13 hours to go...

The final countdown has begun: 12 hours and 45 minutes to go until I leave for the airport.  This is TOO weird.  If anyone knows where the past 3 months has gone, please let me know!!!  

These are just 2 quotes that don't even come close to describing this trip, but they do a decent job:
"It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end."  Ursula Le Guin
"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." e. e. cummings

and of course, the old cliche song quote everyone loves:
"IT'S SOMETHING UNPREDICTABLE, BUT IN THE END IT'S RIGHT.  I HOPE YOU HAD THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE." Green Day

It definitely was something unpredictable, and everyone I have met on this trip has been awesome...the 23 of us will always remember the spring 2005.  As I pack today/tonight and say my final goodbyes, I just have one thing left to say:
CIAO BELLAS  (thanks jeff!!)

Lots of love...

Finals are over...eventful week

Ok, so I don't really remember where I left off, except that I'm pretty sure it's been a while.  My birthday weekend was EXTREMELY eventful...lots of drinking, shocker.  Friday night Kris and I went to the Champs-Elysees to a bar called Le Paris and had lots of Martinis.  It was a really cool place to sit and hang out and have a drink(or like 3 martinis which you get the shaker so you really get like 2 or more drinks from each...woo) and listen to music.  We went home SO burre(drunk in french).  Saturday we woke up slightly hungover...realizing that we had to sleep, eat, and do it all over again that night.  Bring on the masachism! LOL  We ended up drinking in the dorms with some of my favorite people, but not all...Liz, Marli and Nicole and played F*ck the Dealer...it's a drinking game, don't ask.  I was definitely having fun, but wanted to go dancing, after all we were celebrating my birthday.  We ran into some of the guys that live on our floor(yes, they're french) and we started talking...they asked us to come out with them since we were just going to wing it and find a place anyways.  We went to the Latin Quarter to a place called Le Sainte...it was AWESOME!  When we first got there, they were playing salsa music.  Let's see here:  Me=tipsy=trying to salsa????  It was histarical according to Kris, so thanks!  Then they started playing other music which was good...we were all having a BLAST.  I drank A LOT, sue me it was my 21st! :)  The boys even told the DJ that it was my birthday, and so even though I have no idea what the DJ said, he wished me a happy birthday over the music!  I'm so cool sometimes :) just kidding.  At one point, Kris and I did a straight shot of vodka...Liz and Nicole's orders, they made me(even though they were not there, but I promised).  Kris:  You know you're in trouble when you take a straight shot of vodka and say "Are you sure this isn't water???"  Oh boy.  I also promised Liz that I would do something crazy...so after a few drinks, I danced on the platform in the corner of the bar...yes, there are pictures, but they may remain unseen.  LOTS O BLACKMAIL.  I did get pictures of the cute french guys that were with us though!  I'm not that dumb :)  Sunday morning was HANGOVER CENTRAL--but not as bad as Saturday.  My dad's rule: No puking, other than that, there are no rules.  Well, my dad would be proud: I didn't puke and I definitely went and spent the big bucks on decent vodka in the dorms...he would be very disappointed if I drank something like Effin Vodka(HAHAHA).  Overall, my birthday was a GREAT GREAT night.  On my actual birthday,  we went and had dinner at the Eiffel Tower and it was cool!  Too much food with a hungover me, oh man!   Monday I enrolled in classes for this summer/fall and I got a great schedule...all day on tuesday/thursday, one class on wednesday for 3 hours and I'm not really sure what I am going to do with my time on mondays and fridays because I HAVE NO CLASS!!!!!  Who's excited? ME ME ME!  Road trip! :)  Yesterday I had my art history final which went well, I should get my grade today.  I just finished my western civ II final and it went slightly less as well as yesterdays...oh well.  I have the next day or 2 to hang out, pack, do laundry so I don't have to do it when i get home and am severly jet lagged and say my goodbyes.  :(  Lizzie...my roomie.  I might cry!
These past three months have been absolutely amazing.  Even the not so wonderful stuff has been very overcompensated for by everything else.  I cannot believe that I am actually coming home on saturday and that it's all over.  Since I'm sitting in ACCENT typing this and might cry, I'm going to stop, and I will come online tomorrow and finish my final thoughts and write my  last journal entry of KUWC 2005.  
In the words of my favorite roommate EVER:  Instead of chanting ROCKCHALK JAYHAWK we should be chanting:  HWC Study Abroad 2005...WOOWOO!  

Quick Little Update

Kris is finally in PARIS!!!  Yesterday was the best day ever because I finally got to see my best friend!  We went to lunch at this cute little restaurant out by the Opera Garnier, then walk all over...from the Opera to the Place de Vendom to the Tuileries/The Louvre.  It was awesome.  Then last night it was technically stop day eve, which makes today STOP DAY...so we all drank in the dorms.  WHAT A NIGHT.  Didn't get drunk though, but we had fun.  Liz--knock on the wall one more time, see what happens! :)  This morning Kris and I got up and went grab coffee and a muffin...then went to the Arc de Triomphe(wow!) and the Champs Elysees!!!  We were going to go up the Arc de Triomphe but it has been raining all day, so we opted not to.  We walked all up and down the Champs Elysees and oogled at all the stores...we did end up going in  a few, and I finally found my birthday present!  I got the most beautiful watch...Bubbee and Grandpa, wait til you see what you bought me!  I'm VERY excited!  Then we went to a nearby bar to get out of the rain and had a drink.  Gotta love the drinking age in Europe.  Speaking of which...since I will most likely not be at the computer before monday:

Sunday I will be in the dorms probably between 3p.m. and 5:30p.m.(Paris time) and then after 11 p.m. (again, Paris time).  If you call and I'm not there, leave a message with Liz and I'll call you back...if no one answers...you can try back later.  Liz takes great messages though! :) 

Oh and cuz I'm a major dork, I came up with a little song for my birthday:  Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, I'm officially allowed to be drunk in public, Happy 21st Birthday to me!!!  HAHA I KNOW I'm a DORK.  Don't care!

Side note:  The past 3 months have been amazing, good, bad, and indifferent.  Unfortunately, my time here is SLOWLY and QUICKLY coming to an end seeing as I am now coming home next Saturday(the 16th).  My dad and I now have more in common: dehydration and a trip to the hospital, however, I was smart enough to sit down before I blacked out to avoid further injury.  Hope the ankle gets well soon...golf is out til June or so, what to do???

anyways,  lots of love!

 

 

 

NCAA Championship

So last night UNC beat Illinois by 5 points to claim the National Championship that SHOULD have been KU's if only that hadn't CHOKED on Bucknell in the first round.  I've got nothing to say...UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH...props to Roy Williams, he finally won his stinkin' championship...shoulda won it with us, we shoulda won this year, but still...UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

Weekend in Normandy

This past weekend in Normandy was AMAZING!  (really long, too!)  Friday morning we got up at about 6:30, got on the bus and drove 3 hours to Caen to see the Peace Memorial Museum there.  The museum was really interesting, we walked through it for about an hour, then saw a film from the soldier's point of view: half the screen from the German side, half from the Allied side.  It was about the D-Day invasion at Normandy(obviously) but it was cool.  After lunch we got back on the bus to drive about an hour to Omaha Beach.  (for those who don't know/remember...it was one of the American Beaches from WWII).  We got to actually walk down to the beach which was AWESOME.  It's quite a hike...you basically walk through all the brush that the German's would have been sitting and waiting in, and then you get to the beach and it's bare.  It's so calm and serene and you can't even possibly begin to imagine that there were thousands of people that were invading the beach and you are standing the exact spot where probably many of them died.  Afterwards we walked up to the American Military Cemetary(it was in the movie Saving Private Ryan) and just walked through and looked at all of the gravestones.  What is interesting that I never knew, was that there are something like 9,371 graves at the cemetary and those are just the bodies that were unknown or not requested to be buried in the states.  Also, France gave the land to the U.S. when they decided to re-do the cemetaries and build one large one(that's there now) so the soldiers are buried on U.S. soil.  The names on the tombstones are all facing west too...symbolizing that west is where the U.S. is.  I thought that it was really touching to know that they purposely place the names on the tombstones like that.  I thought the cemetary was really emotional.  I don't know why, but it just got to me.  Before I left, I took the stone that I had stolen from the beach earlier that i was going to keep as a souvenir, and I placed it on one of the tombstones.  
Friday night for dinner, Marli, Kevin, Nicole and I went to this cute little restaurant right next to our hotel in St. Malo.  When we asked the waiter to explain the menu, he told us there were clams on it.  Marli and i both ordered clams as our first course and guess what we  got?  Raw oysters.  WHAT?  Yeah, so I ate all 6 of mine and one of Marli's (against my will, she did not eat hers and didn't want it to look like she didn't eat them, so we all "pitched in" to help her out...yuck).  Let's go with I will NEVER eat raw oysters again, eeww.  I like clams...those were definitely NOT clams.  We also got crepes for dessert which were AMAZING, they were chocolate, hence the amazing.  
Saturday we went to Mont St. Michel and got a tour of the little island/church.  It was really interesting.  We also got a walking tour of St. Malo when we got back and it is really pretty.  It's basically an Island surrounded by defensive city walls and we were walking on top of the walls.  the ocean was cool :)  Saturday night Liz, Marli, Nicole, Kevin and I went for crepes for dinner and then had ice cream! :)
Sunday we went to Bayeux to see a 200 ft.(or something like that) tapestry...woohoo for the excitement, next...
Afterwards we went to Giverny to Claude Monet's house.  It was really cool to see, but probably would have been nicer if the flowers were ALL in bloom and the trees had more leaves on them but still we had really REALLY  nice weather and so it was cool to see.
After that, we had a nice long bus ride home.
So I've been writing down everything that people say on this trip, dumb stuff, funny stuff, things we've just caught onto saying or doing...I told all of my friends about it and it's SO FUNNY now because they (mainly kevin) are just saying stuff to try and "get in my book."  Then there are those that don't realize yet that I AM listening, and I AM writing down EVERYTHING.  What was that Jeff?  "Attention mortals, I'm now exiting the shower?" yeah...don't ask.  
Well, we're in about the 8th inning, bases loaded and only one strike.  (nice right?) The last two weeks are going to be action packed.  By action packed I do mean homework and class, but still.  Intinerary for the  next week(tentative of course):
Today: no class because our professors love us: aka free day to catch up on reading and homework.
Tuesday: Class, papers due, more work...one last visit to the Musee d'Orsay.
Wednesday: More class, no homework due, visit the Picasso Museum.
Thursday: Class, (ditching out on western civ) Kris comes to PARIS!!!!!! Night one of the party weekend...
Friday: Day off...being a tourist showing Kris around the city, most likely going out friday night
Saturday: Same as friday, going out at Night to celebrate my 21st!!!! (we have class on monday, so the drunken fiesta starts saturday night)
Sunday: MY BIRTHDAY...aka a day of hopefully being hungover and loving it!  Dinner @ the Eiffel Tower.

