Flyin HIGH

As is usual for me and my blogging skills, I'm a bit behind on life...I always have these great ideas for stories and recaps after something happens but then never have the chance to sit down and write it out. I sometimes wish I was one of those study abroad kids that didn't have grades that transferred...and who had all elective classes that don't mean a thing. Silly me, I actually thought I wanted to still be a student here...now I'm stuck doing more work than I would've liked on this adventure, but that's beside the point.

My latest adventure of a weekend still has left me reeling. I'm exhausted and on the verge of sickness due to what happened on the latter part of the trip...

My roomies Lauren, Katie, our friend Nancy, and Katie's fiance and his roommate and I, all decided to go to Amsterdam this past weekend. It started out as an idea for a celebration for Katie and Jim's engagement because that is one place that they really wanted to go see, and why not celebrate and do it big in Amsterdam, right? Then we found flights from Pisa to Brussels, Belgium for 20 euro on Ryanair, rockin' deal. And apparently Brussels is only a short, cheap, bus ride away from Amsterdam. So that was booked.

Nothing really turned out as planned on this trip...let me just outline our travel details just to get to our destination:

• Walk to Florence train station to catch a bus to the Pisa airport 
• flight from Pisa to Brussels 
• taxi from Brussels airport to a train station 
• get lost for about an hour until a man from Subway shows us how to get on the metro to a different train station 
• wait at this train station until the bus comes to take us to Amsterdam
• 4 hour bus ride to Amsterdam
• take the metro from Amsterdam Amstel station to Centraal
• from Centraal sneak onto two different metro lines to get in our hostel's district
• walk to hostel 

That was only getting there...and let me tell you it was more than an adventure. Lauren came in in the clutch, had to cry her way onto the plane there because she came late from class, we got stopped by border patrol on the bus coming into Holland because illegal aliens usually sneak into the country that way, lost a few items along the way, got on a couple wrong metro lines, missed the bus we were originally supposed to take to Amsterdam, but still managed to make it to our hostel by 12:30am, in the clutch. And the coffeeshops on weekdays were open until 1am so we were able to hit up our first one and walk around a bit to see the town at night. 

Now the first big shock about Amsterdam is that it is surprisingly an absolutely BEAUTIFUL city. I didn't expect it in the least...some call it the "Venice of the North" and it's so true, because the city is similarly set on water, with canals everywhere and lovely bridges lit up for the holiday season. The only difference was this place wasn't sinking, and it was FREEZING, about 30 degrees, maybe. The architecture was very distinct and different from what we are used to seeing here in Italy...it reminded me a lot of Prague. Lots of angles, different dark, rich colors, and lots of gothic structures. In any case, the combination of everything that is city contains is fabulous. The atmosphere is a whole different story and is likely why it is such a hub and travel destination for students like us. We all know why everyone is so laid-back and fun...yes most people, old and young were more than likely flyin' high all day long.


Now I'm not really into this weed culture, but since it is legal in Holland, it truly is a huge revenue base and part of what makes this city and country the way it is. But when in Amsterdam...


There was a lot more than coffeeshops to see in the city though, there was the Van Gogh Museum, the I Amsterdam sign in the middle of this gorgeous park, the Heineken Factory/Brewery, Amstel Brewery, Anne Frank's house, and many other historically significant places to see, which we all did! And yes the Red Light District definitely was included in that category...that was possibly the most entertaining place that I've ever been.

The Red Light District is everything you've probably heard about and more...every sexual taboo is laid out there in public for everyone to see and sometimes participate in. Sex shops lined the streets, some more scandalous than others, porn movie theaters, live peep shows, kinky shops, and of course the illustrious window/doors that the prostitutes stand behind that are lit up by red lights. These were the most hilarious part...especially at night! During the day it's just a normal street...lined with sex...at night it's a bit more crazy. The girls behind the windows were basically wearing nothing, and would stand there staring at any who pass by, looking for the next victim to take behind the window, close the curtains, and have their way with them...it was kind of disturbing seeing the men who would walk out of these places...and I didn't like being sized up by these women like sexual prey...but hey, they were the naked ones stuck in the red boxes getting ogled by steetwalkers soo...I win, obviously.


Exploring this city was just a lot of fun, getting lost was part of the adventure. 


And because of the way our flight times worked out coming home, we stayed in Brussels for our third night. This meant of course leaving lovely Amsterdam earlier than we wanted, and jumping on that bus ride to Brussels. Then of course we had to figure out how to get to our hostel...easier said than done, especially when none of us knows any French, and no one in the train station speaks English. Awesome. But we called the hostel for directions, and his mumbled French actually led us to the right metro and direction of our home for the night...which surprisingly was our own suite, nothing like the pit we were in the previous two nights! Thank goodness for small favors...there was even a bath tub, since when do those exist in Europe?! 


But we were exhausted and the only thing we wanted was a drink, some Belgian chocolate, and waffles...and that is exactly what we got that night. 


