Ciao For Now

It is my last full day in Florence and the semester has come to a bittersweet end. I am anxious to get home to my family and friends, while I know there is so much I will miss in Firenze and Europe in general. But I am very satisfied with my time spent here. In less than four months I have visited eight new countries! I have had many new experiences, tried many new foods and learned a lot about European culture.

The last few days I've been a tourist, taking pictures of all the things I don't have pictures of but know I should. I just have to finish packing a little more, it could be a tight fit! Soon were headed  downstairs to eat our last Italian dinner at Bigallo with Giorgio and his bartenders. Last time the food was awesome, so I'm pretty excited.

Tomorrow I will fly into JFK after connecting in Rome (how stupid is it to fly to Rome?) This weekend I will be able to catch up with my family and high school friends. I'm already leaving again (as my mom would say) on Monday for Poughkeepsie (I can't wait to get back to school) to celebrate Senior Week and catch up with all of my friends at Marist.

So I guess this means ciao for now since I won't have anything nearly as exciting as this semester abroad to write about. Thanks for reading, I hope you were able to live vicariously through my adventures. I can't wait to see everyone once I get back to the States! Arrivederci!

Fiorentina v Siena

This was the first sporting event I attended where I was actually rooting against Siena. (besides Marist basketball games of course) Over 29,000 of the Fiorentina faithful made their way to Stadio Artemio Franchi on this beautiful day for the last home game of the season. Since my weekend plans were completely on a whim (booking a Thursday flight to Malta on Monday) I did not know if I would be around for the weekend and had not yet bought tickets. I was glad our only choice for a return flight from Malta was Saturday. Now I had the opportunity to go to La Viola's last home game. We walked to the stadium and lined up at the ticket booth. It took forever to get tickets and we did not make it inside until about 25 minutes into the first half, after all the scoring was over. By the third minute, Siena had the first goal of the game. The only cheering we heard while outside the stadium was when Fiorentina tied it up in minute fifteen with a goal of their own. Of course neither I nor Tyler knew what the score when we walked into the stadium so we believed the score was 1-0 in favor of La Viola. However we did receive free Fiorentina flags upon entering which we were really excited about. I think it will be a great souvenir to remember my favorite soccer team by when I get back to the States. Anyway I did not find out that the game was a draw until I checked the recap online. The whole time I thought they won because we heard the crowd cheer loudly when we were waiting in line for tickets. Oh well, it was fun to close out my last weekend here with Fiorentina's final home game of the season.


Since its Mother's Day I want to give a special shout out: Thanks for raising me Mom, I think you did a good job!

Malta

This past weekend in Malta was the most relaxing trip yet. I'm so glad I decided to go. Malta is a country within Europe, even though it is excluded from many European maps since it is so far south (parallel to the top of Africa). It is the third smallest country I visited and eleventh overall.
 We left on Thursday from the Pisa airport. I know I swore I would never take RyanAir again, but it was worth it this time. We got into Malta that evening and took a taxi to our hotel, Riu Seabank. The strangest thing we noticed on our way there was that cars had their steering wheels on the right and therefore drove on the left side of the rode. Weird! The Riu was an extremely nice four-star hotel located in Mellieha, the northwestern part of the island. We checked out our rooms, which were probably the biggest I've ever stayed in. When you walk in there is a bathroom with two showers and a toilet on the left. On the right was a room with two cots and a table. Down the hallway there was a small kitchen with a sink, burners, a refrigerator and cabinets. Before getting to the main room was a little desk set against the wall, perfect for all the Finals we would study for this weekend (NOT!) The last room was about the size of a regular hotel room with two beds and a TV. The best part of the room though was probably the balcony with a view of the beach and sea.

All this for three people, and it wasn't even that expensive. We put our stuff down then explored the hotel's options for dinner because we were pretty hungry by now. The hotel had a few different restaurant options attached inside the same building. We walked through a bar downstairs as well as a Jungle-themed restaurant before deciding on a restaurant called Le Mar. I ordered a barbecue double cheeseburger and a Budweiser (only because it was about the same price as water). The beer bottles were even smaller in Malta. Europe's sizes are about the same as America, 33cl is about 12 oz. In Malta they carried 25cl which was very tiny. The service was pretty slow but the burger was huge and tasted delicious. It came with fries and a little cup of vegetables which were good too. We walked outside after dinner to check out the beach. We literally crossed the street and were there. Now it was time to explore the rest of Riu's amenities. Unfortunately by now it was about 10 p.m. and the Atrium Spa closed at 9. That was okay though, there was a lot to do inside. Downstairs by the bar was a four-lane bowling alley (which we suspect to be a popular sport in Malta) and an arcade full of games. We bought beers and set up a game of bowling. It was a lot of fun.

On Friday we made sure to get ourselves up early so we had the whole day to enjoy. We went downstairs to the hotel's complimentary buffet breakfast, which was great. They had so many options, you could find almost anything. From eggs cooked every different way, to these extremely thin pancakes, to dried fruit; they had it all. The girls we went with (Jenn, Britt, and Lisa) collected bread, peanut butter and jelly and formed an assembly line to make us sandwiches for lunch. While they were doing this Tyler, Drew, and I did our job and picked out beach chairs in the most ideal spot- center poolside. It was perfect, we just sat in the sun all day and relaxed by the pool, jumping in when we got too warm.

 Of course we had to check out the Spa downstairs now that it was open. Down this hallway was an indoor pool and a gym. This was great, I hadn't lifted a weight in four months!

Further down the hallway was a sign that read "Chill Out Room." In here we found a steam room, sauna, and a lounge room with a glass ceiling. What else could you ask for? We tried out everything and when we were done we went to the beach. We laid down on our towels to take in the sun for awhile. We found out that our hotel's happy hour was from 4 to 6 so we went to the cocktail bar to take advantage of it. We had a very happy hour running back and forth between the bar and our chairs. After it was over we went to the indoor pool and steam room again. For dinner we went back to the same restaurant we dined at the night before. We split an order of calamari rings for an appetizer and I ordered a barbecue chicken and bacon pizza which also had a bunch of other toppings. The food was good but we waited FOREVER to be served. That night we just chilled out on the balcony.

On our last day Saturday, we had the same relaxing agenda as the day before. I wasn't sure if the weather would hold out since I went out on the balcony right when I got up to find waves crashing hard and the sun was nowhere to be found. Luckily around noon, the sun pushed all the clouds aside and it was another great day. The best thing about this trip was we did not give a damn about exploring the city for historical significance, which sounds terrible from an enlightened study-abroad scholar, but that's what this whole last weekend was about: relaxing. We had nothing to do except sit back and enjoy the sun. By the time evening came, it was time to catch our flight back but no one wanted to leave this wonderful island called Malta. On the plane I kept checking out my arms, trying to figure out how much darker I was than before I arrived. You know its a relaxing weekend when your biggest concern is how much color you got.

