CZECH it out...we went to PRAGUE!

View from the tower!

"Where beer is as cheap as water..."

Czech Countryside (on the way to Prague!)

Prague exceeded my already high expectations. I had heard from all of my friends that it was an incredible city and I couldn’t be happier that I got the chance to visit it, even though it was a pretty short stay. Never in my life did I think a volcano in Iceland would affect me personally! Kind of crazy. Basically, all of the airports closed and we were forced to take a 17 hour train ride home. But the good news is that it was worth it…

We left Padova on our 14 hour bus to Prague. It was way better than I thought it would be. The seats reclined really far back and it was really comfortable. I slept all night long. When I woke up we were in Austria somewhere, no clue what city. It was really nice to pass through the Austrian and Czech countryside’s. In the Czech Republic, all of the hills are bright green, and then out of nowhere a tiny little village of maybe 30 houses will spring up and then nothing again. I was just listening to my iPod watching out my window when I see a billboard with the band KISS on it (apparently they are performing in Prague in May) and I wished I could call my dad up and tell him about it!

We arrived in Prague at about noon and headed to our hostel, Sir Toby’s. For once, I volunteered to take the directional lead (I don’t know why they let this happen, but it did). I had gotten directions off of the hostel website and they were really strange…like “if you are standing with your back to the train station and you see a tram going to the left you can get on it.” Everyone thought I was crazy, but sure enough we ended up right where we needed to be. Initially, I was a little uncomfortable in Prague. It definitely felt like a whole new world, way out of my newly developed comfort in Italy. Luckily though, we picked the best hostel in Prague to stay at and the staff was incredible! Right when we arrived they not only let us check in early, they also gave us a really helpful map and suggestions on how to make the most of our weekend. Another plus: our rooms were big, clean, and the bathrooms were actually nice! Hands down the best hostel we have stayed at so far, it will be hard to beat.

The architecture in Prague is gorgeous, and it was a great change of scenery from Italy. We started by walking around Wencesler Square where all the shopping is. I immediately realized what a crazy city Prague is when we saw hash lollipops and absinthe slushies in plain sight in a store window. Then we made our way to “Old Town,” which was my favorite part of the city. We saw the Astronomical Clock and climbed a tower (I feel like I do this in every city, yet it is still always so cool!). We also walked down to the river but it was freakishly cold (coldest we have been all trip, and not at all prepared for it) so we decided to head back to our hostel after a long day of exploring and getting lost in the city.

Something we all agreed on was to try a traditional dish in every country we visit, so sticking to our promise we went to Rustika for dinner and had a Czech meal. Amanda, Lauren, and I shared a platter with roasted duck and pig throat and goulash and dumplings. Not something I would EVER imagine myself ordering, but it was fun to try and tasted pretty good. All the food is really cheap because their currency is the Crown and the Euro/USD is worth way more there (a nice change of pace!). After dinner we were walking around Old Town and came across a cool place to get dessert. We sat out on the sidewalk (under the heat lamp) with an incredible view of the cathedral. By this time it was about 12:30 but the night was still young!

Thanks to our hostels suggestion, we discovered a touristy discotec. It was five stories tall and every floor had a different kind of music! It was so much fun! Something that shocked me though was that the rap music floor was labeled “black music,” something you would never see at home! This was our first time going to an actual club in Europe so we had a blast. Walking home to our hostel through Old Town as the birds were chirping and the sun was rising just added to the experience J Something I will never forget! We definitely got the most out of our day to say the least. We slept for about 4 hours and somehow woke up and did it all over again!

Day 2 we saved for the main attraction: the Prague Castle. It was AWESOME! Gothic style architecture on a hill overlooking all of Prague…nothing else like it. The cathedral was beautiful inside, and surrounding it was an entire village with government buildings and homes of important people. The castle dates back to the 9^th century and has been renovated over time. It was definitely the coolest thing we saw while in Prague. After this we walked down the hill back into town. It was a long walk but well worth it because it is fun just to see all of the little shops and buildings there. We walked over the Charles Bridge, another main tourist attraction. It was really beautiful but almost too crowded to fully enjoy. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around the city and Hana and I got matching super cheesy/touristy shirts that say “Prague: CZECH ME OUT!”

