Ciao a tutti,

I've been having a great past 2 weeks in Florence! I decided not to go to Germany because I would rather go to Berlin, and I wasn't a huge fan of the company who was running the trip.  I'm sure I will make it back to Germany one day, hopefully after I'm rich.  I cannot believe I have less than 2 weeks left in Florence.  It's very bittersweet because I'm very excited to be home, but I will really miss it here. I have my bucket list of things that I still need to do before I go: a few more restaurants to eat at, and some shopping to be done.

Last weekend, I relaxed and got some work done.  On Saturday, me and some of my friends took a day trip to Cinqueterre, which is on the coast of Italy.  "Cinqueterre" literally means 'the five lands', because it is 5 little towns on the coast which are all fairly close to each other.  Cinqueterre reminds me a little of the Amalfi Coast and how the houses are built into the mountains overlooking the water.  It's very beautiful.  There are a lot of hiking and walking paths in between the towns.  It would take a while to hike/walk to all of them in one day but we were planning on hiking to a few towns.  We got to the first town, Riomaggiore, and was told that only one hiking path was open and everything else was closed.  This was because it rained so much this spring and there were some mudslides which damaged the paths and made them too dangerous.  So after hearing the disappointing news, we took a train to the second town, Manarola, which was probably my favorite.  The houses were so colorful and pretty.  We had the perfect day with sun all day, and a great breeze.  We started hiking up the mountain, and it was very difficult and exhausting.  We hiked up the mountain for probably close to an hour.  The coolest part was seeing the views.  There was also these cool statues of the progression of people carrying crosses up the hill.  We saw so many crosses, they must have been very religious.  If you made one wrong step though, you could tumble down the whole mountain which was pretty scary.  We hiked up to a town called Volastra (not part of the 5 lands) and then continued our way down to the third town, Corniglia.  The whole hike was about 2 and a half hours and it was so fun, exhausting, and rewarding.  We saw some really amazing views that we wouldn't have been able to see if the walking paths were open on the water.  We ate lunch and got some gelato in Corniglia and then took a train to the fifth town, Monterosso, and skipped the fourth town.  At Monterosso, we just decided to spend the rest of our time on the beach.  It was so nice out and we were pretty exhausted from all the hiking.  It was a great trip and I'm even thinking about going back next weekend, just for a day.

This past week was good.  I already have written an evaluation for my teacher which is so weird that I'm leaving so soon.   I've been working on final papers for my classes and attempting to do some work. Last week we had our playoffs for soccer.  We made it to the semifinals, by beating our other school team.  We lost to a close game in the semifinals.  I'm sad soccer is over, but I had a great time playing.  At volunteering, we helped set up the curtains for their stage for their play.  Their play is so good but I wish we were still here to see them perform.

This past weekend was fun; I just spent it hanging out with friends and we took a day trip to Pisa today! I finally made it to Pisa!! Most people warned me that it was a very boring town, and that all you do is take a picture with the tower and leave.  I didn't think it was too boring.  Caroline and I walked from the train station to the tower, and along the way we walked through a little market and got some food.  We took funny pictures with the tower, and since it was nice out, we just relaxed on the grass near the tower, church, and baptistry.  The tower was really cool.  We didn't climb up it because there was nothing to do, and it's not even that tall so the views wouldn't be spectacular.  We just decided taking tourist pictures was enough.  

This week I have a few more things to cross off my Florence bucket list.  I still need to buy some souvenirs for myself, including a leather jacket.  They are so expensive but they really are a lifelong purchase.  I found one that I really love, but I want to see if maybe I can find something a little cheaper.  I have already crossed off my big leather bag, which I'm too afraid to use because I don't want to get it dirty.  I have two big food places I'd like to go to: Acqua al Due, and Il Latini.  Il Latini is supposed to be the best steaks in Florence, so I'm very excited about that.  Other than that, I'm looking forward to spending the week with friends, and making sure I eat gelato everyday.  I am in shock that I leave so soon, it's very bittersweet.  

