Well it officially our last week in Florence and we are turning in our last few assignments for our writing and photography class. I can't even explain how much of a whirlwind this trip has been but I look back with wonderful memories from all our trips to different cities in Italy. It is hard to describe our trip in just a few words because so many things happened. But I have all my pictures to go back and look through.

My brother Taylor is here visiting me this week and we have had so much fun! We have climbed the tower of the Duomo, toured Florence, went to Siena, went shopping and have eaten amazing food! I love getting the chance to show him what I have seen and learned while studying here in Italy. I showed him every amazing gelato place in Florence and he has tried all of them!

Yesterday we had a day trip to Siena which was neat since we both had never been there before. Honestly, I was expecting rolling hills and countryside when we got to Siena but it actually a really neat city! I think we realized we should have set up a guided tour because we had no idea where we were going or what the important things were to see but after getting a map, we figured out the main churches and squares to see.

We decided to go in a ceramics store and the owner of the workshop talked our ear off! His name was Leonardo and he was so sweet! He told us it was so nice to meet friendly Americans...which is a compliment to me and Taylor but I was kind of taken aback that he hadn't met a nice American! Anyways, he showed us all of his ceramics pieces that he had made and about how long each piece takes to make. The more paint on it, the longer it takes in the oven.

One of the main squares in Siena was Piazza del Campo and that is where the famous horse races are held every year. The event is called Siena Palio and the horses chosen race from the divided neighborhoods (or contradas) in Siena. These races have been tradition since 1656 and each contrada has a name and a flag.

We leave from Italy the day before the horse races but it would have been really neat to see!

Now that the Italy trip is almost over, I have already been looking forward to my trip to Africa with my family! Me and Taylor leave to fly to Africa on the day that my school group goes back to the states. We will meet the rest of my family in the airport in London and then we continue on to Zambia together! I don't know what to expect at all but I have learned flexibility while being in Italy so I am keeping an open mind and looking forward to whatever this week in Africa has to offer!

For those who don't know, my family and I are going to the opening ceremony of a house that has been built in memory of my mom and another house that has been built in memory of my grandpa (Papa Jim). I know it will be an emotional week but I am looking forward to it because I know how loved my mom and grandpa would feel to know they have a house named after them in Africa. We will meet the family that moves in and see the orphanage that the houses were built in.

That's about all I know about the trip but I will post again about the trip when I get back home to the states!

Until then, we are packing and cleaning our apartments in Italy and rushing to get all of our assignments turned in before our 4AM departure to the airport on Sunday!

Day in Pisa and Lucca

At the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

On a bike ride around the city in Lucca!

Well it is officially our last week here in Florence and since yesterday was our last full day to travel, a few girls on the trip headed up to Pisa and Lucca for the afternoon! When we got to Pisa, we walked back to the leaning tower and I was just expecting it to look like all of the pictures I had seen. But when you actually see it in person, you realize how weird of a concept it is that it actually leans.

We talked to a lady by the tower and she said it still leans a little more each year because the ground under it is sinking on one side. So eventually the tower will one day fall but I am so glad I got to go see it in person!

Since there isn't much to see in Pisa other than the leaning tower, we headed on the train to the city of Lucca! I had never even heard of Lucca before the trip so I had no idea what to expect. My friends had told me it was a city surrounded by a large brick wall. When we got off the train, that is the first thing we saw. Inside the walls, it was quiet and not very many people around. After walking around for a while, we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the bike store! We couldn't wait to ride our bikes around the walls of the city. We quickly realized that biking was a much faster and easier way to see the city than walking was!

The wall around the city was actually a road but it was only for walkers and bikers so we enjoyed not having to look out for cars! The weather was perfect, the view was perfect and my friends and I had a nice relaxing ride around the city. After about an 8 mile bike ride, it was time to head back home to Florence.

Taylor gets to Florence tomorrow night and I am SO excited!!! Since we can't talk on the phone, I hope I can find him at the train station!

This week in Florence is the festival so the city has already been getting very crowded! There will be many fun activities all week like the parade, fireworks, shows, and the Calcio Storico Fiorentino which is a game played by the Italian men. It is a mixture of soccer, wrestling, and boxing. The men fight for their women and for Florence. I was watching a video online last night trying to understand the concept of it. All I saw was about 40 men on a sand field running around with a ball and then other guys beating each other to a pulp for no reason. Apparently there are no rules other than no weapons. I finally googled it and I think I understand the concept now but I will spare you the details. I had no idea it was such a big deal in Florence but tickets to the game sold out in two days!