Notte Bianca/ Fiesole

Ok so originally I did not even want to write a post for this past weekend. Mostly because I was bummed I did not get to go where I originally planned and because it was not as eventful as I would have liked. But I haven't written in awhile and I'm sure my parents would like to know I'm still alive over here! My original plan was to go to Prague with Bus2Alps. Unfortunately not enough people signed up and the trip was canceled. I did have the opportunity to go on the school trip to Switzerland, but did not really care to.

So anyway Friday night, April 30th, was a huge celebration throughout the entire city of Florence, called Notte Bianca or "White Night" which apparently loses the meaning in translation. Basically everything stays open really late and there is a constant party in the streets. The whole town, including kids, seemed to stay out enjoying the festivities until 1 or 2 in the morning. I guess parts of the celebration went as late as 6 a.m.! The theme for Notte Biana is "creative insomnia," but I guess that doesn't quite translate either. We noticed this starting in the evening when we could hear a band from down the street banging drums. There were huge celebrations in every piazza all night long. First we went to the Uffizi Piazza and caught a really elaborate light show projected onto the hallway of the Uffizi which portrayed the bricks transforming, being knocked down, and then built back up again. At midnight was Drew's 21st birthday so we had to make it back to Bigallo for the countdown. Since almost all of my housemates were going on the school's trip to Switzerland, their plan was to stay up all night anyway. (The bus leaves at 4:30 a.m. for that trip) Next we headed to Santa Croce where a bunch of tents have been set up for the week  (having nothing to do with Notte Bianca) selling traditional Italian eats. There was another band thumping in the Piazza so we crowded around with all the other Italians to join in the celebration. After that was done, we walked to Piazza Republica to see what was going on there. It was not as wild. The scene was mellower with a dance floor set up in the middle of the square. People were doing the tango I think. Some couples were dancing very sternly and seriously, while others were just fooling around with their partners. I came back to the house and waited to go to bed until all the drunk idiots left for their trip. There was no point in sleeping, the whole city was up! I sent them off which was hilarious to watch them walk down the street on their way to the Alps.

On Saturday I wanted to do something close by to make up for not going anywhere. Brian was the only other person in my house who did not go on the trip so we decided it was a good day to visit Fiesole.  Fiesole is a pretty little hill-town overlooking Florence. It is only a 15 minute bus ride away. There was not much to do there besides admire the great view of Florence.

There were a few nice churches, one of which was hosting a wedding. The big site to see was a historical Roman-style amphitheater with its surrounding archaeological area.

We walked around the site as well as the museum inside. I thought it was really cool how they had a lot of modern art spread throughout the site in addition to all of the scattered stone foundations. I thought this one was the coolest:

After walking around the town a little bit more, we decided we had seen just about everything. So we hopped back on the bus home to San Marco.

***Good news though: I thought my travels were over once the Prague trip got canceled BUT I just booked plane tickets and a hotel room in Malta for this upcoming weekend. I'm pretty excited, it should be really nice there.***

Munich Frühlingsfest

We left for Munich, Germany on Thursday evening after our last class. Our destination was the spring celebration known as "Fruhlingsfest" (Oktoberfest on a smaller scale). Once we finally arrived in Munich and had time to explore the city, I found it to be a very nice place. It was extremely clean for a major city and had very modern architecture (a possible consequence of getting their shit rocked during World War II). As far as stereotypes go, not everything/ everyone in Germany was efficient, but the people of Munich were very happy and friendly toward visitors during their spring festival.

Friday
After resting up from the trip and getting a decent breakfast in our hostel, we were ready to embark on "Mike's Bike Tour" to see the city. Our tour guide was (guess who) Mike, a New Yorker who has been putting on bike tours in Munich since 1995. The tour lasted for about four hours (including a lunch in the middle) and brought us to all the major sights Munich had to offer with some historical background and interesting commentary courtesy of Mike. I can't name all the places we went, but off of the top of my head we covered Marienplatz and the town hall, the Hofgarten, the Golden Friedensengel, and many more.

We rode through a beautiful park that is 50% bigger than Central Park in New York, called the Englischer Garten (English Garden). For lunch we stopped at the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) inside of the English Garden. Being the strange eating world traveler that I am, I had to order the strangest item on the menu. Schweinshaxe, or "pig knuckle" is a Bavarian specialty that was recommended to me earlier. It is actually the knee of a pig which is very fatty on the outside, but is full of some good pork once you get into it. Of course you can't have a real German meal without a liter of beer so I ordered that too.

Possibly the coolest spot I saw on the bike tour is known as the Eisbach, or "Ice Creek," where there is a man-made surfing current. We watched as three surfers took turns, trying to tame the wave without crashing into either side of the embankment.

We finished the bike tour at the Hofbräuhaus beer hall after getting some good views of Munich and went back to Wombat's Hostel to prepare for the first night of Fruhlingsfest 2010. The festival is held in a large fairground, Theresienwiese, the same park that hosts Oktoberfest. It was only a ten minute walk from our hostel which was very convenient since that was the reason we came to Munich in the first place. Once the fairgrounds were in sight our eyes must have lit up like little kids'. The first thing we noticed were the rides and loud music. Walking around, it was exactly like any other carnival or fair. The biggest difference were the enormous tents set up and some people dressed in traditional Germans outfits. There were two main tents: Augustiner and Paulaner. The one we spent most of our time in each night was the Augustiner tent, named after the type of beer they serve inside. In Munich, and possibly all of Germany it is most common to see beer served in steins, which are heavy glass liter mugs. Each stein holds the liquid equivalent of three beers. When taking into account the stronger alcoholic content of German beer, it works out to about four drinks. To be served, you had to find a spot to sit at one of the many tables inside the tent. We didn't get there too late, but finding a seat was still not easy. At the front of the tent, was a live band playing what I would guess to be traditional Bavarian music. Even though we had to settle for a table off to the side of the tent, we still had a great time at our first night of Fruhlingsfest.

Saturday
Saturday morning we woke up and got breakfast. I really liked the breakfast at Wombat's Hostel. They had a little more variety for a hostel breakfast than I was used to, but the difference was the panini maker. You can take two pieces of bread with cold cuts and cheese and put it into the panini maker and come out with a good sandwich. I need to get one of those mini grills for next year.

After breakfast we met up to go to one of the saddest places around Munich, the Dachau concentration camp. Dachau does not have the notoriety of Auschwitz, but was one of the first camps established in 1933. It is horrible to imagine what happened there, but I felt that it was something I had to see since I was there. I was not traumatized like I thought I would be after visiting Dachau, probably because I had already been to a very sad Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. five years earlier. It was interesting to actually walk around the huge site that was once a concentration camp. It is overwhelming to think about the historical significance as well as suffering that took place there. We took a bus back to the subway and went back to the hostel after taking everything in.

