Sometimes it's hard to keep up with your blog!

Since I only have my phone to connect to the Internet, I haven't wanted to post much because it's hard to add pictures.... But I'll give it a shot!
After a few days in Rome, I headed off the the West coast of Italy, where I caught a 16-hour overnight ferry to Greece. A beautiful Scottish/Australian boy fed me foreign candy the whole way (in Europe/Australian Smarties are chocolate candies, and way more delicious!!) and the trip really didn't seem that long!
I spent a night in Patras, where the ferry landed, with my own private pool and beach, which was wonderful!!



I headed to Athens next and saw some wonderful archeology!!





Then I jumped on yet another ferry and headed to Santorini. Everything about sAntorini was a beautiful dream, seen from the back of a 4-wheeler I rode around the island.
After Santorini I headed over to Syros, which, after a 9 hour ferry ride I spent close to 2 hours trying to find my hostel, turns out to be less fun than Santorini, but the beaches are still beautiful and I got a little sunburnt while enjoying them.

Happy Memorial Day to all, I celebrated it like a true American and got burnt to a crisp!

Sometimes all you need is watermelon and honeysuckle

On Friday I left Florence, my home of the last four months, to have no home for the next two months.
My first stop-- Rome. So Rome may not have been built in a day but I think I saw all of Rome in a day. The man at reception at my hostel (which was also a laundrymat) gave me a map detailing what to do for each of the 3 days I was there. I did them all on Saturday. I thought I might lose my feet by the end of it. On my walk home, I knew I had 30 minutes to go and it was incredibly hot, so I bought a €1 ice cream cone from McDonald's, which I was a little embarrassed of at first, but it made me so happy once I started waking I didn't even care. I don't know that I would have made it home without it.

On Sunday I was pretty much exhausted and managed to make it to the Trevi Fountain (for the second time) and that was about it. When I walked home, I stopped at a fruit cart and paid €2.50, the same as I had for my lunch, for a little fruit bowl with watermelon and strawberries. I was ecstatic. I walked around like my feet weren't covered in blisters from the day before but like I was walking in pillows.

Then I got on a train for 6 hours. No matter how interesting a book you have, 5 hours on a train gets boring. But once off I train I was greater with the smell of saltwater! Some parts of being at the beach are the exact same no matter where you are, and when I got off the train in Brindisi, the smell immediately showed me I was at the beach.
Then I had to get to my hostel. Their website said there was an hourly pickup from the train station but I saw no one so I just headed out on my own, my only directions "follow the yellow hostel signs"
Sometimes they were yellow. Sometimes they weren't. Sometimes they were there. Sometimes they weren't. I started to get a little stressed as to whether I would make it there it not. Then i stumbled on a patch of honeysuckle on the side of the road. I didn't pick any to try to eat, but I thought seriously about it. In the end I found my hostel, with the help of a 14-year old couple on a Vespa, and will (hopefully) ship off to Greece a domani!!

 

 

Sometimes you leave the city you love

Last week was a whirlwind of exams and goodbyes, a totally bittersweet moment. I realized I won't be able to go to my favorite forno (bakery or literally translated--oven) for lunch anymore or my favorite gelatarias for a little after class pick me up... But I've had a great 4 months and I'm ready to go discover Europe!! So away all of my belongings went, to be packed in my giant box!!

In my last week in Florence, I managed to squeeze in a soccer game- Fiorentina v Palermo, and with Fiorentina being purple and Palermo being pink, this was quite an "only in Italy" experience for many reasons.

I also went to a few museums, and took a bike tour of Tuscany.
As I was signing up for the tour I couldn't believe I was actually PAYING to ride a bike. Bikes are somewhat of my enemy. But the tour was beautiful and I didn't get run over by any cars or crash my bike... I only fell off once and that was only a little bit.
My last week in Florence was wonderful, and now it's just me, my backpack and my eurail pass. Hooray for being homeless!!

Sometimes your host mom is awesome!

I realized I have shared very little about Paola, my host mom.  She speaks no English and I speak very little Italian, so conversation is limited, however it is getting much most in depth!  Language does not matter at all, however, when it comes to food.

these rascals just come visit sometimes

I don't like tirimasu if it's not made by Paola

I'm not going to say sometimes she makes delicious food because she always makes delicious food.

Sometimes you have final papers to write

But I have less than two weeks left in Florence, so who really cares about that? Final next week?  No thanks, I have quite a bit to check on my bucket list!

I recently tried Tripe for the first time, a Florentine specialty, which, if you didn't know, is the lining from a cow's stomach.  Sounds wonderful, right?

