Nice/Monaco - winning the big money :)

I went to the French Riviera with my roommate, her boyfriend and my friend Kevin for a short two-day weekend that I had in April. The French Riviera is composed of small cities that border the coastline of South France. Nice (pronounced niece) and Monaco were two of the towns that I visited for the 48 hours that I was in the Riviera. The first night we went to Monaco, which is considered it’s own country and is ruled by Prince Albert II. Monaco is known for money, money & money, with a 0% unemployment rate. It has the Monte Carlo Casino, known as one of the richest casinos in the world – and some of the décor inside was literally made of gold. We spent the evening touring around the gardens of the casino and spending some time near the water. Cars like Ferraris & Bentleys were everywhere, as were really old people dressed like a million dollars. We had dinner near the Casino, and it was surprisingly not expensive and really good. France is close to Italy, so there is a lot of Italian influence in their cuisine. I had the best chocolate mousse that I have ever had for dessert. It wasn’t fluffy and yogurt tasting like it is in the States, but so rich and flavorful that I could barely finish my plate. Afterwards, Emily and I went into the Casino alone because the boys were not allowed inside with their shorts. I was excited to play at this world famous casino, but I knew I would just be walking out thirty euros poorer. I embarrassingly settled with my 5 euro chips to play roulette with old men that were betting with 100 euro chips. Somehow, I kept getting all the corner numbers right, and I walked out with 220 euros 45 minutes after being in the casino. That’s subtracting the cover I paid and the money I spent to buy the chips. It was pretty exciting…..but it lasted about thirty minutes. We missed our train ride back to the hotel, and I offered to pay the 90 euro cab ride back. Overall, a bitter sweet night.

The next day it was pouring outside, and none of us had the desire to go explore in the rain. So, we went and had lunch at our beachside hotel. We were indoors but had a good view of the sea, and I ordered an omelet and a honey crepe. I’ve decided that I do not really like crepes, there are far many tastier desserts in the world. Afterwards, we all went back into the hotel room and napped or read our books until it stopped raining later in the day. We took a train to Old Town Nice and walked along the beach and through a nice park. Nice was surrounded by flowers and gardens blossoming everywhere. We also watched the sunset from the middle of the town, as we searched for our fondue restaurant that was highly recommended in one of my books. Sadly, the restaurant was full for the night so we were left to find a new place to eat. We stumbled upon an Indian restaurant called Delhi Behli, and my friend Kevin experienced Indian food for the first time. Afterwards, we walked to a nearby casino because I really wanted to play my luck again. This time I lost 20 euros.

We had a 4pm flight out on Sunday, and we woke up around 10am to beautiful weather. We walked and sat along the beach right by our hotel, before going to the Beach Club for lunch. Not only did we have lunch outdoors on the beach, but all of us got our own chocolate fondue for dessert. It was really, really good, and it made up for the terrible pizza that I had as an entrée. It was not the most ideal weather for the French Riviera, but it was a relaxing and entertaining weekend. 

Switzerland - all about the chocolate

I planned on going to Switzerland when my parents came to Rome, so we went to Geneva and Interlaken for 5 days during the first week in April. My aunt and my cousin were also visiting at the same time. We flew into Geneva first, and spent the day driving around. Geneva is apparently the watch capital of the world, so we were surrounded by thousands of different watches. We went into a park where there was a clock designed with flowers, and you could tell the flowers had just started to blossom. We also went near the lake and saw the tallest water fountain in the world. It was situated in the middle of water, and went straight up. I didn’t think it was very pretty or anything, but it was interesting to see because it is one of Geneva’s tourist marks. We spent the afternoon shopping on Mont Blanc Street, which is the famous shopping street. My parents and my aunt bought really nice watches that originate from Switzerland. Afterwards, we drove around to find this Mexican restaurant because I really wanted Mexican food. Sadly, it was closed during the afternoon so we ended up eating falafel at a random place on that street. The falafel was not that good, but the red-hot chili sauce was delicious. Also, I quickly learned that Switzerland was the most expensive country that I have been to. Medium fries are around $7 at any given place, and even McDonald’s will cost you an average of $15-20 per meal. It’s a good thing I had Sammy paying for every thing…..I mean he always pays for everything, but it’s much easier to eat $7 fries when he is handing over the bills. Although, several times I got into arguments with him because he wanted to pay large amounts of money for things that were not worth it.

We left for Interlaken mid-afternoon, and it was a very beautiful scenic car ride through the Swiss Alps. Interlaken is a small town by the Junfrau mountain located in the Bernese Alps. We drove around the small city and ate at an Indian restaurant – it was pretty good and it had a Michelin Star (highest rating for a good restaurant). The next day, we woke up and walked around Interlaken and it’s park. It was chilly outside but the mountains with the snow looked so beautiful and surreal. My cousin Ami and I decided that we needed to do something fun in Switzerland, since it is known to contain some of the best extreme and thrilling sports in the world. We decided to paraglide. We drove up to the mountains and choose random pilots to paraglide with when we got to the top. They told us that we had to pick the pilots because we had to “choose our destiny”, and then they told us that if anything happened to us our families would receive $150,000 in compensation. Not what I wanted to hear when I was about to jump off a mountain 4,000 feet high. Once we got to the top, I was clipped onto a large parachute and then attached to my pilot. He told me to sit far into his lap because we would basically be married for the next twenty minutes…..shady I know. Once we were all fastened onto the parachute and all, we had to run downhill on the mountain – as if we were going to jump from it. This was the scariest part, because I was the one leading. After about 10 seconds, we were floating in the air around the Swiss Alps. It was a really amazing experience, but not as thrilling as I expected. I think skydiving would be much much scarier. Still, it was the riskiest thing I have ever done, and I was very calm and excited for it.

