The Adventure Coming To A Close...

Came back from the Christmas Market trip through Bavaria today and realizing that I will leave Europe tomorrow morning at 10am to travel all day back to Seattle.

All I can say is one word: WOW

I can't believe all of the things that I have done in the past four months.  Experienced new things...I am very glad I did this trip.

On to the adventure of this weekend....

Thursday met at the bus at 5am! That is right 5 am! We were on the way driving to Bamberg where we spent all 3 nights.  On the way to Bamberg we stopped to our first of three cities.  We stopped to Rothenberg to the Christmas markets there.  Afterwards we got to our hotel in Bamberg.  One of the coolest things...I had my own room! :D

The next day, Friday, at 9am we loaded the bus up to head to Nurnberg.  This Christmas market is one of the most famous markets that we went to.  Aunt Anna and I wandered the market during the day and met up with Uncle Doug and friends later and wandered some more.  At night, this Christmas market is CRAZY! So many people! But very fun.  Because Anna and I wandered earlier, we decided that we were cold and found some therapy in Starbucks and waited for Doug and friends to come back before heading back to the bus.  

Saturday we a really fun day.  I decided to sleep in and meet Anna and Doug at 11am and we went into downtown Bamberg to obviously the Christmas markets! :D  We wandered the market and then met the bus at 2pm for a 3 hour ride around the mountains and villages around Bamberg.  We actually got to see some of the places where the Harry Potter movies were filmed! It looked very familar! :D 

Today (Sunday :D ) we wandered the markets a little bit more before we had to check out at noon.  After that, we headed back to the base where we were picked up.  And now I am packing and getting ready to head back to the states. WEIRD!  All I can say is that this is bittersweet.  I am sad to leave Europe...but very excited to see friends and family at home!

Love you and miss you all!  Can't wait to see you!

A weekend in Trier, Germany and Paris, France!

So lets just say that this past weekend was pretty much really awesome!

Thursday night, Aunt Anna, Uncle Doug and I head out to Trier, Germany and check into our hotel. Then most of friday we explored the city of Trier. There was 2 or 3 Christmas markets going on and we looked at those. The main reason sight we saw were the Roman baths in Trier. It was so cool to see what Romans use to live in and crawl below ground through the tunnels!

After our time was done in Trier we drove to PARIS! We got to Paris around 7pm and checked into our hotel. We got a really good hotel on the outskirts of the city. Our hotel was right across the street from a metro station! How perfect right? At around 8:30 we head into town to go see the Effiel Tower!! It is all lit up blue and has the circle of yellow stars like the EU flag because the president of France is the president of the EU right now. So I saw Effiel the first night! :D And I saw it SPARKLE!

The next day, we started at the Louve. We only hit one wing because it is SO BIG and so much to take in! We hit the wing that had the Monna Lisa. So I of course said hi to Monna! Then we had lunch at a place nearby and we all had the Croque Royal. SO GOOD! If you ever go to Paris get this! It is a ham and cheese panini with melted cheese on top and also and egg! :D

After the Louve, we went to the Museum d'Orsay. Saw some Impressionism paintings and I think those were my favorite! I really liked the layout of this museum more because it was smaller! :D Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to relax and then went it got really dark, we went back into town to go climb the Arch de Triumphe! This had the most amazing view of the city I have ever seen! I saw the Effiel Tower sparkle again!

Sunday morning, we got up early to go see Notre Dame! AWESOME! We were inside while mass was starting and we saw all the people of the church process into mass.  This was one of the most beautiful churches I have seen! And I have seen a lot of churches! :D  After Notre Dame, we checked out of the hotel and drove back to Germany!

So here I sit! Back in Germany, tired and happy!  This was quite possibly one of my favorite trips I have been on since I have been to Europe!

Hope that was enough for you! Love and miss you all!

First few days in Germany

So the adventure in Germany begins!

Got into the Dusseldorf airport around 7pm and of course the first thing I had was STARBUCKS! :D I hadn't had it since august when I was in London.  Aunt Anna, Uncle Doug and I sat and drank our amazing coffee and then we headed towards their house.  It was about an hour drive.  I stayed up for a bit, called some people from skype and then headed to bed. 

But who knew I would sleep until 1:30 in the afternoon the next day!  I must have been tired from all the stress of finals and moving.  Then Anna took me to the base where Doug works and we got some snacks and I got the first book in this Twilight series that everyone is raving about.  And guess what....I got to pay in American Dollars! :D I was pretty pumped about that.

Then that evening because it was thanksgiving, I went with Anna and Doug to the Boeing thanksgiving dinner. It got to meet some of the people that Doug works with.  It was a traditional thanksgiving dinner with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, cranberries, and all the fixings! And I even got to eat pumpkin pie for desert! My FAVORITE!

That is just about all that has happened so far in Germany. BUT there will be much more to update on later! Love you and miss you all!

Finals and ending my time in Florencethis week...

So my time in Florence is coming to an end! Its still very bittersweet but I am excited to go to Germany this Wednesday!

Aunt Anna and Uncle Doug arrived in Florence this past Saturday! I have been trying to spend as much time with them as I can but I also have been studying for finals as well. I met them briefly on Saturday before I went to the Fiorentina soccer game. I told them a good place to eat near the Duomo and then I had to leave. But Sunday I went with them to the Uffizi Gallery and we had lunch at the rooftop cafe. It was a beautiful day cause it was cold, but it was sunny and the sun was shining on us making us warm! Tonight I am meeting them for dinner and I am not sure where we will go yet! Then on Wednesday we are flying back together to Germany.