Buonanotte,

Katie

Buongiorno Ragazzi,

I had one of the best trips I've had this past weekend!!! I went to the beautiful Amalfi Coast and I want to go back this weekend, if only I could.  We booked the trip through a company and they pretty much plan everything and make it extremely easy and fun.  We left thursday night at 8 PM and arrived in Amalfi Coast, specifically the town of Sorrento around 2 AM.  We were staying at a hotel called Hotel Florida and it was pretty nice and clean.  They had a pool that wasn't filled yet, and a courtyard with tons of lemon and orange trees.  It felt so much like summer and we had a beautiful weekend of warm and sunny weather.

After getting there closer to 3 AM, we had about 3 hours of sleep and then we were on the move.  We had to catch the ferry to Capri (island off the coast) at 7:15.  I slept most of the way on the ferry and then we started hitting really big waves and after waking up, I was really motion sick.  Then when we got off I was so relieved, only to find out that we were getting on a smaller boat to do a boat tour around the whole island.  I felt a little better on this boat, but still pretty sick.  I didn't throw up though!! I think at least two girls on my boat threw up, and there were a lot of people who didn't look so good.  Anyways, the boat tour was really awesome.  We saw the blue grotto, but unfortunately we couldn't go into it because the tides were too high.  The water was such a beautiful blue though.  We also got to see the green grotto which was a greenish-blue water.  After the boat tour, we hiked up to the main part of Capri and got to take amazing pictures.  We got fresh squeezed smoothies, and I got a lemon and blood orange one and it was delicious. We then took a bus to Anacapri, which is on the other side of the mountain and a little bit higher than Capri.  We got really great pizza for lunch and shopped around.  I bought some really pretty earrings.  They sell a lot of coral jewelry.  We also saw all the shops that make handmade leather sandals right in the store.  They were all so beautiful, but the lowest price I saw was 65€, which was crazy.  After shopping, we took a chairlift to the top of the island.  The views up were awesome, but we were in a cloud when we got to the top, so we couldn't see any of the island, just white cloud.  It was pretty funny.  After Anacapri, we went back down to Capri and just took a nap in the sun until it was time to get back on the ferry to Sorrento.  We got back to Sorrento with just enough time to shower and go out to dinner.  The town of Sorrento is cute, but there wasn't much going on at night.

On Saturday, we were headed for Positano.  We took little buses there because the roads are very tiny and they wind up the mountain, it was a pretty crazy view.  We got to Positano around 11, and we pretty much just laid on the beach all day.  The beach was a black sand beach which was really cool because I had never been on one before! I also found a lot of sea glass which is just pieces of glass, but the sea has worn it down so it's a different coating but they're all different colors.  I collected a bunch to bring home.  The farther part of the beach was sand, but the part closest to the Mediterranean was rocks.  We laid on the rocks, and it was surprisingly comfortable.  Although if you walked around for more than 5 minutes, it was pretty painful on your bare feet.  We took a break for a quick lunch and some quick shopping, but for the most part we just laid on the beach and hung out.  We went in the water a few times even though it was pretty cold.  The water was so blue and beautiful.  The way the houses and buildings are built into the side of the mountain makes it look like paradise.  I absolutely want to go back one day.  After we got back to Sorrento, we showered and ate dinner at the hotel.  Then we went to the other hostel's bar, but it was pretty boring so it was an early night.