The tripe is the dish in the bottom left corner

We went to a restaurant in the central market, da Nerbone, that had been recommended to us for tripe.  So, Trippa Fiorentina we got, as well as pesto pasta, risotto, and, by recommendation of the woman behind us in life, a roast beef sandwich.

Tripe is not my dish.  The flavor was fine by the texture was certainly not my cup of tea.  I loved the roast beef however, and will certainly be back for that, if I can find time!!

We recently celebrated Notte Bianca in Florence, a night filled with all kinds of activities, muesuems are open all night, various performances happen in every square, and it is a night of general fun!

This picture is from the square outside my house, Piazza Santa Croce, which was filled with giant balloons, which flew in the air on the hour, one of them bringing a woman on some sort of a bird/plane contraption with it!

My favorite activity was a square filled with swings.  That was it.  You just went there and played on the swings.  At 3am.  With hundred of other people.

Also, IT'S SPRINGTIME!

Last week I woke up and went to eat the breakfast my host mom had set out, per usual, feeling a little down because I do not typically have classes on Friday, and this particular Friday morning I had a make-up class, and found strawberries on the table.  My spirits were lifted instantly.

I ate several plan, but I did have a couple with some nutella as well. 

Since I'd only had a bit of nutella for lunch, it seems appropriate that I have an apple pastry for lunch.  But really, I got it hot from the forno, who could say no??

Sometimes Italy brain makes you incapable of writing papers.

Sometimes you try to join the Von Trapp family singers

This past weekend, I went on a hiking trip in the Italian Alps, which were actually part of Austria before the end of World War II so, of course, I thought I was Maria and the hills were alive.  With the sound of music of course.

Can you see the similarities?

other than singing from my favorite musical, the hike included lots of beautiful waterfalls! The weather was beautiful, however there were several spots where there was still a foot or more of snow we had to trek through.  If you stepped on the 6-inch wide path of compressed snow your foot immediately sank into the snow.  This makes hiking very difficult! At one point I stumbled and tried to catch myself on whatever was next to me, only to have my arms sink into snow, almost up to my elbows!

At a particularly deep point, I did get to do a cannon ball into the snow, and at once we cleared all the snow I had dry socks to change into! 

We also visited Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet, on this trips, which was pretty but nothing too exciting (The Sound of Music>Romeo and Juliet) as well at Lake Garda, where we waded into some not totally freezing water and skipped rocks!

Sometimes you're not sure if you ran into the Lonely Goatherd, but you just might have!

Sometimes it rains at the beach

I was lucky enough to spend a long weekend off school in the Amalfi Coast recently, and although it rained the whole day we were scheduled to go to the beach, it was still wonderful!

We arrived late at night (well really early in the morning) in Sorrento, where we were staying for the weekend, and I was overwhelmed by the smell.  It was ridiculous how strong the scent of  Jasmine was, everywhere.  I just wanted to sit there smelling the air forever.

We stopped in Naples our first day, the birth place of pizza and, of course, enjoyed some pizza.

We went to the same place Julia Roberts goes in Eat Pray Love, a movie I have never seen, but the pizza was amazing.  The line for a table was ridiculous so we got out pizza to go, and considering the options were "with cheese or without" (who wants pizza without cheese??) we got our pizza in a matter of minutes.  We then sat on a curb enjoying our pizza. It was lovely.

I ate that whole pizza by myself and I'm not even a little upset about it

The next day we went to Capri, first taking a boat ride around the island.

The boat ride stopped at the Blue Grotto, and we were lucky enough to be able to go in, the entrance is a tiny whole, only accessible by a little row boat that you have to lay down in as you go through the hole, and the water levels are only calm enough to go in 50 days out of the year.

Once in, we bribed our guide to let us jump in!

I'm the person on the far right!

I'm the one in front here

I'm the one out front here again.  The water wasn't warm at all, but swimming was definitely worth it!

Once off the boat and on Capri, was trekked all the way to the top of the Island

There was a chairlift that took you all the was to the tippy top with AMAZING views!

This picture really does this no justice!

The sun went away, making it a little cold, but we still loved it!

It started raining as we were waiting for the ferry back to Sorrento, but who can be unhappy in Capri?

That night we went to a fun restaurant for dinner, and tried to order chocolate cake for dessert.  We ended up with cream puffs instead, but the note was so nice we didn't mind at all

The next day was a beach day, meant to be spent on the black sand beach of Positano.   It rained the whole day.

The rain did not stop us from swimming

Lunch was still delicious, despite the freezing rain.  

We returned to Sorrento for our final dinner, which was enjoyed in a garden resturant, a room made of all glass surrounded my lemon and orange trees, which are everywhere in Amalfi.

Sometimes it  rains but that won't stop me from enjoying the beach!