With a Lion Heart

If ever there was a place that defines serenity, it would be Sardinia in May. This island was filled with complete relaxation and separation from the real world due to the lack of wifi on the island. This might sound startling, but for three girls who had just finished their classes that week, a wifi-less vacation was just what we needed.

For those of you who haven’t heard of this Italian island, it is located off the west coast of the country. It is filled with a beautiful landscape from the beaches to the mountainous hills that lead to gorgeous drives on the coastline. We stayed in the Northern part of the island called Golfo Aranci, near Olbia. Fun fact: it was named after all the crabs that were on the beaches in a native language, which was mistranslated to “Golf of Oranges” in Italian! There are inexpensive flights to the Southern point of the island, however, there are also night ferries that take you to the place we stayed at. We were all pretty nervous at first to take the ten-hour ferry from Livorno to the island, but once we were settled into a cabin with beds, the trip was so feasible.

We arrived on the island at seven in the morning on the Saturday and headed towards our airbnb that was located within a beautiful complex shown below. As nice as it was to not have any service, we were also thankful that at least Mikaela could use her data and direct us to our place and look up some activities throughout the weekend.

This trip really consisted of pure relaxation – and wine. We spent majority of the first two days lounging on the beach, reading and sipping wine or champagne enjoying the bluest waters I have ever seen.

On our second night, we ate dinner at a quaint little restaurant and wound up befriending the owner. This worked extremely well in our favor. He was able to help us find a place to see horses as well as give us a great deal on a rental car for our last day. Golfo Aranci reminded me of a small town back home where everyone you run into knows each other and they enjoy the simple pleasures of life. For example, as we were walking to the horse place, we ran into the mother of the owner who called her son and had him come pick us up (they were also very kind as well).

The rental car on the third day made for the perfect last experience on this beautiful island. Due to the lack of public transportation, it is almost necessary to rent a car in order to really explore the island. We packed up some snacks and water and drove to one of the famous beaches on the Costa Smeralda known as the Spiaggia del Piccolo Pevero. We had lunch at at the Porto Cervo, the north point of this beautiful coast and on the way to another beach we ran into a beautiful winery and were able to have our first and last Italian wine tasting!

After such an incredible and busy year, I was so grateful to have a trip like Sardinia. We visited while the weather was warm, but not warm enough for the tourists to come, creating a feeling that the island was our own private oasis. One of my favorite parts of the island was the need to speak Italian. Unlike in Florence or other major Italian cities, pretty much everyone on Sardinia only spoke Italian giving us that necessary push to speak the language that we’ve been learning the past year. It was really eye-opening to see how much we understood and how much we could speak back to the locals considering our lack of practice in Florence where everyone speaks English.

Sardinia was such a breath of fresh air – and great seafood at Porto del Trattoria – and I was so thankful that I could experience it with my two girlfriends that were yearlong students like me. An even better plus was having Mikaela’s mom with us, making the girls weekend that much better!

Barcelona really met and exceeded all my expectations when I visited the colorful city. There was such an amazing mix of modern life with art from years past.

We stayed in a great Gothic Quarter that was close to the boardwalk, beaches and food places such as Milk for brunch!! For most of my travels, I have stayed in a mix of Airbnbs and hostels and this weekend, an Airbnb worked out best this trip.

Our first main day in the city, we spent walking around and exploring – also getting Brunch again! We went to Brunch & Cake (photo of my amazing food shown above), but I would recommend that you call for a reservation so you don’t have to wait in line for an hour or two :l . We also learned that it’s important to make an online reservation for the Sagrada Familia designed by Gaudi. You can get a student discount online and pick the exact time for the following day that you’d like to visit the church.

Due to the wait time at the amazing brunch place and finding out about the wait line for the church, we decide to head to Park Guell and check out the amazing mosaics. If you are in a group, especially in a group of four, I would recommend using taxis and the metro to get around the city. We found that taxis were surprisingly inexpensive and almost around the same price of a metro when we split the costs! The metro isn’t too difficult to figure out, however, if you are just on your own in the city.

As for Park Guell, it is a steep climb to the entrance depending on which side you enter the place. Try to go from the front entrance so you don’t have to climb up a mountain! The tickets are fairly inexpensive and completely worth every penny as we entered the park grounds and witnessed the beautiful mosaic wall – just one part of Gaudi’s beautiful Park Guell creation. I would definitely walk around the outside complex before our ticketed time stamp to enter the paying section and explore the intricate design of the whole park!

On the final day, I was lucky enough to go inside the famous Sagrada Familia. If you ever visit Barcelona you MUST go to this magnificent church. It has such a different energy than other famous cathedrals and basilicas such as St. Peter’s in the Vatican, St. Patrick’s in Dublin, and even the Duomo in Florence. There is something so majestic about the design by Gaudi  and the story behind the building. It’s incredible to believe that it’s still being worked on, 100 years later, hopefully finished in the next couple of years – long after the death of the creator Gaudi. If you ever have the feeling of a high power in a place, it’s the Sagrada Familla, and I felt so amazed to have that feeling.

