CHEERS to ITALY (and Steph and Laine)!

6-13-10

It finally arrived. Our last weekend in Italy; I can’t quite comprehend how fast three months flew by. Alas this past weekend was extremely bitter sweet.

On Friday the class got up early and met at the train station at eight a.m. Once in Florence, our first stop was the Uffizi Museum. The Uffizi is one of the largest museums in the entire world, so we definitely had a long tour in front of us. Now – don’t get me wrong, I love art and totally respect the history of it – however, having already gone through this museum before, I would have rather spent my last days in Florence walking around the city and talking in the Italian culture I have come to love. After the Uffizi, we walked over the Ponte Vecchio to a restaurant for a classic big Italian lunch (complete with 4 courses and enough bread and wine to satisfy everyone completely). After lunch we ventured to the Studia Accademia, which is where the original David by Michelangelo is located. I was also lucky enough to have seen the David on my last trip to Italy, however I had totally forgotten how great his presence is as you come around the corner and he stands thirty yards in front of you. He is massive, and romantic and as cliché as it sounds – kind of takes your breath away.

Once the academic part of our trip was over, we made our way to our hostel (which was a fabulous two story private room complete with balcony), checked in, and then met up with all our other classmates. We did some light (…) afternoon shopping and then found, believe it or not – A MEXICAN RESTAURANT. We stopped in for pitchers of margaritas and Mexican cuisine, which actually satisfied our three-month craving.

After diner we got ready to go out on our last Friday night in Italy. It just happened to also be two friends in my program – Steph and Laine’s 21st birthdays. So we definitely intended to celebrate to the fullest. Our first stop was Shot Café. We all got great drinks, met some cool people from New York City, and enjoyed the last night our group would have to really let loose. Paris and I convinced the bar owner to play some hip-hop so we could begin our groove sesh. After Shot Café we went to Twice. Twice is a fun dance club. After about ten minutes of dancing, the DJ told Paris and I to dance in the VIP section – and we slowly brought our entire group in with us. It was wild! Finally, at about three-thirty a.m. my little feet were tired, and we decided to make our way back to the hostel.

The next morning we went for breakfast, and then proceeded to spend the entire day walking around Florence and picking up last minute gifts for friends and family. It truly was the perfect last weekend.


A Group of us at Shot Cafe!

Barcelona, Spain - OLE

6-5-10

Hola Amigas! Just returned from the most amazing week in Barcelona, Spain.
I had never been to Spain before this excursion, and was so excited to explore uncharted territory!

Tuesday
We (Me, Stephanie, Laine, Rachel, Georgia & Hannah) landed on Tuesday afternoon and made our way to our hostel, which was beachside in Barceloneta (about a 10 minute walk from the city center). Once we had settled into our shared dorm (with two other colleges students) we walked around the area to find out what was around our hostel besides the gorgeous ocean. We ended up grabbing a bite to eat at this beachside café, and I had my first taste of Spanish Sangria – I DIE. It is so good. Having traveled all day, we opted to take a long walk on the beach back to the hostel and hit the hay early so we would be ready for adventures the next day.

Wednesday
7:00 I wake up early to get a head start to the day, upon going into our bathroom I nearly step on a cockroach the size of a small rodent. I obvi screamed, ran out and slammed the door shut. Disgusting. No tolerance for bugs – especially mean ones.

On Wednesday the weather was a bit cloudier than we expected, so we decided to spend the whole day taking in Barcelona. We walked from out hostel along the beach to La Rambla, which is one of the most famous streets in Barcelona. It is filled with carts setting everything to postcards and flowers, to live chickens, turtles and bunnies. No Joke.

La Rambla is also famous for its street performers – there are literally dozens of them dressed up like witches, or fruit, or soccer players or monsters and they all perform certain tricks.
One such Performer

We also found the most delicious fruit market I have ever been to in my life – it was a humongous farmers market filled with fresh produce, smoothies, meats, cheeses and chocolate. We made several stops at this fruit market to inhale as much of this goodness as possible – my favorite purchase was the fresh papaya, strawberry and mango smoothie – heaven in a glass.


