Fall Break: part 1 Milan & Marid

The week long trip started in Milan. There were two reasons for this: none of us had been to Milan and the cheapest flight left from the Milan airport. We left the Florence train station at 8:30 with a four hour ride ahead of us. In Milan there was a nice little hike waiting for us to get to the cathedral. The Milan Cathedral is done in a Gothic style and is beautiful, but more for the mass size of it rather and the aesthetic qualities. The other main attractions are the original painting of the last supper and the shops with all of the fashion shops. Unbeknownst to us, there is a waiting list three weeks long to get into the museum containing the last super. So that was no longer on our to do list. After a day in Milan of walking and a little sightseeing, I took my first Ryanair flight to Madrid to see the wonderful Lauren Held. She, despite her best efforts, was late to fetch us from the airport. Here we are in front of the mayors house (this may or may not be what this building actually is). The move from Italy to Madrid came with slightly colder weather. I am not sure if it was just getting colder ( it was late October so it is possible) or the city was just more cold. Either way, I was completely incapible of dressing properly for the weather. On Sunday we started our day at the market. The market is filled with all sorts of goods including clothes, leather products, crafts and jewelry. I did get myself a cute little clay pig that will hold change. He is so adorable. Afterward we went on a hunt for food. And this time was one of those times when you can not for the life of you find what you are looking for. The restaurant is either to expensive or doesn't have food that everyone will like or it is closed or something. So after about an hour long hunt we ended up right were we started at a restaurant for the menu del dia. It is one of those meal where you pay a set price for your choice of 2 plates, a drink and a dessert. The food was fantastic. I choice a pealla ( pronounced pie-YAY-a) and a ham omelet with a custard for dessert. Just like the locals do, we sat eating for almost two hours simply enjoying ourselves. After such a large meal we walked to see the royal palace, which looks surprising like the English one.
On Monday our tour guide had class so we were released into city on our own. But first there was a breakfast worth mentioning. I am incapable of choosing just one item on a menu. As a solution I split two breakfasts with Lauren. This was probably good since the one was not by any means healthy. The first was a to die for french toast croissant covered in bananas and strawberries. So good. And gone so fast. The second was an American Breakfast Plate including eggs, pancakes and bacon. Back to the day. We were directed to two museums one of which was closed and the other which was an adventure. The Riena Sofia Museum is where Pablo Picasso paintings are housed. However we started our way from top to bottom. The art was contemporary and very much not my style. To make it more interesting we would add stories to pieces trying to make it more interesting and well this works.


This was by far my favorite piece. The is a person with a pencil and all of these colors and ideas come out of the tip interconnected and interweaving. By the time we made our way back down to the second floor and the famous works we simply were ready to leave. We met back up with our tour guide and the rainy day turn gorgeous for a walk through one of the many parks in Madrid. It was so nice to be in fall weather and trees again. There are no trees in Florence and the trees in the park were such an array of colors. It was a little bit of home in Europe.
While in Spain one must do all of the traditional things like visit land marks and try the local cuisine. This includes churros and chocolate. Sounds amazing right? Epic let down. They were not as good as I had hoped. Never the less I continued to eat my whole batch of 7. For the sake of culture, I tell you. Tuesday we really didn't do much other than hang out. While this isn't what visiting a foreign city is all about, it was nice to be with friends enjoying the city with no pressures to rush here or see that. Tuesday was also the sad day of good-bye to both Lauren and Madrid. That evening we flew to Paris.

Midterms

This past week was midterms week. It probably was twice as much studying I have done since getting here. But I killed my tests. It was one of the easiest group of tests. Being used to going to the quarter school, I feel like I should be done with these classes. Some of them I am glad I have more time in and others I could be ok with being done with. With that week of studying comes a week off- can we adopt this at RIT? During this week I am going to visit Milan, Madrid and Paris. I was supprised to find out how many people from our program were doing a trip that included Paris and Spain. They seem to be the hot places to be this break. The reason I am so excited about its is that I will be seeing my roommate in Madrid! It is always nice to see some after so long. As if I wouldn't be excited about that when I return my mother will be in Florence waiting for me! These next two week are what I have been looking forward to!

Perugia and Eurochocolate

I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to the international chocolate festival. I'm not really sure maybe it is because deep down I knew that I would love if far too much. The train took about three hours from SMN station to Perugia. Once off the train, I was not exactly sure where I was going, but that is part of the fun. We walked in the general direction of the festival. We found ourselves in the old part of the city filled with archways and cute stairways.
After about 45 minutes of wandering, we found a very promising crowd, along with some very breath taking views of the city. The historic district where the festival is held is at the very top of the hill. First order of business was to order food, as we don't know much Italian we used our broken Italish (does that work like Spanglish?). The food ended up being pretty good, but I'm not exactly sure what I ordered. After wards we bought the eurochocolate card. The card is a punch card that you take to different vendors to get samples at. And it came with a chocolate picture frame, which I just don't understand. Other than that there were a lot of people and of course a lot of chocolate. I really had a good time and was glad that I went.