After our little sporting event, Ami and I did a chocolate show at this famous chocolatier that has been around since 1818. We learned how cocoa beans are grown and how powder from the bean is used to make various types of chocolates. We were allowed to sample milk, dark and white chocolate chips – and I can honestly say it was the best milk chocolate I have ever had in my life. The dark chocolate was much more bitter than the States, but still tasty! We also got to dip strawberries into the milk and dark chocolate that was being melted in a machine to form into chocolates. I was in heaven. Lastly, we were shown how shaped chocolate was made (like the bunnies around Easter) and were allowed to sample other chocolates. We also received a voucher to buy chocolates from their chocolate shop, and Ami and I each got a pastry and a chocolate shoe. Afterwards, we shopped around for postcards and went to dinner. Ami and I went to fondue while my parents and my aunt went to search for “American style pizza”. – Apparently Italian style pizza did not have enough flavoring for them. We choose a place called the Chateu, and it smelled like dirty, wet dog when we stepped in. I was so desperate for cheese fondue, I decided the smell would not bother me. I was wrong, in between dipping my bread into the cheese, I had to sniff my hair so that I would not pass out. Ami felt the same way, so I was NOT exaggerating. When we left the restaurant, we met up with my family and let them smell us. They were not pleased. That night, my parents went to a nearby casino while Ami and I had a drink in the lounge and went to bed early. It was a good thing that we left Interlaken the next morning, because it was raining hardcore and the sky was really cloudy. We spent the day driving through Bern & Laussane, and stopped in Montreux for the afternoon. Montreux is on the Swiss Riviera, and it has a really pretty scenery because it surrounded by water with the Swiss Alps in the background. We went to the Chateau de Chillon which was first constructed in 1160 and was located right on Lake Geneva. It was really cool to walk through the various rooms and see the artifacts, and my parents enjoyed it because they haven’t been to a museum like thing in ages. We finally made it back to Geneva in the late evening and went to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. The nachos were really good, but only because I hadn’t had Mexican food in SO long. The next day was Easter, so most things in Geneva were closed. We slept in and drove around during the afternoon. We visited the United Nation headquarters and the world trade building and took pictures around it. Many of the UN conventions take place in Geneva, so that was interesting to see. For lunch, Dominos was one of the only places open so I settled for my own small sized $25 pizza made with processed cheese. I’m going to have a hard time eating “processed cheese” pizza in the States after 4 months of fresh mozzerella in the US. In the evening, we went to a nearby casino where I played roulette and loss. I really had fun playing that though, and was winning for a little bit of the time. There was also free chocolate all around the Casino, so I stuffed about 50 pieces into my purse and pockets. Swiss chocolate is really really good and really really expensive, so this was totally worth it. I forgot to mention that chocolates are always on the reception desks at all hotels in Switzerland, and I had to have eaten at least seventy pieces of free chocolate during my 5 -day trip. Overall, the Swiss Alps were absolutely beautiful, and the chocolate was the best chocolate in the whole world. 

London - Love

If I could leave Chicago and move to any other city in the world, hands down it would be London. That should tell you how much I loved it, because I always claim I would never leave Chicago. Yes, everything in London was more expensive than Chicago, but the shopping, food, and Indian men were incomparable.

I had been saving the big three cities for Spring Break, because I knew I wanted to spend the most time there. I started in London, went to Paris and ended in Barcelona.

I got into London late on a Thursday night, and we stayed at a Holiday Inn ten minutes away from center of everything.  On Friday morning, we did a free walking tour where we saw the changing of the guards for the royal palace, Buckingham palace, royal gardens, Trafalgar square, Big Ben, the Parliament, and Westminster Abbey Church. Our tour guide was really good, and told us many interesting stories about all these places. We did not go inside the Parliament because it is closed when in session, and we didn’t go into the palace because it is only open to the public in the summer.  After the tour ended, we went to a traditional English pub where most people got “fish and chips” I always thought that would be some kind of fish dip with chips, but it’s fried fish on French fries. I got a veggie burger, which was homemade and different from the veggie burgers at home! Afterwards, we went by the water to the London Eye (big ferris wheel that gives you a view of London), and took pictures there. Then we went near the Big Ben clock and did the same. At 5pm we went to an evening song event at Westminister Abbey, because that is the only time that you can get into the church without paying a $20 entrance fee. The choir was really peaceful and the church was beautiful. I saw the alter where Prince Williams and Kate Middleton got married. Westminister Abbey is the official church for nearly all of the royal events, so it was pretty exciting to see the inside of it!

Afterwards, we went to the shopping street where one of the world’s most famous department store resides – Harrod’s. This department store was one of the most beautiful things I have ever been in. It had about 10 different floors full of everything imaginable. The bottom floor held all the designer purses, with each corner of it representing a different designer. There was a floor for just diamonds. Even a floor where there were puppies and every toy possible for your pet. In addition, there was a whole sector of Harrod’s just for CHOCOLATE. Chocolate that you could buy by the pound, in a package, as a candy bar, as hot chocolate, just about anything you can imagine. There was also a tea room, restaurant and café. Sadly, the only purchases I made from this store were fruit teas and chocolates. Nordstrom, Von Maur and Macy’s cannot even compare to how amazing and enormous this department store was.

Next, we went to Platform 9 ¾  which was underground in between the platforms for the underground railway system. I don’t know a thing about Harry Potter, but it was cool to take a picture here. We headed to Leicester Square for dinner, because we knew it had London’s only Chipotle there. This square is home to the entertainment and social world of London, and it was brightly lit up with fountains, theaters, restaurants and other entertainment venues everywhere. We walked around the area for a while, and saw street performers dancing and doing magic tricks. It took us about an hour to find Chipotle because very few people in London knew what it was, but we were all satisfied once we did. We ended the night by shopping around for postcards and stamps before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we went back to Buckingham Palace to watch the official changing of the guards ceremony that happens at 11am each day. This is when the queen’s guards come on horseback and change their positions. Unfortunately, it was raining so the ceremony was canceled. We decided to go to the British Library next, which ended up being one of my favorite things to visit. It held the original magna Carta for London, handwritten lyrics on envelopes, paper, etc by the Beatles, original scripts by Shakespeare, the script of Alice in Wonderland, and so many other original pieces that were historically significant or famous in the entertainment industry. Best of all, it was a free entrance to see all of this! After the library we went to a nearby English pub for lunch since it was Saint Patrick’s day and we wanted to get some beer. We took a train to see Saint Paul’s Cathedral, which is where many royal funerals have taken place. (Including Princess Diana’s). The church was really pretty, but not one of the best that I have seen in Europe. My friend Emily and I decided to get tea and a pastry by near the cathedral, because “tea time” is a very English thing to do. I got a vanilla based tea with a lemon cake, and the lemon cake is the best lemon flavored thing that I have ever had.

