je mapel, claude.

paris was amazing!!! so beautiful, has to be one of my top 2 cities i have been to. it took us a while to get there, our flight was delayed then the airport we were flying into was closed since it was so late, so we landed in the big one, had to get a bus then it would have been an expensive taxi ride so my friend and i just wound up staying in the same hostel as our other friends we went with.

the first day couldnt have been better. it was gorgous and sunny and warm and we started at the louve which was incredible and lots of fun! we stayed there till about noon where we got sandwhiches and went on a walking tour. it was sooo interesting, we learned so many good stories and saw a lot. we even saw the light post where big told carrie he loved her when he went to find her in paris (sex and the city) and where a scene from the bourne identity was filmed! we also saw the cafe where the french revolution began and the operah house where the phatnom of the operah is based off of and everything else including notre dame, etc. there is a statue of luis IV on this bridge where he decided to have a party. they mixed alcohol and went crazy and so he had his artist friends draw all his friends having fun, since he loved them so much he then had some designer guy sculpt the heads of his friends making all the funny faces they did when drunk onto the bridge, there are like 300 of his friends heads on a bridge, its great!

that night we got 6 euro tickets to see a beautifu ballet in the operah house and had a good dinner near moulin rouge (tho we never went there or saw it). we also saw the sacred heart cathedral- perhaps like the hospital in scrubs?

the next morning we went up the effiel tower which had an amazing view and the arc de triumph! we also went to this other museum which had a lot of monet and van gogh and many many other famous artists. we spent a long time there and after that we got an early dinner and then later that night did a boat tour on the sien river.

we also got crepes several times, but never made it to the jewish area or moulin rouge :-( suppose thats why im gunna go back!

it was so much fun to see sasha and get to see paris. it got really cold the second day and nights were freezng, but the first day was great! couldnt have asked for a better day.

now that im wiped out of money- paris is veryyyyy expensive, i am sad to say im leaving in 16 days! i cant believe it, time flew by sooo fast. this weekend i do almafi coast and get another chance to cliff jump, this time there better be no rip tides!

sorry not much detail, i have some big papers to write, including this huge art paper....def not looing forward to it!

hola barcelona!

sooo, where do i begin??? we arrived friday morning and it was actually so nice to be in a country i actually could speak and understand wayyy better then i ever could in italy. not that i am good at spanish, or even fluent but somehow those 4 yrs of spanish helped me cuz i understood a lot and i was able to even speak a lot, it was great!

so on friday we went to la rambla which is a huge main street filled with shopping and restaurants. it actually started raining so it worked out nicely we just went from store to store! its fun cuz ppl perform and do circus stuff or breakdancing on the street!
i got a shirt and 3 dresses and sunglasses- tho very necessary because the moment i took them out of my bag at the hostel when we first got there they broke.

fri night we tried some restaurant that was soso, so we went to hardrock for nachos and milkshakes, much better choice! they were deliciousssss.

on sat we did all our sightseeing and saw everything there was by gaudi and the sagrada familia and park guell. americas next top model had a photo shoot at park guell, so we went a little crazy and were angry brides as well :-)
the park was beautiful and had amazing views of barcelona, we then went to the castle which is montjuic aka jewish mountain and had amazing views as well. it was lots of fun and we had great weather for it!!! we also got very very very lost tryin to find a lot of the things because the map we had was wrong, ligit was wrong so we kept getting confused. but we got our dunkin donuts which was awesome! btw

sat night we went to chupitos which was the bar roxy said i must go to. it has like 300 shots written on the wall u just pick one and hope its good. some involve fire and they are are all fun to take, i took the boy scout which included roasting a marshmellow on fire, the finding nemo where u had to find the m and m in the whipped cream and take the shot all with hands behind ur back and the rock pops one where u take rock pops with it. we went to a club after and it was a fun night!

on sunday we went to the beach for a few hours. it was sooo perfect, warm and sunny and we got the best tuna sandwhiches of my life. literally. we got drinks- sex on the beach, drank them on the beach and enjoyed it until it started to drizzle. we went to la rambla quickly then back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.

oh and on sat night we had the BEST dinner ever!!!
so sun we got an ok dinner, then went out again! we wound up just hanging round the beach and walking around a bit then found the forest club which looks like a forest inside.

mon our flight was delayed, suppppppper. so we were 2 hours behind. we had to leave at 430 so we were up for our 7 am flight and didnt get on the flight till 930. evern more super. i came home and went to school for a group meeting for 4 hrs. even more super. its a busy week, but paris soon!! yayyyy

loooooved barcelona and would totally go back, its def more modern and has so many american things and amazing convienent things rome dsnt have, tho it def dsnt have the history rome does and as many things to do as far as seeing sites as rome does. rome still wins!

Plate Smashing, Toga wearing Corfu Greece!

let me start by saying that this weekend was insane. be prepared....

also as it was passover i did not really eat all the food, what i ate was delicious but u cnt ask me much more cuz i dont know, sorry!

thursday morning we left to get on the bus, which was a 5 hour bus ride, to a 14 hour boat to a 2 hour ferry to a 30 minute bus ride to the hotel. finally.

of course leave it to my luck that my friend and i didnt get a rome for whatever reason so we had to wait like an hour while everyone was stripping into bathing suits to get a room. of course once again we get a room ALL the way up the hill then another hill. it was a work out. so as everyone else did, we dropped out bags and threw on our bathingsuits and went down to the beach. we waited in the longest line of our lives to get lunch, so long that when we were done the sun went away and it wsnt as hot anymore. so we walked along the beach and relaxed. it was gorgous. it wsnt that hot, it was barely warm but for just getting there and being able to be on a beautiful beach was just so nice!

that night we got changed and went down to happy hour. there we met some really fun people and had some really yummy drinks. for dinner they served chicken thankfully, which was amazing esp since i had been starving! my diet of potato chips and fruit was not a good one. so after that we went down to the club and had a great night, lots of fun!

sat morning we ment to wake up early to get in line for the booze cruise. (which included cliff jumping a bat cave- which we wrnt even able to go in cuz the tide was too high and crazy and a private beach). we accidently slept till 830, and missed the sign up completly. it turned out to be a really nice day however. we got to lay out on the beach for a few hours which was sooooo nice and relaxing! we then later went into town and walked around. everything was closed but it was really nice to see the town.

we went back for happy hour and dinner and then later that night was the toga party! i used my excellent experienced toga skilled hands (by experience i mean i once tied like 6 guys togas when i was a senior in hs.....) and made everyones toga's including mine. the party was so much fun! we had greek dancers and plate smashing- one of which smashed on my head....hurt more then i thought it would.

the next day we woke up sooo super early to be able to get on and sign up for the booze cruise. so we did. and we got it.