The Fruhlingsfest on Saturday night was even wilder than the night before, most likely because the Germans were not working. Had it been Oktoberfest, they supposedly would have come on Friday too. We got seats near the middle of the tent that night and enjoyed it a lot more because of that. The later it got, the wilder it was. By the end of the night people were dancing on benches and tables, stein in hand. We basically stayed until we got kicked out because no one wanted to leave our last night of Fruhlingsfest. Once they started putting up benches and cleaning off the tables we eventually found our way out. Some of my friends went on rides and others got food. I tried to order a sausage sandwich since I hadn't had one all weekend, which seems absurd in Germany. Unfortunately the item I ordered turned out to be fries. I was kind of pissed but was pretty hungry so I just went along with it. They ended up being very tasty anyway. Tyler and I walked back to the hostel and headed to the bar. There we met some soldiers who were temporarily in Munich, waiting to be sent to Afghanistan. One of them was from upstate New York and was happy to find someone else who understood his area.

Sunday
We had a good amount of Sunday to spend in Munich before heading home. We made good use of this day to go to the BMW museum and the Olympic Park used for the 1972 Summer Games. It was very convenient since these two sites are right across the street from each other and they were only a quick subway ride away from our hostel. Before finding the BMW (which I just learned translates to Bavarian Motor Works) museum we walked through the Welt, which had some new cars on display. There were also some interactive games and other cool stuff to see. Both the welt and museum are very modern, futuristic-looking buildings.

Walking through the museum, it was apparent they had put a lot of work into everything. The museum was huge with many rooms and different displays to observe. We spent awhile there before walking down the street to the Olympic Park. In 1972, Munich hosted the Summer Olympic Games. Of course I had to go there because the only thing that comes to mind when I think of that Olympic year was Steve Prefontaine's historic race. I got to see the huge Olympic pool, where Mark Spitz won seven gold medals, as well as the main event stadium. I think we also saw the Olympic village where the Iranian hostages were kidnapped as we walked out too.

Vivicittà Firenze Half Marathon

 This morning I ran my first ever half-marathon, in Florence nonetheless. For those of you keeping track at home thats 13.1 miles, or just over 21 kilometers as it is more commonly referred to in Europe. The event was pretty big and drew in over 1,000 participants. This year was the 27th running of the Vivicittà Firenze. I got up early this morning to meet a middle-aged runner, Roberto, who is associated with the running club at Lorenzo de Medici and also happens to know one of the organizers of the half-marathon. So fortunately with his help I was able to take part in this event. It was a rainy morning but that did not stop many runners from showing up. Roberto gave me a singlet to race in, which was more like the football practice jerseys I would wear in junior high. But its the thought that counts right? I put it on since I didn't bring anything better to run in to Florence. It didn't matter anyway because he suggested I put on a water-proof running vest (sounds stupid, but everyone wears them) over it to help with the rain. The entrance fee was only five euro and came with the previously described vest and an event t-shirt. I was originally entered in the non-competitive run, which would have sucked because I think that was only a 12K. But fortunately Roberto was able to get me a "competitive" bib since some of the entered runners had not shown up yet and it was getting close to race time. I paid five more euros for a high-tech timing chip which was refundable once I returned my chip after the race. Now I was officially allowed to run in the half-marathon. I could tell there had to be some decent prize money to be won because a few Kenyans showed up. I did not feel like warming up so I just stood under a ledge and waited for everyone to line up at the start. I would ease into my pace since I had to swerve in and out of slow people ahead of me anyway.

My goal was to complete the race without hurting myself, since I am definitely not in shape to race a half-marathon right now. As I previously discussed with Pete, it should be a hard tempo run. I think I executed perfectly. I fell into a comfortable pace and stayed pretty consistent throughout, every time I checked my 5k splits they were right about 19 minutes each. The half-marathon course was basically two loops on each side of the Arno, taking runners through most of Florence's famous piazzas. The start and finish were in the big square in front of Santa Croce. I almost took a wrong turn when the course split up the competitive race from the non-competitive runners. Luckily I was able to turn around and see which way the other runners with blue bibs were going. I also almost "ate it" while turning off one of the bridges over the Arno onto a perpendicular street. I took it very wide and tried to stay on more asphalt than cobble-stone but it was still raining and very slippery. Fortunately I recovered and was only thrown off balance, instead of falling on my face. The course was very flat for the most part. My aerobic fitness was still there and my legs didn't get real tired until 14/15k. Besides those minor things the race went very well. I was handed a really cool participation medal at the finish and moved on to the refreshment tents. Post-race snacks are a little different in Italy. They still have water, sports drink, and fruit; but in addition to that they also had cut up fruit crescents and hot tea. For fruit they had cut up banana chunks and sliced blood oranges. I snacked on a bunch of this food since the only thing I ate all day was an apple when I got up. I changed into some warm clothes and walked home, eager to take a hot shower after being rained on all day. Today was such a priceless experience which I was very satisfied to take part in. How many Americans can say they walked down the street to run a half-marathon through Florence?


I can't find my Italian alias in the race results but I know I finished around 1:20:45, good enough for about 30th place.

Edit:   I just found a picture that helps me piece together my finish time. I was actually 1:20:30, which got me 23rd!

Fiorentina v Internazionale

Tonight Fiorentina took on the team sitting atop the Italian Serie A standings- Internazionale. Since I know nothing about soccer or "calcio" as its called here, it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I found out this team is also called Inter-Milan. Great, so were playing another powerhouse team from Milan. We're gonna get our butts kicked. Personally I did not think we could win but I knew La Viola would be able to "play up" to their competition.

We walked over to the game before it got dark. The match started at 20:45 (8:45 p.m. for you Americans). Vinny and I stopped at an authentic Italian sandwich shop to grab a quick dinner before heading to Stadio Artemio Franchi. We arrived at the game earlier than ever and saw the starting line-ups introduced. The stadium was more packed than we had ever seen it (almost 37,000 spectators). Finding seats wasn't easy but we managed to find several open seats about midway up La Curva (the cheap ticket section) right behind the goal.

Surprisingly Fiorentina started the scoring, when Keirrison scored only about eleven minutes into the game. The home crowd went wild and some fans in the front lit a red smoke bomb which I thought was really cool because that's what you always see in soccer highlights on ESPN. No one scored for awhile and Fiorentina held onto their lead for as long as they could. It wasn't until the 74th minute that Inter's Diego Milito scored the equalizer. The game was a very aggressive one throughout, with seven yellow cards handed out and even more players falling to the ground faking injuries (okay some of them were actually hurt.) It was devastating when the Viola keeper let another one slip by into the goal. Inter-Milan now had a 2-1 lead with less than ten minutes remaining in the match. Fortunately Per Kroldrup of Fiorentina tied it back up only a minute later. La Viola was able to hold them off for the rest of the game and the Fiorentina faithful were definitely satisfied with a tie. There is no overtime in regular season and a lot of games do end up tied (good thing Donovan McNabb doesn't play soccer, or else he would be really confused). The tie brought Fiorentina to 13-13-7 and held their position at 8th in the league, two positions away from a European qualifying spot. They did more damage to Inter (by forcing a tie) by causing them to loose their league lead. Next up, Fiorentina plays Inter again at home on Tuesday night for a Coppa Italia match.

