La Dolce Vita

I must apologize for not updating in a while. Do I say that a lot? Sorry!! There is just so much going on! Now where did I leave off?? Ah, yes the spontaneous trip to Barcelona. After the trip we went to a villa in Tuscany that Lacey's parents had rented for the week. I just can't say "Oh, for spring break I stayed in a villa in Tuscany," without pinching myself. It was just as idyllic as it sounds: nights spent by the cozy fireplace, bright blue shutters that sparkled like gems, exposed wood beams and terracotta tile floor that added warmth to the white walls, a spiral staircase lined with a whimsical blue iron railing. I could get used to this!

 

It was beautiful, but a majority of the week was spent out and about, taking in the sights of Italy. One day we went to Rome. We saw the Pantheon, Spanish steps, and the Trevi Fountain.

We also walked around and explored the city. The city is much larger than Florence, and many of the buildings are newer than those found in Florence.

Tuesday morning the Eitl's took me to the train station where I met my mother's first cousin, Angela and her family.  The experience was amazing, but that description doesn't do it justice. Even though family is what inspired me to come here, I never thought in a million years that I would actually have the opportunity to meet relatives. Angela and her daughter Elena speak English very well. I got in touch with them on Facebook and they graciously invited me to stay with them for a couple days. I spent the first day seeing Viterbo, the city where Angela and her family live. The town is very old and small cobblestone streets create an intimate atmosphere.

  

This is Villa Lante. The pope stayed here. The fountains and garden are absolutely beautiful. The view is also amazing.

We had an amazing lunch which included the best lasagna I've ever had (sorry, Mom!) along with pork and potatoes. For dinner, we had homemade pizza made by Angela's husband, Renzo. At night I went to a costume party with Elena and her friends. They got up to sing karaoke and insisted I join them. They wanted to do an American song so I could join in so they chose what else? The YMCA. Can't say that I'm proud of the fact that's the song that comes to mind when Italians think of American music. I think I did more laughing than singing, but had fun nonetheless. Wednesday, Elena (who is my age) and I spent the day at the spa where Angela works. It was fabulous! We took a dip in the pool heated by hot springs, sweat our brains out in a natural grotto that reaches around 100 degrees, relaxed with a full body massage, and walked through a circulation pool. Gotta love any day you can spend in a bathrobe getting pampered! That night we went to Angela's sister's house and I met their mother, who is my great aunt. She doesn't speak English, but she welcomed me with a huge smile and hug. She showed me old pictures of my grandparents. I saw a picture I had never seen before of my Poppop in his military uniform. We had another amazing meal and I wished so badly that I could've understood more of what they were saying.

On Thursday morning I returned to the Eitl's. We went to Orvieta, a cute little town up on a hill with an elaborate cathedral and view to die for. Friday Mr.Eitl braved the crazy drivers and zigzag roads to take us to the Almafi Coast. We drove through a couple of cute towns built into cliffs. Basically picture a calendar of coasts and oceans, that's where we were.

It was hard to leave the villa and come back to Florence and classes, but I mean it really wasn't that hard. This place is great, and it's our home, so it was kinda nice to be back.

This week was the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Wednesday evening from 7pm to 1am museums were open for free, there were bands walking through the streets, artisans showing off beautiful ceramics and mosaics, and people packed in the narrow streets to enjoy the festivities. I enjoyed the excitement of the Italians as they waved flags and decorated their store fronts in green white and red.

Thursday evening we went with a group from school to a local pizzeria to make (and eat) our own pizzas. The dough was already made for us, but we rolled it out, added sauce, and whichever toppings we desired. I had sausage, eggplant, mushrooms, olives, spinach, and cheese. I almost dropped it moving it from the pizza oven to the plate, the pressure almost got to me! Luckily, it survived and successfully made it to my belly. We enjoyed eating our pizza along with some wine. Overall a good time.

Friday we went to Rome with our Villa and Garden class. I enjoyed seeing the villas and how much they differed from those around Florence, but was a little disappointed that we were unable to visit the Vatican and Colosseum. Hopefully I will get there before leaving Italy. The rest of the weekend was spent mostly relaxing, even though I had planned on doing some school work. I guess I will do some work today, that is, only after we go for our weekly crepes. Til next time!