Most of the other people that I came to London with decided to go to a musical that evening, because London is suppose to be as good as the broadway shows in New York. Emily and I were not very interested in this, instead we went to London’s main shopping street known as Oxford Circus. I had a lot of fun going into the different stores, including TopShop which is known to be London’s forever 21. (Pricier and trendier though). I bought a gold and metallic shirt that I really have been wanting for a while, as well as a scarf to go with my new coat! Afterwards we decided to go see the Kensington Palace (where William and Kate live), but it was a  bad idea because apparently the palace is not lit up at all during the night. We could barely make the outline of the palace, and it was disappointing after all the metro changing we had to do to get there. We ended the night by going to a well-known Indian restaurant named Dishoom. This is where I people watched the Indian community, and noticed how Indians are so much more attractive in London. The food was also good, but Emily saw a little rat running around just as we were leaving the restaurant……don’t really know what to say to that.

Sunday was the last full day we had in London. I began the morning by taking the train to Tower of London. It was a beautiful day outside, so I got to take a lot of good pictures of the tower that was once a castle. We toured around the inside and I saw a wing of the castle where many traitors were kept and tortured. We got a chance to see some of the original methods and tools they used for torture, and it was really shocking to see inscriptions on the walls left by the traitors during their time there. My favorite part of the tower was visiting the crown jewels. This is Where many of the diamond crowns and rings of Queens and Kings are located. Also, the world's biggest diamond - 530 carats lives here…..I wish I had that in my drawer.

In the afternoon, I headed to Leyton to meet some of my friends to do an Olympic tour of Leyton, London – where the 2012 Summer Olympics are going to be held! The tour took 2.5 hours, but it was not what we expected. Our tour guide was really boring and old, and there was not as much prepared and accessible to see as we had anticipated. Instead, this old woman decided to tell us about the town, the river, the streets, and other things that I had no care for. However, we did get to see practice indoor swimming pools that are going to be used for the swimmer athletes, the pringle stadium for the basketball Olympics, and most interesting of all – the Olympic walkway for the athletes!  We ended by seeing the ArcelorMittal Orbit designed by Anish Kapoor – worth 20 million pounds, and it will offer panoramic views of the olympics. I am really curious to see how this all looks on television when the Olympics come about this fall.

As much as I wanted to explore more of London because I loved it so much, I was too tired to do anything else Sunday evening. I walked around with some of my friends as we searched for a good place to eat, but a lot of things were closed. Europe in general closes a lot of its shops on Sundays, but I expected London to be more like home. Instead, I ended up eating McDonald’s as my last meal…..but unlike Chicago, they have a veggie burger wrap which was pretty ridiculous.

I spent my three days in London thinking how much I loved it and how sad I would be to leave…..even though I was moving on to Paris. I almost did not leave when I was suppose to, because I barely made my flight the next morning to Paris. Let’s just say that I underestimated how long it would  take me to get through security. 

Milan

I went to Milan with Laila and Avanti the same weekend I was in Verona. We took a very early train into Milan, and had the train station hold our luggage because Avanti and I were going to fly back to Rome late that night. The first thing we did in Milan was visit the Cathedral of Santa Maria. It’s the 2^nd largest catholic cathedral in the worl, and it was stunning with it’s off white stone carved architecture. We climbed to the top of this cathedral and got one of the best views of Milan. I quickly realized that this city was more industrialized and had a lot more taller and modern buildings then other cities I had visited. After the cathedral, we had lunch at a generic pizza chain restaurant and the pizza was not the best I’ve had. We walked around Milan a little bit, examining various monuments and statues before dedicating the rest of the day looking at high-end designer shops. Being the fashion capitol of the world, I expected top of the line stores, where my mouth would drop because the products and the stores would look so amazing. Well, let’s just say I was disappointed. It was really fun visiting my favorite designers – Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, etc but I was envious at the hundreds of people I saw carrying shopping bags from those stores. Buying something there was not exactly in the budget….but, I did find myself a red trench coat from MANGO for spring. It was on sale, and I was so sick of taking pictures in my purple coat so I was very satisfied with my purchase. The only other thing to do in Milan was to see the famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci – the last supper. Except, Sunday was the once day where the museum was not open. The last thing on our agenda was to check out these so called designer outlets that were located a little out of the city. We took three separate trains to get there, only to realize it was a small department store that had random designer things on sale. In other words, it couldn’t even compete with Nordstrom rack. So, that was the end of Milan. I’m glad I took a day to tour the city and see what people call the fashion world – but I wasn’t entirely impressed. 

Verona

For the second week in March, I decided to travel to Verona – the town depicted in Romeo & Juliet. I went to see my friend Laila, and our friend Avanti that flew in for Spring Break. I had the genius idea to hop on my train and then call my friend Laila and tell her to pick me up at the train station, instead of calling her beforehand and giving her the details.…….Two minutes into the train ride, I realized that I had forgotten my phone. This was my first trip alone, I did not have her phone number, I did not remember any phone number, my phone had no internet, and I was going to get into Verona at 10pm with no map or Italian skills. (Both which I’ve decided to ignore in an attempt to just have fun and treat this semester as a vacation). So, I hopped off the train and went to the McDonald’s in the train station – which claimed it had wifi. The goal was to get on facebook (from my iphone – which I never forget).and message Laila – or ask one of my roommates to call her from my phone left at home to call Laila and tell her to COME AND CLAIM ME. Nobody spoke English, and I apparently needed my Italian phone to connect. This man attempted to help me for 30 minutes as I sat there debating to get a hotel for the night, before Laila rushed in. If you know me, very often do I show excitement – this was one of those times. Somehow she had communicated with my roommates and figured out I had left my phone at home. I spent the next two nights in her apartment, which was big and really cute. The next day she had class, so I was left alone to explore Verona for 4 hours on my own. I walked to Piazza Bra, which was lined with designer shops and nice restaurants that overlooked the beautiful arena. The arena is a mini colosseum basically. I also went to Piazza Erbe and looked at the tent shops. Afterwards, Laila and I made a delicious homemade Italian dinner – complete with store bought chocolate bread. We made plans for the next day and for our day trip to Milan. On Saturday, we were walking past castel vecchio (bridge to a famous castle) when I saw a lovely sign that Romeo and Juliet was being filmed. Upon investigation, Laila and I discovered that Ed Westwick – CHUCK EFFING BASS was there playing the role of Tybalt. I told Laila we would be spending the whole day there waiting for him to come out – seeing him would be the highlight of my study abroad experience – and I got very lucky! After pondering around the area for 45 minutes, we saw him come out all dressed in medieval attire with long hair. Not going to lie, it took me a while to recognize him – but my friend Laila finally convinced me it was him. We tried to get autographs since there was not a huge crowd, but we couldn’t get through security. Nonetheless, I was VERY content J. Afterwards, we went to Juliet’s House and I went inside and took pictures on her famous balcony. The house contained a ton of furniture and costumes from the original movies, as well as several paintings of Romeo and Juliet compiled by artists throughout the year. I did not write a letter to Juliet wishing for a long lost lover, but I did rub her breasts on a statue to get good luck in finding a lover in the nearby future. Afterwards, we went and picked up our friend Avanti from the train station and went back home to freshen up. We choose a very authentic Italian place for dinner, and I was nervous to go because I knew the vegetarian options would be limited. I got a glass of red wine from the Veneto region, an appetizer that was squash baked with sweet cheese, and a pasta dish that tasted like smoked leaves. It was not the best meal I had ever had, but it was a good experience. As the 3 of us were walking home, we encountered one of the best things ever. There was a carneval festival happening in one of the main piazzas in Verona! It was really, really amazing, for a small town like Verona. There were dozens of large floats playing fun music, hundreds of dancers going around in a parade, musicians and magicians walking around doing tricks and throwing prizes and confetti at people and more. I “got confettied” about 5 times without expecting it – and I actually enjoyed it without being concerned about how I would get it off my coat and out of my hair. At one point, two of the performers came over to pick me up and pour confetti all over my hair. We stood around, took pictures and blew bubbles for a while before trekking our way back to Laila’s apartment. We were so happy to randomly run into the festival, because it was a great ending to my time in Verona. 