Easter Break- Greece

Thursday
For our long Easter weekend (Thursday to Easter Monday), my house and I chose to visit the island of Corfu, Greece. We stayed at a hostel called The Pink Palace, which seemed more like a tropical resort than anything. The only downside to this trip was that I would be missing both of my classes on Thursday (huge bummer) and a little more than half of the weekend would be dedicated to traveling there and back. We booked this trip through Bus2Alps and met at 9am to board the bus waiting to take us to the Ancona port. Ancona is just east of Florence, a four hour bus ride away, on the coast where we would board a huge cruise ship. This ship took us on a fifteen hour ride south along the Italian coast to the international port of Igoumenitsa, Greece. It was a bit uncomfortable sleeping since our indoor "airplane seating" reservations got messed up from all the chaos of the Greek Easter. (Fortunately we were rewarded for their mistake with cabins on the way back) Since not all the airplane seats were taken I passed out for an hour or two in one of them before coming back up to the outer deck to find my friends and look for a different place to spend the night. We found an open floor one deck down to set up camp for the night.

Friday
We awoke the next morning to a recorded voice overs the speaker basically telling us to get the hell up and get ready to get off the boat. From there we walked through "customs" to the domestic port to take a much shorter (hour and a half) trip to Corfu. The last leg of the journey was a thirty minute bus ride to The Pink Palace (aka paradise). We handed over our passports in exchange for keys to our rooms for the next two days. The rooms were very nice; much nicer than you would expect for a hostel. There were three beds to a room so I stayed with Dave and Vinny. We had our own bathroom/ shower (uncommon in a hostel) and a balcony that overlooked the beach/ sea (definitely rare for a hostel). We did the quickest bathing suit change job ever and ran down the hill straight to the beach. We each bought a celebratory cold beer or two beach side, set our towels down, and just relaxed at the beach for awhile. I was starving so I ordered a gyro at the beach before going back to our room. We waited in line forever to pick up our pink togas for the Toga Party that night before heading to dinner. After attempting to fit ourselves in our togas a few different ways, we eventually managed to get it right.

The dinner was unlike anything I had ever imagined from a hostel either. We were seated at a table on the 2nd floor of the Palladium and waited to be served. Surprisingly the food was very good. We were handed two plates and a bowl of "soup" (I think it was gravy though). One plate consisted of a traditional Greek salad and bread, while the other plate included pasta and meat. The Toga Party that night was actually the first I had been to and probably the most fun one I will ever go to. I danced like a fool for awhile in my pink toga, until they cleared the middle of the dance floor for a special presentation. They had us sit down in a circle for a really cool Greek show. They started by playing traditional Greek music and two men began dancing for awhile. They lit a ring of fire around themselves and one dancer  picked up a table with a chair on top with his mouth. They brought out plates and a huge pot of red liquid called Ouzo, a Greek alcohol. The men made their way around the ring of people and began smashing plates over our heads and pretty much baptizing us in Ouzo. We tried to get as many plates smashed over our heads and down as much Ouzo as possible. Once we left the club (the first floor of the Palladium), we went to the hot tub to relax. The Pink Palace had a huge hot tub, more like a small pool. It fit a lot of people so after the club the hot tub more or less turned into the after-party.

Saturday
On Saturday morning Drew woke all of us up because we had to sign up early to get on the booze cruise. The ship was not big so there was very limited space, about sixty or seventy passengers. We did not want to miss our opportunity so we got up, put shoes on and went downstairs to wait in line. A common theme we noticed this weekend is that you must be very patient with the Greeks. Just because they invented order and democracy does not mean they are well-organized in the present-day. Again, as with the togas, it took forever to get through the line but was well worth it once we boarded the ship for the booze cruise. I ate a good sized breakfast; another impressive meal at the Pink Palace. They actually cooked hot food so I grabbed a plate of ham, cheese, and eggs. They let us go up multiple times so I keep getting more until I was full. We ate our breakfast in the sun, on the deck overlooking the sea. At 2:00 it was finally time to walk out to the booze cruise and climb aboard. We were all very excited and ready for an adventure at sea.

The first instructions we were given is that we would all be shotgunning a beer to start the voyage. Each person bought a beer and had one of the bartenders gash a hole into one end with a good sized dagger. (Very unnecessary but very cool.) Our first stop on the cruise was a 40-foot cliff, which we would have the option of jumping off of. That was about the only safety precaution the crew took the whole trip: making the cliff-jump the first stop so everyone was still sober for the difficult climb and dangerous jump. Once we arrived they told us to jump out of the boat if we wanted to cliff-jump. Without even thinking I jumped into the beautiful blue, but frigid water. I swam as fast as I could to the base of the cliff to get out of the icy sea. The bartender was not kidding; I would agree the climb to the top was more difficult than having the nerve to jump. Once my foot found the underwater ledge, I pulled myself onto the edge of the base. The rock had great grip, although it was tough to find places to grab and get a foothold on. I held onto whatever I could and pulled myself up the rock pretty quickly. Luckily I swam to the base quick enough that I escaped the huge traffic jam at the bottom. The only people ahead of me was the bartender/guide and Dave. Dave led the way after our guide told us what to do and we got to the top with a lot of time to contemplate what we were about to do, before the next person made it up. Once people did get to the top we noticed a few of the girls had cut themselves up pretty badly on the cliff. We could not stop shivering because it was very windy at the top after getting out of the water. Not to mention we were almost shitting ourselves. We were instructed on how to jump and the ideal way to land. Dave went first and I followed right after. I told myself this was the easiest way down. The top of the cliff hung over its base on the side we jumped from so I wasn't worried about hitting anything except for the bottom. And the water was so clear that it was a little scary to actually see the bottom. What an adrenaline rush! I collected my sandals and swam back to the boat to watch everyone who was behind me. I felt great after and was happy I did it.

The second stop was a tiny secluded beach surrounded by a steep cliff all around. We got out here to lie in the sand and play some drinking games. Our final stop was a bat cave where we were supposed to go cliff-jumping off a lower ledge but apparently we didn't have enough time so we only ventured in for a little bit then backed out to head back to The Pink Palace. Dinner was the same deal as the night before with good food. We went back to the Palladium to go to the night club again too.

