Roman Holiday

On Friday I went to Rome with Grace, Olivia and Carmen. We took an 11 am train and got in a little before one. I'm so happy I have a eurail pass! I was able to go to the station a couple minutes before the train and just get on. I love the ability to come and go as I please. When we got in we went to our hostel to drop off our stuff. It was a tiny hostel on the 5th floor of a small building. They only had a couple rooms and because of booking I was in a single and the rest of the girls were in a triple. We went to dinner at this over-priced but delicious trattoria near the hostel. We didn't realize how over-priced it was until we got our food and the portion size was tiny! The food was delicious though and they were playing The National, one of my newly favorite bands!

After lunch we went to the Trevi Fountain (or as David calls it - the Cherry fountain) and took some pictures. We got gelato at a place claiming to be one of the best - Il Gelato di San Crispino. I got honey and coffee. It was really good! The honey tasted like unprocessed honey which is less sweet and more flavorful than regular honey. After we made our way over to the Spanish steps. We sat there for a while, looking out at the beautiful sunset and taking in Rome. Everyone was exhausted and starting to get a little grumpy, so we went back to the hostel for a nap. We were slow moving and didn't get to dinner until 10. We went to a place called Alfredo that didn't have Alfredo on the menu. Olivia asked if they could make it and they said yes. When she got her dish it was pasta with tomato sauce, sausage and mushrooms (Olivia HATES mushrooms), but fortunately I was able to switch with her. I got carbonara and it tasted purely like black pepper, which I'm not the biggest fan of. Dinner overall was kind of a bust, service wasn't good and they didn't take credit cards!

We went out that night to a bar/club called the Shark. We ended up meeting a bunch of Spanish kids on the way there (we were actually going some where else), but we decided to go out with them. It was half indoors, half outdoors which was nice! The next morning I ended up heading back to Florence early than I had anticipated. Even though my trip to Rome was short, I'll be heading back soon for a class trip so I'll get to see everything I didn't the first time! 

Berlin//Part 1

Curry wurst

Why is there a plaster cast of the Baptistry bronze doors?

Me and David

Me and Amy

Sandra and me

Jessica, Sandra and me

Getting to Berlin was so hectic, but I got here! I left on Friday morning and took a bus to the Pisa airport, two flights, a train and the metro! It was alot of hours of traveling, but I was relieved when I got in. I travelled alone, but I'm staying in a beautiful apartment with David, Nathan, Sandra, Jessica and Amy. I've been to Berlin before, but I'm happy to be back. It's a very industrial looking city while still being very beautiful. When I got in we immediately went out to dinner. I got a beer and a farmer's fry which had eggs, bacon, potatoes, sauerkraut and a slab of pork (what I would consider typical of Germany). After dinner we went food shopping to get some food to snack on. We hung out in the apartment and then went downtown. We ended up going to some bars and having a very relaxed night.

When we woke up yesterday we made our way to the shopping/market area. We went to see a part of the Berlin wall. It was a very sobering, humbling experience. We stopped in to warm ourselves (Germany is freezing) and get a bite to eat. After we went to the outdoor market and went shopping for warmer clothes. We then went to the island that has five museums on it. We split up because I wanted to go to a museum no one else did, the Neues museum. Germany has a large collection of Egyptian art because there are so many Germany archeologists excavating in Egypt. There prized possession is the statue bust of Nefertiti (or as my brother likes to call her, Neferdite). It was so beautiful! Afterwards we walked through the markets and then David and I walked home so we could get in more of the city. For dinner we went to a Mexican restaurant, I know it's probably not the first thing that comes to mind in Berlin, but it was crazy good. I got shrimp tacos and a margarita both were salty and delicious. We met up with a bunch of other people from NYU who are in Berlin and we decided to go out to the area with all the clubs. I am not one for clubs...at all, but it's Germany so how could I not? I ended up having the greatest time dancing the night away - literally. I didn't get home until after sunrise! First and last time that's going to happen.

Brussels//Part 1

Nicoise salad and croque madame

Being silly in my sleeping bag

This weekend I went to Brussels with Olivia, Grace, David and Chloe. The whole weekend definitely had a theme, awesome and weird, which also perfectly describes Brussels. We left on Friday morning and took the bus from Florence to the Pisa airport. We took a plane from Pisa to Brussels and then about an hour bus ride into the center of Brussels. Chloe who took the reigns on planning the trip found a great hostel that was centrally located, clean and cheap! We dropped our stuff at the hostel and then went out to eat. We wandered around the area near our hostel which only had Middle Eastern food, which looked ok, but we wanted something typical of Brussels. It was a weird time so most places were closed. We found a little cafe and had a drink until they started serving dinner. I had a nicoise salad and a croque madam. Both were delicious! I tried a couple different beers, but Palm was my favorite. Beer in Brussels is so cheap!

After dinner we made our way towards the center of Brussels and went to a bar to hang out until it was time to go out. We tried to go to a couple other bars which were pretty crowded and expensive. We ended up going to a club because we all, by that I mean me, wanted to dance. A girl there was celebrating her birthday and we joined her in doing so. I had such a fun time dancing the night away and drinking champagne to toast to our new friend's birthday! 

Brussels is very beautiful, especially in the Grand Place were most of these pictures were taken. An example of Brussels being weird is that the emblem of the city is a statue of a little boy peeing, known as Manneken Pis. I did not take pictures of it, because I hate it. There are several legends about its origin. One legend particularly weird to me "tells of a wealthy merchant who, during a visit to the city with his family, had his beloved young son go missing. The merchant hastily formed a search party that scoured all corners of the city until the boy was found happily urinating in a small garden. The merchant, as a gift of gratitude to the locals who helped out during the search, had the fountain built..." So strange, so weird.