Pisa & Lucca

This was another one of SAI included trips. I had never heard of Lucca, but of course have I have heard of Pisa and the famous leaning tour of Pisa. The previous trips had been fully book, so I was very surprised when only about 25 of the 100 seats were filled for this trip. Since there were so few students, were rented bike in Lucca and toured the city by bike. This made me very happy. This summer I started getting into biking, partially because it was the cheapest way to get to work but I also enjoy it. Lucca still has its original city walls that are very thick, wide enough to have a large walkway on top.The first stop was a church, which now does not surprise me since I found out there are 51 churches inside the walls. Just a few too many for even my tastes, and I LOVE old churches. The first church we saw was the main cathedral, much smaller to the Firenze standards. And yes I did take this picture while riding a bike. I myself am impressed with my ability. From there we traveled to a church that had a women over 500 years old preserved inside. I am not sure what the story behind her was, but I did notice that she was very short. Ancient Italians were quite small. In the tour we also saw the old site of the ampa theater, now a ring of houses. It is the first square I have seen in Italy that has been an oval.After the tour we were given free time, and use of the bikes. I used this time to explore the city, play on swings and find some food. The city is one of the most adorable things ever. There are trees everywhere and real Italian people enjoying the nice weather.I enjoyed Lucca so much. I would request going to anyone who is in central Italy. Now before I make this blog way to long I am going to talk about Pisa. For how famous it is, there really isn't much there. The tower obviously is interesting, but once you've seen it once you've seen it. The tower again is open for climbing, although it is expensive and not good for the tower, as it is leaning heavily to one side. Luckily I had not been inside the cathedral next to it, and it was a massively gorgeous church. It was funded by the Medici family of Florence, they were that rich. Also around the tower there are hundreds of stalls selling all types of souvenirs you could think of. Be sure to take funny looking pictures when near the tower. It is kind of obligatory. I have been before and still took part.

Dolce- My kind of Italy

My school works in association with a culinary school in Florence, and that means that there are a lot of kitchens to be used. The best way to use them: bake. The work shop only had 16 people, all girls, and one teacher. We made three dessert, all from Italy.
Biscotti:

• 400gr flour
• 200gr sugar
• 200gr shelled almonds
• 3eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• vinilla
• baking power
• salt

Instructions:
Make a mound with the flour, sugar, almonds, vanilla and baking powder. This part is just a mound on the counter. Don't bother with bowls. Add the eggs and the egg yolk and mix with hands. When well combined, make small loaves and place on a cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 180 ° C for 15 minutes. Once brown remove and cut into diagonal cookies and return to oven until toasted (5 to 10 minutes). I personally like to skip the re cooking, but then again biscotti does mean dual cooking.

Florintina Soccer Oct 2

On October 2nd the Florence soccer team played Torino at the home stadium. Unfortunatly they lost, but the experience was amazing.
The fans are not like those at home. The crowd cheers and sings all game long. I would like to go to a game where they win before I leave.

Livorno Oct 1

I decided to take a day trip while my roommates were away on a tour. First I stopped at the market to pick up some snacks. It just happened to be the first Saturday of the month so the best biscotti was there. It is a little expensive but I splurged. I also picked up some apples for lunch. The train took about an hour and a half to get to Livorno. Once there, however I had no idea where to go. So I walked around a little until I found a sign pointing to il mare. The ocean was about a 45 minute walk away from the train station, however when I found the water I didn't find where I could go in. I was in a port. Livorno is a small town but it is a very popular stop for cruise ships. The walk along the water was enjoyable. I did start to get a little to warm ( its October and the weather is still high eighties) when I found the smallest beach I had ever seen. The sand covered maybe 15 feet between two walls. The water felt nice on my feet, and I took a break to sit and rest. There was an abnormally high amount of beach glass on this beach and I had fun looking through it. On I moved to a new location further down. It was not a beach but a group of rocks sticking out of the water. From my perch I could see a boat race and could feel the ocean breeze. It was a wonderful day. On top of the sites, I was able to use my Italian. Everyone in Florence speaks English better than I do Italian. In Livorno they didn't. I had a short but completely Italian conversation with two nice ladies. I am not sure they were telling the truth but I was complimented on my ability to speak. My day was spent wandering and enjoying being in Italy. It most certainly was a day well spent.

Switzerland and Germany 22-25 of Sept.

My original goal had be to post once a week so that everyone could see what I was doing. Obviously I have fallen dismally behind. No worries though, I am determined to catch up. In the next two weeks or so I shall be updating the blog on some of the different places I have been and the wonderful things I have seen.
The trip to Switzerland and Germany was planned by the school (for an extra cost of course). The itinerary was as follows:

• Thursday: Travel- board the bus and take a very long trip to the hotel in Switzerland
• Friday: Geneva Switzerland- tour the UN and see the city while eating a quick lunch then board the bus to travel to a chocolate factory
  
• Saturday: The Swiss Alps- completely mind blowing and unbelievable, I am in love with this country.
  
