Mama & Maggie Take Firenze!

This week was by far one of my favorite weeks in Florence!  I ate amazing food, did some great shopping, saw some incredible art, and was able to show my two favorite people why I love Florence so much!  This past week was so wonderful because I was finally reunited with my sweet mama and Maggie!  On Tuesday afternoon, they arrived in Florence and I rushed to their hotel.  They stayed on the opposite side of town from me, but their hotel was beautiful!  Tuesday night, we met Jade & Katie for dinner at a place called Coquinarius.  The food was great...we all got salads and split some yummy pear ravioli!  After dinner, my mom and Maggie headed home because they were tired from their travels.

On Wednesday, they went to Cinque Terre, Italy!  I know that Cinque Terre is definitely one of my favorite places in Italy, so I was excited that they were able to go there and explore the 5 amazing towns!  My mom and Maggie had gorgeous sunny weather, so they got really lucky.  Cinque Terre is known for its pesto, so my mom got an most amazing pesto pasta that she raved about the entire time she was here!  

On Thursday, I was able to be a tour guide for the day and show my mama and Maggie all around Florence.  We met up at my school and I took them to the Mercato Centrale! They loved the indoor market with all of the fruit, veggies, meat, cheese, and pasta!  It was unlike anything they had seen before.  I was able to introduce my mom to the vendors I frequently shop from which was really cool.  After shopping at the market, I took my them to the San Lorenzo leather market.  We went by Massimo, who is my favorite leather man to check out all of his amazing purses and jackets.  Coincidentally, Maggie and I fell in love with the same leather quilted jacket which was exciting.  For lunch I took them to one of my favorite local sandwich/salad places in Italy called the Oil Shoppe.  After lunch, we did some more shopping and then I was able to take them back to my apartment.  They were amazed with how nice our place is and how much room we have!  I was also able to introduce them to my best guy friends Cort and Austin.  Later that night, we were able to have dinner at La Giostra with my roommate Alex and her mom who was visiting Florence the same time!  La Giostra was SO SO SO good!!!! By far our favorite meal of the week!  I think La Giostra is my favorite restaurant in all of Florence!  For dinner, we got a pear penne & spinach gnocchi to share for the table and then we each got an entree.  I got the apple sauce chicken which is unbelievably tasty and my mom got the seabass which she said was delicious.  For dessert, we shared tiramasu and an apple cake.  It is safe to say we were all stuffed after that incredible meal!  It was so nice for Alex and I to be able to take our moms out to dinner together and for them to be able to get to know each other better!

Friday, my mom, Jade, Katie, Maggie, and I headed to Bologna.  Bologna is supposedly "A food lover's paradise", but I'm pretty sure we beg to differ.  The rain was out in full force which definitely put a damper on the day.  Despite the rain, we all hopped on a train and headed to Bologna.  I've never been there but my mom had heard that it was a cool place to visit.  Don't get me wrong, Bologna had a little shopping and a few nice buildings, but would I ever go back?  Absolutely not.  Our lunch was okay, so I wasn't really impressed with the food and there wasn't that much to see or do in the city.  It definitely made me appreciate Florence and all that it has to offer.  

Maggie & my mom excited about their Italy train experience!

Once we got off the train, we headed into the city.  We weren't really sure what to expect with Bologna, but we figured we would just explore.  This was one of the main squares in the city!  

I think our day of exploring would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't pouring the entire day.  Umbrellas and rain jackets were a must.  We were trying to do anything and everything to stay dry.

Jade & Katie in front of a pretty hotel

Rain or shine, we try to have a smile on our face and make the best of it.  Bologna was not what we expected, but oh well!

Saturday was a great day in Florence!  Although it was still rainy, my mom, Maggie, and I headed to The Mall!  The Mall is awesome because its where all the high end outlets are found.  They have stores like Burberry, Gucci, Prada, Dior, & a few others.  It's a great place to get some good deals on some more expensive items.  Usually outlets are hit or miss, but we all found some luck that day which was exciting!

For dinner, we had reservations at a restaurant on the other side of the Arno called Quattro Leoni!  Quattro Leoni is a great restaurant with outside seating, which is fun for a little bit different of a dining experience.  My mom, Maggie, Jade, Katie, and I split a few plates of pear ravioli as a starter.  The ravioli at Quattro Leoni is my favorite pasta in florence by far.  It has an amazing flavor and the best sauce in the world!  For dinner, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and get a shrimp and vegetable stew dish.  I actually enjoyed it and I was happy that I tried something new!  My mom and Maggie got the avocado, pine nut, & pesto salad and shared a chicken dish.  We decided against dessert at the restaurant because we were so close to my, Jade, and Katie's favorite gelato place in Florence!  My mom and Maggie loved the gelato!  My favorite flavor is the cookie gelato with huge chunks of chocolate cookie inside...yum!

Here's my mom, Maggie, and I on the bridge with the Ponte Vecchio in the background!

Dinner at Quattro Leoni!

My yummy entree!

All of us girls at dinner!  

After our delicious meal and gelato for dessert, we were happy campers!

