Winding Down.

How fast time flies is actually frightening.

11 May, we moved out of our house.  The girls and pretty much everyone went back to the states and some people are continuing to travel for a week or two more, like Tara and me.

Our house, 84 via Ghibellina, gave us some unreal memories these last 4 or so months...
Sleepovers after nights out.
The best tasting meals eaten together in the kitchen.
Drinking wine, sitting around, talking about our lives.
Homework sessions at the kitchen table.
Blasting music while getting ready for a night out.
Attempting to do laundry, and setting up all the drying racks, taking over our entire living room area.
Being locked out for almost 20 hours.

All of these, many others, and most importantly; Bonds of friendship that will last for a very long time.

Literally feels like 2 days ago Lauren, Tara, Austin and me stepped off the plane into the Florence airport... Running into Gianna, knowing she was our roommate, but not actually knowing her, outside waiting to be driven to our apartment; her suitcases almost the size of her, if not bigger.

Arriving to our house, lugging up our heavier than 50lb suitcases, we met our fourth roommate, Amanda, and started to get situated.
I remember my exact feelings. Flustered, overwhelmed, extremely tired, way too excited.  I remember feeling like I was not living a real life. Like the first few weeks were fake.

Making new friends, meeting each others' friends from home who were studying here, building new relationships and checking out every bar and club near us... We eventually became very comfortable.

Traveling to 11 different countries, and multiple cities in each of those and throughout Italy;
Interlaken, Switzerland
Madrid, Barcelona, and Ibiza, Spain
Lake Bled, Slovenia
Prague, Czech Republic
Berlin, Germany
Paris, Versailles, Nice and Cannes, France
Montecarlo, Monoco
Brussels, Belgium
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Almafi Coast, Italy
Corfu, Greece

We accomplished A LOT this semester.  By traveling so much, I've experienced so many situations that have taught me so much more responsibility and independence than I would have learned at home.

Waking up late and sprinting to the train station.
Forgetting to print out a boarding pass and attempting to talk our way out of paying 70euro at the airport.
Purchasing a 2nd class train ticket and ending up on first class, taking advantage of the free food and drink... Then getting caught and kicked out. Twice.
Hopping on the wrong train, driving right through Florence and to Milan instead. 50euro and 4 hours later, finally returning back home to Florence.
Experiencing broken showers and heat in hostel rooms.
Communicating through multiple language barriers all across Europe.
Volunteering and transporting myself to teach at a local Italian elementary school in the outskirts of Florence.
Conquering and becoming pros at directions and using maps.
Using and learning the public transportation in all the countries we visited.
Becoming so much better at the Italian language.
...and so much more.

Unforgettable Experiences
Celebrating my 21st birthday in Italy.
Meeting family in other cities in Tuscany I never knew I had, and having dinner with them.
Went on an Italian wine tasting in the most authentic Chianti region.
Took a bus to a panoramic overlook of all of Florence, and watched the sunset.
Watched the sunrise in Plaza Cataluyna in Barcelona.
Ate a heart-shaped pizza on Valentine's Day on the Ponte Vecchio.
Joined a gym and became friends with the trainers and took workout classes with all the local Italians.
Drank wine and watched the sunset multiple times at Piazzale Michelangelo.
Experienced Notte Bianca Firenze.
Swam in the waters of Capri, while on a private boat tour around the island.
Bungy-jumped into a canyon of the Swiss Alps.
Cliff jumped in Corfu, Greece.
Ate a real Gyro while in Greece.
Ate a real Belgium waffle while in Belgium.
Ate  real French onion soup in Paris and Versailles.
...okay I'm done with the food part...
Went to the famous Montecarlo Casino.
Went to the biggest night club in the world (maximum capacity is 17,000 people); Privilege in Ibiza, Spain.
Went to 5 different countries in 10 days.
...The list goes on, and on.

Fully out of our apartment; Lauren and Gianna have been home the past few days. We're already planning a road trip to the East coast this summer to visit G, Cathy, and our other friends from New York and New Jersey.

I can't wrap my mind around how unreal this semester abroad was. I'll never understand how those who are able to study abroad don't do it. They definitely missed out on the best time of their lives.

