Interlaken, Switzerland

Whelp. I have the answer. The answer to what I'm sure will be the question I will get the most when I return home. (I'm trying not to think about how soon that really is) And that question would be, "What was your favorite place you visited?" And the answer..."INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND!" It is the most beautiful place I've been and I did the coolest thing I've ever done. More on that later...

The past week in Verona has been lovely. Just lovely. I didn't fully appreciate Verona until spring time. Katie and I went to Piazza Erbe a couple of times and just sat and enjoyed. Usually accompanied by a sandwich, or a gelato, or a maybe a spritz. Our first test was the first assignment that was like what I'm used to. I am in for a rude awakening this fall.

After class on Thursday we headed off to Switzerland. The trains were easy, on time, and comfortable. When we arrived in Interlaken, we were all in awe of how beautiful this town was. That lake is the bluest water I've ever seen. The rolling hills are greener than anything else. And add in the springtime flowers and colors. It was perfection. I didn't sleep well Thursday night because I kept thinking about what I had to do in the morning. I had to sign up to go skydiving. Ok, I didn't have to, but I had wanted to for a very long time. And I looked at it as training for the Amazing Race. I woke up, signed up, kept my ticket for a free beer afterwards (in a safe place, duh), and got ready. We were supposed to leave at 8:30. At breakfast, I was the only one of the six of us going. We had exchanged phone numbers so I could meet up with them afterwards. Then when the guide got there to take my group to the airfield, two more decided they wanted to do it too. So with half of us skydiving, the other half wanted to come watch. Then on the ride there, one more decided she was going to give it whirl. As we were gearing up, one more decides to take the plunge. Katie Hardaway was the only one not doing it. Well, we convinced her. Just kidding. She took the pictures. As poorly as I had slept the night before, I wasn't nervous at all watching everyone else go. I wasn't even nervous until right before we were to jump. But the whole process of getting out of the plane went so fast, I didn't have time to dwell on what I was about to do. And it was incredible. It was by far the coolest thing I've ever done and may ever do. There is no feeling like it. We all loved it! And we have pictures and videos to prove it!

After our amazing morning, we rented bikes to explore the town. We rode down by the lake and just had a cruising afternoon. That evening we went to a chocolate show at Shuh chocolate. And we tasted some (and by some I mean a ridiculous amount of) divine Swiss chocolate. We hung out at our hostel, which has the best bar in all of Interlaken, for the rest of the night.

Saturday morning we let ourselves sleep in a little. It was cold and rainy and we were worried we wouldn't be able to go canyoning. We grabbed lunch, walked around town, and even saw a bhaliwood (we think) music video being filmed. We were so cold from the rain that we were considering ditching canyoning. But we stuck to the plan and I'm glad we did. For all you folk that don't know what canyoning is, go to YouTube, type in "Canyoning Interlaken" and watch the first video. And for you that aren't YouTube savvy, canyoning here is going through a glacier river (wetsuit, lifejacket, and helmet of course), and traversing through it. It includes rappelling, jumping off cliffs, taking a rope swing, and sliding down rocks. We were the first group of the entire season so we go to open the canyon up for canyoning! I thought it was scarier than skydiving. I wasn't mad about the way our guides looked either.

It was the best way to end my semester abroad and I loved everything about Interlaken. I could spend a week there and will hopefully get the chance to one day. Side Note: For anyone studying abroad in Europe, you must go here! Hint hint, K!

The Cinque Terre and Mom's Visit!

