Home Sweet Home

i am finally home from italy, and after wanting to come home so bad, i have found myself wishing i was back in italy. ironic isn't it? italy was a blast to say the least and i had the time of my life, but here are the things i am thankful for since being home...

1. Clean Clothes (most importantly, having a dryer)
2. American food (give me some Dr. Pepper and a burger and fries)
3. American language (people actually understand what i am saying!)
4. Dollars (instead of Euros)
5. Walking outside and not having it smell like crap (or seeing dog poop on the sidewalks everywhere... EWWW)
6. Being able to drive (and driving between the lines and at the speed limit)
7. Sleeping in my own bed
8. Cooler weather (compared to 95 degrees and 100% humidity)
9. Being in the same time zone as my family and friends (and of course Zach) ;)
10. Not having to travel all the time (no more trains or public transportation!)
11. No more bug bites!

Things i miss from italy...
1. one word... GELATO
2. being able to walk everywhere
3. the buildings and architecture
4. Cappucino for 1 Euro
5. Seing the sights and experiencing the different culture

The Last Hoorah

one of the last nights everyone was still in Florence, we all went and had dinner on the triangles. the triangles were these huge triangles that were on the side of one of the bridges along the Arno river. we climbed down from the bridge and ate our delicious La Spada Bruno Specials' on these huge triangles that gave us an amazing view of the sunset. it was good to get together with everyone for the last time and have some fun.

The sunset, the Arno and me on the triangles...


DA girls... Bri, Nicole, and me...


The whole gang...

Gelato Crawl 2005!

Every week since we've been here, one of the professors (which we call Dr. Gelato because he likes Gelato so much), has taken a group of us on "Gelato Walks" around Florence to the best Gelaterias in Italy. It was so much fun and there are tons of awesome Gelato places in Florence. I want to start my own Gelato place in the states some day now! they definitely need to bring it back. My favorite flavor is Fragola which is Strawberry. Last night, since this was our last week in Florence (tear) we had the finale "Gelato CRAWL." we went to 9 Gelaterias in one night! we were supposed to go to ten, but one of them was closed on mondays. So we hit up 9 gelaterias in almost 4 hours and i ate at every one! it was crazy, but SO good! Also, for the people that went to every gelato walk, every week, they got a "Silver Spoon" award for going to every one. I am proud to say that i am winner of the Silver Spoon and as soon as i get home, i am going to frame it and put it on my wall.

Before the big Crawl...


All the Silver Spoon winners...


Gelateria #1: Carabe
(this is our favorite one because it is so close to where we live and is clearly the best)


Gelateria #2: Il Granduca
(this one has the best Chocolate)


Gelateria #3: Gelateria Propria


Gelateria #4: La Carraia


Gelateria #5: La Gelateria


Gelateria #6: Gelateria de Neri


Gelateria #7: Gelateria de Compi


Gelateria #8: Festival del Gelato


Gelateria #9: Perche No?


THE Dr. Gelato...

Siena, Italy

Saturday Bri and i hoped on a train to Siena, which is about an hour and a half away from Florence. It was actually one of the worst days of travel i have had. The train was the bumpiest train i have been on and it was freezing on the train because they pump up the air conditioning. when we finally got to siena, we heard that you had to take a bud from the train station to the actual town, but we didn't know which bus to take, so we just hoped on the first one, which took us about an hour out of our way away from the city. good job us. so an hour or so later we finally make it to the city and start walking around. it was so hot and we didn't really know where we were going, so it was frusterating at times, but still enjoyable to see the city. My favorite part was the huge famous square. in july, they fill the whole square with dirt and have one of the most challenging horse races in the world. it is pretty crazy. here are some pics...

The square (well, half of it.) and the huge tower building in it....







Bri made friends with a United Colors of Bennetton manequin!



In the famouse square, they were having a wedding! it was so cool... the bride was wearing a bright red dress though, and the groom was wearing a pink shirt under his suit... must be an italian thing. but bri definitely thought the lady was "enchanting"



We made a wish in the well!



the duomo of the city...

The Great Wall of Lucca

Thursday we decided to take a little day trip to the city of Lucca, Italy. I had no clue what was in the city, but found out that it was one of the last cities with a full medieval wall around the entire city. I guess back in the old days, way old days, most of the cities in Italy had huge walls that surrounded the cities because the cities were always at war with eachother. Most of the walls are down now, but Lucca has the last remaining full wall in Italy. It was really cool. We got to walk around the top of the wall and just had a nice relaxing day. The town was really small and quiet which was a nice change from big busy, crowded Florence. Here are some pictures...

The entrance into the city...


The main church in the city...


The wall...