FLORENCE, BARCELONA, & SPRING BREAK !!

Really, really long over due…

Well this goes back about… 2 ½ weeks? Dublin was wonderful as I said before, and the week after was pretty basic. Go to class, try not to fall asleep during very long lectures that I tend not to understand (stupid language barrier, or accent in this case), eat a ton, and go out. I was really looking forward to Thursday because my friends from Rome and Barcelona were coming in for Rachel’s birthday! The week or two leading up to that everyone was getting colds, nothing too terrible, mostly just annoying. I was feeling alright and my friends were there so I had to go see them… bad idea. At night we were at a club that I don’t usually go to, so I had no idea how to get back from so I ended up wandering the streets for an hour with my friends Sam and Seth until we finally made it back to my apartment. The next day I hung out in the morning with the girls in my pledge class to grab some BAGELS from a little hidden bakery! DELICIOUS! I miss them so much! Any way I knew I had to get back to the apartment to study for my upcoming midterms so I was planning on just meeting them for dinner that night… little did I know that a few short hours later strep throat would kick in and I would be in my bed for the next few days straight! It was pretty terrible. My roommates even tried to call the doctors that are supposed to do home visits but we couldn’t get a hold of anyone! The worst part was that I couldn’t talk so I couldn’t even explain what hurt when I finally got to the doctor (which wasn’t until the offices opened back up on MONDAY!!). I think he got the message though when he saw my throat. A few steroids and antibiotics later I was feeling much better. Unfortunately not better in time to take or even study for my first two midterms on Tuesday. Luckily my teachers were all really nice and I am able to take them later this week. Only downside is that now coming back from spring break I have those awesome exams to study for… woohoo!

At AFROJACK!

 By the end of the week I was feeling significantly better. I was able to take my other midterms, and Thursday we were off to BARCELONA!! It was an interesting experience considering I wasn’t able to drink and the night life in Barca is insane. Thursday we went to eat at a Tapas restaurant to take in some Spanish cuisine (minus some questionable fish dish) and prepared ourselves for AFROJACK! For those of you that don’t know, Afrojack is a crazy DJ who we all love. All of his mixes are so much fun to dance and jump around to its great. Going sober was a little weird, but hey I still was able to have a great time (minus some very pushy people). It was the ridiculous, and extremely sweaty, but overall I had a really good time. Although I do NOT know how everyone studying in Barcelona handles it… you don’t get home until about 6:30-7 am every night (well morning technically) and they go out 6 nights a week, aka they don’t sleep. But hey if you can do it more power to you. Friday we woke up at 10ish because it was my only day to sight see so we had to get in as much as possible! We started at the Sagrada Familia, the giant cathedral that Barcelona is famous for. Unfortunately the line was way over an hour long so we couldn’t go inside or we wouldn’t have been able to get to everything. After that we wandered to the Arc de Triumph where one of my roommates friends met us who is studying in Barcelona so she was able to help us navigate the rest of our day (EXTREMELY helpful!). From there we walked down Las   

   Ramblas, the most famous street in Barcelona and saw all of the very creepy people who dress up in costume and hold poses until you give them money (or they just try to scare you by jumping randomly, not cool). We stopped in their big market, La Boqueria which has the BEST fruit smoothies for 1 euro… if I lived there I would absolutely get one every single day! From there we saw the “baby” cathedral and some other gothic architecture. After wandering for a really, really long time we stopped at got lunch and they had eggs! It was glorious! In Italy they rarely have eggs so this was perfecttttt.

Guadi's Famous Lizard

Now the one place I REALLY wanted to go was Parc Guell, and as exhausted as we were at that point I forced everyone to go, and it was just as beautiful as I remembered. The entire park was designed by artist/architect Guadi, and he covered almost all of it in mosaic tiles. It’s unreal. At that point I was so content. I saw everything that I really wanted to, was standing looking at a beautiful view of Barcelona, and was picking Mike up from the airport in Rome the next day, everything was perfect.

I forgot to mention earlier that we didn’t book a hostel until pretty last minute so the four of us had to stay in a 8-mixed hostel. The first night was fine there were two couples in the room with us which was no big deal, but the second night there were two late 30’s- early 40 year old men in the room with us. I was planning on staying in that night but I felt uncomfortable being in the room alone with just those two men, so after going to a really pretty light show in Plaza Espana and getting a quick dinner I just went out with everyone… little did I know what that night would bring me.

Parc Guell

Again, being sober around all drunk people can be a little… strange? And slightly irritating. People kept changing their minds if they wanted to stay out, go home, and eventually after deciding to just stay out, our cab driver took us to the wrong place, the two people in the cab with my fell asleep and I was fighting with the cab driver in Spanish. It was awful. After getting kicked out of the cab because we refused to pay, two cabs, another argument, and a little wandering later, we finally found the club where all of our friends were. I was so annoyed at that point but as soon as I walked in I saw one of my good friends from middle school/high school who I haven’t seen in FOREVER! It was exactly what I needed to snap me back into a good mood. From that point on I just danced around and had a great night. I got to hang out with some of my friends from my pledge class too, which is always really nice. Around 5ish I was exhausted but no one wanted to leave so I just sucked it up and stayed for another hour until we finally left and headed towards the metro (because yes, the metro opens back up at 6 for people going to WORK & those of us coming home from clubs). 