Now that I was home in Verona, it was Kate's turn to try her luck with European airports and get to Verona. Well, she made it! Almost perfectly. A slight delay from Paris into Verona and she was here! I showed her all around Verona, we got Spritzes in Erbe, and ate a great meal outside next to the Old Roman Gateway into the city. We had planned to visit the Cinque Terre and leave early Friday morning, but because we had missed class earlier in the week, we needed to have a makeup class Friday. So, Mom and I headed out after class let out to the Cinque Terre! We had an extremely easy trip and when we arrived in Monterosso, it felt like no one was in town. We think it was because of the rain, though. We checked into our fabulous hotel and found a great family-run restaurant for dinner. We had the best bruschetta we've both ever tasted. The tomatoes were unlike any others we've ever had.
Saturday was hiking day. We ate breakfast out on the patio of our hotel overlooking the ocean (yes, we realized here how spoiled we were) and then headed to the trail. It turned slightly overcast so it was nice and cool for the toughest part of the hike. We saw a bunch of older people and wondered how they were possibly doing the hike. Oh. And we also saw a cat on a leash...

The first town we came to was Vernazza. The path wound us down through town and was beautiful. It was starting to drizzle so we took a break and had lunch. The Cinque is known for their fresh pesto, so we tried that out. It was also delicious. We almost headed home because of the rain, but it eased up and we ventured on. It didn't rain the rest of the day!
Another tough hike to town #3, Corniglia. Now the sun was shinning bright! Corniglia was our orange soda town as we sat and took in the scenery. Manarola was an easy trek and that was our Gelato town (see the pattern yet?). We wandered around a lot before finding the next trail. It was the easiest and most crowded. It was on this trail that we saw the same cat that was on a leash, now being carried (like a baby) in a cat carrier...
We had to walk quickly through the last town, Riomaggiore, to make the last boat of the day. We decided to boat it back instead of train it for the scenery. After we got back to Monterosso, it was time for a well deserved beer.
We went back to our wonderful hotel to get ready for dinner and check train schedules for the next day. Friday night we had found local cuisine and Saturday night we found our fine dinning! Mom had a steak, I had sea bass ravioli, and we may or may not have split french fries. We also tried the Cinque Terre wine and dessert. I had chocolate mouse that rivals my favorite dessert ever, warm chocolate cake. Sunday morning we took our time eating breakfast, once again on the patio, did some last souvenir shopping, and headed to the train station.

I have really enjoyed the time I've been able to share with my Mom. We are good explorers together and when we checked out of our hotel we said, "We'll be back!" I am so happy she decided to come over and see my home away from home, Verona, and that we were able to go someplace neither one of us had ever been. I will the miss the fine dining...