On Sunday morning we left around 10 to head home.  On the way home we stopped at Pompei which was only an hour away from Sorrento.  I loved all the ruins in Rome so I was really excited for Pompei.  We had a guided tour which was nice, even though the tour group was a little too big in my opinion.  Pompei was a huge city for being built in 79 AD.  The map we were given was extremely large and I would have gotten lost if I wasn't on a tour.  We saw a lot of ruins, and it was crazy how well everything was preserved because of the volcanic ash.  Pompei was built right on the water, but because of all the volcano eruptions, it is now probably a mile from the Mediterranean.  We saw churches, market places, a brothel, and even some mansions which were very large.  One of my favorite things we saw was the theater, which was older than the colosseum, but not nearly as big.  This theater was just used for plays, not gladiator fights.  Seeing the preserved bodies was scary, but also interesting.  They are so well preserved that some of the ash has come off and you can see the skeletons.  When Mt. Vesuvius erupted, it first erupted with volcanic ash, which contained sulfur so when it hit the town of Pompei, everyone died instantly because it suffocated them.  The lava would flow later.  It was really interesting to learn about.  After the tour, we went to a place that our tour leaders recommended for lunch.  They had told the restaurant there would be a lot of people coming to there and they still only had three people working.  It took us a half hour to place our order and an hour just to get pizza.  It was ridiculous and extremely frustrating.  By the time we got our pizza we were already late for the bus and had to take it pizza boxes with us.  We had a pretty relaxing drive back and got home Sunday night around 10.

This was probably one of my favorite trips because it was so beautiful.  The weather was amazing and everything we did was truly awesome.  I had an amazing weekend with my friends, and I loved just laying on the beach.  Interlaken is still one of my favorite trips too.  They are both two opposite extremes, but I loved both trips.  I am still debating about traveling to Germany on April 18-21.  The travel company that most of my friends are going with is really unreliable and I don't really want use them for my trip.  I would like to go to Germany, but it is the second to last weekend that I am in Florence and I only have three weekends left, which one will be spent studying.  I also want to take a few day trips to some places I haven't been to Italy yet.  Some of these places are Cinqueterre, Viareggio (beach), and Pisa.  I don't want to regret not going to Germany, but I really want to spend my last weekends in Florence. I am also very worn out from traveling; it can be truly exhausting.

This week I have a few things going on.  I have two soccer games tomorrow night and it's playoffs.  On Wednesday night, I have a Renaissance dinner that I signed up to go to with my history class.  It was a little expensive, but the courses are going to be amazing.  It's a five course dinner, first course: ginger and pasta and walnuts, second course: potato with tomato and cheese sauce, third course: renaissance boar suffused with chocolate, fourth course: spicy beef, and a fifth course consisting of a dessert.  And of course, there is unlimited red wine.  I'm really excited about this meal, if you couldn't tell.  Then on thursday, I have volunteering.  I'm probably just going to have a relaxing weekend and do a day trip or two.

Ciao,
Katie

Ciao Ciao,

I have been so busy lately and I totally forgot about blogging.  This week was a busy week for me because I had two quizzes and I also had a paper to write for next week since I will be away this weekend.  We only had a three day week which was awesome because the Italians celebrate Easter Monday more than they do Easter.

Last week wasn't too eventful, although I did go on a field trip with my class to San Marco Monastery. It was interesting because we were learning about a friar from the middle ages that lived there.  It's a very very plain building so it wasn't my favorite, but it was interesting. Other than that, it was a pretty relaxed week.

This past weekend I stayed in Florence, and it was really fun.  It was nice to stay and hang out in Florence and I ended up being pretty busy.  On Friday, I went to the Medici tombs and they were pretty cool and unlike anything I'd seen.  It was this huge room with extremely extravagant tombs.  We actually ended up going our weekly history class field trip there yesterday.  Then I met up with Abby and we went to check out the Medici Palace.  I expected it to be more extravagant but they lived so many places in Florence, so I guess it just depended on the style of whomever lived there at the time.  I enjoy learning about the Medici family and that's what I'm writing my history final paper on.