We had the genius plan of not going to bed that night (since we had a 6 am flight scheduled for Sunday and would have to leave by 3:30 to get to the airport a little after 4). That changed pretty quickly when we learned our flight was cancelled. We thought it was a blessing in disguise and that we would get an extra day there and maybe even miss a day of class…kind of like a snow day, but with volcanic ash. We were mistaken though because our professors basically said under no circumstances, even a volcano, can we miss our class on Monday morning. Our only option: a 17 hour train leaving Prague at 2:30 pm, 3 hour stop in Salzburg Austria, then finally arriving in Venice at 8:30am Monday morning. We got the last 5 seats on the train. The station was a mad house full of people trying to find ways out of Prague. I overheard a lady telling someone that her sister had taken a 2000 euro taxi ride home out of desperation. It was craziness!

So after we got that mess all sorted out we decided to enjoy our last night in Prague and deprive ourselves of even more sleep. We went out to a nice dinner and sat outside again. Then we went to Roxy, a true European club (techno music and all). It was so much fun! We got to the hostel and caught up on some sleep (maybe about 4 more hours) and then got up in time to check out, have lunch, and head to the train station. We made it back to Padova with 20 minutes to spare, just enough time for some coffee. I showed up to class still in my train clothes and completely exhausted. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but so far my favorite trip just for the pure chaos of it and the experience of a completely different culture than I have seen so far.

St. Antonio's Basilica

Last night Amanda and I hosted a big potluck in our apartment for Profe! Everyone brought a dish and it turned out so good. Amanda and I made chicken parmigian and it was quite the hit. I breaded the chicken, fried it, then baked it with sauce and cheese! The chicken reminded me exactly of my grandmas! She would be so proud :) We had so much food and Profe brought us a huge thing of cookies from a nearby pasteria! He also made a very exciting announcement! That while we are in Rome for the last week of our program we will be spending one of those nights at the beach! I don't know what the beach is called, but I'm really excited for it, I'm sure it will be beautiful and really really hot.

Today we had a site visit to San Antonio's Basilica. It is probably the most famous site in Padova and people make pilgrimages from all over Italy and even the world just to see it. Many believe that visiting the church will heal them because St. Anthony's spirit is still alive within its walls. It was incredible to see. People were surrounding his tomb with their hands pressed against it as if he was embracing them.They don't allow anyone to take pictures inside and at first I was upset about this! I have gone picture crazy and want to capture everything I see. But then I realized that pictures could not do justice. It is indescribable.

Something that really intrigued me there were items called "Ex Votos." They are also referred to as "Per Grazie Ricevuta" (Thanks for the Grace Received). St. Anthony is the saint of miracles, so his followers feel the need to pay thanks to him when something of significance happens in their life. So many gifts have been brought over the years that the church cannot possibly house them all. They have a collection of the items on display in the church museum and it was really interesting to see. Tons of paintings, depicting scenes of bedridden people being healed or of broken bones mended or of car crash survivals are displayed. These people hired painters to portray their story back in the day, and then gave them to the church as proof that St. Anthony saved their life. One of the coolest things I saw was a display of wedding rings. Couples actually came to the tomb of St. Anthony after they had been married and gave up their rings to him to thank him for bringing them together. Pictures of adorable babies are displayed, given by thankful parents. People who don't bring gifts like these may bring money or donate money to the poor in St. Anthony's honor. Our tour guide said that everyone believes that if they receive it only makes sense to give back and this practice is incredibly common. I found it really refreshing to hear. Although I am not of a religious background, all of the cathedral's I have visited (and most especially St. Anthony's today) have really got me thinking about religion and it's influence on peoples lives. I still can't believe the things I have seen in Europe so far and the way it feels to walk into a cathedral. They are so awe inspiring and the level of detail in the architecture is just unreal. St. Anthony's for example is a mix of Gothic, Romanesque, and Baroque all in one! I have never seen anything like it.

Tonight we are feasting on all of our food that will go bad over the weekend. It should be a great dinner :) Then at 10 pm we are off to Prague on an overnight bus!! It will be the longest ride ever for a very short stay of 2 days there....but I know it will be so worth it! I'm about to start researching all the places I want to see there and the best places to eat. I'm so excited to go...I will write next week when I get back! Ciao!

