The rest of it...

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June 18, 2008

Today was another good one…After masters and monuments, Amy, Deana, and I went to Il Fratallini for a sandwich and then back to school because we thought we had a pop quiz in food so we needed to read. Turns out we didn’t, so it was a great time to sit and relax and catch up on “internet stuff”. During food class we had a short lecture, a 30 minute break, and then watched a movie…pretty simple. I needed to get a few things after class so I went to a store called Promo and ended up bumping into Amy and Kami, we walked and shopped for a little bit and then split. I went to the grocery store and then to the gym. I saw the guy that I had meet there a few weeks ago and we got to talking (and maybe flirting a bit) he wanted to meet me out to get a drink but we never ended up exchanging numbers because neither of us had our phones and don’t know our Italian numbers…big bummer. He leaves tomorrow and lives in NC, so it’s pointless. When I got home, I showered and cooked dinner and made we made our way over to the boys apartment. It was kind of boring so Hilary and I went to Lions fountain to see if the cute southern boy ended up there (he had mentioned it)…there was no sight of him, so we came back and ate communal veggies (we are going to the beach for the weekend…) and went to sleep.

June 19, 2008, Thursday
Today is the day that we leave for the Amalfi coast…I cannot wait!! It is so nice leaving at night because you have the whole day to get things done (and not spend on the bus). I woke up on the earlier side and shopped around, went to the gym, and packed. We had to leave our apartment at 6ish to have time to get dinner and wine for the bus and be at the train station for 7. Turns out the bus was going to be late so we had time to sit and eat our Turkuaz and get snacks for the trip. We eventually made our way to the station and ended up waiting for a half hour or so for Simon (our guide). The bus ride went by really fast because I slept practically the entire time. I was so beat from running around all day; it was nice to finally be able to close my eyes. We got to the hostel at around 2 am and couldn’t believe how awesome it was!! It opened on Monday and we were the first group to stay there. It was decorated so awesome…kind of pier 1 looking, but resort like too. The lobby had no ceiling and when you were upstairs in your room you could look down into the lobby…it was awesome. The rooms were rooms of 10 so I ended up being with Deana, Hillary, Courtney, Amy, Kami, a couple, and 2 kids from Texas A&M. It worked out perfectly.

June 21, 2008
Positano was AMAZING!!! Oh my goodness I cannot put into words how much I loved today! We had to be ready by 10 so that we could be to Positano by 11. Holy goodness the bus ride was so pretty, everyone was in awe. Once the bus got us to a certain point on the cliff, he had to drop us off because buses cannot go into the town. We had to walk about a mile down this cliff to get to the town and then other 15 or so minutes to get to the beach…no one really cared though because it was so beautiful. There are purple flowers covering almost all of the buildings and there are big canopies of flowers draping over stone walk ways. There are tiny shops lining the streets and vendors everywhere. Once you got to a certain point the pathway just opened up and you were led to this gorgeous beach. It was huge but busy so we found an empty spot for all of us. We laid out, swam and relaxed until 1 when it was time to rent speed boats…the highlight of the weekend! It was such a good time. Me, Courtney, Deana, Amanda, and Kami were in one boat. Deana drove and we all met at a huge rock that Simon told us that we could jump off of…it was 35 feet high! After some races on the boat we went back to shore and got sandwiches at this little deli…it was honestly the biggest sandwich that I have ever eaten in my entire life...the best part was this certain cheese that they had…it was called sweet cheese…it tasted kind of like provolone but with a bit of sweetness…AMAZING!!! After we finished we laid out some more, went in the water and then shopped around before our 7:00 ferry ride back to Sorrento. I got the Italy horn charms that are good luck…one for me and one for Alyssa. Too bad it’s only good luck if you get it as a gift and the vendor wouldn’t sell me one for myself!! Amy had to buy it for me with my money right in front of me, it was so funny. We got Peronis’ and headed to the ferry stop. Once we got back a group of us decided eat dinner out, but go to the hostel’s restaurant…Oh my goodness!!! We were already tipsy from our drinks on the beach, but the food was SOOO good. We got so much for next to no money at all! It was insane! I had an eggplant pasta dish, caprese salad, unlimited bread, 3 beers, salad, and veggies for 5 EURO!! Then the bar tender started making us drinks…it was unbelievable! Once we were all showered we were all hammered! We were trying to go out, but that failed…so we all ended up on the roof deck once again. We played “never ever have I ever” with Simon, drank a ton and then went to bed…so much for going out in Sorrento!

