24.02.2009 - Tuesday

Today I woke up at 9am and enjoyed a bowl of my favorite, Golden Puffs cereal and got dressed into my workout clothes. Cass and I were out the door at 10am, to go on our ‘brisk walk’ around the hoods here in Viterbo…well not any new ones, the same one we go through when we go on our walks! :) Today we walked for an hour, it felt really good to get up and get going, it was a bit chilly out at first, but once I got my blood pumping, I was better!! :) After our walk, I came up to my room and did my workout and then took a quick shower/got ready for school. Once I was all ready, I got on my laptop to check my email. Unfortunately, the internet was reallyyy slow today and it was a bummer because at 1pm my time, Ry and I planned on getting on Skype to chat for a bit before I had school and he had work. Our calls got disconnected quite a few times but that’s okay, I was happy I got to see him for a minute!! :) We stayed on Skype and chatted for about an hour and then I had to leave to go to class. Culture was today from 3-6pm with the teacher who didn’t show two weeks ago. She showed up today, but all we did was watch a movie “Tea with Mussolini.” I enjoyed the movie, it actually wasn’t too bad, better than listening to a lecture, that’s for sure. :) While we watched the movie, we had to fill out some questions about the film and once it was over and we were done filling out our sheets, we were able to leave. So it was 5:30pm and I was all done. On our way home, Bethany and I stopped in the foto shop and placed an order to get pictures developed. For our Garden sketchbooks, we are allowed to print off pictures and include them along with sketches, so I wanted to do that. The sketchbook isn’t due till April 30^th, but I plan to be done with it by next week latest! :) Once we got back to the dorms, I went up to my room, played some music and enjoyed another wrap…this one didn’t have any avocado…so not as good :( Ha, kidding, it was still really good, but I can go for some chips/avocado right about now!! :) As for the rest of my night, I am going to hopefully watch a movie…find one on youtube or something and then at 12am Ry is going to call me…once he gets off work! :) I hope you all are having a great week!!

CIAO!!!

Let me leave you with my new favorite picture...

HE MAKES ME SMILE!!!!! CHIEF IS THE CUTEST!!! :)

23.02.2009 - Monday

So last night, I couldn’t fall asleep till 4am!!! What the heck yo?? I thought I was my dad for a minute, ha!! Since I couldn’t sleep and it was really late here, that meant it was like dinner time back in AZ, perfect time for Ry and I to get on Skype and chat!! We were on Skype for at least 2.5 hours!! :) It was great talking with him, as usual – he is such an amazing person and is sooo good to me!! He is the BEST!! :) I cannot wait to be married to him!! :) Finally I got a little sleepy, so I got in bed and was out of it for the night (well morning, ha!)!! Since I didn’t have class until 3pm, I slept in till 11:30am and once I got up, I had a bowl of Golden Puffs along with a banana. After bfast, I checked my email and then I did my workout…I enjoy doing my workouts, I jam to music and I find them pretty entertaining!! Haha!! I like to entertain myself, always have…ask my family, they know I do, I do it all the time back home!! :) After my intense workout, I showered and got ready for Italiano class, it was from 3-5pm today. Class went by pretty fast, which was good because I was starving. OMG, I got really excited in class today though because I only have 5 more days of this class…FOR THE SEMESTER!!! Can you believe that?? Since the language classes in this program are advanced, you only have to take it half a semester and it is equivalent to a full semester, WOW!! The last class is on my sisters birthday, WOO HOO!! :) Lets just say I need to do really good on the 3rd and final test…we got back out tests today and I didn’t do well at all…how come its SO hard for me to learn another language?? :/ Ay!!! O well, after class was over, I stopped by Ipercoop on my way home to grab tortillas, chips, salami and milk. Once I got home, I made myself a yummy dinner!! Since I had my avocado from Siena, I put it in my one and only bowl and mashed it all up, I didn’t have any spices/salsa, but it was REALLY good, definitely wish I had more of those bad boys!! For dinner I put some avocado, mustard and salami on a tortilla and made myself a delicious wrap. I also had an orange on the side and since I had some avocado left over, I enjoyed chips and avocado!! YUMMY!!!!! :) Monday nights are ‘eat out’ nights with the girls, but I was packed because I had dinner at like 6:30pm. I still went with the girls (AZ and Iowa girls) and we went to that pasta place that has over 250 different kinds of pasta dishes. I sat there and chatted with everyone and once we got home, I talked with Ry again on Skype for another 2+ hours and at 2am went to bed. Long, but definitely a great day…found out about my Italiano class…had an avocado…lots of exciting things happened!! :)
ARRIVEDERCI!!!
LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!

22.02.2009 - Sunday

Aw...my beautiful sister/coozins leaving a space for me at Chiefs birthday party yesterday!! Love you all!!! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHIEF!!!!! 106, WOW…YOU ARE SIMPLY AMAZING!!!! :) I miss you so much and can’t wait to get home and see you!! Hope you have a great day!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Today I got up at 9am and logged onto Skype to see if Ry was on, and he was!! :) We chatted for a bit on that, but then he called me to tell me all about Chief’s party!! I wish I was there to hang out with Chief, I heard he wasn’t tricked at all by the candles on his cake and as the cake was being brought out to him, he was like ‘you guys can’t trick me, I know those are trick candles!’ WOW, he is sooo stinkin smart, you just can’t sneak anything past him!!!! Ha, I LOVE IT!!! I heard he looked amazing as well and was telling stories about his past, jokes, etc.!! He is so amazing and such an inspiration!! After talking all about the party and my family – miss you all, we hung up so I could go do some laundry. I don’t know if I already said this in my blog or not (I get confused because I have this blog and a journal) but there are only 2 washers and 1 dryer for the entire building…kinda strange because there are 5 floors full of students!! Ha, luckily no one was down there, probably because it was early on Sunday morning, so I did two loads and used the one dryer to dry all of my clothes. I definitely packed those things full...ha, I had lots of laundry to do and it is annoying having to sit down there doing nothing, its not like at home where you can get on the comp, etc...there is nothing to do down there (no internet) and each load costs money, so I figured two loads were perfect!! :) After spending a few hours down in the dungeon, I came up to my room and did homework. I started and finished my cuisine paper which is due Wednesday, finished my Italiano homework – I had a handout to do which I almost forgot about, and I worked some more on my sketchbook. Tomorrow I am going to get pictures developed to put in my sketchbook, next to my sketches, it should help to show which sketches I drew, ha! After doing my homework, I took an hour and a half nap and woke up at 5:30pm, Sara then called me at 5:45pm!!! YAY!!!! It was great talking to her, I haven’t talked to her since I was in AZ!! We talked for like 45 minutes, so exciting!!! :) I cannot wait to talk to you in March sister, you will be 19 the next time I talk to you on the phone!! Wow, that’s crazee to think!! Thank you for calling sister, I miss you TONS and LOVE YOU LOTS!!!!! :) After we hung up, she texted our dad because he texted her while we were on the phone wondering if she was talking to me because my phone was busy. He called me within 10 minutes of Sara and I hanging up and we chatted for 15 minutes, his phone card ran out of minutes, so next week we talk more, can’t wait!! :) After my phone calls, I logged onto Skype and Marissa and Ryan were both on!! :) Mari and I talked and we both got excited because when I get back, we are going to plan a much needed beach/road trip and we will both be 21!! :) It is so crazee to think of me being 21!! Mari had to go, so Ry and I chatted for a bit longer (like 2 hours, ha) and then I let him go because he had some errands to do – he didn’t have work, which is unheard of, so he had some things he needed to get done on his free day!! :) Once we hung up, I did my workout, took a shower and now I am getting ready for bed!! :)