Barca Baby

After completing our midterms for the week we felt relieved and excited to finally be on Spring Break. Lacey and Dillon had been talking about seeing FC Barcelona (Barcelona's soccer team) play for a while. Being busy with midterms, we had no time to plan anything until Thursday night, when we decided we should go to Barcelona for the weekend. We booked our plane tickets around 11pm Thursday night for a flight Friday at 1pm. We went to buy tickets for the soccer game, but they were sold out. So now we have tickets to Barcelona with no idea of where we were going to stay or what we were going to do when we get there. I have to say this is where I kinda freaked out. I don't know what I was thinking spending a good deal of money with no plan in mind. After calming down, I accepted the fact that Barcelona was going to be great, with or without a plan, and started packing a bag.

This is where the bus from the airport dropped us off. Welcome to Barelona!

Streets of Barca

Upon arriving in Barcelona we started walking. We found La Ramblas, which is a main street where there are many restaurants with outdoor seating, gift shops, and crazy street performers.

 

Great band playing on the streets!

We would pick random streets to turn down and wandered through the city. After a while we decided we should probably try to find a place to stay. We found a hostel that was right on the beach, it included breakfast, sheets, and internet. What more could you need? We stayed in a room with four Irish guys, who just "decided to travel the world." After checking in we went out and got a bite to eat. We stopped at a place right on the main strip with a pre-set menu: two tapas, a paella or pizza, and sangria. The food was pretty good. I enjoyed the seafood paella, a rice dish cooked with seafood.

Seafood paella

After we went to a bar and sipped drinks upstairs overlooking a bachelorette party going on downstairs. We were beat from a long day so soon after we went back to the hostel. Saturday I had breakfast overlooking the beach and ocean. It was so peaceful. After breakfast I walked down to the water, which was cold, but not freezing. We were going to check out a walking tour, but the meeting spot was wrong on the flyer so we just walked around the city.

We went up the coast, which is lined with palm trees. Gorgeous!

Playing around on the beach!

The beaches were practically empty except for some surfers. We were going to take a Gaudi walking tour, but it didn't work out. Instead, we went to the Picasso museum. It was amazing. The museum starts with his earliest art starting from age 15. He came from a family of artists and attended multiple art schools. After the realist paintings, there are blue period paintings, and his cubism abstract paintings. There were even some ceramic pieces Picasso did later in his life. After the museum we made our way to the stadium. We didn't have tickets, but took a chance on getting tickets at the stadium. Once there we made friends with a Kuwaiti who showed us where the ticket booth was. By the time we got there all the cheap tickets were sold out, and hell if I was spending 84 euro for a ticket! Well our Kuwati friend started bargaining with the scalpers and ended up contributing towards our tickets. My legs were shaking the whole way to my seat. I kept thinking, this ticket but couldn't be real. Sure enough I got to my seat with no problems. Unfortunately, Lace, Dill, and I got split up. The game was great, even from the nosebleeds. Barca dominated. At halftime I was thinking how or if I would be able to find Lacey and Dillon after the game, when all of a sudden I see them. Lacey came to find me because she knew I would be freaking out. So the second half was spent sipping a beer with Lace and Dill. It was a great time.

After we hung out with our Irish roommates from the hostel. They were some characters. By the time we got back to the hostel it was around 11pm. Seeing as we had to be up at 3am to head to the airport, we decided to pull an all-nighter and go out with our new Irish friends. We laughed all night and then headed to the airport in the wee hours of the morning. We took an hour long bus ride to the airport and boarded the plan exhausted. After a layover in Rome, we finally made it back to Florence, only to get on another train to Orte where Lacey's parents rented a villa for the week. The place is gorgeous!

Tomorrow I am meeting my mom's first cousin who lives in a neighboring town. I can't believe I am actually going to meet family while I'm in Italy. I am so excited! I will post again when I get back! Ciao!