Notte Bianca.

Notte Bianca 2013 Firenze.

Ponte Vecchio

Hearing nothing but awesome things about this night, I was pumped to experience it while being here!
On 30 april, every bigger piazza in Firenze had either live music, DJs, some type events going on, and/or a bunch of decorations.  A bunch of the awesome panini places are open form 6pm to 6am along with the gelaterias and other stores. Our goal was to make it to our favorite panini shop, Pino's by 6am.

Santa Croce

The streets and piazze were packed with people drinking, eating, dancing and celebrating this night, starting at 6pm.
We decided to get some bottles of wine and walk around.  Heading to the Ponte Vecchio, we sat on the bridge talking and drinking wine.  All of a sudden a smaller marching band comes walking down the street and stops right in front of where we were sitting.  They played for about fifteen minutes, in the middle of a huge crowd and everyone was watching and dancing to their awesome music. It was the best, and this was only the beginning of the night.

We walked to Piazza Santa Croce, which is right by our houses.  Meeting Austin and Jimmy there, and then Tara, we all hung out on the steps and ran into a ton of people we knew.
Eventually we headed to another big piazza, Santo Spirito, which is across the Arno.  Walking through the Ponte Vecchio we see a huge group of our friends and all walk to Santo Spirito together.
It was so fun to be walking and randomly run into people you wanted to meet up with and then all hanging at a piazza together, with a ton of other people and live music around.

Santo Spirito

We stayed at Santo Spirito for a while and then walked to the other side of the river by our houses.  There were games going on and bars with live music outside them, restaurants grilling and serving food outside, all throughout the city center. It was something that I've never experienced.
Trying to relate it to something, it was like the taste of Elmwood Park. Or even the taste of Chicago. But times like, 100.
It was all throughout the city, not secluded into one field or one area.  Every big piazza, every bridge, all through the streets and outside each restaurant.  So many people enjoying it all and up until all hours of the night/morning.

Stopping to meet some of Cathy's Italian friends in a different piazza and then into one of the pubs to watch the end the Blackhawks game (which was our time around 4am), we reach our goal and made it to Pino's by 5:30am.

Each of us enjoyed our favorite panini for breakfast, and walked home around 7am.
I could not believe we stayed up for that long, and it wasn't only us... Pretty much all of Florence was up for at least 12 hours.
This is probably one of the funnest nights I've had and all we did was walk around and be with all our friends.  It was the best.

Pino.

Vino.

Wine Tasting in Chianti.

When Auntie Kelly visited Tara, us three signed up for an 8 person wine tasting.  It was an 8 person tour, including; personal pick up and drop off services, visiting two wineries in the Chianti region between Florence and Siena, and a few other stops in-between.

Being picked up at 2:30 on that Friday, by a brand new black Mercedes van... We find out we're the only three people on the tour. Personal wine tasting for just us three? Awesome.

We drive through Florence and into more of the countryside, away from the city center.  Our driver, giving us facts about every thing we passed by and teaching us about the old rivalries between Florence and Siena, he was awesome.  I think I may have learned more in those few hours than I have in some of my classes...

The first town we stopped at was Impruneta.  The town of terra cotta. This is where terra cotta originated.  It is an older, historic and tiny town, and we just stopped in the main square, got some coffee and continued to the first winery.

Taking Route 222; the main Chianti road, we arrived at the first stop. Andrea was our guide in leading us through the tour.  We saw the cellars, where the wine is stored, where it is fermented and he explained to us the multiple ways the different wines are created.
We sat down at a table with two wine glasses; one for red, one for white. There were plates with different pieces of meat, cheese and bread, along with about 8 bottles of wine and some balsamic on the table.  I was so excited.


Andrea gave us tastes of each white wine first.  We tried the cheese and meat and then the bottles of balsamic. My favorite was the 20 year aged balsamic. It so so unbelievably good.  It could go on anything from strawberries to cheese to even vanilla gelato. Guess how much it's sold for.... 79euro per little bottle. It's that good.

