Long time no writing! - Cinque Terre/Milan

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted on my blog but as this is the last week of the program I have had nothing but work and papers and studying to do so I haven't had time to post on here.  This past weekend I went to Cinque Terre which is a beach in Northern Italy between Rome and Florence I believe and also to Milan for a day.  Cinque Terre was probably the most relaxing beautiful place I have ever been in Italy, it is a very small town and we went hiking through the mountains and went to the beach etc.  I had a lot of fun just relaxing and enjoying the beach instead of always running around.  Milan was really cool too we went to the Galleria which is where all the ridiculous amounts of shopping and next to the giant Duomo (church).  I also had to spin around three times on the bulls testicles in the Galleria for good luck, it's apparently an Italian tradition but i'll show you a picture.  Can't wait to come home this Saturday I miss my family and friends and being able to be on the same time and use my phone.  See you soon!

P.S. We have a formal dinner tonight Italian style! Pics and info to come! =)

 welcome to Cinque Terre!

these are all views from our hike!

Sunset =D!

 this is part of the beach =)

MILAN DUOMO! 

This is The Galleria where all the shopping is 

Me spinning the bull's testicles for luck hahaha 

I should have seen this coming.... Hell Day

In my opinion every trip reaches a breaking point where I am ready to get the hell home.  TODAY IS THAT DAY FOR ME.  I have been up since 6 am because I had to take the bus to the airport which was 2 hours from my hotel which was fine I was ready for that… and I was ready for the rain to pour so my flight was delayed… hell I was even ready to miss the first bus back to Paderno because I had no idea how to use the public transit system in Treviso.  What I wasn’t prepared for was that today like every other day in Italy is a god damn holiday so there is no bus to Paderno.  The next bus to Bassano isn’t until 6 pm here may I mention it is only 1… AND IF I GET THERE QUICK ENOUGH I MIGHT BE ABLE TO FIND THE BUS BACK TO PADERNO MAYBE! Which leaves at 7:45 pm and I get there at 7:35 without traffic, construction, stopping at every stop etc.   As of right now I am furious.  I don’t have the money to take a taxi to Paderno which will cost me about 90 euro and I don’t even think I have the money to take a taxi from Bassano.  Right now I am sitting in a train station “snack bar” eating shitty pizza and a thank god for the Coke.  Why does everything have to go wrong on the way back… I could have handled this on the way there but no it was perfect on the way there.  I’m posting this later once I get internet access which is also pissing me off because at least I’d have something to do other than listen to angry rock music and stare at people.  I am seriously debating going to find an atm and drinking beer until my bus gets here. 

Found my way to Bassano and found other students around 5 caught a cab to campus and now TO THE PIZZERIA FOR PIZZA AND BEER.... PS can i go home yet =( 

Kangaroo Tastes Like...

That's right ladies and gentleman today for dinner I decided to feast upon kangaroo.. not by choice originally but the first place I happened to find that accepted Visa was this Australian cafe near my hotel and I stumble upon kangaroo steak, which I must say is rather fantastic!  At first I was like thinking about what a kangaroo looks like and how sad it was etc. but then I realized this one was already dead and waiting to be cooked so I jumped on the chance to something new and unique.  Anyway now that that shocking part is over.. it has come to my attention by a dear friend that I am not as detail orientated on this blog as I should be and therefore do not discuss the view point of me while traveling around Europe so today I decided to go sans pictures and just talk about my day, but of course I'll google some pictures for my thoughts.  Let's start with why I woke up really early...

For anyone who doesn't know this is the Jeepers Creepers creature that kills people for their body parts, so it may reuse them, and then eats them.  Ever since I have seen this film I have had a few nightmares about this dude and for some reason one decided to plague me this morning.  I have no idea why I have this nightmare over and over again but I'm in a unknown familiar place and then I feel him, shifting around in the shadows, and then he cuts someone's throat takes their body parts and moves on to someone else to do the same.  I hate this nightmare more than anything because he never attacks me and I just sit there and watch helplessly as he kills off people I love and its really sick and disturbed I might add.  Today I forced myself to go back to bed and I actually defeated him (or some random version of him) but I'm sure he'll be back at some point to plague me once again.





Now let me move on to my observation of Germany.  Germany is probably my new favorite European place to travel to and I'll tell you why, it's because they are a lot like America in the sense that they are modern and it's quite the melting pot of cultures, at least here in Frankfurt.  I can't tell you how tired I am of pizza, pasta, and the like of Italian food (FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T BEEN TO ITALY ITALIAN FOOD IS NOT AMERICAN ITALIAN FOOD).  In Germany I have had German food, Australian food, Irish food and all the worlds most wonderful beers I can possibly fathom, and that is why I love Germany.  It's kind of cool to see that German children were playing their version of red light green light too and that in the Italian train station two little girls were playing Italian "down by the bay."

As of yesterday you've seen all my Germany photos anyway so what did I do today? I RELAXED and went to see Robin Hood! So I have two movie reviews for you as well:

1. Sex and the City 2

Now I never watch this show on television but I really should get the seasons because these women are hilarious!  For whatever reason my inner extra fashion forward self comes out when I watch them and I can't get enough of it.  My favorite would happen to be Kim Cattral's character Samantha Jones who is just too ridiculously funny.  Anyway I thought it was really cool that they went to the Middle East and we got a little bit of a culture lesson along with the hysterics of the movie itself.  Overall if you saw the first movie I think it's beyond necessary to see this one and if you haven't see both!