As some of you might know, Barcelona is also known for its nightlife of both bars and clubs. My girlfriends and I were able to experience some of that energy on the first night when we went to Opium, one of Barcelona’s most popular beach clubs! Along with the nightlife, the food as I brought up before is extremely well known. Along with the great brunch spots, tapas were one of my favorite experiences while I visited. I met up with a friend from my high school at this place called Bormuth and it was everything I could have dreamed of – happy belly happy life you know.

One of the highlights of my trip to Barcelona was actually due to a lack of planning on our part on that final day. As I said, I was able to visit the beautiful Sagrada Familla, however that wasn’t after we walked over and found out the only opening was around 6pm – after the time my girlfriends were supposed to leave for Florence. This is why I highly recommend you buy your ticket online. With that said, once we realized that the church wasn’t going to work out in our favor that afternoon, we decided to rent these little yellow go cars and tour around the city for about two hours! It was such a blast and such a great way to see the city – the cars even talk to you and share information on places you pass while driving.

A couple weeks ago, my girlfriends and I ventured to the Netherlands to visit the beautiful city of Amsterdam! We only had a short time there, however, we felt we hit all the main points of the city we needed to besides the beautiful tulip land located outside of the city.

I thought I might create this post a little differently, using a list format to better explain the most important places you must visit when you’re in Amsterdam.

1.     The Food.  We were lucky enough to stumble into a market close to the Amsterdam letters that featured some of the famous Dutch food we heard so much about. We made sure to have chips (fries in America),  an apple tart, and our favorite stroopwaffle! If you don’t try anything else in Amsterdam, make sure to have the stroopwaffle it was the best tasting sweet – which is saying a lot considering my love for sweets.

2.     Canal Boat Ride. We were able to get a good deal on an hour and a half canal tour through the many canals in Amsterdam. This city is made up of many canals and it really felt like the best way to tour the city since we were on a time crunch. Through this tour, we were able to see important areas and buildings such as the Jewish Quarter and the Nemo Museum that is shaped like a large ship.

3.     Anne Frank House. If you only have minimal time in Amsterdam do NOT forget to visit this museum. It was one of the more powerful museums I have been to and allowed the visitors understand the struggles of the Frank family during WWII before they were found. It allowed for reflection and recognition on how lucky I am to be able to travel and leave the quarters of my home freely.

(photo of the canal outside of the Anne Frank House)

4.     Amsterdam Letters. This will only take you a couple of minutes to check out, located close to the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum. It is very touristy, but also fun to climb and take a photo on the letters with friends. I furthermore remembered my subtle fear of heights sitting atop one of those letters, which was an experience to say the least.

5.     Museums. As I mentioned above, there are some important museums located close to the I am Amsterdam letters. We visited the Van Gogh museum while we were here, however, if you have more time I would get the Amsterdam weekend pass card and visit the Rijksmuseum and Rembrandt Museums as well. As for the Van Gogh, make sure you book your tickets online so you don’t have to wait in the hours-long line at the door.

6.     Wander Around. Most importantly, I would say you should make time to walk/bike around the city, exploring the different areas that make up Amsterdam such as the Red Light District at night, Leidseplein area, and the city center. Walking around and just exploring different areas of a city really helps you understand the culture and appreciate the way people live.

There are definitely more places to explore if you have more than just two days in Amsterdam, however, these were the most important places that we wanted to see before we had to board our flight back to Florence. Let me know if you have any questions on visiting Amsterdam.

Many people say that once you spend a couple months abroad or travel to new places, your life changes from what it formally was. In the past months since I arrived in Europe in August, I have felt that my perspective was altering, however, I didn’t get that life changing feeling until I visited Istanbul. I can honestly say I feel like a different person after exploring this incredible city with such a beautiful culture and lifestyle.

I traveled to Istanbul, Turkey with one of my closest friends – it was our romantic getaway we like to say. I’m not sure if you know this, but Turkey is one of the rare countries that spreads onto two continents – Europe and Asia. We landed on the Asia side, just outside of Istanbul, and traveled by bus into the Europe side to get to our hostel located near Taksim Square. We stayed at a little place called Levanten Hostel that was about 7 minutes from the Square, a little hard to find at first, but comfortable and affordable!

On our first night in Istanbul, we wondered around Taksim Square and on the famous Istiklal Street that was also the unfortunate target of a terrorist attack a couple weeks earlier. I know some of you are probably wondering if we ever felt scared or if our safety was ever threatened and I can honestly say that we felt extremely safe our whole time in Istanbul. Of course, we were aware that something terrible could happen at any moment, however, there were no circumstances that made us feel like we were at risk. I’ve actually felt more unsafe in some parts of Italy than in Istanbul.

