Fun In Rome

The last few days in Rome...

Tossing coins in the Trevi!

Dad relaxing on the rooftop at my school

One good lookin' couple

Goofing around in the park

Relaxing at a fountain near campus

Funeral crashing...

CRAZY shower at the hotel in Rome

Feeling so lucky that BOTH of my parents were able to come to Italy for such a wonderful vacation. From climbing the bell tower in Siena to cycling in the Tuscan countryside, hiking trails in Elba and dining at my favorite restaurant in Trastevere, these are memories that will last a lifetime. Love you guys! They headed back to Michigan this morning but the goodbye wasn't too sad, I'll be home in less than 3 weeks! 

Just Like The Photos

Rarely do I visit a place that truly looks as good as it does on postcards and in the movies, but let me tell you—the photos don’t do these places justice!

My parents arrived in Roma a little late on Friday morning and we missed our train to Florence by seconds. Luckily, we were able to grab the next train less than a half hour later and the adventure began. We were only passing through Florence on our way to Siena, but who can turn down a chance to climb the Duomo?? I watched our luggage in a cafe while they climbed the 463 claustrophobic steps—Dr. Jill couldn’t get her legs to stop shaking even after she made it safely back to the ground! After their little tour, we caught a SITA bus to Siena and found Hotel Athena without much trouble… Fluffy full-size towels, a hair dryer, hotel slippers, delicious breakfasts and a view to die for—I was one happy camper (and I think M & D were impressed too)! We explored Siena, sampled a few gelaterias and had a less than stellar first meal—but a successful day nonetheless.

A rainy Saturday morning gave way to a BEAUTIFUL day of sunshine (the gods have been smiling on us this trip!) and we took the opportunity to climb the bell tower in Siena’s main square, Piazza del Campo. Once a year, they turn the piazza into a horse track and hold races there, kind of difficult to picture, huh?! We explored the rest of the day, did a little shopping and ate a delicious meal at an adorable little hosteria. The first of many pizzas for Dad… We made it an early night because Sunday was going to be a big day.

    

Sunday, we awoke at the crack of dawn in order to catch a bus (literally we had to run for it) back to Florence where we would be picked up and driven to Chianti in the Tuscan countryside for our biking and wining tour. I don’t know about you, but when I picture a bike tour of Tuscany, I imagine myself wearing a sundress, pedaling a bike with a basket in front, sipping on wine and nibbling on apperitivo. Apparently, my expectations were a little off. What we got was a hardcore 20-mile bike ride, against the wind and what felt like uphill the entire way! Yikes. 30 seconds after we got on our wheels—half the group was walking our bikes up the MOUNTAIN of a hill they wanted us to climb  That’s when I started to freak out, 7 hours of this?? I’m trying to get over the cold I got in Amalfi last weekend—snot is pouring out of my nose and I’m coughing up a storm… Not exactly what I pictured and Not. Having. Fun. 

 Every so often we stopped as a group to learn little tidbits about the region and the vineyards and started to come to views like this: 

    

 Okay, maybe this was worth the effort... I wish these pictures could convey the beauty in Tuscany; I haven’t seen this much green in four months! Rolling hills, sprawling vineyards, flowers blooming—seriously incredible sights. Hands down, the most beautiful part of Italy I’d seen.

Meanwhile, there were only two other people in our group and talk about overachievers. Since they were setting the pace so freaking fast, we were ahead of schedule. Instead of slowing down and enjoying the scenery, the psycho asked our guide if he could add some mileage onto our route! Are you kidding me?? Our Australian guide obliged and we biked onward…

 Finally, we made it to the Principe Corsini Winery, best known for their Chianti Classico and Zac wines. After an amazing lunch (produced entirely with products grown on site) and wine tasting, we toured the basement to learn about the wine and olive oil making processes. 

Interesting fact #1: Olives have to be processed within 6 hours of being plucked from the tree in order to be classified as extra-virgin! Interesting fact #2: The Corsini family (who dined next to us) is royalty! The family includes a Prince and Princess... Of the vineyard perhaps? Regardless, their estate is unbelievable. We headed outside to the gardens after our tour and instead of birds chirping, we were listening to some serious techno. Techno? Shocking I know! The next property over was having their annual two-day rave party and the music was blaring. This was a raging party in the middle of rolling green vineyards—hilariously random. Rumor has it; the princess was calling the police.

