Madama Butterfly

Tuesday’s my roommates and I don’t have class, so we worked out and spent the whole day studying and lounging around, which was wonderful. Tuesday night however our school blocked a section of seats at the Opera. Madam Butterfly was playing, so we got dressed up, had a nice dinner, and headed to the show. I am a huge fan of the arts, but it’s very difficult to watch a show in another language. It was hard multi-tasking by reading the subtitles, trying to watch the performers, and attempting to understand what’s going on. My parents will probably be sad to hear this, but I left at intermission. It was an amazing experience, I’m so happy I’ll be able to say I saw an Italian opera, but I don’t think it was for me! 

Swiss Cheese, Swiss Chocolate, and those Swiss Alps

This week has been incredibly busy (what’s new in my life) so there is a lot to update everyone on!

Thursdays are quickly becoming my favorite days of the week. We only have class for 1 hour, and we will usually be leaving Thursday nights for our weekend trips! Last Thursday we hung out/packed/did homework all day, then went to our 1 hour of class, grabbed a quick bite, then ran to the train station to leave for Interlaken, Switzerland! We booked our trip through Bus2Alps (a company I would HIGHLY recommend!) and they set up our transportation and sleeping accommodations. The bus ride was 8 hours with a 1-hour stop in Milan for food. That is a longggg time to be crammed on a bus, but there were about 200 kids from Florence who were traveling on Bus2Alps, so we got to meet a bunch of new people. We arrived at our hostel just in time to hit the sheets Thursday night.

Friday morning we got up and had a walking tour of the city. Interlaken translates to “between two lakes” Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. Switzerland has the lowest crime rate out of any country in Europe, and the highest quality of life. Interlaken is also the adventure headquarters of Europe and capitalizes on tourism. On the tour they took us to see the town and then to see lake Thun. It was picture perfect. It was a foggy day over the snow capped mountains and the water was a turquoise color I’ve never seen before. I was absolutely blown away. It’s funny; many of my friends here have said that some of the big cities (like London or Zurich) remind them of home. The mountains in this city made me feel like I was back in Colorado, and it was JUST what I needed. After exploring the city we went to a Thai restaurant next to our hostel, then headed in for a nap. That evening we got all bundled up (with rented snow pants and boots) then jumped on a 30-minute bus ride higher into the Alps! A quick gondola ride and we were thousands of feet in the mountains ready for some night sledding! I’ve been sledding for as long as I can remember, but I have NEVER sledded in the dark! All of us were presented with a blinking necklace that we wore down our back, and the only light we had was the necklace of the person in front of us, and the moon! The ride to the bottom of the mountain was 7 miles long and took us almost an hour to get down. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! All of us were crashing and laughing the whole way down. Once we got back to the hostel we quickly changed and headed to the club! Conveniently, the hottest club in Interlaken was located right next to our hostel. I was exhausted from the night sledding though and went to bed shortly after.

Saturday morning there was an optional day trip to Zurich, but we decided to stay and explore the town of Interlaken more. We went shopping and walked up and down the little streets and made the loop of the city. One of the Bus2Alps guides told us where to find the tallest hotel in Interlaken, so we went there, went all the way to the top, and got a drink at their rooftop restaurant. The view was indescribable. Finally we ended at Schuh Swiss Chocolateir. For 13 Franks we got to see a chocolate show (and got more chocolate than you could possibly eat!) They showed us how they make their specialty: chocolate mountains, which are milk chocolate with caramel inside. As the chocolatier was making them I asked if he ate a lot of chocolate working there (I know I would!) and he said he was “a victim to the chocolate”. After the tour we got a ticket to buy EVEN MORE chocolate in their gift shop. I was all chocolated out after that and we headed back to the hostel for dinner. Our dinner was Swiss cheese fondue. I am beyond spoiled with the food I’m getting to experience on this trip; it was absolutely to die for. We once again went to the club by our hostel and got to meet a ton of other students studying abroad all over Europe.