We had, furthermore, already booked our trip before the attacks occurred, and like my roommates and I have been saying since the Paris attacks in November, we want to be smart, however, we don’t want anyone to take away from our time in Europe. We refuse to let fear keep us from living our lives. With that said, I’ll get back to our time in the wonderful Istanbul!

On the following day, we made a list of all the must sees we wanted to accomplish and started off towards the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market! It was about a 30-minute walk from Taksim, which allowed us to really take in our surroundings, popping into little street-side stores along the way. On our walk, we crossed over the Galata Koprusu Bridge and took a quick minute to take in the New Mosque across the way. This bridge is special due to the duo layers – the upper floor for fisherman, pedestrians and cars, and the lower floor that holds restaurants that serve the freshest seafood!

I have to say the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market were one of my favorite places in Istanbul. This has a lot to do with the people that are trying to sell their merchandise to customers. Normally these people are extremely annoying – we all know the ones in New York City and even in Italy – however, the people in the Bazaar and Market made Mikaela and I feel so happy. They just keep complimenting each person that walks by and the way they speak just makes you feel some type of way. It’s definitely hard to describe, which is why everyone must visit – you’ll feel an extreme confidence boost for sure.

(Outside the Spice Market)

While in the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market, Mikaela and I picked up some timeless Istanbul pieces such as handmade Turkish Rugs (small) from Anatolia and some beautiful handmade scarves that we used as a headpiece when we entered the mosques. I may or may not have purchased some rings as well.

What was amazing about these places was the ability to negotiate down to a deal that anyone would be foolish not to take advantage of! Make sure you take out some Turkish lire before you come to these venues – the conversion is in our benefit! Also to note, the Grand Bazaar isn’t open on Sundays so make sure to schedule a visit on a weekday or Saturday when you visit Istanbul.

After our visit to the Market and Bazaar, we hiked it over to the Suleymaniye Mosque to participate in prayer! Most Turkish people are part of the Muslim religion, which gave us a strong desire to participate in their faith. Muslim people are called to prayer five times a day, starting from the early hours and ending late into the night. You can actually hear the call to prayer in Arabic throughout the city, which was such mesmerizing sound.

It was such a pleasure to be able to participate in prayer at the Suleymaniye Mosque. There was such an overwhelming presence of a higher power around us, making us appreciate this faith more than if we were to just walk through the mosque. With all the negative groups that try and taint the views on this religion, I left Istanbul feeling a new found admiration and love for a religion so unlike my own.

One of the best parts of our trip to Istanbul was that we were able to make friends with people who were from the city. This friendship allowed us to explore more local areas of Istanbul that we would not have visited if we were by ourselves. Our friends showed us some amazing food after the prayer known as Kumpir aka the best baked potato you’ll ever have. We, furthermore, were able to explore some secret gems like a park that overlooked the Bosphorus and the Asian side of Istanbul!

On our second full day in Istanbul, we took the metro to the Sultan Ahmet Square where we visited the Cistern, Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque! While we were there, we stopped of course for some Turkish tea – we made sure to have it at least three times each day – and ran into a celebration of the annual tulip festival in the city.

There were beautiful dancers on stilts, traditional Turkish musicians, the largest Tulip carpet in the world, and even people dressed up as a pot of tulips. The garden behind the Topkapi Palace was also filled with beautiful tulips! Turkish people are very proud of their tulips and this festival honors the countries favorite flower. They actually have a little battle with the Netherlands over tulips, both cities declaring that they had the tulips first!

Once we were “tuliped” out, we met back up with our Turkish friends and embarked over to the Asia side of Istanbul!

We took the ferry across, which allowed us to see all the important monuments located along the water such as the Maiden’s Tower. Once we arrived on this side of the city, we immediately felt such a difference in scenery. The energy was a little quicker and there was a subtle buzz of business throughout the area. One of the most important parts about our visit to the Asian Istanbul was definitely the WAFFLES! After my trip to Belgium, I wasn’t sure I would love any other type of waffle, however, Istanbul changed my mind. The waffle was filled with an assortment of syrups and fruits, feeding my soul with happiness.

The Asian side of Istanbul offered a very beautiful view by the waterfront. We felt very local as we sat in the grass and looked out into the water, learning the proper way to eat sunflower seeds in Turkey and enjoying some lemon soda. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stay too long due to the sudden downpour, however, we were very glad we got to say we visited Asia while studying abroad!

All in all, our time in Istanbul was far too short for either of our liking. We woke up on the morning of our flight back to Florence with tears at the brim of our eyelids. I can’t even sum up the entirety of my experience in Istanbul although I attempted to highlight some of the sights we saw. Apart from the beauty that makes up the monuments and mosques of Istanbul, the food and its people were beyond amazing.

