it's november already? how did that happen?

I'm sorry that it's been so long since i've updated. but that's a good sign right? that means i'm having a good time! if i updated this everyday then you'd know i had too much time on my hands and that i wasn't enjoying myself. :-D

I guess i left off with the week of Venice-- which was October 16th.

Friday October 16th all the students (who wanted to come) from our program took a fun-loving bus to Venice. Our school set up the trip for us, provided transportation, the hotel, and breakfast for us. We also got tours friday and saturday by our professors to all the major museums and cathedrals. I was lucky and got put in Peter's group. He made it well worth the hours of walking around. However, he does tend to tell the same story a million times. good ol' Peter.
so at 8:30am we headed off on our roughly 4 hour bus ride. We got there and took a boat to our section of town. Then we walked to our Hotel. Hotel Messner. It was a very cute little place with a little garden, pink chandelier in our room, and bunk beds in some rooms (i lucked out with just a double and my own bathroom...i was living the high life). we were also within a short walk from everything. then around 2:30 we met up with Peter for a walk around town. he showed us all the highlights and i took my first gondola ride. we then headed to dinner. by this point we were all sooo tired, so we headed in pretty early for the night (i'm pretty sure i was in bed by 9:30...- and by in bed i mean asleep)

Saturday- 17th
This day we had the option of meeting up with our professors again and seeing the highlights, but i was so tired that my roommate sage and i slept in. she actually went down to breakfast in the hotel lobby and brought me breakfast in bed. it was a great start to the morning. then we went to the supermarket to buy food since we're poor college students and can't afford to actually go to restaurants. and i must say that Venice has great white wine...that we can't afford unless bought at the supermarket. smart? yes, we are. so we started our morning with breakfast in bed, and sipping on wine in the hotel garden. so glorious.
then we started out walking around to take pictures. we met some really cute venice boys who were on their way to work. we chatted for a bit (used our poor italian as best we could), and then carried on our way. Sage almost fell into one of the canals, had a security guy come to her rescue but laugh at her a lot, and we found a sign for a McDonalds which totally made our day. so yes- we ate at that wretched place for dinner because yet again- we are poor. i saved myself 15 euro. smart? yes, we are.
i also bought myself a sweet awesome mask with the money i saved. no guilt attached.
that night we went to one of the main squares and talked to the carabinieri (the policeman) who were on duty. and by talk, i mean voluntarily, not by any means did we get in trouble. i've found that the police are the less creepy of the italians and they're usually able to tell you where nice places to go are. so that was fun, and then we went back to the hotel and watched MTV (in ENGLISH...so nice...)

Sunday
GUGGENHEIM! i loved it. Peggy guggenheim is my hero. she has such a great collection of artwork. if you ever go to venice do not miss the opportunity to go see it! it's right on the canal, beautiful house, with great works of art. amazing.
then we wandered around some more, went to a few more art galleries and ate pizza. my one friend found this one gallery the day before that she showed us- they make art out of dirt and bugs. portraits of people- huge- made out of vines, etc. so amazing. i was quite impressed.
then i chatted up some old man on the street who was doing some paintings. he showed me his techniques and told me i was supposed to come home and teach my mother :-D so mom, be prepared. i'm supposed to teach you this. and then he sold me one of his paintings for practically nothing. he loved me....
that afternoon we unfortunately had to come back to Florence- not that i don't love good ol' Firenze...but Venice proved to be soooo beautiful. and so unique! i hope it doesn't sink. i want it to be around forever and ever.

Monday Tuesday into Wednesday
wrote papers. lived a pretty boring life.

Wednesday
flew to Praha!
Prague is way different than Florence, but i loved it. it's such a beautiful city. a lot bigger than i had pictured it to be, but it's so unique.
i stayed with a friend of mine from Grove City who's studying abroad there this semester so i saved some money. that was nice.
he also was able to show me around the town a little better and tell me where things were.

Thursday
Saw the castle, Charles Bridge, and a few of the other highlights that Prague has to offer. and i saw a peacock! how amazing is that? it was just wandering around....i was in heaven. i love them so much.

Friday
this is the day i got sick. poor me. i'm always sick here. so i slept a lot of this day hoping to get better. epic fail.
that night we hung out with some friends of my friend.

Saturday
attempted to find where my friend Cassie had lived when she studied abroad in prague the year before. got a little lost, but that's ok. that's what you're supposed to do in a foreign place right? half the fun. i also saw these adorable street performers dressed up in their traditional stuff. so cute!
then my friend took me on the Pub Crawl. there's a company based there that puts one on every night. it was really fun. i got to see one of Prague's famous clubs with 4 stories, and another one of its clubs that has a bar on top and goes underground 2 stories. so different from back home.

Sunday- my last day in Prague!
my friend's computer broke this day. so we tried to fix it most of the morning and then went over to his friend's house to use his computer.
then i said my goodbyes to the city.

Monday- came home to Florence. it felt good to be back. i missed it.

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
nothing too exciting. wandered around Florence a bit. went to class a bit. ate some italian food a bit. attempted to clean my apartment a bit. you know- that kind of stuff.

Friday
my roommate lindsey's friend that is studying in Barcelona came with some of her friends to visit. they stayed in our apartment with us since our other roommates are traveling this weekend. They were really fun. We got to show them around the city and take them to our favorite restaurants.

Saturday
Happy halloween
i was surprised at how many people actually dressed up and celebrated halloween here. i guess it's a new thing for Italians to participate in the celebrations but everyone was really decked out. i wasn't feeling good again- i know, i'm always sick here, so i slept most of the day (waste of life) and then attempted to go out with lindsey and her friends, but that failed. i just stayed in and hung out with one of my friends.

that brings me to today. the first of november. i have no idea where october went. its going by so fast. i only have 34 more days left. and half of those aren't even going to be spent in Florence. i'm so sad. i hope they're good ones.

I'll try to keep updating the blog, but these next few weeks are craziness. this weekend is rome ( i leave on thursday)- and then my parents and tara come to visit for a week! and immediately after that i go to amsterdam for a few days. then 2 days after that i'm in Switzerland. so my life goes in quite a whirlwind starting this week. so be patient with my updates.

hope all is well over yonder. Mi manchi molto!
ciao