Venice

After our quick trip to Sienna on Wednesday, we were off again but this time to Venice and for 3 days. After a longish bus ride to the coast, plus a boat ride into the city (crazy) we had arrived to the city on the sea. Our first impressions of Venice was, I can't believe its all on water!! It is awesome and just so weird to think there were no cars, taxis, or crazy scooters around. Just singing gondala men. haha (We found out only 1 gondala women...haha) After checking into our hotel we went with our program to Piazza San Marco, St. Mark's Basillica, Doge's Palace, and the Bridge of Sighs. (which was under construction...) We finished our day with a really expensive and not very good dinner by Piazza San Marco and fell right to sleep in our mosquito filled hotel room. The next day we decided to take a break from the museums and go to a Venice beach, Lido. The beach was great, relaxing, and filled with lots of colorful beach wear options included speedos and just bottoms. hahaha After getting our fair share of the sun we took the water buses to Murano, the glass blowing city, and Burano, the lace city.  In Murano we got to see how they make the famous Murano glass which was awesome and even got to see the man make a glass blown horse in 2 minutes....which was awesome. Burano was filled with lots of colorful streets and lots and lots of lace. Lace bras, lace shirts, lace tablecloths, lace underwear, lace patches, lace shower curtains. You name it, they had it. This night our food got a lot better and ended with a good dinner by the ocean. Perfect. The next morning we visited the Peggy Guggenhiem Museum which housed contemporary art. It was a nice break from the normal art you see in Italy which was pretty cool and the museum property was gorgeous and of course on the water. Then comes the tourist part, the gondala ride. We made a trip around the city in our very own gondala along with a long line of other tourists that Sunday morning. And of course it was great and really fun and we negotiated and got it for a great price!! Venice was amazing and we loved it soooo much!! We also noticed lots of cruise ships that start, end , and stop there....giving some people here some hints. hahaha

Siena and Bologna

Florence is pretty small so we had some extra time on our hands.  So...we decided to mark Wednesdays as our travel for the afternoon day.  On our second week here, we decided to go to Siena.  We hopped on a bus and off we went.  Siena was gorgeous!!  Of course the main reason we went was because of these yummy almond paste cookies.  So the first thing on our list was to find Nannini and eat some of their famous cookies.  After that we visited sites like this tower thingy, the Duomo, and some little shops.  It was a quick trip, but very worth it!!  Last week, we went to Bologna.  I LOVED IT!!  It was small, but fun, young, and well worth the expensive train ticket.  When we arrived in Bologna it was raining, but of course that didn't stop us from shopping!!  After buying some needed items, we went to see the Piazza Maggiore and the old university and its famous anatomy room (it was cool!!).  Then we headed down the road to see the leaning towers and the University of Bologna.  It was very cool!!  The school was in several different buildings down a long long street.  After looking at all of the famous sites, we had to eat some famous Bologna Tortellini.  We went to dinner and ate Tortellinni with Bologenese sauce and it was scrum diddley umptious!!  It was the best pasta I have ever had!!  Overall, these two cities were incredible and I will definitely go back soon!!

First week of Florence

So after writing about Rome, we noticed that we haven't really wrote a ton about our adventures in Florence. Or the past week that we have been here. haha. Our first week of school was so different then a typical A&M week, which is not a bad thing at all!! haha Our classes are very interactive and took multiple field trips around the city to places like gardens, palaces,and museums to help capture what Florence is all about. We love our photography teacher, Neri, who is a native Florentine and professional photographer. He is sailor at heart but has traveled worldwide for amazing photo shoots. He is teaching us how to use a manuel camera and really how to take a good picture. This past week we got to take lots of pictures and got critiqued to help us see how to make our work better. Our Culture & Style class is also pretty active and has made several trips out of the classroom and around town. We have learned lots of great tips about Florence, including they don't having salt in bread, pedestrians never have the right away, coffee is not a leisure activity, nothing can go in a to go cup, you get a coffee break at school, scooters rule the road, and you can drink wine whenever you want. We also go to go to a red wine tasting class on Tuesday. It was so cool to learn about the types of grapes and the regions of wine in Italy and try some different types of wine. We also got to make our own pizzas at this really really cute restaurant in Florence!! It was so good!! This past week we also got educated on another Florence staple, Tuscan wine or more specifically the Chianti region. After our red wine tasting class we got a taste and began to learn some about the amazing wines they have in Italy. Last Friday, instead of school we had a field trip for our class to Castello Vicchiomaggio which is a vineyard in the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany. We got to take a tour of the grounds, see how the vineyard runs, and oh ya try some great wine and Italian food! The vineyard was a lot of fun and beautiful to say the least and we even took home a souvenir wooden wine box from the caste, empty though, but will soon be filled. haha! 