we grabbed breakfast then made our way into the FREEZING cold water. i mean absolutly freezing. our first stop was the cliff jumping which was actually the main reason i wanted to do the booze cruise. it cost 20 euros and in my mind i was GOING cliff jumping. i had to. soooo people started jumping off and after waiting a bit my friends and i jumped off the boat to swim over the rocks. much to our suprise we got cuaght in a riptide thing inbetween rocks. that was supppper fun let me tell you. so when we finally got on the rocks we were bleeding too much and had to go back into the freezing cold water to the boat :-(. we didnt even get to attempt to climb up the rock to cliff jump. sigh. on the good hand we got free drinks! wooohooo. (better option i thought then taking my clothes off-oh yes more details given when asked) it was lots of fun!

we got back at 3 and had to get our stuff out of our room at 3. so we ran and got our stuff to go back on the bus to the ferry to the 2 hour wait to the 14 hour boat to the 5 hour bus ride to the crowded bus to take us to our apt.

it was def so much fun and i loved every minute of it!! im still so exhausted and sore, oh and i twisted my ankle. go figure. my wrist still hurts but comapred to everything else at this point....its nothing.

im attempting to get pictures on facebook but its giving me trouble, plus i got 3 paperse to write and presentations and lots of stuff and i am nonstop traveling till im home!!!

less then a month, can u believe it??

tuscany and pompeii

sorry its been a while, lots of work and rome has been getting so nice and warm out. yesterday was a beautiful perfect day, no need of a jacket. my friends and i went to the jewish ghetto to get burgers and then gelato and sat out on the river taking in the warm sun!! they love those kosher burgers, they are like heaven...its so true! and i found out there is supposed to be an incredible italian restuarant that my friend wants to try too. which would officially be the 2nd place (other then fast kosher) that i can order w/e i want on the menu. fast kosher is so cute too, eventually i will work up my courage and see if they speak hebrew. it wldnt hurt to actually try to remmeber what i learned, esp since italian is failing me. anyawys-the jewish ghetto actually has ruins that agustus tried to build. it was then turned into part of a church...and some woman owns a house right under it. its really cool. also the fake colloseum- as we call it, which was half built after the colloseum was built. it was just never finished- much like michalangelo's bridge he never finished cuz he died is just chilling in rome, like its no big deal (my art teacher quickly pointed it out to us but never stopped and kept walking...). anyways, so people actually live in this half colloseum half modern addition to it...its so cool!!! oh and there is this fountain with turtles on it dedicated to the jews because turtles carry things on their back.....im not sure if thats good or not. and of course churches are all over the outside of the ghetto built because they wanted jews to convert so they kept church close of course. and the ruins turned to church is where jews were forced to go to pray annnnd the square in the ghetto is dedicated to when the nazis came to take the jews. they gave them 24 hrs to come up with a rediculous amount of gold. so all the jwes and nonjews and romans pitched in to come up with the amount so the nazis wldnt take them. nazis took the gold, and as well all know came back later to take the jews.

anyways so 2 weekends ago i went to tuscany for a wine tour and some amazing food. the place was literally in the middle of nowhere with so many fields it was rediculous. the wine was pretty good but the best part really was the 5 course meal. i opted vegitarian to avoid the pork situation- good thing i did. the antipasta for people was pruscuotto and cheese, mine was breschuetta, bread with oil and pepper, and then toasted bread with melted cheese, a pear and honey. it was incredible...i could have had that pear thing as my whole meal...over and over again!! our pasta dish was so so. i got some muschroom pesto sauce which was quite bad and everyone else got a meatsauce which they didnt love either. it was ok, just not as good as the antipasta for sure! the next course i got a place of 8 cheese and jam. that was it. the others got half a chicken and potatoes. since i cldnt give up my cheese, i just had some potatoes and suprisenly cheese and jam is good together. it was basically a cheese board and absolutly amazing! desert was an apricot tart which was good....definately a huge filling meal. well more on their end, mine was just a ton of cheese, im suprised i didnt die.
after we had like 45 min to walk around, so we just kinda went into the fields. it wasnt the warmest day but it wasnt raining and still nice.

this past weekend we went to pompeii for the day. mt vesuveus erupted and basically perserved the huge city. there are even casts of people! the city is huge, there is no way to see the whole place in one day. its not even as ruined as i thought it would be, its def ruins...but still pretty well intact. it overlooks the water and mt vesuveous whihc was nice to see and it was relively a very nice day. we had a little tour then had like 2 hrs to walk around or do w/e we wanted. so we wondered around and found amazing houses with mosaics and frescos. we also attempted to hit up the burger king before we left but turns out we had to cross a highway....wsnt happening.
ill be back to pompeii agian the first weekend of may/last weekend of april....maybe ill see more of what i missed? who knows.

pictures will come up on facebook soon i promise!

other then those trips, not much else. weather is getting nicer which is soooo great! all i want to do is be outside but i have work to do unfortunately. i tried sitting out on our balcony- which we have done a few times. but its a wind tunnel and too hard with lots of different papers flying and whatnot. soon i will take a break and go outside hopefully. maybe go to the store and buy some matzah. i found potato chips made with vegi oil- that will def be a good investment. so vegis, fruits, matzah and potato chips...yummmy. oh and greece!!! cant wait to hit a beach here either!

Special Olympics kills me

so sunday morning i dropped off pat at the airport and sasha and i very last minute decided to randomly meet in pisa and then go to sienna. since my phone is awful and wsnt working, we discussed this sat night and sunday when i got back home we made a decision and within an hour i showered, packed and left. i waited for the bus way too long, hit traffic and missed the first-and much cheaper train, to pisa. the bus kicked us off not even halfway there adn had us walked 5 miles to a metro. the special olymics job or something was going on and buses stopped running joy. so not knowing where i was at all, i followed people to the metro, all of them getting lost and confused. i left my place at 11, i got to the train station finally at 115. i bought the tickets and with my phone card used up all my money trying to call sahsa which didnt work. i got a text saying she was on her train, so i bought my much more expensive ticket and got on mine. finally we both made it there at 5. went to our hostel, dropped out bags and took pictures of the leaning tower of pisa of course. we then got food and made out way to one of the best places in pisa for gelato. it was good. it was in the same small square where the only bar seemed to be and we hung there for a bit before going back early because we were both exhausted. pisa dsnt have a night life. we passed out and woke up at 8 to see the tower again and catch our train to sienna.
we got on the train and since the machine and ticket didnt specify we had to transfer at a train station we took it all the way to florence instead of sienna. we then hopped a train in florence to sienna, and got to sienna an hour later then planned.
having skipped breakfast we decided to just get this buffet instead of finding one of the restaurant we wrote down. we then went to his amazing huge castle in this piazza that everyone hangs in and in the sun it was nice and warm. we climed the bell tower and had the most amazing view of sienna. its soooo gorgous and it seems it looks like what u would think italy looks like, pretty green hills and a little country with some houses...just so pretty! the bell rang while we were up there too which was fun. we then went to see the duemo and then got gelato and sat in the piazza in the sun infront of the castle like everyone else did.
we then hurried ourselves back to the train station where sasha literally just hopped on it before it left.
i then ran to the bathroom in the mall and made it back to my train only 20 minutes later. took the train to the place where i was supposed to transfer, got on that train and finally came back to rome.
it was a long 2 days of travel, very busy and very sleepless it seemed. but so much fun! it was great to see sasha, especially after having to say bye to pat. more of my friends from home need to come here. its also great that i dnt have monday classes and neither does sasha. except now i must start getting ready for my stupid class at 2. i dnt want to go back to school! cant spring break be forever?