It's going to be a fun week!

The artisan shop and the metal press!

Our Iatlian cooking class! Learning how to make pizza and gelato!

Our wonderful chef!

Well this past week was definitely our busiest week here in Florence but it was filled with laughter and memories! I turned the big 21 on Monday so my friends and I went to the only good Mexican food place in Florence called Tijuana's and we enjoyed chips and queso and quesadillas!

Earlier that day we had a scheduled tour to see the Medici Palace and it was a blast! Our tour guide actually worked at the palace so he had the keys to all the secret passageways. We got to go see places that even art history majors that live here have never seen. It goes to say it was quite the exclusive tour!

On Wednesday we got to enjoy a cooking class and they taught us how to make pizza and gelato! Obviously if we made gelato by hand then it would have taken about 4 hours so we only helped with the gelato a little bit. But we got to make the pizza from scratch! (If you want the recipe to the pizza and calzone we made then let me know!) We had a blast with the chefs and they made it really fun. I cant wait and come back and try to cook it all on my own!

Other than going to class and going out on photo assignments, life is pretty relaxing here. On Thursday we got to go on an Artisan tour which was by FAR my favorite tour! We went to a man's residence where his shop is in the basement. Walking in, I just thought this was a man who made metal work. But after going down to the basement, he started showing us all the work he has made for Christian Dior and Neiman Marcus.

We saw the patterns that he presses into metal frames and he also showed us a fish that was a salt and pepper shaker that Christian Dior ordered for his line! I had no idea this guy was so famous but when I started looking around, I noticed all the magazine articles on the walls of the work that has been sold to so many famous people! I felt honored to get to meet him and even though he didn't speak english, he was so gracious to let us come to his shop. Only students of our tour guide are allowed to come buy things at his shop and he sells everything for 1/4 of the retail price! I was wishing I had brought more cash!

Getting to see places like this are what makes living here so special. People who just come visit Florence for a week don't have time to find the small neat shops that make up the heart of Florence. I am truly blessed to have gotten to have such great experiences here.

And I am ecstatic to announce that my brother, Taylor is coming to visit me this next week and he gets here on Monday! Only 3 days away and I cannot express how excited I am!!! It is crazy how fast this trip has gone by! It seemed like yesterday we were just moving into the apartment and now we are already talking about cleaning and packing up! Since it is about to be our last week here, everyone on the trip is trying to fit in everything they wanted to do while they were here so I am assuming that with trying to finish our homework, we will be quite busy! I am already making a list of everything that I want to take Taylor to see!

The artisan shop!

Transferring the paper to the press! This pattern was for Neiman Marcus

Carlo Cecchi.. The famous artisan himself!

Weekend in Venice

Catherine and I in San Marco Square

One of my favorite pictures from the trip!

Beautiful day in Venice!

Well it was a successful weekend in Venice! After getting settled into our hotel, we had free time to go get lunch so a few girls decided to go wander around and try to find Rialto Bridge. They say that to be able to get the full experience of Venice, or Italy for that matter, then you have to get lost. Needless to say, that was not difficult to do! 

Since we were trying to save money, we decided to walk instead of taking the water taxi. After going down about 30 alleyways and twists and turns, we followed the signs and finally found Rialto Bridge and had lunch right by the Grand Canal.

That afternoon, the group had a tour scheduled to go see St. Marks Basilica and it was so neat! The whole ceiling was covered in tiny pieces of gold mosaic tiles. I found myself staring at it while the tour guide was talking and it was killing me that we weren't allowed to take any pictures! If you ever get time, look it up online cause it was the most gorgeous ceiling I have ever seen!

After our tour, we had a group dinner at the neatest restaurant! We sat outside under a canopy of bright green leaves and grapes and for dinner we had fancy macaroni and cheese and another course of pork and potatoes! Unfortunately we never got to try the seafood but if I ever go back then I heard it is delicious!

The next day in Venice we had a tour in the morning to go see the Jewish Ghetto which was really interesting to learn about. I loved walking around Venice cause I liked seeing how the Venetians live so differently than the people in Florence. (I guess they would be called Florentines?? Who knows.)

Obviously it is different because everyone in Venice drives boats to work but I also noticed that it is much more relaxed and quiet city. I know not many people live in Venice anymore cause it is slowly sinking but the people that do live there are very proud of their city and they love what they do. You rarely talk to anyone there who doesn't like their job. Most people were raised by their parents to learn to do this job. The gondola drivers grow up going to gondola school and are taught by their fathers.