Barcelona, Spain

I've been putting this blog post off for too long now. It's time to just sit down and write it all down. Barcelona is a really cool, vibrant city, with something always happening. Kari and I decided that we will move to Barcelona when we get bored in the states. We did the whole spanish thing. We stayed out all night and watched the sun rise. It was on Saturday when we woke up and realized our flight the next day had been cancelled. If you don't know why, then you obviously live under a rock and didn't hear about the massive volcano that erupted and closed just about every airport in Europe. We hadn't realized how bad the volcano was. Northern Italy airports were closed. So, we were stuck in Spain. At first, I didn't mind that. But as our options of getting home to Verona were dwindling, I did not enjoy figuring out how to get home. Cameron and Brooke booked a flight to Rome and then on to Verona and when I went to do it, the Verona airport had been closed so I wasn't able to book it. Trains in France happened to go on strike so getting to Italy that way was no longer an option. Then trains in Spain went on strike. We looked into taking a boat. The boat to Genoa, Italy broke down. Really? Was all this actually happening. We went ahead and booked a boat to Rome and decided we could get home to Verona from there somehow. The only problem, we didn't know what this 'ferry' was going to be like and oh yeah, it took 18 hours on a boat. Learning that Italian airports were to open Monday morning, I booked a flight to Milan. As I was at the ticket counter checking in, they closed Milan. I knew of another flight directly into Verona, so I ran, literally ran to the other side of the airport to see if I could get on. I couldn't-the bag I had to check wouldn't have made it in time. So I ran back to the other side of the airport (yes, running again) to see if I could get something-anything. I did not want to be on a boat for 18 hours. I bought a ticket to Rome and then into Verona. Not too bad. Waiting at my gate, I watched the other flight that I had tried to get on get cancelled. So I knew then that the Verona airport had closed and I would be training it up to Verona from Rome. Easy. Or so I thought. After Alitalia 'Misplaced' my bag, I headed to the train station. Only to learn that all the trains to Verona were sold out. I was forced to take regional trains all the way and get into Verona at 12 AM. I could handle that. My first train I was not guaranteed a seat and I stood (with a nun) in between cars for two hours. I made it though. All of my trains were late and I ran through almost every train station to make my connecting train. I was on my way to Prato (from Florence) to connect to Bologna to get to Verona. My train to Prato was so delayed that I didn't get into the station in time to catch my train to Bologna that would allow me to get home to Verona that night. Thankfully, there was a train to Bologna later that night because after being told by a random I should just hop on a bus and watching a cross dresser stroll through the Prato train station, I knew Bologna was way bigger and safer. After learning I wasn't going to make it home that night, I had a mild breakdown. But thanks to my credit card ('preciate it Seany), I checked into a nice hotel in Bologna. The only thing missing was my plush robe and slippers. But TV in the bathroom, check. I slept in and cruised home to Verona Tuesday morning. I was thankful I wasn't on a boat for 18 hours and then on a train for 12. I managed to be the 3rd person back out of the people that were stuck in various places. I had never been happier to be in Verona!
I did not enjoy the makeup work we all were required to do, but all in all, I survived. And I'm even more confident that Seany and I would kick butt on the Amazing Race. Just need to make the application video...I kind of figured this out before, but this whole situation made my realize I have the best parents around. For reals. (how about that for a shout out)

Valencia, Spain

Sorry this has taken forver...I've just been enjoying Springtime Verona waaay too much!

Have you ever seen those people in the airport carrying their belongings through security because their bag was overweight and they didn't want to pay the charge. That was everyone in our group. We had to stuff our carry-ons to the brim. My checked bag was the only one of the girls that didn't go over. Take that one Claire-I made weight. Our flight was delayed two hours but it went by quickly. We got into Valencia and found some lunch before catching a quick nap. That night we found a nice, authentic Valencian meal. I orderd the rice with lobster only to discover a full lobster came out of the kitchen...That night, it may have been the combo of excessive smoke and loud music, but I was a debbie and went to bed early. The next morning we ventured out to grab lunch before heading to the beach. The beach was beautiful! The sand was the softest and finest I've ever felt and the water was sooo clear. At night, we met up with some UGA people (they have a study abroad program there) and we got tapas and drinks with them. It was so nice to hang out with people from home! They only had a week left and they were telling us that they were excited to go home, but will miss Valencia very much. We had a 7 am bus to Barcelona and it was tough to wake up. We were on the Mercedes Bez of buses though (with wifi!) and we snuggled in and went back to sleep. We just arrived in Barcelona and our hostel is in the middle of town! We're headed out now to explore the town!

Rome

*Sorry for the lack of pictures. Somewhere between moving out of 704 and moving back in, I lost the converter I use to charge my computer with.*

Once we arrived in Rome, Martin told us we were staying at a very nice hotel, and it was, but no Hotel Embassy. We got checked in and had about two hours to relax. While we rested, Martin got us Rome passes that allowed us free admission, discounts, and transportation all over Rome. We never once used public transportaion in Florence and I never once not used it in Rome. A good indication at how different the cities are in terms of size. Martin took us to our first church. We couldn't tour it though because of mass. I guess Martin is not aware of 5 o'clock mass...We went to the steps that Jesus walked up. Tradition is you do them on your knees. There are other steps to get to the top, but I wanted to stick to tradition and went up on my knees. By end, my knees were pretty tired and a little shaky. We then headed over to Mary's church. It is one of my favorite churches so far. The story goes like this. There was a man in Rome who claimed that Mary had come to him and asked him to build her a church. In this dream, he asked her where he should build the church and Mary told him she would let him know. He met with a ruler of Rome who claimed he had the same dream. On August 8th, it snowed in Rome. And only on this one little hill. And that is where they built the church. And every year on August 8th, it snows in Rome on this little hill, with the help of rose petals.

