Siena!

So I am officially in Rome & I thought that I would quickly update about our quick trip to Siena! I will write about Rome soon, but I'm going to wait until I've moved into my apartment & have gotten settled in a little bit more.

So on to Siena....
Siena is seriously gorgeous! We took a bus to get there, which was a first for this trip. The bus passed through all of the beautiful Tuscan fields which included flowers and beautiful houses that could be found everywhere! When we got into Siena, we checked into the hotel. When we first entered, the place looked a little questionable but with a couple more steps, the hotel was perfect! The view seriously showed all of Siena & had windows on every wall! The above picture is a view from our windows. After settling in, we headed towards Il Duomo. In the Duomo we were actually able to take pictures which was a nice change. It was so elaborate, but incredibly pretty. It's amazing to see all of the hard work & planning put into these buildings!

The rest of the night we spent walking around, looking at the scenery, eating, & shopping. I got this super cute, trendy outfit that all of the Italian girls are wearing! I can't wait to finally wear it (I'll put a picture up once I do). To end this short but pretty day, we went to my FAVORITE restaurant thus far. The name was Osteria Boccon del Prete & the owner was so warming. The food was delicious! On that note, I have done a great job of trying something different at each "ristorante" & "gelaterria" I go to.

Rome blogs will come soon, but until then..
Buona notte i miei amici!

Firenze e Pisa

So my time with my family in Italy is slowly winding down. We have just left Firenze (Florence), which was another great trip filled with way too much walking! I seriously think that I will be permanently sore for the rest of my life! My knees are swollen & my hips & ankles hurt (which isn't new to many of you)! Florence was completely different than Venice & I must say that Venice completely kicked the poor butt of Florence. Although Florence was great, the people were in too big of a hurry & the workers weren't very friendly. They very rarely let you speak Italian & when they did, they pretended like they didn't know what you were saying... tricky!! However, aside from the people, we were able to see some really amazing things & go on a very lengthy tour of Florence & it's museums! I also was able to sneak a picture of the beautiful REAL sculpture of David!! Here's the breakdown of our activities...

Day one: we arrived in Florence & checked in at our Hotel which is super cute & reminds me of my Nanny. We quickly left to catch a train to Pisa. In Pisa, we got lost for awhile, but quickly made our way to the leaning tower, where hundreds of people were snapping pictures. Although you only need an evening to go see the tower, I am VERY glad we went! It was completely worth it! After that, we headed back to Florence and went to the most precious restaurant called I'cche c'e c'e which means, "Whatever there is, there is." It is a small restaurant run by a husband & wife in their 60s. They are seriously the most precious people & have the cutest names, Mara & Gino!

Day two: We did a walking tour of what felt like ALL of Florence. We began our day off visiting and learning about some of the Palazzos, the Medici family, & visiting a couple of churches. That part of the tour was wrapped up with the Duomo (which was unfortunately closed when we went because of church). It was seriously crazy to see up close because it was so elaborate. We then got a lunch break & quickly had to meet up for our next tour which took us to the Uffizzi Gallery. Our tour guide was a little ehh, and I had a hard time paying attention because I had just learned everything she was talking about last semester in art history(see mom, I do listen in class). So I basically wandered around the room looking at other paintings or sat on a bench because my feet were dying. Lastly, we went to the Galleria dell'Accademia, which is now the home of the famous David statue! Our tour guide here was great & super sweet! I must say this was the best part of the day for me because I love love love this piece! I think if I went back again, I'd spend a whole day there just staring at him! On a plus, I was able to sneak a picture of him because nobody was patrolling.

Next stop Siena! I can't wait to get there & see another beautiful city! I know it will be a super busy day because we aren't there for very long but I'm sure it will be great! After that, Roma, my new home.

Ciao e Buona notte!

Venezia & the start of Roma

So we just officially finished up our third and last night in Venice! It has been so much fun and filled with endless activities! I am seriously so exhausted & officially too old for my age. For starters, we arrived in Rome on Wednesday the 23rd, where we quickly took a taxi to SAI and dropped off my suitcase that I will have for my time in school. After, we rushed to the train station & got on the next train out to Venice! Trains are seriously so awesome! I really wish Texas had some we could ride.

While in Venice we have been doing things literally all day long. Our first day we arrived around 4pm & had a relaxing evening. We went to our bed & breakfast & got our room which is super cute & cozy. We quickly left & began taking hundreds of pictures, went to get gelato (yumm!), ate pizza (which is so much better than America), & walked around exploring.

On day two, we we did more touristy things. We went to San Marco basilica, Campanille di San Marco (a big bell tower), the Guggenheim collection, and then followed it up with a canal tour. We ate at this great restaurant that our bed & breakfast host, Marco, recommended to us. The restaurant, Ae Oche, was in a part of Venice that didn't have as many tourists & our waiter didn't know very good English. Therefore, I was able to practice my Italian & I must say, I was pretty proud of myself! Every time he came over to the table, he would always talk to me & expect me to be the one to translate & help. It was a good feeling :)

On day three (Today), we headed back over to the area of San Marco. Mom & Dad went off to a museum and Amanda & I decided to just walk around & look at some shops for fun. We had a lot of time to spare & like no money so we ended up resting in "un parco pubblico" for a while. Later, we headed to Murano, which is best known for their glass blowing. We got to visit a lot of shops with beautiful glass art & even got to see some of their workshops. However, nobody was working around the time we went. To end the day, we got gelato, went to dinner (where the cutest Italian guy worked), and went on a gondola ride. The ride was really great and relaxing minus the driver talking about us, not knowing that I could translate some things he said. The ride was definitely a must do (but only once)!

Overall, I loved Venice and would totally come back. Tomorrow we are headed off to Florence (Firenze) where we will have many many more adventures.

Some bullet points about specific things I remembered to note during the days:
-our B&B is located in the old Jewish ghetto
-there are nuns everywhere & it's pretty humorous to see them driving tiny little cars.
-The fashion here is so awesome! I love how the guys dress (red pants & red shoes are now a must for my future hubby)
-Aunt Sandy, I spent your money already and got a vase & a necklace! Grazie :)
-I'm not too awful at Italian & can't wait to practice more!

Ciao America, Bonjourno Italia!

So this is it, I am officially now a "blogger"...WEIRD! But on an even weirder note, I will be an Italian in just a couple of days!

As I kept telling people that I would be studying in Italy this summer, it never really sank in that I would actually BE in Italy! However, now that I am beginning to lay out clothes and get packed up, I am very quickly beginning to realize that I will indeed be in Italy or according to Italians, ITALIA! I won't lie, I am filled with almost every emotion right now. I am very excited, anxious, scared & even homesick...already! With all of these emotions stirring inside though, I still can't wait to finally arrive in this beautiful country, travel with my family for a week, and then head off to Rome to become a Roman student (That has a great ring to it)! In all of this crazy adventure though, some things are higher on my list than others. As of right now, here are some top goals/wants for my Italian adventures...

1.Improve my Italian
2.Visit Michelangelo's David (after studying this piece in art history this semester, I am amazed & in love with this sculpture)
3.Take in the pretty & see all the beauty God has created here(buildings, food, people, landscape)

I hope that these blogs will help for some of y'all to keep up to date with my adventures! I hope to write fairly often and upload a couple of pictures here & there. If you have facebook, look for more there :)


"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come."