Riding Horses, Tasting Wine, Typical Tuscany.

Things have been absolutely wonderful the past couple of weeks here in Italy! Not that things aren't always wonderful, but since spring break in Spain I have been doing more localized travel and enjoying what Tuscany has to offer. 

Right after spring break I had the surprising news that my good friend and rugby teammate from Madison, Emily, was going to be in Florence! She is studying abroad in Germany for the entire year, and I hadn't seen her in nearly 8 months. This girl (I give her tons of credit) decided to get ride of her facebook a while ago, so we have been keeping in touch via email. Seeing her and spending three days with her was amazing! I felt so lucky - spending time with Ali in Spain over break and then Emily the week after. We hung out in Florence, but she even came to Sesto Fiorentino to check out the Villa and do some hiking with me. Seeing Emily was LONG overdue!

Incredibly happy to be reunited!

A few weekends ago, five other girls and I went horseback riding! We traveled to a nearby town called Castelfiorenino, and spent the day taking a short 'riding lesson,' eating a delicious homemade meal of pasta Bolognese, and riding horseback through the hills of Tuscany. The views were indescribable, especially from the top of the mount we rode our horses to. By far some of the best I have seen yet - everything was SO picturesque! The couple who hosted us was incredibly welcoming and friendly, making the experience that much better. Below are some images from our adventure:

The stable, with Luby outside

B E A -utiful

The lovely Wilma

Let the landscape photos begin!

First riding lessons, Camellia and Sara

Round two of lessons, Grace and I

Last but not least, Rebecca and Jenna had their lessons

This lil'ladybug decided to set up camp on my boot!

Yummmy lunch

My faithful horse, Wilma

One last shot...

The next weekend, our program offered an optional (and free!) trip to the nearby town of Poggio a Caino. Here, we first stopped at a villa of the Medici family for a few hours. Then headed to Capezzana Winery, where we got a free tour and tasting!! I had really been looking forward to this trip since I had worked at Simon Creek Winery and knew a little bit about what we were seeing. Not to mention this, and the tasting, was payed for by the program! Too good of an offer to pass up. The winery definitely made me a customer, though...I just couldn't resist. 

The Medici Villa

Girls on the trip!...plus Jason who snuck in behind 

The Medici had a tolerable view from their hilltop villa...

Almost to the winery!

Anxiously awaiting our tour and tasting

SO much vino. 

The creepy, slightly moldy tunnels to travel between the underground rooms

HUGE wooden barrels....

...and smaller barrels.

The wine I later purchased - I guess it was destiny?

Let the tasting begin!

They also make delectable olive oil (which I bought)

The vino I decided to splurge on after tasting. You only live once, right?

Lovelies.

Oh, Tuscany. You never let me down.

I spent this past weekend in Venice, and tomorrow am heading to Sicily until late Saturday! I plan to blog about BOTH of these incredible places when I return (well, I can only attest to Venice at the moment but have high hopes for Sicily). Hopefully this update tides you over until then :)

Holy Smoke, Time Flies! Catching Up on the Past Month

So basically, I have been by far the biggest blogging failure to date. Things have just gotten busier here in Italy and although I have been journaling, blogging has been on the back burner. My deepest apologies, and below is my attempt to catch you up on the last month. Ready..…..go!

Big Thing #1 – ROME!
From Feb 10th-12th I was in Rome with our entire study abroad program. It far exceeded my expectations (including those contrived after watching the Lizzie McGuire movie) and the three days flew by! We got into the city around noon the first day via coach bus, and after setting out stuff down ventured right into Rome. Our entire group walked to the Vatican together, but once we arrived to the Vatican Museum were granted free time to explore the museum and rest of the city on our own! The museum was incredible, enormous, and full of different “salas” (rooms) that lead you eventually to the Sistine Chapel. Although I couldn’t take any pictures of the Sistine, believe you me they would do no justice at all. The two girlfriends I walked around the museum with (and eventually, most of the rest of Rome) and I just sat and stared at the ceiling and surrounding frescoed walls. It was nice to have some background from my Art History class on what exactly Michelangelo was representing in his works.
After spending many hours in the Vatican Museum, we ventured to Piazza del Popolo, the Pincan hill, Piazza Napoleone, the Trevi Fountain, the National Monument of Victor Emanuel II, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. It was a full day of walking and sightseeing, after which we headed to the hotel and relaxed for an hour before heading to dinner around 9. We ended up finding a restaurant with outdoor seating under the Pantheon that gave us a free bottle of wine! There we sat for four hours with the space heater nearby, chatting and sipping on a few bottles of wine. A great finish to day one in Rome!