PGR/Ex Voto's: Wedding Rings

Trophies from sporting events...

Ex Voto Painting (one of hundreds on display!)

St. Anthony (I loved this one! It's so rare to see any modern art in churches)

St. Antonio's Basilica from the outside!

Alberto and the Potato Adventure!

Now that I am all caught up on my weekend, I have to tell you what's been up in Padova! Sunday was one of the longest days! We spent most of it planning our future weekend trips and we are so close to being done. Just realizing how incredibly expensive it will be. But thanks to skype and a 30 minute call to my mom, all my worries are going away. I'm realizing I probably won't be back to Europe in a very long time and that I definitely won't be able to experience it the same way I am now ever again...so I'm taking every opportunity I can!

Amanda and I have taken up a new hobby...cooking! We usually stop and buy fresh groceries on our way home from school at the Padova market downtown for so cheap! Today is a great example of this...We got some lettuce, broccoli, green beans, and blood oranges for like 5 euro! I don't know how I will live at home in Seattle without blood oranges :( You should fly to Italy just to try them...so goood!!! We also went to the butchers shop for the first time. He didn't speak a word of english, but was the nicest guy and just smiled at us. We used some of our newly learned Italian but it didn't go too far. We ended up buying some Hungarian Salami (also the best salami I have ever tasted) and then some fresh buffalo mozzarella and some ricotta cheese! We are making lasagna tonight...actually Amanda is prepping it this very minute!

We bought a Basil plant to cook with...I always knew Amanda loved plants since she is a Bio major...but not to this extreme. First, last summer when I lived with her at Pikes we had a pepper plant which she named Hungry (the Hungarian Pepper). Now we have Alberto, our lovely little basil plant. The worst part is that she actually talks to it (today she asked him if he had enough water). But just one of the reasons why I love living with her, so entertaining! We are making a great pair...switching off cooking every night. I even packed her lunch for her this morning when we were running late for class (as usual!).

Last night it was my turn to cook. I was making fried potatoes and chopping up all the ingredients. I chopped open a potato and found a live worm squiggling around in it. I still feel sick thinking about it. I screamed and ran to the bathroom thinking I would get sick...then once I got over this tramatizing experience, I started trying to cook the good potatoes. After putting them in the oven for like 20 min, I went to check on them and our oven was blowing COLD AIR! So it was just a disaster. Almost 2 hours later I FINALLY had dinner ready, but I was not too happy. But to redeem myself, I did make a really good cake the other day! :)

This week we need to buckle down and actually do some school work, imagine that! We have 2 papers due next week that are like 6 pages each. And the fact that we will be gone all weekend doesn't help. Speaking of that...

WE ARE LEAVING FOR PRAGUE THURSDAY!!! I am so excited if you can't tell. We did have a minor setback with the plans...we thought we booked a train there when in fact we booked a BUS! So it will be a very long long long ride. But well worth it. At no other times in our life will we be as patient as to take a 12 hour bus ride just to see a city for 2 days. But it will be an adventure.

Also booked: Alicia Keys in Verona May 2nd; Split, CROATIA on May 6th; Cinque Terre on May 15th! We are still looking in to Southern Italy too! And we finally have all of our transportation booked for our trip after the program to Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and Barcelona! **One more plus...on the way home from Croatia we have a really long layover in Germany, long enough to leave the airport and check it out for a couple hours! So I am really making my way around Europe. If I take any more trips it will probably just be day trips. There are a few more cities near Padova I would still love to see. Also, the weekend of Alicia Keys we may stay a night at Lago di Garda. Our old Italian instructor Lucca told us that here we will find "more clubs than there are fishies in the sea!" so sounds like it would be fun! :)

Ciao for now! I'll keep writing....hopefully sooner than later!

"In Fair Verona, Where We Lay Our Scene..."

Saturday...yet another spontaneous trip :) Just another reason to love Padova, for its prime proximity to really cool little towns. Just like Bologna, I didn't know what to expect from Verona. Little did I know I was about to have one of the very best days of my trip so far!!!

