TO BOARD THE PLANE OR NOT TO BOARD THE PLANE?

After three months abroad, I feel like Italy has become my home. 3 more flights, 2 more buses and a car ride until I am back in good old Trumbull, Connecticut. Still is unbelievable. I’m debating whether to enroll in summer classes or just handcuff myself to the airport and refuse to leave. Although I want to see my family and friends of course, I have become so comfortable here in Europe and am not quite sure I want to leave yet…..Knowing my mother would kill me if I “accidently” missed my flight, Kenz and I had no other choice but to board the plane. Thank you Europe and more specifically Italia for giving me all the memories I have made over the last three months and lessons I have learned. Hopefully I will be back sooner than later, but for now Arrivederci! 

YOU SOUND LIKE YOU’RE FROM LONDON: LAST LEG OF THE JOURNEY

Last city on our European excursion. Glad we bumped into the one and one MEEKS who was able t o give us a tour around London. Beautiful day out, extremely nice people and beautiful buildings. Big Ben more than fitting, snapped some pics at the Thames River, eye of London, Westminster Abby then headed over to Buckingham Palace to see if we could get a reaction out of the guards. The city was very crowded not only because it is tourist season, but because the royal wedding is in a week! We became cultured by eating at a little English Pub next to our fab hotel (props to kenz) and enjoyed some fish and chips. Attempted to go out downtown which reminded me a little of Times Square The entire city of London actually reminded me a lot of NYC, because of the fast pace life style, but the people were much nicer and there was little no garbage anywhere. Found this a bit odd because there were no garbage cans to be found either, not sure how they keep the place so clean. The next day we visited the London Towers, and London Bridge, and no it is not falling down. Great two days in London, wish it could have been longer. We were finally blessed with awesome weather. Took a train back to Meek’s uncle’s house in Harpenden where we hung out by the pool and played “Live like you were Dying” and “If I could do it Again” on repeat while reminiscing about the semester. Tried to get some rest before we had to wake up at 2 to get on a flight back to Venice to pick up our luggage.

Big Ben 

MY 21st IN AMSTERDAM

Wok to Walk 

To celebrate our 21^st birthday, Mackenzie and I decided to take a little weekend trip to Amsterdam. Our neighbors from CIMBA, Kahle and Devann decided to join us (thank godness because we were already going through withdraw from not seeing everyone and it hadn’t even been 24 hrs). First few moments in Amsterdam were not so pleasant. Our bad luck, managed to follow us to Holland unfortunately. Kahle had to pay 140 Euro because her bag was over weight (tips for traveling: Pack light. Never fly transavia. Pack light), our bank cards didn’t work when we got to the hotel (tip for banking: don’t use Wachovia-they will change to Wellsfargo and not tell you), and the ticket machines for the train stations only take coins (tip for using public transportation: don’t). Once again, we learned…..everything is a process, so take it with a grain of salt. After we got all the mishaps out of our systems and eventually got into the city of Amsterdam, we were more than awed by the culture and exciting atmosphere. Bright lights and buildings lined the streets, we all concluded Amsterdam was a mixture of old and new.  Due to amazing reviews by Cimbites who had gone, we were persuaded to eat at “Wok to Walk” a Chinese restaurant, which most definitely met our expectations.  Ringing in our 21^st in Amsterdam could not have been more enjoyable thanks to Devann and Kahle. We spent the next day touring the city, visiting the Heineken Brewery (so cool with interactive displays, I would suggest going), the I AMSTERDAM sign, the Anne Frank house (so glad we went, interesting and learned a lot, house is way bigger than expected-2 years she was hidden there and died 1 month before liberation). While in the city we had the please of eating another delicious Chinese meal with Muna and Marco-they could not have been more generous and helpful in navigating through the canal streets. Ate at little café on a small side street, picked up some souvenirs and then headed back to our comfortable beds with some wine to call it a night. So happy we got to spend out birthday in Europe, not your typical 21^st.

Devann, Me, Kenz, and Kahle at Heineken Brewery

END OF A DREAM.

April 15, 2011: Last night with the Cimbites in Venice. No word other than “bittersweet” can be used to describe the last day spent on campus and night in Venice with everyone. We all went to the Tabacchi for one last splug before we packed it up and headed out to Venice for our last night together. It seemed unreal when we all loaded our luggage onto the bus. It was almost as if we had just done this the other day when we moved into our rooms. We all were in shock at how fast the semester has flown by. Still has not hit me yet that it is over. Hands down, this has been the best decision of my life to study abroad. I have had the opportunity to travel all over Europe, have had some of the best professors in college and have been blessed to have met some of the most incredible people from all across the U.S. who have made this experience unforgettable for me. The memories are unreal. The last meal was delicious (as any other meal in Italy has been) chatted it up with the girls then headed to Saint Margarita square to say goodbye to everyone, which was incredibly sad to say the least. It is difficult to imagine not seeing these faces I have seen everyday for the last three months. Let’s just say I’m thinkin I will be booking flights to KU and Iowa sometime in the near future…..If I had to sum up this semester I would use the well know quote by the one and only Cory Smith: “If I could do it again, you know I’d do it the same.” PDG 2011-love you all and miss you already. Thank you for making this semester so special, god bless yall.

gypsies 

You know you go to CIMBA when....

1. You are still trying to figure out what CIMBA stands for

2. You wonder why the U.S. hasn’t come up with the cappuccino machine yet

3. Your nights consist of the Paderno bar crawl: Sports bar, Hotel bar, Al Sole (in that order).

4. You can wake up 5 minutes before class and still be early. 

5. You know exactly what you're having for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

6. You know what a Tabacchi is.

7. "Life" has a different meaning. 

