Finals Time

Today was the start of my finals!! This morning we had our first part of the Italian exam which was a listening and oral exam and tomorrow I start my essay exam in English! I can't believe how fast the time flew by...and it's almost time for me to come home. The next 3 days will consist of my finals and studying...so I'm praying for more sleep than I probably will get. I am very ready for this difficult semester to be over. It started out easy, but 1/3 of the way through the professors just slammed us all with more work than we could handle. Wish me luck....can't wait to see you all again. so soon!

London in Pictures

walkin round london town

ello mate-
today, Maggie and I did some more sight seeing in London. We have ate more meals than one probably should...but we are trying to eat everything we've been missing out on!! We got starbucks again today...and also subway and McDonalds. We also got some chinese food at a market (leeann chin style) which was so good!! We started out our day today with the Buckingham Palace...no Prince Harry or William in sight--but we did see the robot-like guards in front. After that...we attempted to reach Abbey Road and a studio that the beatles recorded at. After getting on and off about 4 different double decker buses...we found it!!! We did our own version of the Abbey Road cross walk picture and saw the studio! That was so cool to see. We then made our way to the "Camden Market" which is the largest market in London. Unfortunately, the London rain decided to pour down and we found our way back to the hostel. The perfect explanation of London is New York City. They even have their own "Times Square" called Piccadilly Circus and shopping like you wouldn't believe! It's christmas season in London already and there was so many awesome displays of christmas lights and christmas markets!! I absolutely loved this city..it's SO clean everywhere you go (even the underground trains) and the people are much more friendly here than in Rome. Maggie's looking into Grad schools in London now-we loved it that much :) I can't wait to share my photos with you all! I will be adding them as soon as I fly into Rome tomorrow. We leave early morning (cross your fingers for a SMOOTH flight home) and I will update when i'm there!!

cheerio!

Sno place like London

We finally made it!!! after way too many complications...

So first we started at the Rome airport...getting there at 6:30 pm for a flight out at 8:55 pm. We were taking easyjet and one thing about them is you can not be ONE minute late or they will refuse your entrance. They tell you the boarding time and you must be there on time or they will not wait for you..
Our boarding time was at 8:15 pm at gate 7. So we're sitting at the gate and it's 8:13 and we don't see any easyjet workers or no one even getting up to get ready to board. Thinking something is wrong Maggie goes to check the flight status and sure enough it was at a different gate...gate 11!! so she runs up-grabs me and we book it over to the gate to get there at 8:16. After that, we realized more and more people running up to the gate like we were but there were no workers who would start boarding the flight. No one had any idea what was going on, and everyone was asking eachother if this is the right place for the London flight. We were all in the same frazzled position because there were NO announcements of the gate change whatsoever. Finally...at about 8:45 (we should have already been on the plane by that time) a lady comes out and says the flight is delayed 3 hours because the crew of our flight flew out on another flight so we had to wait for them to get back. GREAT! people were absolutely furious and screaming and yelling. They gave us food vouchers for a restaurant in the airport and we got a meal while we waited for the flight. We met back at 11:30..when they told us we would be boarding..but no workers were there! Around midnight someone finally came up and said the plane is just landing it will be about 10 minutes. Well..we started boarding around 12:45 am and didnt leave until almost 1 am. When we finally landed in London it was 3:00 am. We couldn't get off the plane right away because a lady had refused to pay for a coffee so we had to wait for the polizia. Let me tell you....we had some furious Italians..I'm sure you can only imagine!!
People yelled at screamed at easyjet to get some kind of refund since the trains stopped working in London and everyone had to take taxis which are extremely expensive due to the delay. They refused any kind of refund and gave us our "rights" and even had polizia there for backup. On the flight, we met an Italian guy (he sat next to us on our flight) who works here, right where our hostel was. So-he helped us around (thank god!! we really had no idea...especially at 3:30 am!) and we got to our hostel finally around 5 am! Such a long night.
We slept in and then went out into the city where we had starbucks, people watched, ate fish and chips on the pier, walked oxford street (huge shopping area-much like NYC) and went sight seeing. There was no rain today and the sun actually peeked out for a bit! (very rare in London) I love the city..and the American things here. I feel very at home here..so far a GREAT getaway. The hostel is a little iffy-but I guess you get what you pay for. We decided it's like camp...bunkbeds and many showers and toilets.
Time to rest-then get some dinner!!

