"We're from over by the Monks!"

The title: Munchen (Munic) literally means "we're from over by the Monks". The town of Munic was originally settled by Monks who started a church and people gradually started to move in around the area.

I had soo much fun in Munich!! I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did! I don't know why I thought that, but it was wonderful!!

We started our trip by heading to the S.M.N. train station in Florence around 8:00 for an 8:35 train to Bologna. We had a flight from Bologna at 1. After Sam, Gen, Lorin, and I got to the Bologna we headed to the airport and got some breakfast...and some pizza on account of we love the pizza at the Bologna airport (we learned that while waiting for our flight to Dublin for fall break! :)). After eating most of our other travel companions, Nicole, Elizabeth, Emily, and Alison, met us to check in for the flight (they had taken a more expensive train). We all checked in for the flight and then headed to the gate for our flight. The flight from Bologna to Munich was only 55 minutes so after the flight and getting on the subway we got to our hostel around 3ish, maybe a little after. After we got to the hostel we found our room, asked the guy at the front desk a million and one questions, asked him some more, and chilled. Then we went to the Hofbrauhaus, one of Munich's most famous beer halls, for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was pretty good, but not nearly as good as Thanksgiving dinner at home, mainly because there was no turkey, no gravy, and no world's best stuffing!!

The next day we went on a walking tour of Munich. We had an awesome tour guide named Curt. He's from Chicago originally!! But he's really into history and has done a lot of research about Munich's history. It was cool to see everything, it was a really nice tour, I just don't remember a lot about it! Before the tour we met up with another friend Jessica, she made different travel arrangements and got into Munich that morning. After the tour Gen and I went to the Residenz, which was a museum with paintings and room displays from back in the day...I don't exactly remember when, it was cool though!! :) After we were finished with that we met up with the rest of the group, some people went back to the hostel but some of us stayed and walked around the Christmas Market. It was pretty cool and all the Christmasy stuff was nice because I love Christmas time!! Although, it was making me miss home even more!! After the Christmas market we went back and met the rest of the group at the hostel. For dinner we went to another festival called the Tollwood Festival. They had lots of food booths and craft booths. It was pretty cool. The food and crafts came from all over the world! After dinner we were all very ready for bed! It had been a very long, but very cool (in terms of awesomeness and weather...first snow of the winter for us!) day!!

The next day Alison and Emily went off on a castle tour while the rest of us went on a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp. Curt was our tour guide again and had a lot of information about the camp. Touring Dachau was not the most pleasant thing on that trip but it was a good experience to have. After Dachau we decided we needed to do something fun, so while waiting for the other girls to return we decided to help the people at the hostel bake/decorate/eat Christmas cookies!! Not as good as my Dad's Christmas cookies but it was fun!! After the other girls returned we went out to explore the Christmas market some more. We shopped around got our souvenirs and presents and then headed to Augustiners beer hall (or some name along those lines) for dinner!! It was pretty good, got some really good potato pancakes with apple sauce as a side!! I wish I had just ordered 2 of those for my meal!! I forgot how much I enjoy those!! After dinner we headed back to the hostel, which conveniently enough, was right across the street!! We had to get up early to catch our flight back to Bologna and head back to Florence.

Overall Munich was absolutely wonderful!! Made a lot of good memories with fun girls!! I could have done with a little less snow, a lot more sun, and a much higher temperature though!! hahaha :)

Sono andata a Venezia con meie amici!

(Translation: I went to Venice with my friends!.....we learned past tense last week! :) )

