Day Trips to Siena, Verona, and Milan!

Ciao!


The last 3 weeks I have taken day trips to 3 beautiful, very different cities in Italy! The medieval cities of Siena & San Gimignano, Verona the city of love, and Milan the city of fashion.

It was nice to get away from the city for a day and go to Siena, seeing beautiful countryside along the way! Siena is a great little city, with not nearly as many tourists or excitement as Florence. However, it was very beautiful and one day was enough time to see all the highlights there. 

I'm adding lots of pictures because I honestly don't remember that far back to be able to talk about specifics! The picture to the left is the towers in San Gimignano and to the right is a gorgeous view of the city! I really enjoyed the medieval architecture of the buildings in these 2 cities. 


Going to Verona over Valentines Day Weekend for the Verona in Love Festival was really cool to experience! Verona is a very romantic city and it was even more so with the festival taking place! We did all the cheesy romantic things, like seeing Juliet's house, going on her balcony and writing her a letter! She receives 800 letters a day and Juliet's secretaries answer all of them! Hopefully I will be getting a response soon :) The city is gorgeous with a bridge overlooking an amazing view! You can see part of it from my picture to the left.


Lastly, Milan was amazing of course and I loved it! The fashion is incredible and especially with Fall Fashion Week going on! It was so cool to be apart of the excitement! Although we didn't get to see any shows (they are invite only..but someday :)) we got to see the shows displayed on big screen TV's outside, which was really cool! We got lucky and saw a famous Italian actress being interviewed on the street! I took many pictures of the famous fashion district which has every high fashion store you can imagine, if only I could have afforded to shop there! 

We also went to a famous chocolate factory to try the hot chocolate, which is VERY rich and thick! It was delicious but too sweet that I couldn't even finish mine! 
My only disappointment about the trip was that I did not feel like one day was enough time in Milan, I could have spent at least a whole weekend there!  

To the left is a picture of the Italian actress and to the right is the Duomo, which is gorgeous! Below is me standing next to one of the big screen TV's that displayed the fashion shows!

 

This post is short but Spring Break began today and I leave for Berlin with Euroadventures in 2 hours!!! 

We take a private luxury bus from Florence to Berlin, then onto Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and Barcelona! Spending about 2-3 days in each place. This will be my first time traveling outside of Italy since arriving! I'm super excited!  Hope I can get some sleep on the bus so I'm ready to explore Berlin tomorrow! 

Have a wonderful weekend! I am sure you will be seeing pictures and statuses from me throughout the next 10 days! :)

Ciao ciao!

Florence, Italy- Week 3 & 4

Buonasera!

It has been much too long since I did a post! School and traveling have sucked up my time (not that this is a bad thing, well the traveling part anyways) but I can now inform of you the adventures I have had to Rome, Pisa, and Venice these past 2 weeks!

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I met up with Alex Fuller in Rome the last weekend of January. We had a wonderful time seeing Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, ancient ruins and many other sites! My favorite part definitely had to be The Vatican, particularly the Sistine Chapel. The Last Judgement painting by Michelangelo is a MUST SEE. Although I enjoyed Rome very much, especially the ancient ruins which can be seen in many different areas of the city, I was definitely happy to be living in Florence instead. Rome is very big compared to Florence and doesn't have the homey, comforting authentic Italian feeling that I get when i'm in Florence.

One of the highlights of my trip to Rome was getting a Louis Vuitton purse for 30 euro! I wasn't planning on getting one but when I went up to the guy selling (fake) designer purses on the street he got very excited and I brought his price down from 45 to 30. It is the perfect shaped bag for a little puppy to put in so I plan on it being my future pooch bag :)

Two full days was enough time spent in Rome and Alex and I were happy to leave our cold, not so comfortable hostel room where one night weird noises from outside drunks kept up us all night. I was very happy to be riding the train back to Florence with Alex rather than alone since on the way to Rome I experienced some unwanted attention from creepy men...

That upcoming week I had to catch up on homework from being gone over the weekend and go to 4 days of classes. Luckily there was still time everyday to show Alex around Florence! The highlights were going to the Ponte Vecchio (left), Boboli Gardens, Piazza Michelangelo, and Fiesole at sunset (bottom left). In addition, we also took a trip to Pisa by train, which is only about an hour away and got all the cheesy poses next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa that we could think of! 

It was an absolutely gorgeous evening in Pisa, so much so that I felt like I was living in a movie. Somehow the lighting made the view from the bridge of colorful houses along the shoreline look unreal, it was an astonishing beauty.     