Another popular thing that Venice is famous for is Murano Glass. There is an island called Murano where they make these intricate and colorful glass pieces. Not only are they expensive but they are very delicate! I didn't get the chance to go to the island of Murano but my friends that went said it is really neat to watch them blow and form the glass.

After seeing a few more churches and museums, the group was exhausted from walking all day in the sun and we were quite excited to get to come back home to Florence! There are many more stories from Venice but they are better told in person so feel free to ask me if you want to hear more about it!

Dinner with the Professors

Well last night was one of my favorite nights of the trip. Our photography professor invited the students to have a potluck dinner at his house and it was not what we expected at all. We showed up to the house to see gorgeous cast iron gates opening into the courtyard where tall gorgeous bright green tress towered over and the villas surrounding the courtyard were covered in vines. 

This is definitely not what we expected our professors house to look like. All of the villas in the courtyard belong to large families of Italians. It is there culture to all live close together. When we got back to our professors villa, he told us it used to be a stable for horses but has now been remade into a house. It was gorgeous because the walls and the floors had still been kept the same and you could see where they added a kitchen and a suitable ceiling for a house. Our professors wife made chili and each student brought other food. We had bruschetta, pizza, spaghetti and the most delicious tomato cheese and pesto dip. After getting stuffed with food, we stayed a while longer just to talk and hang out before going back home to crash in bed. 

We are hoping our professor invites us back for more dinners before the trip is over :)

We are starting our second week here in Florence and we are all still loving it!! It feels like we have been here much longer than two weeks but the trip is flying by at the same time. There have been so many wonderful memories already! Looking at the schedule, there is still much more to see!

Now, please excuse me but it is time to vent.. Walking around Florence can be a bit challenging. Not only are the streets confusing and identical but we almost get hit by either a bike or a car every five minutes, so it is really important to be paying attention all the time. And the Italians don't move to walk around you, you are expected to move for them or you will get one nasty glare. No one on the trip has gotten pick pocketed which is wonderful but we have to watch out for creepy Italians too. The Italians and the gypsies all work together. I discovered yesterday that I miss the American service at restaurants. Usually when they bring your meal 30 minutes later than everyone else's then they would give you a discount but that is definitely not the case here. You still have to pay for it and everyone at the table has to wait for you to eat.

I know I am sounding negative right now but all that goes to say that living here isn't always easy.
We were talking to our professor yesterday and he was explaining to us that while being here, we will all hit a wall at some point. That can be different for each person but sometimes I just wish I could walk across the street to Target and pick up whatever I need and for the whole trip to only take 10 minutes. Here, that is not the case. Just trying to find one shop can take an hour.

Now, I say all of this and PLEASE don't misunderstand me. I know I am the most blessed person to have gotten to come on this trip. I know people would kill to be able to come study abroad in a gorgeous city, and I also know that very few people ever get a chance like this. So trust me when say I have been living it up and I don't take one second of this for granted. The things I have gotten to see are spectacular and who knows if I will ever see it again.

My point being was that all of my posts before this were "I am having the trip of a lifetime and everything is perfect." And while yes, the trip is WONDERFUL, it can also be hard too. I'm pretty sure every person on this trip can back me up when I say that flexibility must be learned while on this trip, and at times, the patience will be tested. How else will you grow as a person if challenges like these don't ever come your way?

I have learned so much while being here and even coming here was out of my comfort zone and that is a huge reason why I came. A huge part of learning life is stepping out of your comfort zone. I only knew one person on the trip, but I was completely okay with that because I wanted to meet new people.

I know God has his hand over us here and He has been protecting us the whole way. I am so thankful for all the prayers and support while being here. They have truly gotten me through!
I promise the next post won't be as long!

This next weekend we are going to Venice and I cannot wait! More updates on that later!

Beautiful beach in Vernazza

Saw this on our hike to the beach in Manarola

It is a longtime tradition to come and put a lock on the fence with your soul mate and throw the key in the water so your love will last forever 

Rebecca and I on the rocks in Vernazza

Well it was a successful day in Cinque Terre! After waking up at 6am, we joined our school group (Study Abroad Italy) and took a 2 and a half hour bus ride and a 30 minute train ride to the first of the five villages. Cinque Terre stands for the "Five Terraces" right off coast in the Italian Riviera. Monterosso was our first stop and it was my favorite! It had the biggest beaches with gorgeous rocks. Since we were only in Cinque Terre for a day then we didn't have much time in each village so we picked one thing to do in each one.