Amanda, Laura, Anita and I headed to the train station and arrived in Verona around noon. It's only about an hour ride from Padova and cost us only 5 euro one way. I was pretty skeptical at first...the streets near the train station were pretty ghetto. Then about 15 minutes into our walk we arrive at the gates to the city, and my first impressions were immediately wiped away. It's beautiful!!!

We started out by visiting the Roman Arena, which is a mini version of the Colosseum in Rome, but still very large and intact. It was so cool to see the inside passage ways and imagine what it was like back in the days when gladiators were fighting in front of thousands of spectators! Laura and Amanda wanted to search for secret passage ways but we had no luck. Also, we randomly ran into a guy we met in Padova who is studying abroad from Spain! They are in the process of building a stage for the Alicia Keys concert on May 2nd. When we heard she was coming we couldn't believe it! The thought of a concert in the ancient arena setting, especially all lit up at night, was just too much to resist! So we booked tickets and will be going back to Verona on May 2nd to see her in concert. One more thing to check off my list of things to accomplish in Europe (go to a concert).

After this we met up with our friends Hana and Lance for lunch and then began shopping. They had an awesome market and I ended up getting a really cool present for my dad and grandma :) Can't wait to bring home presents!!! Then we went to Giulietta's Balcony (Juliet's balcony). For those of you who are not Shakespeare fans...Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona! So they have this entire house including a balcony and a statue of Juliet dedicated to it. Obviously this is not the real place (since the play is fiction)...but I learned that the house was once home to the Cappuletti family, and there is a myth that this is how the Capulet's (Juliet's Family) were derived. It was fun to see and made me want to read the play all over again! There is also a myth that if you touch Juliet's left breast it will bring you good luck, so there was a pretty long line to do that (funny fact!). Also, the passage way into the courtyard is COVERED with love notes posted up by visitors as well as random phone numbers (maybe guys looking for love?). It was really cool to see this because there are THOUSANDS of them!

Next, Amanda and I decided to climb the Tower de Lombarti, the tallest tower in Verona. We went right at sunset and it was gorgeous...until the bell started ringing literally right in our ears. I think I jumped about 10 feet in the air when this happened! The view was amazing, even better than the tower in Balogna; Verona is just an incredibly beautiful place. Amanda and I decided we had to get a copy of Romeo and Juliet while in Verona...so we left the tower and started searching. We asked a bunch of people and they kept pointing us in different directions. After the 4th bookstore, we finally found it! It is perfect, with scripts in both Italian and English. The book shop owner even let us in after the store was closed. She didn't speak a word of English but we just kind of used hand signals and used the little bit we know. She even put a seal on the inside with the address of the bookshop, proof that we actually bought it in Verona! I'm just a big nerd, but this is probably my favorite purchase of the trip so far, even over my new purse and scarves :)

By this point, we just couldn't bare to leave yet. So we all met up again for dinner and decided rather than catching the 7pm train we would wait for the 1020 one. So we went to this resteraunt and sat outside just about 100 yards from the Roman Arena. It was gorgeous and entirely lit up! We each split a pizza and just sat and relaxed. Probably one of the funniest parts of the day was when these 3 Italian guys approached us during our dinner. Their names were Mateo, Fabbio, and "Fra". We couldn't understand "Fra" and Amanda asked him his name again and he said it was inbetween Frog and France...we were hysterically laughing at this point but felt bad because he didn't understand why anything was funny. Then when they asked where we were from we said Seattle....the Space Needle? And they said "You go to space there?!!" It was great. (Side note: everyone we talked to in Verona knew of Seattle because of the "Supersonics"!!).

So here is the best part of the night...we are sitting there just laughing and having a good time, when we realize it is 10 pm!!!!! Our train left at 10:18. We threw some money on the table and took off running. We got to the station just as the train was pulling up (by some miracle, because it is about a 25 minute walk there). We didn't even have time to stop and buy tickets so we just ran on out of desperation because it was the last train of the night. So I had my first (and hopefully last!) experience as a stow away on an Italian train. Luckily, they randomly check for your tickets and we some how were not checked! It was an adventure to say the least, but loved every minute of it. Can't wait to go back to this amazing city on May 2nd for the concert :)

Bologna...the food capital of Italy!