Friday morning around 8 Jackie, Shay, Dane, Gen, and I left for Venice. We took a train from Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence to the Bologna Centrale station so that we could transfer to a station to get to Venice. The train left Florence about 10 minutes late so we got to Bologna late and missed our next train. We had to wait 2 hours for the next regional train to Venice. Once we got to the train station in Venice we stepped outside and it was beautiful!! The canal was right there!! It was amazing!! After arriving there we decided to find our hostel so that we could drop off our bags and check in. We found the bus we needed but we weren't quite sure of the stop. We got off at the wrong stop and walked around trying to figure out where we were going. We found a man to ask and he explained that we needed to get back on the bus that we were originally on and it was one of the last stops on the route. The bus we needed was number 4, well we accidentally got on /4 instead! On the bus we talked to the bus driver and asked for help with directions. She told us which stop to get off at so that we could catch the number 4 instead of /4, she said it would be there within 6 minutes. After we got off we found the number 4 and got on and found the hostel. Once we got there we had to rearrange our rooming situation because Dane was originally not supposed to go with us. Once we had that all figured out and arranged we dropped our stuff off in our rooms and left to go back to the city center. On our way back we could either get on the number 4 or number 19. We had to wait for a while for one of the two to come. Number 19 was a faster way to the city but after waiting we decided to just get on the number 4 bus. Once we got to the city center we had a little over an hour to walk around before we met up with a local that Jackie new. We met Jackie's friend near the Jewish ghetto and walked around with her before she had to catch a train. After saying goodbye to Jackie's friend we found a restaurant to eat. We got three courses for 12.50 euro and they even had tap water!! We always get excited when we can have tap water for free, not common here!! After dinner we got desert and walked around and explored. After walking around we found the number 19 bus and went back to our hostel to sleep!!

Saturday morning we got up and ate breakfast at the hostel. After breakfast we found a bus to the city. We walked around going into shops and making our way to Piazza San Marco for at least a good 4 hours. On our way to San Marco Gen and I decided to take a gondola ride! Usually it costs 40 euro per person however we got them to let us take a ride for 25 euro per person. The gondola ride was very cool!! We had a lot of fun going through the canals, the man steering the gondola showed us an old jail, Marco Polo's house, and Cassanova's house! After the gondola ride Gen and I went to find a bathroom...unfortunately it cost 1.50 euro, we decided we didn't have to go that badly. After leaving the bathroom Gen and I met back up with Jackie, Shay, and Dane. We went into Saint Marks Basilica. It is so gorgeous from both the outside and the inside!! Unfortunately the outside had some construction going on but we were still able to see a good portion of it. All the mosaics with the gold background were just soo gorgeous!! They had the mosaics inside and outside. The floors inside were also very cool with marble mosaics. It was kind of dark inside the basilica so it was hard to see everything, however those were still my favorite parts (as they often are, because let's face it, the floors and ceilings in Italian buildings are often, pretty awesome!)!! After Saint Marks Basilica we found started on our way back to the train station, because we wandered around and into so many stores on our way to Piazza San Marco we didn't actually know how long it took to get back to the train station. Once we got back to the area though we found some dinner. The train was at 5:56 with another transfer in Bologna. We ended up getting back to Florence around 10:20.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip!! Venice is absolutely gorgeous and such a cool experience!! It's amazing to see the canals going in between the buildings!! All the bridges and buildings are very pretty! We lucked out on weather so much!! We didn't have any rain and any flooding Saturday morning was gone by the time we were to the city center. The weather was gorgeous and sunny!

Next up...Germany!!

A weekend in Florence

On Wednesday after classes my Grandpa and Jane met me at my apartment. They told me about their time in Sienna and I showed them around my apartment. After waiting for the rain to die down a little and the hail to stop we went to the Bronzino exhibit at Palazzo Strozzi. The exhibit had some interesting stuff. Bronzino is very detail oriented in all his paintings and portraits. We also saw some tapestries that Bronzino had designed. After the museum I took them to La Osteria dell Porcellino. We all enjoyed the restaurant a lot. I had paparadelle with a wild boar sauce, Jane had lasagna, my Grandpa had a steak, and we all shared some gnocchi with a truffle sauce. It was all very filling!! Afterwards I walked them to their hotel, it was on the same street as my apartment, just a little farther down the street, and told them bye.

Thursday, I worked on homework and my paper and didn't do much else. Friday we had a makeup day for classes so I didn't get to do anything too exciting, except for of course learning! :) That night the girls in the apartment next to us had a party so we all went over there and hung out. At around 2:30 in the morning we went out to find the little "secret bakeries" that are all over Florence. The "secret bakeries" sell all sorts of goodies like mini pizzas and chocolate filled cornettos, very delicious!!