8. You travel almost as much as you have class (25 days to travel, 40 days of class).

9. Al Ringleb is God.

10. Your shower curtain serves no purpose, whatsoever. 

11. Do you see where I'm going with this?

12. The maids clean your room twice a week.

13. Sea Bass and Corky are normal names. (Love you boys)

14. Your teachers know you go out every night because there is NOTHING else to do in Paderno. 

15. Fabio knows his jams. 

16. Your news feed after about 2 weeks consists solely of CIMBA students and their travel plans.

17. The computers in the library are used to print boarding passes and hostel reservations. 

18. You fight over the balsamic and oil at dinner.

19. You know more about Christina than you should.

20. Don't bother trying to go to sleep early because you WILL be woken up by your neighbors. 

21. You see the 13 year old Italian students chain smoking cigarettes on a daily basis. 

22. Your tests will GUARANTEED not be multiple choice.

23. You do a DA when choosing what to wear in the morning. 

24. 98.5% of students are involved in Greek Life at their home universities. 

25. 70% of students are from KU or Iowa.

26. Anyone that goes to Iowa is from Chicago.

27. When in doubt say Prego. (It has 10 meanings)

28. You call Fran "Frannie" and you w ish she was your grandmother.  

29. You would die for Mexican food.

30. It's acceptable to drink with your professors.

31. You are friends with the bartenders on Facebook.

32. You SHOULD recognize every face on campus, but you don't.

33. Office staff is on a power trip. 

34. You wear the same outfit three times a week.

35. The old men that walk around are ACTUALLY  ghosts.

36. If you don't travel on weekends, you're missing out BIG TIME.

37. You have absolutely no idea what is going on in the U.S. nor do you care.

38. You go to hostelbookers or hostelworld almost as much as you check your Facebook.

39. You curse the exchange rate. 

40. You might pay less for a flight on Ryanair than you would for a six pack.

41. You fall asleep everyday in class. Get real. No one can last an hour and 45 mins. 

42. You single handedly keep both Tabacchis in business

BARCELONA PART DOS

Kenz, Kennedy and Me

Because I’ve already been to Barcelona, this is going to be an abbreviated post. Everyone that we became close with planned to go to Barcelona for the last weekend, so we wanted to be with them and decided to return to this one of a kind city. 85 and sunny was the weather, could not have been more perfect for a relaxing weekend on the meet. Bumped into Terry on the side of the road. If I’ve learned anything in the last three months, it is that the world is smaller than you think it is. Some highlights of the trip: laidback luke, champagne (tapas), laura and fainna=life savers, Hacienda-best mexican ever, no phones=no good. 

CINQUE TERRE

Ciao my friends. 2 weeks, that’s it. That is all I have left in Europe. Unbelievable. Because of this disheartening reality, all of us “cimbities” wanted to spend every waking minute we could together so we organized a bus trip to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre or “Five Lands” is a popular location to visit on the West coast of Italy because of its uniqueness. This is an area of five villages build into the mountains and hills of this beautiful cove. It was an awesome place to visit because it was different than any other place I have been in Italy. The sights were beautiful and unforgettable. We stayed in Monterosso because that is where the beach is! We spend Saturday soaking up the sun and enjoying each other’s company as we explored the rocks and surrounding area. Think 60 Americans was a bit overwhelming for this little village to handle…..singing “God Bless America” and the national anthem didn’t help. Such a surprise this weekend when we found out Jenna and her friends were spending the weekend in Cinque as well. It was great to see her as always and we were able to all hang out with each other’s friends. Went to dinner and was not the best experience….terrible service….and the food took forever, could have been because there was so many of us! (funny things: signing the dollar bill, who ordered 6 rusty nails, musical beds, midnight swim, hips don't lie, they don't they don't). Sunday we ventured to Vernazza, another of the towns-quaint little area with fishing boats, an awesome cliff we climbed and canyon type thing Hayes and I maneuvered to. All in all it was a relaxing weekend in a beautiful location. Life lesson I’ve learned for this weekend:  it is not where you are, it is who you are with. 

TRAVEL WEEK #2: Athens and Santorini GREECE

Acropolis in Athens

Villa Manos (Santorini)

Well the second travel week was here before we knew it. Time this semester has literally flew by. Weeks go by like days and the second travel week meant off to Greece for 10 days of travel. The original plan went a little something like this: bus to train station, train to airport, fly to Rome (stay in the airport for 6 hrs), fly to Athens stay there for 2 nights, ferry to Santorini (8 hour ferry ride), stay there for 3 nights, ferry to Mykonos (2 hours—high speed ferry!), ferry back to Athens (5 hours), stay in Athens one night, fly to Rome, train to Florence, stay one night in Florence, train back to Bassano del Grappa, cab back to Paderno aka PDG aka home…..sounds like a lot of traveling right? Imagine actually doing all that.  Kenzie and I spend the first night in the Rome airport. Let me make a suggestion: never, I repeat never spend the night in the airport. I have never seen a place so deserted. The only other form of life I saw for 6 hours besides the one janitor mopping the floor was the flies that prevented us from getting any more than five minutes of sleep to say the least. First night of travel break: quite memorable. The next morning, with no sleep, we boarded our flight to Greece. 2 hours later we arrived in the ancient city. Lots of graffiti, great food, the NICEST people, and festive music is what Greece had to offer. One of our waiters put what took Kenzie and I the entire semester to learn: life is about happiness: a cappuccino, sunshine and time with the people you love. Brilliant man. After tourin’ around the city which involved seeing the market, the acropolis, and the Olympic stadium, we gathered our bags (still packed-living out of one suitcase for a week is far from ideal) and boarded our ferry to Santorini.

