Italy

Long awaited, but hopefully it's worth it for all!! I had an amazing time in Italy, to say the least, I would go back at any given time. I started my trip in Logan Airport, to Madrid, Spain then on to Venice, Italy. After 3 days in Venice we traveled to Florence where we spent 5 days there and finally went to Rome for another 5 days. Here are some highlights from my trip...

With my roommate in Logan Airport waiting to get on the plane

Madrid, Spain's airport...it was so cool- Although security asked if I was from Mexico?!? oh well

Waiting for the next flight--don't we look fab after technically 12 hours, but also loosing a day :(

My favorite place(s) how could I possibly have just one? had to have been:

#1.) VENICE- no contest!  because of immediate beauty I fell in love with on arrival and how easily I was able to find my way around after the first night. It was a small feeling city that was very welcoming.

View of the canal right off the plane/bus

Hotels view...it was a small alley way like most streets

First hotel room with 3 other roommates

Imagine carrying your suitcase over this...I had too

Beautiful view...and me :)

I guess my kinda favorite part of being in Venice was people constantly coming up to a group of us and being so excited to hear us speaking English and getting to meet so many new people. While in Venice, I traveled to Padova and saw the Scrovegni Church and only stayed a few hours before heading back to Venice. I had a wonderful dinner the second to last night and met a group of singers from Belmont University and then attended their concert the following night--they were incredible!


2.) Pompeii  How could you not fall in love with a city full of so much history and still almost perfectly preserved since 79AD (yea I learned something, impressed?)

Entering the city!!

Some of the preserved pottery found in the ruins

Garden of the Fugitives (meaning people would tried to flee the volcanoe)

 

Just sitting in the Amphitheater 

 3.) Pisa- a wonderful day trip that 12 students including myself navigated to and back all by ourselves. Best part was playing tourist (well I was one haha) and "holding up" the tower :).

It was seriously gonna fall HA!

Doesn't even look like it was leaning that much...

Some girls on the day trip

We got back to the station and on the right train :) successful day!

4.) Rome- Last stop and amazing to experience the ruins always seen in movies :)

The Colosseum

Inside

At the Hard Rock Cafe

WONDERFUL RISSOTO

Family Dinner

Mum and Pop Pop of the family

Marzzapane and canoli YUM!!

Making my coin toss to Return

Making a toss with two coins for LOVE

A huge diamond that I thought should be mine

Lastly the Pantheon

5.) Florence- Santa Croche, the Duomo, and JERSEY SHORE cast!! this was a second stop along the way and within the first two hours (and in the middle of our seminar) we saw Jersey Shore- needless to say the seminar ended and resumed later haha.

In front of the Duomo

Just Mike... (Vinny, & Pauly not in pic)

A better picture of the Duomo

Just waiting for seminar to start again and what do you know

San Croche

Just met up with Mike for lunch haha

The view from the top of the Duomo!!

After climbing sprinting to the top with my friend Sarah

Another view- so beautiful

Last one I swear!

Sunset in Florence

Girls night out!! and free shots from the cute bartender!

Best Kebab in the world!!

Our Kebab makers :)

My bed on the left

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm BAaaaaaaaaaacckkkkkkkkkKK!!

Hello world!!

So I'm back, I've been back it's just literally taken me a WHILE to get back in the groove and such. First of all I had a FANTASTIC time in Italy and it was INCREDIBLE (I'll post a separate post just for Italy). So I've been back for just over a week now and am starting my summer job.... insert whining and what not. Just kidding it's really not that bad, it's sometimes just tiring and overwhelming in the summer time. It's almost kind of nice to be starting so late in the school year too because some of the kids seem to appreciate the extra addition (me) and change in counselors.

On another note, I went to the beach today (after working morning care) with my friend Katie. I had a great time and we caught up on all our gossip since school ended. SO that's the good news...the bad news is I'm BURNT to a crisp on my lower back/stomach and upper things...talk about UNCOMFORTABLE!!! :( I hate being the pale kid to ALWAYS be burnt, despite the constant application and only remaining in the sun for short periods of time...sadly I'm always the one sporting the burn look after a beach trip. What's a girl to do, honestly??

Survivor Sunday!!!

Oh come on, we all have our guilty pleasures..I just happen to find a few that I'm not afraid to share. One of these pleasures is the ultimate-longest-running-competition show, Survivor (announced so much better by Jeff Probst). I have literally been watching Survivor since 6th grade, and got my family hooked on it soon after. Survivor is close to my heart because NO MATTER what was going on at home and in all of our busy schedules (and still to this day for the most part) the whole family would make it home to watch Survivor. When I was younger, the neighbors and I would even go as far as to play our own survivor version. It was play in the front/back yards and tribal council was held on an old rotting tree. Games include tangling from monkey bars, relay races, and of course the all time favorite temptation of food (because how dare we leave the game to grab food).

On to something a little more excited, I'M GOING TO ITALY TOMORROW!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I seriously can hardly believe it is happening. I started thinking of going to Italy back in October and of course May felt like a lifetime away.  So let me clarify that it is for school, I'm taking a music credit so I'll be focusing on musical aspects of the trip...but uh hello if you need a music credit, Italy isn't a shabby place to have to take it. I also need to say, that I'm kinda scared...I've never really been somewhere on my own. I mean yea, I'm traveling with  40 some-other students and 4 teachers, but still it just seems like a big thing to me! I just want to clarify that I have traveled places without my family/parents before, but I donno this just feels different for me. I guess I'm just more nervous of the going it on my own kinda of thing, even though I like doing things by myself, I like company too. I guess I need to remember that's it's the fear and excitement of life that makes it worth living!