We continued our hike through La Rambla to Gracia – the biggest shopping street in Barcelona. Literally it took us over 3 hours to walk about 4 blocks because we wanted to check out every store – did I mention fashion in Spain ROCKS? After several good purchases the group made it to the two famous Gaudi buildings located on Gracia. Not knowing much about Gaudi, I admired the architecture he produced years ago – in contrast to the other more traditional architecture of Spain. The whimsical nature of the buildings appear to be dripping, tossing and turning into the wall. The mosaic stone work is absolutely beautiful – and another trademark of Gaudi’s work.

Gaudi's Building

On Wednesday evening we deiced to see what nightlife I Barcelona was all about. For those of you who don’t know, Barcelona is quite wild. It is considered lame to go out before 1:00 AM at the earliest – more like 2:00 AM. So we ate a late dinner around ten, then proceeded to get ready and left the hostel at an early 1:30 AM. We walked along the beach with a group of friends we had met at the hostel, and all of us ended up at Shoko, a trendy new club on the beach. It was so much fun! We were dancing all over and mingling with our new friends. At about 3:00 AM Georgia and I wanted to go and check out another club we had heard was the most wild in Barcelona called Razmatazz. It was 90’s night at Razmatazz and they were playing funky remixes of the classics, we danced well in the morning and had an amazing time doing so.

Thursday
I woke up to the sun shining – we were staying at a hostel on the beach – so obviously the girls opted to spend most of the morning laying on the beach and watching the sunrise. It was so relaxing and felt peaceful like an actual vacation. Morning turned into afternoon and before we knew it, three thirty rolled around. Dragging ourselves away from the sand and sun, we got cleaned up and headed to Guell Park. Guell Park is located on the highest hill in Barcelona and was designed by Gaudi. Many elements of his art are found within the park, including mosaics and houses – one in which live for 2 decades. The park is absolutely stunning with endless views of all of Barcelona, green palms and colorful flowers everywhere. That evening we stumbled upon a popular Spanish restaurant. It was decorated how I would envision Spain would look like in the fifties, with a tropical twist. It was a great atmosphere, drinks, food, and fun.

All of us in Guell Park!

Friday
Another gorgeous day in Barcelona - not a cloud in the sky. We plopped ourselves front and center on the beach once again and enjoyed the warmth of the fun for the hours of the morning. Around 1:00 PM Hannah and I walked into the city center and the Barri Gothic area – which is absolutely. We went to the Picasso Museum (incredible – the museum has a great collection of his work that Picasso even personally contributed to). After the museum we walked around the neighborhoods of the city we had not previously seen, taking in the authenticity of the Spanish city.

Night rolled around and after getting ready for our last night, we ate at this amazing Falafel / Kebabs restaurant. Cheap and filling were the words that lured us in, but it turned out to be one of the best meals we ate during our trip. After our Kebab session, we ventured to the ‘Fontana Magica’ or Magic Fountain which lies at the bottom of the Palace of Barcelona and every Friday evening has a water / lights / music show. The fountain show was huge – filled with people – and so worth the trek! After the show was over, we walked up to the top of the Palace to look at the view of Barcelona and the several fountains below. We ended up sitting on the top of these steps for a couple hours with several locals listening to a Spanish guitar player (the most amazing mood music ever!) and enjoying the widespread view of the city below.

Our last night!

Overall, Spain was unbelievable. I had by far one of the best weeks of my life, and cannot wait to return. The culture, art and life of the city are unexplainable and unparalleled to anything I have seen before.

The Palio Announcements

5-30-10

On Sunday evening the Palio announcements for which Contrada’s horses were going to be participating in the July race. This announcement takes place in the Piazza del Campo and most of Siena 60,000 people are present for the declaration. The Contrada I live in, the Unicorn Contrada, had already been selected to participate. However, we were so exited when they announced the Porcupine Contrada was selected, as it is where we attend school and where our very proud teacher Silvia resides. The other two selected were the Wave and the Dragon Contrada’s. When each one was announced the residents of the Contrada would sprint down from the Piazza to the town hall building screaming, crying and dancing with excitement. Several members of the Contrada were so excited that they began climbing up the walls of town hall to try and touch their flag – a good 50 feet above them.


Reppin' my Contrada - the Unicorn!

It was such a great experience to be apart of a tradition that has lasted for centuries, and really gave us an insight to the pride the Sienese people have for their particular culture and city.