Sunday
I spent my Easter Sunday relaxing on a beach in Greece. It was not your typical observed holy day. That's not to say I didn't soak in the sun and the sea and peacefully thank God for his creations. I got up in the morning hoping to sign up for quad rentals. Unfortunately they were in high demand and we did not have a chance to take one out for the day.  Relaxing on a beach in Corfu was not a bad alternative to my original plan though. Vinny and I swam to a buoy far out in the sea once we got too hot. The water was still cold but tolerable while we were swimming. It was strange to be able to see the bottom the entire way out, even when it got deeper. It was a very refreshing swim to say the least. Some of my friends went on the booze cruise again, which was hilarious to watch them come back and tell us how crazy the second day was. From the looks of it everyone was much drunker than the day before. It was time to get on the bus and head home now but Vinny and I wanted to jump in the Greek water one last time. We yelled to the cruise captain, who was cleaning up the boat, to throw us beers! He threw us some cold ones and we cracked them open and made our way to the hot tub to warm up. We were in a rush and it was a much better alternative to showering. We quickly packed up everything and sadly left our paradise at The Pink Palace. Anyway after another 26+ hours of traveling we got back Monday night. It was much nicer having a cabin room to sleep in on the cruise back.

Fiorentina v Udinese

Today I went to my second professional soccer game as Fiorentina took on Udinese, a lesser team within the Italian Serie A league. It would be the first time seeing our team win after a disappointing last minute loss to Milan. Sunday was a great day for a soccer game; the weather was especially sunny and warm when the match began at 3 p.m. We walked to the stadium in only our jerseys and undershirts. This time I got to the stadium early enough to hear the starting line-up as well as the team's fight song. We were hoping for an easy win, but there was still no score until the 36th minute of play, when Juan Vargas netted the first goal of the day. Surprisingly Fiorentina's lead was short-lived when Simone Pepe put one in for Udinese. The visiting crowd went crazy of course, but did not seem like much compared to Milan's faithful one month earlier. Once the second half started, La Viola made sure there was no chance of failure. Ten minutes into the half Gilardino slipped one by the opposing goalkeeper, and Fiorentina never looked back as both Santana and Jovetic added a goal each to their counts. It was a lot of fun to watch Fiorentina beat up on Udinese 4-1 along with 25,000 other crazy fans.

Spring Break- Barcelona

Friday
We left on Friday for our spring break to Barcelona. It was very bittersweet heading to the city I had always wanted to visit for spring break because I was also saying goodbye to Elizabeth as we boarded our train for Rome. It was a difficult four-hour train ride to the Rome airport. Since we were flying with Ryan(Sham)Air we were at their mercy as far as the city we flew out of and the size of our luggage (one backpack-sized bag per-person unless you want to pay thirty euros to check it). We flew from Rome (Ciampino) to Barcelona (Girona). The flight was very cheap but the additional transportation to the outlying airports makes it not worth it, in my opinion. Its just so complicated and time-consuming this way. So after taking our train to Rome, we boarded a bus to get to the Ciampino airport. After boarding our plane we got kicked off because something must have been wrong with the plane. We re-boarded and arrived in Girona much delayed. From here we had to take a much longer bus ride to get to Barcelona. We had to take a subway from the bus station to Las Ramblas, the main street in Barcelona. Our place, Kabul Backpackers Hostel, was located in Plaza Real, which was right off Las Ramblas. The balcony of our 24 person mixed dorm overlooked this beautiful Plaza with palm trees and a fountain in the center.

After checking in, we put our bags in a storage room and waited for our room to be prepared. We headed out on Las Ramblas to see the city and find something to eat. KFC and McDonaolds were right off the main street and of course were severely overpriced. Vinny, Frank, and I decided we should look elsewhere. We walked down a side street and ran into a very authentic looking Spanish eatery called Pollo Rico ("rich chicken"). The name fit very well; there were rows upon rows of chickens roasting on multiple rotisseries. We sat down on barstools in the kitchen and looked over the English menu. A standard dish seemed to be a quarter piece of chicken with fries. It was only four euros, was a good-sized portion, and tasted great. We were coming back to this place a few more times this week (for me it would be 7 more times).

We went back to Kabul to get settled in and found one of the bunk-beds in our room was covered in balloons. We thought this was strange, but it was even funnier when we found out there was actually a man sleeping under all of those balloons. The man sleeping turned out to be quite a character as you would guess. He was one of the few people over the age of 26 at the hostel, an African-American man who went by "Jesus." He was a very sketchy individual and I will not go into further detail about him other than to say he was a very friendly and helpful resource in Barcelona.

That night the hostel staff took us out to a club called Hyde's. When I say the hostel was going out I mean every night of the week Kabul took us to a club for free except for Saturdays at Razzmatazz (which was totally worth it anyway). We met downstairs with everyone who was going out in the hostel at 1:45 am (and I thought Florence started late). Most nights we did not get back until 4 or 5 in the morning. I wasn't too impressed with the club, but was relieved when Elizabeth called me telling me she had made it back to New York. We eventually left and the taxi dropped us off on a street off Las Ramblas. This was the first time I truly experienced Barcelona at night and my eyes were opened to a whole new world. On the walk back to our hostel, we were offered everything under the sun (or moon). We were approached by people on the streets selling samosas (a food with potatoes and other vegetables, native of southern Asia) and cheap beer. It was not difficult for one to find a dealer selling weed or a prostitute selling herself either. I can see how this city is so dangerous for drunk college students coming back at late night, especially since it is known as one of the easiest places to get pick-pocketed.


Saturday
In between everything I did on our first full day, I napped to catch up on sleep lost during the travel. I'm pretty sure I woke up just before 10am to catch breakfast, despite hardly getting any sleep. Throughout the week I was pretty good at getting myself out of bed and downstairs to the hostel's free breakfast; I think I only missed one breakfast. The food was alright; my blue-chip breakfast consisted of ham and cheese on a warm roll with a muffin and an apple. I drank hot chocolate most mornings because they only had warm water. Almost everyday after breakfast I would jump back into bed to catch up on sleep.

Saturday was a pretty nice day, sunny and warm, so we walked around on the beach for a bit. For lunch I went back to Pollo Rico and tried a dish I had never had before. While in Europe I want to experience as much as I can and that includes trying new foods, even if they are not generally accepted in America. I ordered the rabbit with fries. I wasn't sure what to expect but could definitely tell when my plate arrived. On my plate were a bunch of fries with the fried back half of a rabbit. It was good, but the meat was very dark and a little too fatty.

After a nap, I was ready to embark on my first run in Spain. I went in the direction of Montjuic Park, where the Olympic facilities are located. (Barcelona hosted the 1992 Summer Olympic Games) Once I realized I had no idea how to start the climb to the top, I settled for a nice run to the port. I ran along the sea, as close to the port as I could before getting yelled at by a dock security guard. After that I turned around and ran back. Kabul also offered free dinner every night at 8:30 so we took advantage of that even though the food wasn't usually good and the portions weren't big enough. The club we went to that night was called Razzmatazz and it was f***in nuts! We payed a 15 euro cover but it was so worth it. This place was huge and the line was way out the door. Luckily we got right in since we went with our hostel. It was comparable to Space (in Florence). It may not have been as cool or as much fun (nothing is) but it was way bigger. The place was made up of 5 different rooms, with outside areas too. My friends and I went wild and danced all night.