I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL TONS!!!!

I’ll post pictures of Pienza/Siena tomorrow!

CIAO!!

21.02.2009 - Saturday

See, our room is like a walk-in closet!!

Today was a pretty long day!! I woke up at 7:45 and after I was ready the girls and I went downstairs for breakfast. It was just a bread bun with butter/jam and hot cocoa. I didn’t eat the bread because the bread here isn’t good, so I just had the hot cocoa. Last night when we got home, we noticed there was a McDonalds across the street, so we went over there to grab something to eat, and it wasn’t open!! Wow, they didn’t open till 11am, I was in shock. So we went back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff and checked out. We then caught a bus to il centro to do some shopping/take pictures. I was so sad because we asked about renting bikes and I guess its not ‘bike riding season’…what the heck yo?? Ha, that was kinda weird, so we weren’t able to do that and check out all the beautiful scenery. Once we got to il centro, we saw the Town Hall and the “Duomo” and took some pictures, of course!! Then we hit up the shops and I bought a lighter, patch, something for Sara and a pair of gloves for me!! Ha, they are the gloves where the fingertips are cut off but then there is that flap that goes over your fingers if you choose to and it looks like you have mittens on!! Haha, they made me laugh and they were only 3euros, so I bought them!! :) Then it was lunch time, so we went to this pizza place!! Are you surprised I said pizza? Ha, actually I have taken a little break from pizza, so it sounded good! I got two slices, one salami (pepperoni for you American people) and one Caprise (mozzarella and pomadoro…I think it’s called ‘white’ pizza in America??) I am unsure of the name because I normally wouldn’t ever order it in the States – this semester is definitely helping me to expand my pallet…is that the right word? Ha, I normally wouldn’t eat ricotta, but being here, I enjoy it probably because it is more fresh in ITALIA, whatever it is, I am enjoying it and I like trying new things!! :) After lunch, we stopped in a few more shops and I found this cute plaid button up dress jacket and it was only 5euros…sold!! We walked around for about an hour more and decided to go to the train station to take the earlier train home. Once we got to the train station (by bus) we had to wait there for 40 minutes until we could board our train. We had to transfer twice and then on my walk home, Ryan called me!! I told him to call me back on my dorm phone because I was minutes away from my dorm. He called me and we talked for like 45 minutes or longer!! For dinner I had a PBJ sandwich and then I unpacked/showered. As I was getting for bed, I was thinking and it was 1pm AZ time…time for CHIEFS party!!! I am soo jealous all of you are there right now!!! :) Can’t wait to see pictures and hear all about it!! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!!
CIAO family/friends!!

20.02.2009 - Friday

At the garden..Palazzo Piccolomini, Pienza

Beautiful Siena sunset

Today Ry called me at 7am and we were able to chat for about 30 minutes, then I had to hang up and pack for this weekend. While I was getting ready, I enjoyed a bowl of Golden Puffs and chocolate milk…lots of chocolate milk!! Ha, I had to finish all of my milk because it would’ve gone bad since I won’t be here till Sunday. Freezer bags don’t tend to work like refrigerators, its sad! I am actually contemplating on purchasing a little fridge or not…I just don’t want to spend that money and then loose it at the end…that would not be worth it, perhaps I’ll buy it and return it…hmm…ha, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea…now that I said that, I am definitely going to take a look into their return policy!! :) I just got REALLY excited!! Ha!! :) Sorry, back to my day…at 8:45am, the girls and I left the dorms and went to the Taxi Station where we had to meet our group to get on the bus. We went to Pienza with two other classes, so the bus was packed. Some how I lucked out and the seat next to me was open when the bus took off, so I was able to stretch my legs out and dangle my feet into the aisle!! :) It was a two hour bus ride and when we arrived, we had about a 3 minute walk to get to Palazzo Piccolomini-where the garden was located. We had a tour guide which took us through the FREEZING cold house!!! It was wayy more cold inside than it was outside!! After the hour tour, we walked out into the TINY garden and took some pictures. Then we had a little more than an hour of free time, so Cassie, Bethany and I went to the Tabacchi and bought our bus ticket to Siena. By 2pm, the class bus left us and us three sat at the bus stop till 2:40pm and then got on the bus to Siena. It scared us though because the bus was suppose to be there at 2:30 and was 10 minutes late…seems to be the thing to do-be LATE!! :/ The bus ride to Siena was only about an hour long. Once we were off the bus, we saw there was a “Coop” (Ipercoop-grocery store) there we went there to grab something to eat to hold us over. I saw avocados there and was soo excited!! They don’t have them in Viterbo, so I bought one for this upcoming week, because it was not ready to eat yet. :) After Coop, we got a taxi to our hostel, which was very inexpensive, then we checked-in and went up to our room to put our backpacks away. Ha, our room was like a closet!! Seriously…it only had 3 bunks, a sink and a wardrobe in it!! It was too funny, but perfect, we were expecting to be with 5 other girls, but I will take this room we had any day over the 8 person rooms…they are weird!! After we made our beds, we walked to “il centro” (the center) to check out the night life and grab some grub! :) It was crazee because on our way to il centro, the streets were dead…no one was really around and once we got to the centro, people were everywhere!! The streets were packed with people!! Ha, it was too weird. We found a place to eat and I ordered cheese ravioli with pesto sauce…Jimmy, you would love it!! Ha, kidding cooz!! I normally don’t like cheese ravioli, but I thought I would give it a shot, and I loved it!! :) The only bummer was I only got 5 raviolis on my plate…I wanted to be like ‘no, I didn’t order the kids plate, did I?’ Ha, besides the portion size, I really enjoyed the dish!! :) After dinner, we stopped at this free-standing stand where fried goodies were being sold. I ordered 2euros worth…they were fried bread balls filled lemon stuff and sugar sprinkled on top…I just say they were interesting!! While we were eating our goodies, we walked around a bit and then looked at the bus schedule and the buses were no longer going to the stop near our hostel. So we walked back. It was like a 40 minute walk and surprisingly it wasn’t that cold out!! Once we got home, I got ready for bed and crashed. It wasn’t a late night because we figured we were going to get up early tomorrow, so we would just go to bed and catch some ‘zzz’s’

Love and miss you all!!!

