Italia: Chianti Wine Tour

Today we took a bus to the Chianti wine country to two vineyards.

It was so beautiful and I had a lot of fun!

Learning more about how wine is made and having the opportunity to taste different Italian wines was a great experience.  I would love to do it again and learn more about different types of wine. 

 

 

Group in Chianti

At the Vineyard in Chianti.

Me & Bailey at the wine tasting.

Me & Caitlyn at the wine tasting.

Italia: Verona

Over the first weekend we were in Italy we traveled to Venice. We all met at the Santa Maria Novella church in Florence to get on the bus. On the way to Venice we stopped for the afternoon in Verona.

Verona is the home of Romeo and Juliet. The town is so pretty! We didn't have a lot of time there so we had to spend it wisely. For lunch I had a fruit cup...all the fruit in Italy is so fresh and yummy!








After lunch we walked around by the river. It was beautiful! I ate some gelato, so far my favorite flavor is cream caramel.












After exploring the city for a little while we went to Juliet's House...which looks nothing like it does in the movie Letters to Juliet. The walls of Juliet's house were filled with love letters and people were lined up to get there picture taken with the statue of Juliet...and rub it for good luck.












Below leaving Verona, we visited the arena. It was so cool and all the girls enjoyed the workers that were painting inside the arena....haha! :)

Location:Verona, Italy

Italia: Venice Weekend

Over the first weekend we went to Venice. So far I think it is my favorite place. The city does not have any cars. The streets are really narrow and the main mode of transportation is by boat. The city was super crowded and full of excitement because Pope Benedict was in town for the first time in many years. The city was buzzing!

The first night we walked around and ate dinner. The city is so pretty but does not have a lot of nightlife, so we took a boat over to the top of the Hilton to get a birds-eye view of the city. It was so much fun! After that we came back to the hotel to use the free wifi in the lobby.




The next day we slept in a little later than normal and then walked around and explored. In the afternoon we took a gondola ride, which is 20€ a person, but totally worth it! Our gondolier was Mario and he was really nice and informative. He told us a lot about the city and took us by where Marco Polo lived.




After our gondola ride we camped out for four hours to see the Pope who was visiting Venice for the weekend. It was freezing because we were in the shade and there was a lot of wind. But, in the end I was glad I waited and saw the Pope.

While everyone was waiting some people sang and danced in a circle...Steven, Tori, and I joined in!




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Location:Venice, Italy

Italia: Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore located in Piazza del Duomo.

Pictures of The Duomo from Day 1 in Florence, Italy.

My wonderful friend Tiffany (we did a group project together in the Spring), I'm so glad she's also on this trip!

Ciao!

Italia: Second day in Florence.

Happy Cinco de Meyo from Florence, Italy!!!

Today we had our first classes.  My first class was Italian Culture at 10:00 AM.  Anna and I walked to class together, but got extremely lost.  It was so stressful we were running up and down the streets of Florence trying to figure out where we made a wrong turn.  We we freaking out (since our professors had made it very clear that anyone who was late lost half a letter grade...EEK!!!).  Lucky for us we were only 15 minutes late and some other students were even later than us.  All the professors decided to be nice since it was the first day and let everyone's tardiness slide for one day.  :)  We were so relieved!

After my two classes I stayed at the AIFS Center to use their Internet (it works a lot better there then it does at my apartment).  Kim has class one hour longer than I do so I decided to wait for her so we could grab lunch and hang out.  Kim and I grabbed lunch with Sarah Viskovich at a restaurant around the corner from school, Cucina Tradizionale Boccadama, in the Piazza Santa Croce.  We each had Penne Pomodoro.

After lunch Kim and I each bought a scarf at a stand near the restaurant and then went exploring.  The weather was so nice, not too hot with a slight breeze.  We got lost a few times on our adventure, but it was all part of the experience.  In the late afternoon we decided to head up with a group to Palazzo Michelangelo.  The walk was pretty far and tiring, but worth it once we made it to the top (and got some water).  The view was spectacular!!! We could see the entire city.  After taking some picture of the fabulous view we headed to the very top of the mountain to the church to hear the monks chant.  The church was beautiful and the monks service was very relaxing.  Unfortunately, we were unable to stay for the entire service because we had to meet for a group dinner.

