How to Survive a Blizzard

1. Dinner with Mom and Chloe at Annisa - Barbecue Squid

2. Annisa - grits with lobster and frogs legs

3. Annisa - salted butterscotch beignets with frozen bourbon milk

4. New stadium that Jay-z built in Brooklyn, Barclays Center

5. Mumford and Sons Concert, Barclays Center

6. Silly selfies and overpriced beer

7. Chili cheese fries

8. More selfies, pumped for the concert

9. Whole wheat pita with avocado, cheddar and tomato

10. Mint tea perfect for snowy days

11. Chloe down for the count, snow days

12. Homemade butterscotch blondies

13. Snowball fights during nemo

14. Faicco's on Bleeker

15. Epic italian sub from Faicco's

Brussels//Part 2

Photo-bombin

Day two in Brussels was just as fun as the first, also as weird. We woke up around 11 and wandered around looking for a place to eat brunch. We ended up in the financial district where everything was closed and wandered around for about two hours. We ended up making a giant loop and just eating down the street from the hostel. After brunch we went to the room for a minute and without ever discussing it all of us got into our beds and fell asleep. I found this hilarious because if anyone had suggested napping we all would have said "this is our only full day in Brussels, we shouldn't waste it." After about an hour of much needed sleep we headed to *drum roll please*.....MINI EUROPE! It combines all of my favorite things - quirky, tourist, architecture and little. It is exactly what it sounds like. It looks like a mini golf course for the most part and has all of the major monuments that countries in the EU have to offer, but in miniature form. It was weird though...why, just why? I've decided that due to the over 100 photos I took, I am going to dedicate a whole post to it (later). There are just too many pictures to put in one blog post, but there are a couple preview shots in this one. We got to see the atomium, but we didn't go in it due to time restrictions. Instead we got to eat waffles with chocolate sauce, proabably better.

For dinner we went into the old city and went to a restaurant Chloe found called Chez Léon. Chloe and I had been talking about moules frites, mussels with fries, since the plane ride. The entire table got mussels and they were so, SO good. I got mine with white wine sauce. The mussels were fresh and the fries were never-ending. We split a bottle of wine and spent several hours eating, joking and digesting. Afterwards we went over to the Grand Place (which I actually put pictures of in Brussels part 1) which I recognized from mini Grand Place! We took pictures and wandered around for a while, stopping in at a souvenir shop and going to a couple chocolate shops. In the souvenir stores they sell so many statues of manneken pis, which were the worst. I got a mini atomium for my curio cabinet though. We headed to bed early since we had to get up at seven, it was also pretty chilly which I wasn't used to! Timing worked out well because we got back to Florence around two which gave us alot of the day to do work, or in my case watch tv in bed. Brussels was a lot of fun, but it really is a strange place. The group I traveled with was so laid back and easy going! I couldn't have found a better travel group. Stay tuned for more Mini Europe! 

Midterms & milkshakes

Bacon cheeseburger

Chocolate milkshake

Vanilla milkshake

Bandinelli's Laocoon 

Ceiling of the Ufizi

Even though midterms are always a time of stress without exception, this week has been really fun besides all the studying! On Monday I took a study break to go get burgers and shakes with Grace, David and Chloe. The Diner (as I've mention here) is based on an American diner and has free milkshakes on Monday night. It was such a treat to spend the day studying only to be rewarded by delicious food I've been missing so much! I'll never go this long without a bacon cheeseburger again! Yesterday was also stressful and spent studying. For dinner Chloe made the box of mac and cheese my mom brought me from home for David and me. I've been saving it for a special time and decided that midterms week was when I needed it most. It's funny how when I'm stressed things from home are what relax me! Afterwards I was studied productively so I could go out (thanks Dad!). Olivia's father just visited and she had the hotel room for one more night. After my studying was done I went over to her hotel where I had so much fun wearing a bathrobe and rolling around in the king bed. There were five of us crammed into the bed at one point watching tv and pretending to be fancy. It was so much fun laughing and being silly! Today I took two of midterms and I think they went well! Probably because instead of stressing into the wee hours of the morning like I normally do, I just had fun! I have one more midterm tomorrow and then I don't have to think about them for a couple days! Pictures from the Ufizi which I went to on Tuesday with my drawing class. I drew the Laocoon, pictured above, which I also wrote about for one of my midterms today!