As far as calling me goes:  I am pretty sure I lost my cell phone, so my dorm room number is all you've got.  I will post an entry later in the week so you'll know when I'll be aruond...
Lots of Love!  Gotta go to homework.

The Eiffel Tower

Ahhhh...
One more week down, crazy.  Yesterday we did what every single tourist in Paris does: go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  No, we did not climb the stairs like we did in Florence, are you nuts?!?!?  After we stood in line forever, we took the elevator to the top.  Let me tell you for a person afraid of heights, it's some scary uh, stuff.  It's about 4X the height of the Duomo, and only about 50-100 feet shorter than the Sears Tower.  Didn't like the top of the sears tower then, didn't like the height of the Eiffel Tower now.  As scary as it was, I did it, I'll probably do it again with Kris and or my parents, but the fact is, I did it.  WOW.  It was really cool to see Paris from the top of the tower...but scary.  I got a few pictures, I accomplished yet another goal here, GO ME! :) haha.  
Last night I did the unthinkable...I went to be at 8pm.  Man, I was TIRED.  I haven't been sleeping too much here for lack of silence after about midnight, cuz the girls next door think it's funny to keep me up at night.  Not a big deal, I showed them...slept for 12 hours last night, woohoo.  I think that's at least 3 nights of sleep in one!  
Tomorrow we get to get up at the CRACK of dawn to get on the long 6 hour bus ride to Normandy.  Yeah!  We aren't going straight there...you know, a 3 hour bus ride here, a 3 hour bus ride there...We are stopping at Omaha Beach and the American Memorial tomorrow--me, the history major...WHO'S EXCITED?!?!?  I think it's going to be the coolest thing ever to be on the beach...kind of intense!
I finally got my cell phone to work, so I am going to have my parents do a test run to make sure it really works before I post the number...hopefully it will work and anyone that needs to call me on that...not too early in the morning please!!! HAHA
I will write back after our fun weekend excursion to Normandy.
Lots of Love!

the countdown begins!

London was amazing!!  I had such a good time doing absolutely nothing touristy with Laura!  We did go to Abbey Road on Friday and walked across is while taking pictures...gotta love it.  Surprise, my dad knows a)who the beatles are and b) knows that abbey road is from their album cover...who knew????  We went shopping on friday, but didn't buy anything(which is fine).  Friday night we went out with her friend Susan from Cornell who is really cool, and we got a little tipsy but had SO much fun!!! Saturday laura and I went to the Portobella market and walked around,  bought different color matching rings and hats(yes, we are LOSERS) but we love it!!  Other than that we pretty much just hung out, did some homework and enjoyed hanging out because we haven't seen each other in 3 months.  Half the clique back together again, YEAH!!  
Ok, so the official countdown has begun around here in Paris, so I'll fill you all in back at home.  As of today, March 29:
9 days until my best friend comes to visit me in Paris
17 days until the worlds greatest parents come to Paris(woohoo their first time in Paris!)
18 days until my 3 months of amazing adventure comes to a close
26 days until I make my appearance back in the states(lines are now open for booking of appointments to see me! LOL)
and the best # of the entire countdown:
12...why 12 you ask?  Because of two reasons:
a) think dyslexic-ly...
b)that's how many days I have until I'm 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
not that I'm excited and not that I'm counting...
lots of love!

Laura ROCKS

Hey Hey everyone...thought I would drop a line and say CHEERS to everyone! HAHA.  London has been amazing in the 20 hours I have been here!!  I LOVE Laura and missed her like CRRRRAZZY...Going in style tonight to some club, drinking is definitely on my list of things to do tonight!! HA.
I will write again after my weekend and update y'all on how much fun I had! :)
LOTS OF LOVE

Happy Birthday

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!  It's official, you're still old!  C'mon, I'm in Europe, but I've gotta give you some crap otherwise it wouldn't be your birthday!  Hope you had a nice "relaxing" day golfing(golf...relaxing?  HA).  
Things have been going ok here ever since the day of bad news.  :)  We're all recovering quite nicely.  I've been doing MASS amounts of homework, writing too many papers in 1 day, and sleeping is not even on my priority list...let alone "things to do."  It's finally getting to me, and I'm losing any sanity I had left, but hopefully I will regain some of it when I go to London this weekend to see Laura!  I finally...8 years later, got my valentine's day package from my mom...and I'm so excited because now I can go a whole 2 extra days without having to do laundry because I have extra socks!!  They're adorable though :)  I've been here 2 weeks, going on 3 and it's going by faster...but still REALLY slow, mostly only when it comes to school though.  I found out today I got an A- in Western Civ I...like we had any doubt that I'm intelligent, I AM my mother's daughter(um, and I guess my father's too...he doesn't really count though! JUST KIDDING).  
I don't have much else to say...life is good, the food sucks(except for pastries, after all it IS france) and I'm sleepy! :)

quote of the day:  "what do you do now that you've conquered the world? (in reference to Napoleon)"--Kent...his answer: "You try like hell to hold onto it"  mine: "I'm going to Disneyland!" :)

LOTS OF LOVE

Eulogy

18.03.2005:  A day which will live in infamy.  I'm sad to report that I'm officialy resigning myself as a Kansas Jayhawk Basketball fan.  I do, however, send my greatest sympothies to Big Dub, Langford, Miles(aka Carlton Banks/Rudy Huxtable), and Lee.  Those 4 seniors worked their asses off to leave their senior year with nothing but memories.  It's a shame that our beloved boys lost to Bucknell, a school no one's ever heard of, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, by 1 point nonetheless.  I'm officially sad that I will never get to see Big Dub play again, unless he joins the NBA...those boys were the best thing after Collison and Hinrich to hit Allen Fieldhouse.  I had some great times sitting front row, a  member of the Phog Phanatics...don't bitch that you don't like the Phog, you're just jealous that we sit in the front row! :)  As for my freshman Sasha Kaun...Sarah and I will still be your soccer mom(or sake bomb!)  It's a sad day in L-Town...I'm kind of glad I didn't get to see it and it's too bad we were not there to help the town riot til the break of dawn.  To the four seniors who royally screwed up:  We love you, and we'll miss you.

Peace Out

St. Patty's Day Bar Crawl

Riddle: What do you get with 7 Americans, an Italian, 2 French guys, 3 Irish Pubs, 2 not-so-Irish Pubs and a lot of beer?? 

Answer:  St. Patrick's Day here in Paris.

Ok...so Last night was insane.  After an awesome day at Versailles, which other than not seeing the Hall of Mirrors because it's closed for renovation, ROCKED.  Totally fun...we had a night of drinking and bar crawling.  I went to The Frog and the Princess with Lindsey and Sarah for a drink(note: this frog bar is where they show the NCAA tourney...) It was fun, but packed like a sardine can.  Afterwards we went back to the dorms and I ended up going out with Marli, Jeff, Lauren, Abby, Bridgette, and Mel to another Irish pub near the Bastille.  After a drink there we went to this other bar and had a drink there...then to another bar and another drink and some pizza at 2 a.m.  Not to mention we had all been drinking pre-going to the bars and drank at the bars...lots o' fun and lots o' funny pictures!!!  HAHA.  I got home at about 4 a.m. but definitely had a good time.  I got to sleep in today because we had no class, and who knows what tonight will bring.  I'm attempting homework, we'll see. 

Anyways, not much else to write about for now...OH WAIT...question for everyone:

Does 'exit only' mean you can't exit because you can't get off there??  (yes Dad, 'screw you', I know...but c'mon, you can't say something THAT stupid and not get shit for it, and you can't expect me not to do it even though I'm in another country.  I'm SO glad you taught me how to drive!)