Santorini

6 h o u r s l a t e r, rockin and rollin on the seas, our ipods were long dead so I drew a picture for entertainment and after countless naps we arrived in the beautiful and well known island of Santorini. The view from where the boat docked was absolutely insane, our first picture of this island was indescribable to say the least, we knew it was going to be a good few days. We were greeted by the cutest couple ever, Poppy and her husband, who could not have been more friendly and helpful during our stay. Villa Manos was the name of their family run resort and located close to the near town of Fira, where we would ATV to go enjoy some authentic Greek food. Once Annie, Ally and the boys arrived, we all ATVed around looking like a biker gang. These four wheelers were an awesome way to see the island and explore. We rode them to the black sand beaches, town of Thira on the top of this ridiculously steep mountain where it was extremely windy (videos to come), and to the town of Pygros (white buildings with blue dome roofs). Unfortunately our ferry to Mykonos was cancelled because of the wind so we rode back to Athens on another ferry (5 hours) with Luke’s brother Wes and friend Jordan from Chicago. These two were a ton of fun (picture dumb and dumber). The next day in Athens, the four of us jammed to house music, which is still stuck in my head till this day, “did it live” in the fratties words and then barely made our flight back to Rome (fist pumping the whole way there). Took a little detour on the way home to Florence to visit the one and only boss man himself Tyler. Spent the night with the Captain and his crew eating a delicious meal, meeting a bunch of unique friends, and “keeping calm and carrying on” direct quotes (others include: was it something we said? If you’re jealous you can join? No flowers please, I already have my hands full).

Two word things to remember from this travel break:

Overnight airport

Ferry ride

Eye Bracelets

Missing tooth

Villa Mercedes

Intercontinental Hotel

Euro Shakes

Josh’s “Job”

Train Home 

Sicilian Adventures

Me and Tash

For this weekend get-a-way we flew off to Palermo, Sicily with Tasha, Morgan (GO PACK) and Lauren. Landed in late Friday night, got our Gelato fix in and settled into the quaint little Hotel Joli for the evening. Woke up bright and early on Saturday morning to SUN-finally the rain had not followed us on our travels this weekend! Palermo was not the cleanest of cities, so we hopped on an early train after eating some delicious Italian Pastries and were on our way to Cefalu a tourist location, but small town/beach area about 45 min away. We were in awe the entire train ride at how gorgeous the sights were. To our left we gigantic mountains and to our right was the clear turquoise ocean. When we arrived we looked at a map and kinda figured out our barring so we were able to make it to the beach. It could not have been a more perfect day out, sunshine and light breeze made it a great beach day and a great time to visit Sicily. Taking more than enough pictures as usual, Tasha, Kenzie and I walked along the beach and through the narrow streets of Cefalu to explore. 

Kenzie and Tasha

We stopped at outlooks along the side of the road where we were able to climb out on the rocks and see amazing views of the oceans and mountains. We felt like we were in the movies when they describe little Italian towns-this was definitely what we pictured. It was neat to see that every shop or restaurant on the left hand side of the street had a straight shot view right to the water. We walked a bit more then decided to stop at a little place on top of a hill that overlooked a harbor where it looked like fishing boats were docked to eat some bruchetta and drink some white Sicilian wine. Enjoying ourselves and our time to relax, we just sat and took in some rays. 

sunset 

When Morgan and Lauren arrived, we met back up with them at the beach put our toes in the cold water and sat on the sand for a bit. We all then found a table at a near by restaurant where we were able to sit outside to watch the sunset on the water. Some amazing pasta, filling gelato, conversation that lasted HOURS and uncontrollable laughs was what our evening consisted of. Back on the train and back to our hotel, we were in bed by 9 and watched “Casper” in Italian-difficult to understand, but entertaining to say the least. Up bright and early again in the a.m. we had no definite plans as to what Sunday would entail considering the forecast was rain (oh no, it found us). Thankfully, the storm passed and it wound up not raining. All of us found a cute little place to enjoy some pizza in the center of town, followed by a hilarious tour of Palermo in a horse carriage ride around. During our tour we waved “ciao” to literally every person we passed and were given some tasty snacks of wine, cheese, and salami by our friend at the local market. After our tour we boarded a bus and were on our journey back to Paderno. This weekend was one of much relaxation, great food, great friends, great conversation and of course WINNING. 

When in Rome...