Intending to spend the weekend at home in Padova, I woke up Friday morning with no plans. I thought maybe I'd explore the city more or just lay around in my apartment...BUT of course I couldn't resist when Meghan asked if I wanted to go to Bologna with her and a few other people.

Bologna is a city about an hour and a half by train from Padova. It's a bit bigger and felt more touristy, but not bad. It only cost us 8 euro each way to get there! Well worth it too...

We arrived in Bologna at about 1pm and immediately went in search of food. People told us you can find some of the best food in Italy there, and we definitely came close. I had a Pizza for lunch that was amazing!!! We continued to explore the city all day, but had no clue where to go or what there was to see (we literally just woke up and got on the train). Just walking down the street we stumbled upon this AMAZING cathedral. It is very simple on the outside and then the minute you step inside it is out of this world. I have already seen about a dozen cathedrals and probably have about 50 more to see, but they still never cease to amaze me! I just can't believe that you can just walk down the street here and stumble upon something so beautiful. It seems like the people here take it for granted; but, you would never find anything like this in Seattle, that's for sure!

We also climbed up a tower over looking the entire city of Bologna. It was a great view, and not a cloud in the sky so we could see perfectly. It was a long trek up winding wooden staircases but we made it in one piece! After this we decided all that exercise deserved some gelato! And then Meghan, Lauren and I wanted to shop of course but the guys didnt. So we headed off to the markets and they headed off to an Irish Pub they found. The markets in Bologna are huge and much different than any I have seen yet. They have tons of shoes for really cheap! I was so tempted to buy stuff, but I restrained myself. Meghan got a cute pair of flats for only 10 euro!!!

After shopping, we took advantage of Italian Happy hour because we didnt feel like spending a lot on dinner after an expensive lunch. Basically, you pay like 6 euro for 1 drink and you get unlimited food! They had pizza, cheese, salads, cous-cous, and more! The guys were in heaven, they went back about 6 times each. The question of the day was...where is the Bologna? As in oscar meyer? Well, we discovered it finally at this happy hour. They had little sandwhiches with just foccacia and bologna. Not the best, but hey, when in Bologna you must eat bologna!!!

We got a late train home and had our first experience with "boxed wine." The guys really wanted to try it and it is easy to transport, so we got some boxes for the train. I felt like I was back in elementary school with a juice box, but this was not juice. It was disgusting! Worst tasting wine I have ever had. Then again, it is only 1.05 euro a box! But we have had really good wine in Padova for 2-5 euro a bottle. It was a great day all in all and I am happy I got the chance to experience Bologna!

When in...Padova!

Today was a beautiful day in Padova! The sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky! I realized on my last post I left out some important details like where I go to school and what classes I'm taking! On Mondays and Wednesdays we have and anthropology class and the theme of it is "Gift and Sacrifice." It's actually really interesting and centers around the idea of how people give and receive gifts in society and the history of the gift giving process. The gift does not have to be a physical object but can also be an emotional or sensory experience. The discussions seem to go around in circles, but it is nice to take a break from all the very concrete business classes I normally take. Our professor, Mona, says that if by the end of the quarter when she asks us what a gift is and we answer that we don't know then she has done her job right. I'm finding the class really interesting so far! We meet at 10AM near the historic center of Padova and our class buiding is in a little piazza that was once home to the ruling family of the city. We spend about an hour discussing the reading then take a nice long coffee break with Mona, then by 1 we are finished! It is seriously the life! Easiest class load I will ever have in my life.

As for Tuesdays and Thursdays, they are equally as exciting with Doug Merell who we call "Professore" or "Profe" for short. He is the coolest guy, and relates really well to all of us. He says it like it is and it's not uncommon to hear him drop an F bomb or ask us about our experience with the nightlife in Padova. At the same time he is incredibly knowledgable because he lives in Italy 3/4 of the year and he expects a lot out of us. For his class we are learning about the development of Italy and the City-States with in it...primarily about Padova where we are living! It is so amazing to sit in class and read for homework, and then go actually visit the monuments we are learning about! For his class we spend about 45 min. discussing and then we head out on site visits with Profe. Today we visited the Plazza della Regione, which is a huge building in the city center. It dates back to the 1100's and was used as the center of law. After a long stay there we were all getting pretty antsy to get back home, but Profe said we had one more site visit and we got even more grumpy. Well, we arrived at the next site and turns out it was a Gelateria and he bought us each 3 scoops of Gelato! This is not the first time that has happened. He requires we try 3 flavors each time and anything less means you are a "party pooper" in his words.