A Roman Holiday

For our first weekend in Italia we decided to venture to Rome aka where the Olympics took place and the capital. Friday afternoon we headed out of Firenze via Eurostar which was basically the best idea ever. First of all the train was really nice, comfortable chairs, and  about 5 times as much space as an airplane. So needless to say that we are sold on traveling by train, completely worth it. That night we scoped out some of the city including the very popular Trevi Fountain where we found an amazing gelato place...that had flavors like nutella and cream. Wonderful. That night we came home to a great hostel minus the poop smell that engulfed our room. It would not leave even with two bottles of air fresher provided. Vanilla and Lemon just weren't cutting it. Saturday morning we got an early start to our huge tourist day in Rome. Basically Rome in a day. Started off at the Vatican, Vatican Museum, the Sistene Chapel, and who could forget the climb up the Vatican (535 steps) to an amazing 360' view of all of Rome. Then we went to Castle de San Angelo then a quick lunch at this authentic* Italian pizza place where they folded it in half. A-Mazing. Next was Piazza Nevona with the fountains, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain again this time with pennies, Roman Forum, The Colosseum. So basically after the Colosseum we were hungry and our feet hurt so of course next had to be candy and dinner. As we were site seeing around Rome we noticed a lot of people taking pictures by different monuments by Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons. We had heard that the film took place in Rome so when in Rome, go see Angels & Demons in English. hahaha So that night we had awesome popcorn and watched Tom Hanks grace the screen in English in Italy. It was so cool to see all the places that we had been in the movie!! That night we were so tired and had another day ahead of us. The next day we had a more leisurely morning at only the best, McDonalds. The Spanish Steps, some shopping, and lunch and bicycle riding through the Villa Borghese consumed our afternoon. And then it was time to head back to our wonderful town of Firenze. We explored the Rome train station thoroughly realizing that is was basically a mall (haha) and then boarded the train back. Rome was a lot of fun and totally worth it! And basically we concluded that we could write a travel guide about how to do Rome in a day. 

When in Rome.....and Florence....

We arrived in Rome just in time literally they said 12:30 to 7, we were there at 7, to meet up with our program at the hotel and find out where we were living in Florence and what classes we were taking. Cooking classes, wine tasting, pizza making classes, dinner with Italians, and an Italian ballet were some of the activities we signed up for also during orientation which are throughout the month. After and large Italian buffet (yum) and a game of Phase 10, or what some people called Italian Uno, with another fellow Aggie it was off to bed in Roma. At orientation the next day we learned more about our program and then hopped on a bus to Florence. The drive on the way was beautiful and filled with hills, trees, and lots of gorgeous tuscan houses and rooftops scattered throughout. We finally started to realize, we were indeed in Italy. WHOOP!! After settling into our apartment and carrying all the luggage up the stairs....that was fun, we decided to explore Florence a little and eat our first Florentine meal on the river. We quickly learned that Italians have a lot of different eating happens then the U.S. including wine and taking there time. hahaha So after a 3 hour meal complete with wine, two courses, coffee, and dessert we added another reason to why we love Florence!! Today we went on a guided tour to the Galleria dell' Accademia and the Galleria delgli Uffizi with one of the art history professors at our school. We got to lots of art, but the highlights were the David sculpture by Michaelangelo and famous paintings like The Birth of Venus. After the tour and a bite to eat at a pizzeria we explored and shopped around the river scoping out what was there and how cheap we could get it, mentally storing things we needed before we left. haha Back to the books tomorrow for us. But hopefully it won't be too bad...I mean its Florence right....hahaha! Photography and Style and Culture for Brittni and Heather, Italian and Style and Culture of Italy for Stephanie, and Drawing and Style and Culture of Italy for Hannah. Goodnight from Firenze!! We will keep you posted on how it goes! Goodnight from Firenze, CIAO!!

Across the Pond

Our summer adventure began with a stop in London. After meeting Brittni at Heathrow and minding the gap on the tube we checked into our hostel and off we went.  After dropping off our luggage, we were off to Trafalgar Square where we took multiple photoshoots by lions, fountain, and statues oh my and some shopping on the side. And don't worry we found multiple coffee shops on the way to keep us awake the whole day. Tuesday we woke up bright and early and  planned for a quick ride on the tube, but it was closed due to the dead body found.....hahaha so instead a couple buses. We hit up the British museum, tower of London (saw the jewels and King Henry VII's armor!), and saw Wicked complete with British accents. Next day we went on the Aggie owned and operated Fat Bike tours, which included cute tour guys (one an Aggie!! WHOOP! BowWowChickaBowWowChickaBowWow) and Kensington Palace, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Prince Albert statue, Prince Charles's Pad, Princess Diana memorial, Parliament, Westiminster Abbey, James Bond's birthplace, the site of the London Olympics,  and basically the whole city. And to top if off we wearing really cute clear rain ponchos and it rained the entire time. But it was awesome and we loved every minute of it, sign us up for Paris!! After drying off and finally getting some food, cause we forgot money on the tour, (oops...haha) we went to Harrods and the London Eye, which is the biggest ferris wheel in the world and we could see 20 miles each direction of London!! BEAUTIFUL!! The next day we went on a tour around London with AIFS then explored the Westminister Abbey, Kennsington Palace and the rose gardens of Hyde Park. We dined at the Texas Embassy (twice) hahaha snacking on chips and salsa and margaritas!! We also got great and cheap seats that night to the Phantom of the Opera, which was outstanding!! London overall was awesome and now we our on way to Italy!! CIAO!!