Pantheon 

First travel weekend and off to Rome we go. We had a half-day of classes on Thursday and decided to spend this weekend in Rome visiting HANNAH! Left on a flight Thursday night and got there about midnight after taking a bus, train, another bus then sitting in the airport for a few hours listening to Jolie’s stories of roommates and then having the gelato place close on us….our travels are always a process. Getting into Rome late we met up with the fratties just to say hi and our new friends from Minnesota (don’tcha know?), but were soon to return to Hannah’s apartment to rest for a day full of being the tourists we are. Unfortunately, it was raining out the next day, surprise surprise. It always seems to be raining anywhere we travel, bad luck? After eating an AMERICAN BREAKFAST (yum), thank you Friends Cafe, we chose to go to the Vatican to avoid getting wet. Kenzie and I climbed up the four hundred STEEPEST/SKINNEST steps (that slanted inward) to the top of the copula. After almost passing out, we made it! Here we were able to witness a spectacular view of the city of Rome. On the way up, we stopped in the top of the inside of the copula as well and were able to see in inside of the church from the ceiling. The entire walls and ceiling are made out of these tiny square tiles and when put together make an entire picture---so awesome. Made our way back down the stairs and were able to see the Vatican from ground level. I didn’t realize how enormous this place was until I actually got to see it from the inside. It was incredible and so so huge….beautiful. Walked back to Hannah’s, chatted it up with my world traveler of a best friend who has been and seen SO much over the last few years spent in Europe and then got ready for dinner. Friday night we went out to one of Hannah’s favorite pizza places in Italy along with her 5 of her friends from school. We enjoyed another delicious meal of pizza and wine then headed to hear one of their classmates sing at a bar, parading around in Rome in the pouring rain lead to an eventful evening.

Making a Wish at the Trevi Fountain

Saturday morning we stopped at the pastry shop around the corner and headed across town to help Hannah pick up a few things and see the famous shopping street Via Condotti. On the way we passed through the Pantheon, yet another one of Rome's indescribable structures. Grabbed a quick bite then met up with Colin aka one of the fratties to go see the Sistine Chapel. It is hard to describe let alone put into words the structure of this museum and artwork by the one and only Michael Angelo. The detail and preciseness that went into ever inch of every room was incredible. Gold leaf, colorful tiles, and statues filled the room that lead up to the Chapel itself, which was painted from floor to ceiling…..unreal. After taking it all in, still pinching ourselves that we are even in Europe right now, we got some gelato…you can never have enough gelato and strolled the streets of Rome.

Colosseum

No longer raining THANK GOD, Hannah, Kenzie, and I enjoyed a tasty meal for dinner consisting of pesto and ravioli and some desserts that were special from carnivale. The three of us then conquered the main sights to see at night in Rome including the Trevi fountain (yes, we through a coin in and made our wishes) and the Spanish Steps. Our last day in Rome we were quite busy. We hiked it over to Hannah’s favorite spot, a lookout where you can see the entire city, then a market close to her apartment where they sold everything imaginable that you could want/need, then the Colosseum, arguably Rome’s greatest forms of architecture and engineering, followed by the Roman Forum, a place where people use to gather to deal with political and economic affairs. Took a bunch of pictures, typical. Ate some more pizza, typical. Then we were on our way back to Paderno. A train, easyjet (yay no ryanair!!) and a cab got us safely back to campus. A relaxing and entremely enjoyable weekend to say the least, Rome has become my favorite city in Europe and am already missing Hannah Montana already. Luckily we convinced her to come celebrate our birthday with us, so we will be seeing her in a few weeks! Until next time…..

CARNIVALE in Venice, Italy

San Marco Square

Picture it: Mardi Gras combined with Halloween in the spring. Yepp, this weekend we tripped it out of Paderno and off the Venice for the night. Carnivale is a festival type deal that last for two weeks in Venice, Italy, which has just recently become one of the top contenders for my favorite city thus far. We boarded the bus at 8:45 in hoped of catching the train from Bassano at 10 to get us into Venice for 11 a.m. Saturday morning. I have never in my entire life seen a train as crowded as it was that morning. I was squished in with a million other people for an hour,  with everyone yelling in Italian from stop to stop saying to get on the next train.

Me and Tasha 

After arriving in Venice, Tash was quick to get her face painted in colorful and festive designs with glitter of course to get in the spirit. We navigated through the alleyways, over bridges after bridges until we found San Marco Square which was where most of our friends were spending the day. Venice is gorgeous, basically built on the water and filled with thousands and thousands of people for this celebration. San Marco Square was lined with tables of people dressed in costumes of all types including the joker, dogs, Victorian dresses…ALL looked amazing and SOOO creative. Through the mass of people, we were eventually able to find a table where we ordered a 15 Euro gelato….yes it was amazing (banana flavored). There, we just people watched, listened to the drums music played on the near by staged and were fascinated by the fountain that was filled with wine. Tash and I decided to stroll around for a bit, eatin pizza a usual for a snack and then met up with JENNA-so great to see her and her friends from Bentley in Italia. It was hard to get around the city because of the crowd, but this did not stop us from seeing the beautiful sights of Venice. After eating at a place by the water we went back to Jenna’s apartment for the night. Tired out from a full day of festivities and walking we returned home from Venice on an early train. To say the least, Carnivale was a success and we plan on returning to Venice as soon as possible! Ciao for now, back to the books.

TRAVEL WEEK #1

This past week was our first “spring break” of the program. We had 10 days off and our fate for traveling Europe was in our own hands….or so at least we thought. The seven dwarfs who I traveled with included my other half (of course), Luke (great uncle Luke), Danny (4Ds/Classic Mix up), Levi (Levus), Charlie (the wanderer) and Riley (Tom Tom).

Levi, Kenzie, Me, Luke, Danny, Riley, Charlie 

Brussels, Belgium:

We began the week off by leaving on a flight Friday night to Brussels. All I can think of when it comes to flying now is two words: Ryan Air. This “bootleg” (which I called it) of an airline can be considered the Greyhound of flying in most eyes. Although “low cost” this airline flies you literally into the boonies of whatever city you may choose. After arriving at our hotel, we settled in and took to the cobblestones streets to explore. Note: wearing heals in cobblestone is harder than it looks. We stumbled upon a restaurant where we feasted on chicken and some type of purple beer I am still trying to figure out exactly what it was….nonetheless, everything we had was delicious. Strolled around a bit and discovered a little pub with live music downstairs and more of a club/dj scene upstairs, which was pretty cool. Exahausted from travel though, we headed back to the hotel (little did we know that this would be one of the finer establishments we stayed in over the course of the week).