Spring Break with an Australian-Italian

sooo last week was spring break! sadly its over but i did a lot. i had midterms up until pat came basically. midterms here are annoying and hard and almost seem worse then midterms at maryland. anyways, i picked pat up at the airport friday morning which was an adventure in itself. took forever because its italy trains tend to be late, then it took some time to figure out which terminal to go to, because its italy there are never signs and u must guess- even at airports. so although it was like an hour late i finally got pat. what was worse about it all is that my phone dsnt work. it shuts off when i get a call and it shuts off when i try to make one. it just always shuts off which is very fustrating and out of all the times iv had aphone here and never relaly needed it the one time i really did was three times in the past week- i actually really needed my phone, one being when pat was coming.
so friday we basically came back here and napped since it was so early. we walked around a park near my house with my roommate but then came back and pat slept more. saturday we got up and saw the pantheon, spanish steps, trevi fountain and tomb of the unknown soilder. we walked around a lot, got gelato and pizza and it was a very busy day with many italian firsts for pat. almost every night we went out to dinner so pat was able to eat his italian meals. friday night him and my roommate and i went to this place my roommate and i found that cheap and has amazingly delicious food! i tried this pasta with walnut cheese sauce or something, it was yummmmy. saturday night we found this amazing place (i think it was saturday night...it was def some night) that has cheap food but its incredible and the wine is amazing there and it has a great atmosphere- we went there again saturday night. just so good!! i think its my new favorite place.
anways so sunday we went to the vatican, saw st peters and learned the sisteen chapel and vatican museums are closed on sundays. joy. so we did that then went back basically. i think we walked around some more probably. everyday we found all these churches to go in and see and i took him by some markets to see. we quickly realized through looking at my top 10 rome book that to do everything you must be in rome for like a month. so pats 6 days here wrnt quite enough.
we cooked sunday night, which was yummy. this whole break my body was on a break too and i ate lots of cheese!
monday morning we woke up early to get the train to venice. we got to venice around 11 i think and it took us FOREVER to find out hotel. it was a bed and breakfast which supposedly ment no big signs, just a little plaque on a door u had to buzz into. it was a great location so we figured cldnt be hard to find, but apparently it could. we finally got to the b&b and checked in, got our room and dropped our stuff. we then went out, ate and walked around. it was so great to be back in venice, i loved it especially since i only saw it during carnivale, it was nice to see it when carnivale isnt going on. not as crazy or touristy but definalty just as beautiful. we walked around a lot, which is what u do in venice. ur supposed to get lost. so we did. we went to the bascilica, and st marcos square first. we walked along the water, the bridges, and on tuesday i convinced him to go to murano for lunch- since last time i was there my friends got a great seafood lunch whihc is waht they are famous for and for some reason none of it looked familiar. maybe it was cuz lots more things were closed, who knows but we got pretty good sandwhiches and a nice boat tour of venice. on monday night we ate on the water and this restaurant which had pretty good food. it was nice to sit outside by the water and i am SO glad they had heaters cuz at night it was soososoo cold. we also kept trying to find this pastry shop which has these amazing sugar dough raison ball things, we found it and it was closed for siesta, we went back and it was closed for the night. sadly we never got it, but we definaltey found other pastries to eat which was good.
wed morning we left venice and went to florence. we got there and went straight to this sandwhich shop i heard of which has the most amazing sandwhiches that are huge for only 4 euro. last time i was in florence it closed. apparenlty when they run out of bread they close. so i thought i remembered where it wasm, but didnt and i didnt circle it on my map (the one i saved from weeks ago). soo we wondered around, starving so i finally asked a hotel and they told us. we went and had the most amazing sandwhiches everrr. we walked to this piazza where we sat and finished them it was beautiful outside in the sun. then we went to see david before it got too late. we waited in line for a bit, got in, saw him and then went to this church which has many famous dead people burried in. like michael angelo and galileo and others. we also saw the duemo and walked around. we then made our way through the gold bridge with all the jewelery shops and past many castles, or i claimed were castles. there was one that is free to go in and i sadly never found it :-(. but we hiked up to michael angelos park to see the sunset. it has the most gorgeous view of the city and it was beautiful at sunset. a little overcast....not as clear as the last time i was there, but the last time i wsnt there at sunset. it was freezing up there, so windy so after the sun was almost setting we walked back to catch dinner before our train. i took him to zaza, which i had marked on my map and knew where to go. unfortunatley at some pnt on the walk down or somehting it fell out and i lost it and soooo we kept walkn the direction and i stoppped adn asked ANOTHER hotel who kindly told me and got me a new map. italians sometimes are so nice. we made it in time just to walk quickly through the market they have. i got myself a leather bracelet that i wanted last time and kept forgetting to get. zaza was amazing food and lots of fun....as last time. we then left in time to head back to the train station, getting a waffle with nutella and seeing a church st marie maggiore or something which has this wall around its cemetary on the outside connecting to the church that people used to be burried in...the waffle and nutella (florence specialty) was amazing of course a nice change to all the gelato we kept eating.
so wednesday night we got back home and thursday we decided to do the colloseum and all the forums and palentine hill. i put my art class knowledge to use and was able to give him a little more intersting information about all the places. since palentine hill, the roman forum and imperial forums are so big...plus the colloseum, we spent like 3 hrs there and that was basically our day. we made dinner again that night, and relaxed.
friday we went to the sisteen chapel, waiting in a line to get in for 45 min in the freezing wind, then another hour to actually get to it through the museum. it was like disney. but the sisteen chapel is truly incredible. the cieling is practically flat and it looks like its a dome. its gorgous and totaly worth all the money and they make u pay cuz tech u can see the museum too. which we didnt do for sake of time and pats interest. we got a bus back and came home- he likes his naps. we took each day pretty slowly. that night we went out with both my roommates adn their friend/bf who were visiting. we went to this cheap amazing place as well. it was lots of fun. it was a looong dinner tho so we never made it out to get gelato again and just came back and i got him hooked on the show how i met your mother. which is the only show i watch here because my roommate had it on her computer. its actually pretty good.
Oh, also on the sunday before we went to the castle which had a perfect view of rome and it was pretty cool to walk through- we did that before going into st peters.
so the following saturday we went to a market in campo and saw piazza navona and wondered around a bit. we got gelato. and pizza and i bought an italia sweatshirt as my suvenier from this trip. we went out to dinner at that new amazing restaurant i now love and got more gelato then hurried back home ot catch the maryland basketball game. which we also watched on sunday i think.
overall it was lots of fun, went by wayyy too fast and got pretty cold towards the end. we only had nice weather for a bit sadly but im hoping it keeps getting warmer!

