Canyon Jumping, 300 feet into the Swiss Alps.

This experience undoubtedly calls for it's own post.

I was mad jealous of everyone who was skiing and snowboarding, so the other adventurous options consisted of; sky diving, paragliding, ice skating, or canyon jumping.

Saturday morning, we woke up and Tara and I decided to book our reservation for Canyon Jumping at 1pm that day.

Not even believing I actually just paid and finalized my decision, we got into a van with 10 other people, and took a 30 minute ride up into the mountains.

Arriving at a restaurant, we all got out and continued to hike about 25 more minutes higher into the Alps. Still surreal to me of what I was even about to do, Lauren and Nina walked with Pat, Tara, the rest of the group and I to watch us jump 300 feet into a canyon.

Extremely nervous but excited on our hike up the mountain, of course I had to pee. Again. For third time in the last hour. Already deep into the woods, there was no other place I'd be able to go other than behind a tree, in the 3 feet of snow. Unless I wanted to pee all over myself while diving into the canyon, it was now or never. Sorry for the details, but this was a vital aspect of the experience.

We reach the top of the canyon and see the platform we will be jumping off of. The guides dress us all in our harnesses and read us this ridiculous disclaimer that made me question what the hell I was doing...

There was a woman taking professional pictures, which is how I got so many of me jumping. She was hanging on a zipline above the platform we jumped off of, the entire time until the last person was finished. What a job....

Pat went first. Took off his jacket, stepped onto the platform, and swan dove off the canyon. In literally 20 seconds he was gone. I couldn't believe it. A couple other people went, then Tara was next in line. Freaking out for her, she looked at the camera, smiled and then jumped. SO cool, I could not wait to go...

Two people later, it was my turn. One of the girls was video-taping me so I am hoping she sends me that soon because it was an awesome video...

Neil, the man in charge standing on the platform, hooked me up to the harness and I grabbed his arm as I stepped onto the platform.

I thought I was going to throw up everywhere... I actually just got the chills thinking about the moment I looked at the canyon I was about to jump into. Incredible. Neil told me to wave to the woman taking pictures, so I did and jumped right after.

The only thing I remember right after I jumped, was the feeling of not being able to breath for a solid 5 seconds, and then thinking... 'I am attached to a rope, swinging in-between massive cliff walls, over a running river filled with rocks and a heavy tide... in the Swiss Alps.'
If that is not a dream come true then I don't know what is... Never for once in my life did I think I would canyon jump in the Swiss Alps. To be honest, I did not even know what Interlaken was.
After I stopped swinging, there was a rope I grabbed onto attached to a ladder at the bottom of the canyon, that I used to pull myself in. Another man was standing there pulling the other end of the rope and helped me take off the harness once I got onto that platform. Pulling myself in above the water and rocks was almost scarier than actually jumping into the canyon. I got onto the platform and was shaking. I don't know if it was the excitement, adrenaline, or what it was, but all I said to guy was, 'holy shit, I can't believe I just did that.' He laughed, told me to pull myself back together, then continue to walk along the side of the cliff wall, through a little cave, until I hit the back end of the restaurant.
When I got in there, Tara, Pat and everyone else who was finished were sitting drinking hot chocolate. We hung out there until everyone was done, ordered the professional pictures, then took the van back down the mountain and back to the hostel.

If it was not for Euroadventures travel company, we probably would not have gone on the trip. We would not have gotten to see this amazing part of the world that I didn't even really know about. 'I am truly blessed,' is really the only thing I can say after our weekend in Interlaken.

INTERLAKEN!

I don't even know where to begin...

Departing out of Florence at midnight on Thursday (technically Friday morning), we headed out on a 7 hour bus ride to Interlaken, Switzerland. Pumped for what was in store for us, we all took some Nyquil and tried our hardest to sleep on the bus so when we arrived at 9am we'd be energized.

Not as easy as it sounds... After 3 movies, 2 pit stops, and a very restless sleep, we finally arrived!

Pulling up to the Funny Farm Hotel/Hostel, we step off the bus into at least half a foot of snow. I could not really complain considering Chicago and Iowa City had no snow before I left, and plus... We were staying in a hostel with the Swiss Alps right outside our window. Unbelievable and absolutely breathtaking.