 After we purchased some goodies, it was time to hop back on our bikes—at least the way back was mostly downhill, right? Wrong. Our guide decided to change the route for better views, but you guessed it—more uphill. It was a good thing we were stopping for gelato because I’m not sure if I would have been able to climb the next hill—twas a doozie. As challenging as the bike ride was, I’m so glad we did it because the views wouldn't have been the same from any other angle. :)

We survived the rest of the ride, made it back to Florence, bussed to Siena and even encountered a marching band on our way back to our hotel. Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time Mom and I have run into a marching band in Italy...

Monday morning, we took a taxi to the train station in Siena. Then, we took a train to Empoli where we had six minutes to find our next train that took us to Campiglia. From Campiglia we took a bus to Port Piombino. Following that, we took a ferry to Elba Island. Once we arrived on Elba Island, we rented a car to get to our hotel. HOLY MOLY. 

   Staying zen in the chaos of travel

The drive once we got on the island was ridiculous—never have I ever been on roads so windy. Dad said it was like driving in a video game—I felt like I was on a roller coaster ready to vomit. Aside from the curves, Elba was magnificent. It reminded me a lot of Amalfi, just far less inhabited and commercialized. Clear blue water, gorgeous beaches, green mountains, bright flowers, sunshine abound and a plethora of hiking trails—good pick Mom! 

Ferrying to Elba: we even managed to spot some dolphins!

Loving life

The gardens at Hotel Illio

The beginning of our hike!

Celebrating with gelato, mmmm!

At the moment we are training back to Roma... Don't make me go! I would have gladly spent another few weeks in Elba but Tom & Jill have some serious exploring to do in the Eternal City!

The Pruniest Feet You've Ever Seen

**Disclaimer: this is a ranting post and its full of bitchin' and whining! You have been warned...

Ya know what you never hear people say? "I hated the Amalfi Coast," but it's true! I just got back from my weekend in the Amalfi with Bridget and I think you could wring me out right now. My feet are so pruney from walking in my soggy TOMS they are beyond recognition. If it sounds like I'm a mess, you've got the right picture. This is what you are supposed to see when you go to the coast of southern Italy:

This is what I saw:

This was the first time that I chose to travel with a company called Bus2Alps instead of planning all the shenanigans out on my own & if I could give anyone advice, I would say its always worth the hassle to plan your own trips. Especially when you are traveling with a company that still has worked all of the kinks out of it's routine. Bus2Alps it geared toward the college traveler--they promote a lot regarding the drinking/partying atmosphere but they also set up a lot of really awesome activities for you during the day... If you're lucky.

We were supposed to leave Thursday night at 8:00pm but half of the group got their departure postponed until 10:30pm because we had to pick up some people at the airport... I think thats pretty much where the trip started to go downhill. So my unlucky bus didn't arrive in the Amalfi Coast until 3:30am and had to be up at 6:00am for breakfast, ugh! Friday was our big day at the island of Capri. This day was supposed to entail taking rowboats and swimming into the Blue Grotto (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world) but due to the monsoon storms, we couldn't make it happen. Bummer? Totally, but I think we could've gotten past it--we still had tons of awesome stuff planned the rest of the weekend, right? Sort of. So when we got to Capri, we took a little uphill train to Anacapri at the top of the mountain (this is where great views should have awaited us... Too bad it was raining to hard to see anything). When we got to the top, we were left to fend for ourselves for 5 hours. In the sunshine, I would have loved 5 hours to explore the town, take pictures, sit outside and have a glass of vino and eat some gelato--but in the rain? There was literally nothing to do and nowhere to go. I'm not talking about a drizzle here guys, it was down pouring for the entire 3 days of our trip. Hello Bus2Alps, have you ever heard of a contingency plan?? How about a wine tasting inside? Lemoncello tasting? A cooking class? A movie? At least give us our freaking ferry tickets so we can go back to the hostel and sleep! 5 hours later, we sulked back to our hostel, I registered for classes (another disaster in itself) and got cleaned up for dinner.

Saturday was our big day to Positano! And half the (gorgeous) bus ride there, it wasn't raining. But sure enough as soon as we got close, the showers began again. We didn't think it was possible to get rained on harder than Friday but somehow it happened. This time, we were supposed to go cliff diving and cave swimming... Cancelled. Again. So, what did Positano entail? I ran to dip my toes in the ocean and caught a wave up to my knees--it didn't matter since I was already completely soaked and then 100 of us battled for tables at the only enclosed restaurant around. It also happened to be the most expensive restaurant around. All we could afford were $10 french fries. So we wasted 4 hours in restaurant before bussing back to Sorrento. Bridget and I were both sick from the rain and wind at this point so we ate dinner with our group and then went to bed.

