Day 3 - Florence-1-30-11-Sunday

Ciao Bella!  Hello Beautiful!  Today was our first day to sleep in and it was wonderful!  I slept in until probably 1 o'clock I know it sounds awful and super late, but in all fairness it was down pouring when I woke up the first time at 8am and I needed it to get used to this time difference.  After I woke up I went into town and had my first slice of Italian pizza and boy was it delicious!  It was super super fresh!  It just had huge tomato slices all over it and a little bit of cheese, but they put it right in the oven for you when you order and it's out in a matter of minutes.  I can't believe how delicious it was and I'm excited to have it again :)  After that I got more minutes on my cell phone because apparently it eats away all my minutes if I text the u.s. which is a major bummer :(  However, I did buy a phone card too because that makes the most sense.  P.S.  Anyone who wants to text or call me it's free for me to receive them, it just costs a lot to call/text back :)  After that I went inside the Duomo because it was open and it was not what I was expecting for a church.  It's pretty much been made into a tourist spot rather than a church which is disappointing.  After the Duomo I had tiramisu gelato and it was freaking awesome.  Wow… I just realized what a fatty I probably sound like raving about the food all the time in the entries, but seriously, it's absolutely amazing, I have yet to try something I don't like… then again I am not really a picky eater thanks to my parents, work, and work friends who make me try things like scallops, mussels, and ahi tuna all of which I never thought I'd ever try.  After the Duomo we walked back to the hotel for awhile then went back to the Duomo for mass at 6pm.  It was really different because it was all in Italian…Italiano!  Luckily, I have been a part of the catholic church for most of my life so I pretty much understood the just of it :)  After the Duomo I went back to the hotel had dinner and tried to get on the internet, but there were too many people on so it was super slow.  I ended up going back to my room hanging with Molly, my roommate where I found out we listen to the same music which is awesome, and I wrote my blog.

Day 2 - Florence- Saturday 1-29-11

The next morning we got up and had a tour at 9am I think of the city where our instructor told us where the important things were like how to get to the Duomo, the bookstore, and the Tibachi shops which are like little gas stations without the gas.  After that we arrived at a mansion where we played icebreakers for an hour or two.  One of them was we got a name tag of another person and we had to find them and introduce ourselves to each other.  The other was we had to build a tower using balloons, tape, and ribbon.  Not going to lie both of these games were pretty interesting… lol  a balloon tower is a lot more complicated than it sounds.  After that we got to eat lunch where we were served a pesto lasagna, chicken with mozzarella and tomato and potatoes, and for dessert we got tiramisu.  It was all very tasty.  After lunch we had our orientation where we where given a folder with stuff in it and then the head of their police department came and lectured us about safety in Florence.  He was actually really funny!  After that we were left to walk back and find our hotel on our own.  We stopped at a cute little toy/notebook/card/stationary store and we found a 99 cent/euro store.  That was pretty neat.  A couple of the girls got a bottle of red wine for only 99 cents! Crazy!  After that we eventually made it back to the hotel where I had a minor freak out because I couldn't find my pin number… that was not fun.  Mom had to get a hold of Dad who had to talk to mom who had to relay the message back to me.  Dad, future note, next time keep your cell phone on ;)  Anyways I am pretty sure the pin number dropped out on the plane or bus and I told myself to check under the seat cuz I heard something drop and did I? Nope.  Good one Ash.  Good news is there is no card info with the pin number and I now have my pin number… yay!  P.S. Dad if you are reading this the B'NL banks I'm supposed to go to for atms are secured and I have no idea how to get inside of them?  So… yea.  Back to my story I showered after my freak out and went to dinner then after dinner my roomate Molly, being the sweetheart she is walked to the B'NL where I couldn't get in then walked to another atm with me where I was finally able to get some Euros and back to the hotel.  After that we finished getting ready, met the girls next to us in the hotel, and enjoyed an evening out on the town at the green fish :) I actually was able to converse with some of the Italians can you believe it?  I think I'm somewhat ahead of the game for taking seven years of spanish and listening to Italian in my car :) woo woo!!! Oh and p.s. parents worried about my spending… I only spent 10 euros at the bar can you believe that?! 10! That's soooo cheap :D  I'm so proud of myself! …. It may have something to do with that 99 cent bottle of wine before hand… he he :D  Over all the night went from awful to amazing and I'm really happy I had great people to spend it with!

Firenze! Florence!-Friday 1-28-11

Ciao! Hello!  I left at 5am this morning from London and after landing in Pisa we took a bus to Florence it was about an hour or so bus ride I want to say and we got to Florence around four I think.  Our hotel is absolutely gorgeous!  I met a new girl that I'm rooming with.  Her name is Molly, she is from Pennsylvania and super nice!  I like her a lot and we relate very well to each other.  :)  We went me, her, and Michelle to get a phone, Vodophone they are called.  After that we had dinner at the hotel.  I think we had vegetable soup, lemon chicken with green beans, and a bowl of fruit for dessert.  After dinner I skyped with mom I think and then went to bed. 

