Roma

Mich and I woke up absurdly early on Saturday morning to catch a train to Rome from Florence. The train we took looked like a bullet train, but Mich said it wasn't, it was just the "fast" train. Didn't really make sense to me, but whatever. The tickets for the train we wanted were sold out, so we bought a ticket for the later train and then just got on the early train. Apparently we weren't the only ones that did that, and a seat isn't "guaranteed" on Italian trains, so we ended up on the floor in between two train cars. It was freezing, and I slept on the floor even though it was so uncomfortable and kind of hobo-esque of me because I'd only slept like 4 or 5 hours the night before.

When we arrived in Rome, it was sunny! We walked to our hotel, which was awesome! So nice. It was 69 euros for one night between the two of us, and apparently the hostels were far and about 25 euro a night per person. So we won there. After dropping our stuff off, we walked like 5 minutes to the Colosseum! So cool. It was amazing to be so close to it, and just to see the contrast between these ancient, ancient structures and this bustling city. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go inside because it was a 45 minute wait and we wanted to make sure we got to everything.

From there we walked past the Roman forums, past some gorgeous old government buildings, and to the Pantheon. Right when we were getting close, there was a flash monsoon, so we bought this crazy rainbow umbrella for 4 euros that we named Frederico. But the Pantheon has this hole in the middle that collects rainwater, so it was cool to actually see it in action.  By the time we left, the rain had stopped.

Also, we almost got killed multiple times during our little touring adventure, because Roman drivers really do live up to their name. They are crazy as fuck.

We walked past some more piazzas (because it's Italy), and stopped at a random place for lunch. I had bruschetta and penne alla arribiata, and a huge cocktail, which was kind of awesome. And not a bad price. The waiter really hated me though -- whenever I would ask him for something he would glare at me and not give it to me for like 10 minutes even though there weren't that many people there. I think it was because I was being a stupid tourist, speaking in English and acting American and stuff. But really, the restaurant was in a really touristy location and everyone else there was probably a tourist too, so like he should have gotten over it. But no, he really hated me. Whatever.

Notice the hair wet from the rain...

Rejuvenated by some cocktails, we walked to Vatican City. It was amazing, even though I only saw the outside. Apparently it's a 4 hour wait to go inside the museum/St. Peter's Basilica/Sistine Chapel, which we did not have. Or you can make a reservation. But even if we had done that, we wouldn't have had the hours to spend in there that it deserved. So I just saw it all from the outside, which was cool anyways. I'll come back one day...Plus, I was technically in another country!!

Next stop was walking across the river to the Spanish Steps, where we also stopped for a cappuccino and pastry. The cappuccino was pretty fucking amazing. Perfect blend of milk and espresso.

Romulus & Remus -- they're everywhere in Rome

The bird was drying itself off by flapping its wings

My favorite shot from Rome :)

Last tourist stop was the Trevi fountain, where you throw in three coins without looking -- one for luck, one for love, and one to return to Rome. Very cute. And the light was amazing. My camera rain out of batteries right then, but it was kind of perfect because it was our last tourist stop.

After showering and resting at the hotel for a bit, we went out for pizza with Mich's friend Erin. The pizza was great -- mine was mushroom with mozzarella and basil. The waiter hated me there too though, wtf. I didnt' do anything!!! On the way to dinner, this waiter outside a restaurant we walked by heard us speaking English and stopped us. He asked us where we were from, and we said were all (me, Mich, and her friend Erin) studying in Europe for the semester. He asked if we were going dancing, and we were just like uh...no. He said we had to go dancing, he would tell us where to go. We tried to walk away but he made us take out our map and he showed us the metro stop to go. Then he insisted on knowing which states we were from. When I said CA he jumped over and gave me a HUGE, unwanted hug. It was so weird. I stood there petrified. When Mich said NY, he told her he didn't like her because he liked the LA Lakers. At that point, we basically ran away.

After dinner, we walked to the Spanish Steps again to meet up with the group for the pub crawl that we had booked. We paid 25 euros for the tshirt and open bar until 11pm at the first bar, plus free entry in everywhere we went after. Idk if it was a good deal or not, but let's just say I made it one by taking full advantage of the open bar. We also played pong, which was a little random. The rest of the people there were Australian, Canadian, and American, but it was cool because it was all just like international students having a good time in Europe and stuff. The people decided to have us stay longer at the first bar rather than moving on to the next one, which was fine by us because at that point we were all so drunk and making friends with each other. They also gave us more shots, which is always good. Then we moved on to a club, which was kind of crazy but I was so drunk it was all a blur. Mich and I took a cab home around 2am, I think. The pub crawl website had some memorable pictures, to say the least. Some of which I will not be posting here.