I really liked the red wines.  My favorite was the Chianti Classico.  That's the most popular wine of the region and apparently has super, super strict rules when creating it.  As long as there is the label, DOCG on the bottle with the black rooster, it's the real Chianti.
We tried white wine at the end, more sparkly and bubbly than usual and then ended with a dessert liquor which we dipped biscotti in for 10 seconds and then ate it.

The food and wine was awesome.  This was in the middle of the country in Toscana, on a huge piece of land where they make their own wine, olive oil and house great cheese and meat.  It was my favorite.

We bought a few bottles at their store, and left to head to the second winery deeper into Siena.

This place was amazing.  Not only was it a winery, but it was also a bigger farmhouse/resort type thing that they rent out for certain parts of the year.  There was a swimming pool and a bunch of little patios.  It was touristy either, it looked like someone's house.  There was a huge winery in the back and the whole property over looked a ton of land where they grow the grapes and olives.

We got a tour of the cellars and the woman explained how they created and fermented their wines.  This place seemed a little more modern than the first.  We sat and got tastes of their wines, cheeses and meats.  They made olive oil and wine here, not balsamic or cheeses.  This place was really cool and their homemade biscotti were so good.  But not as good as Nonni's :)
We left there and headed back with our driver to our place in Florence.  We got home around 9pm. It was a long tour and so much fun.  I loved learning about all the different wines, how they're made and how the Chianti wine was started and created.
I know how to properly taste wine and got to experience a real and authentic Italian wine tasting.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

Nice and Cannes, France & Monaco and Montecarlo.

Another last minute trip, we left for the French Riviera Thursday, April 18th. Traveling about 6 hours, we arrive in Nice, France at our hotel in the center of the city.
Not a clue what to expect that weekend, we slept a few hours and woke up the next morning for a day trip to the second smallest country in the world; Monaco.  It took us about 2 hours to see the entire place.

Every place I have gone has been equally, if not more beautiful than the next. Monaco had some of the most amazing views and scenery I have seen.
We took the train into Monaco and walked to the Ferrari factory and saw some of the workers working on some of the cars.
We continued and walked through the little town and park areas, seeing unreal yachts, buildings, and view points of south of France.

We walked up to a high point where there was a church, park and some view point areas with cafes.  After taking some pictures, we stopped at a cafe and then made our way down the mountain.

That weekend, the tennis Rolex Masters was going on in Montecarlo, Monaco.  Montecarlo was awesome.  Literally, the shittiest car we saw was probably a Smart car. The Taxis were 2012 black Mercedes.
We went into the Montecarlo Casino to check it out, and some of the boys thought about gambling.
Austin and a few others go up to the roulette table, thinking about playing and soon find out a buy in is 100 or more.  They were fast backing away from the table.

We were in our glory just standing outside, watching all the cars drive passed; Bentleys, Alfa Romeos, Maseratis and more...  Trying to scope out the people driving them :)

After hanging out around the casino, we took the train back to the hotel. Lauren, Gianna and I walked to get sushi about 15 minutes away.  Not even realizing we weren't at all familiar with the French language, attempting to order our food was entertaining and took about 20 minutes.
In the end, the sushi was awesome, and we walked back to the hotel to get ready for the night.  They were hosting a champagne party in the party room before we went out.  We all met downstairs and then went to a bar in the center where a live 80s rock band was playing.
The live music was incredible.  They played a huge variety of 80s songs and it was packed, everyone loving the band.

Saturday, we took the train to Cannes.  The town, located along the water and beach, was gorgeous.  Nothing much to do expect for shop, eat or hang by the beach, we all got a group lunch and then us girls got crepes and coffee and hung out at a cafe.  I think I ate the best dessert ever; a crepe with Nutella and toasted almond slices. Unreal.

We were bummed that the weather was chilly, because it would have been awesome to lay out by the beaches, but taking the day trip there was still so fun.

Not hungry at all for dinner, I did some shopping while Lauren and Gianna napped.  We shared a big room with Austin, Leo and our other friend Scott, but they were out getting food and walking around.
Another champagne party was being hosted that night, we just hung around and decided not to go out.
We all fell asleep right away and woke up Sunday to spend the day in Nice.