First few shots of Florence, look at that sunlight!

All the roads are super narrow and yes I have already rolled my ankle on the cobblestone not fun at all :(

Our fruit bowl :) The oranges are so full of juice it's intense!

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Me and Clara @ Dinner

Oh I forgot to tell you I experience my first taste of gelato! I was AMAZING! I got one that tasted like vanilla and one that tasted like cookies n cream :)

London's Calling

Hey Everyone!

Just got into Florence this afternoon my time at 4:00pm.  I have so much to fill everyone in on!  Let's start at the beginning.  I met a group right away in the Minneapolis airport to fly to Chicago with me which was awesome.  Emily from North Dakota, Brian goes to Bethel, Clara goes to Drake, and Jodine from MSU.  From there we met Liz and Michelle from Chicago.  Everyone is super nice!  We bonded really well which was awesome and having been hanging together since :) I actually ended up rooming with Clara in London which was nice because I already knew her.  Our flight was awesome btw, I have never been on an international flight and it was like royal treatment!  We got dinner at night our own movie/tv screen on the back of every seat where we got to choose what we wanted to watch and our flight was super empty so I got to have my whole own row to myself.  I slept for a while on the flight, but that first day in London was rough.  Mom was right... I should have packed sooner and had a better night's rest... yes, you told me so.  Ugh... why are mom's always right?  ;)  Anyways the time adjustment was tough and we got to London at like 9:30am and couldn't check into our rooms until 3:00pm so we had to leave our luggage in a room and go explore super tired and what not.  We found a cafe right away because we were starving for lunch even though it was breakfast haha.  I had a tomato, mozzarella, avocado, pesto sandwich it was amazing :) mmmmm!  After lunch we decided to walk and visit the British Museum.  It was such a big museum that we didn't get to see everything, but one interesting thing I got to see was Cleopatra's mummy!  After that we took the "tube" or their underground subway system to Piccadilly I believe.  That's where we found more shopping stores.  We went into a six level toy store where you actually get to play with toys before you buy them!  How crazy is that?!  I, of course, played with this mechanical dog for a long time because you could tell it to sit, lie down, beg, and give me a paw.  It was sweet.  The dog also responded to your touch if you pet it and what not.  Then the best part was it SASSED me!  Haha! It immediately reminded me of Jus and Tony's dog Jax who happens to be a big sass :)  I laughed.  After that we went and checked into our hotel, took an hour nap, and went down to Hakuba for a drink on AIFS and welcome.  I had a glass of shiraz and we got the low down on stuff, our tour, and my friends and I planned out the rest of our night.  We were all pretty tired and starving so we decided just to go get dinner at a local pub with wi-fi.  Only problem is… it took FOREVER to find one!  All of them were full and super crowded.  We finally found one and a spot where the seven of us would fit together upstairs.  The wi-fi sucked and our server didn't seem to care for us becausewe were 1. Americans 2. Young Adults 3. Wanted separate checks and 4. Paid with credit cards.  Things to remember if you ever visit London, they don't like separate checks and they don't like the hassle of credit cards.  All seven of us ordered fish and chips though like real Londoners haha.  That should've made our checks some what easier to separate, but what we thought would be a one hour excursion/dinner turned into like a two-three hour fiasco.  After that we were going to stop by the café from breakfast because they had wi-fi, but they also have this rule that you must buy something if you are in the café so finally, me, Liz, and Emily had enough and went to bed crashing at approximately ten pm.  It was wonderful!

13 Days!! Yikes!!

Well, it's down to the last two weeks here in cold snowy Minnesnowda before I'm off to the rainy, hopefully mild, European lands.  The two words that immediately strike my mind are: HOLY CRAP! I can't believe it's happening!  I have my visa and money situation figured out now I just need to pack.... which is going to be a much greater task than I expected.  Ugh.  I'm hoping to fit everything into a large suitcase and small suitcase, but after talking to another girl attending my same program from MSU  I'm beginning to worry my stuff won't fit.  Awesome.  As you can see I have lots on my mind.  I don't even know the Italian language and I wish I would have read more by now on the Italian culture.  Who knew time would sneak up on me so fast.  My sleep has become out of wack from worrying and it's only going to get worse as time gets closer.  I have also realized after the double birthday bash/ my bon voyage get together how much I am going to miss all of my family and friends! Good thing for e-mail, skype, facebook, and this blog!  I hope to update this daily while over seas to keep everyone informed on my life and the adventures it may hold while studying abroad.  I better try and get some shut eye.  I am working in Kato all this weekend and was thinking about getting up early to lay a few items out for my suitcase... we'll see if that happens!  Goodnight followers!

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