Castel Sant'Angelo

Walking Into Rome

In Front of St Peter's Basilica 

Courtyard of the Vatican Museum

Center of Courtyard

Other Side of Courtyard

Museo Chiaramonti, Home to Tons of Marble Pieces Thanks to Pope Pius VII  

Il Nilo (Nile River God), One of My Favorites

Belvedere Torso, A Piece Michelangelo Found Beautiful/Inspired Many of His Sistine Chapel Figures 

Sala Degli Animali 

Sala Rotonda

Mosaic Floors in Sala Rotonda - So Intricate!

Galleria delle Arazzi (Tapestries)

Galleria Delle Carte Giografiche

Stanze di Raffaello (Raffael's Rooms, Next Few Photos)

From the Contemporary Art Gallery

Old Couple on Their Houseboat - Too Adorable. 

Piazza del Popolo

Piazza Napoleone I

Trevi Fountian

National Monument of Victor Emanuel II, to Honor the First King of Unified Italy (Many Romans Despise Its White/Boxy Design and Call It 'The Typewriter"...and Foreigners "The Wedding Cake") 

The Pantheon - Old Temple for Gods, Now A Catholic Church

Inside the Pantheon (With the World's Largest Unreinforced Dome)

Piazza Navona - Still Retains Oval Shape of Ancient Stadium

Dinner of Risotto Rustico and Free Wine! Mmmm.

The second day our entire group headed together to the Roman Forum and Palentine Hill.  This was luckily guided, and the ancient remains were plentiful and full of history. Although the weather was a little chilly (our tour was at 9) it was really fascinating to be surrounded by such beautiful pieces. After the two hour tour,  we were on our for a bit again, but out entire group headed to the Coliseum just down the hill from where our tour ended. We walked around the entire perimeter of the inside and it hit me then just how fortunate I am to have been able experience and see SO much this semester (much more than I imagined). After, a group of about 12 from the program took the optional tour of San Clemente church given by our art history professor. Essentially, it was ‘layered’ with a 3rd century pagan temple on the bottom floor, a 4th century church in the middle, and an upper church dated to the 12th century. The tour was pretty brief but I found the structure itself to be pretty neat. Not to mention the upper church was very richly decorated. The rest of the afternoon/early evening we walked around ALL around Rome, and spent some time hanging out in Piazza delle Repubblica.

Walking to Roman Forum

Great Public Drinking Fountain!

The Forum - Oldest Part of the City!

Remains of Ancient Temple of Saturn

Arch of Septimius Severus

Sitting Among the Ruins

Home of the Vestal Virgins (Which I Knew ALL About From My Roman Women Class!)

View of the Colosseum from Palatine Hill

The Colosseum!

Inside the Colosseum

Group-o-Girls

Piazza delle Repubblica

'The Wedding Cake at Night

The last day we had free time until 3, so after breakfast two girlfriends and I headed to St Peter’s Basilica to see the inside and climb, as we failed to do that the first or second day. This was one of my favorite parts of Rome – the church was beyond stunning and the views from the rotunda inside as well as top of the Basilica outside were incredible! Words cannot describe, and the never-ending stairs were well worth it. We also ventured to the Spanish steps and did some more walking around Rome until it was time for our bus ride home. About an hour or so along the way we had a stop at Villa Borghese, which is the home to the art collection of Scipione Borghese.  The gallery had tons of rooms of sculpture and painting, with no pictures allowed (figures). The works were really neat, but we were all so exhausted/falling asleep our guide tried to keep the tour semi-brief. After this stop, we were back home at the Villa!