Hope you had a great Friday!! :)

19.02.2009 - Thursday

CIAO everyone!! :) I hope you all are having a great day!! :) This morning, Ry called me at 7:25am and we talked for a few minutes and then I had to get out of bed and get going, so we hung up. Once I got out of bed, I had a bowl of Golden Puffs and an orange for bfast, and then I got ready for the day. I had to leave at 8:30am for class. All of the sudden, my phone rang at 8:10am...it was my dad!! :) YAY!! After taking some meds, he couldn't fall asleep, so instead of emailing me, he decided to call me!! :) I was already ready for class, so I was able to talk to him for 15 minutes!! Thanks daddy-o for calling!! :) Today was my long day at the BC campus…3 classes!! Garden’s was from 9-11am and it went by pretty fast and the sketchbooks were suppose to be due today, but she didn’t end up checking them. After Garden’s was over, I went to Ipercoop to buy some bread because we had a break from 11 till 1:30pm so I figured I would just go back to my room and make myself a PB&J sandwich. While eating, I logged on to the internet and booked my ticket from London to Roma!! I had to double check with the girls this morning the dates in which we are flying out of London!! :) After hanging out in my room, 1pm rolled around and I had to leave because Italiano started at 1:30pm. Class went fast today, which was good, but we didn’t get back our tests :/ So Monday we will be getting them back, hopefully I did ok…we shall see on Monday!! SoA started right after Italiano and we had a test, it was only 7 questions. It was short answer, so I filled mine out pretty fast and then took my backpack into the hall where I would do the Italiano homework which was just assigned. Luckily I finished it, so now I don’t have to think about it over the weekend!! We still had class after everyone was done taking the test, so I couldn’t just leave. We only had class for an hour though because our teacher had to leave at 6:15pm…I was so excited!! I walked home after class and got on my computer to check my email and log onto Skype to see if anyone was on. Ry was on so we were able to see each other only for a second…the call was dropped, so we just chatted back and forth for a bit about my day/his night…ha, the time change is so crazee!! He had to go to work, so we only chatted for about 10 minutes (definitely better than 0 minutes!!), then I got ready for bed and I figured before I go to bed (it’s only 8:40pm here btw, but I need the sleep), I should log on and update my blog and tell everyone ‘ciao’ because I wont be here this weekend, I am going to Siena!! :) Well I am just going tomorrow and Saturday, I’ll be home Sunday, which I am SO EXCITED for because Sara is going to be calling me!!!!! :) It will be the first time we have talked on the phone since I got here!! :) LOVE YOU SISTER, CAN’T WAIT TO TALK TO YOU!!!! :) Tomorrow, we have a field trip to Pienza, so Cassie, Bethany and I decided we should stay in Siena and rent bikes to ride around on Saturday!! :) It will be a lot of fun to ride around and check out the beautiful scenery!!
Ciao everyone!! Ill be back on Sunday, have a GREAT weekend!!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!! :)

18.02.2009 - Wednesday

Today I woke up around 9am because I had to study for my Italiano test, it was today at 3pm. After studying for a few hours, I took a little nap (only about 40 minutes) and then got up, took a shower and got ready for class because at 1:30pm, Ry and I planned on getting on Skype and talking to each other. We ended up talking for close to an hour!!! Then at 2:30pm, I had to leave for class. After I turned in my test, I went into the hall and waited for everyone else to finish their test. We still had an oral part after our written part, so I was paired up with Brooks. Basically each pair would go into the classroom with Erika and have a conversation with each other as if you hadn’t known the other person. So Brooks and I had to introduce ourselves, ask each other how old we were, say where we were from and we also had to order a drink and some sort of food from Erika, since we were in a bar. Then after we were done with the introductions, Erika asked us questions like 'how long have you been in Italia', 'when are you leaving?' 'What do you do in your free time?' 'Do you work and go to school in the states?'...Stuff like that…I understood everything she said, so that was really good. After answering her and doing pretty well on that part, I was glad to know that I got a 17/20 on the oral part of the test!! :) YAY!! After class, I went to Lidl to pick up some more Golden Puffs along with milk and OJ because I was out. When I got home, I had a bowl of cereal, yummy, and then I went downstairs with Cassie and booked a flight to LONDON for April!! :) I CANNOT wait to go, there is so much to see there, so hopefully we will be able to get lots done!! After booking the flight, I came back upstairs and studied for SoA (Survey of Art)…we have a test tomorrow – it shouldn’t be too bad because it is only 7-8 questions she said…bad thing is, we don’t know what the 7-8 questions are, of course, so that means we have to study over 70+ slides. It shouldn’t be too bad thought because I took this class last semester back in Arizona, but the only thing is, we have to know the name of the piece in ITALIANO!! Ha, that’s what I need to study tonight!! I also have to do my sketchbook because it is due tomorrow, so that’s what I have planned for tonight, studying and sketching!! :)
CIAO everyone, LOVE and MISS you ALL!!