So here’s were the problems really start… I have a flight to Rome Saturday morning to meet Mike that leaves at 10:20 with the gates closing at 9:50. By the time we get back to the hostel its 7am, and I was planning on waking up at 7:30ish just to make sure I had plenty of time. Well that didn’t exactly work… I woke up and went back to bed and woke up at 9:30!!! The airport in 20 minutes away so I got my stuff together, freaking out of course, ran outside and hauled a cab. I told him I had 20 minutes to get there and that I didn’t know which terminal I was at (stupid ryanair doesn’t tell you on your ticket). He tried calling for me but we couldn’t figure it out, so he ends up dropping me off at Terminal 1C, I have to turn around and sprint with my backpack to 1B, all while freaking out & crying and now profusely sweating, get special approval to pass right through, have a family tell me where to go, sprint to the front of security, without even putting my shoes back on I run through the airport searching for my gate, a woman at a store told me where to go and after the woman working there let me through in the last minute I MADE IT!!! It was the most stressful thing of my entire life. I wouldn’t have cared if it was just me getting back to Florence but I had to meet Mike and I was so worried I wasn’t going to make it that I even had my friend ready to pick him up from the train station and take care of him until I got there. I made it though so that’s all that matters… if this teaches you (and me) anything it's NEVER stay out until 7 am the night before a flight.

Finally in FLORENCE!!!

But this is where the good part starts… I made it Rome, got to the train station successfully, as did Mike and our spring break officially started! We headed to from Rome to Florence for the first few days and the weather was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. We got in at an awkward hour and were starvingggg so we went to my favorite Panini shop by school. YUMMM. After coming back and just relaxing for a while, recouping from Barcelona and the flight for him, we went to a restaurant one of his friends recommended and thus began our non-stop eating fest. There’s a club that people go to on Saturday nights that I personally am not a big fan of, but I figured Mike was only here once so we might as well go for a little while. Not gonna lie, we didn’t last very long. We danced around with my friends and had fun but we have the nights we both had just had, we were dying and came home and completely passed out.

Sunday we officially started exploring FLORENCE! Everything we did I haven’t done yet so it was just as exciting for me! We started at Santa Croce Church, which was beautiful. It might be my favorite church in Florence. After we went over to Palazzo Vecchio and went inside the museum to see “For the Love of God,” which is a piece currently in the museum by Damien Hirst. It’s a real skull covered in over 8,000 diamonds with human teeth. It’s worth over 100 million dollars! They only let a few people in the room, which is completely dark aside from the glowing skull. The only other person in the room with you is an armed guard! It was really cool though, especially because I did a project on him and focused on that piece. From Palazzo Vecchio we went over to the famous Duomo to find out that you can’t climb to the top on Sundays, so instead we just wandered to through the streets over to one of my favorite squares, Piazza Della Republica. Needed an excuse to eat more, we headed over to one of the best pizza by slice for lunch. We sat on the steps of the Duomo and ate probably the best piece of pizza I’ve had in Florence.

As exhausted as we were from walking around all day, we still headed over to the Uffizi Museum, which has the best collection of art in all of Italy. We looked like zombies going through but we were able to get in for free with my student museum pass so it was worth it. My friend Jason was visiting his girlfriend for spring break so for dinner we met up with them and went to Trattoria 13 Gobbi, another new restaurant for me. Since it was Sunday and most of my friends were away for spring break, the four of us just went to a bar, got some drinks & hung out for the rest of the night.

We made it to the top of the Duomo!

Monday was another full day of wandering around Florence. We went to the San Lorenzo (aka Leather) market, inside the central Mercado, and then went to climb the Duomo! I’ve been here for 2 months and this was the first time I did it! The view was incredible, and although those very old 480 steps were a little creepy, it was 100% worth it. I’m sure Mike’s favorite part of the trip was the next thing we did… went to Antico Noe, one of the best sandwich places in Florence. He didn’t stop talking about that sandwich the entire time he was here! They were really good though… I’ll probably go tomorrow (sorry Mike!). We took a little nap break at this point until we eventually made our way up to Piazzale Michelangelo! We walked all the way up to the church but they literally closed to the gates on us! So rude! After coming back we got ready to go to the best dinner I’ve had in Florence since I’ve been here… Acqua Al 2. This place is known for its blueberry steak (yes, blueberry). We went all out for dinner, appetizers, pasta sampler, and we split a blueberry and balsamic steak. I honestly don’t know which I like better they were amazing, and I don’t even like steak very much! We decided to stay in that night so we could wake up a little earlier and see the David!