Our first village was Monterosso so of course we took advantage of the beach! It was only 5 euro to have a beach chair and access to changing rooms and bathrooms. In the second village, Vernazza, we had a nice long lunch break by the water. Most of us enjoyed the pasta with pesto, it was delicious! The third village was Corniglia and we went on a nice 20 minute hike to get down to the beach. There was no sand but there were smooth black stones that were nice and hot to lay on. The fourth village was Manarola where we met up with the rest of the group and had a 20 minute hike to the last village. The trail was right on the side of the mountain with a perfect view of the water. For any photographer, this was heaven to have so many photo opportunities! And in the last village, we were running a little bit behind schedule so we didn't get to see the city. 

After a long day of touring, the group headed home and got back around 9:30. It was a full day to say the least! 

For anyone going to visit Cinque Terre, I would suggest staying for a whole weekend so you don't feel rushed to see all that the villages have to offer! 

Reflection photo

Amazing artist! If money grew on trees then I would definitely buy one.

Well I feel like I am starting to get a feel for Italian life in Florence. We have only spent 2 full days here but from the second I started walking around the city, I was in love. Florence is about half the size of Rome and much quieter! A lot of people are built for the crazy "New York lifestyle" but I am not one of them so believe me when I say, Florence is the place to be! From the cute stores to the gorgeous buildings, I could spend all day walking around by myself and exploring places of Florence that not all the tourists see!
I realized the huge difference between touring Florence and living here. I have an apartment with 6 other girls and we love it! It is a 2 minute walk from the Duomo which is an ideal place to live! Any walk around Florence would only take 10 or 15 minutes to get to.
Our typical day consists of going to a cafe, getting on the internet and having coffee by the Duomo, doing laundry, going to the store, and then in the afternoon we head to class! By the time class is over, we are all starved and we either go find a semi cheap restaurant or we attempt to cook dinner at home! Trying to figure out the appliances is a task but after multiple times of failure, I think we are all starting to get the hang of it.
Today we got to take a walking tour of Florence and we learned about the Medici family who were the most powerful and wealthy family of the city. We also learned about the major flood of Florence that happened in the 1960's and our tour guide showed us places around Florence where you can still see the water lines on the walls and how many buildings and works of art were destroyed. There is so much history in this city and I realized that it is hard to fall in love with a city that you don't know very much about. But after today, I'm making it a priority to learn as much as I can about it! By the end of these 4 weeks, I hope I will know my way around here pretty well!
Tomorrow we are going on a tour of a photography museum so that will be neat! And it is official, my friends and I are going to visit Cinque Terra this weekend! I cannot wait!

There are so many bikes in Italy! Bikes are cute, but almost getting hit by a biker multiple times a day...not a fan. 

When in Rome

Well this is my first time making a blog but we will see how this goes! Starting off, I am on a study abroad trip in Rome and Florence for a month with a writing a photography class from my school, Baylor University. I had heard about the trip from my advisor and he encouraged me that it would be a unique experience to practice my writing and photography in a culture that I was not used to. I have been to Europe before but I have never lived here. To be honest, I didn't think the Italian culture would be very different from the American culture, but after a few days in Rome, I was proven wrong.

Very wrong.

From the transportation, to the supermarkets and the language barrier, I thought I had made a mistake coming here within the first day. I hardly knew anyone in my group and even though I look pretty "cultured" staring at a map of the city, I had no earthly idea where I was going. I knew we would only be in Rome for a week so I wasn't too distraught about learning exactly where I was. Knowing me, I am directionally challenged, so I resulted in keeping my mouth shut and following the group. 

Seeing the Coliseum in Rome was one of the high points of the Roman city, but fighting through the crowds and the rain was a challenge. However, after a long day of touring, it was finally time for dinner. Everyone knows that Italy is known for amazing food. But if you have never been, then I cannot use enough words to describe how wonderful the pasta and pizza are. The cheese and bread are so fresh and flavorful! 

I learned quickly that the places buried back in the ally ways that are "mom and pop" restaurants are the best. To summarize my point, the smaller the restaurant, the better it tastes. I might be biased but that is just my experience. We learned that the tourist traps are the restaurants on the main streets. No food in Italy is considered "bad" but I encourage everyone to venture off the main paths and find the true Italian cuisines.