Final Project

My Final Photography project :)

Wind down Wednesday

Ugh. I don't even want to talk about this.. I am so sad to be leaving italy. :( it doesn't seem fair.. Almost like stealing candy from a baby!

Last night, Alyssa, Emily and I went to Red Garter and had a good time together. I'm really going to miss them!!! So lucky to have been set up with such great roomies.

Today was action packed. I woke up and made a trip to the Bardini Gardens which are near Boboli gardens. I finished shooting pictures for my Digital Photography final which is due tomorrow. I chose to do another series of Natural Landscape photos focusing on florals! I just love how beautiful the pictures of flowers come out! Today we printed some photos in class and tomorrow I get to print some more. I printed a big landscape shot, one from my skydiving trip, and one of a bicycle pedal that I took on the street one afternoon.Alyssa's parents got here last night, so I met up with them after my photography class (while devouring an ice cream bar) and we all made our way up to Piazza Michelangelo to show them the view. It was pretty... and pretty hot.

Wine tasting tonight was delicious, as usual. We focused on Sicilian wines and Marco made treats for us to accompany the wines. We had an assortment of foccaccia breads with yellow bell peppers, zucchini, grape tomatoes and herbs. We also had dinner scones, 3 year aged parmagiano cheeeeese - to die for! He also made dessert bites for us to go with the Moscato for our closing wine. After class was finished, my friends Ellen and Casey sat with me as we finished munching and drinking our wine. Julia, a girl from UNC, came and sat with us for the last 10 minutes as well. We took some pictures with Marco, shared a few laughs and our gratitude for his time and interest in our class, then we were on our ways home for the last time of the summer :(

Tomorrow is going to be busy but good. I am king to The Diner with Ellen to get breakfast while Alyssa and Emily are still sleeping. I want an early start to my last day here to be sure I can do everything I want to! I will head over to the News Cafe under my apartment to read a bit before heading into the photo lab to edit my final photos for my final project. Then before class starts, im heading back to the central market with Ellen for some cheese to bring home! :) Get excited mom & dad! I have my VERY LAST class from 1-3:30pm and plan on printing about 7 more pictures. Let me know if you have any preferences! Then I am going to come home, go buy some wine with Emily, grab pizza from Gusta and head back to Piazza Michelangelo with JP and Alyssa to watch our last sunset over Firenze. :'-(

My flight leaves at 9:45am on Friday morning, making my arrival in Miami at 5:30pm right on time after my 2hr layover in Zurich. Will post more pictures when I get home. Buono Notte :) xoxo

Pasta Palooza

I just got done with my critique for my photo projects and so far, so good. I went to Mercato Centrale (Central Market) around 11:30 with my friends Ellen and Casey from my wine tasting class. There is pasta for DAYS everywhere. Here are a few pictures of one of the displays.

Looks like candy!

Yum!!! Loads of Pasta

Spaghetti alla Peperoncini! 

Come Monday...

I just had a deeeeeelicious dinner at Acqua al Due! Alyssa, Emily and I had a pasta tasting of 5 small dishes of different surprise pastas. Then for my entree I got the famed Blueberry Filet which was sooooooo good. If I could put skydiving into a meal, this was it. It was cooked Medium Rare and served in a blueberry chutney type sauce. Yum. My deal I made with myself this week, which I think will be very difficult to carry through with, is to eat dessert every night this week. Tough call seeing as I am not a lover of sweets..... Right. ;)

I got the dessert sampler as advised by our waitress and Alyssa and Emily helped pick at it with me. Great meal!

Tomorrow I will be getting up earlier than usual to finish editing my portrait photos for class tomorrow and will be going to a small shop near the leather market to pick up a few things that I saw today while running errands for a few surprises! I also went to the Hard Rock to get Matthew a t-shirt to fulfill his birthday wish. A man only turns 16 once! :)

Buona Notte ;) xx

Falling out of Planes

Despite the fact that Lake Como was ab-so-lute-ly purrrrr-fect, today I went skydiving in Verona! Emily and I took the 11:00 AM train and were in Verona by 1:00 PM. We took a cab to the Aeropuorto Basicomonto (I think..) where we got the briefing and fitted for our suits. After a 65-year-old man drove us back into town to the Bancomat to take out cash since we failed to notice that they didn't accept credit cards. Dumb Americanos....

It was AMAZING!!!!  A 6 1/2 minute dive including an approx. 50 second freefall covering 1.5 miles, and then a 5 minute hangtime to see everything from the sky. As soon as I landed, I wanted to get back into the plane and jump again! Weather was clear skies and my instructor spoke practically zero English. Comforting :) Surprisingly I wasn't nervous... at all. Not even kidding. I was so ready to fall out of the plane it is a bit unnerving looking back on it. Emily was ready to stay on the plane for landing, but found her courage and hopped out after me.