At Cantillon Brewery 

The next day Mr. Bull, myself, Kenzie, and Levi Jeans decided to go to breakfast at one place a fellow classmate suggested. This restaurant was located in the center square, a place that reminded me of Disney World because of how fake the town seemed. The historic architecture of the buildings, along with the cobblestone streets and Dutch/French/German speaking people all made me feel like I was in a fantasy world. After ordering and devouring one of the best omelets and BELIGUM WAFFELS (comparable to Kathleen Bivona’s) we headed out to see what the streets of Belgium had to offer. We found beautiful buildings, parks, and shops around the city. In the afternoon, we went to the Cantillon Brewery. Paid three Euro to go 2 blocks (hint: figure out where you are going before you go). After the tour of the brewery and tastes of raspberry and cherry beer (interesting to say the least), the boys were persuaded by Kenzie and I to get haircuts by Moroccans----HA surprisingly they came out well and were lookin’ fresh for the Belgium girls. Wanting Mexican for dinner, we walked 20 minutes to a place which we (the American tourists that we are) found out closed 4 years ago….great. Starving and annoyed at our completely out of the way excursion for Mexican, we settled for Gyros at a small shop. After dinner, we met up at a popular draft house called Delirium. This place had an awesome environment and welcoming feel to it. The tables were made out of large barrels and some other CIMBA students were there to join in the chants and cheers that developed over the course of the night, as well as to enjoy the “best beer in the world” according to many aka Catus Beer. The next morning we boarded a train to a smaller town in the country called Brugge….

Brugge, Belgium:

Making it to one of my top places in Europe thus Far, Brugge is a quant little town filled with many old buildings, hidden alleyways (think Harry Potter) and great people. Downgrading to a hostel (compliments of Mr. Bull himself), St. Christopher’s put us up for the night in a 12 bed, 3 room accommodations, with a toilet across the hall and 5 ½ foot showers in the basement that shut off every 10 seconds…clearly I was thrilled about staying at this place (or at least I should have been as our living situation will continue to worsen just wait). One fantastic thing about our hostel was that we met this awesome guy named Kai from Brooklyn who moved to Brugge three years ago and gave us a hilarious yet extremely informative tour of Brugge the next day. That night we visited a pub, which is the only place in the entire world you can find this one beer, then proceeded to a bar underneath a church (one of the more unusual places I have been I must say). Brugge had amazing food to offer as well, being by the coast the seafood found there is so fresh….and of course more Belgium waffles, which we were quick to fill up on before our flight to Barcelona. Belgium was a place of much conversation, beautiful sights and this is where the infamous “mine” game started. If prompted by a question and answered with “it’s mine” you must do 10 push-ups, anywhere, anyplace, anytime. This game from here on continued throughout the ENTIRE week and therefore found ourselves getting jacked in airports, train stations, apartments…you name it, we did it (and documented with pictures).

Barcelona, Spain:

We arrived in Barcelona (thank you Ryan Air) late Monday night and we were quick to change our “thanks” to gracias and our hellos to “holas”. Shoutout to Kenzie for booking the best hostel of the trip in this hip and modern city: Hostel One Barcelona (only open for a month and clean as can be----thank god).  Barcelona was a totally different city and experience than that of Belgium. This city is HUGE and has so much to offer. The metro system I must comment on is prime. The subways were clean, fast, and efficient; the color-coded system allowed us to master it in one night. Moving from Dow Jones to Bucaro, we were thrilled to once again bump into more CIMBA students and enjoy every minute in Barcelona.

Sagrada Familia
(Me, Lyssa, Kenzie)

                                                   

Parc Guell 

The next day I GOT TO SEE ALYSSA AND KEITH-beyond excited that they were in the same country as us. We all met up for delicious tapas and headed to one of the most gorgeous and famous churches: Sagrada Familia designed by Gaudi. You think the view from the outside is incredible, than you walk inside and can’t even believe what you are looking at. The design itself is amazing, let alone how the heck they build this massive structure with no modern machines blows my mind. One of the coolest things about this church was there was another church that you could see through windows built below the Alter---crazy.  After the church we toured around the city and hiked up a mountain where we were able to see the entire city and enjoy some cappuccino.  The buildings are so much more ornate and in my opinion creatively designed than any buildings I have seen in the U.S. That night, all of us went to a Mexican restaurant around the corner from Alyssa’s and Keith’s apartment followed by a night of dancing and cheers to Keith for his birthday at Opium (located literally on the beach). The food, company, and night was amazing and unforgettable to say the least.                                                                                               

Arc de Triomf (smaller Barcelona version)

                    

On Keith’s 24^th we ate delicious salads and these shrimp balls (can’t remember the name) at a place right by the port where all the sailboats were. We also enjoyed the day at the Barcelona Zoo, and Luke, Kenzie and I went to Parc Guell, possibly of of the most interesting things I have seen. We had to subway it again (gotta love public  transportation) and then climb up a hill (felt steeper than the streets in San Francisco) to this park designed by Gaudi. The pictures do not depict the enormity and detail of the colored tile that make up the unique and ornate structure. That night we all join in for another group dinner at “The Attic”.  Props to Alyssa Mucci, this place was not only fairly priced, but had comida muy deliciosa. HAPPY BIRTHDAY (part dos) TO KEITH <3.