Budapest

I was super pumped for this trip, because Budapest has many Turkish baths and I heard that everything in the city would be cheaper. The Turkish baths were outdoor and indoor baths that are naturally heated, and many of them are medicinal baths with natural minerals that help your body relax and improve skin. (Not like I ever knew this before the trip). We flew in late Thursday night and flew our late Sunday evening, so it was the perfect amount of time. The weather was finally getting warmer, but we still needed coats and boots! I went with five of my other friends and we stayed at a Best Western on the Pest side – Buda and Pest are divided by the Danube river. The day began with a cappuccino, chocolate pastry and a bottle of water – which to my shock came out to be only $3.50. (Twice as cheap as anything in Rome). We did a free walking tour of Budapest that lasted about two hours. The tour guide was extremely wise and told us great stories about the locations. We visited the main square, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the US embassy, a monument attributed to soviet soldiers that had died in WWII, and the parliament building. The parliament building was really big and beautiful – and apparently one of the 100 wonders of the world and one of the largest in Europe. We really wanted to come back and tour the inside on Saturday, but unfortunately all the tickets for the tours were sold out and you couldn’t wander in and look around without a guide. After this tour, we found a place called the Hummus Bar and I was SOOO excited to have falafel and hummus! Since this was the day of Unofficial, we wanted to start drinking in the early afternoon. We went barhopping around Budapest, and ended up at the number 2 best rated bar by Lonely Planet - Szimpla Kert. It wasn’t elegant with lots of drink options like you would expect. Instead, it was a ruins pub that was three  stories big with falls full of graffiti and old artistic looking junk everywhere. I actually really liked it and had a lot of fun there that night. Towards the end of the night, I came across guys from a bachelor party who were flying in from Capetown, it was a lot of fun talking with them and telling them inappropriate things. We ended up joining their bachelor party until the next bar – at which point we decided it was late and time to go home. The next day we woke up and went to the large market hall to check out Hungarian spices, foods and other bakery treats. It was a really big indoor market, and I picked up postcards and some desserts here. Next, we went inside Saint Stephen’s Cathedral and saw his preserved hand in one of the back rooms from 1058. It was pretty cool but kind of weird. Everyone wanted to visit a famous underground cave, so we spent the rest of the afternoon taking a tour inside one. I had never been in a cave before so it was an interesting experience. We also went up Fisherman’s bastion and the Buda Castle which were up on a hill. We got panoramic views of Budapest, watched the sun go down, and enjoyed freshly baked cinnamon bread. In the evening, we walked across the famous chain bridge and went to a typical Hungarian restaurant. Hungary is known for meat dishes, so I knew I wouldn’t find much to eat – I actually ate a dish that had fried cheese with rice and tarter sauce….not the best. Our agenda for the night was to visit the number 1 rated bar in the world – called A38, which was a bar/club on a big boat. It was really cool to be on a club in a boat, but it was not what we expected. We ended the night by returning to Szimpla Kert. Our last day in Budapest was planned to be very relaxing. We went to the Szechenyi Baths, one of the best known baths in all of Budapest that had over 2 dozen different types of baths indoors and outdoors. The outdoors ones were mostly hot water – warmed naturally by spring water. It was really nice going into this enormous hot tub because the weather outside was cold. I also tried several of the indoor baths – ones that had natural minerals or were medicinal. It was an interesting experience, because I was not going into pools or water that had any chlorine. I ended my trip to Budapest with an hour long massage – that was half the price of what it would be in the states. 

Naples

On the last weekend of February, we were scheduled to go to a cheese farm for the entire day, so I did not travel out of Italy. But, I did take a day trip to Naples on Saturday. This trip began rough – on Thursday I had attempted my first “outdoor running” experience, and on Friday afternoon I had hiked up some steep hills to get to the cheese farm. On Friday night it was one of my friend’s birthday, so we were out at a club until 2am. So, waking up at 8am and taking a 3 hour train into Naples was not ideal. Every muscle from my waist down was aching from my two days of rough physical activity. (haha J ) I traveled to Naples only with my one roommate and her boyfriend because everyone else was feeling “too sick” and decided they would see Naples another time. The first thing we did when we left the train station was search for the ever famous pizzeria – Da Michele. Naples is where pizza was first created, so it is home to some of the best tasting pizza in the world. The pizzeria Da Michele is the one that Julia Roberts eats at in Eat, Pray & Love (and obvi same one from the book). The outside of this pizzeria was extremely crowded, and we went and got a number to wait to eat inside. After an hour and a half later and a big misunderstanding, we quickly came to realize that it would be about 3 more hours before we could actually sit down and eat. I was pretty frustrated, so I decided to take the pizza as “take away” (as they call it in Italy) and eat it on the side of the street like a homeless person. The streets of Naples are much dirtier than any streets I’ve seen before, and there are no benches. I didn’t care, I quickly gobbled up the pizza. It was sooo soooo good. I ate it so fast that I felt a little sick afterwards, but I continued two blocks before I decided I needed some gelato. We walked around Naples for a couple hours, but it was very dirty, kind of shady, and not very beautiful. Walking down the mall area was nice – that is where I saw a Michael Jackson impersonator. He not only danced like MJ, but he legit looked like him. Sketch. But this one of my favorite things that happened in Naples. Because there was nothing else really special about it. We walked into this piazza del Plebiscito, which was beautiful in architecture – especially at night. It was one of the few places that did not have massive amounts of graffiti everywhere. Afterwards we walked around Castel Nuovo, trying to kill time before our 8:30 train ride home. We got in a bus to head back to the train station and witnessed a dangerous “domestic” fight. A 200 pound woman and a skinny man were literally clawing each other, pulling out each other’s hairs and pulling off things like coats and shoes. As scary as it was, I was more concerned about the fact that we were taking the bus without buying a bus ticket and if the police came to end this fight, we would all be checked. Typical of me, I know. We decided to get off the bus and took a cab back to the train station. I knew I would be hungry so I decided to get McDonald’s at the train station. They had a hard time understanding “a burger without meat but with all the veggies”. This fiasco ended with me yelling at about 3 people until my order was right. Finally, we hopped on the bus to make it back to Rome.

