Aaand I'm back.

I took a slight blog hiatus, due to midterms, essays upon essays, and my long-lasting illness.  I ended up having to go to the hospital again because my stomach pain was not going away.  I'm lucky I did, because I actually had some kind of infection (don't worry-it was easily treated with antibiodics!).  I was super nervous about not being able to make it to London last Friday, but magically I woke up Friday morning with minimal stomach pain and no headache! ¡Que suerte!

A lot has happened in the last week (a week went by already?) but I never finished writing about Italy, and I know everyone is waiting anxiously and everything (ha) so I'll do that now.

Day 3: Florence-I think I ended with Hannah and I passing out at 10:30 pm. Well, we woke up the next morning (Egyptian drifter man was still asleep, thank God), ate breakfast (which in Italy is entirely made up of pastries. How Italians are so skinny is a question that will always be on my mind...), and went to the train station to catch our mid-afternoon ride to Florence.  I was looking forward to Rome originally just because hey, it's Rome, but I was always way more excited for Florence.  Even though I had clearly never been there before, many of my closest friends studied there and told me how beautiful the city was. So, let's just say I knew Florence would be a special place for me.

We arrived quickly on a speedy train that I accidentally bought a ticket for (instead of the cheaper, but slower option) and Gabby met us at the train station.  Gabby and Christy are two of my teammates and friends from UConn, and they agreed to host Hannah and me for a few nights.  I was unbelievably excited to see them, and even within the first five minutes of being in Florence I absolutely loved it.  We got gelato for the second day in a row (sensing a pattern?) and walked along the river to Gabby and Christy's apartment, which they share with six other girls in their program.  Their apartment was big, but also cozy, and since Gabby is the best person in the world she made us dinner!

The chef at work!

To be completely honest, the reason why Florence was amazing was because Christy and Gabby were the greatest hosts ever.  They gave us food, a place to sleep, and they are also two of the best people I know (I think I've said that already, whoops, but I love them!), which made things even better.  Both of them are so relaxed, kind, and seriously don't care what anybody thinks. I am so lucky to have them in my life, and I am also so glad I have an amazing soccer team to go back to in the fall! If I take nothing else away from Florence, it is that I am blessed with the most amazing friends/teammates and I should never, ever take them for granted.  (Side note: being abroad has made me appreciate my friends even more than I already did. I miss everyone SO much and think of everyone every single day, but being able to see some of these friends abroad is possibly one of the greatest gifts I could ever receive).

Anywho, aside from the corny mushiness of how much I love Gabby and Christy, I was amazed by the beauty of Florence.  My aunt told me how nice it was, but you never really understand things like that until you see it with your own eyes.  Gabby and Christy had to do a photo project for class, so we spent a lot of the weekend running around trying to get the perfect picture. Even though they hated their project, I had such a good time seeing the city with them!  Since I am a history nerd, the most interesting part of Florence in my opinion was the Ponte Vecchio.  Apparently, Hitler loved this bridge because he could see all of Florence from it.  At the end of World War Two, he destroyed all of the bridges in Florence to attempt to prevent the inevitable British invasion, but kept the Ponte Vecchio because he thought it was pretty.  So, there's your history lesson of the day everybody!

Christy, Me, and Hannah and the Ponte Vecchio in the background

Day 4: Florence: Christy and Gabby had to study for their midterms, so Hannah and I set off to wander Florence alone.  We saw everything, I think, in another whirlwind day.  I can't even remember everything we did, but in the morning we attempted to find a bagel shop.  We couldn't find it, and I was whiny and annoying, but I realized that I am a different traveler than I thought.  I am a very Type A person, and like to have everything planned out and get annoyed when things do not go accordingly.  However, and maybe this is me changing a little, I realized that when I travel I don't really like having a plan.  As I wandered the streets of Florence (with Hannah trailing behind me, whoops) I had the best time simply looking around.  I saw people riding bikes everywhere, clothes hanging from clotheslines over the street and out windows, tiny streets that I have previously only seen in movies, and the sounds of Italian pouring out of every storefront.  A little off-topic, but I absolutely LOVE hearing Italian.  It sounds so passionate, and every word is combined with grandiose hand motions.  Maybe if I master Spanish, I'll move onto Italian next (hey, there are fairly similar...shouldn't be that hard!).  Anyways, we went to see the David, which was cool, but again, I am not really into art, and wandered through a few other museums.  We met a nice Australian woman at the museum where the David is, and I realized another amazing thing about traveling: meeting people from all over the world!