The people in particular, not just the friends we had made in our weekend, were all so warm and welcoming to foreigners. I never felt like I stuck out in a culture that is so unlike my own. There was some sort of strange comfort being in a world so unlike my own and I really wish all of you have the opportunity to experience this feeling some point in your lives.

One of my favorite experiences while traveling abroad was having my family come to visit me. During my spring break at the end of March, the fam – besides my sister who we missed terribly – came to visit Florence!

We decided to stay in Italy during their ten-day stay, exploring Florence, Venice and Rome before they had to fly back home to New York. They arrived on the Wednesday of my spring break and I was ready with a whole schedule for the week! The first couple of days with the family could also be known as the climbing days; we ventured up to the top of the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace, hiked up to Piazzale Michelangelo, and climbed the 414 stairs of the Campanile (aka the Duomo’s Bell Tower by Giotto). If all these heights weren’t enough, Saturday I took them to Cinque Terre for a two hour hike from Vernazza to Monterosso (two towns separated by a steep mountain path).

(the view was worth it I think)

Although I did seem to tire them out – we woke up past nine most days, which is an extremely rare occurrence for the members of my family – we made sure to stop and have gelato almost twice a day! Some of the gelato places we visited were La Carraia, Gelateria Santa Trinita, and the Lungarno Gelateria! Along with all the gelato we consumed, we visited some of my favorite restaurants and sandwich shops such as Osteria Santa Trinita for dinner and Ino’s for sandwiches.

(Their first gelato!)

On the Friday night in Florence I was able to set up a cooking class that even my ten-year-old brother would be able to participate in – a pizza and gelato-making course! We used Ciao Florence to book our course and I would absolutely recommend signing up for this class. We learned from two talented chefs how to make both types of food, giving my momma some extra ideas for when we returned home ;). Mitch was even able to participate in the gelato making, adding in some of the necessary ingredients to make the perfect gelato.

As the trip hit its half way mark, we made our way to Venice for two nights. We made it to Venice early Monday morning, dropping our belongings off at one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve stayed at thus far – it was on its own little island off the mainland of Venice! From the island, we traveled to two islands that I hadn’t visited in my three previous tours of Venice, Burano and Murano. Murano Island is famous for its Murano glass, hand blown by the long line of family masters. The hotel set us up with a complimentary tour of the factory along with a short example of how the masters create the beautiful glass pieces seen on the selling floor. We picked up some beautiful pieces while there, it was too hard to resist!

After our tour through the Murano glass factory, we made our way to the most aesthetically colorful island I have ever seen. Burano is filled with all the colors of the rainbow, ranging from soft pastels to striking bright colors that somehow seem to exist and compliment each other. On the island we were furthermore able to tour a shop that makes the famous Burano lace seen below. The lace, starting at 700 Euros for a 4x4 square is almost always framed due to its unique and handmade beauty. If I remember correctly, it requires seven women to create one piece of Burano lace, each a master in one specific step. Although a dying art, the creation of Burano lace is something to be admired.

Unfortunately, I had to travel home for class on the following Tuesday while the family explored the mainland of Venice. However, I met up with them on Wednesday night in Rome for our last Italian adventure.

While I was in class on the Wednesday, before I met back up with my family, I had my mom book a tour for the Vatican. I had already visited there with my sister and I knew how much of a travesty it would be if they didn’t make the trip through the beautiful halls, rooms, chapels, and St Peter’s church that make up the city.

(We also made a quick trip to Pisa while they were in Florence)

During our last trip in Rome together, we visited the colosseum that I had visited previously with my sister along with the Palatine Hill, Capitoline Hill, and the Forum. The colosseum, again, was such an amazing and powerful sight, however, I have to say that I was slightly disappointed with the other places we visited. The Hills and the Forum were filled with ruins, barely any full buildings, and many crumpling rocks with plaques explaining what it used to be. It was even more dismaying learning that the reason for the extreme dishevelment of these areas was due to Rome taking the marble and stone from these areas in order to create new buildings and monuments around the city during the Renaissance time period. I guess it does make sense to use material that is close by, however, I would say that visiting the Forum and the Hills is not a must see when in Rome.

(my momma the thinker)

Having my family come to visit me while I was three-quarters the way finished with my year abroad was such an amazing experience. I am three times over grateful to have them in my life and that they were all able to visit me here in Italy. I was able to show them my home away from home and create new memories with them in places I have been visiting throughout the year. Furthermore, I am so so looking forward to seeing them in three short weeks – watch out for some big hugs and lots of love from your Italian traveler!

(we love the selfie stick btw)

Last month I had one of the most memorable trips with my best friend since middle school, ending in the beautiful city of Brussels, Belgium.