June 22, 2008
We had a later meeting time today because we were only going to Pompeii. We packed up, ate breakfast and then were on the bus by noon. Once we got to Pompeii, a group of us decided that we really were not interested in the 2 ½ tour of the ruins and just wanted to go through by ourselves. We all had lunch at this restaurant outside the ruins (I had margarita pizza) and then went inside. It was actually pretty cool but SO HOT!! Seeing as we had no idea what we were really looking at, Courtney, Hillary, Meg, and I got bored relatively fast…so we left to get Lemon Ices and shop the vendors a bit. We sat and talked, looked at pictures, and waited for 4:00 to come so we could head back to Florence. Once the bus came we drove for about 3 hours until we stopped for dinner at an Auto grill…we got pizza and some snacks for the road and then made our way home. We got in at around 10 and were all so tired that we all uploaded our pictures and went to sleep.

June 23, 2008
It seems rare that I say “today I went to school” Having class 2 days a week and a long weekend each week is such a tease every Monday! After school I went to the gym and came back just in time to make some dinner with Hillary (veggie pasta and salad with tomato and mozzarella skewers) and get ready to go out. We had a plan to actually “go” out tonight and dance at a club called Yab so we were all decked out in “club clothes” and ready for a fun night. We obviously ended up at the boy’s apartment for far too long (which is usual) but tonight we stayed longer because the cops came…yikes. Shit hit the fan when we were all huddled in a bed being silent and Courtney yelled at Deana…Deana stormed out crying with Kami and eventually we all left except for Courtney. Turns out the fight was over Deana being “loud” and saying that she would pay the fine if she got one when she left. She was insistent on leaving and Courtney couldn’t understand why.
… As a side note…When I was on my way home I got Turkuaz…story to follow!
Back at the drama filled apartment, we all sat around the table until Courtney and Dematti came home. Court yelled at Deana telling her that she got us all a thousand dollar fine…turns out it was a big lie. I felt so bad for her. We all went to sleep hoping things would subside between them.

June 24, 2008
I woke up this morning and realized that the change I got from Turkauz last night was wrong…I paid with a 50 for a 5 euro meal and only got 25 euro back. I was sure that it was a mistake (I love the guy who serves us) and I was positive I would get my money back. I went to the restaurant and the manager was such a prick! He had such an attitude with me, I honestly could not believe how he treated a customer. In the end he told me that he would ask the guy who served me (he wasn’t there) and that I can count on not getting anything back. I went to the school to check my email and then Hillary and I met Amanda and Courtney at Donatello’s for lunch. We got pizza and salad. After our meal we walked through the market and then got some gelato for our walk home. That night we had a big date night with the boys at ZaZa a famous restaurant that’s in a side street within the market. We all ordered appetizers and meals and Pepe and my meal never came out. Everyone was done…and drunk before we even ate…I guess the language barrier just got in the way. After we were done (about ten) we walked to where the Uffizi where there were fireworks. It was so packed and sweaty that we ended up just sitting and relaxing on the steps of the Uffizi. We took a few pictures and hung around and then headed back to the apartment…as we were walking Courtney and I decided that we weren’t ready to go back yet so we decided to have one drink at Michel Collin’s Pub and Pepe and Crimmings joined us…one turned into another one at JJ’s Cathedral, a tiny pub outside of the Duomo, which turned into us closing the bar at two. I didn’t even drink, I was just loving sitting around and talking. We left the pub area at around 2:30 after saying goodbye and what not, got back to our apartment, and went straight to sleep.

June 25, 2008 (Wednesday)
Given the fact that I went to bed at 3, our class’s field trip to the Uffizi and the Acedamia really didn’t interest me this morning. I couldn’t handle getting up and spending a double class session (9-2) looking at statues and paintings…it just wasn’t happening. Yesterday night, Deana, Amanda, and I decided to go to Cinque Terre after class today, so I spent the morning going to the gym, picking up a few things for the trip and getting a take-away oil shoppe salad. When I got back to the apartment I noticed that Deana had skipped the museums too…took a little guilt off my shoulders. She left early to get things done before our food class and I showered and went to school. Since Thursday we have finals, our food class was a big review and we ended up getting out much earlier than 445, Amanda bailed out of her class so we could leave earlier than planned for the train…that turned out to work perfectly. On the train ride there we met a guy named Jason who had been traveling around Europe for a few weeks. He was all by himself so once we got to Riogiammore (the first town) we all decided to hike together. We were planning on only getting through 2 of the 5 towns but it turns out that we hauled ass and were able to get to the 4th town, Vernazza, by 9 pm. The hike was so amazing. I saw some of the prettiest sights I have ever seen in my life. The whole hike was a cliff hanging over the ocean and lined with flowers, rosemary, lemon, and olive trees. It was so nice hiking at night with the way the weather has been, it wasn’t brutally hot…plus we got to see the sun set which was beautiful. Leaving after class was such a great decision, the other girls definitely missed out. Once we got to Vernazza (my favorite town out of all 5) we scrambled to find somewhere to sleep. We went around asking about hostels, but apparently they don’t do “hostels” in Vernazza…Turns out all of the businesses have rooms that they rent out to people like us. We scrambled and searched for a room and EVERYTHING was taken! Everyone in town was SO nice, they were all running up to us asking if we found somewhere to stay and calling all their friends and business owners to see if they could help us in any way, it was so sweet. By this time it was close to 11 and we were still roomless and contemplating taking a train to the next town, Monterosso. We decided to give it one more shot and ended up going back to the first place we asked…they pulled through and we got a room for 120 euro between the 4 of us! It was such a nice clean apartment; it couldn’t have worked out any more perfect. After we threw our bags in the room we went to get dinner. We were starving and couldn’t wait to dive into some food. We went to a place called the Blue Marlin and all got Margarita pizzas and the Cinque Terre white wine. Afterwards me and the girls bought t-shirts from the restaurant and then we all went back to the apartment and went to bed. I ended up sleeping in the same room as Jason, which turned out to be fine…someone had to take one for the team.

