Pisa and Lucca

This past Saturday, myself and twelve other girls hopped on a train to Pisa, Italy, then to a small town Lucca! My roommate Steph is friends with a girl who had friends going so it was basically a big, random group, and I loved it. We all got along really well, a few of them were actually from Texas! Love my state.

So we all met at the Florence Santa Maria Novella train station at 9:15 to buy our tickets and ended up leaving around 10. We got to Pisa and similar to what I'd heard, it's really nothing too special (aside from the tower, duh). I'm so glad I went and got to experience "pushing over the tower," but that's pretty much all we went to do. It's super touristy, but definitely worth the 7.50 euro train ticket. 

This is just a picture of us walking through town to get to the infamous leaning tower. I cannot talk about how much I love the buildings here enough -- so I take pictures. But really, I love how the streets are so narrow with tall buildings, you really don't see that in most places in the US. It's like that in Scotland too, so I'm assuming it's just a European thing.

We didn't really know where we were going, so we asked a local Italian how to get to the tower. He said, "Go straight, cross a bridge, then go left." The directions were pretty spot on actually. Anyways, this is the view from the bridge. 

For lunch we stopped at an amazing little Pizzeria. It wasn't on the main street but instead in a little backstreet, so of course it's going to be better. We tried to go in before we visited the tower, but apparently it wasn't open yet at 11:30 AM, so I took a picture in anticipation of coming back.

AND HERE'S THE TOWER! I kid you not, it's actually leaning. Hopefully you can tell from the picture though (look at the bottom of the tower).

No, I did not tilt my camera in the slightest.

It was crazy looking at it from this angle! The gated area around it encompassed the tilted ground/pavement the tower was on (I don't even know how to describe it?), so that was odd.

Gotta get my tourist shot in, don't judge.

I was super proud of this shot. Just thought I'd share it with you all. To the left is one of my roommates, Mary Kate, and to the right is Brittany.

This is a picture of most of the group! We had girls from all over: US of A (Texas, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina), Holland, China, and Korea. 

Heaven in a dish. This pizza was ah-mazing. Ham, artichokes, oregano, garlic, and mushrooms.

So in Europe you can purchase a beer in a McDonalds, which is what Steph and Brittany did. I'm pretty sure American's are the only ones who actually utilize that service (because we can), but that's beside the point. Not only can you purchase a beer at a McDonalds, but you can take it with you on the train. So again, they did it because they can. And because most of you reading probably can't.

Here we are in Lucca!! We hopped on a train from Pisa to Lucca (3 euros), a cute little town probably about two hours from Florence. And yes, that's snow.

Beautiful Lucca.

We got a snack at a little cafe, and as you can probably tell, it all looked incredible. It was a cafe with tables in a big back area (which is pretty odd for shops in Italy), so we all made our way to the back to take a seat. Right after we sat down to eat our treats one of the owners came up to us and told us we couldn't sit there. Looking back on it we should have known we weren't allowed to sit, because you usually have to pay a "eat in" charge at cafe's here. Still, just an interesting cultural difference nonetheless.

So that's about it for our weekend trip! It was so fun, I'm so excited to do more of those. We literally bought our (pretty cheap) tickets at the train station the day of our excursions. 

Again, I'll try to give a little recap of my week that wasn't documented with photos. So my roommates and I have been on top of our shit and have planned bunches of trips together, I'm super duper excited. I'll give you a quick recap - this Thursday, we're leaving for Interlaken, Switzerland for 3 days and 3 nights. Next weekend we are going to Venice for the Carnival, which is a 3 week carnival where people dance around the city and wear masks. That's all I know about it now, I'll be sure to give a full report once I return. And lastly, for my birthday weekend (February 23-26, 25th being my birthday), I'm going to PRAGUE!!! Jessica Helton, mah girl and roommate from Clemson, is studying abroad there so I'm thrilled I get to spend my birthday weekend with her and my two roommates, Steph and Mary Kate. I plan to blog about each of these trips, so stay tuned.

That's all I have planned for trips in the near future. For spring break, Mary Kate, myself, and my friend Meredith, who's studying abroad in Rome, are going on a 12 day excursion! We're hitting London, Paris, and Amsterdam. Again, more on that later.

So today I had my three classes all in a row; I go from 10:30 to 5:30. But it's really not so bad since the last two and a half hours are spent in my Wine and Culture class. I have to blog about it again, just because it's that amazing -- I tasted five wines today. I came home tipsy. From my class. It's the strangest, most awesome feeling, one I know I'll never feel again come May.

That's all I can think of for now. I know I keep apologizing for the length, but there's really no way to shorten it. So, I'm sorry friends.