The next day Gen, Sam, and I woke up and went looking for soccer shirts and scarves to wear to the game we were going to that night! Jackie met up with us a little later and we bought our tickets for the game. After purchasing our tickets we rushed back to our apartment to change and get ready for the game so that we could leave a little after 4. We got to the stadium at around 4:30, or maybe a little later, because we thought the game was at 5 (when we looked it up online it said that the game started at 17:00, or 5:00). When we noticed that everyone was waiting outside the stadium we looked at the tickets...those said 18:00, so we had some time to kill! We went and found a place to get a snack and waited around there and talked for awhile. When it was actually time to go inside we went to the gate to get in. Well, we went to the wrong gate and they told us it was the next one, this repeated itself a few times before we actually reached the right gate. Eventually we got inside and found some seats! The game was pretty cool, it was interesting to see them sing all their songs and do the hand motions like we do at home...we just couldn't understand what they were saying!! I will say though that I'm glad you can't smoke inside the sports arenas at home!! That was the one annoying thing (aside from dirty bathrooms :))!! It was a fun game though and Fiorentina won 1-0!

On Sunday we didn't really do much, I worked on my paper some more and hung around the apartment. I was really too tired to do anything, but it was a nice relaxing day!!

The rest of the week I'm just trying to get my paper done and all my homework finished because hopefully we'll be going to Venice! The weathers been really rainy recently and Venice has been flooded so it hasn't been possible to travel to and from Venice so we're waiting to see what the conditions are like on Thursday!

Milan

Going back to classes after break was not exactly what we all wanted to do but it was still a pretty good week. We got our midterms back. I did really well in Italian and Visual Merchandising and okay in Art History and Event Planning. I studied a lot and I didn't fail any, so that's good!

On Saturday I met my Grandpa and Jane in Milan. First we walked by some stores and then we we went to Museo Teatrale Alla Scala. We saw paintings of composers of some famous operas and stage jewelry from operas. Then we grabbed some lunch and then went to the Duomo. The Duomo was absolutely gorgeous!! All the detail and the architecture was wonderful!! We climbed to the top and walked on the roof. The views were not as pretty as the views from the top of the Duomo in Florence but seeing the detail up close was awesome. Also, the roof of the Duomo is marble! After the Duomo we went to the Design museum in Milan. It was very interesting. It had a lot of different objects to explain Italian Fashion...I know, not a very good description but I promise it was cool! By the time we were finished there it was getting late and we were tired so we went to get dinner and then to the hotel to sleep!

The next day we woke up and went to a couple of art museums. First we went to Pinacoteca di Brera. There was a lot of Renaissance art. Then we found a small cafe at the museum for lunch. After lunch we went to Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. I liked this museum a lot better. It was still a lot of Renaissance art but the way the paintings were lit made them more exciting. There was also Raphael's cartoon of the School of Athen's which was pretty cool. There were also sketches of a lot of Galileos inventions. After that it was time for me to get to the train station to head back to Florence.

Best Fall Break Ever!!

On Saturday I got back from 10 wonderful days of traveling with 8 of my friends (Sam, Gen, Lorin, Hannah, Jackie, Dane, Shay, and Dani)! We started off the morning of the 22nd taking a train to Bologna. We had a flight that afternoon to Dublin. One of the girls missed the train and two of the girls were taking a later train. Once we all finally arrived in Bologna we took a bus to the Bologna airport. After waiting there for awhile and a 2 hour flight we were in Dublin!! Once we got to the hostel in Dublin we met up with Gen's friend Greg. We all went out to dinner and then to some bars. The next day Hannah, Shay, Lorin, and I walked around Dublin. We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Stephens on the Green, Trinity College, and walked around the shopping area! We also got subway for lunch that day! It was lots of fun!! The next day Sam and I went to the Guinness Storehouse. Now, I do not like the taste of Guinness, however, the museum was very interesting and it was set up really well! And because I did not like Guinness Sam got to drink my sample of Guinness. At the end of the tour we went up to the top of the building to a room they call the Gravity Bar. There you could either get a free Guinness or a soda...I got a diet coke. :) After that we met up with Lorin and then just walked around until we met up with the rest of the group for dinner. After dinner, Lorin, Hannah, Shay, and I went to the Temple Bar (a famous bar in the Temple Bar area of Dublin). At the Temple Bar we met a crazy Irish lady. She was very awesome and very drunk!! She was trying to hook us up with some American boys who were sitting near us. Very entertaining!!