Ahh Sunday, the end was in sight! Bridget and I had been cutting it close making it to the bus on time in the morning so we arrived 10 minutes early. Well, we waited over an hour because our bus was late. We signed up for Bus2Alps because it was supposed to be convenient and this was the most inconvenient trip we have taken thus far in the semester! At least the rain had let up for our last excursion to Pompeii--that is until the second we stepped outside the bus. So we ran for cover to a nearby restaurant and wasted 3 hours there until they kicked us out. With only an hour left, we headed into the Pompeii sight and meandered around until we could finally head back. Anyone who knows me, knows they should never let me pick the grocery line, I pick the slowest line each time. Well, I think I lost bus picking privileges as well because we ended up on the bus that had to stop at the airport to drop people off on the way home as well. It gave me plenty of time to stew up this blog post.

So, another thing that was really grinding my gears this weekend was the fact that Bus2Alps did a little false advertising... Bridget & I get a lot of promotional emails from the company and for this trip, Bus2Alps had a celeb guest on board! Dom Mazzetti is a comedic YouTube sensation (I had to use Google to figure out who he was, but some of his videos are actually pretty funny) and we were going to be graced with his presence! So, they used Dom as a selling feature on this trip (and I think a lottttttttt of girls signed up for just that reason) but the monkey didn't dance! Apparently, he is friends with one of our trip leaders and that's how he ended up on the tour--and Bus2Alps took advantage of the opportunity. Dom didn't interact with the anyone in the group, he didn't make videos and I never heard him even speak--much less make anyone laugh, & trust me--everyone needed a good laugh.

To be fair, some of our trip leaders were awesome and on top of their game. Sydney and Sean did a really good job of staying positive, making sure everyone was surviving and doing little things like calling cabs. If the weather were awesome, this could have been a completely different vacation, but I know this isn't the first time it has rained in the Amalfi Coast and when you pay the kind of money we did--we expected a lot more. Why not comp one of the group dinners one night? Or give a 15% discount if you book another trip with the company since our trip was horrible? While some of the ideas Bridget and I thought of would have cost the company a bit of money, its a lot cheaper than the word of mouth thats spreading from the 100 bummed out college students that were on the trip. What's more? Ahhh my finance professor here recommended me to be a campus ambassador at Michigan State next year to talk about my experience here in Rome, and you bet everyone is gonna be curious, should I sign up for a Bus2Alps trip?! Probably not.

While I'm on a bitchin' spree, I'd like to take the opportunity to rag on the Study Abroad Department at Michigan State... MSU pours countless amounts of time and money into convincing students to study abroad & it pays off as Michigan State has one of the largest study abroad programs in the nation. Between career fairs, seminars, social media marketing and professors recommending the opportunity--international experience seems to be a vital part of one's college career. That's why I've found it strange that not a single person from MSU (no program leaders, advisors or staff members) has reached out to the students they've encouraged to go abroad to see how we're doing. The first few days in Rome were a little stressful and a simple email asking 'Did you arrive safely? Have you found food and water??' could have gone a long way. Not only have they not reached out but my classes weren't approved for weeks after I arrived in Rome and it was only after hours on the phone and countless emails that the advisors got their shit together.

On another note, the American University of Rome has done a really great job of helping us integrate into the culture, get involved at school and solve issues that arise at our apartments (ahem, the bed bug incident). The student life office puts on free weekly cooking classes, plans weekend excursions and they make themselves available to answer questions about anything from what trains to take around Italia--to the best bars and restaurants to eat at. Touche.

Okay, thats all. If you read all of that, I'm sorry. But it sure feels good to get that off my chest and into cyberspace. And while my weekend was a disaster and I'm now sick--if I had to get stuck in the rain anywhere, Italy isn't a bad place to do it. And besides, Mom and Dad arrive here Friday! Woohoo, can't wait to meet you guys at the train station!

Czech Me Out!