In Rome we met our other teacher for our last block of classes. Jon had met us in Florence. I'm not taking his class, but he is young and hung out with us a little bit. Real nice guy. Archie, who's business ethics class I am taking, met us in Rome with his wife Priscilla. I met Priscilla first and chatted with her and I adore her. They both are very sweet people and I'm looking forward to his class.

That night, we tried out Roman Kebobs and hung out in the hotel before it was time to go out. Everyone did a pub crawl, but Kari, Brooke, Cameron, and I tried out some Italian wine before we went to the downtown of Rome. And I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. We had a great taxi driver who took us around and showed us the sights of Rome at night before dropping us off in what could be mistaken for downtown Athens on a game weekend. It was crazy! We checked out the bars before deciding on yhe Drunken Ship. We met tons of people (it is a lot easier when everyone speaks English...) and I hung out with some great Aussies! It has been decided that Australia will be my next globe-trotting adventure. After the 2012 Olympics in London with Claire...

Sunday morning Martin took us on a walking tour of Rome. We hit all the highlights before arriving in St. Peter's square to receive the Pope's blessing. We received it, via live stream from his summer home...

After, we headed to the Pantheon, where Rafael is burried. After lunch, a much needed Mc-Ds trip for me, we headed over to the Trevi Fountain. AKA...my favorite spot in Rome. Martin, you gotta stick with him (some people still haven't figured this out), bought us gelato once again. I ventured out and instead of my usual chocolate, I got chocolate with raspberry. Good decision. We hung out at the Trevi for a little while and before we knew it was late afternoon. A quick nap and then we headed right back to the Trevi to see it at night. We had planned to eat dinner outside there, but a surprise rain storm ruined that plan. So, we did what any American would do, headed straight to the Hard Rock Cafe.


Monday (how was it already Monday?!) we went to the few places that weren't closed. First was to see Michelangelo's Moses and St. Peter's chains. Then to the colesium. WOW! Is all I have to say about it! We met a couple from TIFTON! (I wast thinking Tifton) We headed to the Roman Forum and Palentine Hill. I wasn't terribly interested in this, and I found it to be a little boring. Sorry Roman Empire. The Spanish steps were up next. I could sit and people watch for hours! Another trip to the Trevi (told you it was my favorite) was a must since we had forgotten to throw a coin in! This is supposed to bring you back to Rome (well, I did return to Rome, but more on that later...) Katie H and I ventured to the "Bone" Church. All the monks of this church were burried under it and then dug up so their bones could be used as decorations in these underground burial sites. It was one of the most unique things I've ever seen. As embarrassed as I am to admitt this, we returned to the Hard Rock for an afternoon snack. We were just too full the night before to order dessert and the peanut butter pie (I know, how typical of me) was calling my name. Another good decision. That night it was ladies night at our Drunken Ship, so why wouldn't we go back?!

Tuesday (again, where does the time go?!) was Vatican Day!Inside, it was more of a museum than I had thought it would be. I enjoyed all the ancient Egypt stuff, even if Martin claims it is all replicas and none of it is real. We toted around, saw Rafaels Stanza room and then on into the Sistene Chapel. Man do they wind you all around that place. Michelangelo's sistene chapel was almost surreal to see in person. I snapped a few photos illegally...St. Peter's was next. Michelangelo's Pieta is in there and it is, too, very impressive. That Mikey... Martin showed us how the woman who jumped the Pope at Christmas did so. She had some good hops because it wasn't an easy jump. We climbed to the top of the dome for a very impressive view. The hike up was pretty intense. We opted to not take the elevator and we were surprised when the part that the elevator took you to was the easiest. Honestly, anyone could have walked it. Even the girl on crutches (Crip as we call her) in our group could have done it. The next part that everyone has to walk was very difficult. It was narrow, slanted at some points, and the spiral staircasses were tiny. We saw a man have a mild heart attack-scary. We took in the view for a while because it was such a beautiful day.



