Hi,
I'm currently sitting in international business class and am slowly but surely dying of boredom. So in order to save my own life I decided to give you all a little update on what I've been up to.  On Friday we took a trip to Mantova with KSU...and the only ones who went were me and my roommates and my friend Amanda and her roommates. I've been looking forward to Mantova for a really long time because we learned about these dwarf apartments during orientation week and clearly the idea of tiny dwarf size things caught my interest. We went to the Palazzo Te first and that was neat. Then we went to the Palazzo Ducale (one of the biggest palaces in Europe and home to the dwarf apartments). The palace was really neat, but unfortunately the dwarf apartments were a HUGE let-down. There were no dwarf size things...there were no things at all actually, just a hallway :(
On Saturday Amanda and I decided to spend the day at the beach in Viareggio.  Unfortunately for us the sun decided not to show up. We went anyways and had a blast. I accidently went swimming in the Mediterranean. In my defense the water gets deep super fast and I was hit with a double wave that soaked me to the waist. It was still a good time though.  It was a great reminder of home, it looked just like home, it even had a breakwater. I can't wait to go back when the sun's out.

Yestday was a somewhat lazy day. I tried to get some work done before church at 6 but clearly that didn't pan out. My friend Bill's dad is in town and it was fun to meet him and he was nice enough to take us out to dinner after church.  Right after that Amanda and I rushed back to school to meet her Music professor and go to an orchestra concert at the Duomo--no one in her class wanted to go so she invited me. It was amazing, and her prof was super nice too. Over all fun weekend. But the rest of my week is going to be not so fun. I am LOADED with work. I'm really excited to meet Jill's grandmother tomorrow night though! and Jocelyn and Sarah from Simmons are coming today and staying til Thursday so I'm sure I'll take full advantage of that distraction!
I guess I go back to listening to poor Marco now...

 Bonjour, Guten Tag, and Ciao,

So, as most of you know I just got back from Spring Break in Paris and Munich! Katie and I spent 5 glorious days in Paris and then 3 1/2ish days in Munich. It was fantastic. Lets start at the beginning of the trip in Paris.  We found this free walking tour that was like 3 hours long and we got to see basically the whole city. Our tuour guide Matt told us all kinds of fun facts and interesting history. After the tour we went to the Arc de Triomphe and then hit up the Eiffel Tower. This had two unfortunate consequences, 1. I'm a klutz and fell and hurt myself and 2. they wouldn't let us go to the top...but it was nice from the 2nd platform anyways.
We walked all over the city and even went to see a really french play...in french! We spent our second day in the Louvre, where we saw the Mona Lisa, Nike, and Venus Demilo...as well as some really CRAZY art that does not deserve to be in the Louvre.  On our 3rd day we took a day trip to Versailles to see the Chateau. Then it was time for our most anticpated trip on Monday (also St Patrick's Day) to Disneyland Paris! Here's where the story gets a bit interesting...as I mentioned before, I am a klutz and I fell..well my foot was KILLING me so Katie's parents had the genious idea that we rent a wheel chair...so we did. This made our day incredibly hilarious and efficient. We got to cut all the lines, I got to rest my foot, and the Disney characters (who run around free unlike in Florida) fell sorry for wheelchair people so we also got pictures and hugs from them!
The rides were sooo fun there! We really had a great day. That night we went to the Buffalo Bill's Wild West dinner show there too. It was amazing. We got cowboy hats and there were real live buffalo there and it was super fun. 
On our last day in Paris we walked around a bit and climbed Notre Dame. It was the best view of the city. Now I'm totally BFFs with Quasimodo. We also went to the Pantheon and saw a bunch of cool tombs of famous people like Voltaire, Rousseau, and the Curie's. But sadly we had to leave Paris and take the night train to Munich.
Munich was really cool as well...although super cold. We went on another free walking tour (same company as in Paris) and learned all about the history of the city. It was really interesting. One of the main attractions of Munich is the world famous beer hall the Hoffbrauhaus. They have oompapa bands and beer by the liter. It's a really cool atmosphere there, and we went back every day. On the second day we took a trip to Neuschwanstein Castle (the Disney castle in real life). It was really cool and we took a horse and carriage up the mountain to reach it.
We made friends with some fellow travelers on the train and hung out with them later that night. On the thrid day in Munich (Good Friday) it turns out that everything is closed...so I went to Dachau Concentration Camp. It was a really great experience and I learned a lot..but it's alot to take in. On our last day in Munich we walked around and went in some churches. We had a traditional Bavarian breakfast too..which is 2 white sausages, a pretzel, and beer...yup beer at 8:30 am.  But when in Bavaria...

