A Year to Give Thanks

This year marks the first year I will be spending Thanksgiving away from my family. Although there have been some pretty close calls, like my Freshmen year of college when after missing my first flight I just barely caught the last one of the day out to New York, I have always managed to make it home to feast and give thanks with my family. Being miles and miles away from home and not getting to spend this time with my family has made me realize now more than ever how much I have to be thankful for.  This may get corny but I know that no one ever hears thank you enough.

            To start off I think to where my life has taken me this semester. I’m in Florence, Italy for an entire four months. I have gotten the opportunity to visit six different countries and too many cities to count. I have filled my weekend with once in a lifetime opportunities and my eyes have been opened to a whole new world full of new and unexpected perspectives.

            First and foremost I am thankful for my parents. Without them I would not be half the person I am today. They have fully supported every dream, opportunity, and idea I have ever had. Throughout this entire trip, and my entire life for that matter, they never made me feel like there was anything I couldn’t do. They let me experience the world and constantly remind me that in the end money is just paper and you can’t put a price on love or happiness. They have molded me into a person that I am truly proud of being and I can only hope one day that when I have a family I am able to do the same. There is no way I would be abroad having the semester of a lifetime without them and I do not think they hear it enough how much I love them and appreciate every single thing they do for me.

            Second I am thankful for my family. Yes, family again. My parents of course deserve their own category of thanks but I am thankful for my siblings and all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. We may get on each other’s last nerve sometimes but my siblings show me everyday that they have my back. I know I will always have them for anything and everything I could possibly need and that they are my support system. As for my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world to be so close to all of my family. They have supported me through my travels, have given me a place to stay, and even read my blog post…woooo fan base!! As I have traveled abroad I have grown a greater appreciation for my family’s roots and how hard my grandparents worked to proved a better life for us all. Not only did I get to see the place where I come from by traveling to Ireland but also I got to see family I have not seen since I was young. My family in Ireland are some of the sweetest most hospitable people I have ever met and I am so lucky to have gotten the chance to spend time with them.  

            Next I am thankful for my friends. Both my friends from high school and college have proven to me that distance means nothing. Besides being my lifeline for everything they have all shown me that distance means nothing. Without a phone, 24/7 access to Internet, and a different time zone they have all managed to keep in contact as well as keep me sane when frustrations of being abroad got the best of me. I can be the craziest, psychotic person sometimes and know that my friends pass no judgments. Once again I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have friends like the ones I do.

            Tagging on to being thankful for my friends. I am thankful for all the friends and people I have met here. I have gotten to know people that I would have never gotten the chance to know if not for this experience. People who go to the same school and have the same major yet we had never had a conversation before this trip. I have become so close with so many of the fashion majors studying abroad this semester. I also have met so many interesting people and teachers throughout my travels that I will never forget. Complete strangers from all over the place have both changed and impacted my life.

            Finally I am thankful for my happiness. I can honestly say I have never been so happy as I am studying abroad. It is evident as I scroll through my pictures and see myself smiling from ear to ear. It is evident as I walk to class, eyes wandering around the streets and catch myself again smiling. I get excited like a little kid the night before Christmas every time I go on a new adventure, a new country, or simply find a new place in Florence. It is also evident every time I get gelato because that is just happiness in itself! My eyes have been open to a whole new world and I truly believe I have become a better person by being here. Nothing feels better than waking up every morning not knowing what the day will be like and having to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. They say traveling is the only happiness money can buy and I could not agree more.

            There are so many things I am thankful for that I know just one simple blog post narrowing it down to my top list of thanks could ever even be enough. But this Thanksgiving, as I sit in an airport waiting for my flight to Prague, I want to share my thanks and hope that everyone has a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. 

Guest Appearance in Florence: Florence, Lucca, and Pisa

It is now that I will continue on with the journey of Mom, Lynn and Tricia's trip to Florence....

On day three of the trip we decided to sleep in a little more than we have been and spend the full day exploring strictly Florence. We started off our day by visiting Piazza Santa Croce and touring the inside of Basilica di Santa Croce. Basilica di Santa Croce is the biggest Franciscan church in the world and also the burial site of some of the most influential and greatest Italians like Michelangelo and Galileo. The church is beautiful! Scattered around the church were all these areas that roped off where people (who we assumed are priest, there was a lack of English in the church) were buried. There were also the huge tombs of the great Italians. We explored the entire church and then headed off to get some lunch. We once again were graced with another amazing Italian restaurant where we all had pizza and wine (pretty much the theme of the visit). We hung out there for a while because it was an overcast day with scattered rain. From there we checked out the markets selling leather goods but soon our browsing was cut short because Tricia and I decided to meet up with my friends here and climb to the top of the Duomo.

I have been waiting to climb to the top of the Duomo and I am so happy I got to do it while Tricia was here. The climb was crazy! It was a steep, narrow, and long trek of 460 steps but 100% worth it! The first level of the Duomo you get to look out over is inside. It is a birds eye view of the entire church and a nice view of the fresco painting on the ceiling. You walk around in a circle, getting to view the church from every angel than you continue on up. The next look out is outside. It is here where you get to see the entire city of Florence, just like Piazza Michelangelo. Once again, we lucked out and reached the top during the sunset, so we got a beautiful sun set view of Florence. We walked back down and met back up with Mom and Lynn to get dinner.