We grabbed some lunch (pizza with ham and mushrooms as always) and went and sat on the Spanish steps. Side story: There are illegal immigrants all over who sell little touristy knick-knacks. The police won't arrest them, but if they can't provide papers, all of their loot gets taken. We watched some undercover cops make a bust and I felt extremly sad for the man. All the other men selling things, took off. Even though I never bought anything from them, they are hard workers trying to make it.

After my little sad-fest, I went off to see Rome on my own. It is a big city, but I felt safe the entire time. I had read about a National Geographic exhibit at one of the museums that I wanted to check out. It was tons of photographs that had yet to be published but were incredible nonetheless. Fran, you would have been in NG heaven.

That night, Martin had arranged a less than spectacular group meal that left me a little hungry. The obvious thing to do next, head to Italy's first ice cream shop and get the biggest chocolate milk shake I could. That night was an early one, as we were headed to Spain the next day!

Florence

After handing in my final for Laris, I was giddy getting my things together for Florence. Group trips are for some reason my favorite thing. I think it is because someone else does the planning and logistics and I just get to sit back and follow the crowd. It took us under 4 hours to get to Florence and because I had some iTunes giftcards (preesh Kevin and Nicole) I bought some movies for my iPod. And the trip south zoomed by. Once we got all settled in our hotel, Martin (as he always does) showed us what we needed to know. We walked through the shopping market, by the duomo, and tried out some gelato. That night some of us wanted to try out what we had seriously been missing. Some good mexican food. Katie and I went Picante's style and got a pitcher(s) of margs. And queso! It wasn't necessarily Taco Mac's, but it curbed our craving. We checked out the town a little bit and saw probably about 1000 of the 4000 American students studying in Florence. The next morning we went to Santa Croce church where Michelangelo, or as Martin calls him, Mikey, is buried. There is this elaborate tomb for him, but he is actually buried in the wall next to it. After, we grabbed lunch before heading to the Uffizi. It is one of the most famous art museums in the world. It was nice and housed some beautiful and famous works, but I personally enjoyed the Louvre more. After field tripping all day it was time to catch a snooze before dinner. I forgot to mention how wonderful our hotel was. When I first saw Hotel Embassy I thought Embassy Suites. Nope. HotelEmbassy is a 4 star hotel. And it gets this food addicts stamp of approval because of it's breakfast. Helllooo yummy eggs and chocolate croisants!
That night we went to Dante's...a place that is rumored to serve wine and water water for free to students. We weren't positive about this, but once our bill came, it was true. Had we died and gone to heaven? No, we had found Dante's. Then, the owner (we nick-named him Dante), took a liking to us. Hmmm 14 girls, I wonder why. He moved us to the table in the window. That and the 18 bottles of wine that followed...definitely felt like we had died and gone to Italian heaven.
The next morning it was time to go see the famous David. Seeing the David was incredible and I also liked seeing Mikey's "Slaves." Martin said the rest of the afternoon was ours, but that he was going to walk around to go inside the Duomo and whoever wanted to join him was welcome to.I went with as did a few others. We went inside the Duomo (if you've ever seen pictures of Florence and the big red dome, this is the church it sits atop). Inside, we couldn't walk under the dome which is above the alter. Martin found this very strange as every other time he's been there he has been allowed to go under it. He took a few observations and came to the conclusion that there was going to be a wedding. And I had to agree, all the white flowers look a little wedding-like. Martin also said that whoever it was getting married, she (mainly her parents) had to be pretty important to be getting married there. When he asked some of the guards, they all had the exact same response. Just, "there will be a private mass." Yup, definitely an Italian royalty getting married...
I knew sticking with Martin was the right choice. Gelato on Martin, thank you very much. Martin had to go find a hotel for the summer program (sorry friends, I don't think you'll be staying at Hotel Embassy) we wanted to check out PonteVecchio. It literally means Old Bridge and on it are a bunch of shops, mainly jewerly shops. I didn't even realize we were on a bridge until I looked through a store's window and saw the river!
After, we went to a great sandwhich shop and I finally got a turkey sammi!
Martin's wife had passed on some shopping advice. And that was to not buy anything until the last day you are in Florence. That way, you know what you like and after you buy it, you won't have anything you like more or less expensive. I made a few purchases...for myself and for some others that shall remain annonymous until I make my return.
Katie H. and I needed a beer after that shopping and it was well deserved. We sat right outside the duomo and just took in our last afternoon in Florence. The weather was perfect for it, too!

