“I wish I could go to Paris right now.”

“There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even—the French air clears up the brain and does good—a world of good.” 
― Vincent van Gogh

My third weekend trip was to Paris. I met Caroline there and we spent the weekend wandering around and just enjoying the culture and the beautiful atmosphere that Paris offers (clearly we both LOVE this city)

Day 1:
Our first day in Paris Caroline and I walked around the city a bit. For dinner we grabbed a bottle of wine and some food to go and carried it to the Eiffel Tower. We sat and watched the tower light up with some friends. It was such an amazing sight.

Day 2:
We got up and grabbed Hard Rock for lunch. From there we headed to a few vintage shops that I had found online. The general idea was to go shopping, but when the website said "a little pricey" they meant "you will never be able to buy these clothes unless you are a billionaire." The vintage boutique was filled with Chanel and YSL and so many other fabulous brands. We obviously fell in love with everything and had to remove ourselves before we decided it was a good idea to blow all the money we have on one dress.

Next we headed to the Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore. This little store sells a wide variety of books, including many first editions. They allow writers to live upstairs for free and work in the shop. Caroline and I both walked out with several purchases. I will say that anyone who loves reading as much as I do should visit this bookstore. It is so much more than anything I have been in before. I could have spent hours in there.

Day 3:
Our last day in Paris we went to the cemetery where Oscar Wilde is buried. Normally I am not a huge fan of walking around a cemetery, but this one was gorgeous. We found a little restaurant that had the best omelets that I have ever eaten. We also ventured over to the lock bridge. Caroline and I placed a big/little lock on the bridge and I also placed one on for my little Amanda who is in Auburn this summer showing future students around our beautiful campus (shout out! We obviously wish she could have joined us).

There were some of the prettiest Peonies in Paris!

After a quick Nutella crepe break I had to head to the airport and back to Ariccia.

Food:

Barcelona!

For my second weekend trip I decided to go with a group of three other girls from my study abroad group to Barcelona, Spain. We had so much fun!
Day 1:
Our first day we were determined to see the city and not just stay in the area that our hostel was. Yes I said hostel, but more about THAT in a moment. We went to visit the Sagrada Familia first. This building has been under construction for over 100 years and isn't scheduled to be completed until about 2020. The architecture was beautiful, there is nothing that I can even compare this to from the United States. We also went to Park Guell. Again, amazing!!!!

We went back to our Hostel to check in after our adventure around Barcelona. We had booked an all girls room, so we were very surprised when I discovered our roommate's suitcase with a luggage tag saying Louis! He ended up being a very nice guy from Argentina, but we were a little surprised to say the least.

Day 2:
Saturday morning we got up and decided that since it was such a beautiful day we would head to the beach. We arrived and laid out for a while before Shelby and I had the brilliant idea of going to get in the water. We both got completely in before quickly hopping out because it was so cold! But I can now say that I have been in the Mediterranean. I did end up getting back in a second time, but no one else would join in.

Day 3:
Day three of our trip was supposed to be a fun day filled with shopping. Unfortunately no one told us that it was a national holiday! So instead of shopping we found a cute little cafe and had lunch, just enjoying our afternoon before heading back to Ariccia.

Interior of the cafe. It was decorated like a circus!

I know its been a while I'm sorry!

Ok well I have had a busy past few weeks. I will post one big post about all the school things I have been up to and then post individual blogs about weekend trips and mid semester break (which I am on now, can you believe it?!)

The rest of Florence:
Our last day in Florence we went to Acacdemia where we were able to see David. I knew that it would be amazing, but I was actually stunned by the beauty of seeing it in person. I actually expected him to start breathing at any moment! The detailing is amazing, especially considering it was meant to be placed at the top of a building and not be seen so close up. Since photographs are not allowed in the museum I will settle for a photo from the internet. It doesn't give this beautiful sculpture the justice it deserves, but at least its something!

We ended the week with a tour of the Leather School of Florence. It was really cool! They showed us how they make handbags, purses, belts, etc. The students practice on cheap leather and the artisans use some of the finest leathers in the world. They had so many beautiful leather handbags! It was fascinating to watch the detail and precision that they place into just one piece. I got several gifts here, including an awesome one for my dad. 

Foods from Florence:

Umbria:

We had two days of class and had an overnight trip in Umbria, a region of Italy. We had cooking class on Monday with Mary Lou, who had been out and is thankfully feeling better. We cooked Matriciana, which is a simple pasta dish. 

Tuesday we hopped on a bus to Assisi and had a tour of the Basilica of St. Francis. The tour guide was a monk at the basilica. The frescos in the church were beautiful, although there are many that were ruined in an earthquake several years ago.  After that we went to the “crumbling” city of Civita di Bagnoregio. After quite the hike up to the city itself we had some time to walk around and just enjoy the area. It is located high up and the view from the top was gorgeous. The city is slowly falling apart because of natural erosion and earthquakes. Several people still live in the city, but most of the people are tourists visiting.  