Sunday morning I did the most adventurous thing I’ve ever done in my life. I went canyon jumping! Hey, Interlaken is the adventure capital of Europe right? A few friends and I boarded a bus after breakfast and headed 45 minutes deeper into the Alps. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of a canyon, and we hiked another half an hour in until we were at the top. I’m not deathly afraid of heights, but they definitely make me nervous, and being at the top of that canyon was pretty terrifying. We signed a few wavers then got harnessed up and headed to the platform. I say this casually, but it was a sheet of ice, and we had to hold onto ropes that were tied between trees to get out to the platform (sorry mom, I know this isn’t your dream come true!). We weren’t given a ton of instructions, we were basically told “just jump!” Pierce, a boy from my program, went first. He was absolutely fearless which gave me a ton of confidence. The instructor also gave me a shot of schnapps, which gave me some more confidence. I was ready to make this happen until I got to the edge of the platform and realized I really had to jump off a cliff. After shuffling back and fourth a few times I finally jumped! Almost 300 feet, and 4.7 seconds of free fall. The most incredible feeling EVER!!!! After the jump you swung through the canyon for another minute or two before they pulled you in. I am so happy I did this. How many people can say they jumped off a cliff in the Swiss Alps? All pumped up with adrenalin we headed back to the hostel and loaded on to the bus. This weekend was incredible. It definitely set a high bar for the rest of my traveling weekends. Switzerland is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and if you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. And for all you adrenalin junkies, cliff jumping is definitely something you should experience :)

First Day of (real) School!

Today was my first day of ACTUAL classes! I’m beyond ready to officially start my semester at Richmond. My final for Italian Language was last night and I think it went really well. I’m excited to finally get into a regular schedule, but I’m so thankful for the 2 week intensive that taught me an entire semesters worth of Italian (and I think the locals I speak to are thankful too!).

I’m excited because my courses here are really integrating business and fashion, which is different from my courses at CSU, which deem these as two completely separate topics. I’m taking: history of Italian fashion, European business environment, fashion marketing and merchandising, and basic Italian. My schedules on Monday’s and Wednesday’s are pretty rough, but I think the long weekends will make up for it!

I have so many exciting plans for this weekend, and I will update you all on Monday.

Until then,

Buon fine settimana

(Happy Weekend!)

The Secret Bakery

One of the things many people who’ve studied abroad here suggested I do is find a “secret bakery”. The directions to these bakeries are always very vague “it’s near this bar” or “it’s on this street”, but supposedly everything is 1 Euro. Well we finally found one on Monday night. We were told it was behind a certain bar, and that you had to knock on the front door and tell the man what you wanted. And that is about all of the directions we got. We started making a block around the bar until finally we smelled a mix of sugar and butter. We followed our noses to an open window. After peering in the window we could clearly see this was a bakery. We knocked on the window and a worker motioned us to the front door. We asked him to pick out his favorite things that had chocolate in them. The rumors were true! Everything was just 1 Euro, and it was AMAZING! The absolute best pastry I’ve had in Italy. I love this about Europe. The little things that you hear by word-of-mouth that absolutely make your day :)

Fiesole

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to the bus station bright and early. We took about a 25-minute bus ride to the little town of Fiesole. We stepped off the bus and were overlooking a Roman Theater that has been around since 3 thousand B.C. it was absolutely breath taking. We entered a small museum to learn about the Atruscan’s, the people of Fiesole. Little is known about their culture because their language hasn’t been fully translated. Everything we do know about them comes from their tombstones and burial sites. So our first stop in the museum was a tombstone that was over 5,000 years old. Like I said before, the museum was very small, so most of the artifacts were little bronze cast items (the Atruscan’s were know for bronze casting!). The last thing we saw was a burial ground. The women were buried with their jewels, and the men with their tools, so grave robbery was very prevalent. The man’s tomb that we looked at included his tools (but they were a little rusty!). Our tour guide said the skeleton saying is “What you are, I once was. What I am, you will be”. The skeleton was thousands of years old, so it was all very eerie!

After the museum we walked outside to talk about the Roman theater. The theater holds up to 3,000 people even though it seems small. The top rows would have been for the women and lower class citizens. A girl from our group went into the middle of the amphitheater and spoke in a normal speaking voice to prove how the theater was built based on acoustics. The theater was one of the only forms of entertainment for people in their time, and plays from Sophocles and Euripides were performed here. I think what I will miss most about Europe is the fact that everywhere I go here is full of such rich history.