Alps

So a little late, but iv been sick all week. worth it however because interloken was amazing!!!

thursday (only on my bday this would happen) i had to pack, carry my stuff with me all day...a make up class because my professor canceled class the week before- yes in italy, when professors cancel class, they are not only expected to have a make up class but you are expected and required to attend. so from 1230-640 i was supposed to have class but i left at 6 since i had to be at the train station. so i ran there practically and sat on a bus for 12 hours, celebrating my 21st bday with a small bottle of champaige and a loooong shot from these really nice girls on the bus who overheard the singing and came running up with their alcohol. we also had a choc cake and a lighter to blow out. it was funny cuz only 3 of my roommates planned this for me but a lot of the people on the bus just came in and joined in.
the bus ride was long, but it was fun...i hung out with new girls i met while my roommates slept.
we got there friday morning and dropped out bags and went to the mountains, where we took a 15 frnak train ride, 24 frank lift ride 4 hours hike of rediculous 90 degree angle up and down slopes, crossing many many paths with the skii slopes and a 40 frank train ticket down. basically the woman told us it was an hour hike no biggie. LIE. the other ppl hiking had sticks and appropriate hiking shoes, while i was in my rain books and my roommates in their tennis shoes. it was lots of fun, amazing views....incredibly breathtaking views just a very hard hike. the last hour was straight up and it reminded me so much of climbing masada. plus it was the 3rd highest peak and the altitude killed us. at some points we had to get on our backs and slide down or practically crawl up. what an experience.
we finally made it back to the hostel after our looooong hike and had an hour to eat before night sledding. night sledding was SOOO much fun and so incredible. worth every frank! we started up way high, and it took about an hour to get down. they stopped us and took us to a frozen waterfall that was gorgeous. we then had cheese fondue and eggs and hashbrowns when we were done (yes that was dinner). i hadnt seen as many stars as i did on that mountain since i took astrology at fsu and we went to even more middle of nowhere to see the stars. they were SO pretty. so was the view. incredible.
the next day we rented ATVs and drove around for 2 hrs. it was 4 of us, 2 on each ATV to be cheaper and save money! it was so much fun. we once again saw such prettty lakes and mountains and a very cute town. my friend and i switched turns driving. worked out perfectly!i wish i could have gone faster, but my friend didnt sooooo....
that night we had a really really good dinner at this crazy place. the waitors wore these stetchy cow pants, they were rediculous. i also had prob the best burger and fries iv had in the longest time....because it was made mostly of fat. but delicious! it was also a very fun dinner. in the middle they started a congo line and we all got up and congoed. they also would randomly hit cow bells. it was lots of fun!
on sunday, i went to a catholic church with my friend. they speak german in switzlerand so it didnt sound like i was in church, so it was more of an intersting experience of weird language. it was interesting. apparently in the middle of services or w/e u shake hands and say something like may peace be with you, so all of a sudden i was shakin hands with lots of people. i didnt go up to eat the cracker thing, i think my roommate said it was called a host. but its certaintly intresesting. we then went back to the cool place and i got hot choc :-) mmmmm. i also bought a tooon of chocolate. even yummmier!
the ride back was rediculous, we were all exhausted we pretty much just watched movies and passed out.
overall, it was an incredible weekend. it was also much warmer then i thought it would be. i didnt even have to layer as much as i thought. i at first layered more then i did for munich, but learned it wsnt as necessary. tho i still wore a lot.

its supposed to start getting nicer, knock on wood. so i really hope it does get that way and stay that way, i can really use warm weather!!!

carnivale!

we went to venice for carnivale and it was AMAZING. everyone is dressed up in the outragous incredible costumes which dresses from like the reneissance or middle ages or old times who knows what, but all are incredible. they also have performances like are like from a circus or soemthing. its lots of fun! during the day we just walked around, took a boat from our hotel to st marco where lots of stuff is happening. they are known for their amazing sea food, so everyone loved it...i like a good little jewish girl kept to my pasta and tomato sauce. mmmm.
anyways, thursday night we took an overnight train so we got there at like 530am. we then took a boat (since you travel by boat always) to our hotel where they let us check in and we took a nap. we woke up and made our way to st marco where all the stuff was happening. we went into the bascilica which was sooo big and beautiful. while everyone went into the museum and up the tower, my friend (who is also coming back to venice) and i just walked around. it was incredible. and lots of fun. as always, they have a road full of designers and a ton of stores for venetian glass. we also bought masks to wear (which people where all day and all night).
we had a pretty good dinner then got the famous 17 euro bellinis at the famous harrys bar, where they were first made. apparently hemmingway or someone hung out their a lot....prob not hemmingway but some famous author.
anyways we then walked around and basically any square u find at night has music, djs and everyone dancing and drinking in their costumes and masks. yes most poeple treat it like halloween.
we went back early to sleep and wake up for monaco where they make the venitian glass and have little glass blowing shows. it was cool, just like any other glass blowing iv seen. the glass is sooo pretty there. we then spent the WHOLE day shopping for anything from jewlery to christmas ornaments. we then got a lunch where everyone had great seafood and i had pasta with tomato sauce. it took 5 hrs since they are SO slow. we then ordered choc cake, which like the last choc cake i had wsnt so great. they are all dry here and not very chcolately. its ok tho cuz i got a ton of gelato this weekend to make up for it!
we then came back and changed (sadly missing sasha....it was way too crowded and hard to try to meet up and timing wsnt good :-().
so ya we came back and that was where carnivale was insannnne. it was just as fun as during the day, times 19370291172037. their were still performances and people were practically just drunk and dressed up and masked up and it was awesome.
we went to st margarita where they had a dj and a TON of people where there dancing and drinking. we def had a lot of fun!
the next morning while some of my friends went on the gandala, my friend who is coming back and i got a breakfast on the water, which was really nice. we then only had a 5 hrs train ride back on eurostar- which is the fast high class trains.
venice is def amazing and i am so excited to be going back! it is absolutly gorgeous and its so nice to be by water. it wsnt even that cold there, esp during the day when the sun was out. it was so nice and warm (even warm for me and my mom). it will also be nice to go back when there isnt carnivale, it was very crowded...def crazy and fun, just really crowded. reminded me a little like disneyworld. it will be fun to see venice as venice without carnivale too! none of us wanted to leave, but im glad im coming back!