Super cool that I ate at the famous pizzeria, but Naples will never see me ever again. Also, for some reason there were SO MANY INDIAN people in Naples – Rome has like none…..except for the hundreds of single, weird Indian men that are street vendors and gawk at me because there is no other Indian girl in the city of Rome. 

Vienna - Austria

I didn’t really know much about Vienna-Austria, but I fell in love with this city after spending just three days there. Let me tell you that a lot of this blog and my pictures for Vienna consist of PASTRIES – since Austria is known for them. (Or I just really have a sweet tooth). The trip started with me being the only person out of 8 to check a suitcase in. FINALLY we were going to travel on an airline that didn’t have restrictions where I could only bring a backpack unless I wanted to pay like $40. The short plane ride also gave us a snack – “toasted wheat bread with cottage cheese and slices of tomato”. One bite and I was done. We got into Vienna at about 11pm, but we were all kind of hungry. We walked around and found an open restaurant. I ordered a mushroom and potato soup and an apple strudel. While I really was enjoying the soup, I quickly realized it had some kind of meat in it – oops. I “returned” the soup and demanded I don’t pay for it….which I didn’t. The apple strudel is really well known in Vienna, and it was really good. It was warm and came with vanilla ice cream.

We began the next morning with BAGELS. Everyone was excited for this because Italy has no bagels and is not big on breakfast. I got a bagel with egg and cheese, which was extremely satisfying. Next, we ventured into the city part of Vienna and came across the Stephansdom. It was an intricate gothic church that basically towers over Vienna. We climbed over 300 stairs to get to the top of one of the church’s tower, and got to see a great view of Vienna. Although, it was nothing comparable to the duoma view in Florence. Afterwards, we walked around and visited a few more churches and random monuments. Vienna has two big palaces, one of them being Hofsburg. We walked around the area of the palace, which was really pretty and we made plans to come back the next day to tour the inside of it. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around in Vienna – there was a forever 21 store, which was really exciting since I haven’t visited one in over a month. I only bought a necklace because nothing seemed super appealing. For dinner we went to a restaurant called Figl-Muller, which was suggested in guidebooks to have the best wiener schnitzels. (This is fried veal). I obviously was not eating any since I don’t eat meat, but all my friends were super excited to try it. It looked really good, but I was content with the potato salad and greens that I ordered for dinner. Afterwards, we stopped at a chain bakery store called Aida for some dessert. Aida is decorated in cheesy pink and white colors, but it had some great pastries! I decided to buy two since I had only had a light dinner. I got a fruit tarte looking dessert and a sacher torte. The sacher torte is a dry chocolate cake with chocolate frosting mixed in with jam. It is apparently considered “the classiest chocolate cake in the world”. Both of the pastries were good, but not the best that I have ever had. (Starting to become a pastry snob).

That night we wanted to go out so we headed to the nearest DESPAR (name for grocery stores throughout Italy and some of Europe). I picked up 3 different Austrian beers to try, and they were all pretty good. Italy doesn’t require you to be of a certain age or have an ID, so we all headed out to a bar without any identification only to get to the bar and realize that they weren’t going to let us in. I was pretty mad and made the usual snobby comments to the bouncer, but we had no choice but to trek back to the hotel. Apparently, Austria works more like the US. We made a pit stop at McDonald’s for some snacks and  “emergency” bathroom usage. (We’ll just leave it at that).

The next day we woke up and decided to hit up the Naschmarket for “brunch”. It is a very famous market in Vienna that has dozens and dozens of food and flea market type of stands. The first thing I did was buy a pastry – a poppyseed glazed roll…which was really good! This market also had several small shops, restaurants and other street vendors. I was shocked to see that there were Indian products everywhere. I was so happy when I saw some of the stands selling falafel. How I had missed spicy food that was NOT Italian. The market also handed out tons of small free samples of things like dried fruit, olives, vegetables, meats, etc.

After brunch we headed to the Belvedere Palace – which was absolutely gorgeous. We spent a lot of time taking pictures here. I really wanted to tour the inside, but came to learn that it consisted mostly of paintings and we wouldn’t get to see any of the personal things like bedrooms and such. Afterwards we walked back to the Hofburg Palace and took a tour of the inside. We viewed the living apartments of Emperor Francis Joseph and his wife Empress Elizabeth. They had most of the original furniture and many things such as the empress’s jewels, letters, and clothes preserved in show cases. We did a walking audio tour, and it was really interesting to learn about the Empress Elizabeth’s life, including her tragic death that occurred when she was killed at a young age. While the furniture looked very royal, I was surprised to see that the rooms were all much smaller then I would have anticipated. We also viewed hundreds of pieces of gold, silver and bronze silver wear that was used by the rich people in Vienna, or given as gifts to famous Austrian government officials. After touring the palace, we did some souvenir shopping for postcards and chocolate. Austria is home of Mozart – and there are these famous chocolate candies called Mozartballs that EVERYONE was obsessed with. I did not find them as tasteful as the others did, so I stuck to just trying one and saving my calories for the pastries.

For dinner, me and a couple other girls went to a pub called 15/16 for veggie burgers and it was FANTASTIC. Afterwards, we walked to the Rathaus – which is a really pretty towns hall building that has a gigantic ice rink in front of it. The building literally looks like a palace and is even prettier during the night. There were also food vendors, drink vendors and people playing musical instruments around the area. We spent a few hours just hanging out here, people watching, and drinking hot wine with cinnamon. It was one of those “happy moments” where you realize how much you love your life.