NOTE:  TONIGHT @ some eastern time...KU JAYHAWKS v. Bucknell(who by the way, has ever heard of them)...first round of MARCH MADNESS NCAA  KICK SOME ASS HAWKS!! :)

LOTS of LOVE

The H&M Experience

Hi Y'all!
Ok...so it's been a few days.  Let's see:  The past few days have been the LONGEST ever, lack of sleep--packed full of all sorts of class.  Monday after class, I had the pleasure of having my very first trip ever to H&M(it's a big clothing store over here...that they have at home too).  I have to say all that hype from Jeff, um I mean Professor Dr. Brown, was definitely deserving...I bought 2 shirts, 2 headbands for my unruly hair, and an AWESOME army green denim purse that rocks :)  I have a purse fetish...I know!  Yesterday I was home for about 3 hours total...I woke up at 7:30 to leave at about 8 for class, had class until 12:30, a small break for lunch, then a 2 hour walking tour through part of Paris with professor Sprecky...the Touileries Gardens ROCK...talk about a perfect picnic/chill with a book and or friends spot!!!  Not to mention that the weather was GORGEOUS!  I definitely did not even  need my sweater jacket.  I got home around 4:15, rested til 5, showered, got gorgeous for the opera/ballet that went to last night...pretty entertaining.  I had absolutely no idea what was going on because I had never read Wuthering Heights, but it was cool. The seats sucked because there was NO leg room and sitting in the last row was oh-so fun!  After the ballet a bunch of us went out for a drink, yeah for being legal to drink it europe! I had a glass of Sancerre, my mom's favorite french wine! YUMMY. :)  i got home around 11:30 talked to my parents til 12, and then went to bed at 12:45...A.M.  So yesterday was LONG.
Today we had our site visit(finally) to Notre Dame and Saint Chappelle.  Saint Chappelle was awesome, the stained glass in all of the Gothic Medieval churches is pretty.  The weather today is even better than yesterday, no jacket required!  :)  I'm wearing a t-shirt and let me tell you, I LOVE SPRING.  It's supposed to be about 65 tomorrow for our AMAZING visit to Versailles.  SURVEY:  who's excited about going to Versailles??? ME ME ME ME ME ME!!! :)  I'm a dork, I like history--besides, how COOL is it going to be to sit in the room where they signed the Treaty of Versailles to end WWI??  Probably cooler than I think!!  
OH--so we're learning all about the Henri's and the Louis's that ruled France...yesterday we talked about Louis the XVI...the biggest idiot of them all and for an hour in European studies I kept thinking to myself(only grandpa irv will get this I bet):  "Louis the XVI was the king of France in 1789. He was worse than Louis the XV.  He was worse than Louis XIV.  He was worse than Louis the XII...he was the worst, since Louis the first."  "If you had been a nicer king, we wouldn't do a thing but you were bad you must admit.  We're gonna take you and the queen down to the guillatine and shorten you a little bit..."  anywho, I think Allan Sherman rocks.  :)
Today is gorgeous...so after I buy my tickts to go to London over Easter weekend...I'm outta here to roam the city, go to the market, and whatnot...
ALL MY LOVE

And it's Sunday

Happy Sunday???  Not really...the Jayhawks lost to Oklahoma State yesterday in the Big XII tourney.  Seriously, those Hawks need to pull their heads out of their asses, get it together, or March Madness is going to be Bill Self ripping into them with a large butcher's knife because they're RETARDED.  What happened to Langford?  Who knows...but if my boys lose in the first round of the tournement, I am officially giving up my love of Jayhawk basketball because that's pathetic.  :)

Anyways, I slept in today (until 11) and have been reading since...it's 5:30 here.  We have uber amounts of reading to do for western civ...and it's not fun.  No offense, but John Locke just doesn't spark one ounce of curiousity in me...it's BORING with a capital and emphasized, italicized B.  YUCK.  Marli found this awesome little cafe that is near our classroom, but it's smoke free (which in Europe is something unusual) and they speak fairly good english...so we went a read there for a few hours.  Now that I'm only on page 70 of the 150 boredom that is John Locke, my brain is fried and I'm no where near done because after Locke, I have European Studies to read, and Art History because tomorrow afternoon we hit up the Louvre for our first visit(there are 2 since the place is HUGE...and even 2 only covers about a millionth of what's inside!!!)  AHHHHHHHH homework is great...Marli and I are going to dinner later, assuming it's open there's a little place down the street that sells Gyros(yummy).  It's sunday so a lot of things are closed...woohoo.

Anyways, life is going by and my hair is now reddish brown...woowoo!!!  I love coffee and my new pillow from Chartres!  :)   oh...p.s.  Yesterday on our little visit with professor sprecky, it started hailing/raining ice/what looked like street salt, and he handed marli and i his umbrella so we could have shelter on our way underneath a building...and after it being in my hand for like 12.2 seconds, it snapped in 2!!!  Crap, I broke my teacher's umbrella...oops! :)  sorry...

Lots of love

1 down, more to go...

Ok, so I finally found an internet place near the dorms that I can use, and change the fonts on my journal...so some days you'll get lucky and see bigger fonts.

This first week in Paris has been an interesting one...Thursday we had no class because there was a strike on the metro, and since that is really the only way we can get our 45 minute commute in for class, we got up to find out we had a "snow" day.  It was nice, I got a lot of homework done...and a nice nap at around 1.  So far the dorms are good.  I really like having everyone around so I can talk to people, and it's fun to have people barging in your room just to see what's up again...ah, freshman year.  On the other hand...there's no where to really be alone because you're always around people.  So I've confided in my mp3 player and a lot of matchbox 20 and other things to drift off into my own little world.  It's nice...you know me, I love my music!  Yesterday we went to Chartres.  It was nice, a gothic cathedral to add to our list of 20 million churches we've already seen.  It was really cool actually because stained glass is a big thing in gothic churches and it's pretty. :)  Then Liz, Marli, Nicole and I went to a little restaurant in town for lunch...I had vegetable soup sans any actual vegetables in it, but it was still really good and hot considering it was freezing out.  Then for dessert, bring on the crepes!  I had never had one and Liz had crepes for lunch, so the rest of us decided to get dessert crepes.  I had mint ice cream with hot chocolate sauce and whipped cream.  OH HEAVEN...it was good!!!  We went walking around a bit, and found ourselves at the Monoprix(the grocery store).  Liz and I invested in some pillows because the one long hot dog shaped pillow on our tiny little smaller than twin sized beds just doesn't cut it...it was nice.  I also bought some hair dye...a nice red/red-brown...don't stress--I'm one of those people that when life gets dull or I feel bored or something,  I dye my hair.  Ashour's not here...so I bought some color in a box...it's not like it won't grow back or I can't cover it up...live a little, right???  Maybe the reddish hair will spark some adventure, who knows. 

Today I am meeting with Kent(our European studies prof) and Marli to tour the Marais area for our "group" project...I say group meaning me and marli, everyone else is in a 4 person group, we opted not to go that route for a million reasons...    Professor Sprecky(his name is Sprecklemeyer, hence, we have a nickname that he doesn't know about...) is going to get us started on our research for our little presentation.  Woohoo...

Next weekend I am going to London to see Laura...who's excited??? ME!  YEAH :)  Liz is probably coming with, oh man, good times! 

Anyways, I'm out of here to hit the store before I meet Mr. Sprecky.  Oh yes, and I would like to thank my freshman year of hs keyboarding teacher/also my mother for teaching me how to type without looking at the keyboard because when you're in france and the keyboard is SO NOT what it is in the states and the letters are all messed up, but you can switch it so that when you type it's like you're typing on an american keyboard...it helps that you know where the keys are originally.  :)

I'm outta here folks...

all my love

Bonjour Y'all!

Ok...so for those of you that might just maybe would want to call me...I don't know what my cell phone number is yet because although my phone works, the numbers are spoken in french when you call to get the number so it'll be awhile before I can find someone who can tell me what the number is.  HOWEVER, there is good news!! I have a dorm room phone number that I can only receive calls from and has no answering machine other than my roommate Liz ! :) haha.  But, I enjoy hearing from anyone that might want to call!  Ok ready for it?? the number is:  33(that's the country code) 1 44 16 67 98.  You have to dial 011 first to call but that's the number.  I'm usually in my room after 8 p.m. my time(7 hours difference) so feel free...I enjoy phone calls! :)

Anyways, so far today was ok.  We got to sleep in, went to the Musee Cluny for Art History then came back here to check email and whatnot.  Tonight it is homework and more homework...our journals are due for western civ and european studies and we have like 2 books to read for western civ and stuff for art history...but we don't even know if we have class tomorrow because the metro people are going on strike as of 8p.m. tonight, so they think and the trains might not be running tomorrow, but they might have like 1 in 4 going...but who knows.  So basically, I'll have to get up tomorrow and hope that I got up for not nothing...and go to class.  PLUS tomorrow for art history we're going to see the gargoyles at notre dame!! WOOHOO

I'm out...All my love!
Au Revoir

Welcome to Paris

Hey Y'all...ok, so first things first:  The computers at the ACCENT center is Paris don't allow me to change the font, so this is as good as it's going to get...so break out your magnifying glasses and enjoy.
The rest of my spring break was sadly shaken by the fact that I am not going to Israel--and unfortunately, it made the last couple of days sad.  Yes, I will still get to see Danielle when I come home to the big AH but I won't get to be in Israel for awhile...possibly over winter break, we'll see.  Friday we hung around the hostel in Switzerland--I was not in the mood to do anything...so we watched a bunch of movies: Amelie, Zoolander, and the Usual Suspects.  Saturday we went to Geneve(Geneva) and got to see the outside of the UN--woohoo.  Totally exciting(note the sarcasm).  We were going to stay in Geneve that night but there was no where to stay because everything was booked...so we tried to get to Paris a day early, except all the trains were full.  So we opted to go to Lyon(pronounced Lee-yohn) which was 2 hours away, and 2 more to Paris.  When we finally got to Lyon, we stayed at a hotel across the street.  The next day we booked our seats to Paris at 7p.m. because that was the only train we could get on--and we still had to pay 43 Euros to supplement to first class because all of the 2nd class tickets which our Eurorail passes are for were booked.  It was a nice 2 hour ride.  
So far Paris is alright...I'm DEFINITELY having adjustment issues  but I'll get through it.
Not much else to say for now...
ALL MY LOVE
CIAO

Some bad news y'all

Ok folks so there's some good news and there's some bad news.  Which would you like to hear first?  The bad news...great.

The bad news is that I'm not going to Israel after my trip is over because some unexpected stuff happened with Danielle's dad and he's having major back surgery and she's going home instead to help out her mom...

The good news? There is no good news...just kidding. 

The good news is that I'm coming home April 24 instead of May 6.  So all you crazy people that want to see me will have 2 extra weeks of "Jaime" time.  Woowoo. 

anyways...that kind of made my spring break crap...but I'll fill you in on the rest of my break later.  It's time to pack up to leave tomorrow and then off to Paris on sunday...then more movie time with my friends.

All my love...

GREECE BABY!

WOW!! SPRING BREAK BABY!  I finally found internet, and so I will catch everyone up on the past few days:  BUT FIRST:

ROCKCHALK JAYHAWK GO KU!!! Way to pull it together and beat OSU to be #1 in the BIG 12!!!!  GO HAWKS! 