weiss beer and cameras

i just talked about my days in munich...my nights were def interesting.
the first night we actually just went to bed from being exhausted but saturday night we went to the haufbraushaus which is a famous huge beer hall, obvi tourist spot. nonetheless, hitler actually held meetings on the second floor, but since it was destroyed in ww2 they didnt build it again with the 2nd floor. anyways, in germany you basically sit at picnic tables. any pub or beer hall is just rows and rows of tables and you sit wherever you can get a seat. so we wound up sitting next to 2 guys from switzerland. they were really nice, both 21 and both had gfs. in switzerland you become bf/gf when you love eachother. its very different and they called us crazy for havin bf/gfs before we are in love. either way they were really nice and fun to talk to!
they wanted to go clubbing but the clubs were far so we invited them to the bar in our hostel. apparently our hostel bar is where the locals go and is the most fun. so we went there and they bought us drinks, we played pool...it was lots of fun! we did jager bombs in munich...a beer place. lol
sooo the next day at breakfast we sat down next to 3 guys from the army that were stationed in germany had the weekend off and came to munich. they were really fun and total southern gentlemen. they kept trying to pay for everything. on the tour we stopped at a beer hall and after that we decided to go to a museum and they kept trying to pay. then they rolled our eyes at us and were almost offended when we shoved money at them.
it was lots of fun to meet people actually! it kept the trip interesting, learned many new things about different people and had lots of fun!!

since iv been back iv been on a search for camera battery and charger. i gave up, my package isnt coming. however its impossible to find anything of that sort here! its like it dsnt exist. so fustrating. there are a million other unneccessary stores around here, but not one camera store. sigh, im trying again tom! i def miss best buy and target right about now.

hufflepuff: trani working!!!

first, our hostel was right next to a main station (like central station) called somethin with an ha, ph and ff.....hence it being called hufflepuff since everything in Munich looks kind like hogwarts and has incredibly long names that are unpronouncable.
Munich was AMAZING. it was soooo cold and snowing like crazy, to the pnt that snow as in my eye and we cldnt see as we were walking. we first got there and bought rainboots for 7 euros so we didnt ruin our uggs, which is great cuz we can use them for venice and interloken. after that we kinda just walked around, kinda amused and surpised at the porn shops that were EVERYWHERE. naked women posters were outside to advertise for the porn shops and apparently some Munich halloween is coming up so there are costumes everywhere and the porn stores are really promoting their costumes.
anyways, the first day was spent walking around in rain boots, taking pictures of random buildings we assumed we would learn about later and finding our way to the olympic area...where the olympics took place in like 72 and then the 18 israeli hostages were shot. it was pretty cool and right next to a BMW museum.
after the olympic area we walked around some more and found some really pretty areas and a starbucks!!! fyi as a sidenot, in europe, esp italy there is no such thing as "to go" cups. when u get coffee you are expected to sit and sip it then leave. so we were thrilled to be able to take our coffee and walk around outside in the cold and have a hot hot wonderful drink!
the rest of the day we just kinda got lost and walked around everywhere, it was sooo cold depsite the 5 layers i was wearing, and i mean that seriously...3 thick socks, 2 leggings and jeans, 2 tanks, 2 long sleeves and a short sleeve, sweatshirt, northface and raincoat. scarf and gloves and hat of course. so ya, that night we got lost tryin to find a pub so went to a sports bar which was fun and went to bed early...
we woke up early to go to Dachau concentration camp, which is in dachau germany, just half hour outside Munich. we took a tour and it was very interesting. it was incredible, in the sad kind of way, and very intense. it was the first concentration camp built, only men were sent there. the baracks were destroyed, but not the main building where nazis had their offices and the jews would first arrive and be stripped of everything, numbered and tortured/punished and inspected. the rebuilt 2 baracks for us to see an example and we were able to go to the gas chambers and furnace rooms...i really dnt know how else to describe it, totally worth it experience and undescribable. i was glad i was able to actually see one after seeing so many pictures and learning so much about it. i will say tho that we went into the gas chamber, which actually wasnt used much in Dachau...usually they were shipped to a different camp, like aushwitz to be gased, however they did gas sometimes and experiment with gases to use....obvi using the jews as the subjects. however, regardless of how many times it was used, all the furnances were and all the gas chambers were modeled after that one. which was small, low ceilings, very uncomfortable and just horrible to be in. i couldnt ever imagine. its just rediculous, and i am very very glad i was able to go there and see it. definately worth the full day and time and money.
on a happier note, i learned that munich is like very different then any city in germany. it likes to be seperate and independent, it is traditional and the most catholic and is Bavarian. like they are Bavarians. its really interesing, all the buildings we saw- which we took a tour from our hostel for free around the city, which was amzing. we saw the increidble buildings and churches. one church the architech made a deal with the devil to help him build it and the devil said there cnt be windows. so the architech build it, with windows but put columns infront of it so when u stand inside u cnt see windows. the devil's requirements were therefore met and there his footprint in the church to show his singing of the agreement. we wrnt able to go in cuz htey had services, but cool story! also i didnt realize that everyhting in munich after ww2, around the 70s was destroyed by bombings, so the nazis previous to the end of ww2 took a billion pictures to rebuild all the buildings when hitler one, obvi hitler dsnt win and the bavarians took the photos to rebuild it. there is like 2 things that survived the bombings and fires, part of one church and a statue. everything else is recently built to look old. ha it was cool tho! there was also many 3rd reich memorials that are actually on the ground and not so obvi which many ppl walk by, esp in winter. but our tour guide is awesome and pointed it all out to us. he also showed us that by this memorial statue thing, it was surrounded by 3 roads on 3 sides and the front was opened to a plaza. basically hitler but a plack on the right side and everytim eu passed u had to, by law, do the heil hitler thing. sooo jews and others hwo did not support the nazi movement would tak ea chance, cut around the back "dodging" the right side and walk to the left. however many nazis were there ready to ship ppl off to dachau or other camps or shoot you. some were lucky, and now its known as dodges road...and there is a small gold strip as a memorial.
also in the haufbrauhaus which is very famous, esp to tourists was where hitler gathered and planned and formed his nazi party on the second floor. however, as everytihng in munich, it was destroyed and when they rebuilt it they left off the 2nd floor to rid all paths on nazi stuff...not to be ignored or forgotten but to show they do not want nazi stuff and yadayada. its acutally illegal to have a swashtika printed in munich or any form of it...no toleration.
also i walked by where kristllnach was planned, tho i didnt really catch exactly where. and we passed lions that ppl rub now for good luck, since a long time ago some guy got out of being killed when tlakin to the king because he like rubbed the lion for respect or who knows.
in munich, there are 2 symbols to represent it...a lion and a monk. yup. its cool, so lion statues everywhere. also since they are so catholic, they have on that same memorial bulding thing with the 3 roads and plaza, there are to the right the reich residence, royal ppl...and the left a catholic church. the lion facing church has its mouth closed to symbolize that u cnt speka out against the church, but ht elion facin the left has its mouth open to symolize u can speak out against the king and royals. thats funny too.
munich is def known for its beer, and so i had lots of beer. it was all very very good and sold everywhere and rather cheap if u idnt go to touristy areas.
basically, for now..i will finish up with my sunday (which is the day i took the tour with the hostel and then wound up at an art museum)...oh and also after dachau we went to the duesches musuem, which is a huge 3 days worth science museum with every inovation and invention everrr...it was awesome.
but yes so we went to an art museum, got starbucks again...ate lot sof mcdonalds because at every pub i had to be vegitarian since the choice was pork or cow utter. yes, cow utter.
my sat night and even sunday was filled with lots and lots of fun and drinking which tom i will def write more about. just had to get this down before i forgot the amazing bavarian munich!!!

