Interlaken, Switzerland

Interlaken was absolutely gorgeous. This was one of the trips we've had planned all semester and I couldn't wait to go.  It was also our last big trip of the semester.  Interlaken is a city that is known extreme activities like skydiving, bungee jumping, skiing and snowboarding.  I had no desire to jump out of a plane, so I decided to go canyon jumping.  That was probably one of the scariest experiences of my life.  Jenny, Dom, Allison, Mercedes and I all decided to do it together.  Canyon Jumping involves a 400 ft jump off a cliff and then you continue to swing through a canyon.  I have a video of it on facebook.  

I completed one of the things I've always wanted to do. Ski the Alps.  I went with Nicole and Dom.  We were able to rent all our gear and The snow wasn't that great but the experience was unforgettable.  To get to the ski area, we had to take a bus, to take a train, to take another train, to take a gondola to get to the top of the mountain. The views were absolutely incredible though.  After skiing for a couple hours we got back on the train to go to another town called Murren.  It was a cute mountain town and we ended up skiing through it to get to the gondola.  

When we got back we went to the Christmas markets.  They were filled with hot wine, cheeses, meats and many Christmas decorations to buy.  It was absolutely freezing but I loved every second of it.  Switzerland was on the Franc, which converted 1 to 1 with the dollar.  The only problem was that everything was really expensive! A Kebab was 13 Francs and a Big Mac was about 12 Francs.  

All in all, this was definitely one of my favorite weekends because it reminded me of home with being in the mountains! 

Proast to Amsterdam

The first weekend in November, Leslie, Jackie, Allison, Jen and I decided to go to Amsterdam for the weekend.  We stayed in the Red Light District, and that was an experience to say the least.  But the city was so much more than the drugs and prostitution. It was absolutely beautiful, and I didn't get to see nearly as much as I had wanted to.








We arrived to Amsterdam and noticed that everything was in English.  Our hotel was in between a coffee shop and a Red Light room.  The coffee shops weren't normal coffee shops, but rather, they permitted the sale and consumption of marijuana.  Conveniently located outside of every coffee shop was a bakery with endless amounts of pastries, hot dogs, pizzas and treats.

We went to the Heineken factory the first day we were there.  We learned the history of Heineken beer and how it is made.  Little did we expect was to have one too many Heinekens at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.  There was a beer tasting, a beer survey and 2 beers included with the entrance of the factory.  Sure enough, what we thought would be an hour or so at the factory turned into an all day ordeal.


The next day we went to the Anne Frank House.  The Diary of Anne Frank was one of my favorite books when I was little so seeing where she was in hiding was a moving experience. While walking through the house we got to see pages of her actual diary and videos of her family and the Holocaust.  I was amazed by the amount of people who came to the museum from all over the world.  We waited in line for about 30 minutes just to get in.







That night, we found one of the most famous coffee shops in Amsterdam, The Bulldog.  Of course we had to take a picture by it and buy a shirt because the Bulldog looks exactly like Spike. Go Zags.



On Sunday, we were exhausted and ready to head back. Jen was on a different flight and left for Florence before the rest of us.  Leslie, Jackie, Allison and I get to the Amsterdam airport to find that our flight is cancelled.  There is no other information for us to find out just what to do.  We wander around the airport asking everyone possible about who we should talk to.  Finally, we get to a service desk and they inform us that we will be on the next flight the following day at 10 am.  Well, so much for getting back for class on Monday! They did provide us with an overnight bag, a 5 star hotel for the night, and included a free dinner and breakfast.  It was incredible, and by far the most comfy bed I have slept in since I have been in Europe. What was even better was that we returned to Florence, just in time for lunch.

Since that weekend I have spent alot of time in Florence.  I have finally been able to see more of the city that I have been studying in the past few months! More updates to come!

We did as the Spaniards..

Since my last post, I have been to Barcelona, Rome and Amsterdam. Im not quite sure how much I can cover in this one post but I will try to get through Barcelona at the very least. 

Meredeth and I booked a really cheap flight to Barcelona this summer for this Halloween weekend.  We thought it was a good idea to fly out of Rome, and that it wasn't that far away.  We didnt realize that the fast train to Rome from Florence was 40 euro, each way.  So we took the 4 hour train that only cost 17 euro each way.  Between the train, the bus to the airport, our flight and another bus, we arrive in at the Kabul hostel in Barcelona at around 3 or 4 in the morning.

So when in Spain, do as the Spainards. This consists of sleeping in, taking a siesta and staying up all night.  We did just that.  Except the siestas were a failed attempt.  All my friends and I booked a twenty person room in our hostel.  Needless to say, it was impossible to sleep there if we wanted to.  About half of the people in the Gonzaga In Florence program decided to go to Barcelona this weekend too, so before we went out at night, our hostel room turned from a 20 person room to a 40 person.  I met one of my best friends from home, Britt DeLine, in Barcelona.  She is studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain and I was so glad to have someone who knew Spanish with us!