The End is Near..

Sorta freaking out in that, I-don't-wanna-leave-my-friends-I-can't-believe-school-is-over feeling :(. It's so sad, I hate this part of the year. It's always right when everyone has been getting along and we've been having a great time together. People's last minute goodbyes are so incredibly sad!! I can't handle them and this year is no different. Although, it might be a little harder since I'm moving from one apartment to another, so I have to pack ALL of my stuff up, but also pack things up and set them aside in my current apartment so it can just move to the new apartment.

I have exactly one final this evening, sign language, and it's going to be great! Then I am officially a SENIOR in college...how WEIRD is that! Oh and another exciting note coming up, is I fly to ITALY in exactly 6days!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH so exciting, nervous, and much to do in those 6 days!! I hope I get it all done and ready to go in that time.  Time to study!!

Saturday Sence

Saturday begin with an early wake up for me and a quick tidying up of the apartment, cuz the roommate was coming with her parents to pack and take her large furniture home :( sad. Then, I had to deal with the future roommate/landlord and sign the new lease for the new apartment, which thank the lord I am able to move into early because that was causing it's own issues with my parents who didn't want to take things home if they could make their way to the new apartment, which is understandable, but it just didn't seem possible. THANKFULLY the new landlord is VERY understanding is allowing myself and the new roommates move in on the day we have to move out of our old apartments! YA for cooperation!!

Then, I had a shopping date with a new best friend, Brittany, we went to Augusta and shopped around. We both discussed spending the minimum, but finding the best deals!! From Khols I got: a much needed pair of capris, new necklace & matching earrings. At Old Navy I got: needed appropriate shorts. And from Apostale (where I never go because they run WAY too small and I feel like a cow in their clothing, rather than hot while trying on new jeans) I got: a pair of jeggins HAHA and new pair of MUCH needed jeans both for under $15, can you so SCORE?!?!

Needless to say it was an amazing shopping trip and Brittany and I had a great time talking. You know when you find someone at of the blue and just know their going to be your new best friend? Yea it was like that, we are soo similar it would have been scary, but we were both enjoying finding so much about each other and sharing a bond of being cheap and not spending a lot. When we returned to school, we grabbed some sleepover stuff at her place and went to my place, ate some yummy subway dinner, and watch Across the Universe then Country Strong (Awesome!!). Oh, and while we watched movies, we baked and had a great time. YA for new best friends and a great Saturday!

Catch up Time...

SOooooo life of a college student mixed with the blogging cite, sometimes means they don't mix. This week is no exception! As it was the week before finals, final projects, presentations, and classes were wrapping up, so unfortunately that meant working 'round the clock, eating/exercising when possible, and saving friends for the weekend. EVERYTHING has been turned in and all that stands between me and the summer + Italy! is a Math and sign language final. It's not over yet folks, but darn it I wish it was!

SO, I just want to clarify that when I began blogging, the roommate and I were NOT getting along to say the least. It got so bad that were not eating together, speaking, or even making any interactions. I have to announce that we are now 100% better than before! I don't even know how it happen, I don't want to jinx it, but it's just gotten completely better between us. Which makes me happy don't get me wrong, but at the same time I'm really sad because she has been my ONLY roommate for the past 3 years of college! HOW I'M I SUPPOSED TO GO THROUGH SENIOR YEAR WITHOUT HER?!?! I know we get on each others nerves but that's what friends do honestly and the best part is the way we always bounce back and have a great bond after spending 3 years together. I don't know how I'll do it, because I was really lucky to meet her going into freshmen year and every year while we secretly planned to live with each other again, one of us would finally bring it up again and we'd decide we wanted to continue living together. It's sad when you realize how close you are to someone and knowing you're parting so quickly. Luckily we have our Italy excursion to go on, so we'll be together for an extra 2 weeks in GORGEOUS Venice, Florence, and ROME!!!!!! excited much?

Finals won't be tooo bad hopefully, math will probably kill me a little on Monday, but I have my last workout with my friend Katie that will REALLY give me the pick me I need! Then we plan an ice cream/movie date with friends we started freshmen year with and some we've picked up along the way. Then sign language on Tuesday will be fun and feel goood because I know I've learned another language in a very short semester and could actually use it in real life! Thanks college for giving me a practical skill!!

F.I.N.A.L.S

Oh how that one little word can turn a person's world upside down for weeks at a time. Yep you guessed it, it's approaching Finals week here at school and it's not even the actual finals that are making me stressed (literally, I'm breaking out, not sleeping fully, and to top it off I'm feeling the beginnings of a sore throat...awesome!). So some people know Finals as the end of the year tests, well I like to prefer to them as F-bomb, I, Never, Actually, Learned this, S*%$...excuse the language. It's not that I don't know anything it's just that spring-fever-don't-wanna-do-anymore-work mode that's got me all messed up. I'll add more in the next few days, but for now this is all I can offer as I get kicked out of the library in point 3hours and need to devote that time to a final project....yea welcome to the procrastination world of a college student!  I hope others are having a better time!