Caitlin came to visit the second weekend of March to explore Florence as well as Brussels and Venice! It was really a crazy week that took more than a couple days to recover from - sleep was not an option that week lol. One of the best parts was that we almost had the whole high school gang with us in Florence!

(Rian is living in Florence and Steph came to visit for the week as well - we missed you Jill!!)

Cait and I traveled to Brussels on the Friday, arriving in the city around ten at night. As we learned from our airbnb host, people in Brussels normally eat dinner before 9:30pm going to fry shops for a snack later in the night. Of course we had to follow suit and walked into the center of Brussels for some fries - known as chips in Europe - with some flavored mayo drizzled on top. It was definitely the perfect beginning to our short time in the city.

Saturday, we attempted to wake up early in order to have a half day in Brugge - a small, storybook town an hour by train from Brussels. Just a tip if you’re in Brussels and wish to go there, you must look at the daily schedule in order to find out what train you have to take and, furthermore, find your track. Arriving early will decrease the need to run around the train station like we had to. Another little tip is that in English, the town is called Bruges, however, in Brussels they spell it Brugge.

Once we arrived to Brugge, our first goal was to find a waffle place! Belgium is known for many types of food, waffles being the most important for breakfast! As you can see from the photo above, nutrition was not our mindset, but I can’t even describe how delicious the waffles were. Actually wishing I was eating one right now.

After breakfast, we took the next couple of hours to explore Brugge before heading back to Brussels. We made sure to see the main square where movies have been shot, Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, the swan grounds, and more enjoying the beauty of the buildings as we walked. The character of Brugge was just filled to the brim with an old-time charm. The town transported us to the inside of storybooks we read when we were younger.

The second half of our day we spent exploring Brussels, trying to get in everything because we were flying out to Venice at six in the morning. With the help of our maps, we were able to see most of the famous spots like the peeing boy and the chocolate square located in the center of town!

(Beautiful Brussels Cathedral)

While we approached the peeing boy statue - that was a lot smaller than either of us had expected - we ran into a huge parade. The people celebrating in the parade where dressed up to look like the statue in the photo below. The parade was meant to celebrate that everyone is valuable no matter what they look like while collecting charity to support local institutions that help give aid to kids with disabilities. They were playing music, dancing, and generously posing for pictures with the many tourists.

By the time we arrived back at our airbnb, we were well over exhausted and hungry for some more Belgium food! Thanks to a recommendation from our host, we were able to have the most delicious mussels I believe either of us had ever tasted. The restaurant, called Le Pre Sale, was located close to the center and even closer to our airbnb making it the perfect spot for our tired feet. We enjoyed the mussels, cooked in a white wine, more chips, and a refreshing beer or two. It was the perfect last meal for our time in Brussels.

Although we only had about a day and a half in Brussels, this beautiful city really left an impression on us. There was such a mix of languages - french was the most prominent with English and Dutch following - and modern vibe. Furthermore, our host was so amazing the whole weekend, giving us tips on where to go and how to have a more local experience.

It was so heartbreaking to hear about the terrorist acts that occurred about a week after we had visited. To think there are so many people filled with hatred, attacking innocent people is just a depressing fact of reality that is hard for me to wrap my head around. My thoughts and prayers continue to go to those who lost someone in the attacks there as well as in Paris and Ankara.

A little over a month ago I was able to visit the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic. I traveled from Berlin with my friend Mikaela - only a four hour ride by train - to finish off an amazing weekend of travels.

Prague is a magnificent mix of artistic cultures. The buildings range from the Gothic period all the way up to modern inventions exemplified by the dancing house below. Walking through the Old Town square, you can see the French inspired buildings along with the Gothic look of the churches around them. While traveling up to the palace town on the other side of the city, there is an interesting mix of artistic periods such as a church that has a Gothic foundation but a Baroque metal dome. Some of these sudden changes to the architecture of Prague can be the aftermath of wars that halted the construction of buildings for decades.

The country’s vast history - one that includes a lot of people getting pushed out of windows - has shaped the character that is found within the city of Prague. On our first day in Prague, we met up with a free walking tour to help us understand the city better. I strongly recommend everyone do at least a walking tour of every city they go to; you get a locals perspective on what you read online about the places you travel to.

Prague has had many different families and types of government in charge along with different types of governments. There is a rich history of battle between the Protestants and the Catholics where many confrontations usually ended with someone being thrown out a window. As our tour guide mentioned, Prague has a cynical and dark sense of humor. Their fables illustrate that the culture was not afraid of inflicting violence on another person, and then laugh about it later.

It seemed Mikaela and I were very into the walking tours that day because we ended up going on another one a couple hours later that led us up to the Palace - a place I strongly urge everyone to visit when in Prague. The Palace grounds make up a massive amount of space located on a hill that gives you a beautiful view of the city below. As we were walking back down from the palace, we passed by this bronze sculpture of a boy. As you can see from the photo below, the private parts are so shiny and light.