We decided to check out a restaurant I heard many people rave about called Yellow Bar. The night before we had actual seen a huge line outside of there of people waiting to get tables. Yellow Bar wasn't open when we arrived so we walked around the area checking out some leather vendor stands until it opened. I understand the Yellow Bar craze now. It is so hard to judge because I have had so many amazing meals and pasta dishes in Florence but the homemade pasta I had at Yellow Bar easily could've been the best I have had so far! We also had a really good rose wine, which they put with ice in a cute little bag. We were stuffed after the meal but everyone was so happy once again that we had such an amazing meal! From there we tried to go out to a mixology bar called Mayday. Turns out for some reason it was closed so we went over to a bar called Kikuya which is known for their strong Dragoon beers which you drink with a lollipop. We were pretty much the only people in the bar but we had a blast! They played great music with a lot of throw back jams and we kept the round of beers going because we were told that with my card if I got up to 800 points I would win a free t-shirt. Well when we reached 800 points we were disappointed to find the bartender actually meant 2800....Either way hands down this was one of my most memorable nights out in Florence. There really is nothing better than spending quality time with the people you love, and a few beers never hurts to contribute to the fun ha ha ha. We spent a few hours at the bar then we went back to the hotel. From there Tricia and I changed and got ready to meet up with our friends at a club called Space.

We have heard the the Jersey Shore cast hung out at Space, we have no confirmed this completely but it is something that we have been told more than once. If you know the cast of Jersey Shore that should help you out a lot with the type of club space is. It's crazy in there!! and on a Saturday night it's packed! Also Space is in the middle of no where and a hole in the wall entrance, so Tricia and I spent a good 30 minutes trying to find it. Once we were there we had no idea what to do because none of my friends were there yet so we hung out and got a drink until finally they showed up. It was a fun night!! When it was time to go Tricia and I decided we needed to have McDonald's so we psyched ourselves up about what we were going to get and were so happy because it was on the street of the hotel. Turns out McDonald's was closed but we quickly decided it was okay because Lynn had nut granola bars! We barged into the hotel room and what we thought was a whisper asked Lynn where the nut bars were. Lynn sprang out of bed and I am laughing as I write this right now because she had the look on her face like are you two serious right now asking for nut bars! I then continued to my room and couldn't figure out how to open the door so in turn ended up waking my mom because I was making so much noise with the keys. Wooo 4am wake up calls for everyone!! The night ended on what I would say was a high note because I am still laughing about it.

The next morning aka about 4 hours later we all woke up for breakfast. Tricia and I were exhausted and I can only imagine that everyone was since we woke everyone up at 4am. But this would not hold us back from spending the day traveling to Lucca and Pisa. Lucca and Pisa are a quick train ride away and we heard that there was going to be less rain this day then the previous. When we got on the train we could see that it was raining and raining pretty consistently but we tried to stay optimistic. When we got to Lucca it was raining but not too badly. Lucca was also a ghost town on this rainy sunday and not many things were open but it was still cool walking around the walled city. Until it started to rain harder and harder. We hustled in and out of churches, trying to still explore what the city had to offer. We had a set plan to get on the train to go to Pisa at 3:30 so we didn't have too much time to kill in Lucca anyways. When we started to walk back to the train station thats when it really started to downpour. Extreme downpour. Each of us was sharing an umbrella and unprepared in proper footwear. We get to the train station soaked and find out the train doesn't leave for another hour. Cold and drenched we decided to run into a cafe to warm up. We got hot drinks and sandwiches and waited until it was time to leave for Pisa.

When we got to Pisa the weather had cleared up. Thank god no more rain! We went straight to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, because really thats one of the only main things to do in Pisa. My mom and I decided to climb to the top and Lynn and Tricia's feet were hurt from the rain and rubbing so they decided to just take pictures around the tower. This was my second time climbing to the top of the tower but the second time was even better than the first! For the third time we were lucky with a sunset view from the top, our timing with these climbs for the week was impeccable! Mom and I took some pictures and admired the view. We even saw Lynn and Tricia from up there! It was perfect!

We then climbed down and I made my mom take the typical Leaning of Tower pictures. We took a few more pictures then walked through the town to head back on the train.

When we arrived back in Florence we were hungry but didn't want to do too much more walking. I took everyone to a place close to my apartment, the train station and the hotel so the walk was easy. I had eaten at this particular restaurant before and had remembered it being good, and once again I'm going to toot my own horn for pulling off choosing another restaurant with an amazing meal. I think my mom had one of her favorite dinners of the week there too because she kept saying how good the pesto pasta was. This was my mom's last night in Florence so we couldn't end the night without getting one last gelato after dinner! Full to the brim after the gelato we made our way back to the hotel.

In the morning I got to enjoy one last breakfast with my mom and we even had time to spend walking around and checking out the leather markets one last time! We all made some purchases and then it was time for my mom to leave :( boooo. Despite my dad saying no tears, my mom and I both cried when she left hahah happens every single time!