The next day we had a late afternoon flight back to Rome so there was not time to do too much. There was a Marilyn Monroe exhibition close to our hotel, and I really wanted to go in and explore but nobody else wanted to so I gave up on it. Some day!!!! The day began with a visit to Aida for some good pastries. Vienna is known for plum pancakes, but since I never got a chance to try those I decided to get the next best thing – a plum turnover. It was really good, and one of my favorite pastries from Vienna! Afterwards, we walked to the Hunderwasser House and Museum. Hundertwasser was an artist famous for his abstract art. His house was kind of cool to see, but not worth the walk over. As we started to head back to the hotel, we saw Vienna’s amusement park which is home to the world’s oldest working Ferris Wheel. It was about to rain, and everyone knows how much I hate rain. Me and a few other girls quickly hailed a taxi and went back to our hotel.

Before heading to the airport, we decided to do lunch in the bagel shop again. I got a bagel and some tea – I’m really starting to become a tea person these days (YAY LESLIE). We were kind of running late to the airport – and some of the girls were really stressed and freaking out about missing the flight. Somehow I’ve become a calm and laid back person on this trip, and the only thing that’s really freaked me out or made me upset is sleeping in the hostels for my first two travels. Even with my checked bag, unorganized purse full of travel documents, and new leather boots that are hard to zip and unzip – I was the first one to get through all of security and be checked in. We made our flight perfectly fine, and I even had time to buy a really good chocolate candy bar before boarding the plane back to Rome.

Yes, I realize that all these sweets are not doing good things for my body. 

Venice - Carnevale

I spent the second week in February traveling to the beautiful city of Venice – built entirely on water. It has six different districts and you can either walk along the canal to get to them or take a ferry. Movies and pictures can’t do justice to just how pretty and amazing Venice is. I choose this particular weekend to travel there because of CARNEVALE season – a Venetian tradition where people dress up in masks and costumes and gather in San Marco Square to celebrate. It is similar to what Mardi Gras in New Orleans would be – but without nude people and crazy drunk Americans. And much more cultural and authentic.

We took a six-hour train into Venice on Friday night, and stayed at a Holiday Inn for the weekend. It was nice to stay in a clean and secure place that had unlimited amounts of hot water J I thoroughly enjoyed the free American buffet-style breakfast that I got upgraded to receive. It was delicious, and a good way to begin the day. The next day we bought a 36-hour bus and ferry ride, because you need to take a ferry or water taxi to travel from one point in Venice to another. How interesting that the city does not have actual cars but water taxis or ferries to travel! We began the day by shopping around for a unique mask that we could wear for the festivities. On that particular day, there was going to be a parade and an evening concert in San Marco Square. After trying on dozens of masks, I settled on a navy blue and gold one that was pretty big and obnoxious. Most of my friends selected smaller ones, but I wanted something that would stand out. San Marco Square itself was so amazing at first glance  - St. Mark’s church was breathtakingly beautiful. We walked around and took pictures for a while before finding a nearby restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was a tourist trap with terrible service, but we were so hungry that we settled for it. After lunch my friends and I each bought a bottle of wine and headed back to the main square to watch the parade. We met up with other people in my program and spent the afternoon drinking, taking pictures in masks and watching people dressed up in obscene costumes walk around San Marco Square. One thing is for sure – only the Americans visiting Venice were actually drinking publicly in this square….apparently it’s not suppose to be a shitshow like Mardi Gras is.

We went to dinner with the group far away from San Marco Square so that we wouldn’t be near touristy restaurants. I wasn’t hungry so I skipped ordering food and got wine instead, which put me at a happy place by 6pm. Afterwards, we found this winery place that let you fill up one liter of wine in any bottle for 2 euros. It was a FANTASTIC deal – because the wine tasted good and it was so cheap! I knew I didn’t need the wine, but I couldn’t pass up the deal. We decided to walk back to San Marco Square for the “evening party” because not everyone in the group had the ferry pass. It was a long walk, but it was really fun going up and down the streets and looking at the different shops that were selling Venetian masks and costumes. We spent the rest of the night in the square – drinking, dancing and listening to music. It was VERY cold, to the point where my toes and fingers were numb – but I had a great time. My greatest difficulty was finding a bathroom – only customers were allowed to use the bathroom at any nearby cafés and there were no public bathrooms. So, I ended up buying the cheapest thing every time I had to use the bathroom – an expresso shot. I had a total of 4 expresso shots by the end of the night. That mixed in with over a bottle of wine = not good things for your body. Gathering the girls and finding our way back to the Holiday Inn was quite the journey and made for some very interesting memories.

The next day we decided to take the ferry to other areas of the city and explore. We quickly came to realize that almost everything was closed – either because it was Sunday or because everyone went to San Marco Square for Carnevale festivities. The only other area that was open was Murano – a place known to make and shape real glass into various objects. We went to Murano and saw a demonstration of how real glass is made. It was really cool to see the glass artists make different objects & color them. Afterwards we shopped around for Murano glass souvenirs. As fond as I was of this Murano glass, I ended up falling in love with a random bronze ring with a turquoise gem that was displayed at one of the small shops. I decided to buy the ring as my souvenir because I knew I would most likely break any glass object before it made it back to the states. Afterwards we went to Rialto Bridge, which is the main bridge crossing Venice’s grand canal and it is covered entirely by shops. It’s a great picture taking point, and it looks really pretty in the evening just as the soon is going down. By the time it was early evening, we were all really exhausted so we spent some time in a café drinking hot chocolate before heading to dinner. Hot chocolate in Italy makes any hot chocolate in America seem like a joke….it is sooo good. We rested in the hotel lounge for some time before getting on our midnight train back to Rome. This train ride was awful. It was an overnight train, I had booked my tickets last minute so did not have official seats, the train was extremely cold, and my stomach did not feel well. I would have given any amount of money to somehow have magically gotten home and avoided this train ride – but life does not work that way. I was SOO happy to be home and crawl into my bed at 7:30am. It’s amazing to think that I’m calling my little Rome apartment “home” J

Venice Carnevale was pretty cool, and going to it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I can only hope that some day I’ll see be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and at least be able to compare the two events.

P.S. I did not do the ever-famous gondola ride through the canals of Venice – but I plan to be back with a lover some day and do it. At the very least, I want to re-visit Venice for a day in a month or two when it is much warmer and I can enjoy the scenery better. 