June 26, 2008
We woke up early today, got breakfast and cappuccinos in town and then started our hike to Monterosso. The hike was a 90 minute one and the most beautiful of all of them. We ditched Jason after breakfast so it was just us girls and Amanda slacked behind, so it was just Deana and I booking it. The hike was so awesome, it was these tiny path ways (probably a foot wide) that weren’t protected by anything. There were stone stairs that seemed like they went on for days and steps made of tree roots and huge boulders. The water is so clear that you can see the bottom from the cliff and its so blue that the reflection actually hurts your eyes. I loved every second of it. Once we reached Monterosso, we waited for Amanda to finish and then made our way through town and to a shop to get rafts. After our big 5 euro purchases we went to lunch at a restaurant on the street that lines the beach. I got swordfish with pesto…very good. We finished lunch and spent the entire day on our rafts and tanning. It was the perfect day weather wise and I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else (especially Florence with all my other roommates studying for finals…it just wasn’t my priority. We caught a train ride home at 5:30ish and power studied the entire way back. It was the perfect way to get masters and monuments studying out of the way. When we got back to the train station we were all starving and were ready to just pick up a slice of pizza on the way home…then we decided to sit at an osteria on the way home...for hours! We sat there and drank wine and ate SO much…I got rosemary chicken and then we had potatoes, spinach, bread, biscotti, white beans with olive oil…it was one of the best meals I had yet. We walked home practically bent over from being so full and then stormed into our apartment ready to digest, shower and maybe study…that didn’t go over very well…we went to bed instead.

June 27, 2008
Finals day, YIKES! 6 weeks of classes and I feel like I have done nothing to prepare and really I wasn’t stressed (which isn’t like me in the least). It turned out okay. After I took my masters and monuments exam I went to Il Fratellini with the girls and then I studied until my food exam at 2pm. Once we all finished with our tests we went to Shot Café for a drink before we had to get ready for Il Latini (our planned last night dinner). After our drinks, we got ready and made our way to the restaurant for 7:30. I cannot put into words how good the food was and how awesome the experience was. We didn’t have a choice with the food we had, they just brought it. It was nuts how much they gave us. We had parma ham and melon, bruschetta, liver pate, bread, unlimited wine, ravioli, pasta bolognaise, mushroom pasta, a HUGE platter of meat, dessert, lemon cello, it was so much gluttony!! But for 35 euros each and 17 of us, we had such an amazing time. After dinner we went on the carousal in the Piazza Republica and were going to go out but Crimmings and Dolan got in a fist fight and kind of killed the mood, so meg and I walked home.

June 28, 2008
Mom and dad got in yesterday and made their way to Florence today! I couldn’t wait to see them! Their train from Milan got in at around noon so I made it a point to find the hotel and make sure I was at the station to surprise them. While I was searching for the hotel, I walked by a leather shop and the vendor stopped me to ask me my name and if I spoke English. I kind of poo-pooed him and kept walking but when I walked past him again he called me over again and we introduced ourselves. He was a really nice guy, but I thought nothing of it…
…after I showed them around a bit I went to meet every at Ari’s diner for brunch. I had a veggie omelet…they are HUGE! After I went to the gym and packed a bit more I got ready for dinner. Mom and Dad and Dolan’s mom took everyone out to Yellow Bar. It was so nice for them to meet everyone and for us to all be together on our last night. Pepe and I split Prosciutto and melon and I got a mixed salad and gnocchi with tomato sauce. I still cannot get over how fast the time went, I am honestly so upset and SO not ready to leave. I have no desire to go home and do not want to move back to the states at all. I really think I am going to try to get back in more permanent terms…soon. We got beers and went to the boys apartment to get their luggage…they decided to sleep at our place because everyone’s flight was SO early and they needed to get a taxi for 4 am. We stayed awake and drank and talked until so late and then went to sleep.

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