The next morning we took full advantage of the breakfast that was included in the price of our room. We had so much trouble paying for the room, because I had exactly my half of the cost but Mich's card wouldn't let her get cash from the ATM. Then the hotel's card machine wouldn't work with ANY of our cards. We managed to scrounge up everything but 5 euros of the cost in coins, so thankfully the woman let us go.

Then I took a train to the airport, and came back to cold, cold Paris. It was actually quite difficult because my hangover made me so dizzy that I couldn't see straight. It was weird, I wasn't nauseous or anything, just super dizzy. It was miserable.

Firenze

My trip started off with my plane being two hours delayed on Thursday. Apparently they didn't have enough snow-cleaning machines in Paris, so all the planes were delayed.

Thankfully when I finally made it to Florence (Firenze), MIch greeted me with a bottle of wine. I was starving as it was, so I got so drunk. Then she took me around the city a bit, walking across the bridge and to a couple piazza's and markets. Unfortunately I had planned to get there when it was still light out, but oh well...

Then we went back to her homestay for dinner, which was amazing. Homemade spaghetti, potatoes, salad, and some meats that I didn't eat. I also got to unwrap my new, amazing camera! So exciting. That night, we went out to one of the local bars, Lion's Head (I think). It was karaoke night, so Mich had to sing of course. The bartender/karaoke guy loved her, and bought her a shot. The bar was mostly filled with Americans studying abroad in Florence, but of course there were some super creepy, staring Italians.

Friday morning I woke up and it was so sunny! It was amazing. Mich and I started our day by going to the Academia, to see the David. We hit up a number of piazza's along the way, of course. They're unavoidable in Florence. Then we went to the Central Markets, which was a lot of leather goods and jewelry. After, we walked to the Duomo, the big famous church in Florence. After stopping for a panino (sandwhich, panini is actually plural), next was the Church of the Holy Cross, where Machiavelli, Galileo, and Michaelangelo are buried. Dante has a statue outside, because he's officially still excommunicated from the church. There were also some Christmas markets outside the church. After that, we walked to get gelato. Mich took me to one of the famous places in Florence, but I have to say, Berthillon ice cream in Paris was better. Much more flavor. Although it was awesome that the tiramisu flavor had bits of real cake!

We walked over to the Palazzo della Signoria, where the David replica and the Florentine government is. Then we walked back across the river, to a few more piazzas, down the big shopping street, and then home. On our way, an old lady fell and got a nosebleed, so we stopped to help her. It was really sad.

After an amazing nap, we had dinner at her homestay again, which included homemade gnocchi made from pasta and not potatos. So good. Also bread, spinach, beans, and more meat. So lovely! After pre-gaming, we met Mich's friend Connor at a wine bar called Naima. I guess they knew the bartender really well, so we got a lot of free drinks, which was awesome. After that, we went to Redgarden (?) and danced and drank there for a bit. On our way home at like 2am, it was raining, again. But we made the necessary stop at Eby's which is a famous shot place in Florence. The bartender looks like Einstein, and he's this crazy old man who yells at you while you do the shot. You bite an orange that is dipped in coffee grounds and sugar, take the shot that has Bailey's, rum, and other stuff in it, and then finish with a banana covered in poppyseeds. It was kind of awesome.

Back from Italy

And I'm so dead. I had a wonderful weekend in Florence and Rome. I want to blog about it so I never forget! Unfortunately I can barely concentrate, and I have so much work to do...shit. Hopefully my memories from Italy will make it here slowly but surely. Sadly, finals are upon me. So cruel.

White Paris

First of all, Harry Potter was awesome last night. I didn't want it to end.

It's been lightly snowing in Paris for like 12 hours now. The flakes are the biggest I've ever seen, and so perfect. Some of them literally look like the symmetrical paper cut outs kids make. (Sometimes college kids, too...503).

The NYU garden last night:

A huge snowflake on Anne's hand:

My balcony this morning:

Before I go off to Italy, another terrible thing that happened yesterday: In French, "baisser" means to lower and "baiser" means to fuck. In my presentation yesterday for my Sciences Po class, I forgot an s, so I wrote that "France is fucking its nuclear arsenal". My teacher was just like "...uh, you know it needs an extra s, otherwise it means something else..." I tried to brush it off because I didn't want to deal with another awkward sex joke from a teacher in one day. Painful.

Spread your legs

So in Advanced Convo today we were going over this worksheet. One of the sentences my prof asked us to rephrase had the verb “ecarter” in it, which literally means to spread apart, or figuratively push away. He asked us for the literal meaning, and I said “Spread”, and that I’d heard in yoga “Ecartez vos jambes” (Spread your legs). He goes, “Tu es sure que c’etait en yoga?” (Are you sure it was in yoga?) IT WAS SO AWKWARD and the whole class just laughed awkwardly. I’m pretty sure the memory will be burned into my brain forever. Painful.

Going to see Harry Potter tonight, finally! And Italy tomorrow for the weekend! (Florence and Rome).