17.02.2009 - Tuesday

YAY, last night, my (and Saras, ha, Sara I can picture you saying 'our') daddy-o called me!! He called at 10pm on the DOT, just like his email said he would!! :) It was great talking with him and he loved hearing my stories of all my travels, and I of course, loved sharing them with him!! He loves how I am traveling so much and he told me he is jealous!! He had an appointment at 3pm his time, so we talked for 30 minutes!! :) Love you dad, hope the appointment went well!!
This morning, it was very hard for me to get out of bed!! Cass and I were planning on leaving the dorms at 10am, but didn’t get out of here till 10:15am, I just couldn’t get out of bed. Finally at 9:45am, I rolled out of bed, had a bowl of cereal and got ready to leave. This morning, instead of a jog, we just walked around town because it is very hard to breathe when it is really cold outside!! Our walk was rather long, but it felt good to be outside just wondering the streets, with no rush to be anywhere specific!! :) Once I got back to my room, I did my mini workout and then I studied for a bit, definitely not too long. Ha, I was getting antsy because I didn’t really understand what I was studying. :/ I then got ready for class because I had to leave my room 2:20pm for class. Culture class was today till 5:30pm. After class, I walked home and then Cassie, Bethany and I booked a room for this Friday because after our field trip in Pienza, we are going to stay in Siena Friday night and all day Saturday. We are planning on renting bikes on Saturday so we can ride around the streets and get some cool pictures!! I am excited for that. It will be a very relaxing weekend and then on Sunday I can sleep in a bit and I CANNOT WAIT TO TALK TO SARA!!! :) She will be home this weekend for CHIEFS party…I am sooo sad I will be missing it this year!! Coozins/Sara, take lots of pictures please!! :) After we booked our room, I went up to my room for a bit and then before I knew it, it was 8pm…dinner time. On Tuesdays, the dorm kids go to the cafeteria to grab a pizza. I joined them and I got a pizza and an apple. It wasn’t the best…it is soo cold in the building that by the time your pizza gets to you, it is cold. Ha, after dinner, I walked back to my room and I studied for a bit, Italiano test #2 is tomorrow, so tomorrow morning I need to study before class at 3pm as well!! :) I hope everyone is having a great week so far, love/miss you all!!
CIAO!!

16.02.2009 - Monday

Today I woke up at 9:30am and got out of bed and got dressed because Cassie and I went for a morning jog. We were out of our building by 10am – we did the same route as last time, but this time circled around the neighborhood twice, not just once!! After our jog, we went to the ‘PennyMart’ which is right behind our dorm to pick up some milk for our cereal. I also bought some bananas and some lunch meats for lunch and dinner today. Once we got back to the dorms, I put away my food in my lovely freezer bag because I don’t have a fridge and then I did my mini-workout here in my room. Once I was finished, Ry called and we talked, but not for long because it was really early in the morning for him. Then I took a shower and got ready because at 1pm I went down to Cassies room and we worked on the Italiano homework. Erika, our teacher, assigned four pages of work to do plus write a paragraph to a friend…it was a bit much and we didn’t finish all of it, we tried, but didn’t know how to do a few sections because we just learned it last Thursday. At 2:20pm, we left for class because today it started at 2:50 and went until 5:20pm (another class where we had to stay an extra 30 minutes to make up for a class in which we are short on). In Italiano we corrected our homework and it took almost all of class, then we did a few exercises in groups and before I knew it, class was over!! After class, I checked to see if a package was in the office for me, Ry sent me something, but sadly it wasn’t there, so I went with B to the grocery store to grab some other foods in which PennyMart did not have. I bought a big bag of pretzels, oranges, raisins and Nutella, because I am out!! Ha!! Then I made myself a salami/cheese sandwich with mustard on wheat…it was pretty good, so I had two…one just doesn’t cut it. After my dinner, Ryan called me and we were able to talk for close to an hour!! :) He is at his dads place and has a land line to use, which is great so we don’t use up all his minutes on his cellular!! Once Ry and I hung up, I did some homework (and ate a handful of pretzels with Nutella) and I am going to be getting ready for bed here pretty soon!! I miss you all lots!! Nighty night!!
CIAO!!

15.02.2009 - Sunday

Happy Anniversary Ryan Matthew!! :) I love you to the ends of the earth and back!! Thank you for all that you do, you are the BEST!!
This morning I woke up at 9:20am, had a bowl of cereal with a banana in bed and then got out of bed to get semi-ready for the day. We were out of our room by 10am (check-out time) and we headed over to the train station – which was like a 10 minute walk away, not too shabby. Once we got to the train station, we had to wait until 11:43am till it was time to board the train. So we sat around and I people watched, this couple next to us was putting make-up on each other - he was a clown and she was the wicked witch of the west. Ha, people go all out for Carnevale…it's intense!! They were really mild compared to the rest of the wackos, ha!! Finally, it was time to board the train, so we got on and after transferring twice, we were home by 7:30pm…it felt soo good getting home!! The first thing I did was turn on my computer to check my email!! While my computer was turning on, I unpacked my bag and put away my new souvenirs! :) After I checked my email and replied, I updated my blog for all of you, I had lots of catching up to do, then I got ready for bed – what another great weekend!! :) LOVE and MISS you ALL!!!
CIAO!!

14.02.2009 - Saturday

In Murano

On the GONDOLE ride!!

with our Gondole man!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to everyone and Happy Birthday Aunt Debbie!! :) Ryan Matthew, I LOVE you so much baby, thank you for my tulips, I LOVE THEM!!! :)

Today I woke up at 8am, not to Ryan calling unfortunately, but to my alarm clock and then I had bfast in bed. After a complete bfast (cereal with milk, banana with raisins and a glass of OJ), I got ready and we all left the hotel by 9:30am – we were off to Murano. The Murano boat took about 20 minutes to get out to the island and on our ride out to Murano, I looked out to the mountains, there was SNOW on them!! I couln't believe it!! WOW!! Once we got there, we went straight to this demonstration place which was free to enter and the demonstrator made a vase and a horse within like 10 minutes, it was crazee to watch him to it – what a fun job that would be!! After watching the demonstration and walking around checking out the shops, we went back to San Marco where we went into the church there to check out all of the gold inside. You aren’t allowed to take pictures, so that was stinky. The church itself was really tall and the detail of everything was incredible. After we walked through the church, we shopped for a bit and I bought a lighter and patch (the two things I collect from every place I go to) as well as a sailor hat!! The girls were buying masks for tonight and I don’t like them at all, so I told them, “the only way I will buy a mask is if we find a pink and orange argyle mask with silver on it, no gold” and what do you know….WE FOUND ONE!!! I WAS LIKE NO WAYY!! Because before I said that, we had looked at a decent amount of stands with masks being sold at them and NONE of them had argyle masks!! I WAS IN SHOCK!! Ha, so I had to buy the 8euro mask!! It was CRAZEE!! Then we went back to the hotel for lunch where I made myself another cheese and salami sandwich. At 4:30pm, we left the hotel room and the 6 of us went on a GONDOLE ride!! It was soo much fun and the price was better than what I expect. Since it was Valentines Day and I was not with my Valentine, I had a picture taken of myself (while on the gondola) holding a sign saying “Happy Valentines Day and Anniversary Ryan Matthew!!! I LOVE YOU!!! KISSES!!!” With hearts all over the page…it won’t let me upload it to my blog, so I figured I would just tell you what it said instead!! :) The ride was an hour long and our Gondole man showed us around VENEZIA including the fire station - which was funny because it was boats in the water rather than big trucks…because there are no cars in the city…so it was different seeing that!! We also saw some of the famous bridges as well as famous houses…not too famous because I don’t remember the names!! Ha, me and my memory :/ After our fun gondole ride, we got on the ‘water bus’ to San Marco where Carnevale was taking place and walked around there and checked out all of the crazee people that were there, almost EVERYONE had on a weird custom and mask. Us girls all had on our masks, no crazee get-ups though. As we were walking around San Marco, we saw a McDonalds….I found myself saying “McyD’s sounds good right now”…WOW, I NEVER knew I would say that again in my life (I use to LOVE McDonalds when I was younger)!!! Ha, we all went inside and I got a chicken sandwich with fries. After we got our meals, we went outside and sat one some random steps to people watch, it was fun!! The meal was actually good, the chicken wasn’t all greasy and the fries weren’t saturated in fat, so not like the American McD’s. :) After dinner, the Iowa girls headed back home and Cassie, Bethany and I hung out and did some more shopping/people watching. We stayed in San Marco till about 9:30pm, and then we got on a ‘water bus’ and went back to the hotel. Once we got home, the girls were just chilling in their room, so we went in there and were just talking about the day and what not, we all stayed up till about 12am and then I went to bed. This weekend was fun, I really enjoyed VENEZIA, very pretty/different city to visit!!