The group dinner was a lot of fun...the food was interesting (I liked some of it and I didn't like some of it).  But, experiencing new foods is all part of the fabulous life of a study abroad student!

After dinner we went out to a Mexican restaurant, Tijuana's, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  It was a lot of fun to go out as a group in Florence for the first time.

Italia: The Best first day Ever!

It has been a crazy busy week here in Italy. The first day was incredible! We had orientation first thing in the morning and got our Italian cell phones. After orientation we walked around and got lunch. In the afternoon the entire group met at the Santa Croce church for a walking tour of Florence. Our tour guide was amazing! She was extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the city. It was so much fun!


After the tour Kim & I went to Steve & Stevens apartment with Andrew. At their apartment we met their neighbor outside their apartment window. He is a chef in a kitchen across the window. We began talking to him and since Steven speaks Italian we were able to learn that he is an opera singer. He then sang to us from the window and later came over and gave us a private concert. Steve & Steven interviewed him and video taped him singing. It was AMAZING!

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Location:Florence, Italy

Italia: Post 1

I have finally arrived in Florence, Italy! It was the longest traveling experience of my life. I left Lakeland at 9:30 am on Monday May 2nd and arrived in Florence, Italy at 11:00 pm on Tuesday May 3rd... Definitely the longest time I've ever gone without sleeping.

I left out of the Miami Airport and our flight to Paris was nine hours. Our group was spread out throughout the whole plane, I was seated in-between a girl from my trip and an older French man. The French man was so nice and tried to speak to me, but the language barrier was too hard. He was with his wife...they seemed really sweet. We flew Air France so all the announcements were in both French and English. During the flight I was unable to sleep much so I was stuck watching the dumbest "Big Momma" movie...an interesting choice in my opinion. Haha!

When we finally landed in Paris we got our passports checked and then explored the airport some. The Paris airport doesn't have a lot to do so it wasn't a fun layover...and did I mention it was 7 hours!!! But, that gave us all time to attempt to learn some French and try some French cuisine. Kim and I went to a French restaurant and had a grand ole time trying to talk to our waitress. I ended up just getting fruit since it was over 4 euros, which is about $6.00 and was the cheapest thing on the menu...Kim got some kind of meat we're not exactly sure what it was and the man next to us was eating raw hamburger meat, needless to say I was NOT a fan. :) But, I did enjoy the macaroons, I tried one that was Rose Petal flavored.






Once we made it through the 7 hour layover we had a 2 hour flight to Rome, Italy. For this flight our group was split into two groups and we flew separately. The flight was amazing...the view from our plane was incredible. We flew over the Alps and it was so beautiful. After we landed in Rome we gathered our luggage and to our surprise we did not have to go through customs...they didn't even check my passport! From the airport we took two coaches to Florence. The bus ride was over four hours long and for a while I didn't even feel like I had arrived in a foreign country, it felt more like Atlanta...the traffic was bumper to bumper of smart-cars and people drive like maniacs!



Our drive was in the dark so the only things we could see were McDonalds, Shell Stations, and outlet malls...which was really surprising to me since I thought it was going to be more vineyards and sheep. I guess Italy and the US are a lot a like. Haha!



When we finally made it to Florence we were dropped off about a block from our apartments and had to drag our luggage across cobble stone streets to our apartments. The apartments are so nice, which is not at all what I was anticipating so I'm really happy. We dropped off our bags looked around and then went off in search of dinner. By this time it was after midnight and most of us hadn't eaten since 3:00 or earlier. Most of Florence had already shut down so we went to a 7/11 type store and got fruit and snacks.

It was such a long trip!!!!! But, I'm glad to finally be here.

Location:Florence, Italy