My friend Alex has been in Florence for the whole year since she is an art major, and we decided to meet up for lunch.  It was great to see her and catch up a little, and I can't wait to see her again at UConn in the fall! After lunch, Hannah and I got gelato (third time, fourth for her) and wandered a little.  We went to San Lorenzo market, which is a huge leather market, and I bought a scarf.  I have been really good about spending money, so I figured I owed myself a little gift.  We went back to the apartment, and headed up to the Plaza Michelangelo with Christy and Gabby. The view was unreal-a panoramic picture of all of Florence! There was a man with a giant bubble making contraption, music, and people sitting and checking out the view.  It was incredibly relaxing to be there, and it was probably my favorite part of Italy.

Bubble man!

That night, I saw two of my other friends (lots of friends), Matt and Jordan.I knew them both separately and they didn't know each other at all before, but they are now roommates (small world, again).  Then, I met up with my good friend Mike's girlfriend, Liz, who I had never met but felt like I knew already.  She was super nice and I had such a good time talking to her.  Mike, if you are reading this (which you aren't), I approve (not that you asked for my approval).

The next morning, we woke up, got BAGELS (!!) at the mysterious bagel place we couldn't find before (with Gabby's help) and prepared to leave Florence.  I was so sad to leave Gabby and Christy and my new favorite city, but it was time to go back to Rome.  We said our goodbyes and were on our way.

I truly hope to get back to Florence someday.  It was such a romantic city, and I usually reject all forms of romance, so it takes a lot for me to say that.  I'm sure I can find other people who would want to go back to Florence too (Shannon, Braelynn, etc), so maybe it's not an impossible dream. :)

Rome Day 4: We got back to Rome by the early afternoon.  Before this trip, I strongly stated, "I REFUSE to see any more cathedrals on this continent."  However, in the same breath, I also exclaimed by desire to go to the Vatican. Oh, wait, you mean the Vatican is basically a giant cathedral? Blonde moment 8,000 for me.  I promise I'm actually smart.

So, we went to the Vatican.  Again, I don't like art, but I did want to see the Sistine Chapel, HOWEVER I did not realize I would have to go through an entire ART museum to see it. Much to Hannah's chagrin, I sped my way through the museum, en route to the Sistine Chapel (again, that's a chapel, which is a lot like a cathedral...).  Instead of pretending to be interested in my surroundings (Why are there so many tapestries? How many headless statues are actually necessary?), I counted the number of Yankee hats in the Vatican City. I think I got up to fifteen, versus one or two Red Sox hats.  This affirms my theory that the Yankees are the best team on the planet.

I know I sound bratty so I WILL say that I'm glad we went to the Vatican. It was interesting to see, and there is obviously a lot of history involved, so if I ever settle on what I actually want to do with my life, being able to say I've been there will be a valuable asset.  The Sistine Chapel was a bit of a letdown (I thought it would be bigger) but it's still amazing that Michelangelo was able to paint the entire thing by himself.

We left the Vatican, got dinner with Hannah's friend from school (pizza! mm) and then prepared to spend the night in the Rome airport.  In case anyone ever goes to this airport with the goal of spending the night there: don't.  They close the departures section from 2-4:30 AM, and security doesn't even open until 5 AM.  I slept (no, lied down) on the cold tile floor of the arrivals section, among many other American travelers.  I don't know if this is actually true, but I blame this night for the sickness that came a few days later.

Still, though, every single part of the trip was amazing, eye-opening, and 100% worth the exhaustion and illness that happened afterwards.  Although my contact with them was limited, the Italians are an amazing group of people.  They are passionate, loud, and intense about everything they do. The Spanish, in comparison, are intense in a quieter kind of way, which is very hard to explain over writing.  I guess the best way to explain is that the Italians openly show their emotions, whereas Spanish often do not (in my experiences).  The most accurate example I can think of is what Lindsay's mom told me about attending soccer games in both countries: In Spain (she went to a FC Barcelona game), the crowd was mainly quiet because they were focused on the game.  They burst into songs and cheered wildly when Barcelona scored, but for the most part, they were intensely glued into what was happening on the field (with obviously random curse words thrown in here and there).  The Italians, by comparison, are extremely loud when watching soccer games and (apparently) narrate the whole game through a slew of Italian curse words, slang, and excitement.  There is a time and place for both attitudes, but for now, I think I might like the Italian version better. (Random addition: I also like the way Italian men look in comparison to Spanish men, but this is probably irrelevant. And I don't mean Jersey Shore Italian, might I add. That's gross.) I absolutely want to travel to more cities in Italy one day. I think I could stay there for a month and not see everything I would want to see.

So, yeah, that was Italy.  I couldn't have asked for a better long weekend.

Lauren