Found the BEST Belgian waffles, I got mine smothered in Nutella, bananas, homemade whipped cream and chocolate. Can you orgasm in my mouth? YES indeed. The chocolate shops were everywhere too, it was so incredibly rich, any chocolate fiend would go crazy, each shop had chocolate fountains where you could stick free samples in to taste its chocolatey freshness :) The city center of Brussels is gorgeous too, saw the Mannekin Pis aka this tiny statue of a boy peeing - don't ask me why but for some reason this is a big deal here. And just explored, saw the Grand Palace and the Cathedral which were gorgeous!

Now Sunday is when the tears and the disaster started...


Now we had a 10:25 flight out of Brussels...woke up at 6, got ready, had our free breakfast, was at the metro station ready to hop on the metro to the train station at 7...at the train station we had to either catch the bus to the airport (this isn't the main airport we found out later), or a taxi for 180 euro. Obviously the bus is what we were aiming for, but when we arrived the bus that was waiting out front only had two spots left, and there were four of us. We figured we gave ourselves enough of a time cushion so that we could take the next bus, which was supposed to come in 20 minutes...it was an hour late. And the amount of people waiting for the bus was unreal. Once it finally arrived we pushed and shoved our way to the front and jumped on like our lives depended on it. We were relieved to have a spot...but time was against us. And just our luck, some French woman had tried to save seats for people that didn't make it on the bus and started a HUGE commotion with the bus driver, I mean they were yelling and cursing in three different languages...French, Italian, and English came out, so we were able to understand most of it. We were yelling too, for her to shut the eff up and let us go because at this rate, we were an hour and fifteen minutes late after the commotion...we arrived at the airport 25 minutes before our flight is supposed to leave. With Ryanair you have to check-in 30 minutes prior, then they close the check-in...we were five minutes late.


So the four of us and two other Italian girls on our flight begged and pleaded with the people behind the desk to stamp our shit and let us go...they did, but not before their supervisor came over and gave us shit about how this would never happen in America...You're right buddy, that's because they would hold the plane for us! So from there we rush through security like nobody's business...never in my life have I done it so fast. There was no mercy, we pushed right to the front and ran to the gate...


...just in time to see our plane take off...fifteen minutes early....


Cue me bursting into tears out of frustration, exhaustion, and desperation...and collapse onto the ground. 


Yeah.


The gate was deserted, not a soul in sight. So we went back through security to the front of the airport, and tried to talk to every information desk, Ryanair employee, anyone who could help us get home. Because at this point we had no money, the only other flight to Italy that day was over 200 euro and they were going to charge us 100 euro just to change our flight, they declined any responsibility, wouldn't tell us when any flight to Italy was and told us that it was our own problem. I was at a consistent sob at this point, I was beside myself...luckily the other girls had it together enough to look for an internet point and jump online to check out when the next flights available were...turns out the only one was the following day, Monday morning. We had no choice but to book it. Then they refused to print out our boarding passes, said it cost 40 euro to do it, when we told them that we would be in the airport for the next 30 hours, they said that it didn't matter, that they would charge us. Luckily Jim and Raj, the guys that had been traveling with us who study in Madrid, had been planning on spending the night in the airport anyway to catch an early morning flight, so they saved us the money and printed out our passes and brought them to the airport when they joined us.


So there we were, the six of us...and eventually a few more stranded souls...camped out in the smallest airport of my life, right behind a Coke vending machine and three computers. Our nook. For the next 30 hours...


Things got interesting...

Highlights were ordering pizza to the Brussels airport...yeah that happened!!


In any case, after security woke us up at 4am, we checked in, and sat at our gate and boarded our damn flight back to Bologna, Italy, where people are 100x nicer than the French, and where things make sense...then it was a bus ride and a train ride back to Florence, and I made it just in time to run to class and make a presentation. Epic. 


All in all...I loved the cities, we were able to really get a feel for Amsterdam, no one really wanted to leave, and Brussels was a surprising gem as well - minus its transportation and airport of course.


But in any case, my roommates were lovely enough to share their fever and sickness with me so I'm about to pass out but I have ohh so much more to share at a later date...


Ciao for now,
Jess

My Future Home: The Amalfi Coast

As Lauren and I wait for more True Blood to load and completely avoid studying for more midterms...I must say that the weeks since Oktoberfest have been a whirlwind. 

The following weekend was also booked through Bus2Alps and we definitely visited some of my absolute favorite places, I fell in LOVE! The AMALFI COAST. As is the usual drill we took a bus through Thursday night, arrived in our hostel to sleep a couple hours in a city called Sorrento on the coast, and then were off to the small island of Capri for the day! From the Sorrento coast we took a private boat with our tour group to Capri which was simply beautiful, my friends and I were sitting out on the bow so we got to see everything, it was so peaceful. 

We arrived first at the imfamous Blue Grotto, which is on the side of the island in the mouth of this tiny cave opening. Basically during the daylight hours the cave opening is in a position so that the light coming in reflects and looks like it lights up the water!! It is absolutely phenomenal! It looks like there are lights underneath illuminating this cave...there is only one way in and you go on this 4 person wooden boat manned by a local Italian who steers you around it, singing Italian songs, giving a Blue Grotto history lesson, and reminding you to tip him, clever man...in any case it was an awesome start to the weekend!