Sunday
What better way to start off a Sunday than with Pollo Rico? Thats right we went back again for some more amazing cuisine. I felt like ordering something with eggs so I tried the Spanish omelette. It was pretty simple, eggs and potatoes. But of course it filled the whole plate and was very good. We had not walked around the city much yet so we set out to explore the large city of Barcelona. We saw a lot of nice churches and pretty Spanish buildings. That evening Vinny, Mike, and I found a really authentic pastry shop called Granjala Pallaresa. It was unlike anything I have seen before. It was a sit-down place where most customers were served desserts with warm cups of melted chocolate. We got a table and without being handed menus, were asked to order. Ok so we knew we needed to order the ciocolatta at least. Then we all got churros because they looked really good on display in the front window. We dipped our churros in the chocolate and even used spoons to eat the chocolate since it was so thick. That night the club Kabul brought us to was called Roxy, and it was by far the worst club we went to that week. When we walked in we were tricked into buying two drink cards for ten euro. The drinks were the worst things I have ever tasted too. I used my second drink card to buy a beer. They were playing tradition Spanish music for most of the night, until we left because anything else would have been better than staying.


Monday
What better way to start of the first day of the week than Pollo Rico? Another quarter chicken and fries later, we were off to our first real day of Barcelona tourism. First we took the subway to La Sagrada Familia, a church designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. The construction of this church has been going on for decades and is still not projected to be finished until years from now. It is extremely detailed and very strange to say the least. You could tell by observing the different materials and surfaces that it had been assembled over a long period of time.

Next we took the subway on our way to a huge park, Parc Güell, which was also inspired by Gaudi. Even after taking the subway we had to walk up a pretty steep hill to get to the entrance of the park. It was well worth the walk, especially since the view from the top was amazing. We walked through the groves of cacti and proceed down the hill to another section of the park. There we found some more wacky architecture. Gaudi had to be on some serious drugs to come up with this stuff. It was amazing and very trippy to see what he created so long ago.

We walked back to the subway and took it back to our hostel. That evening my roommate Jay and I decided we wanted to run to the top of Montjuic Park to take everything in. We ran up the steep incline of the mountain until we reached a castle. The best view of Barcelona I saw was from atop Montjuic Castle.

I was very impressed that Jay was able to stay with me throughout the run (even though I went easy on him and gave him some breaks on the way). We sprinted the final stretch of the run and he definitely has wheels that I don't have. That night we went to Opium with Kabul. I would say this was the coolest club besides Razzmatazz because we were able to exit out of the back and walk onto the beach, and even go up to the tide on the shore. It was a regular party on the beach.

 Tuesday
Speaking of a beach, that is the same place we headed the next day since it was probably the nicest of the days we were in Barcelona. We took our skirt-sized Kabul towels and bought some beverages on the way. The wind made it a bit chilly for beach weather and the water was pretty cool, so we just relaxed on the beach and told off annoying merchants walking back and forth trying to sell us sunglasses when we were already wearing some. Most of us got some good color, and Tyler (the Irishman) got pretty burnt. For lunch we went to a spectacular Japanese wok buffet. It was only twelve euro for a variety of great food. There was even raw meat that you could bring to the chefs to cook for you. They had everything from seafood to meat to fresh fruit to desserts like chocolate moose and ice cream. We ate so much I don't know if they'll ever allow us or any other Americans in ever again. The club of the night was called Apolo, which used to be some type of opera hall. It was not that much fun and was probably the earliest I left a club in Barcelona that week, getting back around 3:30. I was hungry, but it was so early that Frank and I could not even find a simosa vendor. We finally saw one walking around Plaza Real from our balcony. We yelled down at him to wait until I could come down and purchase some food from him. That made the night a lot better.

Wednesday
Four of us signed up for a special deal with "GoCars" Wednesday morning. For less than ten euro we got to drive these funny things around for 90 minutes. This was much cheaper than the usual price because of the promotion with Kabul. I got into one with Drew's friend, Greg, who was visiting. We ended up having a defective GPS tour in our car and ended up getting lost/ unable to get back to the station for about two hours. We only got charged the regular price and received free vouchers but after that experience I didn't really want to get back in one of those cars. Oh well, at least it was fun to drive around in Barcelona (and realize how difficult the roads are to navigate).

When I got back I was excited to run back to Montjuic Park and search for the Olympic facilities (mostly the track). I took myself on a "choose-your-own-adventure" running tour. Eventually I navigated my way to the Olympic stadium and slowly descended to it while running down the sloping road. Once I got to the stadium which I believed to be the track I ran around it looking for anywhere I could get in. There were locked metal gates surrounding the whole facility. That is until I got to the side of the track, where I was lucky to find an opening with free entrance. I was very lucky because I did not think to bring money (since I was running everywhere) and I could get a good view of the track used during the 1992 Olympic Games. I thought this was very cool and continued running through the area housing Olympic facilities. I made my way to a bunch of really nice parks within the Montjuic Park and explored those too during my run. I eventually made it back to the hostel after my spontaneous start-and-stop run. After Kabul's free dinner, I was not at all full so I wanted to try a fillafel for the first time. We found a nice place and I ordered a pita fillafel. It was a "make your own," so I added a bunch of different vegetables to it. Broadbar was the spot that night, a cool club playing lots of hip-hop/ rap. So obviously there was a lot of good music that night.

Thursday
Thursday was our last day in Barcelona. We spent it by going to the market and getting fresh fruit juice. I got a strawberry-pineapple combination and it tasted very good. Vinny, Mike and I went into a few shops and relaxed on some benches in Las Ramblas before heading back to Pollo Rico for the final time to get a traditional Barcelona platter called "paella." It was the special of the day so it was not the best quality but I got a good feel for the dish. It was mainly rice with seafood and chicken mixed in. It was difficult to peel the full shrimps and dig out the clams but it was definitely worth it.

Now it was time to go back home to Florence so we boarded the subway to the bus station and caught our bus to the Girona airport. We waited there for awhile and tried some Spanish McDonald's before getting on our flight back to Ciampino in Rome. We did not have a lot of time if we wanted to catch the train in Rome and avoid sleeping in either the airport or the Rome train station. We worked really hard to get home that night, which included a lot of running around and some occasional subway hopping. Once we got off our plane we ran to the buses outside and found a bus going to Rome Termini (the train station). After checking departure times we found that the train heading to Florence was actually leaving from a different Rome train station. We continued running down to the subway, where we hopped a gate to get onto a subway which we took four stops to the other station. We ran to the track and found a train headed to Firenze Campo di Marte. This was about three quarters of a mile walk to our house but we needed to get back to Florence that night. We were able to board the train and buy tickets onboard. There were no more rooms with seating available so we sat in the fold-out chairs in the aisle-way. We did not care at all; we were just happy to be sleeping in our own beds that night. Once we got to the Firenze station (around 2am) I walked back to my apartment, and beat everyone who took a taxi. I know; it wasn't the best idea but I figured if I survived Barcelona I could make it in Florence.