Friday morning we took the train from Florence to Rome.  That train was running a little late, so we got to Rome a little late, catching the train to the airport 30 minutes later than we wanted to.  It would have been ok if that train had left on time instead of almost 40 minutes late...leaving us to arrive at the airport at 10:30 AM!  Yeah, FYI...our flight left at 11!  WOW.  So of course all 7 of us are running like mad trying to check in for our flight...get through security which was a joke, and then catch our flight.  Luckily we made it in time and got to Athens as scheduled.  It was very nice at first...then it started to rain, no big deal. We had a nice dinner friday night at this little walk in place that the desk guy, Nicholas--who is the cutest old greek man EVER--recommended.  Gyros baby! It was good...and CHEAP.  I love that a can of diet coke is only 1 euro here, it certainly beats the 2,50 in Florence! 

Saturday morning we woke up and went to the prehistorical museum and spent a few hours there.  It was definitely cool, but OLD haha.  Then Kevin, Nicole and I went and had lunch.  Afterwards I went back to the hotel for a nap--I was exhausted!  For dinner saturday night we went to this place in Syntagma, a few metro stops away, for a good dinner at this vegetarian restaurant--Madeline is a vegetarian so we all went.  It was really good food, however not exactly authentic Greek...or really Greek at all.  I believe quiche is french!  Sunday we woke up really early, had breakfast, then went to Acropolis.  It was really cool!  The view was AMAZING.  You could see EVERYTHING from the top.  I got a lot of good pictures...so when I get to Paris, you'll get to see them!  Then Kevin, Nicole and I went and had lunch, and then to the Roman Agora, then walked around a bit.  We went to this garden/mini-zoo area called Zappio(I think) and saw chickens trying to kill each other...it was interesting.  Then we went home and had dinner at a restaurant we found while wandering. 

This morning we got up and went to Aghina...it is one of the islands.  We took this really awesome boat that only took 40 minutes to get there...walked around a lot, had lunch--with much disappointment because baklava was definitely listed as a dessert and what does the waiter tell me? THEY'RE OUT.  I'm sorry...you're WHAT?  So far, no baklava, or ouzo for me...but there's still tomorrow!  We went to dinner tonight at the same place we went the first night--it was good, so we went back.  Jeff got here this afternoon after spending a few days in Corfu while attempting to drive a four-runner(yeah, with no luck...way to tip it).  It's strange...we've all been apart for like 4 days and I really miss everyone.  Though I'll probably deny it from here on out just cuz I can...but aside from everyone (like Lizzie) that I miss, I was very excited to see him and hear all about Jeff's little adventure at the Pink Palace! 

Tomorrow I might be going to Delphi with Jeff.  It sounds exciting.  I need some new people to hang with, cuz I've spent the past 2 days with Kevin and Nicole alone and apparently I'm one of the last of everyone besides Kevin and Nicole to notice that they could not like each other more...hello, THIRD WHEEL.  It's ok, I'm usually the third wheel, but seriously folks...either do something about this flirting OR STOP. LOL.  It's kind of cute though.  :) 

So far I've only been gone since friday and it's awesome!  Like Robin told me the other day (reference from Friends, obviously) there's a difference between spring break and spring vacation:  spring vacation is like what Robin will be doing in a few weeks:  Spending time with your parents and grandparents, even though she'll be in florida where it's WARM.  Spring break is more of the end of what I'm doing: WOOHOO having a blast and living it up.  I'm not drinking like a fish or going crazy like spring break normally consists of, but let's think about this:  I'm in GREECE.  I'm going to Switzerland in 2 days...WOOWOO! It's AWESOME!

OH:  my Italian cell phone number no longer works...so I don't suggest trying to call it.  I will have a french number when I get to france on my cell phone, AS WELL AS a dorm room number which is probably what I'll use the most.  Just to let you know.

Also, since it's a month before my birthday, I figured I'd give everyone a little insite:  my list is very short of things I want...I'm already getting the best present ever, my best friend is Paris on my birthday, and my parents in a few days later.  However, there are some things on my list I would like.  My parents are(or will be) the informed party on this list...or email me.  It's short and sweet, so check with them if you want to know what I want.  THANKS :)  (and yes Grandpa Irv, I would LOVE a 22 year-old boy for my 21st birthday! ...only he knows what I mean! LOL)

That's all for now folks!! ALL MY LOVE AND THEN SOME!!!

CIAO--I know I'm not in Italy anymore...but I LOVE CIAO! :)

My Favorites

In Italia/Firenze...these are my favorites:

SPOT:  Palazzo Vecchio

FOOD:  since gelato doesn't really count, I'll say tortellini.

BAR/PUB/CLUB:  our Irish pub around the corner.

ROOMMATE: haha...ALL of them!

SONG:  Do Do Do Do Do Inspector Gadget! (liz's song)

SPOT IN ITALIA:  Definitely St. Peter's Basilica in Rome...probably the one thing that will always stick in my mind as completely unreal.  Plus, the "delicious" Bernini sculptures are to die for! ;)

PURCHASE:  my pink leather purse, duh.  But there's another that ties...but that's for me to know and you to find out.

MOMENT:  it's hard to pick out just one...but probably the first time I really felt at ease and at "home" here which was our first weekend in Firenze.  I spent the day walking around town by myself wandering and "getting lost." I was proud of myself that I found my way back to the apartment. :)

ALL MY LOVE...TALK TO YOU IN A WEEK!

 

Arrivederci Firenze!

First, I'd like to point out the fact that I'm pissed. Why?? Because our basketball team, in a word, is PATHETIC.  What is this crap of us losing 3...yes, 3 games IN A ROW?!?!? Not to mention they were to Colorado, Iowa State, and Oklahoma!(what the crap?)  If Big Dub and his boys don't shape up--that National Championship that's supposed to be theirs will be GONE!  Bill Self better put the smack down on them...and SOON!

Ok, so it's been a few days since I've written and sorry to say folks this will probably be the last time I write again until I've arrived in Paris!  Monday morning we took our art history exam...not too bad, I got it back this morning and I'm pretty happy with the results.  However, the test definitely did not test our knowledge to the full extent, because monday night when we all went for dinner and gelato, Jeff felt the need to point out these random doors at a random shop and sigh, "oh, those doors remind me of Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise...and those doors remind me of Pisano's Life of St. John the Baptist." Not to mention when we got to the Duomo he had to point out the fact that the dome was built by Brunelleschi in 1420-36.  Oh man, the best part was, he couldn't tell you what Buon Fresco is(it's the painting technique on the walls here)...and his response "I know who did them, when they did them, and where they are...so who cares if I know how they did it?"  good point...It was amusing--so thanks Jeff!  Tuesday we had class as usual, and THAT was exciting--not.  We went to the Museum of Science for Western Civ...woohoo, I got to see Galileo's telescope, and see how physics work.  Let me point out the fact that I barely passed physics in high school, so why do I care about physics now? oh yeah, because it's relevant to um, NOTHING we do in Western Civ.  Actually, this visit was probably the most relevant considering we (were supposed to) read Galileo, which even more coincidentally is on our final tomorrow, and woohoo...his telescopes were great.   Why I care about chemistry and physics that Galileo had nothing to do with is totally beyond me.  Oh well!  Last night I also worked a lot on my journal for class which is due in Paris the day we get there.  I'm really excited about my leather-bound book, however, it ways 12 tons and is going to be a bitch to carry around for spring break...because of course no matter how much I work on it now, there's not really a chance in hell I could get it done BEFORE spring break.  HI--do we need to learn what SPRING BREAK means?  BREAK...relaxing, NO schoolwork--crap, we're in college, we don't get ''breaks" we get "you don't have to be in class,  but you still have a crapload of work to do." grrr. :)

SPRING BREAK 2005:  Friday I leave for Rome on the train at the crack of dawn(of course!), then fly to Athens, Greece where I will spend 5 days being the American tourist, eating lots of Greek food, drinking oozoh(haha) and enjoying the 60 degree weather we're supposedly getting there.  Then on Wednesday it's off to Milan on another small and frightening plane, then taking the train to Lausanne, Switzerland.  In Switz, we will enjoy the snow they have, and the freezing cold weather(sounds a bit like Florence right now...just a bit more snow!) and who knows what we will do there???  Sometime next sunday we'll get to Paris where will basically have to fend for ourselves for a little over 12 hours before we have to meet our professors and new ACCENT staff to move into our dorms and get our bags that we shipped...speaking of which, I have ENTIRELY way too much stuff.  I bought too many things, and crap, I'm only halfway done.  Actually, it's just because my books take up TOO much room, and unfortunately I can't get rid of those.  I need to think about downsizing because let's face it, I don't throw anything away...and I shop too much.  OOPS.  :)

Today was REALLY exciting...we went to the Pitti Palace and got to look at some really interesting pieces of art...all the while it's sowing mad-style outside. Then I came home and started the packing process, which my suitcase expands...and I sort of figured out how to expand it, but it doesn't stay up. (whining child voice): DADDY....HHHHELLLPPPPPP!  Life would be so much easier if I had "Mr. I can pack anything in any size space at anytime and make it fit"with me to make sure I got all my stuff together.  That's what he's there for anyways, right?  Oh yeah, that and bbq-ing my favoritest ribs ever for me when I come home in May(hint hint).  I guess I'll just have to suffer and attempt the packing thing on my own.

Tonight I am studying for my western civ I final which is tomorrow morning...woohoo.  That should be fun.  Tomorrow after the final, it's time to bring our bags to ACCENT to be shipped, then home to clean like mad-crazy so we can get our deposits back!  Tomorrow night we our having one last meal at our favorite little restaurant--Trattoria Sostanza...which is fitting since we had our one week anniversary there, and our first meal out. 

I am really going to miss Firenze!  It has been so much fun here, and I'm finally getting used to speaking(haha) Italian!  I will certainly miss monday pizza and gelato night...and of course San Lorenze market where I love to shop! haha.  It's been so much fun, but it's time to move on to Paris :).  Once I get to Paris it's only 5 more fridays until I get to see my best friend, and 6 until my parents come and I get to be their tour guide! :)  Lots O fun.