Lots of love from Firenze,

Julie

Buongiorno, Italia!

My first official blog post from Italy. I'm sorry it's so delayed -- I've wanted to soak up as much of Italy before I report back to my world in the states. Basically, Italy is absolutely incredible. Amazing, superb, lovely, beautiful, and old. I am completely in love with the culture, the food, the wine, the night life, my roommates, my apartment, my location, my classes, and the weather (sometimes). I have no idea where to even begin, so I guess I'll just start with when I got here.

I left Scotland on January 25th and arrived in Florence the same day. The tail end of the flight was unreal - we flew past massive mountains for probably hundreds of miles, what I'm pretty sure was northern Italy. I was under the impression that my program was going to pick me up from the airport, but as it turns out that wasn't the case. It was a little daunting at first, figuring out I'd have to hail a taxi by myself with loads of luggage in an unfamiliar country, but it wasn't so bad! Everyone is incredibly nice here, I even spoke (what little) Italian I know with my taxi driver. I met my three roommates that night, and we all get along great. All four of us go to Clemson but none of us really knew each other, but I have a feeling we're going to be pretty close after these next four months. We're already trying to plan a few trips to different countries, woohoo!

A few days into the trip, a group of us decided to go exploring. The picture below is our travel group for the day, with everyone goes to Clemson except for the two guys on the far right. I didn't know any of them before the trip except Tyler and Nate, my two good friends on the far left. This is us in front of the Duomo, the largest building in the heart of Florence (two blocks from my apartment, about a 4 minute walk). The three girls kneeling with me are my roommates, Steph, Mary Kate and Lauren!

On our walk we visited the Ponte Vecchio, another historic landmark in Italy. In the picture below I'm standing on the actual bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, looking out at the water.

 Below is the four roommates, sitting on the Ponte Vecchio! Mary Kate, myself, Steph, and Lauren. 

Lauren is apparently a Florence tour guide -- she was an au pair in Italy last summer so this isn't her first time to this beautiful city. She took us all to Michelangelo Square, a massive platform where you can literally see the entire city. The picture below is just a snapshot of it, but it was absolutely breathtaking.

This is Nate, myself and Tyler at the Michelangelo Square! You can see the Ponte Vecchio bridge and river to the left and the Duomo on the right.

After we traveled around a bit we started walking back towards the heart of the city and came across a square with a bunch of statues. On the left is a replica of the statue of David; you have to pay to see the real one. Nonetheless, they were all breathtaking.

Below is just another up close shot of the Duomo. Everyday there's tons of people taking pictures of it from below. Since the city is so old and full of history, Florence is a major tourist hub.

Meredith came to town!!!! Meredith, the one in the green scarf below, is my big in my sorority back at school, Kappa Delta. We are literally the same person, and I love it. She's a junior at Clemson studying in Rome, so her and her friends came to visit Florence for the weekend. Since Mary Kate and I are also new to the city, we decided to go exploring with Meredith and her friends, which ultimately took us to the tippy top of the Duomo (basically the highest point in all of Florence). We climbed up 460 steps. It was agony, but totally worth it. This is me, Mary Kate and Meredith before we began the climb!

Below is about halfway into our journey up the Duomo, looking up at the painted ceiling. Again, this picture does not do justice the beauty up it. Anyways, we were basically climbing up to the bright circular part of the picture.

And here we are, at the top of the Duomo!

It was unbelievable. Incredibly high up, a girl next to me actually had a panic attack, I kid you not. This hike ain't for sissy's people.

Here's me and Mere, at the top of the Duomo. We were so lucky, it was a beautiful and sunny day!

Since all of Meredith's friends were in town, we decided it'd be a good idea to show them Michelangelo's Square, but properly: with a bottle of wine, ready to watch the sunset. Here's the view the next day, from Michelangelo's Square at night.

A few nights later us roommates decided to stop spending money on pizza (which I'll get to in a second), but instead make our first meal! Brian Murphy, the really tall guy on the right, helped us out with our endeavor. He was a little upset that the red peppers burnt, as you can probably tell.

The finished product was a fresh salad with green peppers, cheese and cucumber (all freshly chopped), potatoes cooked in olive oil, and chicken. With, of course, a glass of wine. I'm pretty sure wine will become the equivalent to water for me by the end of this trip, and I couldn't be more thrilled. My (potential) wine gut probably won't agree, however.

So that's most of the fun stuff I have documented via pictures. I have a bunch more on my Facebook page, so if this didn't do it for you then go check those out! There's a few things I want to touch on though that aren't documented, however: the pizza, the night life, and my classes.