Little did I know, that view would not be the only thing breathtaking about this trip.

We got our room assignments and headed up to check out our first hostel room. Lauren, Heidi, Emily, Tara, our new friend Mandy, and I were staying in one room together. The entire room and hostel looked straight from the 60s/70s with bunk beds probably equivalent to those in prison cells, but hey, there was no way any of us were going to make a fuss about it.

We were laughing so hard once we got situated. As always, something is wrong with each situation we're in, and our shower and heater didn't work. We head down to the front desk to ask if there was anything they could do about it. Giving us the options of splitting up and sleeping in different rooms or taking two small space heaters, we chose the space heaters. As for the shower condition; the man gave us a key to a 'dormitory style' room where we could shower in. Happy with that, we then find out three guys are actually sleeping and staying in that room but, "are totally fine with it and would be more than happy to let us girls use their shower," says the man at the front desk. I get that everyone is super nice in Switzerland, but come on.

Hesitant, me and Tara take a trip up to room 524 to check out where we will be showering. Nothing but luggage and personal items are in there and we spot a camera on one of the beds. Tara grabs it to see if we could get somewhat of a look of what these people look like. No luck. It was all pictures of a dog...

We go back to the room, tell the girls the situation, and take a small nap.

A few hours later, a couple of the Euroadventure guys lead us on a walk throughout Interlaken.

This was the most scenic walk I think I have ever been on in my life. We walked through the town, along the river, and ended up at a lake. Every direction I turned my head, looked like a fake painting. I still cannot not get over how beautiful everything was. The pictures are great, but being there in person was phenomenal and I can't even explain it.

At one point, we were standing on the border of two towns; Interlaken and Unterseen.

Our walk was probably three hours long. Wearing rainboots and 3 pairs of socks in the multiple inches of snow, me and Tara were positive we had frostbite. On our way back, we stopped at a super market to get some food for the weekend. We were anxious to get back to the hostel, sit by the fire, and get situated for the night. 

Once back, we had something to eat, showered, and went to an Irish Pub right down the street, The Three Tells. The live music was probably the best I've heard. The guy was awesome at everything he sung, and it was all American music so we knew most of it. We each had a Swiss beer and hung there for the night.

On Saturday, three of the girls woke up at 6am to hit the slopes by 7:30. They were so excited to go skiing and snowboarding. Lauren, Emily and I woke up around 9:30 and went to get some breakfast consisting of homemade jam, bread, and coffee. Princess Tara slept til about 10:30 when we woke her up to figure out what we were doing for the day. Emily ended up going skiing again, and spontaneously, Tara and I booked our reservation for Canyon Jumping. I could not believe I actually was about to do this. Pat, who works for Euroadventures was going as well, so us 3, Lauren and our friend Nina, along with another group of girls, hopped into a van for a 30 minute ride into the mountains. This experience was incredible, it deserves it's own post... so that will come soon.

Returning from our day, Lauren, Tara and I went to get a Kebab at a restaurant down the street. In other words, this is a giant gyro, full of deliciousness. Not sure what type of food this is, but it seems to be pretty popular wherever we've gone.

After finding out from Isabelle that Joe Horrigan and Will Rigali (friends from home) were also in Switzerland for the weekend, Tara was trying to get ahold of them so we could all meet up and hang out that night. She wasn't able to reach reach anyone, but the minute we walked into the restaurant, they were sitting there finishing their meal. Talk about a small world!  We exchanged numbers, and planned to meet up later that night.

Back at the hostel, me and Tara decide to go upstairs to shower in those guys room. No way were any of us going in there alone. As we knock and walk in, the three guys are sitting there listening to 80's music and drinking beer. They have absolutely no idea that the front desk gave their room key to us. After the awkward conversation of explaining our issue, Tara and I locked ourselves in the bathroom and took the quickest showers of our lives. The guys were real friendly and we laughed about what was going on, but we were not trying to hang around their room...

Later on, us girls went to the pub, and a couple hours later the guys showed up. After a few beers, we left to go to another hotel where other kids from Florence were staying, and met them at the nightclub inside.