We couldn't have asked for a better trip to Florence. It was sunny and warm and perfect. I truly enjoyed our time in Florence. I am on the bus to Rome and Martin just got done telling us all that we have planned and I'm ready to get there! If we have the weather we had in Florence, it is bound to be a good trip. Someone said this the other day and it is so true, "To appreciate the sunny days, you have to have had some rainy one." We've put in our rainy days and now we're being rewarded! Here are some of the funny/interesting/just random things that happened in Florence:
-I've come to appreciate a good salesman, thanks to Kevin and my dad. And I only bought from the best. One had some good chatter, "Oops you dropped something...it is my heart."
-Every night in Florence, we were from somewhere different. Yes, the winter games in Vancouver were wodnerful!
-We met girls that go to Florida. And I pulled a Burles. "It was so nice to meet you girls, see you at the game...in your jorts."
-The best strawberry daquri I ever had was in Florence at Art Bar. It had fruit on top that was bigger than the glass
-We made reservations at Dante's under the name Sweetie Honey, and somehow they lost it...

Spring Break Numero Dos

With the second block of classes quickly coming to a close, we are packing up our things for spring break numero dos. And I say numero dos because in a few short days I'll be in Espana! First we have our group trip to Florence, where we'll be fore two days, and then to Rome, where we'll spend 5 days. A few of us will fly directly from Rome to Valencia where we'll meet up with another UGA study abroad program. We'll visit with them and beach it up until we head to Barcelona for two days before finally heading back to Verona. This is going to be a wonderful big trip before we start our last block of classes.

School. Hmmm. That's a funny thing to call it. It doesn't feel like school. And I'm actually excited to take the final tomorrow to show our teacher how much I know on this topic. (WHOA. I know what you're thinking. I thought I was reading Allison Feeney's blog.Yes, same blog, but this doesn't mean I like normal school).

Not a whole lot is new here. It has been beautiful lately and very green. I walked downtown today (by myself, a very rare thing to be by yourself here). Currently, the Tesser and I are packing up the infamous 704. VinItaly is coming to Verona and we have to move out of our apartment for the week we are gone to allow for the hotel to use our rooms. VinItaly is one of Italy's largest wine festivals and we're headed out of town for it. Who's great idea was that...?

As we're coming into the final month here in Italy (where did the time go?!), I'm starting to miss a few things American. And here are the ones topping the list:
1. Chick-fil-a.No explanation needed. Except that Terminal A better be ready for me on May 7th.
2. Georgia spring-time. It's just not the same here. Not as many flowers, and no bar-be-ques.
3. Alpha G. Can't believe I'm missing out on a datenight...at Bourbs. Melbax, keep it classy :)
4. Braves Baseball. Looks like it's going to be a great season, so Braves, please don't play all the exciting ones before I get there.
5. Diet Coke. FountainDiet Coke, actually. With ice.
6. TV. What can I say, I'm a Feeney. And I can't wait to watch LOST. Hear who won Survivor. And log some serious couch time.