London Town

I will be in London this weekend and I am SO very excited. I have been looking forward to this trip since the beginning of October when we booked our flights :) The hostel we will be staying at has a couple computers so I'm hoping to find some time to log on and update my blog!!! Can't wait to tell you all about it.

Cheerio!!

-sno

Buon appetito!

The cuisine of Italy, as many people know, is a whole new category of it's own. The food is so fresh and so good! You can never go wrong with ordering spaghetti and meat sauce out or just a simple pizza. One thing that Brad brought to my attention-which I could not agree more with-is that they eat such small portions and drink small amounts but everything they consume is really good. Italy cooks it to taste good, America cooks it to have the most amount of food for a cheap price! so very true. So, with that being said, I find it appropriate to dedicate a blog post to the foods that I have tried when out to eat in Italy (yes, I take pictures every time..unless I forget).

This may take a while. So pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy...careful not to drool too much

Colazione (breakfast):

Breakfast is simple and usually consists of a croissant and coffee or juice. My favorite juice is the blood red orange juice (pictured), but Brad's orange juice was also delicious.

Pranzo (lunch):

Lunch is the most important meal of the day for the Italians. A lot of shops close down between 1 and 3 for a lunch break and the kids get out of school for it. Usually, lunches will consist of a course meal (generally 4 courses).

I still stick to the typical American lunch and this is usually what my lunch consists of...

Ham and Cheese crepe

Cena (dinner):

Dinner is usually light..but still gourmet. It also may consist of course meals for some (if I choose the course meal, I do it at dinner)

Starting with Vino: one thing I am absolutely going to miss after I leave Rome is getting a half liter of "vino della casa" (house wine) with your dinner for 4 euros. The price of

water...because wine is that important at meals. Getting any kind of bottle of wine with your dinner at home would cost you well over 20 dollars.

Brad and I's "Venice Martini":

wine and pistachios..great combination!

Antipasti (appetizer):

Fried seafood mix consisting of shrimp, calamari, octopus, mussels, clams, etc.

Fried zucchini flowers stuffed with prosciutto and mozzarella

Prosciutto Bruschetta

Tomato and rocket salad bruschetta

This was actually at a Chinese restaurant in Florence but it's my new favorite soup. Hot and sour soup!

Primi Piatti (first plate):

I haven't quite figured out what you order for each course because it's different at each restaurant. Most of them have the first plate consisting of a pasta type dish.

Spaghetti alla bolognese (meat sauce)

Spaghetti with clams and mussels is popular and SO GOOD!

Gnocchi with mussels and clams

Risotto with Spinach

Pizza:

I'm not sure what course pizza falls under so it gets it's own category. Their pizzas ordered at a restaurant are very thin but the size of a large plate. They are basic with a small amount of sauce and cheese and few toppings. They are typically a single serving, however when I split it in half with someone it still fills me up.

Mozzarella and rocket salad

Diavola pizza (spicy salami)

Secondi piatti (second plate):

Often, I don't reach this because I get too full. But I've noticed it consists of a meat plate.

Saltimbocca: a popular Roman dish consisting of veal, prosciutto and Mozzarella rolled up.

Sushi: I will never pass up an opportunity to indulge in my favorite food :)

Dolce (dessert):

After you finish a meal, they always ask if you would like coffee. Italians drink coffee at the end of their meal (never with a meal) which helps you digest your food. For dessert they typically have gelato, tiramisu, or a sweet liqeur such as limoncello.

Wine cookies

Cappuccino

Limoncello-which is sipped on, not taken as a shot

Gelato

Nutella crepe. Nutella is very popular here as it is made in Italy.

All of this is making me hungry. Time to eat!

ciao!

Gino Capponi....

...has a street named after him!!! Brad and I were in Florence and we got a map from our hotel. After navigating ourselves around we were looking at the map and near the Duomo there was a street named "Via G. Capponi" on the map (my mom's maiden name is Giustina Capponi). I couldn't believe it and insisted we MUST get a picture of this for my mom so I can tag her on facebook!! Well, both of our cameras had died before we got to the street! When we finally got to the street and saw a street sign I could not believe what the actual name of the street was.....Via Gino Capponi!!!!! We absolutely needed a picture of this....so, we took the batteries out and switched batteries and blew in the battery area to try to get one of our cameras to turn on. Finally Brad's camera turned on for about 10 seconds..enough time for me to snap a picture!!

haha-how cool is that!!