Wednesday we went to St. Patrick’s well and walked all the way down and back up, it was exhausting. We split into two groups and went to different workshops, I went to the wood workshop of Bottega Michelangeli. They showed us around the shop and told us about the history of their shop. We did see some employees working on a table for a client. The shop still uses the original templates from when the shop opened. We ended our day with a wine tasting at an organic winery. 

They had so many little owls in the workshop

I found a giraffe made out of wood! So exciting!

Side note about this week. We had the camera crew from Auburn following us around to video and take pictures of everything we did over the week. The video will go towards promoting the abroad program I am on as well as promoting Auburn. This could be on the screen during football games!! Fun fact about our camera crew, the guy who was videoing is the voice of the Auburn Marching Band. He did the intro for this season for us! So exciting!

Last week there was no class so that we could finish all the schoolwork due before mid-semester break and go to our Practicums. The palace was abnormally quiet as everyone diligently worked to get everything done. Not too much to talk about from this week other than my practicum that I did in Rome on Thursday. We spoke with the owner of an architectural firm in Rome about the differences between designing in the United States and Italy. It was very interesting to hear how similar, and how different, the two countries approach design and safety for clients!

Florence Day 2

Interesting day today! Part of the group climbed to the top of the Duomo. I went to the Duomo museum with another girl. It was a cool museum! The original doors from the Duomo are on display as is much of the original artwork. After that we went to the Ufizzi museum and had lunch. 

After lunch we went to see another smaller church. This church houses the tombs of both Galileo and Michelangelo.  

We ended our tours with a tour of the Leather School of Florence. It was really cool! They showed us how they make handbags. The students practice on cheap leather and the artisans use some of the finest leathers in the world. They had so many beautiful leather handbags! It was fascinating! 

Tonight we are going as a (very large) group to dinner and getting some dishes that are deemed 'must haves' while in Florence! 

Florence Day 1

We are in Florence for the week as a group. Lots of fun! We got up bright and early to hop on a train (train travel is so much more fun than plane travel). When we arrived we went to our hotel which is located right by The Duomo!

We took a tour with a very eccentric tour guide. She took us all over the city. Did you know that Florence is known for their high quality gold, leather, paper, and straw? Cause that was one of the many fun facts she shared! 

After our tour we all went to explore the leather market. Two girls from the group and I met a nice man who taught us how to feel the differences in leather quality and the area of Italy that is best for leather (obviously Florence, he said Naples is good but not as meticulously made). I didn't buy anything but it was a cool experience for my first day in Florence!

London's Calling

To begin, the title of this post is a shout out to my little Caroline's blog (http://carolinetakinglondon.blogspot.co.uk/?view=timeslide&m=1). Seemed appropriate since I got to visit her this weekend!

Friday

I left Ariccia for London at about 7:45 in the morning. The airport was a fun experience. Budget airlines do not assign seats so people line up about 30 minutes before they board and people literally run to the plane to get a seat where they want. Fun start to the weekend for sure! When I arrived I had missed my shuttle into London, which I had carefully planned to avoid that problem. I finally reached Victoria station and met up with Kate and Caroline. We sat and told stories. So much fun! Caroline and I went and attempted to shop. We both got super cute new shoes which we wore out that night. After dinner we went and met Kate and another graduated Kappa. We had difficulty finding the bar we were supposed to meet them at and Caroline and i stopped to ask so nice (and cute!) police officers for directions. They were all taking turns guessing where we were from. Apparently Caroline and I sound Australian or Canadian??!! When we finally made it we had a fun time out on the town with our sorority sisters!

Saturday

 Caroline had to get up to go to Oxford at about 9 on Saturday so I decided to wander around London, And by wander I mean walk more than normal people ever would. I had the time of my life exploring the beautiful city. I discovered this awesome exhibit at the Fashion and Textiles Museum and spent a while looking at that. 

I found a store that sold French Macaroons and got a few of those. I met up with Caroline and we explored a beautiful department store called Fortnum and Mason. It was 5 stories and amazing, way out of my price range but a girl can look! After that we grabbed dinner. We ended up at an Italian restaurant that had fried calamari. I received  hilarious looks when I asked for marinara sauce to dip the calamari in. Our waitress was so intrigued she came back and actually asked why I did this. We ended the night by getting a bottle of wine and trying all the macaroons I had gotten. Perfect relaxing night!

Sunday

Sunday morning I had to part ways with Caroline. Very sad, but we are going to Paris soon so our European adventures aren't over yet! I went to the airport and sat around for a while attempting to call my parents on Viber. Finally I headed back to Ariccia after a very fun weekend!

Italian Food Diary 1

In addition to blogging about all my fun activities in Italy, I also want to document all the FOOD!! From class and from meals

My first Cappuccino ever!

Strawberry Tart from Nemi

Risotto: Cooking Class 1

Carbonara: Cooking Class 2

Food for Aperitivo