Now if you're thinking that the island of Capri sounds familiar...it's because it probably does. Most celebrities, European and American have homes here, it is very upscale, very private, and very beautiful. No big deal our guides were pointing out George Clooney, the owner of Ferrarri, and some of basically the worlds richest people's mansion homes on the cliffside towns of this tiny island. We got to explore the island, take a chairlift to the top that overlooks everything, had some bomb seafood, explored the pebble beach, sipped free limoncello, and watched the local shoemaker make jeweled sandals! 

After our lovely day exploring the island we took the boat on one more cruise around the island and headed back to Sorrento and our hostel for the night. We were staying in an 11 person co-ed hostel room, which made for quite the interesting weekend. That night we went out in Sorrento for dinner and to an American bar/discoteca some awesome people we were hanging out with. Proved to be a lot of fun.

Saturday was by far my favorite...I absolutely fell in love with the town we visited: Positano. It is this gorgeous town on the coast, with these insane black sand beaches, and is built completely into the mountainside, it's streets are almost vertical! You have to climb uphill to get anywhere from the beach! It reminded me of Laguna, CA, the town had such an authentic beachy style to it, artists covered the streets and small boutiques could be found between the tabacchi and gelato shops. Also held the best sandwich/panini shop in Italy, hands down! We spent most of the day laying out on the beach, and exploring the town, before jumping on a private boat that took us to a sick spot to cliff dive up to 40 feet, and go cave swimming!! SO FANTASTIC. Such a rush and one of the best days I could've possibly experienced.

 
After an exciting day we retired to the hostel for the night, which actually had live entertainment, a decent bar, and a rooftop hangout with a beach view, perfectly chill and wonderful way to spend the night with some good friends! On Sunday we hitched it over to Pompeii, the infamous city of ruins that fell to Mt. Vesuvius during Roman times. They kept EVERYTHING in this place accurate, as if no one in the city had left, it was eerie. There were still paintings and statues and full on homes that you could walk through. There were no roofs to any of them and all of the buildings were crumbling with age but still held firm. And it was not a place to hit up for an hour, this was an entire city, and you walk...the entire...city. I mean you have to see it all. Pompeii was the perfect ending to an amazing weekend.

We even found a home that we particularly liked, claimed rooms of course, and Mamma Bea put on a little cooking show for us! Such a pro.

Well I'm about to pass out...molto amore tutti!


Ciao for now,
Jessica

Yes, I'm Alive

First of all, I feel like a blog failure, it's been almost a month without a post from me and clearly that is unacceptable. But time more than flies in Italy, it sprints, and I am clearly far too out of shape to keep up...between traveling every weekend and classes and midterms this week, it's been a bit hectic. Internet has also been a problem...and Italians aren't the quickest people to fix things, the pace is a bit more relaxed here.

In any case I currently only have two more midterms out of six, a practical cooking one and a communications one and I'm home freeeee! Then my parents arrive, and we will be traveling around Florence, to Pisa, Lucca, Chianti, wine tasting in Tuscany, and spending two days in Venice! Then next weekend Lauren, the roomie, and I are joining a few girls from our wine tasting class on another Bus2Alps trip to the island of Corfu, Greece for Halloween! November 1st is a holiday here, All Saints Day, so luckily we have that Monday off.

A brief recap of the past few weekends must happen because they were some of the best days of my life. 

OKTOBERFEST: Now this was a weekend unlike any I will likely ever experience. We booked the weekend through Bus2Alps, the student travel agency around there who is pretty legit, and we took a bus overnight to Munich, Germany where we arrived at about 8am on a Friday. We wasted zero time. The best part about this experience is that we were going all out and camping in the woods of Munich. The campsite we were at is run by a bunch of insanely awesome Australians who will drink anyone I know under a table. The site was Stoketoberfest and Stoke definitely lived up to its name. Within 5 minutes of arriving we were thrown into a line to assign us all into two-person tents that were set up all over the place, and while in line they served us our first beer of the weekend. Even funnier were the vans that were parked everywhere with graffiti covering them completely and cracked out English guys falling all over the place. 

Another perk about the campsite was that with 5 euro we got a wristband that got us unlimited beer and sangria there for the weekend, can you say amazing?! Well it was, especially when mixed, don't judge until you try it! 

 
As you can see I'm pretty happy about the wristband scenario, especially that it says, "If it wasn't for booze, we'd all be virgins." That pretty much sums up the outlook of the Aussies. Needless to say we loved them. But after we got settled it was off to the festival!! Now the grounds of Oktoberfest definitely was all I imagined and more, when you arrive all you can see are dozens and dozens of carnival rides, food stands, and GIANT tents. As for the people, the Germans are quite large...I felt like a midget next to most, even the women! Most people were decked out in their Lederhosen for men, and Drindle for women, both of which looked awesome and fit the atmosphere just right. 

Friday we explored multiple tents and a few beer gardens, which are the sections outside the tents where they have some seating they can still serve you at. We learned the rules of serving pretty quick, which is basically: treat the beer girls like goddesses, tip them, and you don't get served unless at a table. And everywhere was crowded so you jumped on the first empty space you see and make a looot of friends just from sharing space. This was a beautiful day if just a bit overcast...but then we got back to the campsite, and within the 15 minutes it took to get there in a cab, it had started pouring, became FREEZING, and even HAILED. Yes, hailed. Big giant baseball-sized hail. And we were going back to our tents? Well that was a definite no, so luckily the Aussies running this place had been drinking all day and had set up some psuedo tents over the food area. So for the rest of the night we just continued to drink, met a lot of fun people from all over, and avoided the pelting rain. Luckily we could cuddle in the tent, Lauren and I, but even still in our sleeping bags and all the clothing we brought with us on...it was frigid. 

