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!