So the first night (before Lauren was in town) Steph, Mary Kate and I went to get something to eat. We stumbled into the first Pizzeria (of many) we found, which was a 10 second walk from our apartment. The pizza is beyond incredible, who'da thunk? But seriously, we had pizza three nights in a row after that. It's on a thin, delicious crust, with no grease. Another thing -- you cut it yourself. I had a pretty difficult time with this the first night, so the cheeky waiter came over and said "I cut you pizza like I cut for children, just for the blondie." Such a sweet guy. I've also been called "Miss California" while being here... cool?

The only thing I really need to touch on regarding the night life is the creepy Italian men. My friends and I went out to a club one night called the Red Garter, and the creepers were everywhere. I'd heard so many stories going into my excursion, but you don't really grasp it until it happens to you firsthand. I had a few guys tap my shoulders, grab my waist, and touch my hair, literally all in a matter of seconds. Also, walking through the leather market (a block from my apartment and another staple in Florence) the vendors are relentless. Mary Kate and I were walking through one day and they just shout vulgar and strange things at you... things I'll spare my readers.

Lastly, my classes. Today was actually my first day of classes, and I loved them all. I had three of my five classes today: Italian, International Marketing and Wine and Culture. Italian was so fun, I'm actually very excited to attempt learning the language. My favorite was Wine and Culture (WC). We literally walked into the class with wine glasses sitting out on the tables. The classes here only meet once a week (except for my Italian class), so for WC we are learning about the wines from a different region of Italy every class. Today we covered the Pimonte region and TASTED four different wines: Gavi de Gavi, a white wine, Barbera, a red wine, Barolo, another red wine, and Spumati, a sparkling wine. I learned more about wine today in class than I'd ever known before, so I'm thrilled to keep learning!

I am SO SO terribly sorry for the longevity of this post, if you're still reading then you must have no life. Ha, I'm only kidding, I'm thrilled you're still reading! Hopefully I'll be better at posting more frequently on this thing, that way I won't feel like I have so much to recap. I know I'll kick myself later for forgetting things, but for now this will have to do.

Stay classy folks,

Julie

Old and Beautiful Buildings.

Where do I even begin? Since I last posted I've seen a lot, done a lot and loved it all, a lot. Last Tuesday was Dawn's birthday, so Dawn, David, Luke, Lewis (Luke's friend) and I went out to eat at a fabulous Italian restaurant. Jessica was already back in Aberdeen studying for her exams so she couldn't join us. Dawn isn't a fan of public displays, so she might have been a little mad at the waiter for singing and bringing her dessert, as shown below.

After we ate, we took a "ghost tour," which was basically just walking around a creepy graveyard at night. Luke and Lewis were terrified and they were not afraid to admit it (Luke left, Lewis right). 

This beautiful, spectacular building is... wait for it... THEIR SCHOOL. That's right, practically Hogwarts itself. But really though. I said in my last post that JK Rowling's kids go/went to this school, George Heriot's School, and there's a few similarities: for example, the students are divided into four teams like in Harry Potter. The school was built in the 1600s, so it's super duper old. Doesn't really compare to my high school, which was founded in 1974.

This was some beautiful blue building across the street from Heriot's. I don't know what it's for, but it's awesome.

This is the group (minus Jessica)! David, Luke, me, Lewis, and the birthday girl, Dawn.

This is the daytime tour of the school! Luke took me around to see his classes and teachers, we even got to walk in on a Scottish dancing class (of which his friend was playing the bagpipes). The pictures in the foreground (in the picture above) are buildings in his school, and the massive building in the background is the Scottish castle; that's the view of the castle from his school!

This is another shot of their school (in the daytime).

The quad.

Another close up of their view from Heriot's of the castle. Wowwww.

THIS IS WHERE THEY GO TO LEARN. I'd want to learn if I went to school in a palace too.

Everything looks cooler with green grass. 

Over the weekend I visited Jessica at her uni in Aberdeen! So of course I took lots of pictures of more cool looking buildings.

More cool buildings where students go to learn.

Finally a picture of Jessica!

THIS IS THE LIBRARY. So frakin' cool.

The inside of the library.

This is the view from the top story of the library. Ah-mazing. Breathtaking. So perty.

As you can tell, I've had an amazing time visiting Scotland. The Macleod's are the best company! I leave for Florence on Wednesday morning and as excited as I am to get there, I'm very sad to be leaving them along with this beautiful country. Later on today we're going to the Scottish museum which is a short walk from their house, so that should be splendid. More to come soon -- if you're still reading at this point, then thanks! I appreciate your interest in my travels.

Oodles of love,

Julie