We had pretty much the whole day to walk around and do whatever. It being Sunday, a lot of stores were closed.  We went into the places that were open, got some coffee and took the tram more into the downtown area for lunch.
We ate at Wayne's Bar.  A more Americanized place, go figure, and it
was soooo good.  Grilled chicken sandwich with bacon and homemade coleslaw.  Haven't had that kind of food this entire time I've been in Europe.  We enjoyed it.

An awesome way to end the weekend, on our way back to Florence, we stopped in a small town in France called, Eze.  Known for the big Fragonard Perfume Factory, we got a guided tour of how the perfume, soaps, lotions, etc., are made and got to sample a bunch of the products.  It was so cool to see and smell everything after knowing how and what it was made with.

The French Rivera is somewhere I definitely did not think of even going too.  And in this weekend, I visited three cities in south France, and the second smallest country in the world. Another incredible experience.

Non perdere mai la fede.

Ever feel like there are some people you meet and you know you will never forget them? Or want to just talk with them and know all about their life? I get that sometimes, but not often.

Bruno. A 70-something year old priest from Italy, sometimes lives in Idaho or somewhere in the states, is longtime friends with Shaun who owns Euroadventures.
When Bruno comes to Florence, he stays at Shaun's house, where Cathy and Tony currently live.
He refuses to take either bed, but sleeps on the couch. Whenever there is a trip to Almafi Coast, Bruno tags along and contributes to guiding some amazing tours and hikes.
He sometimes leads private tours throughout Florence, and will randomly not come home for a few days without telling anyone. Then, we soon to find out he was visiting a friend or two somewhere in Italy.

I had constantly been hearing of Bruno, but never met him. I finally got the privilege one night to meet him when I went over to Cathy and Tony's place.
Literally the coolest guy ever. He reminded me right away of Nonno.
So sharp, funny, interesting, and full of advice.

He acted like we knew each other for years and I was so intrigued hearing a ton of his stories.
We decided that the following Tuesday he was going to cook dinner for a bunch of us.
I couldn't wait for Tara and others to meet him. We go over to their house that Tuesday and had an awesome home-cooked meal; bruschetta, sausage with rapini and some type of nuts, pasta with a spicy olive oil, and some wine and dessert. It was the best sitting around with a group of us and Bruno talking about Italy and life.

I was lucky enough to go to the Almafi Coast the same weekend Bruno was going on it. Spending a lot of the weekend walking around with him and developing a relationship was the best. He bought us multiple jugs of wine, while the whole group watched the sunset and loved to see everyone enjoying themselves.

Stuff we needed advice on, he was not hesitant to give his input. He is so passionate about faith and building good relationships, that's what I loved about him.
He's just cool, that at times, we wanted to hang with Bruno and walk around Capri rather do anything else.


I really, really enjoy meeting people who leave impacts on me and others. Being a constant reminder of good and healthy faith, this is another relationship I have acquired from study abroad
that I know I will never forget. I even told him that he better be around and ready to preside at my wedding. Seriously. He'd be the funnest priest, ever.

Sunshine, laughs, and great people.

Sorrento, Positano, Capri- Almafi Coast

To start off, I just want to say that literally each day here is better than the next. Whether I do nothing but workout and go to class, every second of every day is enjoyable.

My weekend in the Almafi Coast was possibly one of the best weekends, yet.   

Me and Tara were hesitant at first to book this trip because we know we will be visiting south of Italy with Nonni and Nonno and Uncle Johnny in May.
But when can we say that we spent a weekend in Sorrento, in our own bungalows with orange and lemon trees right outside our door, with our good friends?
We arrived in Sorrento around 2am and woke back up around 9 for our Friday spent at the beach in Positano.
Taking a bus up into the mountains, we arrived in Positano. Walking through the tiny streets, filled with small shops cafes, we were making our way down to the beach.
All of a sudden, we run into a crowd of people, silent, walking in a straight line down the small side street we were taking.
I notice a priest and 6 men carrying a casket. It was a funeral procession.
Pretty cool to see that happening.