my bed is broke

so, i just came back from my art class where we went to see the roman forum. it actually started raining, then hailing/snowing. the ground is now icy mushy and it feels like im in englad. the roman forum is outside, so i have like 5 layers on, no joke. but i swear it didnt make me heavier! i just went to sit on my bed like a normal sit, not a flop or a bounce or a fall. and my bed is kinda broken now. i suppose i should tell them i need a new bed and mattress while they are at it...maybe, we shall see.
in the meantime, the forum is fine. i have it with 2 sorta friends, i take the pix with this one guys camera which is dumb that i wnt with mine but w/e im gettin his pix from him, and he takes the notes. it was intersting. its incredible ot think they built all this and walked around and everything. they have one arch they built to show they conquired jerusalem and there is a menorah and other things they claim would come from solomans temple. that was cool. however if u walk under it its disrespecting jews, because they built it to show they conquered jews. so what im thinking, after speaking to my wisdomness father and remembering all that i learned when in israel and in jerusalem, is that it must have been from the first destruction of the temple.... which is kinda cool. that i can combine both knowledge from diff things into 1, hopefully ill remember it well for the exam! not many jews in rome, its fun to see some jewish stuff- even if its tech a bad thing. i was like the only one to recognize it was a menorah on the arch from my class. i prob should really check out that synogogue near me- maybe there will be a koshermart with bamba like in florence!
they also had this temple for like 13 women or something. they are picked at the age of 5 and have to be virgins because they are supposed to be pure and protect the fire. literally, no joke an actual fire. if the fire went out they were punished. at the age of 33 they were allowed to leave and get married. isnt that weird/crazy.
so here i sit freezing in my room, with the hail outside and no heat and my broken bed, and my dirty sheets cuz my roomie was in my bed under my comfortor and hungry and tired and not wanting to study for my quiz. ever. just like spanish i suck at italian. and my classs dsnt teach my anything cept how to book a hotel. which is dumb, because if we actually called to book a hotel- which we dnt, because u do it online and we are students os its hostels and they speak english, we wldnt be able to understand anyways. i rather learn how to order things or ask for directions. sighh
im getting excited for munich tho! i found a media place which is kinda like a best buy. so hopefuyll they will have a charger and battery for my camera since my package is never ever coming. i was gunna go today till it decided to pour and hail. weird weather.
excited for warmer weather and a beer coat in munich where i will be in 7 layers....i seriously mean 2 leggings, jeans, uggs (hope it dsnt pour), tank top, short sleeve, long sleeve, big tshirt, sweatshirt, northface, raincoat. sound good? gloves, hat, scarf....maybe 3 socks and i might be good to go.

Florence

So, i just got back from florence, which was INCREDIBLE!! i took my 8gb chip thingy for my camera, and guess what- my camera didnt like it. so missa, saving my life not only had an extra battery for me but an extra memory card. i love her! i need my package like asap if that even comes, knock on wood it does.
either way.....florence was amazing. before i forget i saw a synogogue, the onyl one in florence go figure. apparently there are like 1000 jews but not all religious. it was bout in the 1800's and still stands originally today. its absolutly beautiful. it has a dome and some features of a church because 1 jew and 2 catholic architechs built it...so the christains put in an organ and that thing thats like where some high up person sits thats a circle with stairs...sorry i dnt know what its called, anyways the stained glass was soooo pretty and so where the walls. they wldnt let us bring anyting in so no pictures :-(. but they had a little museum from ww2 that either survived that or the flood in 1966. they had the smallest and cuttest sidors and teffilin and tallis. the nazis kinda took over for a little, but didnt destroy anything cuz they thought there were gunna be treasures and jewels and all they found was a torah and they were like ehhh, which is why everything is original and all. it also is hard to find because unlike ANY church in florence (or anywhere) its wsnt like off a nice park area or plaza, it was kinda hidden in buildings and streets. so ya, that was awesome!
so the second coolest thing in florence was the biggest lindt ball i have everrrr seen. ever, like ever. just go on facebook, its amazing.
sooo everything really was cool... when we first got there friday morning we dropped our bags at the hostel and went on the free walking tour, we went into an incredible castle and passed many. apparently florence is just so awesome and castley- i love it! also they had these wine doors, a bar wouldnt be inside, it was a little mailbox door u slipped ur money in and got wine in return. hehe
so then in the rain we walked around and saw so many amazing leather stores-not huge luck for me, i found a wonderful pair of boots that were rahter expensive but iv never felt better leather in my life- i had no time to try any on, sooo oh well. when the right time comes ill find boots.
they also have this bridge thats been there forever and has all these gold/jewlery stores on it, no other store is allowed some guy made it a rule...apparently it used to be butchers/delis and it would smell bad so ya. only jewelry.
we then hiked up a billion stairs to this park- michaelangelo park with a few of florence. the entire city. the city is actually rather small we were able to walk everywhere. it was sooo pretty. so then in the pouring rain we made our way back the hostel and ate dinner for there for free- it was pasta and sauce. it was yummy. esp for free, and a lot of pasta.
so we woke up suppper early sat morning to go see david and the ufizzi gallery which has many famous painting and of jesus and stuff, since i am in italy. david was incredible, the museum was fun too. i ran into one of my friends from class and her friends- they are the nicest girls in the world, i really hope we can hang out here!
so before ufizzi and after david, some of the girls and i walked around florence, florence is SO nice to walk around. everything looks sooo old and the castles are awesome and thats when i saw the giant lindt ball and got ferrero roche chocolate things but all dark chocolate, yummy.
so after ufizzi we walked around for a little and went back to the awesome park for nonrainy clear beautiful pictures.
thenn we went to the church croce where lots of famous dead ppl are burried, like galileo and michael diangelo annd a statue of liberty thingy. it was pretty cool.
all the churches we saw were very pretty (but the synogoue was the best, not to be biased or antyhing). it was fun to walk into one, felt comforting...i really need to go to the one here. my friend kept telling me to speak hebrew to them, which i would if it was like a rabbi but just because someone is in a synogogue dsnt mean they speak hebrew....ha maybe ill try the one in rome. i also found a koshermart, kosher restaurant and chabad near the temple. i got bamba from the koshermart. :-D
soooo also friday night (sorry this is out of order) we went to the markets where they had a ton of leather stuff and gadgets and stuff, and i got a really pretty purple scarf finally, i haggled it down...:-D my good israeli haggling skills came to use. i got my sisters something, but u know- they will have to wait and see. it was lots of fun minus all the creepy men whistling and saying things. ew.
ok so back to sat night, we went to this restuarant called Za-Za. it was sooo good, it was authentic, homemade italian restuarant where lots of famous people, like ben affleck and otherss had come. the food was incredible and the wine (house) was deliciousss. so it was overall a really good day and meal. after that we went back to the hostel kinda late, cuz we ate dinner for a while. some of my friends went to a bar, some of us got gelato and went to bed early. yes i ate way too much junk food there. but at least for breakfast i was able to order a number 5, no bacon, no cheese and just eggwhites. ha, they prob thougth i was crazy. but it was free. yayy!
sooo sat morning we woke up and my friend and i went to the synogogue since we cldnt go in sat night- which i was tryin to catch havdalah for. not like i go to services all the time, but its been 3 weeks without stepping in one, not being fully surrounded by jews and not going near a hillel. so i have a huge urge to go. maybe in munich? haha
soo after that we walked around for a while. oh we also passed the duemo so many times, we never went up cuz all there is is a view, which we got from the park. so we saved money. but ya, that was florence. :-D
it was def lots of fun!

