Switzerland

So I did my first travel outside of Italy to Interlaken Switzerland. It was really hard and felt strange packing for a vacation while you are technically already on a vacation. I went with some friends through this company called EuroAdventures, there are a few different companys that do college trips to different places throughout Europe. The first day I was there I went paragliding! At first I was not going to do it and just the other girls were but then after they did it they convinced me and it was soooo much fun! We drove up the mountain then had to hike the rest of the way up and run off a cliff/hill, it's probably pretty close to one of the crazist funnest things I've done. But don't worry I was not by my self flying, I was with a pilot who knew what he was doing.The next day we went to this cute little town called Murren its way up in the Alps, it has amazing views, so we just walked around and just enjoyed the snow/mountains, ate lunch, and relaxed. The weekend reminded me of being in Tahoe (an extra cold Tahoe) which was kinda a nice at home feeling except for it being so darn expensive! We thought it would be cheaper than Italy because our dollar is the same as a Frank...that was not the case. They charge about 18 franks for a cheeseburger so you can only imagine. I met a local and was talking to him, and asked what the deal was with the high prices of everything. Apparently minimum wage is about 23 franks an hour...and people get paid salary of 3100 a month at the very least! Thought that was interesting! We all really liked Switzerland and everyone was soo nice. Ciao!

add on of group meal

I forgot to mention that at the end we had so much leftover meat and we all felt really bad throwing it away. We had one guy sitting at our table who wanted to take it home but no one wanted to ask for a to go box so I did and the waiter looked at me like I was crazy because in Italy you do not take things home you eat everything!! so that was pretty embarrassing haha, anyway he came back with a plastic bag for us to put the meat in!! Then other tables saw us doing it and they did it too! The restaurant must have hated us, o well It was pretty funny, anyway do not ask for food to go in Italy

8 course meal

Last week we had our group meal at this restaurant called Il Latini it was sooo good. We started off with our own plate of prosciutto, then came a caprese salad and crostini with patate (course 1) Next came our pastas; pene bolonese seriously looked just like the one my grandma makes except with meat in it, ravioli, bibollita (italian bread soup sooo good), and a bean soup. (course 2), still not even close to done! Next came potatoes and beans (course 3) now finally for the main course we had a huge platter of meat with veal, prime rib, chicken and pork. (course 5) All the girls I was sitting with didnt know it was veal and they ate it and were saying how good it was....and I said something about veal and they all said "ehh no I dont eat veal" then I asked the waiter and he told us it was veal. hahaha I thought it was pretty funny. Anyway now for the dessert they first brought us an assortment of 5 different treats including tortas cream puffs, cake.(course 6) Next we had biscotti served with sweet liqueur that you dip the biscotti in, can't remember the name of it though. (course 7) Lastly they brought a sweet dessert white wine kinda like port but it was white wine(course 8) by far the most food I have ever eaten in one sitting!! Best meal in Italy so far and most people say it will be the best meal I will have in Italy. Here are some photos I took...kinda forgot in the beginning sorry! Hope you like!

Bologna

Hello Hello... Saturday I went to Bologna with a few girls we took the train there it took about an hour, we left around 8am we planned on staying till 8pm but ended up leaving at around six because we were tired and the other girls feet hurt, I'm tankful I wore my really comfortble boots unlike them. Anyway while we were there we did a lot of eating shopping and site seeing. Shopping there was much cheaper than in Florence and its the perfect time to shop everywehre because they are clearing out their new collections. Its also hard in Florence when I walk to or from school to not stop and buy everything! The town kinda reminded me on San Francisco they have alot of busses everywhere much more cars around then Florence and its also alot more spread out. When we got to Bologna we searched for this coffee shop our teacher told us about that was supposed to be amazing for a half hour then gave up and went to another one and got pizza and cappuccinos. We went to a few museums they are all huge here! Later me and Courtney climbed the Torre Asinelli (famous tower) there are two towers one is actually leaning like the tower in pisa. We climbed 400 steps to get to the top is was a little scary at some points because the tower is so old and the steps are very tiny. The view was amazing when we got to top, that was my favorite excusion we have done so far. Just a little survival tip for when you come to Italy...ONLY USE ATM MACHINES TO GET YOUR MONEY OUT. they money exchange store (they are everywhere around the toristy spots) charged me 100eruo service charge to get money out. wooops!