We made our way back into Verona to see Casa Capuletti (Juliet's home), Juliet's balcony, the statue of Juliet - I rubbed her boob for luck with love, of course. We also saw the Verona Arena and then hopped on the train to come home.

Alyssa, Emily and I are going to dinner at ZaZa and then out for a drink at Fish Pub. They have been annoying us with flyers the entire time we are here, but they have cheap, cheap drinks = we will give it a shot.

Here's a sneak peek at SkyDive Verona ;)

Last Weekend in Italy

Although I'm anxiously awaiting Sunday Funday in Gainesville with my friends at UF, it is a bittersweet feeling to know that this is my last weekend in Italy.... After this comes a few days of classes, a photography final - that should be a real arm twister - and then my 9:40 AM flight home.

After a long day of walking around Bellagio at Lake Como this morning and then catching the train back to Florence, I am tired. I got home and immediately unpacked with the thought in the back of my head that in 5 days, I have to pack it all up. For good. Emily, JP and I went to Galto for dinner again tonight. The full name of the restaurant translates to "The cat and the wolf". I had the Spaghetti e Pomodoro Fresco (fresh tomato sauce) and chianti.

Tomorrow, Em and I are waking up & going to grab our train tickets to Verona. We are leaving here at 11:00 AM to arrive in Verona around 1:00 PM to go skydiving (weather permitting as it has been raining on and off), have lunch, and to see Juliet's wall. We are watching Letters to Juliet on the train ride there tomorrow. Emily has never seen it before!!!! Crazy. I love the movie :)

Here are some pictures as promised from our weekend in Varenna on Lake Como. It was perfect!!!

View from our Balcony

Our Room!

View from our Balcony during the Morning

By the Ferry Harbor

Birds of prey at Castello di Vezio

Emily at the Gardens of Villa Monastero

Fountain in the Gardens

Small chapel at the end of the Gardens

Cappuccino to warm me up after the rainy drizzle

Where we ate dinner in Bellagio for our three course meal with matching wines for tasting!

Olives and Sparkling White wine

Pinot Grigio and Green Lasagna

Salute!

Delicioussss yummy!!!!

Lake Como looking down the Southwest Fork

From the Ferry looking into Bellagio

Muffin and a Cappuccino at the Milano Centrale Train Stazione

P.S.

I almost forgot to mention that during our hike up to Casetllo di Vezio, once we realized that we had missed the main road, we tried stopping a few cars to ask them which switchback housed the cut through foot path. After about six cars passed us, one finally stopped with an older Italian couple. Once they mumbled some Italian to us that I semi understood, they offered to drive us up the road to the path. With the thought half-baked, we hopped right in. Luckily they didn't kidnap us or steal our money like the stories you hear, much less did they look capable of even turning around in their seats, but truth be told, we hitch hiked in Italy.

That's one for the books.

Vernazza, Verona, Varenna

We'll. It is hard to use just a limited amount of words, or even any words to describe Lake Como. I have found my happy place and am never returning to America. I can live forever here without mcdonalds, cheeseburgers, English, my cell phone, underwear, bud light (okay, maybe Bud Light is stretching it a bit....). It is BEAUTIFUL! But I am sorry to report that I will not be posting any photos this evening because I left my camera connector cord in Florence. Shame for you all, but I promise to put them up ASAP tomorrow night when i unfortunately will be leaving here :(

Yesterday's train ride was easy. Departing Florence at 6pm, we arrived in Milan at 7:30. Perused Sephora like the girls that we are until our 8:05 departure to Varenna. After a slower paced hour long train ride full of grungy men, we made it to the smallest town. Seriously. Everything is empty by 8:00.... As we lugged our weekend bags down to the bay where our cozy hotel awaited us, a car drove past us and abruptly came to a stop with a young woman hopping out in a flurry. She yelled my name and immediately my reaction was panic. Then it was not only a familiar face, but one of my sorority sisters' who was ironically staying in the same hotel as us. We ate dinner at our hotel, Hotel Olivedo and were off to bed.

Today we hiked to Castello di Vezio where a falconer puts on a show with birds of prey but we skipped the show to see the gardens and climb the watch tower. We missed the main road so ended up hiking about an hour extra through the woods - similar to NC - in the drizzling rain. All was beautiful and there were free toilettes.... Hot commodity over here. We then ventured to Villa Mon..something to see the gardens and then had lunch in the center of Varenna before returning to the hotel for a quick rest and shower.