Poland – Aushwitz

This trip required some preparation – both mentally and physically. The mental aspect was because we were going to visit Aushwitz – where the concentration camps that exiled and killed millions of Jews during the Holocaust existed. It was one of many subjects of history that always interested me, and I knew it would be a different experience than the usual sightseeing that I would do in other countries. The worst part was being able to physically handle weather in Poland that weekend – it was about 0 degrees the entire weekend. I expected Rome to be “peacoat” weather, so of course I had no heavy coat, boots, scarf, gloves, hat or anything warm of that nature. To make matters worse, I caught a really bad cold the night before we left. Nonetheless, I packed all the medicines and warm clothes I had and set out to try real pireorgi in Poland. We were exuberant the moment we set foot in Poland because we saw bagels and quickly realized that we would get 4 zloty (Poland currency) for every euro. (Italy does not have any bagels.) After finding our hostel – which was MUCH better than the first one, we got directions to get authentic pierogi and find a mall so that we could buy attire that would allow us to survive in Poland. We went to a restaurant called Miod I Wino, and I ordered a traditional cheese, onion and herb soup for an appetizer and cheese and potato pierogi as my main course. I also got “mould wine” which is hot and spiced up wine that is very delicious. I had a pretty bad cold at this point, so I had trouble truly tasting everything – but it was all still very good. It was a nice restaurant and my bill came out to be only $12 – you can barely get one dish in Italy at that price so I was excited to go shopping next! The mall in Krakow was huge, and there were endless stores that had cute clothes comparable to what we would buy in the USA but with different names. They had a “forever 18” but not a forever 21. I wanted to shop like crazy, but I kept in mind that everything would have to fit in the same backpack that I brought – so shopping had to stay to essentials. I ended up buying a long, fuzzy coat, FAKE uggs, earmuffs, gloves and a scarf for $75 – unbelievable. I freaking loved this zloty currency! I was also ready to bare Krakow weather, but I still suffered miserably throughout the weekend. We had to take multiple breaks inside stores wherever we walked to, and I literally bundled my body so that only my eyes and forehead showed. I put on FOUR layers of sock on each foot, and every warm sweater I had. In retrospect, I didn’t need to pack any clothes because I essentially wore everything I brought every day.

After the shopping, we went and looked at Saint Floran’s Gate – which is the entrance to the city. It was antique and looked very match like a castle. We kept walking and discovered the main square, which was beautiful even in the cold and snow. It was lined up with several restaurants and little shops. After everyone was close to attaining frostbite, we decided it was time to go back to the hostel for a nap.

For dinner we went to a place called CK Browar, which was a big pub with it’s own brewery. I ordered a Greek salad and “fried” potatoes. Apparently potatoes are a big side dish in Poland, and fried potatoes were suppose to be different than French fries. It turned out to taste like huge French fries in the shape of squares. We also ordered their tap beer – which came in servings of 5 liters in this very long dispenser. The beer was tasty and unique, and the atmosphere was a good change.

The next day we set out to Auschwitz, which was about an hour and a half away from Krakow. We hired private transportation and an English-speaking tour guide, and we watched an intense documentary on the way there. The first half of the tour was spent in the Auschwitz camp, and the second half in the Birkenau camp. Between 1942-1944, over a million Jews were exiled from their homes and sent to these camps to be killed in gas chambers. Children and families of all kind were told they were going some where that would have a better life. Little did they know the horrific realities of the concentration camps. Once the people got to the camp, 75% were immediately sent to be killed in the gas chambers. The SS German troops shaved off everyone’s heads, stripped them from their clothes and pulled away all their belongings. One by one, the gas chamber was filled with hundreds of people before the doors were bolted shut. It took fifteen to twenty minutes for the people to die. The 25% that were chosen to live had even a harsher reality – they were starved to death, overworked, and harshly punished for making the slightest mistake.

At Auschwitz, we walked through a museum that preserved belongings and artifacts from the Holocaust. I saw thousands of shoes and suitcases belonging to the victims as well as several adult and child clothing. The most shocking was the hair. There was a particular room that displayed thousands of bundles of hair – all from when the SS troops chopped or shaved it off. The Germans destroyed all of the gas chambers after the war stopped in 1945, but there was one that was preserved – only because it was a bomb shelter. It felt so weird to walk through a building where thousands of people were killed. Birkenau camp was much bigger than the Auschwitz, and this is where I saw firsthand where the exiled victims lived. It was heartbreaking. Four or five people were shoved onto wooden beds no bigger than full size, with no blankets or appropriate clothing to survive harsh weathers. The bathrooms were horrendous and publicly open. I can’t even imagine the pain and suffering these people went through, when I couldn’t even tolerate the 0 degree weather in my 10 layers of clothing for four hours. The ride home was a resting and reflective time for everyone.

After some rest at the hostel, we went out to a quick dinner. For dessert, we were on a hunt to find Wedel’s Chocolate Lounge – which was suggested to us by a friend. It was the most wonderful dessert place I have ever been to – and I literally experienced what I would call “food porn”. After wanting everything off that menu, I decided on a trio hot chocolate – which gave me large samples of white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate along with a fudge cupcake with vanilla ice cream. When the desserts arrived, I was in heaven. It was a great conclusion to my trip, as we had a very early flight out of Poland the next morning. 

Adjusting to "class"

The last ten days have been a big “adjusting to Rome” time for me. When I was returning from Florence I suddenly realized that “Rome” was going to be my home and I wasn’t simply on a vacation that involved jumping from city to city. I’ve learned to stop complaining about how small my apartment is and how there are so many things I wish it had. Laundry is perhaps the biggest hassle, since Italy doesn’t really have driers and we have to dry our own clothes. Our apartment didn’t even come with a washing machine, so we were given the luxury of a laundry cleaning company picking up our clothes, washing and drying them, and bringing them back to us. I also just got my coat dry-cleaned because I was thoroughly grossed out by it, and it cost 13 Euros ($15). I may as well just buy a new coat next time! We have not had Wi-Fi in our apartment for the past 3 weeks either, and I’ve learned to spend my day without checking my Facebook a million times…..but that will be short-lived I’m sure.

