long overdue...France! and other adventures!

So i havent been able to post in a really long time, i have been super busy with school work, because unfortunately its coming down to the home stretch here! I am super excited to come home because i miss the family and just american things haha but i am definitely going to miss it here, it has been an amazing experience. Two weeks ago I went to grenoble, france to visit Chantal and family! it was sooo much fun. i took a train there which was the one bad thing about the trip haha i had to transfer about 4 times on the way there and it took over 12 hrs to get there and i missed one of my connections bc the train was late so spent an afternoon in Torino, Italy haha but I finally made it there by friday night at 8 and Chantal picked me up at the train station and took me to their house! the house is sooo cute and located right in the city. They are also right next to the huge grenoble soccer stadium which was pretty cool, they said it can be alot of fun but also pretty crazy with these european soccer fans right outside there door during game time hahah The city was gorgeous and surrounded by mountains, the big buildings with the mountains in the background was so surreal looking.

When i ffirst got there we just had a delicious relaxing dinner and went to bed pretty much right after tht, i was exhausteddddd. I had a super nice bed and lil apartment in their upstairs all to myself which was also super nice. The next morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast of french bread, yogurt, eggs, and just an amazing spread of options. It was nice to eat something for bfast besides bread nutella and coffee haha after breakfast we got dressed and chantal and xavier took me on a tour aruond town and than took me to hike "la bastille" which is like a medieval mililtary fort built in the mountainside. this is the la bastille from the city:

We had the most gorgeous day it was sunny and warm. The mountains around it also have these things called "la ferrata" which are like mountain climbing trails built into the mountain. They have all these metal bars to attach your climbing equipment to that make a sort of path to follow while climbing. It was so cool, we didnt get to do it because we didnt have the equipment but i would love to come back and do it someday.

We hiked for a long time and than went and met up with Alice and got a late lunch at this place called "Grandmas" and it was designed like a grandmothers house haha the food was AMAZING they had soups and these bread things that were kind of like italian bruschetta but the bread was so delicious and they put tons of stuff on them. i got one with bacon and cheese and idk wat else delicious things on top hahah it was wonderful. later on alice and i went out for a drink and she took me to some cool bars and showed me around town so we got to bond which was fun, shes such an interesting person and her english is amazing and im super jealous at her skill with languages haha after this we came back and had a huge birthday dinner for alice! we had tonsss of appetizers and champagne and a huge dinnerr that was delicious. they also invited their italian student they have living in the downstairs apt to dinner so that was cool, i think he prefferred to speak in english or french though since my italian isnt exactly fluent hahahh i got alice a leather bag from florence and she loved it! so i was happy with my present to her. we relaxed the rest of the evening and than me and alice had a lil marathon of the show "how i met your mother", which is a really funny show and she said she learns alot of her english from this show which i thought was even funnier haha than we eventually went to bed and the next morning we woke up had a breakfast and did another gorgeous hike in the mountains ith chantal xavier alice and leo and the dog baya!! it made me miss maya so much! but the hike was super fun and than later on i unfortunately had to pack my bags and head to the station, alice was heading back to school for the week so she cmae to the station too, to get on her train. i said my goodbyes and headed back to florence, the train ride back went alot smoother than on the way there but was still super long i arrived in florence at 5am the next day and walked sleepily back to my hosue and to bed hahah it was a great weekend though and im really glad i got to see them it was so fun. That week after i got back i just had a lot of paper writing and hw to do which wasnt too much fun. and that weekend after me and amanda didnt go on the prague trip so we did a little florence exploring. This past week i went on some cool field trips with my medici class. first we went to palazzo vecchio which was the government building for florence long long ago and the medici family moved in there and had all these secret rooms built which we got to go into so that was really cool. there would be a painting that was actaully a door and all these secret passageways it was pretty fun.

These pictures are justof the entrance hallway, we werent allowed to take any in the actual palace rooms and things. The other field trip we went on was to the Vasari corridor. This was super awesome, it was designed by Vasari the famous artist/architect and commissioned by the Medici family. The corridor goes from the palazzo vechhio all the way across the river on top of the ponte vecchio bridge all the way to palazzo pitti another meidicean palace. The medici and government people used this corridor to walk through town undetected and listen to what the townspeople were saying, basically to spy on them. It was so cool to walk through! and you got some amazing views of the city and over the river. my camera hasnt been working very well which is why the pictures are scarce, but other people have taken lots of pictures so once they post them on facebook i can steal them as my own pictures since its all the same stuff hahaha me sarah and amanda are going to visit christina next weekend in rome. i am so excited to go to rome, there is so much to see there and i have been through it a ton of times for travellling and getting flights from there but havent actually had the time to explore it. i will have lots of pictures and fun stories after this next weekend! I cant believe though as of now i have 21 days till i come home!!! doesnt seem true but it is, thats so soon! i have to get another suitcase bc of all the stuff i need to bring back! i have to go do work now but i will post again soon and post more pictures, there wont be such a long dry spell of postings again hahah ciao! :)