Knowing our flight was at 7:20 a.m. and we had a trek to the boonies (Ryan Air: we love you…NOT), most of us aka Kenzie and I decided to get the max amount of sleep possible, 2 hours. Boarding the plane the next morning was a sight to see….and we will leave it at that.

Paris, France:

Eiffel Tower

Ahh Pari! We made it, how? I don’t know, but we did. After asking an employee of a nearby hotel were our hostel was located, we found out that it was in the “Bagdad of Paris” (sounds real safe). We know whom to thank for this hostel booking…thanks go back out to Mr. Danny Bull ladies and gentlemen. Overtired and not in the best mood after hearing this news regarding our hostel, Riley (Tom Tom) our navigator persuaded us to go see the Arc de Triomf because it was on the way. After much coaxing, we agreed and were greatly appreciative because it was ENORMOUS and such a sight to see as the structure encumbered an entire circlycirle (my made up word for the round-a-bouts in Europe). Hostel #3: not so bad once we get there. Settle in and then subway it (duh) to the Notre Dame. This church was breathtaking and I was speechless when I walked in. The stained glass and detail of the carvings on the inside is insane. We ate early because we knew we wanted to get a lot in the next day.

Palace at Versailles

On Friday (one of the most productive and tiring days of the trip) we were on the go from 7:00 a.m. to midnight if not later. We started the day off by visiting the place of King Louie XIV in Versailles. This palace was ridiculously big and had a huge golden gate out front (pictures to come). We listened to an audio tour of each room (all ornately designed with colorful artwork, fabric, and chandeliers).  The gardens in the back of the palace were incredible as well, fountains among fountains, lined the endless property owned by the King and half a mile canal positioned in the center of the back yard. After Versailles, we made our way to the Catacombs. The Catacombs is an underground passageway/maze where you have to walk down over 80 steps to get to. This creepy underground ossuary held thousands and thousands of bones and skulls of people (6 million to be exact) in tunnels that felt like went on for miles and miles. After resurfacing we made our way through the busy streets of Paris to the Eiffel Tower-YAY.  Seeing this structure in books and in movies and then seeing it in life is unreal. We all took an elevator to the top, which overlooked the entire city of Paris and took what seemed like a million of pictures. After being blow away by this structure we kept our busy day going to ending it at the Louvre Museum. One of my favorite buildings inside and out, this place was massive and gorgeous to see at night with all the lights and fountains going upon entering. You enter through a glass pyramid down into the museum where we saw the Mona Lisa (ridiculous-it had its own wall) and other famous sculptures and paintings you read about in your textbooks, but never think you will ever see them in real life. We could have spent 4 hours there, but unfortunately it closed at 10 and we had to return to the Harlem of Paris (which is what I nicknamed Hostel #4). No longer was Danny on our hit list for worst hostel booker of all time no no, the title now went to our buddy Levi. Congrats. Sketchest. Place. Ever. Thank god we were only there for one night. We say the Eiffel Tower again at night because of the light show, the entire thing sparkled and light up the entire city.

Frankfurt, Germany:

No sleep, running low on money, and with one day left of the travel break we hopped on a train to visit Frankfurt, where one of Charlie’s good family friends lived- GOD BLESS HIM. Christoph and family provided us with warm showers and comfortable beds (you forget how great these things are after staying in the hostels we did).  We all went out to lunch at one of their favorite places and it was my first time trying Schnitzel (chicken fried steak thing, with a creamy type of mushroom sauce-very tasty) and then back to Christoph’s house where we met his girlfriend and friends, ALL who were extremely welcoming and friendly. With new friends and rested bodies, we went to a local hangout to enjoy each other’s company and some drinks on our last night of travel. This night at a cozy home in Germany could not have been a more perfect ending to the week.

New German Friends 

From there we hopped on a bus and were on our way back to Paderno del Grappa, pasta and those crazy Italians….and we couldn’t have been happier. The first travel week was in one word: UNFORGETTABLE. Living out of one suitcase (Ryan Air restriction=10kg), traveling to 5 cities, taking every public transportation imaginable and constant wondering whether there was more than 20 Euro in your bank account was priceless. This week would have been impossible if it weren’t for the 6 other Americans I was traveling with. The experiences, cultures, people, architecture and places we encountered over the last week have been incredible and I hope to remember them forever.

TIME FOR A 24 HOUR NAP-GOODNIGHT AMERICA.  

LIFE and Crespano del Grappa Market

Over the last three days I participated in a leadership program called LIFE. I can go into too much detail about it because if anyone decides to do it I would be ruining it, like the ending to a good movie. I WILL say though that it was one of the most challenging and difficult things I have done in my entire life. We did so many activities over the last few days, got barely any sleep, and lost our voices. I am soooo thankful to have signed up for it because I learned not only a lot about myself, but about my teammates as well. For those in Class 1022: We now speak with PASSION and ENTHUSIASM. I was relieved to have completed the program on Saturday night and was so proud of everyone. We all decided to go out and celebrate at Al Sole (the local pizzeria).