2/10

Ciao! Just finished dinner with my room mates well we called it dinner we just had Focaccia, cheeses, salad and canolli's from the chocolate festival yumm! By the way we are having this chocolate festival at the Santa Croce and it is the best chocolate I have ever had my favorite is fresh strawberry and banana Kabob diped in milk chocolate gotten it twice so far! School has started and its not what I thought, they are not giving us a break because we are in Florence. Its not the easiest place to be motivated to stay inside and do homework but I'll figure something out :) Last night I took a cooking class on how to make gnocchi they were not that hard at all but we will see how hard it really is when I try making them at home. It was fun there was a group of 16 of us and we were split into small groups and each of us had an instructer (mine was really good looking and around my age which made it a little more exciting) The sauce we made to go along with it was not best so I would make a different sauce. To go along with it we had caprase and chocolate salami. My next class is on how to make Ravaioli. This weekend on Saturday I am going to Bologna and Sunday climbing to the top of the Duomo. Ciao xoxo

2/6

Hi everyone glad your enjoying the blog! Yesterday we went to Pisa and Lucca. Lets just say Lucca really is the city of walls we got lost about 4 times there. It is a really nice place very pretty and much much clamer than Florence. When we got there it was freezing and me and my roommate were only wearing sweaters so we had to buy a jacket...lesson learned to bad its probably not going to be the only jacket I buy here, the shopping is crazy and its hard not to buy everything I see. Especially since now that im here I really dont like much of what I packed because the Florentine women always look so good! Anyway in Lucca we walked along the wall (the town is surrounded by a very tall wall) That was nice then we got off the wall and ended up getting stuck in the farmers market...there was seriously no way out we had to walk through the entire thing! oops! We managed to find one Church it was beautiful! I forgot the name sorry... A few hours after being lost in Lucca we made it to the Bus and went to Pisa. I'v already been but it was nice to refresh my memory and learn a little more about the town. Walking into Pisa and first seeing the tower it looks fake its so cool. The tower today leans 13 feet, it used to lean 27 feet but they had to fix it because it was gonig to fall over. Later that night me and my roommates all made dinner then went out to a lounge and the Red Garder which apprently has been there for years. Today I woke up and went for a run along the Arno River and on the way home walked along pontevecchio and looked at all the jewls. It felt so great and I finally got the feeling that yup I am living in Florence. We just got home from shopping..well we dident find anything just browsing to see what they have and we will go back again on our own a man told me I was beautiful and had beautiful friends..and it was his birthday so I would get a great deal on a leather jacket which it was but I dont want one. Anyway I feel like I keep blabbing Ill update soon. Im watching the Superbowl tonight at midnight! should be interesting.

So its 4am here and I am wide wake great huh?...the past few days it has been 5am then falling asleep at 7 and having to wake up at 8am, so so far the sleeping thing is not working out too well. But its not just me I will look over and my room made will be there wide awake as well so we have our daily early morning chat. Anyway yesterday which was Tuesday I went to the farmers market it was so cool they have tons of fresh fruit which I stocked up on for our apartment. All the old Italian men were laughing at us and elling jokes because they knew we had no idea what we were doing haha. My favorite part was the prosciutto part, too bad the man was not Italian but owell. The man gave me samples of different prosciuttos, they were really good so of course I bought some and on the way home stoped at a bakery and go some focaccia for later and a slice of pizza focaccia for then which was AMAZING. Here are some pictures from the market the ones where the meat is hanging is the inside part of the market I'm sure I'll be coming here often. It was really cool I think we were the only Americans in there and no one spoke english it was awesome.