CIAO everyone, MISS you all!!

12.02.2009 - 13.02.2009 - Thursday-Friday

Sunrise at San Marco!!

Off to the Orange Bar, with our sweet masks!!

Wow, another long past few days. It started off with Ryan calling me at 9am on Thursday morning to say goodbye and wish me a safe weekend, he is just the cutest!! After talking for 30 minutes, I got out of bed, had a bowl of cereal and then my phone rang again and it was Ry, when I answered the phone, he asked if I would be his Valentine!! :) OF COURSE baby, I LOVE YOU!! ;) It was so cute though, because he called when it was 2am his time, he is the best!! It was very sad though because this is our second year together, but second year being away from each other on Valentines Day…third time is a charm Ry, next year we will be together for sure!! :) After we hung up, he told me to check my email, so I did and he sent me tulips…to keep the tradition going, but since he couldn’t send them to me this year, he emailed me pictures of PINK and ORANGE tulips, he knows me too well!! I loved them, it was really cute!! I then sent him an email back and then I took a shower and got ready for the day. I had to do some homework as well, so I hurried and did that before 12pm when Cass and I went to the “Wind” store (my cell phone store) to purchase more minutes for this month. We bought more minutes and since we had so much time to kill, we stopped in Ipercoop for some delicious raisin croissants before we went to class. Since we were going straight from class to the train station, us 3 girls didn’t bring our books to class. We just wrote down our homework on a piece of homework, so if she called on us, we at least had the work done!! I didn’t want to have to carry my books around this weekend because we have 3 books for that class and that would have been unnecessary weight to carry around this weekend. Ha! After Italiano class, we had Survey of Art. Once the teacher walked in, I asked her if it would be okay for us to not have any breaks and just leave early for class because our train took off at 7 and class normally ends at 6:45pm. She agreed to it and still let us have a break…I am thinking she just needed a smoke break, so she let us have a break and leave early as well, it was great. So after class, we booked it to the train station and didn’t have to wait for long for the train. We had to transfer twice so our third train ended up being a sleeper. It was very interesting…first there was someone in Bethanys seat, so we had to kick him out of there and then it was us three girls along with three random guys in this sleeper cart which they turned the light off in, so it was pretty dark in it. Luckily I not only had the window seat, but Bethany was sitting next to me, so that was good!! The only bad thing was the “heater” was blowing out cold air and right on me…I definitely couldn’t get away from it and was not comfortable to take a nap. By the time we got to VENEZIA, it was 5am (13.02.2009 – Friday) and we couldn’t call our hotel until 8:30am to see what time check in was at. So we all (15+ USAC students) decided to walk around VENEZIA and find San Marco so we could watch the sunrise. We got to San Marco just in time – wow, was it gorgeous!! It is just so crazee how there are bridges everywhere because there is water everywhere, it was so cool walking around and just looking how the town functions on water. No cars what-so-ever…boats only, it is pretty cool!! After hanging out at San Marco for a bit, we went over to the ‘Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia’ where the Vetruvian Man is at. Of course, after we paid 6,50euros, they tell us that the Vetruvian Man is under restoration and not accessible for the public. We walked around the museum anyways and checked out a bunch of different art pieces. It was really nice being in the building though because I was FROZEN from walking around all morning and the heat was on in the building, so it felt great to defrost!! Ha, I was a little bummed about not being able to view him though, o well, next time!! :) After the museum, the girls were hungry, so we all went to lunch (Cassie, Bethany and the Iowa girls (Jenny, Amy and Beth)). Since I wasn’t all that hungry and still had a PB&J sandwich and an orange from home, I didn’t eat at the restaurant and it’s a good thing I didn’t. No one liked the pizza they ordered and it was like 15euros for the pizza and water they ordered!! :/ Bummer for them!! VENEZIA is not known for their food, they are just known for being overpriced!! :/ After lunch, we went and bought ‘water bus’ tickets…it was good because we got a student discount pass for the weekend and it worth it because it takes us everywhere we need to go to plus to Murano, which we are going to tomorrow!! :) After we purchases the tickets, we hopped on the ‘bus’ and went to our hotel. Check-in was at 12pm and we got there around 1:30pm. It was weird because where you check-in for you room is not in the same building in which your rooms are in. So after we got directions, we walked over to our place (about 10 minutes away) and our three rooms where all in the same building, so it was really convenient. Once we got to our room, we all took a 4 hour nap – it was much needed!!! After our nap, we headed over to Ipercoop to grab some food for dinner and for the weekend. I picked up salami and cheese along with some bread, milk, cereal, raisins, bananas and another box of cereal called “Tresor.” It’s Kelloggs brand and its basically Nutella filled cereal puffs…I am not going to open till I get home though, because anytime you open up anything, its gone within seconds because everyone snacks off of it and since it isn’t at our Ipercoop, I am keeping it to myself! Ha!! I don’t find that selfish, because anyone could’ve bought it for themselves as well!! :) After the grocery store, we went back home and I made myself two cheese/salami sandwiches which were pretty good I must say!! Then around 10:30pm, Cassie, the Iowa girls and I walked over to the Orange Bar where we ended up running into almost everyone from USAC (not planned). We hung out there for not even an hour and then headed back to the hotel to go to bed. Long day for tomorrow, these past few days have been long, but I loved them!! :) CIAO!!! :)

