Amalfi Coast!

Finally I get a chance to breathe and update my blog a little bit..

So this past weekend we went to the Amalfi Coast!!  We left on Thursday and were on a coach bus for 7 1/2 hours casually running into a car accident and having to do a 3 point turn on the highway all fearing our lives at 2 am.  But regardless, we arrived at Sorrento at around 3am.  We stayed at Hostel 7 and the trip was organized through a group called Bus2Alps and for the most part it was very organized.  The hostel was really nice which I was surprised about except the names of the rooms were kinda creepy.  We stayed in room "Silk", us, the boys, and 2 other girls (poor girls didn't know what hit them when we came in there).

We were out of the hostel by 7:30am ready for Capri!  We took a boat to get there and as soon as we arrived we got in another smaller boat for a tour!  Our first stop was the Blue Grotto, one of the 7 wonders of the world.  The way that the sun hits the water turns the water into this radient aqua blue and literally the most amazing sight I've ever seen.  I honestly never wanted to leave the grotto even though our tour guide man was singing Italian with the worst voice known to man kind.

The pictures will just never do it justice.  I have about 7,000,000 pictures of Capri unfortuantely cannot load them all up here but it was amazing.  This is the view from the town of Capri, which is known for lemons and literally they have the best lemon slushies in the universe, sorry Sundaes.

We then took a chair lift about 1800 ft above sea level IN THE CLOUDS and saw what I think is the most amazing, breathtaking view I've ever seen.  Even the boys were "ooh-ing and ah-ing".  Our "family" is what we call our group of friends that we've made and the family all took a photoshoot of ourselves.  Once again, the pictures don't do this justice but I get chills just looking at them.

The next day we went to the island of Possitano.  This was the day of relaxation and BEACH! Normally, I'm not really the beach type, completely the opposite of the entire Bucci family woops, but I was ready to relax and get some of my Punta Cana tan back.  The beaches had black sand and it was hot. SO HOT. But so nice, we just lounged the day away, not really realizing the life we are currently living is real.

On the last day, we went to Pompeii.  As I said before, I've turned into a weirdo history buff since I've been here.  I remember learning about Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius dating back to Ms. Crabtree in 7th grade social studies.  Nothing and I repeat NOTHING will come close to seeing Pompeii for all of it's entirety.  It was such a mind blowing experience I didn't even know where to begin.  An entire city, just gone.  We saw the remains of people, amphitheaters, and houses and a day later, I still cannot wrap my head around the whole thing.  We had a hard time figuring out which mountain was Vesuvius but once we did, it was crazy how we didn't see it before.  The fact the the discovery of an entire city was accidental is probably the most mind blowing part. 

First Week of Classes!

So I guess going to Italia for 6 1/2 weeks isn't all about sightseeing and frolicking the streets of Firenze, but it also comes with some sort of responsibility.  My first week of classes were somewhat of a blur considering it honestly doesn't seem real.  I am studying at the Palazzo Ruccelai which used to be a families castle so even the building I'm studying in is surreal.  This summer semester is the first time that the main doors were allowed to be walked through and they are just magnificent (pictures coming soon).

The classes offered at school are based on interaction.  Each class is 3 hrs and 15 minutes and for the most part, half of that is done in the class, and half outside of the class.  I am taking 6 credits and the courses I am taking are The Story of Florence (history) and The History and Culture of Food.

Monday in my first class, we had a brief lecture on the basic outline of Florentine history and were departing to Fiesole, a town right outside of the city which is based on a hill sort of above the city.  Who knew I'd become a huge history buff but I've been eating the stuff up that I've learned so far, probably because walking two steps in Florence means you're going to walk by a huge historical monument.  Anyway, so in our attempt to go to Fiesole, we were going to use the busses for the first time! However, who knew that in Florence, as long as you give a 3 day warning, you can go on strike whenever, and for whatever reason?! Needless to say, we didn't make it to Fiesole that day.  We did go on Wednesday though! The bus systems are very confusing partially because I don't speak Italian (that's slowly but surely changing) but somehow, someway, we made it there.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera but it was amazing.  We saw the ancient ruins of the Roman bathes and amphitheater, while we also say where people were sacrificed and the most amazing view of Florence from above.  Perfect day to forget my camera huh?

My Tuesday Thursday class is the History and Culture of Food.  This class is great because it combines some of my favorite things; history, friends, and food.  On Thursday, we went on a walking tour of the restaurants of Firenze with our teacher Peter who is German and hilarious, I don't even know if he knows he's funny.  We found all of these hole in the wall restaurants all offering discounts to us everytime we walk in! (Gary and Suze would definitely appreciate a good discount) We also taste tested street meat.  Peter wouldn't tell us what it was until we tried it and let anyone who wanted to try it, try.  Teena and I were the brave ones of our group and tried what tasted like calamari, it was NOT calamari.  It was cow stomach #1, yummmm.  I didn't even know cow's had more than one stomach, oh well.  Jeff and Kristin were not so brave however (sorry guys, had to call you out on that).  On this walking tour of Florence, we stopped into Americo Vespucci's house!  Peter told us that Harvard and Columbia are fighting over who gets to hold their summer program's study abroad classes there, must be nice.  We were right in his foyer where the decision was made to call America, America!  We also saw the map of which America was first founded on.

The First Weekend!

So here I am in Florence! The plane right was absolutely horrendous.  Who knew that the coach section of Air France was so incredibly small.  Jeff and I had the absolute last seats in the entire plane (which was about as big as the airport itself)  Thanks to Tracey I slept through the entire thing while he watched Kung Fu Panda or one of those movies for 5 year olds.  We got to Paris, where I had my first altercation with Euros.  Whoever said that the exchange rate sucked, was right.  Things in Europe are priced semi equally to how they would be priced in America, yet one Euro = $1.40, really just is a blow to the wallet.  So once we get through the traveling we arrive in FLORENCE! aka Firenze, Italia.  The taxi cab to get to our apartment was terrifying.  The roads are so narrow in Florence and the drivers just really don't care at all.  Our apartment is HUGE!                     .

That night we had a hard time finding places to eat since we got in so late.  We went to Little David's Pizzeria and fell in love with our waiter, he was the man who spoke very little English.  We looked very much like tourists whipping out our go-to maps everytime we went to a new place, or trying to go home for that matter!  That night was our first experience with Italian night life where we went to Twice.  Twice was DEAD until 12am when it got packed with native Italianos.  Yes, European men are creepy. Yes, they only play American music every once in a while and yes, the only songs they play are California Girls and Hello.  

The next day was our 7 hour orientation which we could not make it through.  Needless to say the time change was brutal.  We went home and slept about 5 hours.  That night was also the night we had the best. dinner. of. our. lives. 

We went to La Gustria and got this complimentary platter of brushetta. It was to DIE for.  The little spinach balls on the left was amazing and the zucchini with the stuffing inside was amazing too.  This restaurant is known for it's pear ravioli and balsamic steak which is what I ordered (obviously).  It hands down was the most amazing dinner I've ever eaten.

That night was also the first time we saw the Jersey Shore while we were walking to a club YAB.  YAB ended up being closed so we experienced Space for the first time.  And what an experience that was.  We ended up going back the next night, in hopes of seeing Pauly and Vinny but instead we got VIP, good trade I guess.  So yesterday during the day, we went to school for the first time!  The Palazzo Rucellai (school) is in a palace and it was beautiful!  We got our schedule and our books and I am enrolled in The Story of Florence and Food (obviously).  I actually cannot wait to begin classes and get more accustomed to the Italian lifestyle.  It really is something out of a movie.