Sunday was Maggie and my mom's last day in Florence.  Since they hadn't seen any art yet, we decided to head to the Uffizi Gallery bright and early.  We were some of the first people inside, so it wasn't crowded and I was able to take them all around the gallery.  Since I've visited the Uffizi with two of my classes, I'm familiar with some of the artwork and I was able to share my knowledge with them which was really exciting.  I felt like the teacher for once!  After the Uffizi, we did some shopping on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio and met up with Jade and Katie for lunch at our favorite pizza place in Florence.  My mom and Mag had pizza one other time on the trip up until this point, and it was horrible, so i was hoping that Gustapizza would make up for it!  I know that they weren't disappointed because they finished every bite of their pizzas!  They both agreed it was one of the best pizzas they had ever had.  The guys working at Gusta loved my mom, so I'm pretty sure that's why they decided to make our pizzas in the shape of a heart instead of a traditional circle.  We all ordered the Gustapizza which was topped with arugula, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and parmesan!  It was to die for.  It definitely hit the spot to eat a warm pizza on a cold and rainy day.  Besides the amazing pizza, the environment at Gustapizza is great and the people who work there are so much fun!

Sadly, my mom & Maggie's visit to Florence has come to an end.  I had to say goodbye to them a little bit ago and it definitely made me sad.  This week went by so quickly and I can hardly believe it is already over.  Now, they are off to see Rome and I'm off to Paris & London for fall break.  This visit couldn't have come at a better time because I've reached the halfway point of my semester abroad and  I really needed a little time with my mom!  I am so grateful that my dad was able to watch Skyler and let my mom make this trip to come and see me in Italy.  I am also appreciative that my mom has a friend like Maggie who will take a trip to Italy with her and help her plan everything.  I know that they have had so much fun being together, which makes me so happy.

I can't believe how fast this abroad experience is flying by.  I feel like just yesterday that I was counting down the days until my mom got here and now her trip is already over.  November is a busy month of travel for me...& I'm looking forward to every second of it!

Viva La Venezia

After a long week of midterms, it was nice to have a little weekend getaway in Italy!  Our school took us on a trip to Venice for two days.  All I knew about Venice was that it was famous for the claustrophobic streets, water canals, masks, and gondola rides of course!  We left from Florence early Saturday morning and got to Venice in about two hours!  Once we got there, we checked into our hotel and started exploring!

The first place we visited was the Santa Maria Basilica.  This church was beautiful on the inside!  Below is a picture of the basilica and the awesome relics found inside.

After visiting the church, we went on a walking tour of Venice!  

We stopped for lunch at an adorable restaurant with a patio!  They had the most AMAZING pizza!  I think it was my favorite pizza in all of Italy!  I ordered a fiatin pizza...and it was delicious!  The pizza had a white sauce, with garlic, basil, tomatoes, and pine nuts!  The best part of it was the thin italian crust.  

After lunch, we went on a water taxi tour of Venice.  It's so different being in a city with no cars!  Everyone travels by boat which was really cool,  but I think it would get old after a while.  

The water taxi eventually dropped us off in the middle of San Marco Square!  As you can see it was absolutely magnificent!  Definitely a major tourist spot of Venice, but I definitely can understand why.  The famous birds....yeah there were thousands of them here!  They have no fear...I felt like I dodged multiple birds throughout the day.  

I finally can say I can check an item off my bucket list! I rode on a gondola in Venice! There were 11 of us girls so we split in two groups and rode side by side through the night.  Romantic right?  All I needed was my italian boyfriend to make it perfect!  At least I had Jade by my side ha!  It was so peaceful and serene in Venice at the night time.  We were the only ones on the water and we felt like we had the city to ourselves.  

Our gondola driver!  He told us he once had Mick Jagger on one of his gondola rides! 

All of us girls on the gondola! 

After we took the gondola, we went to dinner at a nice restaurant by the water.  Jade and I ordered grilled seabass and let's just say it was a little different than what we expected.  They first brought the fish out to us with the head still attached, then they cut it up in front of us.  I wasn't a fan...it was filled with little fish bones which made it hard to eat.  

The next day we explored Venice and learned all about the famous venetian masks!  We were lucky enough to tour a mask factory and get an inside scoop on how these amazing masks are made.  I had no idea how talented you had to be to make the masks.  They are expensive too!!! Some of them were a couple hundred euro!  I was amazed by all the different masks and detail put into them.  A bunch of us girls bought them to wear for Halloween and to have as a souvenir of Venice!

The master mask maker!

Although our trip to Venice was short, I was definitely ready to head back to Florence.  The night life in Venice was quiet, but the city was beautiful.  It definitely was a lot colder there than it has been in Florence.  I'm so grateful that our program was able to take us there because I think it would have been confusing to do on our own.  We managed to find our way around for the most part- until the last part of the second day.  We were walking around in mazes trying to find our hotel.  Overall I loved Venice and I'm happy I was able to experience it!  

All about the Amalfi Coast

This past weekend was one that I will never forget.  My friends and I made a trip to the Almalfi Coast in Italy and had the time of our lives.  The weather was perfect and the scenery was absolutely unreal.  I truly felt like I was living in a dream.  I've seen pictures of the Almalfi Coast before, but you have to be there to take in all of its beauty.