Elizabeth/ Mid-Term Week

I know this sounds like a contradiction; having my girlfriend visit during mid-term week seems to clash. However, it wasn't as bad as you would think. We even stayed in one night and Elizabeth helped me study for a few of my tests. I'll try to outline the week as best as I can. Basically we did everything someone could possibly do in Florence in a week.

Sunday

The first full day Elizabeth was here, I took her on a walking tour of most of the major piazzas and other significant landmarks. We saw everything from Piazza San Marco to the San Lorenzo markets. We just wandered all over Firenze for a few hours. The sun came out in full effect in Piazza Santa Maria Novella. We sat down on a stone bench to relax and take it all in. We found a singer/guitar player performing as we passed under the arch of Piazza della Repubblica. After resting up and getting some groceries at Billa, we went out to dinner with some friends at a Spanish-Mexican restaurant called Salamanca. It was the first time I had Mexican food in Europe. I decided on enchiladas verdes, which is a corn tortilla with chicken, cheese, green sauce, sour cream, and onion. It was very tasty, and filling too. My friend Dylan, who took us there, must have known the owner (after studying abroad in Florence for five semesters) because our waiter brought out tequila shots for all of us after the meal. Elizabeth said she had never done tequila shots before so I told her how to put the salt on her hand and suck the lime after the shot. Even though it was her first experience with tequila, she took it like a champ.

Monday

I did not have class until 6pm so we had almost another full day of touristy things in Florence. I brought her two blocks down the street to go inside of the Duomo (we would save the climb to the top for the next day). Florence's Duomo's exterior is spectacular. It is huge with the most elaborate details. However the inside is not as impressive as other Italian Duomos I have been in. There was not a whole lot to see and it did not take long to visit. Next I took Elizabeth to Santa Croce, the other major church in Florence. Just as Santa Maria Novella was the major Dominican church, Santa Croce was its Franciscan counterpart. The piazza is wide open and hosts many events (such as the chocolate festival I went to earlier in the semester) including Calcio Fiorentino, a historical soccer match that has been held there every year for centuries. It was sunny again today so we picked out a bench to rest and observe the piazza. After this we went back home to get ready for a nice run along the Arno River. This would be our first and only run of the week. (Sorry Pete and Chuck, we had a busy week!) It was nice to run with Elizabeth and show her how scenic my running routes had been. We went about seven miles at a comfortable, conversational pace for both of us. By the time we got back I had to shower and get ready for my Italian class. After class we started preparing the meal we picked out at Billa: sausage and peppers on a roll. I hardly know how to cook anything, so at least Elizabeth somewhat knew what she was doing. With a little help from our friend Vinny, our dinner turned out to be a success. With the addition of some fun pasta and some sauce, we made a delicious meal. Later in the evening we got ready to go out and of course the first place we went was our downstairs bar, Bigallo. There were actually not many people there, most likely because everyone was studying for mid-terms (losersss). We still managed to have a good time and I got Elizabeth her own "three for ten euro" drink card, a Bigallo special. (Don't worry she only had one drink and wisely paced herself so the card lasted the whole week) One drink at Bigallo is nothing to scoff at either; you should see the way they pour their drinks. It was a good night, but still incomplete until I took Elizabeth to see the wonder of "secret bakery." Let me clear this up: secret bakery is not the name of the bakery, its actually a bakery hidden deep in an alley. I got us two chocolate crescents which we easily finished before arriving home for the night.

Tuesday
On Tuesday we experienced the best tourist attraction in Florence: the climb to the top of the Duomo. For eight euros they allow you to climb all 463 steps up to the Cupola del Brunellschi and look out over the entire city. After climbing up multiple series of stairs we finally made it to the highest lookout of Florence. It was better than even Piazza de Michelangelo because it was a little higher and you could look down directly into the city instead of from across the river. It was the best 360 degree view I have ever seen! I was able to pick out all of Florence's major landmarks (and our apartment), all of which looked much cooler from way up on the cupola. After spending a good amount of time at the top, we had to start our descent so I could get back home and go to my Social Psychology midterm. Right after my test, I had Italian class and was still trying to decide where to take Elizabeth out to dinner that night. After consulting with some girls in my class, I decided on Gusta Pizza, a great pizza place on the other side of the Arno I had heard about. Everyone was right, it was easily the best pizza I have had since arriving in Europe. The place was pretty cool. There are only several pizzas to choose from which made it easy for Elizabeth and me to decide. We ordered our pizzas, grabbed an open table, and didn't wait too long before our personal pizzas were ready. The pizza was a little messy to eat but tasted delicious. Once we were done with dinner we began to walk back across the first bridge east of the Ponte Vecchio. I noticed a ledge Tyler had told me about a few days ago and jumped over the edge onto the point jutting out over the river. That scared Elizabeth; she preferred to just sit on the side so I sat with her after looking over the edge. We sat there for awhile to admire the Arno reflecting the city lights at night. Since I hadn't taken Elizabeth to get gelato yet, I figured now was a good time for it. We stayed close to the Ponte Vecchio to look for a place since the main drag had the only places open this late at night. We ate our gelato inside then started back home. On the way I decided to take her through Piazza Signoria since a guitar player can sometimes be spotted there at night. Sure enough we caught one performing as we walked through. We sat down on the stone steps near a bunch of Italian teens to enjoy the good sound. What a great night; couldn't have planned it better.

Wednesday
I got up extra early to study more for my Art History midterm at 9am. It was difficult but with some help studying with Elizabeth I probably did better than I would have. We had a big museum day planned once I got out of class. First we went to the Uffizi, which holds the majority of Florence's artwork. We went to the 2nd entrance (VIP style) and budged a huge line thanks for my friend Alyssa who let Elizabeth borrow her Amici degli Uffizi pass. This allows free entrance to many of Florence's museums. I easily snuck her in because so many people visit the Uffizi they don't even have time to check IDs. We covered everything the museum had to offer as quickly as possible and it still took us awhile. We were pretty hungry by the time we made it outside so I took her to get another fine food of Florence: the Kebab. We walked to Star Kebab because out of all the places I have tried, they are most definitely the best. For five euros we got a kebab and a drink to eat outside in the piazza.

Next on the museum tour was the Accademia, Florence's second biggest attraction simply because of Michelangelo's "David." This time we were not as lucky with the ID situation. I found the VIP entrance and we both entered through there. However when the lady in the ticket office checked our IDs Elizabeth was not so lucky to pass as my friend this time. Who checks IDs at a museum that closely anyway? Whatever; we just left laughing because Elizabeth had just gotten denied at a museum but never at a club. We headed home so I could study for my next midterm, Italian. It went pretty well and once we got out it was time to celebrate St Patty's Day. Yes this is an American holiday. It is celebrated just as hard in Italy as it would be in Ireland (by drunk Americans). A few of my housemates got Irish car-bombs at Dublin Pub on the way home from class. Elizabeth was very excited to celebrate her Irish heritage that night and of course I could not wait to celebrate either. (Everyone is Irish on St Patrick's Day right?) I put on the only green shirt I had. To start the night off we went to (you guessed it) Bigallo and got cups of their green beer. I thought that was kinda cool. The bar was packed and almost everyone was pretty drunk. I guess that's what the combination of St. Patrick's Day and the end of midterms results in. It was only right that we ended the night properly by picking up chocolate crescents from Secret Bakery.