We spent the day in Positano on the beach playing games and hanging out. Around 5 a group of us were getting ready to head out for the next bus, back to Sorrento. It's about a 30 minute ride and I wanted to get back to the hotel to shower, so I went with those leaving.
We get on the bus and all of a sudden I had to pee so bad.
Never had to pee this bad in my life, I literally could not wait until we were at the hotel. They kept saying, 'Karina we have like 10 more minutes, just wait you'll be fine.' But I couldn't. There was no way.

I decide to get off at the next stop and just hop on the next bus that comes. I knew where we were headed and it was a straight shot back to the hotel.
I go to the bathroom and decide to walk a little instead of waiting for the bus.
Well, I ended up walking at least 3 miles down the street, alone. I stopped inside a few places to see if I was for sure headed in the right direction. I knew the road I was on was the same road we took, but I just wanted to make sure. Every where I went in didn't understand what I was saying. I stopped by a cafe I passed and three guys were standing outside.
They tell me to hop on this next bus I see coming down the street. So I do.
Sitting next to a woman, I strike up a little conversation with my minimal Italian and she ends up knowing of the hotel I'm staying in. She tells me to get off at one of the next stops and I will be close. Nope.


Still ended up walking about 30 minutes until I spotted an upscale hotel. On the verge of hitch-hiking, I run inside to ask for a taxi. They tell me it might be expensive, but at that point I didn't care.
I hop in a cab and arrive at our hotel an hour and a half later than everyone else and 30euro poorer.
I see a few of the guys hanging outside and lounging on the hammocks. They see me and start laughing, then ask if I'm okay. All I could do was laugh because this all happened with me not being able to hold my bladder.

Anyway, besides that adventure, we ate at one of the best seafood places right on the water. I got marinated salmon and a side of eggplant parmigiano. My favorite. The girls all got different seafood dishes and we sat around there for the night.

Sidenote; Mom- Tara said your eggplant parm was better than the one I got that night. Good job.

The following day we set off for Capri around 8am. Walking into the town of Sorrento, we got onto a ferry that drove us to the island. I could not wait to get to Capri. After being there 4 years ago, I was so excited to get back.
We had the option of joining Bruno on a hike up to a high view of all the island and doing some cliff jumping. Or, taking a boat cruise around the island, in and out of the little caves and possibly swimming. I did the boat cruise.

It was awesome, we had our own boat with a captain and a little deck area to lay out. We arrive back about 3 hours later and get the best sandwich I've ever gotten. I think I've said that about 3 paninis I've had, but literally this Caprese sandwich from the island of Capri was unreal. We walked up to Anacapri and walked around, seeing some of the best views of the island.

We headed back on the ferry to Sorrento, hung out at our bungalows, and met in the lobby for dinner and to go out at night. 

On the way back to Sorrento on the ferry, there was a Napolitano guy named Antonio, who went up to Bruno and had him introduce me to him. He worked on the boat and lived in Naples, 21 years old, and spoke a little English.

Another sidenote- Bruno is a 70 year old priest who is good friends with the man who owns Euroadventures (Shaun). Whenever Bruno is in Italy, he stays at Shaun's place and travels to all the Almafi trips and helps out with some tours. He is such a great man. He reminds me of Nonno.

I thought this was funny that Bruno was trying to get me to talk to this guy. A few of us were talking to Antonio and we said we would be going out that night in Sorrento.

We get to the outdoor bar after dinner and we see Antonio and his friends. It was fun talking to them and meeting all these Italian guys and girls and to practice our Italian, and not just being with other American's.

We ended up watching the sunset before dinner on and out Saturday. We come to the piazza where Bruno told us to meet him and he had plastic cups with jugs of wine waiting for our whole group. He's the best.

On Sunday, Bruno was taking whoever wanted to go to Pompei and Mt. Vesuvius to see it all. I already saw Pompei so I didn't really want to.
Me, Tara, Cathy, Pat and Cam decided to hang by the beach and walk around Sorrento. The beach was blocked off, so we went to get awesome pizza and walked around the downtown area.

I had so much fun the entire weekend. The weather was the best it could have been. Food was awesome. And the people we were with were so much fun.