On Saturday February 2nd we got up very early in the morning to catch our train for Venice! We were supposed to leave at 4 am but somebodies alarm didn't go (ahhem Alex), but luckily taking trains in Europe is easy and when you purchase your ticket they can be used for up to like 2-3 months until validated so we were able to get a train leaving at 8 am and made it to Venice at 11 am. It was a good thing we didn't catch our early train anyways because the weather in Venice was terrible all day! It was pouring rain and windy as soon as we got off our train and continued into the night! However, we toughed it out and walked the narrow streets of Venice for about an hour, getting lost several times because Venice is basically a maize and going through 2 umbrellas that broke due to the strong winds. Finally we arrived at the Piazza San Marco where all the Carnival events were taking place. However, due to the horrific weather there were really no events going on, other then a few brave dressed up people fighting through the cold. 

Although I was miserably cold and wet, with drenched shoes and socks and freezing in my little leather jacket, I loved loved loved Venice! It is such a gorgeous, interesting, beyond beautiful city! No vehicles are allowed in the city and everyone travels by way of canals so there are water bus, taxis, police, ambulance, and many gondolas! It is very cool to see! 

We ended up hiding out inside St. Mark's Basilica which was in the square and tried to warm up and look up restaurants to eat at for dinner until we were kicked out along with everyone else who was seeking shelter there. 

Luckily, we had a really good night with dinner at a reasonably priced restaurants (Venice is very expensive!), seeing a Baroque and Opera, and going to the best bar in Venice.

 The next day (Sunday) we got very lucky because the weather was beautiful! The sun was shining and there was no wind in sight so we decided to splurge and get a water bus so that we could ride along the Grand Canal on our way to the Carnival! Upon arriving in the square, the Carnival was full blown, with several tourists and people dressed in exquisite costumes! We got right in on the action and got our pictures with several of the dressed up people. It was really awesome to see all the Carnival festivities taking place right before our eyes! My favorite costume was the girl in the picture to the left, she was stunning! I can't imagine how much time and money goes into the costumes people wear, but I know it must be a lot! 

That afternoon we took a tour of the Grand Canal by boat and also road the water bus several more times, so we spend a lot of time on the water which was great! I would have loved to have another day in Venice, but we sadly had to leave that evening. If I get the chance i'm hoping to go back to Venice in  late spring/ early summer when the weather is nicer! 

On Monday, Alex left for Pamplona, Spain to prepare for his upcoming semester which starts this week. My excitement for this past week is that I joined a gym here in Florence! I had missed working out (especially running) and its near impossible to run outside here with all the people and busy streets. A friend of mine who recently joined recommended it so we are now workout buddies. The best part is that the membership includes classes and their are several that take place everyday, which i'm excited to take part in! I gotta get into bikini shape for 2 upcoming beach trips I am taking in March and April to Mallorca, Spain and Croatia! 

That is all I have for now! Hopefully you will be seeing another post from me sooner than later! ;) 

Caio and Buona Giornata! 

Florence, Italy- Week Two

Ciao!

This week has gone by molto veloce (very fast)! Yet, I had a great first week of classes and a fantastico time in Chianti this weekend! My week started off with 8:45 am Collection Theory class- my first real fashion design class- even taught by a fashion designer here in Italy! Following that class I had Italian language and Graphic Design. I really like my Italian language professor, although it can be hard to understand her Italian accent at times! Tuesday I had Fashion Illustration, where we began drawing! Since I have never taken a sketching class it was really hard for me to begin drawing yet I will get plenty of practice with all the homework! We were assigned 15 sketches for next week! Wednesday I had Pattern Design, a class where we will begin making patterns for clothing! I have 8:45 am class Monday- Wednesday and Italian language everyday from 12:30-2:30- hopefully all that class time will help with picking up on the language quickly! Luckily all my professors speak pretty good English. They speak both Italian and English in class because there are Italian students, as well as students from all over the world! The best part of my schedule is having no class on Fridays! Yay for 3 day weekends! :)

Everyday is an adventure walking the fifteen minutes to school, passing by gorgeous architecturally designed buildings and churches, the most scenic areas in Florence, cute cafes, Italian shops, men trying to sell umbrellas' (which happened almost everyday considering all the rain we got this week!), tourists, and all kinds of people and languages!