Thursday

On Thursday after my Philosophy midterm we had our last full day planned with a few places in Florence I had not been yet. But first I took Elizabeth to Oil Shoppe, an excellent sandwich place, for lunch. We both ordered spicy chicken-parm on a "hungry" sized roll. The meal came with great fries and a water for five euros, what a deal. Elizabeth likes chicken-parm but it was a little too spicy for her so I ate her other half for her. One sandwich was filling enough, I was not hungry again til much later that night. Once we finished lunch we headed across the river to check out the Pitti Palace and connecting Boboli Gardens. I was able to use my pass to get in for free, but Elizabeth did not risk trying to use my friend's again. It took awhile to walk through all of the rooms in the Pitti Palace. We were so eager to get outside and see the gardens on such a beautiful day that we rushed through the end of the palace. We got outside and walked through the entrance to the Boboli Gardens. They were much bigger than I had imagined, with much less color than I expected. However it was only mid-March so everything may not have been in full bloom yet. There were some great views of the Duomo from across the river. We walked around many green pathways in the gardens before stumbling upon a really cool fountain that slowly tricked down a stairway. Eventually we had to leave so I could make it back in time for class.

After class I wanted to take Elizabeth out somewhere nice for our last dinner in Florence. I also wanted to show her what an "appertivo" was all about so we went to a place called Moyo. It was a really classy, modern restaurant/ bar. For those of you who do not know; an appertivo is basically an "all-you-can-eat" buffet of different foods, which you can take advantage of after buying a drink. We sat down and the waitress took our drink orders: a large beer for me and a "Dirty Shirley" for the lady. We grabbed plates and started exploring the different platters. I told her to pace herself because that was the trick for going up multiple times and staying for awhile. After a filling meal, I took her next door to The Red Garter, the main American sports bar in Florence, to watch some March Madness. Here we caught Murray State hitting a buzzer beater to upset Vanderbilt. It was nice because we both enjoy watching college basketball, and it was one of the rare times I saw a tournament game this year. We left after the game was over and started walking around. We went to the same gelato place we went the other night and got some more. Instead of sitting down we walked to the Ponte Vecchio to eat it. We were in luck, there was another guitar player singing right in the middle of the bridge. We stood against the bridge to enjoy the music. The Ponte Vecchio could not have been more beautiful; completely lit up in the night sky.

An annoying flower salesman came up to us offering his stupid flowers. I always get annoyed when they shove flowers in my face. Instead this time I took advantage of an extra pair of hands able to take a picture of Elizabeth and I with the Arno in the background.

A Special Visitor

I have never been so excited to wake up after a night of drinking as I was Saturday morning. I had to get up to prepare for a very special guest visiting me for a week. I did some last minute cleaning before heading out to the florist down the street. I picked out a rose and some mimosas to go with it. I went back home to get my backpack filled with homework and slipped the rose in. I was ready to walk to Florence's Santa Maria Novella train station and catch a train departing to Pisa. I bought my ticket and hopped on the train, anxiously awaiting my arrival at Pisa Aeroporto. I did some homework, made some flashcards to study later, and listened to my i-Pod. The train could not get there fast enough. When I finally got there I made my way to the arrival gate and began the long wait for a flight from British Airways to land. I bought two tickets from Pisa to the Florence train station. I couldn't sit down, I had to walk around. I went outside the airport to walk around aimlessly. It was a beautiful day so I ventured around outside to ease my mind. I wandered back inside and tried to sit down, checking the arrival board constantly. I met up with another friend studying in Florence from Marist who was there to meet her boyfriend and we shared our anxieties. Waiting, waiting, waiting... would she just walk through the door already!?

Finally after staring down multiple crowds of people, I saw a beautiful girl walk through the gate. Her face was familiar, although very overwhelmed. I walked up to her and handed her the beat up rose I had brought from Florence. We embraced then moved out of the way so others could greet those who had just landed. I was so glad to see my girlfriend Elizabeth, I didn't even think of proceeding out the door to catch the shuttle headed to Pisa. (There are no direct trains from Pisa Aeroporto to Firenze). We found our shuttle and got off at the Pisa Centrale stop. I looked for our track number at the train station and proceeded to the correct platform where the train would pick us up. This was my first experience with Trenitalia being late. We got on and spent the whole ride home catching up on everything going on recently. I did not even mind that our train got stopped and we were delayed forty minutes, except for the fact that I had to share leg room with the older gentleman sitting across from me. We eventually got back to Florence and walked to my apartment. Elizabeth was amazed to see the Duomo and how close our place with the balcony was from it.

As soon as she was somewhat settled, I took Elizabeth out to see everything I had experienced my first day in Florence. We went through Piazza Signoria and made our way to the Ponte Vecchio. I took her across the Arno to the breathtaking Piazza de Michelangelo, the best view of Florence besides the top of the Duomo. We stayed here past dusk just taking in the panoramic scenery as everything started lighting up and the air got colder .

After awhile we left to get ready for my friend, Lauren's 21st birthday party. It was a prom-themed party because she told us she was deprived of a prom in high school. Her house was amazing. All of her housemates worked very hard to decorate and make everything look nice. They even had a photo-op spot to stand with a placard, "Guelpha Prom 2010." It was a very classy party, set up for some good old-fashioned "wine pong" (a mixture of our American game with an added European touch). The first game Elizabeth and I took on my roomate Jay and our friend Vinny. I ended up having to force the arc of my shot over a paper-ring prom decoration. It worked out well because we easily won. Our next game was against one of Lauren's roomates, Ali and her boyfriend who was visiting. Her boyfriend was pretty good and the prom decoration was getting in the way, which resulted in us losing a close game.

Next, we had plans to head out to possibly the craziest discoteca in Florence, called Space, to show Elizabeth what the nightlife was all about. Of course we had to do it up big and reserved a VIP table. Some VIP sections at certain clubs aren't a big deal, but at Space it was amazing and the price was proof we were in for a fun night. We got to the door and stayed in a tightly-knit group as a promoter escorted us up two floors to the VIP section. From this spot we could see everything, it was just crazy. Everything you expect VIP at a club to be; this was it. (I would add a picture but it would never be able to do it justice) We sat down at our table and were poured our drinks of Jim Beam with some Coca-Cola mixers (heavy on the Jim Beam, not as much on the soda). We danced the whole night on the balcony/terrace overlooking everyone in the club. It was the best time I've ever had at a club. What a great first night.