The first day, we went to Parque Guell.  We walked to the top and saw a view of the entire city.  We also saw some of Gaudi's work and the mosaic lizard. We then saw the Sangrada Familia, which was by far the coolest church I have ever seen.  The construction of this church should be completed in 25 years, so we vowed to come back to Barcelona when it is completed.  We were able to see the beach that day too. It definitely wasnt beach weather, but we ate lunch and drank Sangria by the ocean.  That night, we went to a club on the beach.

The next day, we went to the beach again and saw the awesome Halloween sand castles!  That night we went to Razzmatazz, the largest club in Barcelona. 

In my final day in Barcelona, Elle, Will, Britt and I decide to rent Go Karts and tour the city.  Driving in Europe is just about the scariest drive I have ever had to do.  It felt like I was in Mario Kart but if I ran into a bus (which I was very close to doing so), the consequences would be more severe. My Go Kart also broke down twice, so all the cars behind me got really angry.  But that definitely was one of the best experience I have had this semester.

We decided to stay up all night, since our flight was at 6:20 am.  So Britt and I say good-bye (I miss her already!) and Mer and I head to Rome. 

Ahh, Roma.  We decide to see Rome in one day, and let me tell you, we saw alot for that one day we were in Rome. In the four hours we were there, we saw the Colessuem, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and St. Peter's Square.  Of course we threw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, because we both have plans to return to Rome later this semester.  I wish you could have seen us walk around Rome though.  We looked like zombies, due to the lack of sleep we had.  But we did it, and made it home safe and sound!


I will update this again soon about my trip to Amsterdam and my adventures in Florence. (And more Barca pics!)

My dad and his girlfriend are here with me for Thanksgiving this week and I am excited to show them around Florence!

Happy Thanksgiving!

FRANCE

I went to the French Riviera about three weeks ago and then I went to Paris last week.  I absolutely love France. From the Croque Madames to the Effiel Tower and the beautiful language, I truely loved everything I saw about this country.  I have not had nearly enough time to see everything I wanted to see here! I feel like both weekends I was in France I had to run around and try to see everything I wanted to see.

We went to the French Riviera through a tour group called Bus2Alps.  It was about a 7 hour bus ride to get there.  We stayed in a hostel in Nice and had trips planned to different cites everyday.  My favorite places we went were Monaco and Cannes because they were both so famous.  

We went to the Monte Carlo Casino and played the slot machines here.  It was really fancy and you had to be kind of dress up to get in.  We played the slot machines here and I won 13 euro!

The weather was really warm, so we were able to get a couple beach days in. The beaches were gorgeous.  Also, it was totally okay to go topless there.  And all the men wore speedos.  It wasn't a huge shock, but it was definitely something we had to get used to. 

Here are a few more pictures from the French Riviera:

Paris has been one of my favorite cities so far.  We went on a school trip there last weekend.  We took a flight out of Pisa and stayed in a hotel by the Eiffel Tower. The first night, we had a big group of girls go to the Eiffel Tower, drink wine, and eat crepes.  It was so beautiful at night. 

We had a bike tour of the city one day and a Da Vinci Code tour the next.  The Da VInci Code tour took us around the city and showed us the scenes from the book and the movie.  It basically proved everything in the movie and the book to be completely false, but it was still interesting to learn about it.  We had another tour at night where we went on a boat down the Siene River and then went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We got to see the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Moulin Rouge as well. 

Here is Jen, Meredeth, Leslie and I on top of the Eiffel Tower.

The is the Louve.  Unfortunately, we only had 2 hours to go inside and see all of it, but if you spent 30 seconds looking at each piece of art, then you would be in there for 6 months.  I did get to see the Mona Lisa though, along with other really interesting artwork. 

This is the Notre Dame Cathedral.  It was definitely my favorite church out of all the churches I have seen in Europe. 

And of course, the famous Moulin Rouge. You couldn't go inside of it unless you wanted to see a show (which was 90 euro). 

Like I said, we didnt have nearly enough time to see everything we wanted to.  France was amazing and I really hope to go back there.  This weekend, I went to Perugia for the EuroChocolate Festival and next weekend, we are off to Barcelona for Halloween!

So I Swear Im Going to School

So I have been in Florence for only a few weeks now but this city is absolutely incredible. The biggest problem I have so far is that I dont get to spend enough time here. We leave almost every weekend! But we are all stayed here this weekend so it was great to go out and explore.

