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
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