Wednesday night, 5 of us girls went to a really cool bar called Art Bar where they use fresh fruit to create "art" around cocktails! It was super yummy, as you can see from my picture!

Friday I decided to take an adventure to visit my dad's cousin, Lisa, who lives in Florence and works at a Pilate's Studio! It was really cool seeing her after several years and seeing where she works! I will definitely have to take her up on her offer to attend her Friday 9 am yoga classes! My friend Jenna went with me and afterwards we explored an area of Florence that we had not yet discovered! It was nice to get away from the city center to an area with less crowds and more residential areas, since we live in the middle of all the excitement of the city!

The real excitement of the week was taking an overnight trip to Chianti with my study abroad program! We left at 5 pm Saturday and took a bus into the hills of Tuscany 30 minutes from Florence to an estate where wine and olive oil are produced! We ate amazing 3 course authentic Tuscan meals, learned about the production of wine, how to properly taste and drink wine and discussed culture shock. I am currently in the “honeymoon” stage of culture shock and have a feeling I may be in this stage the entire time! Probably not...but I absolutely love Italy! The slower pace of life, more enjoyment of food and beverages, cultured people, fabulous fashion, and beauty everywhere I look have made me fall in love with Florence. 

Well this blog post was supposed to go out this past weekend but sketching homework has postponed it! However I wanted to get this out before I leave for Rome tomorrow! I am meeting Alex there and I am super excited! He has been studying abroad in Spain since August and I haven’t seen him for 6 months. The next 5 weekends are booked with trips I am taking around Italy which include Rome, Venice Carnival, Siena and San Gimignano, Verona, and Milan! I am so excited to do more exploring of this amazing, gorgeous country! Keep reading in the coming weeks to here all about these trips!

Florence, Italy- Week One

Welcome everyone to my first blog post! I have been in Florence, Italy now for almost a week and I am loving it! I arrived on Monday, January 7th, after 2 days of traveling. My family took me to Billings, MT on Saturday, January 5th and I flew out from Billings at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, January 6th. After 4 flights from Billings- Denver- Chicago- Zurich, Switzerland- Florence, I arrived! My flight from Zurich to Florence was absolutely breathtaking because we flew over the Swiss Alps! I'm sorry Montana and Canadian Rockies, but you have NOTHING on the Swiss Alps. They are out of this world. So beautiful. The picture below was taken from my window seat of the airplane. 

Upon arrival in Florence, I met up with Jenna Rogness, my best friend/roommate and fellow classmate at Concordia College. We ended up arriving a day early than we were supposed to, oops! So we booked a hotel in advance and stayed there the night of the 7th. We were both jet lagged and felt gross from 24 hours of flying, but were so happy to be in Florence! This is a picture of us upon arrival to our hotel, Soggiorno Pitti Affittacamere, which was located in the city center of Florence. 

 The next morning we took a taxi to our apartment on Borgo Degli Albizi and moved in! We were surprised to find that our apartment was huge! With 2 single rooms, one very large double room, a big living room, kitchen and 2 bathrooms. Jenna and I both got our own rooms and a few hours later our roommates arrived and moved in! That evening we had a delicious authentic meal at a restaurant called Baldovino. We had lasagna and a dish with truffle oil, red wine, and tiramisu for dessert. It was delicious! 


The next day, Wednesday January 9th, we started orientation at Accademia Italiana. Accademia Italiana is one of the best art, fashion and design schools in Europe, so I feel incredibly lucky to be taking classes in the fashion program! I will be taking Collection 1, Pattern Design 1, Fashion Illustration 1, Basic Computer Graphic Design and Italian Language. We start classes on Monday and I'm really excited! In addition to learning about the basics of living in Italy, we also took tours around Florence, my favorite one so far being to Fiesole, a hill outside Florence where you could see the whole city below. The picture to the right was taken of me at Fiesole with the city of Florence behind me. Such a gorgeous view!

Orientation lasted from Wednesday, January 9th- Friday, January 11th. During that time we had to prepare documents for our permit to stay, secure our class schedules, and just learn about Italian life! Friday night 6 of us girls went to a club called Twenty-One, for international students, which was really fun! I got a drink called a negroni- very popular in Italy and danced to American pop-rap music! 


This weekend we are having a chill weekend, with sleeping in, going to a few shops, and meeting new friends! 

Stay tuned for my adventures next week, as I begin classes and take a trip to Tuscany to wine vineyards over the weekend! Thanks for visiting my blog!