Amsterdammmm

This past weekend me hayley christina and sarah went to amsterdam! it was amazingggg. I left thursday night on a train to rome with sarah and than we had to chill in Roma termini (rome train station) for awhile than take a short train to the airport than flew from rome to amsterdam. Our hostel was not far from the airport when we got there which was convenient. Our hostel was super nice, and located right in the hub of things. It was actually a christian hostel so there was religious stuff everywhere so that was different. we got bfast in the mornings which was good too, first day was ham and eggs second day was pancakes, so it was a good choice of hostel. When we first arrived we unpacked our stuff and headed out. We decided to do the van gogh museum first. We got there and totally lucked out because there was no line at all, so we got right into the museum and got to see tons of famous works of art. It was really interesting. they also had another exhibit going on called "Illusions of Reality". It was all works of art that were made to look like photographs which was pretty cool. It took us about 2-3 hours to go through all the rooms of the museum. When we came out it was pouringggg rain and we were very unprepared haha it was about dinnertime so we ran into the warmest nearest pub to dry off. It ended up being a good choice, we had an amazing dinner of burgers and fries and salads and of course Heineken. After we finished dinner the rain had cleared up a bit and it was a lil safer to walk around. We walked through the red light district which was a lil creepy and depressing, but definitely different than anything ive ever seen. We stopped at a few "coffeeshops" which is where they have menus off all the diffferent kinds of marijuana, which was the weirdest thing ever to me. So used to it being such an illegal thing and to see ppl legally buying it and smoking in public was almost an awkward feeling haha It was a good night though we just relaxed and got some super good hot chocolate because it was freezing out and than went to bed fairly early bc we were so exhausted from traveling and packing in more stuff into the day. The next morning we woke up bright and early got our bfast and headed to the RijksMuseum, which is the museum that contains a large quantity of works by Rembrandt and other famous artists. It also had a cool exhibit going on which showed the history of the netherlands through artwork. They also had this display of giant doll house like structures that rich people used to have made of their hosues. It was considered a show of wealth to have a replica of your home created. The doll houses cost about the price of a riverside home in amsterdam, so these were no ordinary doll houses hahah It took a few hours to get through everything in this  museum and than after we were done we were starving, so we headed to a kebab place. I had an amazing kebab with french fries, totally hit the spot. After we filled our bellies, we headed to the Heineken factory! This was so much fun. First you go through a history of the Heineken factory and than you go on a 3D ride where you are brewed into a beer! This was so funny. After the ride we got to try some Heineken and than we got to make movies and send them to our families which was hilarious. After this we learned more about brewing the beer and saw all the huge beer vats. At the end they have a cool bar where you get two large free Heinekens. We had such a good time in this museum hahah After the henekien museum we headed back to our hostel to get changed and freshen up to go out later. We got ready than went and got some chinese food for dinner which was also delicious, havent had good Chinese food in Italy yet so this was nice. The best chinese food i found so far was in Germany when me and Hayley went to Hong Kong City hahahah but this was a close second. Afterwards we explored the area a bit and finally settled down in an irish pub that was serving large heneikins, nachos, and had some american college football games on. We found our home for the night hahah we were there for hours rooting for teams and enjoying ourselves. the bartender was also really nice and everyone we met there was so welcoming (and thank god most spoke english bc i dont know a bit of dutch hahah) We had such a fun night, and stayed out pretty late but finnally called it a night bc we had to check out at 10am the next day. Here are some pictures from the trip:

 weird benches:

 our hostel:

 square outside our hostel:

 Jolly Joker coffee shop:

 weird leaning building:

 so pretty!

 Me just brewing some beer:

 first taster beer!

 making our video haha

 cute group shot!

 Heineken Brewery:

I AMsterdam sign

 Red light district at night:

 me with the "t"

 yummy kebabs!

All in all it was an amazing trip, and amsterdam is such a cool place I would love to go back at some point and spend more time there. This week I have some school work to do and than this weekend I am going to France to visit Chantal and the family!!! i am sooooo excited i just bought my train ticket today and sent her an email and its all official :) so excited!

picturessss! :)

In our helmets ready to go!

 

Pretty beaches!

 Crystal clear water!

 On the ferry!

 Toga party!

just an added note...

heres a super cute picture of me lauren and nil (my roomies!!!! love them!) at shots bar in Firenze :)

Greece!