The next day we headed to London!! The flight to London (as well as to Scotland) was very early!! We had to leave probably around 4 or 5...I don't quite remember right now, I just know it was too early for my taste, but it was cheap so that wins! When we got to London we dropped our bags off at the hostel. It was too early to check in so we went to look for tickets to shows. I already had tickets to Les Mis but the rest of my group was looking for tickets as well. They were going to see Les Mis but by that time the cheapest tickets were 79 pounds. Obviously, that wasn't going to work! Instead, they bought tickets for Stomp and Gen and I bought tickets for Chicago the next night! After buying tickets we all split off in groups to walk around the city. Sam, Dani, and I decided to buy tickets for a hop on/hop off bus tour. After taking forever to figure out how to pick up the bus we finally got on our way. We saw Big Ben, the Parliament Building, the London Eye, and other things I can't remember the names of! :) It was a good way to see everything since we were only there for basically a day and a half! After that was over we went and checked into the hostel and I grabbed a quick dinner with Dani. I left for the show a little over an hour early thinking that would give me plenty of time. There were major problems with the underground though! I was on the tube and had plenty of time to get to the show when the tube stopped a couple stops ahead of the stop I was heading towards. There they announced that they were waiting to regain signal (or something like that). I had no idea what it meant but I was hoping it wouldn't take too long, although the stop was only a couple away, I was fairly certain that it would take longer time than I had to walk there. A few minutes later they announced that the train was terminated because someone was trapped underneath a train at another stop. Once I got out of the underground I had absolutely no idea how to get to the theater or where to pick up a taxi. I asked a lady who told me that there was nowhere nearby where I could pick up a taxi and I would have to call for one. I was going to try and flag a taxi down but they all had passengers in them. I went to the first hotel I saw and tried to explain what was going on without crying and panicking (the not crying and panicking didn't happen, luckily I was not trying to speak a foreign language so the hotel guy could still understand me!). They ended up getting me a taxi and I made it to the theater, literally 2 minutes before the show started. The show was wonderful!! I loved it so much!! The wonderful thing about Les Mis (at least for me, probably not for most people) is it just never gets old!! :) After the show I went back to the hostel and met up with the rest of the group. There was a bar below our hostel where we hung out for the night. The next day we split up into groups again. Sam's, Dani's, and my bust tour ticket was still good until 2:30 that afternoon so we used it for the boat tour that came along with the package. It was rainy but still fun! After that we met up with the rest of the group at Harrod's. We were going to get something to eat at their food court but it was just waaay to packed. A couple people did end up staying there but most of us went to a restaurant in the Leicester area because we had to meet Shay there anyways (she had been staying with her sister, who lives in London). I had a roastbeef wrap...the wrap was yorkshire pudding. It was definitely one of my favorite meals on the trip (along with the steak pie!)!! After that we split up again. Sam, Dani, Lorin, and I went to the Parliament building, Big Ben, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace. After that we went back to Leicester square so I could meet up with Gen and we could go to Chicago!! Chicago was really good (of course not as good as Les Mis though!!)! On our way back to the hostel Gen and I grabbed subway for dinner! :) After subway we headed back to the hostel to figure out all the details of how to get to the airport the next morning for yet another early flight...this time I believe we left the hostel at 4 am. Such a delightful time of the day!!