Im living in a pensione, so it is like a hostel/hotel.  I share a room with three other girls.  Meredeth and I bunk our beds and Jackie and Elle have their beds against the walls so we still have alot of room.  The woman who runs the pensione is named Monola, and her and her family cook all of the meals they provide us.  Our pensione is the furthest from school, but its only about a 10 minute walk or so.

I heard the food was good, but I didnt really believe just how amazing it really was until I got here.  For breakfast, we usually have just some cereal and coffee.  Lunch is the largest meal of the day.  We get a 3 course meal every Monday through Thursday.  We always start off with a pasta dish and we have yet to have the same pasta dish twice.  The next course is usually some kind of meat and sauteed vegetables.  Then we have dessert which is either something sweet or we have fruit.  I am learning to limit my pasta intake day by day. For dinner, we have pasta with a meat dish.  Dinner is a little lighter than lunch. 

We have been able to venture a bit around the city.  We took our school picture in a piazza that looks over all of Florence. (Pic on the right)  Mer and I have been going on runs at 6am.  Its still dark out but the streets are empty so we are able to run up and down the river.  There is a large market by our pensione that sells really good fruit, vegetables, dried fruit and nuts.  There are gelato places around every corner and the restaurant food is equally as good as the food we are served in our pensione.  Gelato is the most incredible form of ice cream I have ever had. Nothing in the US can compare to how delicious the gelato is here. 

El mio italiano e molto male.  I am terrible at Italian. I have learned that every basic Italian phrase I know, every Italian in Florence can say in English.  I am working on my Italian, mixing it with English and even some Spanish.  Luckily, almost everyone knows basic English here so we have been getting by just fine.

Elle and I went to the Boboli Gardens on Saturday. It was a large garden with statues and amazing views of the city. Then we went to dinner at Dantes.  They offer free unlimited wine with the purchase of an entree for students.  Today, we went to another market across the river and ate lunch by the duomo.  Next weekend, we are going to Paris.  Yes, I am aware of the travel warning in Europe and I will be especially careful.  I will update later about the French Riviera and Paris!

VERY FIRST UPDATE

So it has taken me forever to actually make this but here is a brief overview of the past three weeks.
We had our opening tour in Berlin, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; and Vienna, Austria.

Here are my friends and I in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Berlin was absolutely crazy. Imagine 150 college kids who are now legally able to drink. Oh and there isn't an open container law in Europe. Enough said.  So we had tours of Berlin and we even saw a concentration camp.  We all did a pub crawl that took us to 5 different bars and ended at a club.  Berlin was great because it was very European and still a lot of it was similar to America.

This is Shannon and I in Prague.

Prague was so beautiful and was definitely my favorite city we visited on opening tour.  We had to switch currency from the euro to the crown and everything was really cheap in Prague.  It didn't seem like because a drink would cost like 90 crown but in reality that was about $4.50 when you converted it.  It was very confusing. I felt like I was spending Monopoly money.  We had a walking tour of the city, we ran a race for life, went to a sex machine museum, drank a beer by the river that ran through the middle of the city, went to a 5 story club and did yet another pub crawl. 

This is a crazy children's play place we played in at a castle in Vienna.

Okay so this isn't the best picture to depict my time at Vienna but we had so much fun at this 

castle! There was another organized tour at a castle but a few of us got separated from the group and we wandered around this giant castle! It was absolutely incredible! Later that day, we rented bikes and rode around the city.  We were pretty burnt out by the time we got to Vienna so we took it easy for the most part.

Then we finally got to Florence. What a beautiful city! Pictures cannot even come close to how incredible it is here.  I am living in a pensione in a quad with Meredeth, Jackie and a girl named Elle. Elle is from LMU and we met her on opening tour.  She is so much fun! So we were in Florence for two days and then it was off to OKTOBERFEST in Munich, Germany.

Oktoberfest was insane to say the least.  Imagine people from all over the world who are in the same city for the soul purpose to eat big pretzels, devour bratwursts and drink beer by the liter.  We met people everywhere! The Australians were my favorite! There were thousands of people crowding the whole festival and beer maids brought us our beer at the big bier garden where we drank!

This is my friends and I after a hike in Capri.

This last weekend, a few girls and I went to the Amalfi Coast. This is the coast in south west Italy.  We stayed in Sorrento but traveled to the island of Capri, Positano and Pompeii.  This place was so gorgeous. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best while we were there but it was still great to see everything!  We did the trip through EuroAdventures and they made a short video of our trip! You can see it at this link.

This weekend I am going to the French Riviera and I cannot wait!! Keep in touch! Facebook and Skype is the best way to get ahold of me. (Skype name is lkirby08).
I love and miss everyone!!