Finals week has been pretty hectic so far, I took my Italian Cinema final today and I will have my Italian final tomorrow. Wednesday will be pretty crazy because I have my mysticism and magic final at 10:50 and then my flight is at 2:30 out of Florence! It will be crazy hectic but we will make it work!

My feeling are very mixed right now. I am sad to leave my friends here in Florence early but I am WAY excited to go to Germany and spend thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle. I feel like my time here in Florence has FLOWN by and now its coming to quickly to its end. I am realzing all the things I haven't done yet and I won't have time to. But I guess its all the more reason to come back right? :D

Well, thats all the update I can give for now. Off to go study more! Love you and miss you all!

Rome, Milan, Ferrari Gallery....so much to update on!

These past couple weeks have been pretty awesome! The 6-9 the program took us all to Rome. If you haven't seen my pictures on facebook or myspace I suggest you check them out cause they are pretty awesome! Rome was so beautiful and amazing and I had a great time there! I could have stayed longer!! We saw all of the tourist sites such as the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Vatican, Colosseum and so much more! I even went to an Ice Club! That's right and club completely made out of ice! It was insane! BUT the people at the club give you and thermal cape and gloves to wear so I wasn't completely frozen! :D

Then this past week went by WAY too fast! This last Wednesday Richmond held our final dinner. Everyone got dressed up and had a really fancy dinner. I am pretty sure that I was pretty sad the entire time cause it was one of the last times we would all be in the same room together. ALSO, my italian teacher from Lido showed up! I got to hang out with Alessandra! It made me so happy! And she promised that she would come to the states hopefully soon!

Friday I got the awesome chance to go to Milan to see Leonardo da Vinci's 'Last Supper'. It was a pretty awesome sight to see...too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures of it or I would have snapped one! It was a 4 hour bus ride there and the same back so I was pretty tired by the end of the day. Milan is a crazy city too I might add. It was a lot bigger than I would have thought but it does have some AMAZING shopping! :D

Then yesterday (Saturday) I went to the Ferrari Gallery. That is right...I saw a bunch of really really awesome Ferrari cars! Those pictures are on my facebook and myspace as well! With every floor of cars I got more and more excited because 1) they were all pretty much red and 2) they were ferraris! :D So I have decided that I want a ferrari for christmas. Can we make this happen mom and dad? ;p

Well, the program here is slowing winding down because this next week is my last week of classes. Then finals and I leave for Germany on the 26th! It is both a happy and sad feeling because I have met some really awesome people here in Florence and I am going to miss them greatly. On the other hand I am excited to go someplace new and to eventually return home. It is a bittersweet feeling. I just have to make sure that I come back someday!

Anyways, hope that was enough update for you! Love you and miss you all!

Venezia

This past weekend I had the awesome chance to go to Venice! The program took all of us there and it was so beautiful! We left friday morning at 8:30am and got to Venice around 1pm, took a ferry to the mainland and then had museum tours all day.

Most of the weekend was full of tours BUT I did get some christmas shopping done! I was going to go on a gondola ride but they were expensive! It was about 100euros which is INSANE! The city itself is very expensive as well. Most restaurants had their dinners starting at 20euros. SO I ate at McDonalds! :D

As much as Venice was beautiful, it was still full of tourists! The city is on water and boat is their main mode of transportation. Which explains why the gondola rides were so pricey. I think the amount of time I got to spend there was the perfect amount. AND another thing, Venice has absolutely no night life! Not just going out, but movies or anything besides eating out. It was weird to me!

Now, I am back in Florence and realizing just how much LITTLE time I have left here! I have about 3 weeks of classes and then finals! Today I turned in one of my two research papers that is due. It felt good to turn it it, now I just need to finish my second one.

Next trip is ROME! I am WAY excited! It is not this weekend but next. This weekend is Halloween and I am excited! Italians don't really do much for Halloween but I have been told that they have been recently. It should be interesting!

Now, it is after midnight here....time to go to bed! Love you and miss you all!

Midterms OVER...now on to research papers!

As you can tell from my title, my midterms are over! I haven't found out how I did on them yet but the suspense is killing me! (its a figure of speech its not LITTERALLY killing me :D). But I think I did pretty well.

This past weekend I have spent most of it in the school's library cause it was actually open this weekend! They had extra hours so students could work on their research papers that are due here in the next couple of weeks! So here I am...updating my blog! I decided I needed a quick break from writing about Italian cinema.

I am very excited for the upcoming week because of 3 reasons; 1) I find out how I did on my midterms, 2) I have a cooking class on thursday! and 3) friday the program is taking us to Venice! I cannot wait! It will be nice to get out of Florence, I love it here but I really want to travel! Which that is why I am in the library this weekend because the Monday we get back from Venice, one of my research papers is due! Bad timing huh? So I am being a good student and not procratinating! :D I am very proud of myself!

I don't know if everyone has found out what my new addiction is. I heard people tell me about this TV show back home and I never thought I would be interested in it but I watched a couple episodes this past thursday and now I am HOOKED! Now that I have left you in suspense are you wondering what the show is.....Heroes! Yes, Heroes. I know I am behind on the times but I am in the middle of the first season and I think I am on episode 16 or something. Its so good! I recommend EVERYONE to watch it! BUT you have to start from the beginning!

Well....now that I have completely updated you, even to what TV shows I am watching I better get back to my paper!

Love you and miss you all!