, Italy IL GATO<333 

GELATO in Florence

Amsterdam - chocolate and banana pancke... drool

Had to throw this one in... try to tell me it's not glowing.

Venice, Italy - gnocchi!

Interla-canIlivehere ??

This weekend we visited Interlaken, Switzerland. The whole gang went and by some grace of god all 44 of us arrived home in one piece!  Some weekend highlights:

•         Night sledding more appropriately referred to as a DEATH SENTENCE.
•         Paragliding over the Swiss Alps.
•         Whitney Unis buying an “I (cheeseburger) America” shirt off a random European man’s back.

We took a charter bus to and from Interlaken and stayed at Balmer's Hostel. HUGE wake up call packing wise. For a two day trip I looked like I was ready to go backpacking through Europe for 6 months. Packing for week long trips will not be an easy feat. Our first stay in a hostel was also an enlightening experience... Balmer’s was by no means dirty but you sure don’t get towels, mini shampoo or a complimentary chocolate on your pillow each morning...

Night sledding, or should I say icy-slope-colliding was an experience to remember. We took a gondola up the mountain and enjoyed cheese fondue. All smiles as I ate 3 bagels worth of bread and cheese having no idea what I was in for…

THE AFTERMATH

• Red flag #1: All of the regulars on the slope pointed and laughed at us in our yoga pants and ugg boots.
• Red flag #2: Everyone else on the mountain was well equipped with giant helmets and head lights.
• Red flag #3: I tried to sit on the sled backwards….

Imagine heading down an icy mountain, full speed, not being able to see two feet in front of you, dodging 43 other high speed sledders.. Our entire group ended up in a pile at the bottom of the first slope and shared a brief moment of panic. Naturally, I lost my sled within the first 5 minutes and we ended up cramming three of us to a sled and inching down the entire mountain. 

Icing on the cake: Once we got back to the hostel we realized we had forgotten to turn the heat on and had to try to warm up/recover in a complete icebox.

Sprinkles on the icing on the cake: My camera broke… Shouldn't be too many photo-worthy moments in the next four months, right?

On a brighter note! Paragliding was the experience of a lifetime. The most incredible views I’ve ever seen. To be completely honest it felt JUST like the ride “Soarin'” at Disney, which kinda makes me think… why do anything real if Disney can just simulate it for us? I could be studying abroad at Epcot and saving quite a bit of money…… just kidding. J

We went to Balmer’s club Saturday night conveniently located right under our hostel. The night was such a blast and quite eventful. Whit spotted some Italian guy wearing a shirt that said “I (picture of a cheeseburger) America” and somehow convinced him to sell it to her. We headed back this morning to home sweet Lugano with lots of stories and miraculously my camera started working! It just needed a break... conveniently during my once in a lifetime paragliding experience...

All in all the weekend was a success. I can NOT believe how lucky I am to be able to travel like this every weekend for the next four months. 

Something learned: The Swiss Alps are cold. 

One word - StarbucksGRANDElatte.

Coffee here comes in itty bitty shot, espresso size ONLY. I fell asleep in class today for a fraction of a second and Brinberg saw and I can already tell he’ll never let me live it down.

Despite the caffeine withdrawals/dependency issues classes are great! We are taking Intro to Italian and Consumer Behavior. We use the same room at the Universita Della Svizzera  Mon-Fri usually from 9-4. All of the other students around the university look at us like we have 3 heads but we just laugh at their miniature coffee cups. :) 

Today we took a walk after class to a little town called Gandria. EVERY scene here looks like a computer screensaver. We found a dock to sit on and took pictures jumping. Took a few trial jumps to catch cool pics… and by a few I mean we spent close to an hour looking foolish on the dock. Kelly threw out her neck but I’m CONVINCED it’s worth it for the amazing pic she got :p. The boys had to carry her up the hill in a chair so she wouldn’t strain her neck and we’re calling it her bat mitzvah.  J Congrats Kell!

On our walk back we stopped at "Ristorante Antico Gandria" for lunch. The owner was the cutest little old man and quite a friendly fella. He gave me a big hug and kiss and told me he was 21 (through hand gestures). Once again major communication barrier for all I know he could have been mistaking me for a close relative.

Monte San SalvaTORTURE.

I thought I liked hiking until today. Brinberg, our program director, takes a very "learn as you go" approach to everything. We woke up this morning for a "stroll" which ended up being a 8 mile hike up Monte San Salvatore. I keep asking Brinberg when our fun little icebreaker/name game activity will be and he said this was it. I would have been happier with name, age and an interesting fact.... 

 On our way down we walked through the town of Marcote. Hands down the most beautiful houses and views I've ever seen. Houses here cost from 6-10 million and they have names! SO I started brainstorming and right now I'm between Casa Fiesta or LA CASA... open to suggestions/ LARGE money donations. 

All of the people here look like the girl with the dragon tattoo and there is a MAJOR language barrier which wasn't what I was expecting. Hopefully learning Italian soon but in the mean time I've been brushing up on my charades skills and speaking the little Spanish I know hoping they will understand!

Danced on the bar last night and am going to make it a goal in each major city (proud ma and pa?!). 

The trees here are super artsy looking and I'm convinced they're fake. -->

Something learned: Sometimes waiters put bread baskets on the table here and if you take some they charge you. Mean.. 

First Day in Beautiful Lugano

Drumroll please.... bags weighed in at an impressive 45 and 50 pounds (furry, very impractical wedges and all.) Up there with my proudest life moments. Brief scare when the man next to us weighed his 68 pound bag and mom made a bit of a scene yelling at the airport attendants... but hey bags were checked. :)

I've already developed a love/hate relationship with my hiking backpack. If I put slightly too much weight in my heels I risk completely toppling over. Somehow managed to fit in an overhead bin on the plane and then we were off! Naturally I got a middle seat on the plane where there is absolutely no way to sleep comfortably. Tried resting my head on the tray table and deeply considered laying across both my neighbors...

Eight hours later we landed in Zurich and took a scenic, snow capped mountain bus ride to the Montarina. Kelly and I lucked out with the cutest room of all time and an amazing view. We even have an extra closet that we're trying to keep secret so no one develops any bitterness..

We spent the day eating and exploring. The locals aren't all blonde and carrying skis as I expected.... Lugano is so so beautiful pictures don't do justice.

Something learned: In Switzerland they use Swiss Franks not Euros... good to know before a four month stay haha It all starts to seem like monopoly money.

Pre-voyage!

Tomorrow is the day! Can not possibly put my excitement into words. I can however sum up my day..

1. started packing.... 12:15 am and I'm sitting in a pile of old t-shirts and completely unpractical shoes I can't part with.
2. spent 4 hours with mom goggling over the mini aisle in target.
3. spent 20 minutes goggling over the mini loofah in the mini aisle at target. (Why do I need miniature items for a four month stay in Europe??)
4. studied a map of Europe so I don't confuse countries for major cities and single-handedly ruin America's international rep. ("Slovenia who??")
5. rationalized everything I ate with "It's the last time I'll have this food in America!!!!"
6. goodbye dinner with good friends/ last night with mama bear :(

I so thankful to have this opportunity and plan to take FULL advantage of the next four months. Even if it means getting stranded in the middle of a foreign country  phone-less/passport-less - just kidding ma ;).

I am a firm believer in "you learn something new every day" so each blog I'll try to include something new I've learned. :)

Something learned: The sit-on-your-bag-to-zip-it approach is NOT always effective.