Alright...well, I think it's time for me to start studying.

And since I can't say "Ciao Bellas" anymore because Jeff yelled at me because "he made it up" I won't sign off with that...I don't really want to quote him!...

Arrivederci Italia and Firenze!  It's been fun.

My last weekend in Firenze

An update on my last weekend in Firenze:

Friday we got up at the crack of dawn to get on the bus to Ravenna...The town was lacking in, uh just about everything except mosaics.  We had about 4 hours to have lunch and roam before we got back on the bus after our tour--4 hours was entirely too long.  Oh well.  We got back to Firenze about 8 and Jeff, Kevin, Marli, Madeline, Liz, her friend Meagan, and I went to this diner for dinner and ate american food.  It was SO yummy!  Afterwards we went home to get ready for a night out!  We went to Space Electronic which is the club right by our apartment.  We went mainly to do a shot of Absente which is this stuff that supposedly has toxin in it and supposedly makes you trashed after one shot--HA.  We mainly went to do it because it's illegal in the states, and of course, we HAD to try it!  Well, we were all more sober after doing 2 shots of it each than before we went out.  It was kind of a dissapointment, but we still had fun dancing(after they stopped playing techno...yuck!).  And of course Jeff was a happy camper because they played his song just as we were leaving and he still got to dance to it! LOL. 

Saturday Nicole, Liz, Meagan, Jeff and I went to Pisa.  As Jeff likes to put it: the town is a pisa-shit.  HAHAHA--totally original. HOWEVER, he's totally right.  If it weren't for the leaning tower(of cheese-ah...from the Goofy Movie folks) the town would be a waste of space.  It was really cool to see the tower though...kind of interesting.  Saturday night I went to dinner with Meagan and Liz at this restaurant kind of down the street from us--Trattoria Marione.  It was really good food. 

Today ROCKED!  I slept in and then I have been studying ALL DAY! YEAH!!! (sarcasm folks...today sucked).  I wrote my western civ paper--which rocks, and then I have attempted to study for my art history midterm which is tomorrow. HOLY CRAP I'm so not ready.  Too many dates, too many pictures, too many Ninja Turtles--I mean artists.  UGH...I'll get it eventually.

Anyways...my last weekend in Firenze was really fun!  We have only 5 more days here.  I'm really sad because I love it here.  Spring break will be exciting though--greece and switzerland!  Paris will be exciting, but really different.  But at least I'll get to be roomies in paris with liz...do do do do do inspector gadget! LOL. 

Anyways, I'm off to do more studying...ugh! 

CIAO BELLAS

Quote of the moment:

"It's always so much longer than you counted on.  And it hits you SO MUCH harder than you thought.  But you don't worry, you don't worry cuz you've got soul." ~Matchbox 20~

One week to go...

Blah blah blah...another day gone by.  Today we got up, had western civ--woohoo--then went on our final walking tour of the city.  We walked all the way up to a place called Piazzale Michelangelo which has a really cool view of the entire city(I have pictures coming soon) and the hike is definitely not fun, but the view is so worth it.  After class I came back to the apartment, napped for too long, then got a little reading in before Liz and her best friend Meghan from home who came in from Ireland went for pizza(and gelato). 

Tomorrow we are going to Ravenna...unfortunately the general consensus is that NO one wants to really go.  We all came to the conclusion that it would have been better to go last weekend because we all a)have little desire to go in the first place and b) we all have a lot of studying to do for midterms and finals.  Kind of strange that we have a midterm and a final in the same week...different class, but still you never  get that at home.  WOW.  That's a lot of artists to remember.  OH!  Joke of the day(from Rome, but I just remembered it!) 

Q: Which Ninja Turtle would you rather be?

A: (random people) Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo...

A:(this girl abby on our trip_): I'd rather be Monet! 

oh man...that's funny!

Ok, well...lots of love to everyone!

CIAO

Man can I shop!

WOAH!  Happy Wednesday...aka my day of shopping!  I had class this morning and then decided to have myself a day of mucho dinero(or Euro) spending!  HA! Most of what I bought were gifts anyways.  However, I did find myself a really nice present(aside from my pink purse!) that I am going back to buy in a little bit...talk about fun!  I'm not disclosing what I am going to buy though, because let's face it, certain people reading this are on a need to know basis, and frankly, they just don't need to know! :)   Oh man, it felt really good to get my "fix." Everyone pretty much knows I am my mother's daughter and can shop with the best of them, whether it's at Gucci(highly unlikely I'd shop there, but you get the idea) or at Target for a huge sale...I like to shop...woo woo!  Still haven't bought what I really want though and that's shoes, unfortunately though I have clown-sized feet and they don't make them in my size here!(shut up robin, I know what you're thinking!) oh well...

Monday night was SOOOO fun!  Madeline, Jeff, Kevin, Liz and I went for our usual pizza and gelato night...then went to see Meet the Fockers at 10:45...I personally thought it was really funny, but then again--I would.  Maybe I'm the only one that can see how hilarious/realistic Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman make the whole "Jewish Parent" thing.  WOW...they really do know how to make it real...I totally saw my family in that movie...oy vey! 

The past couple days have been fun-filled with homework...oh joy.  We have our art history mid-term on monday and our western civ I final a week from thursday.  It's kind of insane how fast all those big fat tests are coming up--and it's even more amazing that I'm only going to be here for another 8 1/2 days!  I'm really going to miss Firenze...but watch out Paris! :)  More later...

Ciao Bellas!

picture albums

This may or may not work...but try it and let me know if you can view my albums by clicking either link!

Rome album: http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeDM3DNs5buSA

Firenze album: http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeDM3DNs5buhA

I hate Cupid, Stupid

Ok...the past 72 hours have been quite eventful.  I don't have much time so I will sum it up quickly(ha).

Friday we went to Venice.  Our train was supposed to leave at 6a.m. and we all got up at 5.  However, we were uninformed on the fact that the trains were on STRIKE. Yeah, so we didn't get on that train, but we waited around until about 8:30 to see if that later train would leave...it did.  Then in Bologna we couldn't figure out which train to get on...we were a little confused and tired, but we made it there.  Venice was cool--it wasn't as great as I expected, but it was still fun.  Oh man, holy traffic jam batman.  We took a water taxi to the other end of Venice from the train station and there was a major traffic jam(or boat jam) holding us up.  There was massive protesting about something and it was insane! The police on their little motor boats had to come in a clear it out...what activity on the Grand Canal. Geez! We walked around for like 5 hours from one of town to the next and back...my poor feet!  It was really neat to get to see everything.  OH...what the?  Pigeons in MASSES eating food off of people who actually PAID to have that happen. I've never seen so many fiesty pigeons in MY LIFE especially in one lump.  We were all waiting to get crapped on--nice huh?  I swore though if it was me, the pigeon that did it would have died! LOL.   We all came out of the pigeon masses clean.  On our way home, we missed the train we were supposed to get on, cuz that was on strike too...was late for our connecting train--but that train hadn't left yet, so we made it and then instead of leaving at 5p.m. and getting home around 8:30, we left at who knows what time and got home at 11p.m.  After a fun yet exhausting day, I ran home, changed and then met Jeff to go to Meg's 21st birthday party at some club.  HOLY DRUNK PEOPLE.  Geez, we got there a lot too late.  Everyone had already had too much to drink--I would too if I had been there on time and paid 15 Euro for all you can drink in 3 hours...I did pay 15 Euro and I drank...but c'mon, I may be a lush and whatever, but I can't drink myself stupid in an hour.  But it was kind of fun to be able to order a bottle of champagne that would cost 15 euro alone and drink it.  WOW.  Too many people throwing and being the dumb drunk american's we were sort of told not to be.  You'll all be glad to know I was not that dumb drunk american...I was the not so drunk yet no so sober american helping everyone of my friends into taxis so that they could get home. OY VEY.  I needed a drink after that one!

Saturday morning after going to bed at 4 a.m. and being up almost 23 hours, got up and met Sarah L.(my roomie for next fall) and her friends at the train station!  We had a good day--we walked around town and shopped--I didn't buy a thing, crap.  I took a lovely nap later in the day, then we went to dinner around 9...we had a really GOOD meal.  I don't have a freakin' clue what I ate...I mean I do, pasta and chicken...but I don't know what I ordered exactly.  I ate it anyways, sauce and all. BLEH. We all had wine...Sarah and I split a bottle of Carantino or something, it was sparkling white wine and REALLY GOOD.  We were all a little toasty after dinner.  We didn't get out of dinner until 12:30...CRAZY!  We grabbed a taxi to the club by my apartment and went dancing til 3 a.m.!  Man, I love hip hop...I felt right at home! LOL.  We had good night!  This morning however...I'm a little tired and my feet hurt--oh well!

Ah...as for the subject of my journal today.  I do hate Cupid, stupid.  Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, or as Sarah's friend Meagan likes to put it "Single Awareness Day." Seriously, it's just another reminder that we're all single.  Eh, whatever...life is good and who cares(I mean I do care...but really, I'm having too much fun to care really).  Tomorrow is also monday and we all know what that means...Pizza and Gelato with Liz and the boys!! :) YEAH!  We're also meeting up with the rest of our roommates after their class and we're going to see Meet The Fockers at the movie theater.  I've already seen it, but it's so freakin' funny!!  Should be a good night...we all have our "dates" and let's be honest:  Valentine's Day=chocolate is a vegetable, therefore, I will be eating lots of chocolate :)  Not that I really need an excuse to eat chocolate or gelato...yum.  I did finally try coconut gelato--it was good but only in small doses.  I don't really have a Valentine this year...let's face it folks, every year sinceoh I don't know, 1985(I was born after V-day for all those on the short bus today! :)  )  I have had the best Valentine EVER because I got cards and chocolate covered marshmellows from Fannie May...yeah, my daddy is my Valentine!(sorry Mom...but you're off the list! haha).  Too  bad this year I won't get my chocolate covered marshmellows--ah, more gelato for me!