It was the perfect 5 days! I cannot even express in anymore words how happy I was to have my mom come to visit me. She deserved a vacation and what better vacation than coming to Italy!!

 

Guest Appearance in Florence: Day One and Two

This past week from November 7th to the 11th my Mom took her first trip over to Europe since 1998 to come visit me in Florence. Accompanying my mom for the journey was her college roommate Lynn and her daughter Tricia who are like family to me. 

They couldn't have picked a more perfect time to come! As in love as I am with studying abroad and living in Italy going 4 months without seeing or really being able to call your family is never easy. In addition you will always have your days where your frustrated with Europe, everyone, and everything. For example having a shower so small that you cannot move and the curtain sticks to you when you do or as stupid as this sounds not understanding why you can't find chocolate chip cookies anywhere. Hey nobody can stay in honeymoon phase 24/7. Having my mom and close friends here was exactly what I needed not to mention so much fun!! 

The first day everyone arrived I had class till 3:30. I practically ran out of my class when it was over to meet up with mom, Lynn and Tricia so we could start exploring. I took them all to my favorite sandwich shop and we headed up to the Piazza Michelangelo (my favorite spot in florence) to watch the sunset. Piazza Michelangelo is beautiful and has the most incredible view of the city. We enjoyed the sunset and decided to sit at the cafe up there and drink some wine and snack. The jet lag and exhaustion was evident in everyones faces. My mom nodded off a few times at the cafe (sorry mom, had to share).

When we had finished up we all decided that everyone needed a nice Italian dinner for the first night. We stopped at a place I have been to before and has amazing food! Everyone was very satisfied by the food and wine, which made me feel very Florence savvy for picking a good restaurant for day one. It Italy 99.9% of the time you get a free Lemon Cello shot after your meal. So everyone got the lovely experience of chocking down a nice Lemon Cello shot after the meal. We were all stuffed but how could you get through your first day in Italy without gelato?! YOU CAN'T! So I took them over to a gelato stand and everyone got a nice big scoop! From there we walked back to the hotel they were staying at and passed out. Lucky me I also got to escape my far from sanitary apartment and sleep in a hotel for a few days! 

The second day of the trip was greeted by a lovely breakfast.Everyone knows I love a good breakfast, if you have read any of my other posts. The hotel had such a good continental breakfast! I think all of us can agree that the fruit salad and chocolate croissants were our absolute favorite! From there we had to speed out and catch a cab to get to our Tuscan wine tour. I'll take a second to tell you all how Italians are the worlds craziest drivers! Sorry NYC taxi drivers...someones got you beat!  To them there is no such thing as stopping at a stop sign, not even really slowing down. It's more of a quick glance, speed up and beat the car going in the opposite direction. They have to dodge bikes, vesbas, motorcycles, pedestrians, and of course other cars constantly. I think driving here is more of a science than a skill. 

Anyways, of course we got to the tour on time! It began with an overview of wine making and our first experience of the correct way to taste wine. After that we got placed into vans to start the tour. We got put in a van with 4 women who work for Welches. They were a fun group and right off the bat we got deemed as "the chatty car." We stopped off at Piazza Michelangelo on the way so we got to experience the Piazza in the morning. We were then taken to a vineyard where they make wine and olive oil. We got to see the process of making olive oil and I died. I LOVE olive oil and if anything living in Italy has only made my love grow into an obsession. I use it everyday with pretty much every meal. The Olive oil smelled so good!! We were given a glass of red wine to walk around with as we toured the olive oil making and the wine cellar. We were taken inside where in the course of about an hour we were given about 6 glasses of different red wines to try. We also were given fresh olive oil and bread. By the end of the hour everyone was feeling really good. Everyone was chatting and we met two groups of really nice Australians (seriously Australians are the greatest!). We also met a professional unicycle hockey player, yes that is a real sport! I won't get into that but everyone should take the chance to go goggle that! 

We loaded back into the vans to bond some more with the Welches workers. We were taken to another vineyard where we were given another tour of where they make the wine and the wine cellars. We learned so much about the process and what makes a good wine. We were then brought inside for more wine tasting and lunch. They had us try another 4 wines and gave us an AMAZING pasta lunch. The sauce was to die for! Nothing like a good, fresh, homemade Italian meal. Afterwards two of the Australians convinced Tricia and I to try a shot of Grappa. OMG grappa is an experience to say the least...it's pretty gross! This was the last stop on the wine tour and from there they brought us back to Florence. 

When we got back to Florence we walked over the Ponte Vecchio and I dragged everyone over to get a gelato at Grom. Grom gelato is so so soooo good! They have a Grom specialty so we all split some of that and also a dark chocolate. We were exhausted and went back to the hotel to pass out for a few hours before going out to dinner. 

When we woke up I took everyone over to another restaurant that I am obsessed with Osteria Il Gatto E la Volpe translated into English as "the cat and the wolf." Here we all enjoyed another perfect Italian meal. I finally got to try my favorite meal penna alla vodka in Italian. Again it was another one of the best meals I have gotten in Italy. Again everyone was exhausted from the days activities so we went straight back to the hotel after dinner to get some sleep.