Czech me out! Czech--Check... Get it?! Punny! Okay, moving on... Bridget and I have a pretty nasty track record when it comes to the weather, we are 2 for 2 on freezing rain during our European escapades and of course Prague fell into that category. Aside from the rain, wind and lack of sunshine, Prague ended up being a really unique place to visit. The architecture is incredible and like nothing else I've seen before--all of the buildings look like they are straight out of a fairy tale (hence whey they call it the Fairy Tale City). Also, the food was ahhhhmazing--it's so nice to not have pasta every night! The cuisine in Prague is all about goulash, stew, dumplings, sausage, skewers, hot spiced wine and beer! Yummmm... Here are a few pictures of our weekend festivities:

Slow Food in Torino

I fall in love far too easily! When I sipped my first cappuccino in Roma, I was head over heels. And Seville? I thought that was a love meant to last... But Torino, now that place is something else. You look in one direction and there is the beautifully clear Po River flowing through the city and in the other direction are the Swiss Alps dominating the skyline, pretty incredible views.

This past weekend, I headed to this amazing little city in northern Italy to study food, culture, & the Slow Food Movement with my class. We landed in Torino early Friday morning and had a private bus waiting for us--I could get used to traveling like this! We immediately headed to the University of Gastronomic Studies in a super tiny town called Pollenzo. An entire university dedicated to studying food, I think I've found my calling! The university was attached to la Banca del Vino, the Wine Bank which stores, serves, sells and acts as a museum for all Italian wines. After our tour of the wine bank and lesson on regional growing conditions, our class headed to the wine country of La Morra for some hands on experience. The drive to La Morra held the most beautiful views I have ever seen, the Alps, rolling hills, vineyards abound--everything was so green! We arrived at the restaurant and vineyard where our wine tasting and lunch would take place and everyone was pretty speechless, we were earning credit for this?! During lunch, we learned about analyzing wines--color and clarity, scents, tasting and the effects of food on taste. Afterwards, we laid out on the lawn outside of the restaurant to soak up the sunshine and nap... Studying abroad is so hard! In the photos, my professor is the one in the red shirt, sleeping :)

After our break, we toured the basement where the wine was fermenting and learned about the fermentation process, bottling process followed by a quick lesson outside in the vineyard. It's not the season for the grapes yet, but we could see where the blooms were starting to grow on the vine and would blossom come summer. The La Morra area is famous for their Barolo wine made from Nebbiolo grapes--I wish I could have brought some home with me!

Saturday morning we woke up early and ventured to the Porta Palazzo market, one of the largest in Europe and a huge cultural hub for both Italians and immigrants to the area. We visited the Chinese sector, the Moroccan area where we ate dried dates, passed through the fish and meat areas unofficially divided up by country of origin and ate cheese while meandering through the vendors. I found it interesting when our guide explained to us the difference between us students trying to adapt to the Italian lifestyle and culture as opposed to the immigrants desperately trying not to conform... Being students, we know that in a few months we'll go home and return to our food and traditions but immigrants try so hard to stay connected to their heritage because they'll never return to their countries and are afraid of losing their natural identities. The market is a way for them to connect with people of similar cultures, use their language & have a "taste" of home.

We had a few free hours in between appointments so a few of us relaxed next to the river. Most of the other students on the trip, besides Amanda and myself were resident students (not on study abroad) so it was really insightful to talk to them about what their italian lives are really like (we also got some local restaurant/bar recommendations)!

That evening, we all met up again to tour Eatly, the Slow Food supermarket. The best way I can describe it is similar to a gigantic Whole Foods market with food court style dining options. After our lectures, I picked up a few different jams and some dried figs in the market and dined on the most delicious steak of my life for dinner! I felt better knowing that cow had a happy life and grazed on grass instead of hormones and antibiotics--karma points!

Sunday, we toured the city of Turino; one of their churches holds the Shroud of Jesus, I had no idea! That was pretty crazy to learn about and see--gives me chills. If you don't know what it is, GOOGLE IT! We learned more about the historic city (so nice to actually have a guide) and even sampled a traditional chocolate made in Torino and their famous drink, the bicerin.

We had free time before our flight and a group of us went back to the river but we got wrapped up in conversations and ended up sprinting to catch the train to the airport! Seriously, running with a backpack and a purse is quite possibly the most uncoordinated thing a person can do--especially while trying to pull down your shirt and make sure your sunglasses aren't flying off your face. At least we provided some entertainment for everyone watching our mad dash! Overall, another fantastic weekend in a beautiful city!