Tonight was great, we had a bunch of people for dinner in our apartment and attempted to make mexican food. It turned out ok, but the "salsa" we bought tasted like ketchup, so gross! Amanda and I had a fun day...we went running! First exercise in a while. No one in Italy exercises! We got lots of strange looks as we ran down the street, but it was worth it. We also managed to lock ourselves out of our apartment (it was bound to happen knowing us) so we had to pay a visit to our landlord Frederico. Frederico is a nice guy and speaks really good english! After this we went crazy at Billa (supermarket). We bought tons of groceries and are way too excited about them. Something I am really noticing is how much I take little things for granted at home. Everything here, like purchasing some chicken to cook dinner for ourselves, seems exciting. Guess there is just something about Italy!!!

Tomorrow we start Italian lessons! Profe arranged it with some instructor from Venice. The good news is that now our program will now equal 15 credits! The better news is maybe I will be able to stop pointing and using my own version of sign language and actually talk to the people here when I want to order food or buy something!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Padova so far...first the Plazza della Regione, which we visited today! Then some sites around the city (beautiful!!!). Then all of the girls with Mona and Profe after Profe's birthday dinner (and our second visit to Zairo, the best food ever!). Then some apartment pics, cooking dinner!

Ciao! :)

Better late than never...

Hey everyone at home! Miss you all. I decided, thanks to my lovely roomate Amanda who spent half of the day today creating her own blog, that it is finally time to start my own. It is nearly impossible to upload pictures to the internet because of our terrible internet connection (we don't even have wifi at our apartments!!!) but I thought it would be nice to keep everyone updated this way so that I don't have to send out a million emails because I don't have much time to use the internet each day.

So we are finally all settled in to our gigantic and lush Padovian apartment :) Amanda and I have had lots of fun turning it into our home, and it really feels like it. Today, for the first time since we left Seattle, we didn't spend any money! We woke up, went to class, came back and spent the entire day in the apartment lounging around and doing absolutely nothing, which really made if feel like home. This is mostly due to the fact that today is a holiday in Italy (they like to take any days off they can, so Thursday, Friday, and Monday around Easter weekend lots of places close). But today especially, everything--including Billa our go to grocery store down the street--was closed. Which sucked since we just got home from Florence last night and have no groceries. So we are living off of a chocolate cake we made this morning and just had a really weird dinner of scrambled eggs and some pasta with pesto we had left over.

It may be hard for you all to imagine, but we are actually starting to get sick of Italian food. There is literally nothing but pasta, pizza, and pannini's here. Nothing else. In Paris and London there was lots of ethnic food. So last night, after getting back to Padova, for the first time I caved in and ate McDonald's (chicken nugget happy meal is 4 euro! so expensive!). Weirdly enough, because I don't even like McDonald's at home, it tasted like heaven!!! A bunch of the people in our program are coming over to our apartment tomorrow night and we are all going to cook up a Mexican Fiesta! There are not any mexican ingrediants at the grocery stores so we will have to improvize, but we will do the best we can! Cooking here is fun, it is especially fun to make big group dinners. We have done it a few times, and all the girls usually make a dish and the guys bring wine since they don't know how to cook anything.

I am so behind on this, and I don't think it is even possible to fill you in on everything...but here are the highlights so far and I promise to keep up on it the rest of my trip!!

-LONDON: we were there for one day...it was really fun and got to see lots of sights, but the jet lag made it a rough day. I'm glad I saw it but it was definitely not the highlight so far. I had my first ever allergic reaction there and my eye swelled shut! We also ate at an authentic english pub which was fun. And of course, saw Buckingham palace!