We embarked on the 10-minute ferry ride to Bellagio across the lake. We ate at Enoteca Cava Turricolo and had the BEST meal to date. Three courses, three different wines and great company of a couple from America. He teaches at Penn state and teaches a six week abroad program for supply chain classes. We had proscuitto with mozzarella, pesto lasagna, and assorted cheeses. To drink we had a sparkling white, Pinot grigio, and a red. It was amazing... Pictures to come.

Tomorrow we venture back to Bellagio to hunt down George Clooney to make him my own.... And to check out the shops! Post when I get home. Xoxoxoxo ciao

I'll Fix Your Face..

Eeeeek! It is Thursday already?! Tonight, Emily and I will depart for Lake Como and Hotel Olivedo. We are SO excited. The hotel looks great and the weather is supposed to be nice this weekend as well.

Wine tasting class last night was great. We studied wines from Southern Italy in regions such as Campagnia and Calabria. We had another spicy red that was deeelicious and as always, I wrote everything imaginable down in my Lilly diary that the Sauchelli's got for me for my birthday. I have about 20 pages full of wine info so far. I keep track of what types of food Marco (our teacher, in case I haven't noted so previously) would serve with each wine as well as the label information and serving suggestions. Marco surprised us with some treats to munch on while tasting the wines. Pecorino cheese, bread with olive oil, proscuitto and 10 years aged balsamic vinegar, traditional lasagna squares, and italian croissants with hint of apricot.

After Wine Class, I met my roommates for drinks at the newly opened Hard Rock Cafe with my two friends, Ellen and Casey from wine class. The wait for food was practically two hours, so we decided to mosey along the piazza and pick a new destination. We ate at Donnini and had a great meal! I split a bottle of Vernaccia with my friends from wine class and had a gnocchi dish with a gorgonzola sauce with pears. I got dessert, naturally. It was a chocolate "nest" filled with a chantilly cream sauce with fresh strawberries. I was nice and shared mine... as I was the only one at dinner to order dessert :) Surprised at all, Dad?

Today we are working on portrait editing in photography and I am using a photo of my cousin, Lexie, for my subject.

Lexie, My first Portrait Subject :)

I'll let you all know how Lake Como is next post! Ciao xo

8 Ball

Getting down to the wire across the pond... I had my photography mid-term yesterday. I wish that all of my midterms consisted of 5 questions (two fill-in-the-blank, two short answer, and one photo edit).. UF, take note.

We finally made it to the Museum Alinari to learn about the history of photography during yesterday's class session (after our grueling test). I was pleasantly surprised with the content of the temporary exhibit. It was of "little people" and how they can be dressed in adult clothing, or put into situations, and you have to look at the photo from different perspectives.. Unfortunately, my perspectives were, "Is that a child? Or is it a little adult?"

The progression of cameras is on display in the permanent part of the museum which was very interesting to see how the camera has evolved from a device used only by professionals who didn't mind lugging their equipment, to the rich who could afford a camera when it got slightly smaller (but still paid someone else to lug their equipment), to usage by families and individuals for hobbies. They even went as far to add an extra box to house the first ever cellular device with a camera in it - an old Nokia slider cell phone.

I finished the second book I was reading yesterday, Something Blue by Emily Giffin. A nice easy, summer read. Emily and I went out to dinner at a small restaurant in Piazza Signoria and I ordered my first calzone over here - ham, artichoke, mushrooms, & mozzarella. It was larger than my head, so I carried the second half home with me when we were finished. We decided to stop at the News Cafe under our apartment and ordered a bottle of a nice spicy, red wine. Yum! We used the WiFi at the cafe and sat for about two hours. Once we decided to move around, we took a quick walk to Piazza de Repubblica to check out the Florence Fashion show. There were tons of people mobbing the newly opened Hard Rock Cafe for drinks (we are going the first night the kitchen is open for burgers) and tons of people in the Piazza. I couldn't even make out the carousel.

We made our way people watching through the Piazza and started to head home. That's when the unthinkable happened. I bought a purse. Total shocker, I know :)

We were cracking up the way the guy followed us for almost two blocks when I finally turned around and told him that he was asking way too much and the only way he was going to make a sale was to give it to me for my lowest offer. Naturally, he was happy to get the money even though he acted like I was practically stealing it from him - yeah, right.