I miss Gino so much..and I can't wait to see both of my dogs!

Venezia: A lover's paradise

Brad and I absolutely LOVED venice!!! It was by far our favorite part of all the trips we took. We spent 4 days there. It started off with an early morning flight which only one took one hour and was cheaper than taking a train. On our way out of my apartment..Brad realized that we both had the same exact backpacks just different colors. These are no ordinary backpacks, they are backpacks with a million pockets and straps/buckles everywhere. They scream tourist when you look at them...and we screamed cheesy couple when we wore them together. it looked like we did it on purpose. ha! When we finally arrived in Venice we were exhausted and were planning on resting up for the day until we got there with the sun shining and realized how awesome this city was. So we made plans to shower and go out for dinner and see what this city was all about. It took us a little bit to find our hotel because we didn't have a map and couldn't find San Polo (the part our hotel was in). We ended up at another hotel with the same 2160 address as ours but we were in San Marco. The lady there was so helpful and nice that she gave us a map and showed us where to go. Finally, we checked into our hotel which had a tiny room but it worked for us. We had a small TV which was always on playing music videos from MTV cause that's the only channel we could understand. We had a good dinner at a little restaurant near our hotel which we went to a few times while we were there. On Friday we woke up to explore the city. I didn't realize all the shops that Venice is made up of! The walk to St. Mark's square had so many shops it was like an outdoor mall. They had puma, foot locker, and a disney store-just to name a few. There are no cars there its only walking and boats which was so nice! We saw tons of Gondola's and tourists. After a day of exploring, we went out to San Margherita which is the place for university students at night. We saw a younger crowd there but went to a bar that didn't have many people there. Here, we tried the signature Italian liqeurs- Grappa and Limoncello. EW! neither of us were fans of those and we had to choke the drinks down. Saturday, we woke up to breakfast at our hotel (croissants and bread..it was so basic but so good!) and had a long day of activities. We did a gondola ride which lasted about 20 minutes and costed us 100 euros! Expensive, but definitely worth it.

The gondolier told us about some of the buildings but neither of us could really understand him except for when he showed us the prison for women...then Brad says "that's where you should be Sonja". haha-right. thanks Brad :) We then went to feed the pigeons in St. Mark's square. Of course..Brad made me go first. When the pigeons see you have bread in your hand..they are ALL over you! a couple even landed on my head. We got the pictures and I told Brad it was his turn...but he refused!! I had to bug him for about 5 minutes before he finally gave in. He lasted about 30 seconds-enough time to get a picture-then he ditched out of there. He hated it!! it was so funny. After that, we wanted to go to the Island of Murano to see glass making. The lady informed us of a tour that was leaving a half hour later which consisted of a boat ride to three islands-Murano, Burano and Torcello-plus a tour guide and glass making demonstration. All of this for 20 euro's a person...it was a good deal so we did it. This was so cool...seeing the guy make a vase and a cat in about 10 minutes..Brad and I were front row!! Burano is the island of colorful fisherman cottages and lacemaking-it was cute. Torcello had a population of 21 people and was the first island that the settlers landed at. We didn't get too far into that island but we got awesome pictures on the pier at sunset. For dinner brad and I went to a seafood restaurant suggested by our hotel and it was SO good. I'm glad Brad shares a love for sushi and seafood because not very many people like to eat seafood. We got fried calamari, octopus, shrimp, clams, etc. It was a whole mix of things and we split that for an appetizer...followed by our own dishes of spaghetti (I got meat sauce Brad got spaghetti and clams). It was definitely our favorite restaurant we ate at! yum. Before we knew it, it was Sunday and time to check out. We packed our stuff..roamed the city and tried to pass the time by sitting at a cafe and having coffee. The weather was terrible on Sunday-it was cold and rainy and puddles were everywhere!! My feet were soaked and I ruined my boots to the point I had to throw them away. Good thing we packed an umbrella because that was a lifesaver for me. We finally got back to Rome around 10 pm and Brad packed up his stuff for his early morning flight back home. It was sad to part with Brad for a second time but we both had a great time together. Brad loved his time here and I was happy to experience it with him.

St. Mark's square- in front of St. Mark's basilica

Seafood dinner

Breakfast every morning at our hotel

our matching backpacks