Our group of 10 eventually got split up; Tara, Joe and Will posting up at the bar, me and Emily being chased out by the Swiss security guard after he found out we lied about staying in that hostel (just so we didn't have to pay to get in the club), and Lauren and the rest of them were somewhere in the club. Eventually all meeting up at the hostel, we recapped and laugh about the night and fell asleep.

Sunday morning, we got coffee in the dining area and hung out in the lobby. We decided to go for a little walk back to the lake and take more pictures. Tara was hungry so her and I walked to a Thai food place and then back to the hostel.

Ben and Pat, two guys who work for Euroadventures, were taking a walk to the downtown area so I went with. The weather on Sunday (the whole weekend, actually) was awesome. The sun was out all day with super clear skies, allowing for the views of the Alps and all of Interlaken to be the best they could.

Walking through the town, we saw skydivers landing in a big field, people paragliding, and groups of people walking around enjoying the atmosphere.

After an hour or two, we headed back and met up with everyone getting ready to board the bus back to Florence. This weekend was something I will never forget. Ever.

Mandy, me, Tara, Heidi, Lauren

Between the people I was with and the new culture experiences, my love for travel is growing consistently. Interlaken, Switzerland took my breath away.

Panoramic picture taken with the iPhone.

For more pictures, check out my Facebook! I upload them all on there.

25 new learnings.

From the day I moved into my apartment,
I have learned something new everyday about Italians.

1. People walking down the street do not smile or say hello. Just stare straight on, or directly at your face with a stern look.

2. Cars/Vespas will not stop for you to walk. Occasionally this may happen, but not often.

3. Italian men have no problem telling you what they think of you walking past them.

4. Where we live, in the center of Florence, pretty much everyone can speak some English.

5. Shoes/brand clothing (North Face..etc...), are one of the biggest giveaways to spot Americans from Europeans.

6. You have to weigh your own fruit and print out a sticker when buying it from the grocery.

7. Some vendors at the mercato do not allow you to touch the fruit/veggies... They do it for you.

8. Pepperoni on pizza means peppers... Not the meat.

9. The little mini stores down our street sell 4 bottles of wine for 10euro. The Indian men who own the stores make the wine with lots of sugar and around 3% alcohol. But then label it saying it has 12% and make up their own brand names, etc... We researched online and there were no traces of any of the product names. Talk about a scam.

10. You need to get your train/bus tickets validated before getting on, otherwise you can be fined up to 50euro...

11. If you go to the bar and ask for American coffee, it is literally all water with a dash of coffee.

12. Cappuccino after 10.30-11am is a no-no.

13. Dinner usually starts around 9 and ends around 11.

14. Our American term for bar is different from the Italian term which really means like a coffee/snack shop. They call places to drink, Pubs.

15. Italian stereotype for American girls when they drink, easy targets.

16. Always bargain with the street vendors. Do not pay the original price they tell you.

17. Every item of food is fresh.

18. Each building is unique in it's own way. Literally every building walking down the street is different.

19.  There are no fat people here.

20. There are mozzarella sticks on the McDonald's menu.

21. Turcchino is cheese... Tacchino is turkey.

22. There is a "secret bakery." The workers get there around 3am to bake for the morning and if you knock lightly on the back alley door, you can buy freshly cooked pastries for 1euro. Amaaaaazing.

23. People stay out and party til like 5am.. Work starts at some point in the morning. Most stores close from 1-4. Then reopen til 8 or 9.

24. You need to separate the trash; plastics, food, items that have touched food, etc...

25. American lifestyle in very, very different than the Italian lifestyles/culture.

Even though it's going to take a bit of adjusting and getting used too, I already feel really cultured and so much more experienced each day.

Viareggio!

After the Venice fiasco, me and Tara were excited to take the train on Sunday to visit our family in Viareggio.