-Paris: Besides being in Padova, Paris has been my absolute favorite so far. It was amazing! We got there late on Monday, checked into our hostel, and met up with some friends from AXO (Sofi, Hattie, and Michelle). We had our first crepe, and I have to say I would fly all the way back there just to eat another one right now. My favorite parts of Paris were the museums (Musee d'Orsey and the Lourve which was AMAZING!). Also, our hostel was on the coolest little street with lots of shops, formageria's (cheese stores), bakeries, and more! We went and bought 3 kinds of cheeses, some baguettes, some chocolate, and some vino and watched the light show at the Eiffel tower one night. Everyone there was so nice (opposite of what I had heard). In the span of 3 days we already had a crepe guy, a cheese guy, and a wine lady, all of which we made a point to go say good bye to before we got on our train to Padova! Just thinking about it makes me want to go back right now!

So after a great week long trip we took an overnight train from Paris to Padova. It turned out to be a hilarious ride. We were in a 6 person sleeping cabin with this elderly French couple who spoke NO english. They were really funny though and we just kept kind of laughing at eachother. I was climbing up to my top bunk and accidentally kicked the guy in the face almost knocking his glasses off!

Padova has been amazing so far. Some highlights include: our HUGE apartment (with dark hardwood floors, a combined living room/kitchen area, windows from floor to ceiling with a nice view, a nice big and CLEAN--unlike the hostels--bathroom); the food (we went to this place called Zairo's that at this point is the best food I have ever had in my life, besides mom's of course ;] ) and Wednesday nights all of the students gather in the Piazza and party and have concerts! It's really fun and cool to meet all of the locals.

FIRST WEEKEND TRIP!

We went on our first weekend trip to Florence this past Easter Weekend. It was great! We arrived just in time for sunset on Thursday night and went to this resteraunt called "Open Bar Golden View" where apparently Brad Pitt likes to eat on his visits there. Not surprising, considering the prices! But we decided to splurge just for one night. It was right on the river with an amazing view and I had this pasta made with Chianti wine (which is the native wine of Tuscany). Friday we got up and went to Galleria di Acadamia (home of Michaelangelo's David!). It was so amazing to see in real life and way bigger than I expected! We spent the rest of the day shopping and touring the city. The shopping there is insane! So many leather markets.

Saturday was by far the best part. We got up at 7 am and got picked up by a tour bus and headed off to a day long tour of the Tuscan Region. We started at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which was cool to see! That's literally all there is to see in Pisa though and we only stopped for about 30 min. Then we were off to San Gimignano. We couldn't pronounce the name, so I nicknamed it San Jimmy after my dad :) It was the COOLEST town ever. Any one who goes to Italy in the future, this place is a hidden gem that you must see. It was on a hilltop overlooking all of Tuscany. We had lunch and got to do a wine tasting of all the local wines!

After too short of a stay in San Jimmy, we headed off to Siena, which was equally as great. We saw the Duomo, which I studied in Arch 150 last year, and it was so cool to see it in real life! We also saw Il Campo, home of this intense Italian horse race that happens 2 times a year. Siena is a Gothic City (meaning it was built in the 12th and 13th centuries), which was so cool to see! Aside from these towns we got to see an amazing view on the drive which was nice, just what you would imagine Tuscany to look like, but better!

We got home late and witnessed mass amounts of people walking the streets with candles on their way to midnight mass for Easter. It was very peaceful and quiet around the town and there was not much to do. Sunday we did some last minute shopping (Amanda bought boots, Lauren a leather jacket, and I got a purse...we all got our leather fix!). We were having shoppers guilt so we indulged in some gelato and I discovered my new favorite flavor... cappuccino! We have had gelato so many times now it's insane. Never gets old though! I got a little home sick because I was missing Easter and my dad's birthday...but luckily I got the chance to call mom and dad for the first time since I have been gone!

This is the longest post ever, hope I didn't bore you all! I'll keep the future ones short! We are staying home this weekend in order to save a little money and plan the remainder of our weekend trips. As of now we have Switzerland, Prague, Amsterdam, Croatia, Cinque Terre, and Southern Italy picked out for our 6 open weekends. Then we will visit Venice and Rome as part of our class schedule.

Ciao for now!

Jillian