                Riley and Tasha (thought we were getting one-----got 50)

On Sunday, a few of us decided to go to the next town over, Crespano, the visit the market that is there every Sunday morning. This market had literally EVERYTHING you could possibly think of: from purses, to carpets, from fruit to seafood. Tasha wanted a clementine so we found a vendor that was selling them for 2 Euro.  When  we went to go pay for them the man gave us the entire carton of 50 clementies. We read the sign wrong and it was 2 Euro (which is like 3 dollars) for the entire case. We were literally dying laughing and had to carry this carton around looking like dumb Americans for the rest of the morning (and on the 15 walk back to campus). We stopped at a pub to grab a quick bite and surprisingly they had hamburgers and french fries, so of course we jumped on that opportunity and ordered it right away! A man noticed we were speaking English and came up to us to talk. His name was Martin and he is from Australia and was super friendly. He only stayed a few minutes because he literally had to go “put another shrimp on the barbee.” So glad we got up early and decided to explore the local area. Now unfortunately….back to the books. Looking forward to our first travel week, starting this Friday!!!!

Weekend in Florence

                                                                  Dinner at Aqua al 2 

           Don’t really know where to start considering this weekend was indescribable. Guess I’ll begin by saying we made it back all alive!.......well despite the fact that we left one person there (whoops) who had to take a train, bus, 

and cab back to campus, but eventually made it! The weekend in Florence was beyond busy to say the least. We left Friday night on a bus with 50 of us and traveled 3 and a half hours to this gorgeous city. Checked in at the Plus Florence hostel (my first time staying in one). I felt like I was at summer camp, bunk beds and all. 5 of us fit in one room, which was interesting to say the least. After droppin our stuff off, we grabbed some maps and we’re on our way to explore aka GET LOST in the city. We strolled around and found this one bar called Rex, which was more of an older crowd, but no doubt a good time. Saturday we were early risers, waking up at 8:30 and out of the hostel by 9 to begin our day as tourists after getting croissants at the local Pastry shop. Our first stop was at the Uffizi- an art museum filled with amazing and HUGE paintings dating back to the 1400s. The next stop was El Duomo, an ornately designed cathedral. After lighting candles, we prepared ourselves for the 436 (I think) steps climb to the top where we could see the ENTIRE city. After this lovely and long hike up extremely small and steep steps, we thought it would be a great time to stop and eat. It was difficult to choose considering every other store that lined the street was a pizzeria or a gelato shop. OF COURSE we got pizza (mozzarella e tomato)…..followed by gelato (duhh). There were so many different flavors I think I tried three that day (banana being my fav). In between our touristy/typical America trips to the museums we stopped at various markets along the way, similar to Canal Street in NYC, but with more leather bags and fur coats then you can imagine. After lunch we stopped to see the infamous statue of David, which is incredibly bigger than you would think or that it seems in pictures.

Riley, Raymond, Scott, Matt, and Luke 

            After a long day of attractions we decided to stop and enjoy some Chianti and bruchetta before making our way (somehow) back to the hostel and getting ready for dinner/a night out with everyone.  Dinner was at Aqua al 2….and at 8:00…..which we were a little late for considering all 10 of  us had zero idea where we were going. The fratties joined our hostel room consisting of Luke Murphy (yes, he’s Irish), Rilezzz, Raymundo, and us (the twins). Collectively we thought it would be best to get a sampler for 5 different types of pasta and 3 different types of steak for our meal----all of which we devoured. The blueberry steak was one of the best things I have ever tasted in my entire life, hopefully we will be returning there soon! Our night then took us to Astor, a bar/club basically filled with all Americans. We’ve noticed that Europe is a big fan of American music. Despite the fact that they are about 5 years behind in the top 10 hits, the jams were in English so hey, we’ll take it! After we got our dance on, we navigated back in the pouring rain to the hostel. Woke up Sunday feelin’ like P. Diddy and headed out in the rain to grab some good old American breakfast, FINALLY EGGSSSS! Made it to the Boboli Gardens, which was quite the sight to see. Statues, gelato, paintings, wine, pizza and beautiful sights were what our weekend consisted of. The group of 50 of us ran into a little mishap on the way home when the trains decided to go on strike and not leave the station. We knew something was wrong when we were still in Florence 2..then 10….then 20 minutes after we were suppose to leave. Quick to think of how to make it to the bus that was meeting us 20 minutes away, ALL of us pilled into multiple taxis, whom drivers were more than thrilled to provide us with their services. 50 euro bus ticket, 3 ½ hour ride, 28 euro hostel, 30 euro on museums and sight seeing, bottles of wine…..one weekend in FLORENCE…..priceless. 

SHOUTOUT TO MY NEW FRIENDS

                                                            Before Dinner and Bassano 

                                                   (Kenzie, Sara, Luke, Me, and Devann) 