Back at St Peter's Basilica, Ready to Climb! 

View of Church Below from Dome

Duomo

A Service Was Going On While We Were There!

View Outside After Climbing to the Top

Piazza Below 

Birds Eye View of Vatican Museum

Statues at the Top

We Then Went Inside St. Peters ( I Didn't Bother To Take Many Pics as Nothing Could Serve it Justice)  

Main Altarpiece

The Spanish Steps

Big Thing #2 – Chocolate Festival, Protest, and Valentines Day
These aren’t really big things…but great moments nonetheless. The Sunday after getting back from Rome (Feb 13th) a group of us from the Villa went into Florence for the last day of the Chocolate Festival. In one of the piazzas there were tons of tents with chocolate goodies and samples. I was in heaven! (and definitely the confectionary I used to work at). I got a chocolate covered fruit kabob that hit the spot and ate samples to my hearts content. While walking back to the train station from the festival, we could hear a demonstration in the center of Florence against prime minister Berlusconi – one of many that day across Italy. It was such an eyeopening experience, with people young and old and even families peacefully protesting. Even a drum line was at the center! (Here is an article with details on the protests: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/13/a-bad-day-for-sultan.html )

Chocolate Fruit Kabob...YUM!

Streets of Florence Packed With Protestors 

The Drumline, All in Red

The Monday of that week was Valentines Day, and I spent it with the people Iove the most (other than my family)….kids! I have been doing an internship at a local elementary school giving English lessons once a week to 5th graders with two other girls (Rebecca and Andrea) in my program. We decided to bring them some Toy Story valentines with candy from the U.S. (big thanks to Rebecca’s parents for shipping those) and decorated bags to hold the valentines. We gave them a word search we made with related words, and even played the song Love Story by Taylor Swift. They absolutely loved TSiwift and we sang it with them about 3 times, thanks to the lyrics we printed out. It was a really fun day and the kids were impressively creative and artistic with their bags!

The Entire 5th Grade Class on Valentines Day with Rebecca, Andrea and I!

Big Thing #3 – Cooking Class, Hiking, and Certosa del Galluzzo/Galileo 
The next weekend (Feb 18th-19th) I did a Tuscan cooking class with about 10 others at the Villa with our manager/chef, Helen.  We got copies of some of the Villa’s recipes for ourselves (which I cannot wait to make back in the states!) and made our lunch for that day. On the menu was mushroom risotto, meat sauce and tomato sauce for gnocchi, and apple cake! It was all super delicious and seeing the small kitchen where amazing food is prepared for over 50 people, twice a day was impressive.
After letting the food sit for a couple of hours, a group of us decided to go hiking to the top of the mountain! I had already done this before, and been hiking numerous times since, but hadn’t ventured to the top again. The second trip to the summit was more than worth it, as the day was a crystal clear and we could see the Duomo in Florence - nearly 6 miles away from our hiking spot!
The next day we had an included and optional day trip to Certosa del Galluzzo (a monastery dating to the 14th century) and Galileo’s Villa (where he was sentenced to house arrest for the last years of his life). The pictures from this day trip won't upload for some reason, but there are photos below from the cooking class and hiking adventures!

Cooking Class Crew

Chopping Apples for the Cake

The Group of Hikers

Clear Day With An Amazing View of Florence

Zoomed In A Bit...I Spy the Duomo!

SO Glad We Made It.