Ok, I'm off to do homework and read really boring stuff on some Saint that I really don't understand. 

CIAO CIAO

 

And it's Thursday!

HooHah...I finally got to take a shower yesterday at Madeline's and it was nice and HOT!  They supposedly fixed our heat and water today, but none of us are brave enough to try the shower!  It's official: Venice tomorrow! I'm super excited about the 6 AM train we're taking...nice.  It should be fun, so I'll let you know!  I don't have much else to say as of right now...so I decided to "sing" you a little song instead.  This song is totally amusing kind of reminds me of my first few days here...on some strange warped level...and I have Grandpa Irv to thank for knowing it at all! :)  Here goes:

Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah. Here I am at Camp Granada. Camp is very entertaining and they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining. I went hiking with Joe Spivey, he developed poison ivy.  You remember Leonard Skinner he got tomay(?) poisoning last night after dinner.  All the counselors hate the waiters, and the lake has alligators, and the head coach, wants no sissies, so he reads to us from something called Ulysses.  Now I don't want this should scare ya, but my bunkmate has malaria.  You remember Jeffrey Hardy...they're about to organize a searching party.  Take me home, oh muddah, faddah take me home.  I hate Granada don't leave me out in the forest where I might get eaten by a bear. Take me home, I promise I will not make noise or mess the house with other boys.  Oh please don't make me stay, I've been here one whole day...Dearest Faddah, darling Muddah, how's my precious little bruddah? Let me come home if you miss me, I would even let aunt bertha hug and kiss me.  Wait a minute, it stopped hailing.  Guys are swimming, Guys are sailing.  Playing baseball, gee that's betta...Muddah, Faddah kindly disregard this letta!

ALL MY LOVE...CIAO BELLAS!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Ok...more pictures have been added, and captions have been put up. So enjoy!

Let's start with this...after a wonderful weekend in Rome and a steamy shower sunday night, Via de Porcellana #8 no longer has any hot water...or heat.  Literally.  I know I bitch about it being cold here, but our heat it literally out.  They're trying to find someone to come and fix it--maybe tomorrow morning they said.  Needless to say that the 5 of us have not showered since Sunday...and we're starting to smell kinda funky!  We've had plenty of offers from people to shower at their place...but it's just to far and we think we'll wait one more day...maybe not.  But DAMN it was cold last night.  I had multiple layers and it was ICE.  

Pizza monday night with liz and the boys was great as usual...for some reason the pizza place has like laughing gas in it--either that or liz is just a blonde.  Sometimes I swear she doesn't think before she speaks, but MAN it's FUNNY! (love ya lizzie!)  
Tonight we are going back to our little restaurant, Trattoria Sostanza, that's across the street from our apartment...yeah!  It'll be yummy!  Tomorrow night we're going for mexican with Madeline, WOOHOO. Chips and salsa...delish!
As for going out this weekend...Jeff is currently 0 for 2 as far as finding clubs that exist, so we'll see!  Friday is possibly our trip to Venice, which will be exciting.
Friday is this girl Meg's 21st birthday, so we're all going out to celebrate...but I won't drink TOO much because saturday morning my FAVORITE roomie for next year who's in Paderno del Grappa in coming in for the weekend!! YEAH I <3 Sarah L...sasha Kaun, what's up???

I'll keep y'all posted...all my love.
Ciao

Update...

My pictures from my fabulous weekend in Rome are up!  I made a new album...so enjoy!

Rome!

When in Rome...do as the Romans do! I never actually understood that statement, but whatever.  This weekend was absolutely FABULOUS! Let's start from the beginning...

Thursday night my roommates, Jeff(Kevin was busy), our teacher Madeline and I all went out to celebrate our 3 weeks anniversary together here in Firenze.  We started off at our favorite little Irish pub around the corner...the night only got better from there!  Long story short, we all got pretty drunk(except for Jeff the miraculous wonder who can drink til the co

ws come home, doesn't get drunk or hungover).  Madeline drunk...OH MY.  After our pub Jeff attempted to take us to this "club" which he had no idea where it was...or if it even existed, which it didn't, so we ended up at the mexican restaurant for drinks and had chips and salsa(so good when you're drunk).  At about 3 I finally went to bed, had to get up to go to Rome the next morning...WOAH HANGOVER.  Actually, it wasn't too bad, but the two margaritas that were fabulous going down are never good the next morning. Tequila's funny like that.   So on the bus I got some definite nap time in.  Friday...

Friday was a really really long day, but fun.  When we got to Rome (after a nauseating bus ride) we went straight to the Galleria Borghese and looked at all kinds of statues and paintings...cool.  Friday night some of us went to Alfredo's (thanks parentals for the recommendation) and had the best fettucini alfredo ever originally invented(not that I can compare, I had never had it anywhere else before). BUT, it was GREAT.

Saturday morning we got up at the crack of dawn and stood in line for the Vatican.  After about an hour and a half, which wasn't bad apparently, we got to go see everything inside.  It was really neat to be inside the Vatican...all of the paintings and sculptures were really impressive. However, when we got to the Sistine Chapel, I was slightly disappointed.  I guess I was just expecting to walk in and be amazed.  I walked in and sort of went, you've seen one fresco, you've seen em all.  Don't get me wrong, it was really cool--I just guess I expected more from it.  After that, we had a break and ate lunch, then went to St. Peter's Basilica. Now THAT was amazing!  EVERY single thing in that church was made of stone.  The paintings that were originally there were taken down and mosaic-ed and it was amazing.  Everything in there was HUGE--like to the point where you cannot even begin to imagine the size of how big things actually were.  CRAZY. I loved it!  After that we had another break--a bit of naptime, then a walking tour of Rome. Nothing terribly special...we were all beat!  Saturday night (my roommate) Sarah and this girl Lindsey and I went to dinner in the little square where our hotel--which I forgot to mention was cute, it's one of the oldest hotels in Rome, or Italy, I forget--anyways.  Dinner was really good.  The three of us sat talking forever, then came back to the hotel and talked for like 2 hours.  It was cool to spend time getting to really know lindsey, because I hadn't really before last night.  This morning we woke up, packed our bags and stored them, then went to the Jewish Ghetto Quarter of Rome, the Roman Ruins(phenominal!) and the Coloseum!  It was really cool.  After the Coloseum some of us went to the Spanish Steps and the Trevie Fountain.  The Fountain was so COOL!(totally reminds me of Gidget Goes to Rome...but that's another story...) I made a wish and threw a coin in the fountain...so if my wish comes true, I will tell you what I wished for, but not beforehand otherwise it won't come true!  Then we got back on the bus around 3 and headed back to Firenze.  The busride was again NAUSEATING...I almost threw up, not like you really wanted to know that, but it was weird because I'm not one to get motion sickness so who knows?!? 

I had a great weekend in Rome!  I have about a bazilion pictures that I will post on my website in the next few days!

I'm EXHAUSTED...so I'm off to find dinner, shower, maybe a nap...then since we don't have class until 2p.m. tomorrow, we're going to this bar to watch some of the superbowl that doesn't start til 1a.m. here!  WOW...what a WEEKEND!

(in the words of Jeff): CIAO BELLAS!

We Have Nothing to Fear...

But Fear itself...

WOW! 436 is definitely the magic number, and that last 10 really did it for me! Yes, there are 436 steps from the bottom of the Duomo to the top.  Aside from the fact that you're caged in between two walls about 4 feet from each other, the steps will kill ya!  Actually, it didn't take too long to go up, but man, 436 stairs is definitely my exercise for the day...wait, the week. (Britney would be super proud!)  I stopped right before the last 10, because I needed to catch my breath(again) and beside I had to psych myself out for the view(for those "uninformed" I'm terribly afraid of heights).  I walked outside and the view was AMAZING!  You can see the entire city, and then some.  I didn't stand too close to the edge though--kinda just a little creeped me out.  BUT...I MADE IT! I survived, and I am so happy that I did it!  I have pictures coming soon on that one.  Afterwards, we had some time to walk around, and my legs were shaking terribly, but they're stable now! :)

Last night we went to dinner at the Sprecklemeyer's apartment(our professors) and had a really nice meal!  They had like an anti-pasto, pasta and spinach, and for dinner chicken catchatorri(yeah, definitely don't know how to spell that!) It was good. It was fun to sit around and all talk and get to know our professors a little better.

I'm EXHAUSTED!  After climbing the Duomo, we had our site visit to the Uffizi Musuem.  It was so cool to look at all of the paintings and learn about them and stuff...but it got to the point of crankiness(me? right, I know...unimaginable) because we were all tired, and there were ALL KINDS of crowds pushing their way through--I was tempted to slap some! hehe, just kidding.  The Uffizi is HUGE...lots of walking.

Change of subject, change of color: HAPPY 21st KRIS!  A toast for my best friend's birthday(which only she will truly get): Here's to you, here's to me. Friends forever we shall be, but if we ever disagree--(*edit*)screw you...HERE'S to me!  Have a freakin' fabulous time tonight...wish I could be there! :)

Anywho, I'm going home to eat dinner and attempt some homework and definitely take a long nap(aka a night of sleep!)

CIAO CIAO

MUCK FIZZOU

ROCKCHALK JAYHAWK!!! We beat Misery 73-61!  HAHA GO HAWKS!

Ok, so I finally got pictures on shutterfly.com, but I'm pretty sure you can only view them if I have emailed the link to share my album with you...I sent it out, but if you didn't get that email and want it--email me and let me know!!  

Last night was so much fun!  Liz and I had our usual "date" for Monday night pizza and gelato, and Kevin and Jeff came along. It was lots of fun!  Then after we had dinner, I wrote my horrible European Studies paper...then at 1030 we went to see Donnie Darko at the movie theater that plays English movies!  I wasn't totally impressed with the movie, but it was still fun to go!  All month of February they are playing really good movies...so I'm excited!
Tonight we have dinner at our Professor's apartment...it's my apartment and the two guys...should be fun!  Tomorrow is our big big day: we are climbing over 400 steps to the top of the Duomo.  WOW...that's a lot of darn stairs.  If I survive the climb, my trainer Britney would be very proud! and I will write back and tell you all about it...and if I don't survive, well, I won't write back!  More later...time to go walk around a bit and take a nap!(oh how I LOVE nap time!)
CIAO CIAO

Some random thoughts...