Because we are in a small town and have class ALL day long, there is not much to do during the week aka not much to blog about. SOOOO I thought I would update yall on everyone I have met so far. (don’t worry I’m going to FLORENCE this weekend and will be sure to come back with interesting stories! J). Kenz and I got lucky with our living situation. We have 2 boys (really 4 because the other 2 are always in there) that live across the hall from us from KU (still trying to figure that one out considering it is The University of Kansas-not Kansas University). I call them TFF (the fratastic four) because they are literally your stereotypical frat boys to the tee: khaki pants, crokies, Patagonia zip-up, Patagonia pull overs, Patagonia hats. These guys are awesome and therefore Kenz and I will be “pledging” their fraternity this week HA-wish us luck!  Then we have Riley, across the hall as well-humor:check, awesomeness:check, “I’m from Chicago, but go to UofIowa”:check. Next door we have 2 girls, one that has the same name as me, but spells it “Kahle” who has said “prego” over 200 times since we have been here (think it’s time for her to learn another word in Italian) and her roommate is Devann, who loves breakfast especially croissants. Annie and Sara live upstairs and are just as crazy as us. Sarah has a fabulous selection of JCREW filling up her closet and you can never have a bad time with Annie, who’s e n t i r e family I met the first night on Skype. She’s is also a clutch navigator. Luke lives down the hall from them and honestly cannot say a bad word about the kid---he loves to call me Sandra, is down for whatever and is totes a faster runner than me. Still have yet to figure out where Natasha aka Tash aka Tosh.O lives but this girl is SOOOCOOOL. P.S. Zach the RA is MAUER-like the definition of him….hilarious. Over in the other building we have our boys Levi (yes like the jeans) and Danny (California): greetings from Oregon (gin/gon, tomAto/tomaaato, same thing). We also have in that building Natalia and Jaim-one’s pretty much fluent in Italian and the other one has my fav nail polish “Lincoln Park After Dark” (thank god for these two, we’d be lost with out them)…..they’re from WestVA-holler……..there’s a million other people we have met, but if I shouted out to all, we could be here a while. Everyone is really really different from each other and us east coasters, which makes this better and better everyday. All in all if I had to describe this bunch in one word I would say: classic. To say I am having great times with this crew would be an understatement and our lives in Italy have just begun…….. 

                                                        After our hike up Mt. Grappa 

                                            (Sara, Annie, Kenz, Riley, Kahle, Devann)

Two Words: Bassano Clubin'

So we were had to stay in Paderno this weekend for a workshop on Satruday called The Divinci challenge, which was exactly that…..a challenge. This all day long workshop consisted of working with group members to climb over a 20 foot wall, crowd surf and “trust fall” aka Mean Girls fall. After a day a much physical activity we decided we needed a night full of fun. Instead of going to the 1 of three bars in town that we have single handedly managed to keep in business, we decided to adventure to the next town over and hit up a local night club called Jamila (twin)----ironic we know. We rented a 50 person bus, put on our best European looking outfits and were on our way. When we arrived at the club we were beyond ready to hit the dance floor. Playing ALL American jams from circa 1995 like All Star we were all loving life. Little did we know that towards the end of the night a middle-aged man wearing a gold sequence jacket came on stage, held a burping contest and the whole thing turned into pretty much a game show. This is when we decided it was time to bounce. Glad we found a new spot to bring 200 Americans to. Great things to come in Bassano-that’s all for now folks. 

WE MADE IT

GREETINGS FROM PADERNO: After our first few classes, which are 1 hr and 45 min (extremely long for ALL of us) we thought we would take a little adventure up Mount Grappa, which we can see from our bedroom windows. After getting a hand drawn map from one of the teachers, we got a group together and were on our way. Annie aka Jillian Michaels led the way….which at times we we’re unsure of her navigation skills. After a little confusion we finally made it to the bottom of the mountain. The path became narrower and narrower, but Annie with her encouraging words helped up to keep a speed walking pace (despite the fact the path was becoming extremely steep). We had a few stragglers and wanted to stop at times thinking we would never make it.  An hour and a half of walking/hiking/sweating later we made it to a halfway point and too one look at the view and agreed it was beyond worth it. You could see for miles and miles from the spot we were at on the mountain and we were all so excited we kept climbing to see it. We took a million pictures, but none of them do justice to the sight we saw. Sat up there for a while and as they say “took it all in”. We’ll be back soon for sure…..think we found a new hobby here in Italy. 

"And So it Begins...."

After months and months of planning and anticipation, the day had finally arrived. Mackenzie and I were on our way to Italy for the semester to study abroad in a small town called Paderno del Grappa, about an hour north from Venice. We flew over the night out of Newark, NJ and landed in London the next morning. Our flight had very few people, making it possible to lay out in the entire row. Once we landed in Heathrow we had to take a bus to Gatwick and from there would catch another flight to Venice. I loved all the English people’s accents and they were all very friendly. Mackenzie and I ate an amazing breakfast at the airport after our long flight. Strange fact, when asked what kind of bread you want they ask: “brown or white?”. The flight to Venice was quick (only about 1 hr and 45 min), but we slept again (shocking I know). We took a 15 min cab ride right to Hotel Tritone and settled in. The elevators aka “lifts” were extremely tiny. We then met up with a bunch of people from the program and went to a restaurant called wine and pizza; we couldn’t have found a better place to spend our first night in Venice. The next morning we woke up early and walked across the street to the train station where we quickly had to buy tickets and “validate” them-running down the stairs to get to the other side of the track with 3 suitcases and 15 Americans was stressful yet hysterical to say the least. We were also running a bit behind schedule because I thought I lost my blackberry at the hotel, yet it was buried in my pounds of luggage. To some my new nickname became “blackberry”.

The train ride was only 30 min. We were then picked up by the CIMBA staff on a bus that we rode for another 30 min to campus. Campus is small, but beautiful. I wake up with a view of these huge mountains. We went to a few orientation activities and then we ate dinner in the cafeteria.  While looking at the menu, I soon noticed pasta would be served at every meal. Pasta with sauce, pasta with chicken, pasta with calms, pasta with cheese……the list goes on. The first night we all went to this sports bar on campus. 200 American packed into either this one or the hotel bar across the street lead for an interesting evening. Here I was given my second nickname for the trip: “Sandra Bullock” (like I haven’t heard that one before). So far we have met so many great people from all over the U.S. and are learning more and more about them and their home universities every day. Today is the first day of classes so we’ll see how that goes. For now….Arrivedercci!