On Saturday, we were planning on going to Viareggio which is a beach close by that you can just take a train to, but it planned on raining all day and being pretty windy, so we decided to skip that.  Instead, Sara, Abby, and I went to Gustapizza pretty much for breakfast.  I'm going to miss Gustapizza so much when I get home and there's really nowhere in Pennsylvania at least that has pizzas anything like that.  Me and my roommates always joke about how we should open a pizza place like Gustapizza at Penn State.  Katie's family was visiting so I went out to dinner with them that night to this really good place nearby, and it was really fun.

On Easter Sunday, we woke up early to go to to stand right near the Duomo to get good seats for the fireworks.  There's a parade throughout the city, but everyone just really focuses on the fireworks.  We saw the parade come through and then the little tower they shoot fireworks off of was brought in at the end of the parade.  It was supposed to be pulled by two oxen, but I couldn't really see, seeing as I'm really short.  We waited there for about an hour and a half and finally the fireworks started.  It started from inside the church when the priest throws a dove-like shape firework at a certain spot, which triggers the fireworks, and this huge rush of smoke comes from inside the church to this little tower and then the fireworks started going off.  I was only expecting a few big fireworks, but it was about 15 minutes worth of fireworks.  They launch them off right in between the Duomo and the Baptistery and these buildings are so close together. I'm surprised it doesn't damage the buildings.  It must be such a fire hazard, plus there are so many people standing close to it and the little tower looked like it was wood.  It was the most bizarre Easter celebration I've ever seen but it was very cool.  After, my friends and I walked around the leather market and I bought another leather purse.  I can't help my addiction.  Later that day, I went to Easter Mass in Santa Maria Novella Church, which is the church really close to me.  It was the first time I had been in there, and it's very pretty.  I couldn't understand the mass at all.  Most of the time I can pick out a few words from each sentence, but the fact that the microphone was echoing made me not understand anything.  It was nice to be in church though.  The only thing about Italian mass is that they don't sing, which I just expected they would.  It's very interesting.  After church, my friends and I had a potluck dinner with tons of awesome food.  We had eggplant, salad, bread, mashed potatoes, baked brie, and broccoli.  I made bruschetta and also an interesting lemon cake.  I bought the cake mix from the Italian grocery store so it came out good but I wasn't sure what to expect.  The baked brie was so delicious and so easy, and I don't know why I don't just make it all the time!

On Easter Monday, we had no class so we decided to take a day trip! We took the train for about an hour and a half to Lucca.  It's this old medieval town which still have all the city walls still intact.  It was a really cute, small town.  When we first got there we found a place to each lunch and had some pretty good pizza.  We walked around for a little bit and there was a market nearby where we got some dessert.  After that, we rented bikes and biked through the town.  I was nervous I was going to hit someone but I successfully didn't.  I was also really skilled at taking pictures while riding my bike.  After biking through the town for a little, we went to this path they have that is all around the city walls and you can bike or walk around the whole town and it was very pretty.  There was so much green and it was a beautiful day.  After biking, we went home.  There's not too much to do in Lucca, but it was fun and relaxing.

Tonight I leave for the Amalfi Coast at 7:30 PM!!!!! I am so excited, it's going to be so beautiful.  There are a lot of little towns on the coast but we're specifically going to Sorrento.  Then each day we're taking a trip.  We will be going to Capri which is where the famous Blue Grotto is, Pompeii, and also Positano which is another coastal city.  It's going to be in the 60s and fairly sunny throughout the weekend! :) Although, I'm not sure it'll be bathing suit weather, but I'm still bringing my bathing suit.  The water will probably be pretty cold.

Upcoming Plans: 

This weekend (April 4-7):  Amalfi Coast!!! I cannot wait, I'm so excited!

Next weekend (11-14):  Just hanging out and staying in Florence 

April 18-21: We are looking into Springfest in Munich, Germany.  I really want to go to Germany!!! So then I could use at least a little bit of German. 

April 25-28:  Staying in Florence for our last weekend!  Then HOME the next weekend... AHH can't believe it's coming to a close!

Ciao Ragazzi,
Katie