Now Saturday was beyond epic. The Aussies had started drinking at about 5am, many didn't sleep, because of the time difference they had a playoff rugby match on that they couldn't miss, so they ran around screaming wake up calls at about 6:45. The first bus into the festival left at 7am, these people did not mess around! The best tents fill up fast, and after a certain time if you don't have a spot at a table you can't get in! So we pulled ourselves together and booked it over there! Our favorite tent was Hofbrau, which is where we had a table by 8am. WIN! This tent is where most of the Americans and Australians go, and is one of the largest; it can house about 10,000 people at capacity! INSANE! And the beer there was THE BEST. Seriously I will never drink a beer the same way because I will be thinking of this...they were served in Liters and were fantastic. No bitter aftertaste. No hangovers. No bloating. The Liter was the size of 3 US beers as far as volume, but 5 US beers as far as alcohol percentage. Perfection.

They started serving at 9am and by 11am, after two liters of beer, we were all shwasted in a wonderful way, chanting German drinking songs, meeting all of the German and French people that shared our table eventually and just overall having a grand old time. This went on all day. I took a bunch of videos of the chanting, most are not very steady because I'm jumping around singing at the same time but how could I not?! Good memories...good stories...good people...good beer. 

There were a few American songs that got turned into chants so it was great that we could join in! Also there were some German guys our age that spoke English that taught us some of the words to the German ones and translated them. All in all, amazing.


Of course the rain didn't let up, or the frigid cold, so going back to the campsite was not a great thing, but the beer and sangria never stopped, they served us food, and we had our makeshift tent and wonderful entertaining company and music to keep us going all night!


The Sunday of that weekend was still rainy and cold so we couldn't do the Munich bike tour around the town that we wanted for obvious reasons, so we decided to check out Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, which was only a short bus ride away. 


I cannot describe to you how powerful that place was. There was a short walk with informational signs that told us it was the walk that all of the prisoners had before entering the camp. Surreal. Immediately when I entered the camp I was in tears. There is no way to describe why I was so moved, but seeing the way they kept this place immortalized and as a museum...walking on the ground where thousand of people died. I was overcome. There are no words. We saw the death chambers. Saw where they ate and slept and died...I'm so grateful for going, as somber a trip as it was, it made the experience that much more tangible and real. 

I couldn't imagine being Jewish or having relatives that went through this. I wouldn't been beyond a mess. 

Alright well I'm taking a much needed True Blood break and I'll be back. I need some Alcide and Eric in my life right about now.

Ciao for now,
Jessica

Continuing my Rambles...

Fuckin' Fish Puuuub. Need I say more?

Well probably because if you haven't been here you don't know...there is this pub down the street that has young people roaming the streets at night handing out fliers, practically attacking you to go there. They say they have free champagne one night, free shots for ladies, etc...but then you go, and either no one is there and it was a desperate attempt, or it's so crowded with drunk stupid American girls that you have to turn around and just keep on walking. But regardless, you always end up checking out the flippin Fish Pub. We got sucked in tonight and it was the latter story...hence why we came home within the hour.

Ahhh so in any case I am back to finish my story! Exciting I know. Please contain your excitement. 

Alrighty so last Thursday...ahh yes, the night we learned that we can get a crate full of 12 red wines for 20 euro. Needless to say my roomie Lauren and I are winos and so we split a couple bottles before we all went out to try out a local place everyone had been talking about. Now granted most of the people studying here, I don't know how they do it but they literally go out EVERY NIGHT. I would be broke already. So they know alllll the hot spots. We travel on the weekends and usually just end up going out on Thursday/Friday/Saturday, you know, pretty standard. No, we're way behind the curve. So we go to this place called the Red Garter and it actually was pretty fun, live band, upstairs area to sit down, and a dance floor and solid sized bar. Not as many creepy Italian men, more normal ones so it was all good. Didn't make the best decisions that night so I'm just gonna end it there (roomies, I still am in awe as to what we found out tonight) but I love that we can just go out with no plans and walk down the street and find a new place to go! It just keeps it all new and exciting.

Friday my roomie Lauren and I decided to hop on a train when we woke up and spend the day down in Siena! It's a city about an hour southeast within Tuscany and is famous of course for its wine and a certain type of pasta. It was a pretty fun day, we hit most of the major sites and ate the local food of course! The Duomo there is the largest gothic midieval structure in all of Europe! It is massive and truly a sight to behold. It is entirely different from the Duomo here, all of the angles, gargoyles, images, and well everything. Siena was just an interesting place because of its structure. The roads were uphill then downhill, then up, then down, etc. It is right into the side of these rolling hills with intense architectural pieces popping up every so often. Good day trip destination. 