• Sunday: Oktoberfest- sadly I didn't get the chance to see much of the city, but the trip was designed for college students.

Now comes the detailed record of the weekend. It was of course amazing and I had a blast. Thursday night we boarded a charter bus with the idea that we would reach the hotel around midnight, in actuality it was 4 a.m., close enough right? During the trip some interesting things did happen though. When we stopped for dinner, we stop at a rest stop. This however was not a normal rest stop. There was a full sit down type restaurant inside with wonderful food. There also was a sandwich shop and a Burger King, clean restrooms and a continence store. This stop would be the king of all rest stops in the States, but here it is normal. I think that that is something that most defiantly should catch on back home. Another exciting detail was once over the French boarder (which cost 200 euro to cross!) the bus entered a very long tunnel. No really the tunnel was over 8 miles long, taking over ten minutes to go through. The amount of time that was taken in order to travel under the Alps was unbelievable, however I would not want to do it very often. It made me a little nervous.
Friday morning was a little rough from the lack of sleep but who could be anything but excited when in a country for the first time. In a strange situation, the tour bus got a flat tire, so the group took public transportation to reach the United Nations. The United Nations in Geneva is said to the second largest location following the NYC one. I personally felt that the campus was much larger but the buildings that were in use would be less square feet than the NYC campus. We were given a tour of the different areas, and even though I have been on United Nation tours before in New York I learned new facts about the UN. The campus really is pretty set on the lake. Geneva is also very picturesque sitting in the green countryside in along side the water. The weather was wonderful and I regret not having more time in the city to explore. Next was the chocolate factory, which sadly was owned by Nestle, but was still a wonderful experience. Cailler chocolates sold to Nestle in the depression in order to stay in business in hard times. They still are an all Swiss chocolate. Along with that a very delicious one as well. The whole group was in a chocolate coma afterword. After the break in the chocolate factory we boarded the bus to head to the Swiss city of Fribourg. After dinner some of the group went on a night walk of the old city. The streets were old and twisted but in a very different way from Firenze. The city had so much charisma and love. The locals were friendly and warm (and some very drunk). The city can't be explained with words. No picture could ever give the full effect and it is of course worth a thousand words, so I shall not try too hard to convey how amazing it was to walk through those streets. If you are ever looking for a town to visit in Switzerland or even Europe in general, go to Fribourg. It is small, but full of character.
Saturday the bus drove (with enormous amounts of skill) deep into the Swiss Alps. These roads probably do not see many tour buses judging by the single lane and tight curves. The bus driver was pro though. The view was unbelievable: crystal clear streams, emerald green grass, adorable little cottages and so much more. A lift took the group up the mountain eight at a time. It took over an hour, but thankful I was in the first group and I was able to hike for that time before lunch. As I said before I am in love with Switzerland. The view is breathtaking and inspiring and marvelous and every other positive word out there. No picture I took will give you the full view. After lunch I hike with some friends to a lake that was nearby. The lake wasn't exactly a lake as it was the end of a hot summer, but were the lake used to be was visible. It is my hope that one day I will be able to go back and hike all over the mountains and see the lake in the spring. Everything is thrown out of proportion because my senses are not used to looking at objects so large. The tip of the mountains loomed thousands of feet above me, I was a speck in the whole landscape. It was just so incredible. I did not want to leave but at least I was able to experience them, and now I know to go back.
Sunday was dedicated wholly to Oktoberfest, and originally I thought "how on earth am I going to spend 8 hours doing nothing but drinking beer?!". My perceptions of what was going to happen at Oktoberfest were wrong, to a degree. First of all everyone was dressed up, there were people from 80 to kids not even old enough to walk dressed up. Second, it was not just a giant park with tents. The tents are actually buildings, but other than that there were also vendors, games and rides. To me, it really felt like the New York State fair, at first. Once inside a beer tent, there weren't so many similarities. The steins are huge, and the food is fantastic. But what was the best thing of the whole day were the drunk locals. They would sing and dance and yell. The Germans sang German drinking songs, and the Italians did the same, just as the Australians did. Everyone is there for the same reason to have fun and enjoy a national tradition. By the end of the day however there were of course those people who were too drunk and a few fights. Before leaving Germany I had to at least see something else, so I went to a near by church, which was built in the 1400's guessing by its Gothic characteristics. On the bus ride home, we stopped for dinner in Austria, so technically I have been there. I even bought a souvenir.
Overall the trip was fantastic, but too short. In every place I found myself thinking I wish I had more time. Hopefully I will be able to return later this trip, and later in life. These places, view and traditions are what I love about traveling. I hope to do lots more in the future.