Budapest

I went to Budapest this past weekend with 7 other girls. We arrived late Thursday night at our hostel located in Pest. (Pest and Buda are two different cities). The 8 of us just went to bed since we were so exhausted from traveling. We woke up early then walked around Pest by the Parliament before crossing the bridge over to Buda. Here is Parliament:

 Us by a statue:

 The whole time we were at this church we thought it was a castle, it's so pretty.

 All 8 of us in Buda overlooking Pest.

View of Pest from Buda

 Another statue picture. This is outside of Budacastle. 

After seeing most of Buda, we walked over the bridge back into Pest and stopped at this outdoor food market, saw the opera house, etc. We went back to the hostel where we made some friends: a guy from Paris, a guy from Finland (he was my favorite because he bought me eggplant pizza), and a guy from Canada. All 8 of us & them went out to dinner. I got this spicy tomato rice thing. Really good! Then we went out, woke up early on Saturday and went to the great market hall (40 minute walk from our hostel). I got some souvenirs (Dad, Jackie, Emily, Juli, etc....) then I went to the zoo with Carolina while the others went to a church. The zoo seemed a better choice since Rome has thousands of beautiful churches, and the zoo in Budapest is supposed to be one of the best in Europe-didn't disappoint! I pet a giraffe, fed a camel, etc. 

The big group of us all went out to dinner again before going out. We went to a club called Szimpla and it was awesome. We woke up at 9 AM on Sunday since it was our last day. The 8 of us went to the famous Hungarian outdoor bath's, which was so relaxing and fun. After that we went to the Hungarian version of Chipotle before taking a train to the airport and flying back to Rome. I had one of the best weekends ever. Everyone should go to Budapest!

When in Rome

I got to Rome a week ago and I'm in love! I'm so happy I chose to study abroad in Rome, it's my favorite city I've ever been to. My apartment is awesome, it's in Trastevere and I live close to a lot of my friends. Today I'm going to the Colosseum. Here are some pictures, I'll write more later but I've got places to go people to see.

Pantheon

 Spanish Steps

 Via del Corso (Shopping Street)

 Piazza Navona

 Back of the pantehon & an elephant

 Hello up there!

 At our favorite street! (Corso)

 Trevi Fountain

 Hugging the pantheon

Long overdue Venice pictures

I forgot to blog about my favorite part of Florence. A big group of us took a walk after class one day to the top of this really big hill where you could see the most beautiful view of the whole city! Here is a picture of Kristin, Kim & I there:

Here are some pictures of me in Pisa! When we got there, some friends and I had a photoshoot in front of the tower, we took so many pictures before we walked to the other side and realized that whole time we were at the side you could barely tell was leaning haha. Here’s a pic of me pushing it over:

 Brittany and I fighting to push it over:

The entire AIFS group took a trip Monday night to a castle in Tuscany for dinner & wine tasting, here we are at yet another beautiful place:

This is a picture of us in front of the Cathedral in Sienna, it was gorgeous there! We went yesterday:

 The following picture was taken today on my walk home from school with Carolina, in the background is Ponte Vecchio:

On Saturday we have to check out of our hotel then take our Italian final (I'm doing well in the class) then we are taking the bus to Rome! I am actually going to miss Florence, it's awesome having everyone live in the same hotel, getting free breakfast and dinner. However, I am really looking forward to arriving at my apartment in Rome. I'll be in the Trastevere area which is the best place for college kids to live since it has a great nightlife. Not sure what else to say, so CIAO!

Venice

Friday morning the whole group left for a weekend in Venice. It was about a 5-hour bus ride. I heard it was beautiful, but I slept for all of it since I stayed out late the night before. Once we got there we had to take 2 big boats to transfer to our hotels. I shared a room with 3 other girls who will also be my roommates in Rome. After we checked in, we separated into smaller groups to visit the Chiesa S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari with paintings by Donatello and other people I didn’t know. Then we saw the Scuola di San Rocco, and finally the Accademia museum (paintings by Giorgione, Tiziano, Veronese, Tintoretto). My Dad would’ve liked it, but everyone there was so miserable! It was cool being in Venice but I have never been so cold in my life. It was probably 10 degrees and 30 mph winds (I may be exaggerating a little). Friday night I felt sick so I just stayed in after a group of us went out to dinner. Venice is kind of creepy at night when you are walking with just one other girl, because nothing stays open past 11 except for one club and nobody is around. I’m sure it’s a lot better to be there when it’s warmer though! Saturday was more fun. We went to St. Mark’s square and had great tours of St. Mark’s basilica and St. Mark’s museum. We also went to Museo Correr after that. I also got some nice Venetian glass souvenirs for someone special (Mom). Walking back to the hotel we were mesmerized by this really cute boy, I mean really beautiful gondola, so we went on 30-minute ride. It was only 20 Euros each and it was worth every penny. Definitely something I will never forget, the views were incredible! We heard Carnivale was having their pre-opening ceremony that night, so everybody bought masks to wear to it. We pregamed at the hotel, but it turned out that we pregamed through the Carnivale ceremony! Typical Americans. By the time we got dinner and were about to head over there, we heard it was over. Apparently it normally lasts longer but not many people came this year since it was so cold, and next weekend is when it really starts. We went to the “Raging pub” after dinner, and it was completely empty until about 60 of us showed up there. When that closed we went to the only club that stays open late, “Piccolo” which means “small”. It definitely was small (About the third of the size as Sandbar),but we all had a fun night. Sunday I checked out of my hotel and had 4 hours to kill until we would leave, so me and some other girls went to the Guggenheim museum and after that just hung out. I stayed awake for the bus ride back to Florence, and it was so pretty! The mountains were covered in snow, it was beautiful. I'll try and post pictures later. Now I’m back in Florence, it’s good to be back but I did love Venice. I definitely want to go again sometime in my life, but when it’s warmer. 