Saturday night: FIORENTINAAAAAA!!! VAFFANCULO LAZIO! Haha that's what we were chanting all night at the Fiorentina (Florence) vs Lazio soccer game! God these fans put American football fans to SHAME. We were in the crazy section. Literally the lady at the ticket booth called it that, and we were all for it. Why not experience a real soccer game the way it should be in Italy right? Well first off I don't think I've ever felt more testosterone in my life. SO MANY MEN JACKED UP ON BEER AND AGGRESSION. It was a lot of fun to watch people go crazy for the game but I definitely felt like we stood out more than usual. These people all have organized chants as well, and they did them for the entire game it felt like. Vaffanculo is fuck off or fuck you by the way so they are pretty explicit as well. There was a section with people setting off flares so it looked like there was a fire in the stands, and a stink bomb that let off purple smoke because Fiorentina's colors are purple, red and white. What an experience. 

If I've learned anything from living here for the past three weeks it's that the Italians are a very proud people, and they love everything about their country and about themselves and their way of life. And they do have a point, they have a lot of things to be proud of...well this sentimental feeling is intensified and amplified by thousands of chanting men who bleed purple for their team. There is no messing with the Fiorentina fans. We researched them a bit and apparently they are the only fans in history to be banned from their own stadium for how outrageous they are. Not a joke. 

Anywho, Sunday, Cinque Terre. Now this place was talked up to us big time as one of the best and most memorable places to visit in Italy. I was pumped for this day trip. Cinque Terre in Italian means 5 lands, and in northwestern Italy along the coastline there are 5 towns that are connected by this windy insane hike (also by train). The plan was to hike through all the towns and then hangout at the beach at the last one. Yeahhh never made it there. 

That hike was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It was steep like crazy, rocky and extremely slippery because it had rained the day and night before we went. Therefore, it was FULL of mud so you could potentially just go flying off the side of a cliff at any moment. It was insanely beautiful and worth the hike, but during, I wanted to die. I think for me it was the humidity that put me over the top. I still have so much trouble with that. California is humid enough for me to handle, this humidity in the forest hillsides next to the beach, after it rained? Yeah probably 90% humidity. In any case it was an adventure getting everyone to the fourth town, Vernazzo, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. But in the end we all got to sunbathe on the rocks and beach of this small town and eat some authentic, if overpriced, local dishes! 

Everyday is an adventure so far in every sense of the word. I learn and try to absorb as much as possible about the Italian culture, language, and atmosphere. And it is only the beginning...three weeks down. Three months to go!

This weekend: Oktoberfest. Biggest festival in the world. Please wish me and my liver good luck with this one. I am not a beer person. And we're camping. Please Munich don't let me die. 

Ciao for now,
Jessica 

Italian Men, Traveling, Class, and I'm Back in Touch

First off, apologies, mi dispiace ragazzi! 

I have been farrrr too out of touch this past week, but it can be really hard between traveling all the time, class, homework, and going out. I am not complaining by any means, but I have a lot to recap so far!!

Alright so in relation to my latest post about my wine class, yes it is still amazing, and yes I had it tonight, 7 glasses of wine and 4 pages of notes down (red, white, champagne, and red sparkling wine)! Fantastico! Donato had some memorable quotes tonight too, my favorites include:


(As he sticks his entire nose into his glass) - "Alcohol is a big punch in the nose!"


"I'm very fond of smelly wine"


(We are all chatting because we're quite tipsy and to quiet us he says...) "You guyyyys, whistle whistle whistle!!"


Hahaha anyway I'm rambling, let me recap.


Last Thursday the fun really started. There is only one American food place in Firenze and it is right across from our school (rightfully so), and the owner is now our good friend, Adriano (we call him A-di). He is a club promoter in the city and knows alllll kinds of famous people and has great hookups wherever he goes, so last Thursday we decided to go out with him for a nice dinner. So that night three of my roomies, and two other girls met him and his friend Francesco for dinner at one of the nicest places in town, and got AMAZING deals on food. Seven appetizers, two bottles of red and white wine, pasta, and dessert, it was wonderful and the owner of the restaurant put us in a private room. We were there for 2 1/2 hours. 


That night was great, went to a few bars after that and they had more hookups there, but the most fun of the night was me trying oh so hard to have a conversation with Francesco, his Italian buddy who is a DJ around here. He speaks ZERO English, and even with my 3 semesters of Italian, I don't know shit. Speaking is so difficult, so basically we were miming and speaking Italish (Italian/English mix) all night. He was a nice guy and I loved the opportunity to speak Italian in a real scenario!! He also saved me from a few awkward moments when creepy Italians tried to talk to me, thank god. Creepy Italian men are truly the name of the game, such a bummer.


That night led into the first legit travel weekend I had. LdM hosts travel opportunities every weekend and so that weekend we went to hike in the Italian Alps, visit Garda Lake, and Verona! At 4am on Saturday morning we were on the most crowded bus of my life, riding into the Alps! Majestic mountains and valleys like you've never seen in your life. Green valleys full of vineyards and apple orchards, and adorable, quaint towns on the hillsides. It was quite the sight, watching the sunrise on these mountains, listening to "Rock Your Soul" by Elisa. Perfection. We arrived in this small ski resort town on the foot of the mountains, met our Italian guide Marco, and set off on our 8 mile, 6 hour walking hike. Thank goodness it was walking, there were over 30 of us and the path was rocky and muddy to say the least, but it offered some of the most fantastic views. Even the best camera doesn't do it justice. And we past at least 5 waterfalls in the process. There are just these hidden gems among the mountainsides, massive falls with crevices you can sneak into. The first was the largest and we were able to fit all of us underneath the spray!