Apparently, after the sculpture was made many years ago, the patron was so shocked by the sight of a nude boy - nudity is not as openly accepted as it is in a place like Florence - that he ordered the sculptor to take it off. For awhile, this poor statue stood without any manhood, causing confusion to many who wandered past. As the story goes, the patron went back to the sculptor and had him put back on the family jewels on the statue leading to everyone who passed to rub it for ‘good luck.’ At the end of our day, we ventured out on a bar hopping tour  - yes we went on another tour - to explore the nightlife.

(The dirty look of this church is actually intentional. The architect painted black on the sandstone to look more Gothic)

Because we were leaving in the afternoon the next day, we only had a small amount of time to adventure on our own through the city. We walked over to the John Lennon Wall, which I kept calling the John Legend Wall much to Mikaela’s amusemnt. There was a man playing music while everyone read the words graffiti’d on the wall creating a sense of serene peacefulness.

It was so interesting to learn about the culture that makes up Prague, from centuries past to today. They definitely had their share of crazy people ruling their country such as the Hofberg’s who might have been the biggest incestuous imperial family. Today, the people in the Czech Republic really enjoy their independence that they worked so hard to obtain. In 2010 the government took a poll to find out the percentage of each religion that made up the country. In a country that is surprisingly extremely atheist, ten thousand people signed Jedi as their faith believing that the government had no right to know such personal things about their people.

Prague was such an amazing city to visit, seemed to be taken out of a story book, and the fascinating history to match made it that much more worthwhile. The city is known as the Paris of the East, which I can definitely see why due to the strong architectural resemblance of the Rococo, however, if you do visit Prague, make sure you say that it is a central European country - they get extremely offended otherwise. I absolutely loved my experience in Prague, getting to know the culture, people, and the foooood. If you do decide to visit, don’t forget to try all the food while visiting, especially their sweets!

Two weeks ago I went to Berlin and Prague with one of my girlfriends - yes we made a two city trip into a weekend! Our first night we spent in the edgy, grungy Berlin, Germany (Berlino according to Italians) and the following two nights we spent in Prague, Czech Republic!

(Mikaela and I at the Brandenburg Gate)

Berlin was such an amazing city, I really wish I had at least one more day/night there to fully appreciate all of its art and grunge culture. We landed in Berlin on the Saturday and after we checked into our hostel - Berlin PLUS, which was a very clean hostel, I would definitely recommend - we went out to try and taste some Berlin food! For anyone that is traveling to the area, schnitzel is more like chicken fingers, whereas their wiener schnitzel resembles the sausages that everyone sees at Oktoberfest and other German events.

Due to our limited time, we really tried to make the most of this unique city. Saturday night we went out to experience the infamous Berlin club culture - vastly different than the New York scene that many of us at FIT are used to. We went to this club called Watergate, which is one of the top places in East Berlin to go out to. The attire required to venture out to a club includes a t-shirt, jeans, and combat boots or sneakers. Make sure you’re in all black as well. Watergate’s door policy isn’t as strict as Berlin’s most famous club - the Berghain - that people wait two plus hours to get in and usually party for the whole entire weekend at the club.

The interior of Watergate looked as if it used to be a factory decades ago, with multiple large rooms on the two floors that made up the club. Each room offered a variation of music for the club goers. One room played heavy metal, while another played hip hop - we also found our inner love for edm while in another room lol. 

The next day, we were on a mission to learn everything we could about Berlin before our train to Prague at five in the evening. We went on a free alternative walking tour in order to learn about the street art that is a powerful part of Berlin’s culture. The tour took us to a couple districts of Berlin, showing us the increasing gentrification that is happening in the area. The most fascinating part of this city for me was learning how the divide of East and West Berlin during the Cold War changed the way the society developed even in today’s world.

After the walking tour, we only had about two hours, which led to a lot of running in order to see the rest of the important sites of Berlin - and yes we legitimately ran through the streets of Berlin to see everything we needed to such as the Brandenburg Gate, Parliament, the Jewish memorial, and the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall. Surprisingly, we were able to see all of those places and make it to the train platform with fifteen minutes to get some food before our trip.

Berlin offered so many different experiences than the other cities that I have visited this past year. There was something raw and artistically genuine about this city that I felt for the first time. The art speaks directly from society’s as well as the artists’ soul. There’s such rich history from WWII, the Cold War, and the modern governmental issues between the East and West of Berlin that is illustrated through the art sprayed on buildings and the Berlin Wall. One message stuck out the most to me along the river.