Tuesday we went to another big lunch spot, The Oil Shoppe, and then headed over to Galleria Dell’Accademia where the David is. The rest of the Accademia is alright, but the David made it worth the visit. It’s just something you have to see. It’s unreal to think that someone chiseled away at a 16+ foot block of marble to create something so perfect. I personally think my stick figures and doodles match up pretty well so Michelangelo’s work but that’s just me…

We decided at this point we should make our way to the train station to head to Assisi! By the time we got there it was pretty late so we went to some dinner and spent the rest of the night watching movies and getting a good nights sleep before our exploration of Assisi!

View from the top of Assisi :)

We followed Rick Steve’s walking tour through Assisi, adding in the Rocca Maggiore, an old fortress that we climbed to the top of so we could see the whole town! We wandered around to see an old Roman Amphitheatre, San Rufino Basilica, Temple of Minerva (where they still have drains from bloody religious sacrifices!), the tiny old church of Santa Stefano, St. Clare’s Basilica, all the way down the most famous place in Assisi, Basilica of San Francesco. St. Francis is one of the patron saints of Italy and lived in Assisi. The Basilica is massive and beautiful, and extremely important in the Christian world. The entire day was fantastic, and it was such a change from anywhere I have visited so far.

Coliseum

Next stop, ROMAAA. This was actually my first visit to Rome! I was really excited to finally go, there was so much to do and to see. Wednesday night we stumbled into a super Italian hole in the wall for dinner… not nearly as good as any of our other meals which was surprising since usually those small places are the best. This bed and breakfast was different from the last one, instead of a little room for breakfast; they literally bring you a tray to your room. It was a little strange opening the door for the woman in our pajamas haha but hey it happens. That day we did the “Cesar Shuffle” as Rick Steve would put it. We started at the Coliseum where we bought a tour for both the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. As much as I appreciated learning about the Coliseum, the woman rambled on for so long before we finally went in! The tour was fine, but probably not needed (I’d rather just go watch Gladiator haha), but the worst part was after having a few minutes to wander on our own and take some pictures, we couldn’t find out next tour guide! We were supposed to meet the guy showing us to the Roman Forum right by the exit but he never showed! What a scam! Eventually our group got tired and searching and we just went over the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum ourselves. Luckily, I had my handy dandy Rick Steve book to guide us through and teach us about what we were seeing. The ruins were really cool especially when you stop and think that these were part of very important buildings in the greatest empire of all time over 2000 years ago. From there we continued on over the Pantheon, which is actually only a 2-minute walk from our B&B. 

Obviously we still had to continue eating everything we could (he was only there for a week, and I was providing “food support” by eating everything as well) so we looked up one of the highest recommended gelato places and headed that way. I have never seen a gelataria so packed before! After I got it I understood why! Not only was it amazing, they give you SO MUCH! I’m talking massive quantities of gelato and we got smalls! Not that I’m complaining …

That night we went to dinner at a place that the woman who owned the B&B recommended to us, Alla Rampa. It was of course delicious and I finallyyyy got some seafood! I missed it! Plus, it was right near the Spanish Steps so after dinner we walked over and explored a bit.

Treve Fountain!

Friday we went to the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s, which were both of course incredible. We took a tour of the Vatican, which was definitely the right decision, or else I would have no idea what I was looking at. Our tour guide was a girl from California too so there was never any confusion understanding her. I didn’t realize that they had Michelangelo come BACK to paint The Last Judgment when he was in his 60’s! Over 30 years after he painted the ceiling! I actually learned a lot from the tour, all of which was really interesting. After the Vatican we went over to climb the Dome at St. Peter’s, which is the highest building in all of Rome (and legally has to be so). I was surprised how updated the inside was, nothing like climbing the Duomo… As beautiful as the view was, I still like the view from the Duomo in Florence better (I’m a little biased I suppose). After wandering around St. Peter’s we were so tired that we just got some lunch and headed back to the room to pass out for a little bit. That night we met my friend Sam for apertivo (drinks and appetizer-type food)! It was so nice seeing her and a group of us just hanging out… I felt bad that Mike wasn’t able to meet any of my friends since everyone was traveling! We decided not to go out to another bar with them since he was flying out the next day, and I was heading back to Firenze, so instead we grabbed a slice of pizza and walked over the Trevi Fountain! It was so beautiful at night! Only downside, we got hustled (a little bit my fault…) by a guy taking pictures with his Polaroid camera… you can’t even see the fountain in the background! Oh well, that Rome for you. As much as I like it, I could not stand having someone always trying to hustle and scam me everywhere I go. No thanks!

Sadly, Saturday was the day we had to say goodbye =( which is always really sad. To make matters worse I have two stupid midterms hanging over my head! They haven’t even told me when I’m taking them! Urg.

Well that is officially everything! It was one of the BEST weeks of my life and definitely something I will always, always remember!

Ciao <3