What can I say, it's the flipping Alps. THE ALPS. They're the best mountain range for a reason, these European's know their winter sports for a REASON.


But after that we parked it in a place called Trento, which is the capital of the northern region, Trentino in northern Italy. The next morning we spent in Garda Lake, my future retirement home, in all seriousness. We went to the most southern point of the lake, to the very edge of this penninsula to a city called Sirmione. Apparently it was famous in the ancient days because all of the Romans would have homes here. There is only one road to get to the heart of the city and you have to go through the gates of this GIANT castle to do so. Yes we went up into the castle of course, had a legit moat and everything! The water and the beaches were light blue and surrounding the whole lake were the Alps of course. BELLISIMA. Everyone remember the name Sirmione because it should be a spot to stop on any future European honeymoons...a secret hideaway of a town.


Next stop was none other but the city of love, Verona. The home of Romeo and Juliet according to Shakespeare. We did not spend enough time in this city because it was really a beautiful place. There was a fair going on when we got there so the streets were packed with people and performers. Near the center is the Arena where operas and concerts are still held today, even though the architecture is partly from the Roman era, as is most of the city! You can definitely decipher which are the ancient stones too, they just reek with wisdom...if that's possible to say.


And Juliet's house...ohh what to say. Well first off, no there is NO place like in the movie Letters to Juliet, no wall to stick letters. I don't know how they filmed that because there is actually a shop there and a wall of plaques describing things about Romeo and Juliet's story. Definitely a bummer to find out. But instead there was the wall of lovers...a huge tunnel filled with signatures and expressions of love written on the walls! Signed my name, there for the rest of forever. Done and done. Saw the balcony, envisioned Romeo, and that was that, ahhh AMORE!


That was travel weekend numero uno, this past weekend was more of an adventure of our own making...


And I will get to that soon enough...we are going to grab a drink but until next time,


Ciao for now,
Jessica

 

I Love Donuts...

I woke up this lovely Italian Wednesday morning to the smell of monstrously strong espresso and to the sound of an explosion in the sky, it randomly started pounding rain...for all of five seconds. Ahh how that reminded me of home, the Arizona monsoons that come and go in bursts. In any case, I woke up to my roommate Lauren laughingly telling me that I was making strange noises in my sleep and rolling around, definitely not my M.O...I usually stay in the same spot all night, but she says I must've had some good dreams last night...and she knows why.

So do I. And I'm betting it's Donuts.


Let me explain before you jump to conclusions and just label me a Krispy Kreme fanatic and a fatty...don't get me wrong that's all fine and good, but the Donuts I speak of is on a whole other level...

Last night my roommate and I had our night class which was Wine and Culture: Wines of Italy aka a wine tasting class, sounds amazing right? The answer of course is YES, beyond fantastic. Two and a half hours of pure love. 

My story begins: The room we were in had two long tables with wine glasses and saltine  crackers set in front of each chair. As we all sat down, introduced ourselves, and talked about getting wonderfully smashed in class, our professor stood with his back to us in the door frame chatting with some other guys. Now this was quite the nice view because immediately it was evident that our professor A) had a nice ass and is built, B) is incredibly tan and C) is wearing a bathing suit and a beanie so obviously he is very chill. The only debate that was going around the tables at that point was whether he was going to be hot, we just had to wait for him to turn around. This was openly debated of course, I mean Lorenzo de' Medici is a great University here and all, but the women to male ratio is about 20:1 so seeing an attractive young male would definitely make the class a bit more entertaining. And at first when he did turn, nothing earthshattering happened, he was alright, but the one hilarious feature on his tan italian face was the soul patch, yes my professor was fully rocking that.


In broken Italian/English he introduced himself as Donato, which sounds like the American donuts, so we can call him that if we want because he thought it was funny. So professor Donuts is already cracking us up with his stories of getting wasted at wine festivals, with his intensely expressive features, and the way he searched for English words. I thought it was a riot. 


We ended up taking about four pages of notes, and he jumped right into lecturing about the fermentation process, different types of grapes, how wines are rated and labeled in Italy, and the regions a few good wines come from. The best part of course as he rambled on, in mid-sentence he would randomly exclaim that he was bored and would disappear out of the room, only to reappear with a bottle of wine, bust it open and send it around the room for us to drink and share. This happened about 4 times. The first time was the best because he walked back in telling us that it was his birthday so he had some special, sparkling wine that he was going to drink tonight but decided to share with us, so immediately we toasted, "Cin Cin!" (Cheers!), to Donuts' birthday. He probably was all of 31.


In any case, I learned already more in that class than any of my other ones, and it was by far the most entertaining. He showed us how to smell the wine, swirl it and decipher the alcohol percentage by watching the "legs" or streaks of wine fall down the sides of the glass after swirling, and how to make sure each taste bud on our tongue absorbs all of the wino flavor! 