i dnt think much happened before i left, thurs i stayed up all night. on wed i had my other art class and we went to the capital museums which had amazing statues and stuff. too much info to even try to tell you guys anything, but it was cool. im liking the mythodogy stuff w/ g-ds, very intersing. jesus, no offense, not so much. esp since here all the pictures of jesus show details of him bleeding. just not my cup of tea. i rather see g-ds looking happy or something. or the cupid psyche statue where they are going to kiss. thats cute, yay love!

so glad i dnt have classes monday, but i have lots of hw, need to go food shopping and meet up with one group for a group project.
next weekend im going to munich, it was thea cheapest and easiest thing to book last minute. who knew vienna and like madrid or berlin are a billion bucks?

im just so excited i have something every weekend and i wanna keep it up. this way i always have something to look forward to and i can already feel like it will go by fast. hopefully, i fully plan on still booking and going everywhere. so far i think ill do capri/serrento or greece during spring break. and hopefully milan, barcelona, vienna and paris. im already going to tuscany and pompeii for sure, as well as venice for carnivale which will be amazing and interloken to celebrate my 21st bday freezing with my whole woredrobe layered on me in the alps!!! yayy!

the g-d of supermarkets

just because im procrastinating, i thought i would add just a little but about my day so far.
so i went to the school and they didnt have my package :-(. i already bug them enough but im going to call them soon and ask.
second on my way home we stopped of at the supermarket for food and so i can buy skim milk (soy is like nonrefridgerated weird crap here) since i apparently decided to buy whole milk. yup thats right, i have had 2 gelati with no cholestral pill, a pizza today with no cholestral pill, eating yogurt which i can only hope is somewhat fat free and on top of that have been drinking whole milk the past few days.
so we get some stuff and i decide i need fruit, so i go check out this other supermarket which is never open except for now and i walk in and i am pretty sure i hit heaven. there already is this special foods supermarket called margarita which is expensive but sells honey nut cheerios and m&ms and other delicious american foods plus american brand hair/body products. tho over priced. this new supermarket has all that times 10. it was like a giant in italy, but better. i was so overwhelmed i actually bought real raw chicken, turkey slices for sandwhiches and a few other necessary items. oh and mushrooms, yay! i cant wait to run out of shampoo, loose my deotorant or need something or maybe decide i hate my weird laundry detergent and try to get tide and other amazing american brands.
k thats all. now i must do hw and attempt working out. yay for NO classes on mondays!!!

shaloooooom, manishma?

pps i found a synogogue today! they really do have jews in rome. u think they speak hebrew? this way i can get by and understand what ppl are saying more then the italians! yayy. i really want to check it out soon. it looked big. :-)

patatine

btw just thought this was a necessary after thought. mcdonalds is everywhere here. their menu is healthier and less and they have a euro menu (dollar menu cept really dollar 40 cuz of dumb exchange rate). they also have curly fries! iv only gone twice but no matter what they refuse to give them to me whether i order in enlish or italian. they just say ok and give me the regular ones. maybe there is a secret code? sighhh. they do look good, esp for mcyd's.

my sashy weekend!

saturday night. colloseum bar crawl. before i say anything else, i think it was the coolest to be just going out on a sat night and walking past the colloseum and other things like it was just another building. to just be on your way to another bar and oh look, there is the colloseum has to be one of the coolest feelings iv felt here. thats why i came to rome.
so ya- i love sashas friends from milan! they are all so much fun and we had a really good time. i got to dance and have fun and party it up in rome with sasha!! yayyyy. cant wait to see her again.
i also was very independent today for the first time since iv been here (minus wed). today i met sasha at the trevi fountain then we walked around and got my first gelato of the day. i walked her to the train station and said by to her at the platform. :-( i was so glad she came- had lots of fun!! then i came home all by myself! i tried to buy a bus ticket but on sundays nothin is open so that failed. sundays and siestas are so annoying. on the bus back from the station some extremley drunk guy with a bloody face decided it would be just so cool if he fell on me. so he did. yuck!! it was wonderful. so this nice italian man switched spots with me so he wldnt fall on me again. itlaian men can be so creepy and gross, but im so glad i found a nice one!
today i also went to wash my sheets. so i put them in our small 2 in washer, barely fitting, put in some soap (accideltny more then i wanted) and uhhh let it go. the thing is you set it for a 35 min wash- it goes for almost 2 hrs. so it did. but since it was still soapy i put it on a quick rinse. which took an hour. during so sasha called so i had to run out. so i came home around 530 and put it on another "quick" rinse and an hour later put it on the spin and drain. and hour later i took them out and layed out as many of the sheets as i can on the radiators (because NOTHING dries outside). the radiators go on from 6-1o pm. my sheets were scattered around the apt. suppppper. i currently am sittin in almost dried except for the corners sheets. AND here is the best part- the sheets they provided us (the only decent set) does not fit on the matress. u would think they would want a sheet to do that. but noooooo, apparently when your in rome you dont get sheets to fit your bed. dumb people.

so tonight we went to a bar that a steelers player owns to watch the superbowl. on the way there i got my second gelato. and i CRAVE pizza. oy. my cholestral is screwed, esp since these spontatnious purchases do not allot me the time to take my pill. either way we met some random fun americans and then left early cuz my roomies have class early. i dont. que lastima (what a shame- and that is my only spanish i know besides aquafiesta which means party pooper). so tom i must do all the hw i should have been doing this weekend. i took a lonnng siesta for sasha.

hopefully tom ill plan the rest of my trips here!!! my roommates who did make it to naples came back with 2 pairs of boots. im jealous! they just dnt have any simple cute ones here. sigh. maybe in florence?

sorry this is long, hope it wasnt too boring :-)

i am too add, sorry!

and btw- i went to the pantheon with my art class this past wed (where i met a boy who goes to md and he lives near me so we can go together to all the sites). anyways, so now i know all this really cool stuff about the pantheon and was able to already explain it to sasha and her friends and some of mine. i feel very knowledgable- for the time being.
thats was it! now another wonderufl adventure- tryin to make it to the bar crawl asap...hopefully more good stories will come from that!