This painting shows many people squished on a boat with the writing “refugees welcome” below. and “we are people” written above. It was heart-warming to see art like this given the current political mess that is going on in the US and gave me some hope that maybe this love for people can translate into my own society despite groups that are using fear and anger to fuel hatred to another culture. Especially given the tragedy that has occurred in both Turkey and Brussels, it’s easy to point a finger and blame a culture as a whole. However, it is important not to confuse radical groups to a whole culture of people.

If you haven’t been to Berlin, I would go look on Skyscanner right now and try to find cheap flights for a weekend visit! I would definitely say to dedicate at least two nights there in order to see more that Berlin has to offer and really try to immerse yourself in the city. Reach out if you have any questions about Berlin as well!

I just wanted to shoutout to all the amazing people in my life for taking the time out of their day on March 2nd to wish me a happy twenty-first!

It was such a wonderful day and night and I have to give a special thank you to my roommates for getting me out of the house to celebrate despite what obligations I may or may not have had the following afternoon. And for getting these wild masks for no reason other than they’d be a hilarious conversation starter. ;)

Some may think that celebrating such a monumentally American event in a foreign country wouldn’t be as exciting, however, that was not the case for my girlfriends and I. Each birthday that has occured over the past couple of months has been equivalent to any twenty-first birthday that would be celebrated in the US - obviously that is a personal opinion, possibly biased because I am in Italy lol. Regardless of that, I feel so incredibly lucky to have such loving, caring friends and family in my life as sappy as that sounds. You really have made every new chapter in my life, like moving to a new country for a year, as smooth as possible with your support and love.

I’ll end this gushy post now, but I just wanted to let those in my life know how much I appreciate them!

Better late than never, here’s my post about my trip to Dublin, Ireland.

After our school trip to London, many of the students and I traveled over to Dublin for a weekend of exploration. We arrived about mid afternoon on Thursday, excited for the next couple of days, school-free! Many of us stayed at the Generator Hostel, which worked out really nicely - clean bed and cool bar area on the main floor, just remember your shower shoes. 

Our first full day in Dublin began at six am. We used the Dublin Tour Company to visit the Cliffs of Moher along that hit a couple other sites on the way. Above is a photo of the Dun Guaire Castle that we were able to walk around and explore. Some of my favorite aspects of Dublin is all the greenery. Even though its due to the daily rain, it makes for such a beautiful landscape.

After the castle, we were able to visit the Burren, specifically the Poulnabrone Dolman, which is one of the most ancient religious relics in Ireland. It holds at least thirty-three ancient people of all ages with personal possessions buried along with them like a stone axe and stone beads. This relic dates back to about 5800 years ago - pretty hard to even imagine how long ago that really is. Our third stop before lunch was to see the celtic high crosses at Kilfenora that honor families’ loved ones.

Last Friday was definitely one of my most memorable days because of these majestic cliffs. Films like PS I Love You, shot some scenes around this area and I can honestly say that neither video camera nor camera can do this site justice. I was, furthermore, surprised to hear that it just missed the cut as the eighth natural wonder of the world. 

The tour company gave us two and a half hours to enjoy these cliffs before we would make our way back to Galway and eventually back to Dublin. The tour guides added such a pleasant plus to the whole day, giving us valuable information about their homeland, adding in some surprisingly dirty jokes here and there. A couple of girlfriends and I walked into the bus late at the cliffs and were forced to sing a Celine ballad as a hilariously humiliating punishment! 

Another aspect of the day trip to note was our lunch in the petit village of Doolin; it was probably the best seafood chowder I have ever had and enough of a reason to tour with this tour company ;).

The following two days were spent touring around the city of Dublin, taking in as much of its beauty as we could. Some of us went on a free walking tour of the south side, which I would highly recommend. It included a visit to St. Patricks, Trinity, the Dublin Castle (that looks more like a parliament building), and more. A couple girlfriends and I actually attended a service at St. Patricks on the Sunday that was definitely an organ-filled experience to say the least. 

We were also able to visit and tour the Guinness Storehouse while in Dublin, learning how to properly pour and taste a freshly made stout! The factory was transformed into a very interactive museum on the history of the Guinness, leading up to the complimentary pint that I have to admit was extremely refreshing. I would recommend ordering your ticket online in order to breeze past the line that almost always wrapped around the corner of the building. 

I know I keep saying how amazing and memorable each moment in Dublin was, however, I think my favorite experience was on the last night when we went on a beer and whiskey tour.

(My girlfriends and I at M Hughes with the local musicians - one is even a famous Irish Singer, Damian Dempsey is his name I believe.)

We started at a local bar called The Black Sheep that serves only craft beer and we were able to try a stout, a red ale (my fave), and an IPA. My appreciation and taste for beer definitely grew while visiting this weekend, sorry Mom! From the craft beer bar, we walked over to a pub called Slattery’s Bar and tasted some Teeling Whiskey along with some traditional Dublin dinner. I don’t believe I will be a Whiskey Neat drinker anytime soon, however, I did enjoy my beef stew. We ended the night at another local pub called M Hughes were local musicians come to play Irish music with a pint or two of beer of course. 