Ok, first things first: Let me just say GO HAWKS! Congrats on the 90-65 victory over Texas saturday night!  Tonight is KU v. Misery(aka Mizzou) MUCK FIZZOU...let's definitely eat tiger for dinner and LOVE IT!

Secondly--my weekend kind of blew...except of course for saturday night's dinner, which I have to say I never thought I'd be so excited about: McDonalds! man, it was sooo tasty! yum...

Today we had class...woohoo. Nothing special.  However, we had to read Seneca: Letters from a Stoic and let's just say my mom's voice was in my head the entire time after I read the sentence in his book: Treat others how you want to be treated. (man, she thought she was SOOOO clever making that one up on her own! haha).  Scary huh?  I thought my mom was smart and made that up--guess not! (just kidding--she's smart...she made me think it was her own idea for all those years!)

Tonight is monday night pizza and gelato with Liz while the rest of the roomies are going to their cooking class...yeah! The boys are coming with tonight(oh joy, Jeff is coming--I may not go! :) )But man, gelato is so yummy!

Anyways...I'm totally and completely procrastinating writing my European Studies paper that is due tomorrow...I don't wanna write it!  So I'm off to attempt to do the darn thing so I can enjoy going out tonight!

Ciao!

 

I miss heat

Yeah...no comments from the peanut gallery on the fact that I'm listening to Gretchen Wilson.  I don't listen to country music,  what are you talking about?!?!? 

Not really much else to say so far--just thought I'd throw in a hello to everyone.  This morning we went to the market and then we came home, I started homework--oh joy with the fun I'm having doing this homework!  I swear, torture is really fun for all professors. :)  It's all good...

Ok, so this heat thing.  I swear until my dad looked at the weather online, thought it couldn't possibly be that cold here...it's like 10 below in Illinois, I can't possibly be upset that I'm missing it!  Well, let's just point out the fact that it might be warmer here...but I have no heat! (well, European heat I have...) I really just wish I could sit at home snuggled in front of the fireplace, with my doggies, drinking hot cocoa that's not thicker than molasses!(even though it was good!)  Oh well, I guess it's one of those "life lesson" things I'm supposed to be learning! haha...

Ciao for now!

Holy Snowflakes Batman!

Last night, 3 of my roommates and I went to this adorable little trattoria literally across the street from our apartment!  Our teacher had recommended it and said it was supposed to be very good...so we went, and it was delicious!  The food was amazing...not to mention the breadsticks rocked! :)  I had soup a filet mignon--really really tasty, though the steak was a little undercooked for my liking.  The people there were so nice to us, and we just had a great meal(however, it was like 30 euro a person!...we ate a lot!)  Afterwards, Liz really wanted gelato--so at 10 p.m. on a thursday night, we decided to roam the town to find a gelateria that was open...we finally found one and we were all soooo happy!  I had chocolate, of course, and also mint...what a fantabulous mix! :)

This morning we all had to get up at the crack of dawn(6:15 a.m. to be exact) to shower and get ready for our day trip to Siena.  The bus ride wasn't too bad...only about an hour and I listened to music the whole time and tried to get a mini-nap in.  Once we got there, there was this odd white flakey stuff coming down and it was wet and cold...oh wait a minute, it was SNOW!  I had forgotten what that stuff looked like!  It was really freazing out all day but we toughed it out.  Towards the end it sucked because not only were my shoes soaking wet, but so were my socks and my jeans were soaked mid-way up my calves!  Let's just say I my feet were froze, my nose was froze...and I just wanted to go home! haha, it was a good day though!  We also got to taste these really good cookies that our teacher Madeleine said were really delicious--they are like an almond cookie that was crunchie on the outside and a little more "raw" on the inside, covered in powdered sugar.  My expert "sugar" tasting tongue decided it was definitely worth it and really good! I forget what they are called...but maybe my mom can learn to make them! (haha, they start with an r...who knows!)  We came back home...and now I'm sitting here.  Lots of fun!

Tomorrow may or may not be a trip with the boys/roomies to Cinque Terre...we're deciding on the weather, it's FRICKIN' Freezing here!  Anyways...back home to attempt to be warm and watch MTV in Italian all night! Ciao!

Black Wednesday

Ok, so the picture thing didn't exactly work out...I'll figure it out and get back to you.

Well, yesterday was probably the most interesting day since I've arrived in Europe.  Nothing like a trip to Florence without a visit to the local emergency room...leave it to me to make sure my visit is complete.  Yesterday started out pretty normal--got up, went to class.  This girl Meg got up at some point because she wasn't feeling well and fainted.  She went out of the room to recoop...fainted again.  She's feeling better...but the day just got worse.  After class I went about my day as usual, had lunch...went to the Accademia for our Art History site visit.  20 minutes into it Jeff disappeared, 30 seconds after that...SPLAT.  He fell to the ground.  So much for class.  The museum people called the ambulance and what not.  While we were all waiting for the ambulance to arrive, I sat down because I was getting a major headache.  Slowly and surely, I had what was my very first blackout.  The emt's came and Jeff and I ended up in the emergency to get checked out.  I don't speak Italian--at all, but I'm guessing mine was a simple(ha) case of dehydration.  I had an IV of who knows what, and I was in the hospital for 3 hours. OH JOY.  I'm fine now...today I feel weak and tired, but I am getting better.  I ended up not going to class however, because I was afraid 3 hours of walking around was not a good idea...especially with this weekend coming up.  I slept most of the morning, and now I'm just taking it slow.  But man...THAT WAS WEIRD.  I don't care for hospitals much.  Don't worry though...I am doing alright, I just needed some water and some rest. 

Tonight, depending on how I feel, some of us might go to this movie theater where they play english movies like once a week or so and tonight it's RAY with Jamie Foxx...I heard it was a great movie, so I'd like to see it. 

Tomorrow is our day trip to Siena/San Gimignano.  I'm looking forward to it, but we have to be at the train station at 7:45 A.M.!!!  Way to early for me.  hehe. Looks like our trip to Venice is out...we had trouble booking a hotel, not to mention that currently, the town is flooded.  Oops--looks like we forgot our flood boots to walk in knee-deep water!  Oh well, we'll save it for another weekend.  We're looking into doing a day trip type thing somewhere saturday instead...who knows. 

Anyhow...I'm on my way back home to uh, do nothing.  Ciao!

I have Pictures!

Alright Everyone!  I have finally figured out how to get pictures to you all!  Just go to

http://www.snapfish.com/photolibrary/t_=16700893

copy and paste that into the server...and click on the Florence, Italy photo album!
Let me know if you guys have problems...but I'm pretty sure this will work!
Ciao

Week 2

ok, so it's the beginning of week two...and far it's gone off without a hitch.  Sunday was boring, yesterday was little more exciting.  I had class(oh big joy!) and we went to Santa Croce(a church) for our Art History site visit.  It was pretty neat...not as exciting though because a lot of the things were blocked off and covered up because of restoration things they are working on--so we only got to see about half of the things Madeleine really wanted to show us.  It was still interesting...I got in just enough pictures before my camera decided to take a nap and eat the batteries for good :)  (Side note:  I know everyone wants to see pictures, but for some reason this website is not allowing me to put them up from here in Europe so I'm looking into other website options for pictures and will let you know soon!)  Yesterday after our site visit, I came home and read Aristotle like it was going out of season...homework rocks my world. (note the sarcasm).  It's actually pretty interesting, but this reading business has GOT to stop haha.  For dinner yesterday, Liz and I went and got pizza while the rest of our roommates took this cooking class.  I decided not to take the class because let's be honest here folks, I don't need to spend 120 Euro on a class to teach me how to make risoto and stuff that we all know Chef Maureen can teach to me for the small price of me being a pain in her butt! :)  The pizza was good(no Lou Malnati's though...) and afterwards we decided to get Gelato--the chocolate will be the end of me here, it's so good!  We also each got a pastry of some sort with like jelly filling to take home and save for later.  The desserts here look really good, but other than the gelato, surprisingly enough I have not tried them yet! Shocker I know...I have a major sweet tooth!  I promise to get right on top of that.  This morning we had class for 3 hours straight and the rest of the afternoon off...what to do?  There's only so many times you can walk around the city--especially when it's FREEZING here today.  Granted it's no 12 feet of snow that you people are "claiming" to have gotten, haha, but it's still COLD.  Remember: it may be 45 degrees here, but we don't have HEAT!!!  Just thought I'd point that out...again.

This weekend we have our first day trip to Siena/San Giorgmano(?)  on friday.   Saturday I think my roommates and I and probably the guys are going to Venice for the night...but I think we're trying to ditch Jeff, that's what Liz said anyways.  (btw, I know that sounds mean, but he's probably reading this so don't stress about it).  I am really excited about Venice--the gondolas and stuff...how romantic!  Me...and my four roommates. HAHA  I will keep y'all posted on this weekend stuff once the weekend is over.

Now...back to my day because the sales end this week and if I'm going to shop, I might as well do it when I can buy more because everything's ON SALE! 

Ciao!