Heading to Scotland everyone was exhausted and very tired. It took us a couple bus rides to get to the airport and then about an hour plane ride to get to Scotland. Again we arrived at the hostel in Scotland a little early to check in but they let us keep our bags there. We split off for lunch. Most of the group went to go get Indian food (which happens to be a very popular choice in Glasgow!), Dani, Lorin, and I went to get Chinese food (I was too tired to try new things). After lunch we went back to the hostel to check in and to look up tours of Scotland to do the next day. I went on a tour to Stirling Castle and Loch Lomond and a whiskey distillery with Shay, Dane, and Jackie. The other three didn't want to pay extra to go into Stirling Castle. I didn't want to not go in (especially since there was nothing else to do!) I went in by myself and walked around. It was kind of small but pretty cool and had gorgeous views all around it! It was the castle of King James VI and VII of Scotland. After the castle we stopped by another castle (the one that they used when filming Monty Python and the Holy Grail). Then we went to a small town to get lunch. After lunch we went to see Loch Lomond. Even though it was pretty grey outside and a little rainy it was a very pretty scene! The leaves were changing colors and it was a little hilly. It was very nice to see! After Loch Lomond we headed to the whiskey distillery. Again, the other three didn't want to pay for the tour. It was only 6.50 pounds. Since, I don't drink whiskey I didn't really want to go inside by myself even though I'm sure it would have been cool. Instead we went to a nearby restaurant and ordered hot chocolate and little cakes. After the distillery the tour was over and we headed back to Glasgow. When we got back to the hostel we waited for the rest of our group who had gone on a different tour (the tour I should have gone on, but oh well!) and then we went to dinner. After dinner we went out for a couple drinks but most of us were too tired to stay out too late and headed back to the hostel to sleep. The next day we went to Edinburgh and spent literally the whole day exploring 3 streets max. We spent a couple hours doing a walking tour. It had some interesting stuff to it but we couldn't really hear the tour guide, it was free though so I won't complain! After the tour we went and got Thai food for lunch. That was very yummy!! After lunch some people went on a tour of the ruins of the city below the royal mile. We heard it was really scary though so Jackie and I opted out and instead walked around some more. After meeting up with the rest of the group we continued to walk around for awhile before heading back to Glasgow for some dinner. After dinner we went out for a little bit but because it was raining and I was tired I had a couple of the girls walk me back to the hostel on their way to another bar.

The next morning (a little later than usual, around 6) we left to head back to Italy. We were flying into Pisa, so before taking the train back to Florence, we took some pictures with the tower. Then back to Florence to finally get some sleep!!

Luckily, we had Monday off because of all Saints day, so after getting back on Saturday we had time to catch up on sleep!! Now we're back to classes and homework and all those joys but I guess that's why it's called STUDY abroad!

EuroChocolate!!

So, I kept forgetting to update my blog this week, so I'll do it really quickly before I have to leave!! Last weekend we stayed in Florence for most of it, I walked around a lot and visited the Piti Palace. I'm getting kind of tired of renaissance art though and I wish they had other types of art here!! I still like the awesome ceilings they have in all the buildings/museums though!! :)

On Saturday we left Florence and headed to Perugia!!! In Perugia, we got to go to EuroChocolate!! It was wonderful!! We bought these cards called chocolate cards for 5 euro and they had stands through out the festival where you could go and get free stuff with the cards! I got a couple free chocolate bars and some other random stuff including bath foam scented like chocolate!! One of the major sponsors of the festival was a company called "Zip It". Since I'm a really big nerd and for some reason love zippers I was very happy when we got a chocolate bar shaped like a zipper with a zipper lanyard wrapped around it!! The lanyard is now attached to my camera!! :) Perugia was a very cute town!! Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy that day and rained a bit but the town was still very nice and we had excellent views when we rode the ferris wheel at the festival!

Now, I must finish getting ready for the day so we can leave for our exciting fall break!! :)

Florence, Chianti, and the French Riviera!!

So since the last time I've posted I have done so pretty awesome stuff!! I've been feeling very fortunate!!

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were pretty boring because basically all I did was class. Wednesday I started to feel sick with a cold and some congestion and what not, however, I am in Florence and being sick is not going to slow me down!! I only have a couple months left!!