We came home, hit the hay, and here I am. I had planned to go to Pisa this morning with Lizzi and the girls, but they went out last night and just woke up. I wouldn't make it back to Florence in time for my class if I left now, so I am going to see if one of the girls in my photo class wants to go next Monday after class. I heard that Pisa is disgusting, but you have to go take loads of pictures holding up the tower or I just feel like I would have missed something. For some reason, the Leaning Tower of Pisa has always been engrained in my mind as something spectacular ever since I was little. It has always intrigued me, and seeing it is just not an option in my book. Maybe Emily and I will stop on our way home from Lake Como on Saturday.

I just threw in some laundry and need to run down to the store to get more cereal for my yogurt. Chat with you soon!

Sunset over the Arno River

My Enormous Calzone

Shore Struck

Yesterday was the start of my third week of classes. I can NOT believe that the time is flying by so quickly.

We covered a lot of information and "how-to" steps for using different tools in Photoshop. I forgot to eat lunch before I went to class thus I was starving the entire two and a half hour block. Luckily, Kelly hadn't eaten yet either, so we both headed around the corner to a small Cafe where I got my chicken salad panini last week to grab a bite. She had never been before, and was in for a treat. The "Insalata di Pollo" isn't the chicken salad you get in the states. It consists of deli sliced chicken, shredded lettuce, fresh tomato slices (of course) and a dressing that resembles mayonnaise with a hint of something that we are unable to place. Needless to say, it is pressed between two halves of a thin pita and tastes deeeeelicious. I'm going back today with Lizzi to introduce her to the dreamy panini.

Last night I went to Lizzi, Allie, Caroline, Megan, Madison, Brooke and LJ's place to make a Mexican dinner. We had beef, chicken, bell peppers, onions, lettuce, and pinto beans. The salsa that Lizzi found at the market had more of a cocktail sauce taste, and the guacamole somehow still tasted rather Italian. Allie and I sauteed the onions with the peppers with some olive oil and butter in two pans. We had enough meat, veggies and beans to have to empty our pans three times each and dump the contents into a big pot that we had with the lid on in the oven to stay warm.

We cooked the chicken and beef in with the onions and peppers as well with some garlic powder, chili powder, salt and pepper. We heated the beans, and decided to mash them up to make a bean dip for our chips. It turned out tasting fantastic with a bit of chopped onion, and a splash of our cocktail-salsa. Lizzi made a salad with corn, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and lettuce. Allie was smart enough to grab some plain greek yogurt at the store to use as Sour Cream which was perfect! The only thing we were missing was shredded cheddar cheese. I guess we will have to wait until we get back to America for that one.

We had self-serve fajitas from the pot and then all sat at their table together. It all turned out surprisingly well for our lack of experience in mexican cooking. The extent of my mexican was browning ground beef and adding the McCormick Taco Seasoning - until last night. (I didn't get any pictures of the food, but Megan did. As soon as I get them from her I will post them.)

After dinner, we all sat around chatting for a bit, watched some YouTube videos and then I headed back to my apartment to go out with my roommates. We went to Astor in Piazza del Duomo where I ran into Shawna Hoysradt, a friend from pre-school and kindergarten. The place was pretty crowded for it's small space, and for good reason. Sammi and J-Woww from Jersey Shore were in the back corner blockaded from the public by cameras and bodyguards. It was slightly ridiculous, and they left soon after. We had a drink and decided to ditch the teeny-bopper atmosphere and head over to YAB.

The line looked way worse than it actually was, and I ran into a girl from my photography class. When we got to the front of the line, a huge paper banner was taped outside stating that entering the club was a virtual waiver that if you were filmed or recorded on Jersey Shore, they could use the tape without your consent as the club had  been passed as a neutral zone for filming. Not thinking much of it, we proceeded inside and got our drinks at the bar thanks to some slimy Italian man that thought Emily and I were pretty. (We managed to ditch him after getting our drinks and make our way to the sweaty mob of people. Appealing, right?) In just a few minutes, I was surrounded by annoying Americans (probably much like myself) who were pushing their way to get closer to the cameras surrounding the cast members of Jersey Shore.

Dina was dancing on the bar with some guy, J-Woww was fist pumping solo, Sammie and Ronnie were fighting with each other (standard), and Pauly D and Vinny were just scouting the crowd with blank stares on their faces. I squeezed my way to the back to get out of the rude people who were incessantly shoving people out of the way. Minutes later, Vinny and Ronnie were making their way past me to go to the bar. I was sort of stuck in their way so just smiled a "Sorry, I can't really move" look and tried my best to let them pass.  I was practically blinded by the camera and backlights when some totally polite kid behind me stepped backwards into me, projecting me at the guys from the side and then it happened - I touched Ronnie and Vinny. Highlight of the trip, right? Anyways, they walked past us a few times, I was on camera probably dancing in the background and by 2:35 am I was tired of the ordeal and headed home.