Cam made this cool video of some of the trip, I attached the link below...Me and Tara are all over it.
We had a blast, couldn't have asked for it to be a better weekend.
Almafi Coast with Euroadventures, April 4-8th VIDEO

Buona Pasqua

Remembering last trip we took to Viareggio, I woke up at 9:40 before our 10:10am train... So of course, nothing can go smoothly when Tara and I travel together.
Scheduled to take the 12:00 train from Florence to Viareggio on Saturday afternoon before Easter, we thought it would be okay to go out Friday night.

Waking up around 9:30, I can't get ahold of Tara... Neither of us have packed, we still need to buy train tickets, the station is a good 15 minute walk away, I don't want to be rushing and I am having dejavu of last trip we took.
I shower, start packing, and Tara finally calls me back. She locked herself out of her apartment. Classic.
I tell her to come over to shower and that some of her clothes are at my place, she can just borrow mine and my roommates for the rest of the weekend.
Long story short... This time Tara was the one who looks like a crazy lady. Hasn't brushed her teeth, has no jacket and we both look like we haven't slept in days. Our family probably thinks we both have major issues.

To top off the craziness of the morning, as were on the train about an hour away, I get a text from Silvia; "Hi girls, have you both gotten the chicken pox vaccine? Gabriele has them I want to make sure you will be okay."
I read it out loud and me and Tara look at each other and start dying laughing for about 10 minutes straight. This isn't happening.

We arrive and Silvia is at the station to get us. Meeting up with Maria Pia, she gets us lunch, and brings us to her apartment in Viareggio.
Aside from being afraid to we will catch the chicken pox, me and and Tara have the place to ourselves for the weekend, and they bring us to the store they own and let us pick out some clothes to keep for ourselves. Amazing.


After getting situated, Silvia took me and Tara to Pietrosanta. A small town about a half hour away. We hung out and got coffee and just walked around.

On Easter, we went over to Ricardo and Franca's place for the day. It was awesome spending the holiday with them. It reminded me of being home and might have been one of the best meals I've had here in Italy.

We hung out with everyone all day, then me and Tara
walked around on La Passigiatta before going back to the apartment and going to bed.

Celebrating Easter Monday for the first time, we spent most of it in Pisa and Lucca with Ricardo and Silvia. So much fun just walking around getting coffee and seeing the main sites in both towns.
We were surrounded by thousands of people in Pisa, so we took a few pictures and left to head to Lucca.
Lucca was so cute. Small town, surrounded by a wall, filled with little markets and veryyyy tiny streets. We got coffee, some gelato and walked around until our train at 5pm.

We didn't acquire the chicken pox, lucked out with beautiful weather, saw three small, famous towns, and spent Easter weekend with our family in Italy. Does not get much better than that.

More Famiglia.

If it wasn't for Anthony La Barbera (in Canada) to Facebook message me about our family in Montecatini, I would have never known they existed.

After being in contact for a few days with Valentine Labate(cousin) and Michele La Barbera(cousin) vis Facebook, we set a date for me to come to their house for dinner on sunday, march 10.

Extremely nervous prior to departure. I barely speak Italian. I have never once met any of these people. I'm going there alone.
It's not like these people were total strangers. I knew if I didn't take this opportunity, I would regret it, so I sucked it up and prepped myself to visit my family.

I got on the train from Florence and arrived at the Montecatini Terme station around 11am, greeted by the three kids; Michela, 21, Silvia, 20 and Samuele, 12. Speaking very broken Italian and having Michela translate with her very minimal English, these were some of my cousins!

We stopped to get colazione; capuccino, biscotti, etc... then continued to drive to their house in Monsummano, a town in Montecatini.
I was welcomed in by a ton of other family (I lost track of names and who people were), and more people kept arriving.

Inside their Nonna's house (wife of Michele, Pa's brother), who lives next door to Michela, Silvia and Samuele, there was a long dining room table set for a a little more than 20 people. The food being prepared smelled unreal.
I was bombarded with hugs, kisses, and phrases being said to me in Italian that took me minutes to comprehend.

All the sons, daughters, their kids and their boyfriends/girlfriends, the kids around my age and younger, and more cousins came. Everyone was curious to know everything about me.
Thank God Michela spoke very minimal English, because if it wasn't for her, I would have barely been able to communicate with them.