Vive Venezia

I have so much to talk about, and so little time! I am swamped this week with midterms, but thought I'd take a break to post so I don't forget anything! Now where did I leave off...

Most of last week was spent reviewing for midterms which are this week. Started off Monday with a 9am wine tasting with my History and Culture of Italian Food class. Don't be fooled though, there was a lot of lecturing and not much drinking, which I guess is for the better at 9 o'clock in the morning. We walked from school to a bar that opened just to host our class. Our teacher, Peter Fischer, who we like to call Grande Pesce (Big Fish), explained how to classify wine using year, vineyard, grape, and producer. He also explained the proper process of actually tasting by first examining the color and color intensity, then "swirl" the wine to measure viscosity, then smell, and lastly taste. We also tried a technique of slurping after taking a sip: the air is supposed to make the flavor more intense, but I couldn't keep a straight face long enough to really try it. Tuesday we visited two contemporary art exhibits with my Business of Art class. I really enjoyed both exhibits. One gallery was a single room that featured a life-size gorilla made from pink chewing gum, it was definitely contemporary art! On Wednesday, we had a gelato tasting in History of Food class, which was of course amazing. Now I don't want to give you the wrong impression, I actually do have to do work while I'm here. For example, I have a term paper for the History of Food due the week after Spring Break and a midterm tomorrow, so it's not all wine and gelato (unfortunately!). Friday the roomies and I went shopping for masks for Carnivale. 

Saturday we woke up early for a three hour bus ride to Carnivale in Venice. I don't even know where to begin describing Venice. Beautiful, colorful, picturesque, and that's just the city. Carnivale? Colorful, CROWDED, whimsical, fun, did I mention crowded? 

 There were tons of beautiful masks for sale.

 SO CROWDED!!

 

We walked around the narrow streets all day occasionally crossing a bridge where I took at least four pictures. 

Most people had masks (including yours truly) but some were dressed from head to toe in elaborate colorful costumes.

I tried hot wine, or vin brule,  for the first time. I don't know how traditional it is, but it was surprisingly really good, especially since it was getting chilly. After grabbing hot wine at the street vendor, Lacey, Meaghan, Jackie, and I hopped on a gondola.

 

Oh. My. Gosh. As I sipped my wine I looked out into the distance as the sun was setting and a slight breeze ran through my hair. I felt like I was in a dream, or a movie, it was so unreal!

I tried to speak to our guide, Franco, in Italian and he responded "Ya know, we do speak English here." I laughed and still attempted to speak in Italian. We asked him if he would sing, but he said that was our job. Since I left all my gondola songs at home, I just smiled and enjoyed the silence after listening to music, screaming kids, and languages I couldn't understand all day. One thing I found odd about Carnivale were the numerous Native American bands playing flutes on the streets. What are Native Americans doing in Venice? Eh, this puzzling question didn't stop me from dancing and enjoying. We got dinner at a small trattoria that seemed reasonably priced.  I ordered a glass of red house wine for dinner, but the waitress said they only had half bottles, 375. I said well 3,75 isn't bad and I'll probably drink a half a bottle anyway. Little did I know the half bottle actually cost 9 euro and when she said 375 she meant it was 375 mL. I almost had a heart attack considering that practically doubled my meal, but I just had to throw my hands up and say live and learn. We were pretty exhausted even after eating so after walking around a little more we sat on the waterfront and waited til we had to leave. I slept like a baby on the bus ride home.

 

Sunday was spent being lazy, Skyping and studying for my midterm. While Skyping I discovered all kinds of goofy accessories that I have to share with all of my readers...

 Pretty funny huh? I entertained myself for a while with this haha.

Lacey's boyfriend, Dillon, arrived on Sunday as well. I am good friends with Dillon back home, so it was great to see him and catch up on what was going on at home. I bet it was even more great for Lacey, though haha. This week has pretty much sucked with midterms, but I am trying not to get too stressed. Only one day and two midterms away from spring break!! I'll post again before leaving for the villa where I am staying with Lacey and her parents. Yea, I know, I am living the dream.