11.02.2009 - Wednesday

This morning I woke up at 9am – it was Ry calling…we talked for an hour, and it was great to catch up, lately our conversations haven’t been all that long, so it was great to talk to him for an hour!! :) After we hung up, I checked my email and I did Italiano homework along with cuisine homework which were both due today. For Italiano, I had a ton of homework (no surprise) and for cuisine we had to write a report about a particular region in Italia. I had Trentino/Alto Adrige – the assignment was easy though because it was like copy/pasting the teachers work (that’s what she told us to do! Ha!) It took some time though because we had to talk about the history, main dish, side dish, desserts, cheeses and vinos that were either made and/or popular in the region. Ry called again around 1:30pm and I took a break from my homework and talked with him for like 30 minutes!! It was a perfect break from homework!! At 2:30pm, I left for Italiano class which was from 3-5pm and then cuisine was at 6pm at Christina/Richards home. I really enjoy them, they are really nice and knowledgeable about a lot of things, so its great to get together with them and hear what they have to say!! Also, they are English, so I could listen to them speak all night, ha, I love their accents!! Class started at 6pm and tonight I had to present my region, it went well…I talked about everything I wrote down and then Christina elaborated a few times on things I didn’t go into detail about. After me and a few others presented our regions, we went into the kitchen and started to make dinner. It was a bit different tonight, we started off with bean salad and speck…the bean salad I made with Cassie; it was a mixture of giant beans (from the can) with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and salt, keeping the beans whole. Those were pretty tasty, but I didn’t have any of the speck…speck is pig and its not cooked…I watched someone eat a piece and it was first of all, hard to bit and break off and secondly it looked like it would be like chewing on bubble gum…GROSS!! We had the bean salad with a sparkling white vino, which wasn’t that good. As we were making the bean salad, someone else was making some sort of rice, with squid in it. They added the ink so the rice color was now like a gray-purple color. Once that was cooked, we went into the dinning room and I only had a few bits, definitely didn’t try the squid because the rice was really fishy and not that good, so I didn’t really want to try the squid. We had another white vino with that and again, to me, it wasn’t that good. That actually goes for all the vinos tonight in my opinion. I didn’t like them, but I enjoyed smelling them, Richard (Christina’s husband by the way) knows a lot about vinos and it was fun to smell our glasses of vino and guess what type of fruits were in the one we were trying. :) Next was a beef stew (beef with tomatoes which was on the stove for a few hours) with risotto I believe – I enjoyed this plate because the meat was actually ready to be eaten. Ha! We ate this plate with a glass of red vino which was really heavy. Next were the cheeses, Asiago and Bastardo. The Asiago was good, but I really enjoyed the Bastardo (Bastard, ha, Sara) cheese the best!! It was very yummy!! We were not done yet, we still had desserts after the cheeses!! We had ricotta filled pastries along with Tiramisu (which we made homemade earlier after the bean salad). The ricotta pastries were really good, normally I don’t like ricotta at all, but they were really good, it was mixed up and didn’t have that normal ricotta texture!! When we had the Tiramisu, we had a glass of sparkling red (strawberry) vino. I really enjoyed the smell of this one, it really smelled like strawberries, but then didn’t taste like it at all, it had a smoky flavor, so I didn’t drink it. After dinner was over, we walked back to the dorms and at 12:40am, I was still awake, so Ry and I got on Skype, but only for 5 minutes because he had to leave to go to class!! :( O well, Ill take 5 minutes over 0 minutes any day!! Then I packed for VENEZIA (Venice) because I am leaving tomorrow after class!! :) YAY!!!

CANT WAIT TO COME HOME AND SHOW YOU PICTURES OF VENEZIA!!!

CIAO EVERYONE!! XOXO

10.02.2009 - Tuesday

Last night wasn’t too good sleeping wise, I got up many of times to blow my nose…my poor nose!! Finally I got smart and just brought tissues to my bedside table (instead of going to the bathroom each time). Ha, it was funny, after I was done with my tissue, I would throw it in my trash can, near my desk, and make the shot!! Haha, I was laughing out loud because I was 4 for 4, it was very entertaining for me!! Ry called me at 7am and we chatted for some time, and once we hung up, I went back to bed till 8:30am and didn’t feel that well, so ended up getting out of bed at 9:30am. I got up, got dressed and went with Cassie to the food market (inside the city walls) to get more fruit because I was running low. I picked up apples, oranges, bananas and some milk for my cereal, along with Nesquick chocolate milk mix because I was craving chocolate milk!! Then we headed back to the dorms, and I had a bowl of chocolate milk (because I have no cups, ha) and I got on the computer for a bit to do some homework and then Ry called again at 1:30pm, which is 5:30am for him, he is such a sweetie!! Once 2:20pm rolled around, we had to leave for Culture class – it was at SMG today, so we had to walk a bit further. Once we got to class, we waited for 30 minutes past when class was suppose to start and our teacher still wasn’t there…since I wasn’t feeling that great, I decided to get up and leave class and everyone else followed, which was great, so it wasn’t just me missing. Then as soon as we got back to the dorms, we booked our plane tickets/hotel for Milan in April. Its going to be Bethany and I that weekend, and we are not only going to be going to see the furniture show, but the “Last Supper” as well. You need reservations to view it, so we bought our tickets for that as well. I CANNOT wait for that weekend, it will be a lot of fun viewing all of the ’09 pieces of ITALIANO furniture!! :) How exciting!! Speaking of exciting, this weekend I go to VENEZIA (VENICE)!!!! YAY for CARNEVALE!!
LOVE and MISS you ALL!!!
CIAO!!!