The dinner was absolutely delicious; lasagna, chicken, pork, this bacon type meat, salad, a bunch of little pastries and cake, coffee, champagne. So much food. It was awesome sitting there eating with everyone and it's been the best meal I've eaten since I got to Italy.
I usually hate lasagna.. When Mom was sick, people would bring over dinners every night. Such a nice gesture, but since everyone knew we were Italian, we probably had lasagna brought to the house 3 nights a week. Being extremely sick of it, I haven't had it since. It's been like 10 years, and this lasagna I had at the house was heavenly. It was amazing...
Every Sunday they go to their Nonna's house where we were and have a family dinner, so it was comforting being and made me feel like I was home.

The kids took me and showed me around the center of Montecatini after we ate and we walked around a little. I met Silvia's boyfriend and then they all walked me to the train.

I am so happy I decided to take time and go there for dinner. When we get back from spring break, the two girls are going to come stay at my apartment for the night so we can go out in Florence together. I could not be happier I got the chance to do this and hopefully can go back once more before I leave.

Not only am I traveling Europe and living right in the center of a major city in Italy, but I'm meeting more family and making relationships that I never thought would be created.

21.

Celebrating twenty-one years of life. In Italy.

If you know me, you know I hate the thought of growing up. Nothing about it has ever appealed to me. I still don't even think I know what I want to do with my life. I need to face reality, because I'm not little anymore. I'm 21.

I've never been one to publicize my birthday, or make sure every one knows about it. All I really care about is being with those I want to be with; my family and good friends.
On Monday, we celebrated my birthday by getting a 5 course dinner with bottomless wine at Il Teatro, right under Tara's apartment. Amazing food. Good wine. And a version of my family and friends; Tara plus my roommates and girls we met here/from home.

The people I have become close with from Euroadventures set up this birthday dinner for me, and the woman at the restaurant brought out desserts with candles for me to blow out, champagne, and had the restaurant sing 'Tanti Auguri' to me. We had a good time.
We went out for a little bit afterward to see some other people we hang out with, but so full from dinner, we had to make it an early night.

I got really, really homesick during the day on my birthday. I hated not being with my family, but Tara, my roommates, and girls we hang out with made it so enjoyable.

I stopped at Tara's apartment during the day and she had a ton of my favorite Italian treats with a mini tiramisu cake and bottle of champagne waiting for me. Lauren and Gianna had some treats waiting at home for me, as well. Marissa and Ali bought me these awesome chocolates and everyone I wanted to, came to dinner and out after.

I have so much to be thankful for. I have lived a healthy twenty-one years of life, blessed with the best family and groups of friends I can ask for. Yea, it's scary growing up and I hate it... But looking back at the experiences and opportunities that have already come my way, I cannot wait to see what the future has to offer.


Who can say they celebrated an important milestone of their life, in one of the greatest and most beautiful cities in the world? I can.

Czech this out.

The largest city of the Czech Republic, Praha.

Buying a transportation only ticket, the five of us girls (Lauren, Gianna, Nina and Emily), departed on a bus that was making a stop in Munich at 7pm Thursday night, then making it's way to Prague.
We arrive in munich around 8am, give or take, and the entire bus checks into the hostel, except for the 9 of us continuing to Prague.
So nice to have the entire bus to ourselves, I start making friends with one of the two bus drivers and try and practice my Italian. They we laughing at us all when we got into our own seats, preparing to take a nap for the next 5 hours until our destination.

Every trip I've gone on, I've brought Heather's blanket she gave me for Christmas. I went to pull it down from the shelf above me, when to my surprise, my new, old, Italian bus driver friend, helps me out and proceeds to tuck me in for my nap. I knew this was gonna be a great trip.

Probably should not have spoken too soon...
After being asleep for an hour or two, I wake up realizing the bus is pulled over at a hostel. Ecstatic thinking that we're already in Prague, I then see Cam and Cathy (Euroadventures people) getting on the bus, talking to the drivers. Still half asleep and feeling paralyzed from laying across the seats of a coach bus, I hear that two people forgot bags on the bus and realized over an hour later. Idiots. I was pissed.