OK SURVEY(and please don't ask questions, I just want opinions): If you could pick one career for Jaime to have...what would you pick???  Email me back and let me know, or leave comments on this page! GRAZIE!

la pioggia (rain)

It's raining, it's pouring the old man is snoring.  He went to bed and bumped his head...I'm not sure if he's gonna wake up! :)  Today it's cold and rainy and plain old just yucky out.  Which I guess just makes for a nice sunday for us college kids to do homework...oh wait, that was last night!  Friday night was cool--we went to the Irish pub by the guy's place, then to a discotechque by our place.  It was interesting, but I was a little homesick because clubbing is my thing at home and so it was hard to take it all in without my favorite people back home.  Yesterday we woke up and we went to the fresh produce market--which I have to say is amazing!  There's meat and stuff  downstairs and fresh fruits, veggies, and all kinds of other stuff upstairs.  It's really cheap and there's so many choices.  After that Marli and I went to the Penny Market(grocery store) and had lunch nearby.  The sandwiches here are soooo yummy.  I have absolutely no idea what I'm eating most of the time--probably for the best--but the bread is amazing and they have all been really good so far!  Then I had a great day--very exciting:  I sat on my bed and read Plato for class til I was bored stiff...finished the book, then wrote 1 of 2 papers due tomorrow.  The European Studies paper was kind of a breeze...it's a personal journal, but we have to talk about certain landmarks and things.  Then I read my John Grisham book til I fell asleep around midnight...

I woke up this morning, showered...and wrote my western civ paper.  That one took a little more effort, but it's all good.  I decided I couldn't let myself get to the computer until I was done writing it, in pen and fully complete. (all of our stuff is hand written here, so it takes a little longer...)  Then I ran into Liz at the internet train and since it was full, we went and got the richest, thickest hot chocolate anyone will ever attempt to drink.  It was so delicious though!  Now we are back at the internet train for a bit...then back home to read like 80 pages for European Studies.  Not that I'm complaining...but that's just a LOT of reading. oh well :)

Not much else to say for this weekend...it was ok.  It's strange to think that we've been here for over a week.  It seems like so much longer, because we've done so much.  It'll be really interesting to see how the next 5 weeks go, because if they're anything like this week...it'll be packed with stuff to do.  I am definitely hoping that this feeling of missing home will go away though.  Not that I don't want to miss home, but it definitely makes things a little harder here.  don't get me wrong, Firenze is awesome...but I miss all y'all(my y'all for all my L-Town people) back home!  Va Bene!

Ciao

A shopper's paradise

Ciao! and happy friday!  I have officially had one week of classes...and yesterday was full of adventure!  We didn't really have class, we had our two site excursions to the Piazza's and to the Synagogue.  Afterwards, Liz, Marli, Nicole, Jeff and I went and took the bus to Fiesole.  It is a town in the top of the mountains here, and the view is undescribable.  From where we were standing, you could see the entire city of Firenze, and then some!  It was really neat to see it all and to be with my friends.  We had a great time!  I was talking to Jeff on the bus, and he doesn't know what he's up to for break, neither does his roommate Kevin, and my roommate Nicole doesn't know...but there's potential for a trip to Greece! (How cool!)  After we got back, my roommates and I went to dinner at a little restaurant near our apartment, then went to the pub again since we didn't have class today.  Sarah and I left early because we were tired...but it was a fun evening!  Today I got to sleep in...something I haven't done in a long time! (For all of you "non-believers" in that statement, I'm up every morning at 7:30 to get ready for class so shhhh!).  Then I went and grabbed a sandwich at a snack shop, which was really really good--though I have very little clue what was on it--and walked through the market and bought that cute purse I wanted! yeah :)  I'm a happy camper!  Then I walked through town and went to the Ponte Vecchio and drooled at all the jewelry in the windows--that's where all of the gold is, wow--amazing!  I started to head back and went through another market area and bought a REAL cashmere Pashmina in a very pretty periwinkle-ish color for only 15 Euro!!  For anyone at home knows that real pashmina's are like $100!  That made me happy!  I did not however, like some parents of mine would like to convince me of, buy or attempt to buy a leather coat. (however...and if you say I told you so, we're in a fight...the idea is starting to grow on me).  :)  It's all in good fun.  The markets here are amazing...there are so many little kiosks and so many things you can buy...oy, I'm a shopaholic in Woodfield...I think I may have issues here because everything is great! 

Tonight my roomies and I and the boys(of course) are going to some hip-hop club that is free entry for international students.  Yeah, I know...I'm in Italy and going to a hip hop club, but it should be fun!  I do think that going will make me really start to miss my friends back home and all the fun we had going to the bars...especially when Kris and I attempted to teach Phil how to dance haha!  Other than that, the word of the trip is "scuzi".  Not just to say it...it has to be very attitudey!  Don't know why it's the word, but it's the word.  Oh, and yesterday at lunch, the rest of my roommates declared the boys as "ours" for the rest of the trip!  haha...They got invited to some jazz club with some of the other girls, and we were all like, um "scuzi" but we didn't say you could hang out with other people! haha(it's not a serious thing, but they are "ours"!  (evil laughing)hahahahahahaha.

Ciao!

It's Been One Week...

So as of today, I've officially been in Florence for 1 week.  Amazing isn't it?  How fast time flies, yet seems to go really really slow at the same time?  Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying it here, but sometimes things just go really slow and I wish they didn't.  
Today we didn't exactly have "class" we had our two site excursions for Western Civ and European Studies.  We went to all of the different piazza's (squares) today for European Studies and walked to Oltrarno.  Florence is divided into 4 sections, West, East, North, and Oltrarno.  Oltrarno is across any of the bridges from W, E, or N Florence.  It is the less "developed" side so-to-speak and has a completely different feel to it.  It was cool to see the other side of Florence.  After that we walked across Ponte Vecchio--which for those that don't know, is the bridge that has all the gold shops on it...wooooo I wanna shop! haha.  It's actually pretty cool to know that above the shops on one side is a corridor that one of the Medici rulers had built so he didn't have to walk across the bridge and be around at the time what was butchers and factory type shops.  The reason the bridge is now all gold shops is because the Medici ruler did not want the noise...so he ordered that any vendors that were in there had to be gold shops so it was quiet.  (and fun to look at!)  
We also went to the synagogue that is here in town today.  It is actually really big, and on the inside the walls are beautiful.  It is an Orthodox Synagogue, and it has a seperate division for the women who come to pray which they have to sit behind.  It was really interesting to see because I don't think I've been in an Orthodox Temple before.  The woman that worked there gave us a mini-info session on the history of Jews in Florence, and how the synagogue came to be built and the architectural influences that had been used.  It's kind of funny to think that the Catholic Church was a major influence in building a Jewish Temple!  (there were 3 architects, 1 Jewish, 2 Roman Catholic).  
This afternoon we have a wrap-up session for classes, then we have the rest of the weekend free!!  It's lots of fun to know we have 3 day weekends every week!  It's kind of the group consensus that KU should have classes like that back in Lawrence!  
I'm not sure what exactly I'm up to this weekend...maybe exploring some more around here.  I still don't know my way around very well, so maybe I'll get lost and try and figure it all out...who knows?!?!?  I do know that I will do some shopping this weekend...there are so many things I want to buy...but we'll see!  Ciao!

We've Been Cursed!

Alright, so far the weather has been cold, but fairly do-able. That is until Monday when Madeline, our Art History GTA(graduate teaching assistant), said of the "cold weather complaints" ..."well at least it's not raining, because usually it is this time of year here." WOW! What a curse?!?!?  As of yesterday is been drizzling, but nonstop and it makes for chilly weather worse!  The rain just sucks because well, rain just isn't fun when you have to walk everywhere...except for last night when I kind of did this leap-skip thing in the street cuz I felt like "dancing in the rain." yeah, so that's another story. 
Last night we had this Mixer at ACCENT for all of their study abroad students to meet each other and whatnot.  It was cool, we met some people from TCU(Texas Christian University...which we totally BEAT in basketball earlier this year, woohoo GO HAWKS!).  It was nice to mingle with the people I already know on my trip haha...everyone kind of stuck to their crowd at first, but after awhile it got better.  I pretty much talked to Jeff and Sarah the whole time(Jeff is one of 2 guys on our program and Sarah is 1 roomie).  Afterward the mixer my roommates and I, Jeff and Kevin(the 2 guys) decided to go to this pub that's right around the corner from my apartment.  It was kind of fun to go have a drink and sit and chat with everyone and get to know the boys since we haven't really talked to them. (yes, we all had a drink on a school night! but you would SHOCKED at how PACKED the pub was at 11p.m. on a TUESDAY night).  Let me tell you though how much FUN we had!!  The 7 of us really just had a blast.  I have a nickname now(aside from the misfit title I got on the first day for being late to class).  Jeff told Liz(my roommate) that she was his new best friend on the trip and so I pretended to be offended and said I thought I was since we were late to class together! and he pretty much told me(with pure sarcasm) oh well, you're sooo cool that you're past the best friend title...you're like a symbol now, like Prince. (and since I got him a 7-up at the mixer when I got my drink) he goes, like the 7-up...you're a dot!  Ok, dottie it is! (I guess you had to be there...but it's still sort of amusing! :) Him and Kevin are really awesome, but we feel bad for them since it's just the two of them...all the time...alone because they live together, eat together and sleep in the same room.  Human interaction is at a minimum for them aside from class, so apartment 8 on via de porcellana(our apartment) has kindly taken them in as our "friends".  The quotes are for the fact that the 5 of us joke that the only reason we want to be their friends is because they can be our escorts when we want to go out later at night and having males with us is a smart idea blah blah blah.  (It's not(totally) true! haha, no, they're really great guys!) 

Today we had class and it's cold and rainy again.  Though we think there's a ghost of some sort in our classroom because the doors and windows kept opening on their own every few minutes...CREEPY. :)  This afternoon at 2 we are going to visit the Palazzo Vecchio for our Art History site visit...I'm sure I will more on that later!

Other than that...I have one more thing to comment on:  People tell me I will love coming here, but it will make me appreciate the things I have at home so much more afterwards.  Let me tell you this:  I've been here a week and I already 100% appreciate so much more 3 things:  My pillow back home(the one here is flat as a pancake!), my fleece jacket that is warm and cozy, and last, but not least...in fact, it's first: HEAT!!  Central heating is an unknown modern technology Europeans for some reason refuse to acquire.  Staying warm means 12 layers and lots of winter gear that for me...is sitting nicely tucked away somewhere at home! It's ok though, it's not terrible.  It just makes me really miss having heat. 

Lots of Love!

Ciao Bella!