09.02.2009 - Monday

This morning I woke up and didn’t feel good at all. Ry called me at 8:30 and after we talked for some time, I went back to bed until like 9:30am. I called Stefano around 10:30am and asked him if there was any way I could see a doctor today. So we hung up and he called me back within a few minutes and told me to meet downstairs in the dorm building at 4pm and someone would be there to pick me up. Since Stefano told me not to go to Italiano class, I went back to bed and he called me at 3:30pm with change of plans. He told me to meet Nicole near where Christina (my cuisine and gardens teacher) lives and she would then walk with me to the doctors. So I got out of bed at 4pm and walked across town to meet Nicole at 4:45pm. Once we met up, we walked to the doctors, like 10 minutes away and waited outside for like 30 minutes – no one from the office was back from lunch, so we hung out and chatted for a bit. At this doctor, its first come, first serve, so once someone let us into the office, we sat down and waited another 15 minutes. By that time, the waiting room filled up and the doctor walked in. He called Nicole and I into his office and Nicole translated for me my symptoms to him. His office was weird…he had his desk with his computer on it and then there were two guest chairs and in the corner there was the table in which has paper on it (where you sit) and in front of the table (one the same wall) there was this huge cabinet where all of the meds were stored. After talking a bit and getting the generic info, I then went over to the table and sat down. He took a look at my throat with no gloves on and he didn’t wash them when he got into the building…interesting!! Ha, but he unwrapped a popsicle stick from a package and used a flashlight to take a closer look, I had red bumps everywhere on the back of my throat – laryngitis!! I went back to the guest chair and he went to his cabinet and grabbed me out some drugs!! :) I should be feeling better in no time!! After we were done there, I walked back to the dorm, but my head was so congested, every noise was of annoyance, especially the loud vespas…so I walked fast and by the time I got home, I had been gone for exactly 2 hours. I was suppose to go to dinner with the girls, but didn’t feel well at all, so I went home and hung out in bed with my computer and Ry and I chatted on Skype for a long time, it was great to really talk!! I miss you Ry…LOTS!!! Once we got disconnected on Skype, he called me and we were on the phone for like an hour!! Then we hung up and like 20 minutes later MAMA MIA called me!! :) YAY, I was SO excited to talk to her!! :) We were on the phone for like 35 minutes, it was amazing, we caught up and I told her all about my weekend in FIRENZE/PISA!! After my mom and I hung up, I got ready for bed and was out of it!!

CIAO everyone, wish you all were here with me!!!

08.02.2009 - Sunday

Kicking the tower down...

On top of the tower (not the very top)!!
I felt bad, so I decided to save the tower!! :)

So last night I probably only got about one hour of sleep, my throat was killing me and my nose was like a faucet - definitely don’t remember the last time that happened to me, normally once I am asleep, I am out of it!! 7:45am rolled around and the others were up and I was ready for bfast…so we went downstairs and I got the same thing as yesterday. After bfast, I went back upstairs and got ready for the day and then we were off to PISA!! Ha, today I wore a crazee outfit…I wore my new TEAL pants, new violet FIRENZE shirt, new teal scarf and my brown jacket/shoes…o and a headband which was mainly yellow!! Haha, I was wearing every color of the rainbow because I also had on a fanny pack and my backpack!! The train to PISA wasn’t that long, only about an hour. Once we got off the train, we had to take about a 20 minute walk until we would see the TOWER!! :) It is way smaller than what I expected, it’s tall, but not as tall as I pictured it in my mind prior to seeing it in real life. I took a few pictures-one kicking the tower over and the other I was saving it like it was no big deal, ha!! Then after we took some pictures, we hit up the shops along the road and I ended up buying a patch, lighter and something for my mom!! :) No one wanted to go to the top except for me, so I went by myself, I went and bought my ticket and then they made me put my backpack in a locker, to lessen the load. Only a certain amount of people are allowed to go up at one time, so I bought my ticket at 11:45am and the next apt was at 12!! Perfect timing!! It was fun going up the stairs, you were not only slanted, but the width of the stairs were no bigger than 3 feet wide and they got smaller as you went up, like the Duomo. Once I got to the top, well I thought it was the very top, I was so excited, the view was again incredible, I walked around and took some pictures of the GIANT bells and then a security lady showed me another set of stairs…I took them up and I was the first and only one on the TOP of the LEANING TOWER OF PISA for at least 2 minutes…I made a video of me climbing these tiny stairs and reaching the top, where I was by myself!! It was incredible!! :) While I was up there, of course I took pictures and as I was walking around the tower, my friends saw me…they were on the ground level near the shops, and they all yelled my name and I waved and yelled back to them!! Ha, it was funny, so I took a picture of them waving, it was pretty cool! After hanging out for a bit on the tower, I raced down the steps and got a little dizzy, ha!! Then I went to go get my backpack out of the locker and then I met up with everyone else, they were eating, so I ordered myself a margarita pizza, pretty good I must say! After lunch, we went to the train station where we purchased our train tickets to come back home. We got home at around 7:45pm-it was like a 5 hour train ride!! When I got home, I walked in my room and it was freezing!! Definitely not like my room, so I opened the door more and my trash can was in the middle of my room and my window was wide open, I was a little freaked out…I noticed my outlet was now fixed, so I guess the electrician came in and fixed it…but HELLO…you left my window open!!!! So I shut my window and turned my heat on high to defrost everything…honestly my water bottles were pretty cold, so I am thinking my window had been open for at least a day!! After my shower, I looked at my throat and there were a TONS of red bumps on the back of my throat, so I am thinking I have some sort of sickness…hopefully tomorrow I can go to the doctors, we will see how that goes!! Before I went to bed, I unpacked my bag to see all my new goodies – they were very fun to look at!! :) Soon after, I went to bed because my stomach was hurting pretty bad. OVERALL….AMAZING WEEKEND!!! :) Favorite part….LEANING TOWER OF PISA and DAVID…just the fact that he was created from one piece of flawless marble is incredible and his size…he is probably double my height!!

CIAO everyone!! :)

07.02.2009 - Saturday

Thumbs up for my backpack and the DUOMO!

THE DUOMO!!

I have a picture at home with Poppo, Jimmy, Sara and I on these exact steps!

Me on top of the DUOMO!Taking a break after going to the top of the Duomo!!

DAVID!!

"Mates"