I’m taking five classes this semester, and all of them are pretty interesting with the exception of one. On the plus side, I get to sleep in 2 days of the week and wake up semi-early the other two days. This is better than I expected, but I know law school is not going to be this good so this is good preparation. I’m taking Italian 101, in which I learn basic vocabulary and how to say phrases in Italian. It’s really helpful to learn this, because I can pick up on what people are saying when I’m at a restaurant or a grocery store. The fact that it is similar to Spanish helps, but I don’t anticipate remembering it for the rest of my life like I will with Spanish. My Italian Society & Culture class is taught by a teacher who was once an investigative reporter for politics and she is very knowledgeable about Italian government and culture. I’m going to be learning about how politics in Italy work, which should be helpful to my political science major. One of my favorite classes is Food & Culture, in which I learn about the history of food, originality of Italian food, differences in wine, and how to cook. For the second half of the semester, I will be doing cooking various Roman and Italian dishes. In addition, we take field trips to vineyards so that we can become experts on recognizing wine. We also go to a cheese farm and get to sample a lot of different cheeses. I’m ready to put on 2 pounds during that weekend. My second favorite class is Layers of Rome. This class would probably be the ideal class for any adventurous person. We meet on site each week – meaning at different museums, monuments, historic ruins and so on. This means we get to see, learn, and photograph places like the Colosseum, the Vatican, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps and so much. No big deal right? What makes this class even better is the extremely intelligent British teacher who knows Rome like the back of his hand. The last and least favorite of my classes is Food and Media. This class involves making a blog about the food I eat, and learning how food and media interact on a global level. It sounds interesting, but I am thoroughly bored by it. On the plus side, we spend the second half of the semester making a documentary with twelve people. The documentary will involve picking a topic, working with Italians within our community, and filming important aspects of Italian culture.

While I am thoroughly enjoying my classes in Rome more than I ever have in Champaign-Urbana, it is hard to break through the “I’ve been slacking since sophomore year when I learned I can pass my classes without ever attending them”. It would be very obvious if I missed any of these classes, and I feel like I should get into practice of attending all my classes – because I’ll be required to do that in a short seven months. Nonetheless, I’m taking 2 out of my 5 classes credit/no credit…..just so I can enjoy my time here a little more :) 

Florence/Firenze

It was our first 3-day weekend, so about half the people in my program decided to go to Florence for the weekend. It was planned very last minute and it was our first trip so it was pretty crazy. We took a 6:15 AM train on Friday, which meant we had to wake up PRETTY early to ensure we could figure out the bus/train system. It was a 3.5-hour train ride, and the first thing we did when we got there was have a cappuccino and corneta J.  It was my first time staying in a hostel, and I was definitely scared – especially since the reviews said that it had bed bugs. Also, I think it was the first time in my life that I packed everything I needed into a bag pack. I was proud to do that, but I did end up doing some clothes shopping just for fun. The hostel was much less shadier than I thought, but still the worst living condition I’ve ever lived in.

The first thing we did in Florence was check out the Duoma, also called Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. It was a big, architectural building and it was beautiful. We spent a lot of time taking pictures and walking around it because it was a central tourist site for Florence. I also climbed to the top of the Duoma with a few of the people in my program, and it was quite a hike up. The staircases were extremely narrow and it was kind of scary walking, but I was excited for what the view from the top would be like. It was absolutely beautiful, and I was more in love with Florence than Rome in the 30 minutes I spent viewing the city from the top of the Duoma. Next, we went to a pizzeria called Gusta Pizza – known to be the best pizza in all of Florence. It was pretty good, but not the best I’ve ever had. (Best would be Dar Poeta in Rome). Afterwards, we went to Ponte Vecchio and spent a few hours there. Ponte Vecchio is this old beautiful bridge that has amazing views and the cutest stores lined up against the streets.

Afterwards, we did some shopping on the main streets of Rome and found the best-known gelato place called Grom. I tried a few samples, but didn’t think it was all that good – kind of tasted like Oberweis ice cream. (After you try desserts in Italy, Oberweis doesn’t seem like good stuff). We headed back to the hostel that night, and ended up going out to an English pub called Kikuya.  From what I remember, it was a lot of fun. The next day we woke up early once again, and visited the Uffizi Gallery, which had a lot of famous paintings. It was massive and really interesting, but since I have no appreciation for art I was easily bored.  After the Uffizi, we shopped at the markets and had lunch by the Basilica di San Lorenzo. In the evening, we hiked up piazza Michelangelo for another amazing view of Florence.  By far one of the most romantic places I have ever seen. I went to Space nightclub that night – the club where Jersey Shore famously partied when they were in Italy last year. It was pretty fun, but nothing special from the Chicago clubs. The next day we took an afternoon train back to Rome and I was completely drenched of tiredness from the weekend. However, I can surely say that it was one of the best weekends of my life. 

First weekend in Rome!

After about 16 hours of total travel time, I finally arrived to ROMA. I could barely stay awake during the bus ride to our apartment/school area, despite how excited I was. We had to drag our bags which weighed about 150 pounds to our apartment - which was not fun at all. Luckily, my apartment is only 2 blocks from Scuola de Leonardo di Vinci and Gustolab - which is where all my classes are. The apartment is small, and kind of cozy. We don't have a lot of bedroom space and the bathroom is pretty small. Although, the owner of the building controls the heat so it is always freezing. Rome in general is much colder than I expected it to be, and I did not bring enough clothes for winter weather. That just means more shopping though right? :) I spent my first night in Roma eating at the closest pizzeria to me and trying Italian gelato for the first time. I had pizza with eggplant and vanilla and strawberry gelato. Gelato is to die for here :) I spent my first weekend doing orientation related things. The first morning I had Italian style pastries and cappuccino...which were all delicious. It is only acceptable to have cappuccino in the morning here, and people don't eat breakfast type of foods any time past 11am.  During the evenings, I ventured out and saw the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. Of course I took pictures everywhere, and it was really nice just walking around and viewing what Italian life is like. I also ate at one of the best known pizza places in all of Rome during my first weekend - DAR POETA. It was absolutely delicious, and I will surely miss it when I'm back in Chicago. Pizza here is so much different than pizza at home. It is extremely thin, and served in a huge piece without being cut. Apparently, Italians "enjoy being able to cut pizza pieces the way they like" and not in same size pieces like "Americans" do. - This is what my food and culture teacher told me at least.

Packing, packing, packing.

7 days till I leave for ROME! Wooo, super excited :) The packing process begun a week ago, and it seems like a lot of work to fit everything in properly and ensure I'm not forgetting something important. My goal is to have everything packed 2 days before I leave so I can enjoy the last day with my family. Let's see how it goes :)

P.S. I want to get "la dolce vita" tattooed. Too much? haha.