Today my photography class is supposed to be going to the Alinari museum to make up for last week when our teacher canceled the trip due to a closed exhibit. I'm going to make some tea for breakfast and most likely whip up some toast and Nutella (still my dietary staple!). Ciao!

For the Blue Eyes, a free bag.

Today I learned that even if I am wearing a long dress, scarf and sunglasses, the Italianos in the market still want to be my boyfriend. I had at least six of them call at me from their market stands telling me that I could have a free bag/jacket if I wanted an Italian boyfriend. Yeah, I'm sure that is just what I want. One of you slimey men to take me out for a night so that I can have a leather purse which I'm sure I'll still end up paying for. I'd rather not.

This morning I woke up around 9 am and read my book that I downloaded on iBooks last night. I finished Something Borrowed on the train ride to Cinque Terre on Friday. I am reading the second Emily Giffin book, Something Blue. So far, I've made it to chapter six and am hooked yet again. When my roomies finally woke up around 11am (lazies!) we made our way to The Diner for an American breakfast. I had Eggs Benedict and a coffee. Emily got French toast and a bagel with cream cheese and Alyssa got chocolate chip pancakes. It was SOOOO GOOD. I was craving a great breakfast and it certainly hit the spot.

We ventured over to the Accademia and saw David. He has huge hands... After perusing the museum for close to an hour, I endured the market harassment and found a sweet pair of pink shades as well as some cute sandals for 19 euro, score!

Tonight Alyssa and Donny are going to dinner with Donny's cousins, so Emily and I are on our own for dinner. Not sure what we are going to do yet - but we may cook at home. Last night, Emily and I booked our trip for next weekend to Lake Como from Thursday - Saturday and then we will day trip to Verona on Sunday for skydiving and Juliet's wall!

New Shades... pink, of course!

Toot it and Scoot It

After a great nights sleep, we were off again. Alyssa, Emily, Donny and myself had signed up to go on a Vespa tour through the Tuscan countryside in the Chianti area. We arrived outside of the trusty McDonalds for our transportation at 9:25 am and started our day.

About an hour drive outside of Florence, we visited Monteriggione Castle in the Chianti area before heading to the ranch where we were to start our vespa tour. We got to see San Gimignano from the castle. I just learned about San Gimignano in my wine tasting class on Wednesday. It is the only area in the Tuscany region where Vernaccia grapes are grown to produce Vernaccia white wine.

When we got to the ranch, we did a test drive on the vespas (and our ginormous helmets) in a gravel track area. It was pretty easy for me since I have a scooter at school. For my roommates this was not the case. Emily was nervous to keep the throttle open and therefore couldn’t keep her balance very well, and Alyssa was doing alright until we left for the tour (Emily hopped on the back of one of our Tour Guide’s scooters). About 10 minutes in, Alyssa fell over on her scooter scratching her right knee and arm. She didn’t want to get on the back of anyone’s scooter – which I don’t blame her as it was probably startling to fall over her first time – so Alyssa, Emily and Donny went back to the ranch. I kept going on the tour with 3 other girls and our Tour Guide named Phillipo. He was crazy! He even took us out into an actual vineyard with our scooters (which he told us we weren’t allowed to tell about) to see a magnificent view.

The ride was perfect. The weather was cool and breezy with enough sun to keep me warm in my leggings and tank top. We rode for about 2 hours through the countryside, meeting up with another group that did horseback riding and Alyssa, Emily and Donny at Monteriggione for our lunch. We had bread with olive oil, prosciutto, soft pecorino cheeses, bruschetta, linguini with a pomodoro sauce, homemade gnocci in a meat sauce, and panne cotta with chocolate sauce for dessert. Of course, with plenty of Chianti as well. I was stuffed…. come to think about it, I still am pretty full from the meal I ate almost 3 hours ago. We scooted back to the ranch – I managed to hit 45 mph on the road back. The ride back to Florence was nice and I took a little nap.

Now, I am going to do the same thing and rest a little before we decide what we are doing for dinner and where we will go out tonight. Tomorrow I will be staying in Florence to finish shooting some photos for my natural landscape photo project, and will hopefully make our way into the Academia and the Uffizi. We are planning on heading to Fiesole for sunset tomorrow night as well. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

All my love.

Tuscan Countryside

Monteriggioni

My overly large vespa helmet

Ahhh!!!

out in the sticks :)

Grapes

Vineyards that we scootered through

Tuscan home

First course

Chianti

Gnocci

Wine Tasting