Thursday Gen and I walked around Florence and did a little exploring. I have no idea where we ended up and couldn't get back there again but we had a lot of fun!! We also got some shopping done! :)

Friday was a very exciting day!! Gen and I went to the Chianti region and when horseback riding and wine tasting!!! I had sooo much fun!! I don't think I've gotten to ride any horses since Hannah and I went to horse camp (I think in between 7th and 8th grade)!! I didn't have a helmet on so that scared me a little bit but it was soo much fun!! We went on about an hour and a half ride. I never learned the name of my horse. :( They didn't tell us and I forgot to ask! I wish I could go again!! That would be awesome!! After we finished horseback riding we saw more of the horses and saw a couple of ponies that were 3 or 4 months old!! They were adorable!!! One of the moms was the softest horse I have ever pet!! I wanted to pet her all day long!! I also got to feed some of the horses hay!! I love feeding horses!! After we finished with the horses we sat down and had a little glass of wine. We also played with the cutest little bull dog. I forget her name, I think it was Duchessa. She was adorable!! After that we went to a small little town and got to try 4 different types of wine. They were very good!! Four small glasses of wine with no food are not a good combination for me though!! I was glad that next we were going to go get some lunch!! We had some good appetizers with some delicious pasta....and more wine...I mostly just drank the water. After that we headed back to Florence and I packed and got ready for Saturday and Sunday's trip!!

Saturday morning we left around 5. We were supposed to meet at the bus at 4:45. Emily, Allison, Elizabeth, (the girls from next door) and I got there at 4:45. At 4:46 I realized I forgot my passport. I ran back to the apartment and got back to the bus right around 5. Luckily the other three saved me a seat and I got two seats to myself. It was very enjoyable! :) We headed off to Monte Carlo and had a tour of the area. We got to see the changing of the guards which was pretty interesting but I wish I had had a better view. After we were finished at Monte Carlo we headed to Nice. We explored the Old Town part of Nice and also went and hung out on the beach. The beach was beautiful!! I love the smell of salt water in the breeze!! That night we had a traditional French meal. Wasn't as good as the Swiss meal we had but it was still pretty good!! We started off with a Nicoise Salad. Minus the olives it was really good, I didn't even mind the tuna! Then we had chicken (I think) difficult to eat because it was still all on the bones and we weren't quite sure how to cut it off. Tasted good though!! We also had potatoes that were almost like homestyle french fries. With both of them we had a horseradish type sauce. Actually, I couldn't decide what type of sauce it was but that's what Elizabeth told me it was!! The desert was were the meal lacked (I'm sure you can think of lots and lots of yummy french deserts) what we got was a rectangle of ice cream with pistachios and other types of nuts mixed in. Not the biggest fan but after dinner we walked around and found nutella crepes!!! YUM!!! After that we were all pretty tired so we went back to the hotel and got ready for bed and were asleep fairly early.

Sunday we woke up and went down to breakfast. Breakfast started at 7:30...I think we got down there at 7:35 and waited in line. By the time we actually got to the food there were no eggs, no croissants, no cheese, no bowls for cereal, basically all we had to eat was a mini french baguette (which don't get me wrong...I love french baguettes, however, when you see croissants and scrambled eggs piled on other peoples plates...you want more than a mini french baguette!!). I did end up eating 2 of those french baguettes though with strawberry jam and butter on them. Put bread in front of me, I eat it! After that we headed to St. Paul France and walked around. Most of the stores were still closed but the area was very cute!! We sat down at a little cafe so Elizabeth and Allison could drink some cappuccinos. After that we walked around some more and took pictures of the area. After that we headed to Cannes. It was very very windy there!! First we stopped and looked at the beach. Spent some time there where we saw an old lady go swimming and the strip on the beach! After that we walked around and decided to grab some lunch. We didn't have much time after lunch so we walked around and stopped at a small store. I wish we had, had more time to walk around Cannes but out of all the places we went I'm glad that was the place we were the most rushed because the other places were my favorite. After Cannes we went to a small town called Eze. There we went to a perfume shop called Fragonard. At the shop they showed us how they make the perfume and told us about some of the different scents that they used to make their perfumes. They use different plants form all over the world. They then showed us some of the different perfumes that they sell. It was very interesting! After Eze we headed back to Florence.

So much fun!!