Falling back asleep, we get to Prague around 2:30pm. Meeting the rest of the Prague people who were on a different bus, at the hotel, the five of us walk to our hostel we booked ourselves, located in the main center of Prague.

We realize they are on a different currency than the Euro. So we head to the ATM. Something like, every 20 Czech Korunas=1 USD. So we were walking around with over 2,000 Czechs in our pockets, thinking we have all this money. It was equivalent to along the lines of a little over $100. Weird.

After getting situated at the hostel, we cluelessly head out into this medieval city. Around the corner from our hostel was a famous Sex Machines Museum... Agreeing this would not be worth the time and money, we decided to take full advantage of the Starbuck's next door instead.
Arriving into the main square of Prague, near the famous Astronomical Clock, we got a class of Hot Wine and figured out where to go from there.

We made our way to the Charles Bridge, famous mainly because of it's connection of the Prague castle and Old Town area of the city.

The Lennon Wall was like something I'd never seen before. I love art and the freedom of expression, and this has got to be the best example of that.
A little history;
Lennon was a huge hero to much of the youth in Central and Eastern Europe, in the time of Communism. Many songs were band during that era especially John Lennon's songs, because of the drastic praising of freedom.

When Lennon was murdered in 1980, he then became a hero. People would paint his picture all over this wall, along with graffiti and lyrics of his songs and other expressions they may have had. Authorities would continuously paint over it, but that would not stop the Czech from going back and painting their feelings and dreams all over the wall.

It's not only a memorial to John Lennon and his ideas for peace, but also a monument for free speech and the non-violent rebellion of the Czech youth against the system of government.
Some people were saying it is the Czech Republic's equivalent to the Berlin Wall of Germany.
Seeing this historical site was amazing. I had seen pictures before, but seeing it in person was unreal. I could have stayed there all day, reading everything that was visible and taking pictures of every angle possible.
The numerous portraits of Lennon, song lyrics, names and quotes each had their own meaning a definitely shows how symbolic this wall is.

Finishing our day, ate a O Che's Pub, and headed back to the hostel. On our way home we signed up for Prague's 'famous barcrawl' that night. Every one from Florence was doing it, so we met up beforehand and participated in the bar crawl.

Starting off our Saturday, we woke up for the free hostel breakfast. Stale cereal with warm milk and coffee. Yum. For 10euro a night, I should have expected this.

Grabbing a map, Emily draws out some routes to take and maps out our destinations for the day. The main square is where a famous Astronomical Clock is located. It is one of the three in the world, that still works properly.
Climbing over 200 steps to the top of the tower, we saw an awesome view of all Prague.

Before getting to Prague, people had told us to go to "the best bagel place, ever, Bohemia Bagels." So of course, we made it a priority to find the infamous bagel place. Yes, these were the best bagel sandwiches, ever. From bacon, egg and cheese to Reuben's and BLTs...they had a huge selection of sandwiches. We got ours to go, and sat outside in the sun.
Stopping to sign the Lennon Wall, then making our way to the Prague Castle was the agenda for Saturday. In between going to the wall and the castle, we stopped at the Jewish Cemetery. Not realizing until after, that Saturday is their 'holy day,' everything was closed.

The castle was very medieval and it seems like a little town in itself once we got to the entrance. Very cool.

On the way back to the hostel, we stopped to get some crepes and then fresh berries at the market right before it closed. Healthy dinner, right?

Running into more people from Florence, we decided that night to go the in well-known 5 story club. Yes. Five floors. Each with a different theme; hip hop, 80s (our personal favorite), Electronic Dance music, Rap, and something else I can't remember...

We spent most of the time on the 80s/oldies floor, loving every song that came on. We even started a conga line consisting of probably 50+ people. It was awesome.

Dead tired the next morning. We checked out of the hostel and left bright and early to meet the buses at 10am.
Taking advantage of the 5 hours to ourselves, we slept the entire way to Munich. We laughed and exchanged stories about the weekend and heard all about the Munich people's adventures during the Strong Beer Fest that was going on over the weekend.

I'm really happy I got the chance to go to Prague. I never thought I'd end up visiting the Czech Republic, and the John Lennon Wall has been by far my favorite.


Czech this city off my list.