Basically I was inspired, I love Italy so much already, I know for a fact that I love the wine industry and the subtleties of it, I know that if all else fails in life I have a for sure fallback. I will move to Italy and start a vineyard up or a wine company, hell maybe I should just do that in California. I was enthralled. It didn't help that I became endeared to my professor more and more as the class went on, so by the end he became a bonafide italian hottie in my eyes. 


What can I say, I love Donuts, and I love wine. 

The kicker to all of this was of course that he invited us to befriend him on facebook, and of course Lauren and I check him out after dinner last night, and in his outrageously inappropriate profile pic my professor is walking out of the ocean in a speedo, baywatch style. HILARIOUS. I don't know why in the world he would tell us to befriend him if he knew we would see that but ohhh well!


Well the sun has come out again and I have my first cooking class (taught in Italian, eeeek!) in a few hours. I'm off to make some more espresso with Beatrice but more to come...


Ciao for now,
Jessica
 

Italian Fun Facts

In the past 4 1/2 days I've already learned a little about the Italian culture and lifestyle. Everyone tells us that we must watch the local men and women and do as they do, gawking at the sights all the time like a tourist just will not do...Well let me tell you, that's a hard one, because every freaking place we've traveled to is one for the books...but I'm getting off topic. Ah yes, fun facts, I have learned a lot, including:

• the first thing you see when you land in Firenze is the giant ass IKEA building, seriously.
• everything I was told about the men is true (good and bad), my favorite so far has been the guy in the market who begged me for a high five (which of course I obliged, it's a high five for goodness sakes) and he told me that I was his Jennifer Aniston, needless to say I kept walking
• none of the buildings have A/C so every window is open
• mosquitoes will be the death of you, if the humidity doesn't get you first
• there are no dryers anywhere so everyone hangs up their clothes, and no dishwashers
• only the Italian women can wear heels in these streets because otherwise the cobblestones will OWN you
• Italian drivers are INSANE. There is NO such thing as a right of way for a pedestrian. NONE, they do not stop.
• at restaurants they serve you in courses most of the time, and always bring the salad after the first course
• they eat waffles with honey with their gelato!
• being blonde gives every Italian man with a penis the right to stare, incessantly apparently
• there is no such thing as American coffee (Jess it is sad), but their coffee is actually straight up espresso, which is fantastic with just a bit of sugar!
• overnight guests are OUTLAWED in Italy, which is frankly an overreaction with the immigration nonsense...
• every supermarket is owned and operated by Asians, unexpected for sure

Lots more fun facts to come! 


I just got a bit distracted, my parents just called me and gave me some rough news. To all of you that are close with my family, my dog Bear was put to sleep yesterday. My mom didn't want to tell me but I'm glad to know he is no longer in pain and in a better place...but I'm just sad that I never got to say goodbye :(


Ciao for now,
Jessica

Firenze: It's On

Finally in Firenze! The flights were an adventure that truly started off this semester right. 

First leg had me staying in LA for the night , which was wonderful because I was able to stay with my mom and say goodbye, as well as see Leif, who drove up to see me after work. 

I met two roomies and another Chapman girl in LA and we flew all the way together. The fun leg came on the Chicago to Zurich one...never have I been more cramped in my life, no sleep there. Then Zurich had us leave the city (which is full of cottages and sloping green luscious hills) and fly straight over the Alps! Full of snow and higher than any mountain I've ever seen they extended into the sky with lakes and small villages scattered among them. 

The Florence airport was surprisingly easy to get out of, no customs or visa/passport check which was strange but fine by me! The whole flight at that point was filled with American and international students so meeting people became the name of the game. I felt like I was thrown straight back into orientation week at Chapman. In a wonderful way of course because everyone has been so nice and fun so far! And from all over as well, NY, NJ, OH, OR, CA, Holland, Paris, MA, NE...just everywhere, with different accents, varying backgrounds and stories, but with all a joint fascination and love for Italy.


Hard not to though truly, this place is like a dream...or a movie set. The buildings hardly seem real, I feel like I'm continuously coming to the end of the street in California Adventure when I realize that I would walk into a wall because the buildings seem fake! 


Narrow streets, cobblestone roads, tall buildings, windows open everywhere, clothes and linens hanging on lines and people poking their heads out to observe the street life. Everyday there are street vendors for fresh food, leather, and miscellanious goods in the local marketplaces. 


My apartment is old but beautiful, no A/C so we keep our windows open all the time for fresh air, the locks and appliances are old and antique in a good way, they still work fine so it's all good. No dryer or dishwasher...or microwave so things may get interesting in that sense but everything else is quaint and fantastico! Molto fantastico!


But already I've had so much wine and pasta I may never want to come back to the states, or at least eat Italian food there. The food is OUT OF THIS WORLD. Literally. The freshness of the ingredients just oozes out flavor and the wine is always served with it and compliments the taste just so...and international students get rockin deals for food and drinks nearly everywhere!


Well the nine hour time difference is still getting to me, jet lag is NO joke. Tomorrow is the Duomo, the food market, planning more trips, maybe renting bikes to explore and going out to the bars and disco! Not American disco however, but clubs are discos here. That is how amazing Italy is.