On thursday night, we packed like sardines on a bus with 50 other study abroad kids.  The bus ride was an agonizing 8 hours, but I slept pretty much all of it thank goodness.  We arrived at our hostel around 3 am and took a little nap until we had to get up because the next day we had a full schedule!

We woke up early and headed to catch a ferry to Capri.  Once we got to Capri, we took a boat tour with a bunch of other girls.  Our guides pointed out the houses of the CEO of Ferrari and Denzel Washington, which was really cool!  I couldn't help but how nice it would be to have a house there some day! After our boat tour, we explored the island of Capri.  We hiked about 15 minutes up the island and ate lunch at a seafood restaurant.  Then, we went on a chair lift to the top of the island where you could see the most amazing fews. A little later in the day, we got on a boat that took us to the famous Blue Grotto!  This was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced.  We all got on a small paddle boat with a driver who took us into the spectacular grotto.  The water inside was the most gorgeous turquoise blue color and naturally glowed inside the cave.  We begged our driver to stop and let us jump in and swim, which thankfully he did.  We all had so much fun laughing together and taking pictures swimming around.  Seeing Blue Grotto was definitely one of the high lights of my study abroad adventure so far.

The view of Capri!

Swimming in the amazing Blue Grotto!

All of the girls!

Cheers to Oktoberfest!

The most anticipated weekend of my study abroad adventure finally happened.  Oktoberfest 2012 in Munich, Germany!  Months of planning went into making this weekend one that we would never forget.  

Jade, Katie, and I flew from Florence to Vienna and Vienna to Munich.  Unfortunately, we started our trip with a delayed flight in Florence and a missed connecting flight in Vienna.  Thankfully, Austria Air was extremely helpful with getting us back on track and on a new flight to Munich.  When we arrived to Munich, we were completely blown away by the airport.  People think that LAX is big?  Oh there is no comparison.  The Munich, Germany airport is massive and extremely nice!  Everything from grocery stores to clothing stores to car dealerships can be found at the airport.  I was absolutely amazed.  

After we did a little exploring, we met up with some other friends at the airport and grabbed a cab to get to the Holiday Inn in Munich City Centre.  Thanks to some wonderful girls at Cal Poly, we had a hotel booked months ahead of time for us to stay at for this crazy weekend.  Somehow and someway we fit 8 girls into a room with 2 twin beds.  It was a bit of a squeeze, but we made it work and we were thankful to not be camping in tents without showers.  

The first day, we got up at 5 am and started getting ready for our first day of Oktoberfest.  We met up with all Cal Poly kids and headed to the tents to wait in line for a table.  There was a pack of 25 of us who waited in line for hours so that we could get inside the Hofbrauhaus!  Once they opened the doors, there was a mad rush inside with lots of pushing and shoving.  Luckily we got a few tables for all of us and then we waited to be served.  I am not a beer lover, so I was waiting in anticipating for my stein of beer.  At first, it was a little rough being that it was so early in the morning, but I think the atmosphere and energy in the room gave me some adrenaline.  Everyone was standing on tables, singing, and dancing with one another just having a good time.  I've never seen more happy in such a small space in my entire life.  Everyone was just loving life.  It was such an amazing experience being with people from all different countries!

Day 2, we got up once again at 5 am and made our way to Oktoberfest.  We decided to try a different tent that day, although we had an absolute blast at Hofbrauhaus.  The second day we to the Paulaner beer tent.  The energy was amazing here as well.  The crowd was a little older, but there was a band playing music and lots of people singing and dancing.  There is nothing like the feeling of standing on a table and singing with all of your best friends.  I don't think it would have had nearly as fun without all of my friends from SLO there.  For the first time I was really able to combine my two worlds.  My world at home, which includes Jade and Katie, with my SLO world, which includes all my Cal Poly friends.  

Katie, Me, Ashley, & Jade 

So many people everywhere!

I was so excited to be reunited with my roommate Kelly!  Once we're back from abroad, we will be living together in SLO again!

Katie, Jade, and I had an incredible time together.  I feel so fortunate to have two best friends that can get along with just about anyone they meet.  Even though they didn't know any of my Cal Poly friends before, they came right into our group and made friends right away.

Here's some of us at the Paulaner beer garden!  The days of Oktoberfest were long, but so worth it!

Later at night, we headed to the actual Hofbrauhaus bar in downtown Munich.  We were able to meet even more new friends and have a relaxing, but fun night.  

Jade and I discovered our new favorite beer drink.  It's called a Dark Raddler.  It's a dark beer mixed with lemonade.  It was absolutely amazing!!! We loved it!

After 3 days in Germany, we all headed to the airport to go home.  Some of my friends from Barcelona were on our flight to Zurich, which was fun.  We were able to all hang out before our flight and spend a little more time together before we parted ways.  The picture of us below isn't our best of the weekend, but we had to take it haha!  We all felt and looked like we had been run over by a train multiple times.  We hadn't slept much, but Oktoberfest was worth it! This was the best weekend of our lives by far.  We had such an amazing time!