After barcelona I was back in florence for a day and than headed to Corfu, Greece! It was amanda, sarah, marianella, alyse, mary, and I. Mary transferred to bentley last year and we met her here in florence, and im super glad she came on the trip with us because we had so much fun with her! the trip started out on a 4 hr bus ride to Ancona, where we caught the ferry to greece. The ferry was a hugeee ship with a couple restaurants and stuff on it. We boarded the the ferry and claimed our seats, it was kind of similar to airline seating with more legroom. After we settled in we went out to the deck and played some card games and got our first greek gyros which were amazing. The ferry ride was 18 hours so that was a little much haha we ended up all sleeping on the floors and aisles around the seating because it was too uncomfortable in the seats so that wasnt too bad. I did forget a pillow which was a bummer but thats okay used a sweatshirt and it pretty much functioned the same haha We finally arrived in corfu and had to take a 30-45 min bus ride to our hostel called "The Pink Palace". The name is pretty self explanatory, the hostel was completely bright pink! we arrived at the hostel around 12pm and were a lil tired but just excited to be there so did some exploring around the beach and went in the big hot tub which we actually called the pee pool, bc the water wasnt that hot it was more lukewarm hahah here is Mary and me in the hot tub: (my pink bathing suit was a good choice to bring i matched all the decor of the hostel hahah)

That next day we went on a pink boat around the island doing cliff jumping and stopping at gorgeous beaches. The boat had a bar on it with greek beer, 1 can for 1 euro. The greek beer was a lil weird but adjusted to the different taste. The water was so blue and crystal clear, and not even that cold at all! Much warmer than the LI sound thats for sure haha It was beautiful got to swim around alot and may of even gotten a tint of tan! Here are pictures of the boat:

 the greek beer!

 wading in the water to get to the boat!

 me and our new friend skip!

 Our super pink hostel and the area around it!

 swimming around

These are all the pictures I have uploadedd so far but I have a ton more that I will post within a week! That night after the boat we went to a toga party that the hostel threw and that was really fun. The togas were pretty difficult to put on but we eventually figured it out! we went to the party and watched a traditional greek dance show and they smashed plates on our heads and they did all this crazy stuff and we drank ouzo which was actually pretty gross haha and ate delicious greek salads with big blocks of feta cheese! it was awesome. The next day we got up early and went on a ATV tour of the island! it was a pretty funny story, because first I wasnt allowed to drive my own ATV because i left my drivers license in Firenze and they wouldnt let me drive without a license when i was signing up so i signed up as a double with Amanda so I would ride with her on the big atv. About an hour into our ATV tour (the tour was about 6 hrs long) our ATV starts smoking and pretty much just stops! so were like omg wat do we do! the tour guide told us the ATV was shot, so we had to hop on with him. He was greek and barely spoke any english, and me amanda and him were all squished onto one quad! We looked absolutely ridiculous! They had called for a truck to bring another ATV and that got there super quickly but it was a small one so only amanda could use it. I was stuck riding with the greek tour guide for a lil longer. I thought I would be for the whole rest of the 4 hrs, but luckily some grl freaked out while driving her quad and was like "AH i cant drive this thing! Im not an adventourous person i dont want to drive anymore im scared I just want to ride on the back!" So the guide asked if I wanted to switch with her (he was unaware thaat i wasnt supposed to be driving but I wasnt going to make him aware of this fact haha) so of course i said yeah! So than i got to drive my own quad for the majority of the tour! I was so excited, it worked out perfectly. Driving was sooo fun, we went on tons of woodsy trails and trails along these big cliffs and stuff it was awesome. We got to see some great views. When we were turning around at one part Alyse crashed her quad into a wall and it was sooooo funny we were laughing so hard (she was obviously totally fine) she just misjudged the turn and rammed into this cement wall hahaha We did the atv's pretty much all day and than came back and ate some delicious dinnner at the hostel. Than we had to start packing up our stuff and checking out unfortunately. The boat ride back was pretty easy bc since we left later at night we slept for the majority of the trip. The bus ride back to florence was not fun bc we were all smelly and gross frmo being on the boat for foreverrrr and we got back to florence the net day at 730pm. This was good timing bc anna had dinner ready at 8, so made it just in time! So nice to come back to a delicious hot italian dinner it was great. Got to tell anna all about my trip and Nil was soooo excited to have me and lauren back bc shed been home the whole vacation because she goes to a different school as us, so she was super lonely without us haha so the three of us were reunited and enjoyed our first meal back. After dinner i showered and passed out i was exhaustedddd. it was about 10pm so i got alot of sleep and woke up bright and early at 8am and went to the gymmm and started the winter workout for lax. did a nice triple threat to start out the day (treadmill, elipitcal, bike combo). did some lifting and felt ready for the day. I went to the grocery store and got some lunch stuff for the week and went home a made a yummy sandwhich and than headed to italian class. I got my italian midterm back and i got a 92 so that was exciting! i was a lil annoyed bc the stuff i got points off for was dumb, but all in all it was good. Anna was very proud when i came home with my test haha she said the bentley students tht stay with her are always the smartest! :) I get my other midterms back on thursday so hopefully i did as well on them as i did on italian! I think i did, i studied alot and felt confident and relaxed going into my break so hopefully ill feel the same way when i get them back haha I ahve some work to do this week and than i go to Amsterdam this weekend with hayley, sarah, and christina! so excited! I will post more pictures from Greece soon and will write about amsterdam after this weekeend!!! : )

Pink Palace and the beach: