GOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!

This weekend we also went to a professional soccer game in Florence, which was an experience. If you know anything about soccer, you know that it is the main sport in Europe and most of the rest of the world, so all of the fans there were CRAZY! it was so loud and we were amazed at how many chants and yells they were doing towards the other team. The other team had a certain section which was guarded by the police with those big shields and helmets and the whole bit, so you can kind of get the idea of how rowdy they were getting! It was really cool though, and Firenze (Florence) ended up winning 3-0 which was awesome because that was a really important game, so Firenze got to advance to the A league in the playoffs... It was SO hot at the game and we had to sit out under no cover with no water (the consessioin stands ran out of water by half time), so it was interesting, but we made it. After the game (we left early to avoid the riots), the fans were so excited. We heard honking all night long and i bought a jersey at the game so when we were walking home everyone would honk at me as they went by! I was awesome and the energy there was amazing. We had a good time and it was definitely something to experience in Italy!

This is a picture of all the fans that we sat by... it was defnitely the cheap seats and the most rowdy crowd! There was one guy standing in front of all of them that was leading all the cheers and everyone in the stands was cheering so it was SO loud! and the big thing over there is the flags, there were tons and tons of flags!


This is of the game, we weren't too close, but we still had a good view...


Bri and I and my purple jersey!

Venice, Italy

Some pictures from Venice... it was so beautiful!

This is me on one of the many bridges over the canals in the city...


There were so many little bridges and canals so you could get around town...


The buildings were tall and so close together with just water in between them...


At the main Piazza called San Marco Square there were millions of pigeons! (you would have loved it mom! so many birds. haha) They would walk right beside you and would eat right out of your hand!


Here was one of the famous Gondola's that you always see in the movies... They are so expensive! For one hour it was over 100 Euro!


Another cool picture of the boats parked like cars along the city...


Venice at sunset...


This weekend the girls and I (my friends Patricia, Nicole, Brianne, and Rebecca) decided that instead of sticking with the group that was going to Cinque Terre, we were going to go to Venice. It was a good choice because Venice was definitely a site to see! it was amazing after living in the city for a couple of weeks and then going to Venice and there was not ONE car on the island! it was really interesting. You get around by the ferries which are small walk on ones that hold about 100 people. It takes a long time to get around to places, but it cool just to sit on the ferries for a couple of hours and go around the whole island. it was beautiful! The first day we went to San Marco which was a huge Piazza (i think the only Piazza in Venice because it is such a small island!) and had an amazing church which i couldn't go into becuase you had to cover your shoulders and you couldn't wear shorts, and of course i was wearing shorts and a tank top. Instead, Bri and i visited McDonalds to get a nice ice cream cone (of all places while we are in italy!). It turns out that there is at least one McDonalds in every city in Europe. interesting.... The second day we were there, we went to another small island off the coast of Venice called Murano which was where they actually made most of the glass. Venice is known for it's glass and the city was lined with little shops full of glass... everything you could imagine. and it was all so expensive! At Murano, the glass museum was closed but we got to peak in the factory, and it was pretty cool to see how they made and shaped the glass. The glass there was so detailed and beautiful (as is everything i am explaining on my trip, haha, sorry for not using more variety of words). But we had a blast and got to see an awesome place!

FINALLY! some pictures...

these are just the recent ones from this weekend. ill get ones of rome later when i have more time.
here is the leaning tower of pisa...


The castle i had a view of when i woke up after a really cold night of camping...


THE Hofbrauhaus (HB)...


The girls enjoying a couple liters...


The most beautiful place ive seen... a lake in italy that i cant spell the name...


There you go! ill get some more later!
love you all. meg

i heart munich

It is monday again (boo) and i just got back from munich, germany. it was awesome and was my favorite place that i have been so far on my trip. the first night we camped up in the mountains (illegally by the way...always an adventure!) underneath the REAL disneyland castle. which was just a big castle in the hill. it was pretty cool, but FREEZING!!!!!!!!! it was an experience. then we headed to munich and on the way stopped at a concentration camp called Dachau... what a creepy stop. it was so weird being there, so depressing. the worst part for me was walking through where they did the "pretend" showers which was where they actually gassed the people. it was sick and so surreal being there. on a lighter note, we then went to Munich and stayed in a hostile. we went shopping the first day there and we were on a hunt for birkenstocks, i opted for an awesome Puma bag instead (we all know how i am with my puma stuff). then that night we hit the biggest beer hall in the world called Hofbrauhaus (or HB to us). it was so awesome. we went there two nights in a row and they serve beer in "steins" which was basically a little more than a liter of beer. they sang songs and had a house band in their goofy norwegian-type clothes and everyone in the whole place (which was huge) would sing along. (kind of like "alice..." dad ;) ) so that was cool. we talked with some people from Chicago and this lady who studied abroad when she was in college and she basically told us all of her crazy stories and relived her glory days. it was interesting... the next day, we got up and went to the Deutches Museum which i thought was really boring becasue it was all about science and engineering and all that stuff. (sorry zach!) oh and by the way, i am sick so that put a damper on the weekend, but im still alive so thats all that matters. =) then we had lunch which i think for every meal we had bratworst. haha. they were good and cheap and easy so thats what we got. we have also discovered that over here, when you ask for water, they give you "mineral" water which has "gas" as they call it but is really just carbonated water. and it is gross! and since we cant read the labels we have to shake the bottles to see if they fizz. it is quite the task, and most of the time we get stuck with the gas water, but what can ya do? after lunch we went on a bike ride (there were about 40 of us convoying it through Munich to this park). we rode through this huge park along the river and to our surprise there were a bunch of naked germans! it was so funny to see how open they are with their bodies... just laying around naked, hanging out. (literally) haha. so that was an adventure... trying not to laugh in itself. also at the park were these people that were surfing in the river. yes, i said SURFING in the river. there was a part of the river that went under a bridge and then lipped up like a wave right after it. it was really cool and we had to hold Patricia back (my roommate - she's from california and loves to surf). then it was back to HB for the night and then sleep! Sunday, (yesterday for me) we started heading home and we were going to stop in Salsburg (where they filmed "Sound of Music") but it was rainy (we also got caught in a hail storm in Munich!) so we decided to go where the sun was to this lake in italy that was one of the most beautiful places that i have ever seen. i wanted to stay there for the rest of the trip. it was the best spot in europe for windsurfing and the lake was surrounded by these huge green mountains. GORGEOUS! i will have to get pictures up here eventually. dont worry, i am soon getting wireless internet on my laptop so this will be much more frequent and better. well i better go for now, so much to see and do. love you and miss you all!

I'm off to Germany!

Sorry i haven't been able to write all that much, but i have to use the computer lab which only has 20 computers for 100 students, so it is hard to find time. but i might be getting wireless on my laptop so then it will be a lot easier! and then you can see lots of pictures! i will try to post some pictures next week sometime. As for now, i am in Florence, Italy and it is slowly growing on me. it's hard to adjust to different culture and language (especially when i speak no italian!) and all that good stuff. but it's an adventure. infact, yesterday we went on a day trip on the train to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa which was awesome. The adventure for the day was that my friend Patricia and I had to go to the bathroom and then the group left for the train without us! we ran through the streets of Pisa to the train station! it was a good adrenaline rush! but we made it and returned to florence only to find it POURING down rain with thunder and lightening! it was a crazy day. today i am off to GERMANY! i am excited! we get to stay at the REAL Disneyland castle and see a concentration camp. it should be interesting. well, i have to go to class (yes i am taking class over here... i actually just finished my first quiz. ewwwwwwwwwwww). talk to you all soon.
meg

Roma - Day Two and Three (condensed and a little out of order)

I just realized that i forgot to finish the last couple of days i was in Rome. So here goes... Day two we went to the Vatican and the Vatican Museum which was amazing. it was huge and had so many amazing and detailed paintings, frescoes, ceilings, floors, well, every inch is pretty much detailed and amazing there. my favorite part were the ceilings which were so awesome and colorful and detailed beyond imagination. it was awesome. we even saw the sistine chapel which was fully painted with some of the most famous paintings in the world, like the creation of man and the last judgement. but we werent allowed to take pictures in there so that was a bummer. From the museum, we went to St. Peter's which is the biggest church i have ever seen/been in. It looks big on tv and from a ways away, but when you get up close and inside, it is Huge beyond belief! and of course inside it was very amazing and detailed and huge. We even got to go down stairs and see a lot of the tombs of deceased popes, and we saw Pope John Paul II's tomb which was pretty amazing. So day two was really amazing and beautiful!
Day three we walked around Rome and visited various churches by two main guys... Borromini and Bernini. All the churches were really Gawdy and detailed. it was interesting and cool to see them all. We also saw one of my favorite places in Rome, the Fountain de Trevi which is this amazing huge fountain that is kind of on the side of the building. it was awesome. then we stopped by this other small fountain where there was this crazy italian hobo guy sitting there and he had a tree branch in one hand and was yelling at our whole group (there were over 100 of us there) and i guess he was calling all of the girls bad names and stuff like that. it was kind of entertaining. he would dance around and make funny poses for pictures. then he would drink out of the fountain and spit it out in our direction. it was pretty interesting... then we went inside this "Bone church" which was really really creepy but interesting at the same time. it was made entirely out of bones and skeletons and every bone in the human body. i will have to show you a picture it is so weird. i guess they used the bones of over 4,000 monks! it was really creepy. then we went back to the Spanish Steps which was the expensive shopping district and looked in Prada and Gucci stores which were ridiculously expensive.
The day we left we got up early and got packed and took a bus back to St. Peter's to get blessed by the pope! there were so many people there and it was so hot. but we waited and then the pope came out and blessed us! it was a pretty cool experience. then it was off to Florence where i am living and going to school.

Me, Patricia, and Rebecca at St. Peter's...


Pope John Paul II's tomb...


Pope Benedict XVI giving his blessing from the Papal Apartment...

Roma, Italy - Day One

i'm sorry i can't show any pictures yet, but i will figure it out sooner or later. here is an over view of my first real day in Rome (the day i arrived doesn't count because i couldn't keep my eyes open). We woke up early and started on a long walking tour of Rome... Walked by the Palace of Justice, the Tiber River, and our first stop was the Piazza Navona. It was really cool. they have all these little piazzas which are like huge courtyards. there were two famous fountains in the piazza called the Fountain of the Four Rivers and the Fountain del Moro. They both were beautiful! and then we enetered the first of many many churches. but these churches are amazing! they are so detailed and HUGE. i have never seen a church like them before. my mouth was open in awe the whole time. We learned a lot about these two painters/architects/artists named Borromini and Bernini. similar names but totally different styles. it was really interesting! Then we went to one of the first Jesuit churches made and it was so beautiful (i have a feeling i am going to be using the same words over and over again, so bare with me). After that, we had lunch at a cute little International Student Restaurant. It had good cheap sandwiches. the food over here is sure different. The sandwich i had was this really good bread (carbs, carbs, carbs!!!) with mozzerella cheese (i think that is the most popular over here and it comes in little blobs) and this ham type meat called pruchuto (i dont know how to spell it but it is good!). And they only have Coke over here... no pepsi or Dr. Pepper! i don't know how i will survive but i will try! Then we went off to see Mussolini's balcony which was this huge white building. and then, the coolest part, we got to walk through the ruins of old central rome that was called the Forum. Not much was left, but it was still cool. Everything building there seemed to be made out of marble or stone. no metal or anything. it was really interesting. Then we went to the colloseum and that was amazing. it wasn't as big as i thought it was going to be, but once we got inside, it was huge! amazing how they built things back then. Then we took a break and i got some pizza which is very different than over here. they don't even have pepperoni! i had the ham type meat again with cheese and no tomato sauce. and they don't serve it in round pizzas, it is like long almost rectangular pizzas and then you tell them how big of a chunk you want and they charge you by the weight. it was good though. that night we took the metro (i'm a pro now at public transportation)to the Spanish Steps, which are these huge long steps that overlook the city. It was pretty at night and they had lots of beautiful purple flowers. We walked around trying to find food and then my friend Rebecca went to use the ATM and it ate her card. Then she found out that someone had stolen her atm card and credit card numbers and had withdrawn a lot of money from her account so she has had to deal with that as well. We ended up eating at a Burger King for dinner and then went home. It was a long busy day full of walking! but it was so cool to see everything!

The most beautiful Piazza... Piazza Navona...


The Pantheon...


Here is me in the Colosseum...

Im alive!

well, i finally made it to Florence, Italy and today is my first day of class. Rome was interesting and a good experience and i got to see a lot of cool things so far! but i have to go to class! ill post pictures later! i love you all and miss you all!

I'm going to Italy!

72 hours from now i will be in Rome, Italy... yay for me.