Big Thing #4 – First Opera!
The Tuesday of the next week/ just before spring break (Feb 22nd) I went to my first opera…not to mention it was in Italian! A big group from the Villa went all dressed up with Helen and one of our professors to Florence to the Teatro Del Maggio Musicale. There, we saw Manon Lescaut which overall I really, really enjoyed for my first opera experience. The leads had amazing vocals (they didn’t use microphones!) and the orchestra was great. Fortunately, the villa gave us an English plot summary for all four acts. I was able to pick up on most of the important stuff with my current enrollment in second semester Italian, but definitely needed the English supplement to understand exactly what was happening! It was a late night in the middle of a busy school week, but well worth it.  Here is the website with information on the play itself: http://www.maggiofiorentino.it/?q=node/1457

Big Thing #5 – Spring Break in Spain!
This past week (Feb 25-Mar 6) was spring break for the program! A group of eight of us decided to make Spain our destination, and I am SO glad this is where I chose to dedicate a week. I loved each and every one of the cities I went to for totally different reasons, and they all had a different feel to them. Our weather was absolutely beautiful (except for one day) and a week to freely travel was much needed! Below is a breakdown (mostly via picture captions) of the places I visited…

Sat. Feb 26-Mon. 28: Madrid
While the other seven from my group flew into Grenada for the first couple of days, I decided to head to Madrid on my own to visit Ali Coburn, one of my best friends from school since being floormates freshman year (oh the dorms!) and roommates sophomore year.  I hadn’t seen her since last May, as she is spending the entire year there. We spent the majority of our time catching up on life, laughing, eating tapas, and seeing the town she lives in (Alcala) as well as Madrid.

Atocha Station Memorial in Madrid To Honor Victims of '04 Train Bombings There - Essentially a Cylinder Skylight of Messages in a Dark Blue Open Room 

Gardens in Madrid Train Station

With TONS of Turtles On Top of Each Other!

These first pictures are from Alcala, the city Ali lives in...

My First Tapas Experience (Life Changing)

Capturing My Happiness At Tapas

He Decided To Hop Right In!

House of Miguel de Cervantes - Where the Author of Don Quixote Grew Up 

Interior

Outside the House With Our Friends Don and Sancho 

The Famous and Common Cranes of Alcala

Center Piazza 

The University Where Ali Attends Class

Convent Where You Can Purchase "Almendras de Alcala" (Their Famous Candy Coated Almonds)...But Only Through A Rotating Window Without Actually Seeing the Nun!

Sweet and Delicious

At Tapas One Night, This Group of Guys Serenaded Me - Got on Their Knees and Everything!

Group Shot With Maitri (Ali's Friend)

And Now, Madrid...

Imitating the Statue/Symbol of Madrid. Some Things Never Get Old!

This Tile Marks the EXACT Center of Spain

Maitri, Ali and I in Piazza Mayor

Piazza Mayor 

We Went To A HUGE Market in Madrid - Packed In Like Sardines, But SO Neat  

Stand of Keys at the Market

Jardines del Buen Retiro 

The Gardens Were HUGE and Stunning 

Ali and I in the Jardines

Huge Pond With Rowboats in the Center of the Gardens 

Unexpected Modern Statues

Spending Time With Ali Made Me SO Happy!

In Front of La Puerta de Alcala Arch, Center of Madrid  

Madrid Post Office 

Metropolis Building

There Was An Exhibit at the Train Station Honoring 100 Years of Rugby in Spain - I Was Pleasantly Surprised! 

Sweet-o Beer Tap

Mon. Feb 28- Wed. Mar 2: Seville
At this point of the trip, I met up with the rest of our big travel group at our hostel in Seville! I had just had a wonderful time with Ali, but was also looking forward to the adventures that lied ahead with the others. I arrived about 2 hours before them, and was able to hang out at the hostel on the terrace and in the lobby. It was a balmy 65 degrees so I sat in a tank top and caught some rays. Incredibly, our weather the entire time continued to be mid sixties and I managed to get a nice tan there from spending so much time outside. :) See Mom and Dad, I can miss out on Florida and still get some color. The first day we did a ton of walking and spent time down by the river and that evening celebrated my roommate at the Villa, Jenna's 21st birthday!!...and I’ll leave the description at that. We met up with a group of 6 guys from our program that were in Seville at the same time to give Jenna a complete celebration. The rest of our time in Seville we spent walking around outside as much as possible to see the sites and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Typicall Seville

The Duomo

Girls.