Getting home around 1.30am after Venice, we were exhausted.
I told Tara to call me as soon as she woke up in the morning, then we split up and went to our apartments. Right before bed, I set three alarms to wake me up because I knew I was going to have a hard time.
Thank god for my roommates answering there phone the next morning since I had lost mine the day before in Venice... It was 9.45 when I woke up and jumped out of my bed. Freaking out because I slept through my alarms, Tara was waiting outside for me. We had 20 minutes to get to the station, that is 20 minutes walking distance away.
I throw on clothes, toss a brush, contacts, makeup, my toothbrush and wallet in a bag and sprint out the door. Me and Tara are running down our street when I realize I forgot our tickets. Running back to my apartment, I step into a pothole almost breaking my ankle. Talk about sticking out and looking like Americans...
I get the tickets and we continue to run down the street towards the Duomo to catch a cab. It's 9.55 and the train leaves at 10.10am.

The cab assures us we will be on time. I smell like shit because I didn't even get a chance to brush my teeth, and Tara is having a mini asthma attack from running to catch a cab. Good start to the day.
Despite our chaotic morning, we were on time for the train.


Almost 2 hours later we arrive in Viareggio! Silvia comes to get us at the station and we walk back to her parents house. We met everyone and went to go get lunch and spent the day walking around. We ate at a restaurant right off of the beach. Such good seafood!



We went back to Silvia's house and relaxed for a bit, then walked over to the Carnevale in Viareggio. It was awesome! Everyone was dressed up, people were everywhere, there was music playing and food venders everywhere. So much fun.
We hung out there for a little and then went back to Silvia's where her husband ordered pizza and gelato and brought it back to the house. Best gelato I have ever had. Seriously. Me and Tara ate the entire thing.

The whole day was so much fun. We are so excited to go back there and we will be spending Easter weekend with them! When the weather gets nicer, it will be awesome to go there and spend the day on the beach. I really, really liked Viareggio. We had a really great day.

Venezia Carnevale- Disastro.

Venice Carnevale; 3 February, 2013.

Excited for our first day trip out of Florence, we all board the 8.30am bus to Venezia for Carnevale on Saturday morning!

The weather is kind of gloomy, but a little warmer in Florence. As we get further into the drive and closer to Venice, it is raining.

Arriving to the water taxi station where we bought tickets for it to drop us off at Piazza San Marco, it is still down pouring. A few of the girls forgot umbrellas, so we bought a few more and a couple of them bought rain boots to prepare for the long day ahead.

Last time I was in Venice, four years ago, it rained a little and then cleared up. I was confident that was how our day was going to turn out this time.

We arrive at Piazza San Marco and there are so many people. Everywhere. It was hard to even walk...and on top of it, everyone had umbrellas and was trying to fit through the small side streets at the same time. Not happening.

We were starving by the time we got there around 1pm. The place we chose for lunch gave a few of us the wrong vibes... but we were so hungry we stayed there to eat anyway.

We decide to order three pizzas and two bottles of wine for our table. This is when the issues began to occur.

Instead of receiving pepperoni (the meat) on our pizza, we got all peppers. Which was fine, we ate it anyway. 

The third pizza was all veggies. Sitting right in front of me, I pick up a piece and start to eat it. Of course, I spotted a small black hair on one of the pieces, so I put it down and call the waiter over. He proceeds to call a bus boy and have him order us another pizza. We did not want to wait there and we weren't hungry anymore, so the girls were trying to get them to just give us the pizza for free; take it off the bill, like places would in America. Nope. They were not going to do that.

We get up, Tara and another girl go to get their umbrellas from the host who seated us, and he tells them he does not have their umbrellas.

The waiters hate us for the whole pizza situation, now he loses their umbrellas, and it's pouring out. Tara is arguing back and forth and by now there is a huge scene in the restaurant. While Tara is arguing with the waiters and host, Lauren is looking under the table making sure we did not leave the umbrellas there ourselves. She gets up, turns around, and knocks the wine glasses off the table... They shatter everywhere.

Everyone stops talking, stares at all of us, and we sprint out of the restaurant. We are dying laughing, running down the street in the pouring rain, not believing what just happened.

After collecting ourselves, we bought ourselves some Carnevale masks and more umbrellas, and ran into some of the guys from our program at school. We all just wanted to go somewhere to sit and hang out. One of the guys insists he knows where a pub is, so we spent the next 3 hours walking in a single file line through Venice, searching for a pub.