FLORENCE

We all flew into Pisa on Friday and took an hour bus ride to our 4 star hotel in Florence. I absolutely love Florence…. London schmondon! After we checked in, I found out who my roommate for the rest of the semester is, her name is Ally and she is awesome. I feel bad for her though because since I have a cold I’ve been snoring. Anyways, we got a 3-course meal when we arrived; it’s always a pasta dish served first, a meat dish served 2^nd (I get the vegetarian option instead), and then an Italian desert. Oh yeah, did I mention we get this 3-course meal every night for the next 2 weeks for free? A group of us went out that night to Mayo, which was an awesome club. All the Italians love me. On Saturday we had orientation at this beautiful palace. It was amazing. We also had this great lunch where I had the best thing of my life, it was a cheesy pesto lasagna. The palace was stunning, every room was so beautiful, I couldn’t believe we were there. We walked around Florence after orientation, and we went out to club Space at night. That was the best club I’ve ever been to, it was awesome and didn’t close til 4 A.M. I got pina coladas.

Sunday we had an art tour around Florence, I still couldn’t get over how amazing the Duomo is. I’m really excited to climb to the top of it one day. My beginner Italian class started on Monday and we have it every day from 9:00-1:30. It’s intense, the teachers speak no English in class, so that makes it hard. I’m definitely learning a lot of Italian though. Monday night we had a free dinner at this restaurant with free wine being served, and then everyone went out to a club called Yab. I had so much fun there, however, I lost my wallet with everything in it. That part sucked, my new debit and credit cards won’t be with me until I get to Rome. Luckily I have already made great friends to help me get by until I can get money. Today after class we went to the Academia museum which is where the statue of David is. It was really cool seeing it in person after learning about it so many times. On the way home we all got lost, so a 15 minute walk turned into over an hour, which wouldn't be bad but for some reason this past week is the coldest it's been in Florence for 20 years! Tomorrow I have my first quiz in class, and after class we are taking a day trip to the leaning tower of Pisa. I LOVE ITALY. Everyone should come here! Ciao!! 

LONDON

I landed in London around 6:45 A.M. and we had the day free to do whatever we wanted. Jeremy (I met him at JFK) and I walked around the city for a while before we stopped to have lunch. There were other AIFS students from our group eating there so we sat with them. After lunch we walked around the city for hours, we probably walked around 8 miles. We went to Hyde Park, which was huge and really pretty. There was a palace there under construction, lots of dogs, lakes, statues, and history in the park. Here is the group of us in Hyde Park:















After that, we walked under this overpass with a statue on top and lots of police cars drove by, apparently that was the Queen of England since she is the only one allowed to drive under it. We were on a mission to find a pub to drink at, once we found it I ordered a Stella. That was my first legal drink! That night, we had a quick meet and greet to get to know the 123 people in the program, (only 22 guys..) then a big group of us went to an area called Soho in London. We all had a great dinner then got a few drinks at a club. London reminded me of a cleaner New York, but it was even more expensive because the dollar is very weak compared to the pound. The next day we woke up early for a bus tour around the city. I loved that, we got to see all the touristy stuff; Buckingham palace, Big Ben, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, etc.  After that, I went to lunch with a few people and I learned that French fries are called chips in England (not complaining).  The 4 of us who had lunch together took the tube to Abbey Road where of course we took a few pics. I didn’t even know which crosswalk it was at first, and a lot of cars were driving by and honking at us to move, but I’m glad I got to go there. That night we went to this awesome bar/restaurant (again in Soho). Next thing I knew there was a 5 AM wake up call in my hotel room, and we were on a bus to the Heathrow airport to head to Italy!!! P.S. my roommate in London was a girl from Port Washington!