i reallly wish i dont have to say i did something stupid again

so lets start with how i made my knee hurt again. sasha and her amazing lovliness came to rome this weekend with 2 other people i actually know and like 16 other people! i walked around for a while with my roommate on a search for boots- which is failing miserably btw. blah. then i met up with her and walked all day, without a knee brace, and hurt my knee miserably. soooo, that night i tried to go out with my new friends to a kareoke bar, and had to turn around and come home because it hurt so much. so today i decided not to go to the vaticans and walk around all day and just go to this bone church place, decorated and made out of all bones- SO creepy. anyways, wound up that the place was closed for siesta (which almost everything usually is) so we all had to walk around and found this beautiful park until it opened again. so there went not walking a lot.

the bone church is def a couple hundred of years old and they basically once the bodies were dead took them apart and decorated this church. everything is bones, its like all kinda graves and i dunno- i guess you can google it, its just so creepy. hundreds and hundreds of bodies just ripped apart in bones. and some are whole skeletons which preist robes on and some of their skin is still on them! ewww
but on a good note i found a disney store!!! yayyyy, i will go back.

now im supposed to go on a bar crawl with some friends and sasha and her friends, but not sure how that is working out- so we will see how it goes!

lately, i have been out a bunch of times, im meeting really nice people (mostly guys- go figure) and hopefully people i can plan going to paris and other cities with. rome is definately getting better with the more people i meet, and i really hope i can stay friends with these people!

i have been wondering around rome A LOT, and im still camera-less which is so annoying. but at least im seeing rome, its pretty incredible. everything is so old and massive and detailed. iv been in to sooo many churches lately, i cant seem to find a synagogue- wonder why. and i keep trying to explan to people no ham...they dont get it. they think im crazy. so pretty much i have to say im vegitarian since they dont understand the word jew or kosher. oh italians.

next week im supposed to go to florence, then venice.

i think thats about it.

oh and its freezing here. so cold. but knock on wood it hsnt rained lately! annnd iv probably almost been run over 70 times. and siestas are the worst thing ever. and there are no folders in rome. anywhere.

and there ends my very random additional blog. cant say i can think of anything relaly that cool or exciting lately. cept my luck i hurt my knee again. and its so weird here that i can wash my clothes but have to hang them outside to dry, or put my undies on the radiator. but they dry SO rough. :-( oh annnnd, i have passed the pantheon, spanish steps and colloseum and tomb of the unknown soilders so much that its rediculous. only on weekends tho, when im not near my apt or school and im out shopping or wahtnot. its so cool.

ok sorry this is incredibly long and random. but hopefully somewhat entertianing! miss everyone! <3

never doubt me to do something stupid again

sooooo, i decided i really need to get boots since its absolutly necessary, esp before the end of jan so i can get them on sale. so i look up online these shopping places to go to and get the brilliant idea to try to find them. my roommate and i go to sketch ass bumbfuck rome basically. sooo we get there and see the massive discount store, where i thought it would be fine and not a like attraction of all the bad looking people in italy in the bad looking neighborhood. both of us leave pretty quickly and find the much better and nicer shopping area. still no luck...but i learned my lesson. no more attempts to save money at discount stores, just not happening.

oh and i am taking an art class where we go to differnt sites evert week, so basically between my smart idea for adventures to places i dont know and these places i dont know, im hoping i quickly can learn my way around rome. that or i will be constantly lost in rome.
tho i have found a really nice park with an amazing view near my school- so wondering around didnt really backfire completly.

i think for now thats really it. i def miss everyone so much, and i still find it very hard to believe i am actually in rome.
oh quick funny story- so basically rome is ikea meet the olden days. we light our stove and oven. we also have a very small cute little washer that fits 2 pairs of jeans, and we must hang them to dry. so i have been drying my clothes on the radiator since its been rainy and cold everyday where it would be pointless to hang clothes outside. today actually was a pretty nice day! sunny and no rain. still a little chilly.

i would like to believe this will be the last of my stupid ideas to go to places i really dont know. oh and also they have outdoor food markets where u buy the freshest produce u will ever see- thats nice! i am eatin so healthy. yayy.

finally seeing rome

i basically live in the brooklyn of rome. so to actually go see everything you would think of rome, you have to use the bus or tram to get to it. so the 4th day or so my roommates and i went into rome rome. there we finally got to see the spanish steps, trivi fountain, pantheon and the tomb of the unkown soilder with such a great view of the colloseum. there, we also walked around and found the 5th avenue and the most amazing amazing incredibly amazing restaurant. i died at last 4 times eating my delicious cheesy pasta with muschrooms. YUM! i prob consumed my cholestral for the year, however the pizza and gelati are too good to pass up, so maybe 5 years.
everything was really great and amazing, depsite the no english, my lack of italian and difficulty of getting things and the fact that my camera battery and charger are currently somewhere on its way to me since i left it at home- knock on wood i hope it actually gets here! so hopefully i will be able to go back to all these places and take pictures with my real camera.

not to mention- i keep trying to speak hebrew, which will not help you here let me tell you.
so yes, that was my first experience in rome rome, which made me much happier since i really thought i would be living there and not brooklyn.

ikea

ok, so of course i had amazing pizza and gelato however, my first big craving was an ikea. basically my roommate and i found our comfortors and beds in such wonderful condition that it was absolutly necessary to replace them. im talking crusting stuff and they were damp. so, my 2 roommates and i set out for ikea my 3rd day i was here. it was supposed to be 1/2 trip, and it took easily an hour. before i go on, you should know there are two bus lines one should avoid when in rome...the number 40 and 64. if you go on these buses you will be humped, hissed at (their form of whistling) and stolen from. no joke. so of course our smart selves go onto the 40 bus for like an hour. where we are dropped off at where ikea is supposed to be. with my luck, its not. so we go ask a woman (who doesnt speak english) where ikea is. she finally literally pushes us onto a bus that is passing by and motions for us to go a long way down. while we are all ready to get off and go back, i see a sign for ikea.
we got off on the next stop, which is dark and sketchy and once agian, our smart selves follow a guy up this dark alley which connects to the highway where the ikea sign was. luckily, he overhears us speaking english and tells us that ikea is on the other side of the highway behind the biggest mall in europe. let me tell you how comforting it is to hear and see and be in a mall in a foreign country. i was soooo happy we finally made it to ikea so i can sleep without being cold and disgusted, not to mention be in a mall! soooo comforting. so we run across the highway- basically like 495. coming out, we decide to go out through the parking lot where it basically makes us merge onto the highway to cross it. oh yea, we were super smart.
and that concludes hopefully but im sure not my only stupid thing iv done so far here. but i survived so good news!

Rome...so far.

So, in attempt to not have to retell every story 10 billion times, here is what I have been up to.
First- nobody speaks english. Also stores like to close from 1-3/4. Also, its hard to get around, the streets are random not in grids...so which my wonderful sense of direction i do not know my way around. So between my very non speaking italian english and the scary public transportation (which isnt as scary as i thought) and how i cant even pronounce any of the italian (which no joke my street is circovollensione gianicolense) i am doing so well. things are just very very different here. i crave target. its hard to find anything, like notebooks or shampoo or anything really. but its pretty cool...im going to post all the things i have been up to!