2. Robin Hood

Russell Crowe is like the sexiest bloodied up hero in the world seriously, maybe only second to Gerard Butler but regardless, his accent is awesome his body is awesome and he just rocks.  I am so glad I saw this too because at first I thought it was going to be just another Robin Hood movie however little did I know this one shows why King John chases after Robin Hood, how he got his name Robin Hood and basically all the pre-Disney movie stuff no one ever bothered to show us.  The war scenes are pretty exciting but aren't as gory as Gladiator in case you were concerned.  Overall I thought it was pretty awesome and a must see if you like films like Gladiator or The Patriot etc.








Anyway that's my day I have to wake up super early tomorrow to catch a plane back to Italy so Ciao!

GERMANY BABY!

So Yesterday I landed in Frankfurt, Germany my destination for this weekend.  While reading up on Frankfurt I discovered two important facts that I'd like to share with you that might explain a little bit about the pictures to come.  1. Frankfurt was completely demolished to the ground during World War II, but unlike some of Germany's other cities it chose to modernize rather than rebuild its history, however it does have a historic area which I should be visiting tomorrow. 2. Frankfurt is known as Little-Manhattan due to it's being Europe's most artistic and fashion forward center, it also has an area which I have pictures of that is like the shopping center which was insane!  Anyway today was really cool and I saw a lot of really neat things.  I actually really like Germany because I feel like it has more of a gothic feel rather than a Renaissance feel like Italy does and for whatever reason I really like the contrast, also I'm sick of Italian food so this was a nice break =)  I actually even ate McDonalds today because I really wanted American stuff hahaha then I finished today off with O'Reilly's irish pub! No worries I had bratwurst too at some point so I think I covered all my bases. Anyway PICTURES! Enjoy!

This is Frankfurt!!!

Mountain peaks coming through the clouds from the Plane isn't it Gorgeous!

I feel like this optimizes Frankfurt, you have the business sector on the left and the old school feel on the right

these flowers ARE EVERYWHERE IN GERMANY MILLIONS OF THEM

 welcome to Frankfurt! (Little Manhattan)

 i'm in Frankfurt,.... concrete jungle where dreams are made of!!! lmao

 Frankfurt Opera House!

 this is so diff than Italian sculptures

i have no idea what this is possibly the consulate

 i found a farmers market SWEET!

 yayyy bratwurst!

 i just thought this was so cool to stumble upon

 there it is ladies and gents my brat!

 this would be the Little Manhattan section!

 inside the mall soooo awesome!

 german traveling ducks hahaha!

 some awesome church

 sunset baby that is the historic Frankfurt across the river!

 more river Frankfurt photos!

School.../ Marostica

So lately I haven't really been doing too much of anything except for working on projects, papers, and studying for tests.  It all sounds totally interesting, I know.  But actually I don't mind the work I've been doing as of late... the only thing I would change is waking up at 6:55 every day to get breakfast by 7:30 and then class.  That is just way too early for my brain to function at all.  I am excited though because in an hour and a half I will be going to Marostica which is a town in the northern Venice region of Italy that has an annual human chess match like in Harry Potter!  How cool is that!  I wonder if that's where J.K. Rowling got the idea... regardless it's pretty cool because as history goes during World War II a writer created a story to go along with this chess match where the winner of the chess match gets the hand of the fair maiden or something.  It's pretty cool though because they do it right in the middle of town square for everyone to watch.  I wonder if they use fake swords and stuff.  But yea def look for pictures later apparently their are walls all around the place too.

this is Marostica it is a castle town surrounded by a giant wall like in olden days!

You see all the way up there at the top of the mountain yea that's where I climbed up to... ABSOLUTELY DEATH CLIMB OMG.

This is the beautiful future Porsche convertible I wish to own isn't it GORGEOUS <3

this is the castle front entrance to the town it's pretty neat!

This is Maggie demonstrating how the giant human chess board is used every year in September when the town hosts a human chess match.  I believe she is demonstrating the Rook.

pretty houses in Marostica =)

this is the walkway to the Castle Climb

 church in Marositca

 high..................

higher.........

CASTLE/FORT

More of the castle!

highest view .... I was dying at this point lol

we found Donkeys... idk

Florence Day 2

Florence the second day was fantastic I visited so many different places its hard to remember all of their names... I have also never walked so much in my life I dont know how Italians do all of this walking all the time but then again it is way cheaper than using a taxi as I also found out.  I actually am excited to get back to campus though and get on with my studies.  I will write more later I just wanted to let you all I was alive and well and more pics will be coming up! Love ya!

picture of the city off of Ponte Vecchio (bridge in florence)

one picture of me lol 

this is the actual David Statute that I stole a picture of  

umm absolutely amazing ravioli 

this is a statute I found in Independence Plaza

 these three are the views from my hotel room

On this day I visited the Duomo again to see the inside and also went to the Uffizi and Accademia museums little did I know that we weren't allowed to take pictures of either BUT I DID ANYWAY SO HA! I couldn't leave y'all with nothing to look at now could I!  I probably don't remember all the names but  I will try my best to tell ya!  Enjoy the pics!

Pictures from the Uffizi!

I found disney!!!
this is the Duomo (main church) i think this is Ben & Jerrys haha
Pictures inside the Duomo outside the Duomo (left/right)
random museum next to Uffizi
thats a real person!
 pictures i illegally took at the Uffizi