Italy

I know his blog post about my spring break is way over due but I've been extremely busy with my internship (which I absolutely love) and sightseeing around London. But anyway here goes:

Day 1
For spring break or rather mid-semester break seeing as it was only the middle of February I went to Italy with my friends Julie, Rebecca, Bailey, Aaron, Louis and Liz. We arrived in Rome around noon and the first thing we did was check into the hostel. The flight was okay but flying from stansted airport is no fun as it's an hour and a half outside of London which means we left at 4:30am to make our 8:50 flight. But ryanair got us to Rome okay so I can't complain. We weren't crazy about the hostel but it was ok and everyone there was very nice. Then we went and had our first Italian meal in Italy! Julie and I both ordered the same thing (something we did for most of the trip) and got the rigatoni. It was delicious. Afterward, we went to the train station and bought our tickets for Florence. By that point we were tired but still wanted to sightsee because the weather was beautiful out (we actually lucked on on the entire trip with the weather). So we decided to take a tour bus around the city. It was a good way to get a general view of the city and we enjoyed it for the most part. That night we went to the Trevi fountain and I made a wish as thats what you're supposed to do. Then we had another amazing meal (I love Italian food in Italy - there's nothing better) and then we had gelato yummm. We were too tired to do anything else that night so we went to bed early.

Day 2
Our second day (and only full day) in Rome was action packed. We got up early and took the metro across the city to the Vatican. We went through the museum and saw the Sistine Chapel. We ran into Lindsey, Melissa, Sarah and Kristen at the Vatican as well as Scott and his mom and sister. Scott and Lindsey decided to hang out with us the rest of the afternoon and we enjoyed a delicious pizza lunch followed by more amazing gelato. I had mint flavored and it is definitely my favorite. We crossed a bridge over the River Tiber and just wandered around Rome. Just walking on the cute and tiny cobblestone streets was my favorite part of the trip. We walked to the Pantheon which was cool and then went to Piazza Navona, the Colosseum and Forum. We didn't get to go in the Colosseum because it was closed for the day but just seeing it was incredible. Then we went to a cafe and julie and I split really good tiramisu. After that we went back to the hostel to rest before dinner. For dinner we went to camp di fori and I had amazing vegetable lasanga. It was also a great group dinner because they played American music and we sang along the entire time. Then we went to a bar/club to hang out and dance for the night.

Day 3
Julie, Aaron and I got up early to go inside the Colosseum and it was definitely worth it. If you go to Rome you cannot leave without going inside the Colosseum. It's just incredible to see the ruins and picture how it once was. We also stopped off for breakfast at a cafe and had the best croissants ever! lol. Then we met up with our friends and went to the Spanish Steps in the afternoon. While Liz, Louis and Rebecca relaxed on the steps, Julie, Aaron, Bailey and I wandered around the stores (it's similar to 5th Ave.) and we went to Gucci, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, etc. We had a great time but couldn't stay too long because we had a train to catch!

The one bad part about the trip was definitely our train ride. It was supposed to last an hour an 40 minutes but instead was close to 3 hours. I wouldn't have cared that much because the Tuscan scenary out the window was so beautiful but my cousin Scott was meeting us at the train station and he waited for 2 hours for us! If I had known how late we would be I would have told him to go home but I had no idea because there were no conductors on the train to ask questions to so poor Scott had to wait forever for us. I felt so bad! But we finally arrived and Scott helped us find our hostel. We stayed at PLUS Florence which is really more like a hotel and is the nicest hostel I've ever stayed in. We all then went out to dinner and then for the best gelato ever (thanks to Scott's suggestion). We also met up with Katie for dinner (she had been in Venice while we were in Rome) and a few of us went to visit Scott's apartment afterwards. It was really nice and spacious for only 3 people. Then my friends and I went out to a club at night. It was an authentic Italian club that played mostly techno music and we all had a good time.

Day 4
For our one full day in Italy we did a lot of sightseeing and I met up with a lot of people, including some other BU people. First we climbed to the top of the Duomo. It was so many steps I can't even count them but were exhausted by the time we reached the top. But it didn't matter because once we took one look at view it was all worth it. One of the most spectacular views I've ever seen. Firenze is so beautiful!!!! After climbing the Duomo my friends went to see the David while I went with Scott to his favorite cafe. Then we met up with his roommates and went to see the David. The sculpture was a lot bigger then I expected and definitely worth seeing. I was able to sneak a picture :) Afterward, Scott took me to his favorite pizza spot and it was definitely one of my favorite meals in Italy. It was also nice just to hang out with him alone and catch up. Then I left him to meet my friends at the Ufittzi museum. We also walked to the river and crossed the ponte veccio, famous bridge. While we were there I randomly ran into my friend Meg who's studying in Dublin for the semester (who was also on break). It was great to catch up with her because I didn't get to see her when I went to Dublin. Later that night we had dinner with Anna, one of my close friends from BU who's studying in Grenoble, France for the semester. It was so awesome to see her and catch up. She's actually coming to visit me in London in the beginning of April and I can't wait. That night we all went to a club called Space Electronica which was so much fun. I actually went with Scott and his friends got in for free because they did VIP. I met up with my friends at the club and we all had a fabulous last night in Florence.

Day 5
We spent our last few hours in Italy in Pisa and saw the leaning tower of Pisa. Unfortunately, that's all there is to see there. It was cool to see the tower though so I'm glad I was able to see it. This whole trip was a great experience (traveling with a big group) and learning to compromise and make decisions together. We all also got a lot closer but especially me and Julie. We talked so much in Italy and even now that we're back in London we're almost always together (when we're not working or in class that is). Julie and I have also gotten really close with Aaron and Bailey and we have this awesome 4 musketeers thing going on that started in Italy. Even though I miss Italy so much, I'm so glad to be home in London.

And that was my spring break. Hopefully I'll put up a new post soon. But here's my upcoming calender.
March 20-22 Edinburgh
March 25 My 21st BIRTHDAY
March 27-29 Amsterdam