During that time, half of us got split up and could not find any of the others from our group. Me, Gianna and our friend Zach are standing in the middle of Piazza San Marco, when Gianna's umbrella cracks in half. In search for the water taxi to bring us to our bus home, I proceeded to lose my Italian cellphone and gloves somehow while running in the rain for an hour to the bus.

We finally get back and see everyone we had split up from. We all look like we just jumped into the water. That's how soaked all our clothes were. The bus smells like fish and dirty dogs.

Soaking wet and miserable, we all just want to get home. At this point, all we can do is laugh about what went on during our day. Carnevale was cancelled, so we literally just went there to walk around outside in the terrible weather. But regardless, we still had a lot of fun together, laughing the entire day, which is all that really matters.

La Cultura

Mercato

We are finally getting the hang of getting around and buying things at the Mercato.
Stopped over at the Mercato Centrale today and showed some of my roommates where it was at. One of the older guys working asked where we were from and then every time after that, he would see us and sing 'Chicago' or 'New York, New York.'

The Italian lifestyle blows America's out of the water. To a certain extent, I guess. Just everything from throwing out garbage, to energy/water conservation and cultural aspects is so different. I love it.




Trash
There are dumpsters that really look like giant mailboxes, lined up on the street, labeled for 'plastics,' 'food,' 'trash that touches food,' etc...
We have to separate our trash before we throw it out. Can you image Americans ever needed to do that? No.

Energy/Water
The energy is regulated for only a certain amount of hours during the day. So the heat is only on at a certain time period. When taking a shower, you have to realistically wait 30 minutes in-between, sharing it with other people if you want good pressure/hot water. At home, my brothers take long showers... I take advantage of it too. We cannot do that here. We have to be conscience of how long we use the hot water..


Mi piace L'Italiana perche...
Everything about the culture here is amazing. Starting work; it is not precisely at a specific time. It is a little later in the morning and then they break at around 1-4 pm for lunch. I love that they do this. My teacher explained it to me as, "we work and then we live. we separate the two. I  don't live to work, I work to live." That was the perfect explanation.

Also, food and mealtime is sacred. Dinner is something special where you meet to talk, be with each other, and enjoy your time together. When we eat at home, it is over in 10-15 minutes and every one gets up to leave. I hate it.
Here, we sit, we drink some vino, we talk, eat, and talk some more. We enjoy each others company and want to spend time with each other.

It is so obvious why there are no fat people here.
I really don't think I have seen one fat Italian person here. Everyone walks everywhere. There is rarely any junk food sold, except for at gas stations. No one eats in-between meals. Everything is fresh. The market is where everyone shops for the essential fruits, vegetables, and meats.

As of right now, I want to extend my stay for another few months longer. I cannot wait to pick up more of the language and adapt more to the culture. It has been amazing.

Locked out.

Yep. For close to 20 hours we were locked out of our apartment.

The four of us decided to take a long journey to the opposite side of Florence, across the river after dinner two nights ago. After being out for a couple hours, we get back to the apartment and not one of our keys are working... We tried for 45 minutes to open the door. Not working.
Since Tara and Heidi live right down the street, we walked down there to figure out what to do. Making the decision to call our programs "Emergency Contact Number,"the proceed to tell us this is not classified as an emergency.

Um... 4 American girls, in Florence for a week, locked out of our apartment... This is definitely an emergency.
Long story short, we went back to try to get in. No luck. The landlord and locksmith was going to be called first thing in the morning to take care of it.
Where did we sleep, you're wondering? Well since my roommate Amanda really doesn't know anyone here, I told her to stay at Tara's. Lauren and Gianna slept by one of their friends places and I slept on the wicker couch in Austin's apartment. Not fun.

The morning rolls around, and I get a phone call saying the of the people from the apartment company is there. I run over, all she does is try to get in. The same exact thing we did for almost 2 hours the night before. Pissed.
SO, she calls the locksmith and they say they will be right over. Well we know this is not America and to "be right over," pretty much means a couple of hours.
3 hours later and 30 minutes before we all have class, we finally get into the apartment. The lock had to be fixed/changed/whatever they did to it... It was an adventure, to say the least.


I did see this Alfa Romeo when we were out walking. No luck of finding the guy who drives it though..... ;)