SO Many Orange Trees Everywhere!

The Alcazar, Old Moorish Palace 

Front of the Cathedral

Interior - One of the Largest Medieval Cathedrals

Altar de Plata 

Altar Mayor - Largest and Richest In The World (Note the Gold)

One of Many, Many Rooms...

Sala Capitular (Chapter House), the First Elliptical Area Built in Spanish Renaissance and Likely Europe 

SANGRIA, Delicious Drink of Choice At Meals

In Front of Plaza de Toros, Main Bull Fighting Ring 

No Bullfights Until Late Spring, So The Building Itself Had to Suffice

Beautiful Waterfront of Seville

Enjoying the Weather

I Wanted To Be That Boater SO Badly!

Plaza Nueva 

Rebecca and I in Plaza Nueva

Kids Playing Soccer in the Plaza...HAD to Sneak One!  

The University

Awesome Door Locks to the University Building 

Seville Park...Took a Run Through This Area Later that Day!

Seville Park Fountain 

Monument in Park 

Hangin Out In the HUGE Trees

I Went to a Flamenco Show,  an Incredible Cultural Experience!

Wed. Mar 2-  Sat. 5: Barcelona
The beach city of Barcelona had cooler weather, so we unfortunately weren’t able to take full advantage of the sand and sea. However, the one day of rain and colder temps didn’t deter us from seeing all that the city had to offer! We went to all that was Gaudi in Barcelona (his homes La Pedrera and Casa Batlló, Park Güell, Sagrada Familia), the beach (of course), La Rambla (a central, popular shopping street), the Arc de Triomf, and even the Museu de la Xocolata (i.e. chocolate museum!).

La Pedrera, One of the Two Gaudi Houses (Early 1900s)

Stunning Roof Architecture

Can I Live Up Here Please?! 

One of His Many Woodwork Pieces 

Models of the House - Before/After

Crazy Chandelier (Taken From a Mirror Below)

Awesome Balconies

Casa Batilo, Gaudi House Two

Arc de Triomf - Uniquely, Red 

CHOCOLATE MUSEUM!!! Our Ticket Was A Chocolate Bar. Score. 

Best Hot Chocolate Ever, Hands Down. 

Chocolate Arc de Triomf

Chocolate Bull Fight

Chocolate Sculpture of Gaudi's Mosaic Dragon 

Chocolate of Pixar's Up!

Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's Architectural Masterpiece. Began in 1882...and Expected Finish of 2026.

Could Stare At the Outside Alone For Days

Still the Exterior

Inside, In Front of the Main Altar

LOVE The Windows. Want Them. 

Well Worth the 11 Euro...Breathtaking Work.

Sat Inside and Looked for A Longggg Time

Above the Altar

Hilltop View of Barcelona (After Taking Alterante/Back Way Route to Park 

Güell, i.e. More Gaudi)

Park 

Güell

Gaudi Was A Master Architect to Say The Least...

Obsessed With His Mosaics. I'll Limit Myself to Showing Three More Photos Only! 

Definitely Inspired My Summer Project to Mosaic! 

Mosaic Dragon (Remember the Chocolate Sculpture?!)

Right Out of Candy Land...

The Whole Spring Break Gang  

Next Stop - The Beach!

Reminded Me of Home in Door County A Bit...

Sculpture on the Beach - And One of the Many Kite Surfers Out That Day

Entrance to Las Ramblas

The end of spring break officially marks the halfway point of my program, and time is flying by faster than ever! I can’t believe it has been so long since my last blog update and my time left in Italy is limited. I plan to make the most of the next two months and have many more memorable adventures! Just to give you a sneak preview of what is to come...Horseback Riding in Tuscany (Actually Just Happened, Will Blog About Soon!), Wine Tasting/Tour, Venice, Sicily, Cinque Terre, and more!
Life is way too good to be true.