Ciao for now,
Jessica

 

Ci Vediamo U.S.

Ci vediamo = See you later.

It's not a goodbye like arrivederci or ciao, but rather I know that in four short months, I'll be back with all of my family and friends here. 

I leave for the airport in one hour, and from there my night in LA begins before the big trip in the morning! Let the people watching and exhausting travel begin! Completely worth it. 

In any case if you're reading this, know that I miss you and want more than anything to stay in touch. I don't know when my internet in my apartment in Florence will be up and ready to go, so I'm not sure when I'll be back on.

In the meantime, if you have a blackberry, bbm me.
If you have my email address, email me.
And once I'm back in touch with the cyberworld, skype, facebook, and keep track of me here.

LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN!

Love you all, and to my sisters, forever love in llKE,
Ciao for now,
Jessica

QUATTRO GIORNI. Four days are all that I have left in the states before I land in Italia. Monday I fly out of my lovely hometown, Scottsdale, AZ, and head over to LA to meet up with a few other Chapman girls going to Florence as well. Ironically and fantastically it worked out that two of the girls flying with me, Beatrice and Kara, are living in my apartment with me, along with two other girls I have yet to meet, Lauren and Katelyn.

On a side note, I know it's the first day of classes for Chappy, but if anyone is willing to drive to LA Monday, I'll be there for the night...just saying! In any case I'll be flying out Tuesday morning for the marathon leg of the trip. Of course being international and ridiculous nowadays, the flights are on a couple different airlines, with a few different connections and layovers. It wouldn't be an epic trip to Europe without all of the above! 

All of that just makes packing an interesting adventure in itself. First pack for summer and winter, bringing all necessary items you could ever think of for every possible scenario. In two suitcases. Two. Then traveling while in Europe comes into play...gotta have something to bring for weekend trips. Ohh goodness it's been interesting but as of last night I am 90% packed and ready to go! It's insane that it's come to this but now it's just an anxious waiting game. A few last goodbyes to my close friends still left in town and a couple nights to spend with my parents who are going to be empty-nesters as of Tuesday...now that's a scary thought!

Only days away...and as of a few days ago I finally have a place to live! An apartment in the city with four other girls will be my home for the next four months. No idea where it is in comparison to the Lorenzo de' Medici campus because the address I was given looks like gibberish, but again, another adventure! I'll be walking everywhere, likely walking off all of the glorious food and luscious drinks that I won't be able to deny while I'm there.

Well I'm off to run some last minute errands...

Ciao for now,
Jessica

Pre-Departure Jitters

It's nearly 2 weeks before D-Day (Destination Italia-Day). It's truly crunch time and I'm forced to seriously realize beyond my fantasies that oh yeah, I'll be living in the heart of Florence, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in two flipping weeks. Hard to describe the feelings that thought provokes...I've been planning for this trip since I was a girl and would hear stories of my best friend Rachel's summers in Italy with her family. Lucky bitch. But that sparked the idea and I knew when I chose Chapman three years ago that I would be here someday. I wanted to play DIII softball for this reason. Men that I've seriously dated for the past two years have broken up with me over it. This is the real deal. Serious shit. A semester in Italy. Gotta prepare to live the dream.

After reading other friends blogs when they were abroad and my roomie Laura's while she was in SAS for the summer, I knew that this venue was the perfect one to keep in touch with everyone back in the States. This blog business takes a while to figure out though, sheesh! In any case I promise from this point on to update this blog as much as possible during my travels! I owe that much to all of my lovely family and friends back home that I will miss like crazy! So please if you read this, follow and comment at will, if I don't email you, go on facebook often enough, or BBM you, this is the ideal way of contact. Also if you're interested in mailing me via snail mail (which we all know is my favorite, there is nothing quite like receiving a surprise letter from a dear friend in their own handwriting!) then I just received my address abroad and upon request I can email you that! My parents are super sketch about this whole blogging experience and want me to be as careful as possible, so that was me indulging them...

But back to the matter at hand. Italy. In two weeks my adventures and shenanigans will begin in Florence and will likely extend all over Europe if I'm lucky and my extremely limited funds allow it. Rome, Venice, Lucca, Pisa, Sicily, the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, Milan, Zurich, Prague, Munich, Oktoberfest, Amsterdam, Budapest, Nice, Montecarlo, the French Riviera, Madrid, Barcelona, Croatia, London, Dublin, Scotland, etc...sweet baby Jesus I've got a lot of places that I want/need/yearn to see, I only pray I can see a large portion of them! So those are the goals. I mean, there's that whole studying and going to class thing I can't forget about too...but who am I kidding, that's not the point, that's just an additional experience. Although my two fun classes, wine tasting and italian cooking, are bound to benefit me greatly during my stay :)

So here I am still at home, while everyone is already off to college, I work to save money and prepare for the trip of a lifetime. Gah! Just typing that is freaking me out, I can definitely chalk up scared/freaked to my growing list of current feelings, although I'll never tell my parents that...it's just pre-departure jitters, and when it comes down to it, lets face it, I'm just STOKED!!!

I apologize for my long-windedness of the moment but since this is my first post, might as well write as much as I can!

Ciao for now,
Jessica