We toured the gardens surrounding the theater, and got to see some ancient roman baths before we started our hike. We hiked to a legendary view of Florence, and then headed to a small monastery on the top of the city. By this point it was very rainy and we were all getting pretty hungry… so we were ready for brunch. The brunch that was provided was FIVE COURSES LONG! I swear… all I do is eat here! But hey, I’m not complaining!

After brunch we headed home and went straight to bed! About 25 of us made reservations at a bar for the Super Bowl, and kick off wasn’t until 1 a.m. so a nap was necessary. At about 3:30 us Broncos fans couldn’t handle the slaughter any longer and came home. We were excited to sleep in this morning because they pushed school back to 2:30 p.m. today, but our maid came at 9 and kicked us out of the house for 5 hours (like I’ve said before, sleep isn’t really a thing for study abroad students).

I have lots of exciting things planned for this week/weekend, but I’m not sure when I’ll have time to sit down and write all about it. I’ll do my best to do it soon!

Arrivederci 

Pisa and Lucca

On Saturday morning we met at the bus station at eight in the morning to head on yet another field trip (I’ve come to the conclusion that students studying abroad don’t really sleep…).  Our first stop was Pisa, Italy. We got off the bus and were given about 15 minutes to take the famous Leaning Tower pictures before our tour. A few friends and I decided that wasn’t quite enough time to get the perfect picture, so we ditched the 30-minute tour to continue taking pictures… oops! Everyone who went on the tour said we didn’t miss much, which is good news, and we definitely got the perfect Leaning Tower of Pisa pictures, so I was happy!

Another 30-minute bus ride and we were in the small town of Lucca, Italy. We were given about an hour for lunch, and me and some of the girls wandered off the beaten path and found an extremely small restaurant that served some AMAZING pasta and dark chocolate. We then met for our tour. Lucca is a very interesting city with a lot of history. The city is surrounded by walls that were there to protect its citizens from the Florentines. The small city was very wealthy due to its silk production, and it is known for staying independent throughout the battles of the Roman Empire. 10,000 citizens still remain within the walls, however they are no longer known for their wealth.

Our first stop on the tour was the Torre Guinigi. This is one of the many towers of Lucca that once belonged to wealthy family’s of the town. Towers were built to prove your wealth and power within the city; however, there was a rule established that all towers must be within certain height limitations so they weren’t dangerous. The Guinigi family got around this rule by planting trees on the top of their tower, so technically they have the tallest tower in Lucca. The view was absolutely breath taking from the top of the tower, and I absolutely fell in love with the city.

Our next stop was the Duomo (of course!). Lucca used to be known as the city of 100 churches, however many of their churches have been converted for other uses. The Duomo of Lucca holds a wooden crucifix that was said to have been built by angels themselves, so many pilgrims and travelers used to come to the Duomo to pray in front of the crucifix. Because of this, the Duomo became a shelter for travelers as they passed through the city.  

We continued our tour into the town square where there was a small ice skating rink. Once again, we decided to break off from our tour (apparently we were feeling rebellious on Saturday) to hang out in the town square. There was amazing music playing and a big group of us danced, ate Italian candy, and laughed for over an hour. It honestly felt like I was in a movie. The atmosphere was so happy/lively, and we were having so much fun.

When we were walking back to meet up with some other students we happened upon a communist party protest. Although I had no idea what they were saying, it was so interesting to watch something like this in another country!

Before we left we stopped for a quick drink/aperitivo. Both of these cities were amazing and I’m so happy I got to see them, but Lucca definitely holds a special place in my heart now.

Culture Shock

Our program provides us with 5 breakfast/lunch and 5 dinner meal tickets a week, as well as $50 a month to a local grocery store. The grocery store is on the outskirts of Florence, and is definitely a hike to get to. We decided to give it a try Wednesday afternoon. This was the first time I felt completely out of my element in Florence. Their system for purchasing produce is very different than ours, and almost no one spoke English. I really felt like a foreigner and realized how important it is for me to try and learn the language.

Thursday night one of the boys in our program got a DJ gig at a local club, and one of the girls was turning 21, so a HUGE group of us went out to celebrate. Friday after class we went to an American diner and got burgers, fries, and shakes… we are definitely starting to miss American food!