We made it back to Florence Saturday night so we had time to experience Easter in Italy. We went to the Duomo and watched the exploding cart...a cart all supped up with fireworks...it was super cool. Then we rested for the rest of the day because the weather was terrible and then I picked up Jess at the airport on Monday...but you'll here about her week here later.

Ciao!

So it's been a while since I have blogged, just assume I've been busy. Here's a little recap of what you've missed. The weekend of 15-16th I went to Orvieto with Perla and the ISA gang (minus Pat) and on Saturday we all went to Siena with Kent and Fabrizio (my history prof.).  We had a lot of fun but I don't have much to say about the trips other than they are really pretty places. 

The big event was last weekend...our trip to Rome.  Rome was absolutely AMAZING! For the first 2 days the art history prof. Rocky led us around. On the first day we saw the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Borghese Museum. The art there is the most amazing I've ever seen. The Pantheon is sooo cool and the Trevi Fountain is obviously incredible.  My roomies and I have been looking forward to this trip for a really long time becuase we happen to be huge Audrey Hepburn fans and LOVE the movie Roman Holiday.  On the first day a group of us decided to venture off to Via Margutta 51 (home of Joe Bradley). Katie and I actually went onto private property to sneak a peek at the balcony and arbor...well worth the effort.  We had the night free so a big group of us decided to have a nice dinner at an outdoor restaurant right outside of the Pantheon.


The next day Rocky took us to the Vatican. It was cool becuase it turned out that the Pope was going to be making a speech that day, but unfortunately we couldn't watch because we had to be inside of the Vatican Museum at the time.  While there we got to see a bunch of incredible Rafael frescos and then when inside of the Sistine Chapel. I was shocked by what the chapel really looked like. There is just so much happening on the walls and ceiling. It was really amazing to think that people really painted it all by hand. It was really entertaining in the chapel because the Swiss guards (the Vatican hires the Swiss to protect their little country) kept blowing whistles and clapping to get people to stop taking photos...with no success.  The benefit of not seeing the Pope was that we got to use this one staircase that only the Pope gets to use.  After that we all split up and Amanda, Katie, Bridget and I walked around, got lunch, and then went back to explore St. Peter's Cathedral. We then continues walking around and exploring the city.  That night Amanda, Bridget and I had a delicious dinner at a restauant in the Piazza Nevona.


On Sunday the 4 of us got up early and had the best cappucino in the world at Caffe Sant' Eustachio, and then bought some posters and postcards. We met up with another prof Erica at the hotel and set off for the Coloseum. We got to go inside the Coloseum and it was soooo cool. Its so huge in there and we could see the labrinth of rooms that used to be underneath the arena floor. Then we explored the Roman Forum and had a great time. The weather all weekend was the best ever so it really made the weekend unforgettable--for those of you burrie din snow right now, understand that it was 60-69 degrees!  When the group broke for lunch Me, Katie, Amanda, and Bridget ran to the Boca della Verita (Mouth of Truth).  It was sooo fun! I obviously told a lie right before putting my hand in--and I'm pleased to report that it is currently still attached to my arm. We got lunch at a nice pizza place and then met back with the group to explore more ruins.

 

Overall it was an AMAZING weekend. I can't wait to go back to Rome! I can't upload more pictures until March so you're all going to have to wait and just use your imaginations for now.