Today I woke up at 8:15am and went downstairs for the free breakfast, which I was so excited for!! Ha, I got a cheese/bacon omelet with 2 pieces of toast with a glass of OJ!! It was actually really good, the cheese was white, not sure which kind, but it was tasty!! After bfast, I went back up to the room to get ready for the day and right after I turned on my cell, Ry called, I was so excited!! We basically only said ‘I love you’ and ‘have a great day,’ because like I said, it’s super expensive (for him) to call on my cell phone. But it was great to hear his voice!! Soon after, we all left the room, Aussie included, and did some shopping. Near the DUOMO, there are TONS and TONS of tents set up with all sorts of vendors selling mainly the same stuff. It was a lot of fun to check everything thing out and surprisingly, I didn’t buy anything! Ha, YAH RIGHT!! Rachal, not shopping…I’ve never heard of that!! Ha, first purchase I bought myself a way cute scarf which is teal and a little bit of brown…its really soft and different looking. Then I bought some miscellaneous stuff such as a patch for FIRENZE, I am collecting them from every city, along with lighters so I bought a patch, lighter, a small Morano glass plate (for my kitchen set), something for Ry, and something for my dad. Then after we shopped for a bit, we went and saw the DUOMO—it is gorgeous…last time I was in FIRENZE, they were in the process of cleaning it, so it as nice and white this time around!! Cass, Bethany and I wanted to go to the top, so we left the others behind and hiked up the 463 steps to view FIRENZE!! It was awesome, the stair cases got smaller as you went higher, it was crazee, at one point my shoulders were almost touching on both sides going up the spiral stair case!! :) We booked it up those stairs, I didn’t stop once, because once my legs get going, they don’t stop!! Ha the view was incredible!! I absolutely loved looking out and seeing all the red roof tops, and it was a nice day out, so it was great all around. After snapping some shots, we went back down and met up with everyone to grab some grub. We went to this café called “Hot Pot” where I had…pizza, ha, where you expecting me to say something different? I am thankfully not sick of it yet. After lunch, we walked around some more and I went into this little shop where I purchased a violet FIRENZE t-shirt for 5euros…it said FIRENZE on it with a huge fleur de lis on it, I LOVE it!! I also bought a ‘futbol’ jersey which is green and says Buffon #1 on it, it was 10euros, I love it!! We are planning on going to a game, so now I have a jersey!! :) Then we were off to one of the “best gelaterias in the world” called Vivolis—I got a small café and honestly, it wasn’t the best I have ever had, the best to me is in the one near Ipercoop!! :) As we were eating our gelato, we walked to go see DAVID!! Once you walk in the museum, and turn the corner, there he is, HE IS HUGE!!! He is definitely not life-size!! I got some pictures of him even though you are not allowed to, there was no way I wasn’t going to take some!! Haha! After hung out with ‘Dave’ for a bit, we walked over to the river and saw the famous bridge and went window shopping-lots of expensive jewelry shops along the river, it was fun! Round 2 for gelato was at the ‘Grom’ – again it was suppose to be the ‘best’ so I tired café with chocolate this time, and again, it wasn’t the best. So after eating it, I decided I was done with gelato for a month, I am thinking that is a good decision. It all tastes the same to me, but if I do come across one that looks really good, I am not going to pass it up—you only live once!! :) After gelato, everyone besides Cass and I, wanted to go back to the hostel to take a nap!! WHAT?? A NAP WHEN YOU ARE IN FIRENZE, THERE’S NO WAY!! So Cass and I went shopping and had a blast!! Everything is on ‘saldi’ everywhere you go, so it’s great for us!! I ended up buying two shirts—one is brown and soft and the other is purple corduroy, both very cute and cheap!! Then in the next store, I bought a longer brown shirt that I can wear with leggings under and TEAL pants!! I LOVE THEM!! They crack me up, but I can’t wait to wear them!! My mom loves colored pants, so I know she will like them!! As we were walking home, I really wanted to find ‘limoncello’ in a glass boot shaped bottle, and we did!! Cass bought one as well, they are way too cute!! Once we got back to the hostel, we got everyone moving and went out to dinner. Tonight we went to this restaurant which had the best mac and cheese I have ever had!! Rigatoni noodles with white cheese…mmm, soo good!! After dinner, we went back to the hostel and played card games: “shithead” and “hockey”—never played either, so they were fun to play!! I started to not feel to good, so Jenny and I went outside to go find me some cough drops and some OJ for me to buy, which we did. Once we got back, I got ready for bed. YAY, tomorrow I am going to see the LEANING TOWER OF PISA!!! How exciting!! :) CIAO everyone!!

06.02.2009 - Friday

Today Ry called me in the morning and wish me a fun and safe weekend, because we weren’t going to be talking very much over the weekend. It’s expensive to call my cell, so it would be crazee to talk on that for a long period of time! After we hung up :( I ate some cereal and also had a banana and then got ready and left my room by 9:15am to be to the Taxi Station by 9:30am. Today we went to the garden in Bagnaia and Bormarzo, both are only like 15-20 minutes away from Viterbo!! I really enjoyed the first garden in Bagnaia, called Villa Lante. It was a beautiful garden and was completely aligned—all of the fountains, etc. were in a straight line, from the top of the garden, down to the bottom. Very interesting and fun to take pictures of!! After Villa Lante, we went to Bormarzo to see the garden there. It was completely different from Villa Lante. This one is spread out over a ton of land and everything is scattered. There was this one house at this garden and it was CRAZEE!! It was completely tilted and you were able to walk in it, but you could definitely feel the slant…it was trippy to be inside of it!! After the field trips, we got back to the dorms at around 2:40pm, just enough time to grab my backpack for the weekend head over to the train station…our train left at 3:10pm so we met everyone at the train station. Once we got on the train, the ride to FIRENZE was about 4 hours I believe. Once we arrived in FIRENZE, we went to our hostel, which was only 2 blocks from the train station, checked in and went up to put our stuff away and get ready for dinner. We went to this restaurant, I’m not too sure of the name, but their slogan was “There is a difference” with a picture of 2 boys looking into their diapers…ha, strange. For dinner I got alfredo pasta and I was soo excited, the menu said it was white sauce, so I figured it was going to be like back home, but unfortunately, it was disgusting, didn’t have much flavor at all, so I had to add some (lots) of salt and pepper!! :) After dinner, we went back to our hostel and our 8^th roommate (8 people per room at this hostel) Daniel was in the room, we sat around for a bit and chatted with him, he was from Australia and is going to be traveling around the world for 18 months, it was very interesting hearing about the places he has visited already and what he will be seeing here in the future!! We all decided to go out instead of hanging out in our room, so we went to Joshua Tree Pub down the street, near the DUOMO!! It was very tiny and VERY loud!! We were standing for some time and then there were a few free tables we snagged and just sat and chatted about life. I found myself yelling the entire night though because it was soo loud in there, you couldn’t hear the person next to you unless they were screaming!! Ha, one of the guys that worked in there was named Paolo, he was really nice and was always smiling, so we asked him his name and as soon as ‘YMCA’ came on, he danced for us and was like ‘AN AMERICAN SONG!!’ Ha, see what the Italianos think of us?? Ha, he was really nice, so we got a picture with him!! At 1:30am we left the pub and headed back home. I got ready for bed and was out of it in seconds, big day tomorrow, SO EXCITED to see FIRENZE for the SECOND time in my life, this time I have more time to take it all in, don’t worry, I’ll take lots of pictures for all of you!!

LOVE/MISS you all!!

ARRIVEDERCI!!