I loved getting to know traditional Irish culture during the weekend from the cliffs to the local beer and whiskey tour and everything in between. While visiting different countries, it is easy to keep from experiencing how the locals enjoy life, sticking with the touristy areas. However, I believe it is essential to try and step out of one’s own comfort zone and surround yourself in another culture. 

Of course we still went down to Temple Bar to bar hop one night and sat in Starbucks for a little bit, but mixing the classic touristy things with more local features is a good thing. You never know who you’ll end up meeting when traveling outside of the touristy areas. Let me know if you have any questions on the tours that I did, and I hope you all enjoy your trips to Dublin!

Hi guys! Sorry I’ve been a little MIA this semester, we had a huge trip last week and I’m still trying to get my life together lol. Two Saturdays ago, the whole Fashion Business department at FIT in Florence traveled to London, England to experience fashion a little more North of Italy. It was quite the trip so I’ll try to give out only the synopsis of each day.

Our lengthy arrival into London was luckily the only bumpy part of our trip. Even though i might have slept through the turbulence, I woke up to find that our scheduled airport closed and we had to land in an airport an hour or two outside of London. Thankfully, we didn’t have important meetings that day seeing as we finally arrived at our hostel at 5pm instead of 2pm. Despite the longer than desired travel day, I ended the night fully satisfied with some amazing pub food - pulled pork mac & cheese - that made me forget all the challenges of the day.

(outside of Buckingham Palace)

On Sunday, we had a walking tour of the city - a nice plus considering this was a fashion academic trip! We learned the marital stories of Henry VIII and Winston Churchill’s drunken comments at the Red Lion pub. I visited this fabulous city years ago with my grandparents, which made the tour even more special, reminding me of the time I shared with them.

(The road from Buckingham - paved red to resemble a red carpet for the Royals!)

After the tour, we traveled to Brick Lane in East End London to check out some of the famous markets such as Spitalfields Market where you can find anything from vintage furniture and clothing to small shop designers to delicious food - I tried curry for the second time ever. Brick Lane Markets attract many young people, kind of like a Williamsburg of New York City, which makes sense that All Saints had their head store on the corner of the main square of the area. At the end of the day, our class had the privilege to have a private store visit of All Saints, learning how the manager deals with running the main store in London.

Monday was definitely one of my favorite days of the week. For the whole day we were able to walk around and listen in on talks held at the PURE London Fashion Trade Show.

We sat in on a buyer briefing from a WGSN (world famous forecasting company) representative, witnessed the catwalk showcasing upcoming trends of the upcoming season, listened in on how to be more sustainable in the industry, as well interview and talk with various booths at the trade show.

Monday ended with a visit to the Tate Modern Museum that showcases many contemporary and modern works of art. Although the museum didn’t hold my favorite kind of art - I’m more of a Renaissance girl - I enjoyed the art by Guerrilla Girls that illustrate the inequalities of women in the workforce and life.

(Guerrilla Girls)

Tuesday was filled with many store visits such as the Dover Street Market, an avant-garde concept store, Jigsaw, a contemporary British fashion brand focusing on timeless well-made clothing, Selfridges, a famous department store in London, and a personal stop into Liberty, one of the oldest luxury stores that everyone must stop in to see when in London! At Liberty, a girlfriend and I were able to have classic British Afternoon Tea that comes with scones, finger sandwiches, and little sweets.

During a break on Tuesday, a couple of girlfriends and I headed to Burberry on Regents Street - it is the biggest Burberry in the world and it sure felt that way. As we were walking around, a saleswoman approached us and when she found out we were fashion students she immediately called someone on her headset to come and give us a tour of the whole store. It was such a treat to have a private and unexpected tour through Burberry - who I actually interned with last Spring. It really goes to show that this company has some of the best service, catering to everyone who enters their stores.

Although it might seem that all we were doing was shopping the past couple days, it is essential as fashion students to visit many stores in each new fashion area in order to understand what colors, silhouettes, designs are trending in each level of the industry. Through companies like WGSN - we also had a meeting with their head office in London as well - we analyze upcoming trends and relate it back to what is going on in the current seasons.

(Mikaela and I outside of the WGSN London Office)

On our final full day of the academic trip we visited an amazing vintage company called Beyond Retro that has their own private label made from other vintage pieces on top of selling traditional vintage clothing. We all were dying to check out their store in London at the end of the meeting to pick up something uniquely ours for a surprisingly fair price.

Our last activity with school for the week was a tour of Bermondsey Street where the majority of London’s leather making factories used to be - much of the old facades of factory buildings are maintained all along this street as well. At the end of the tour we entered the Fashion and Textile Museum, learning about the history behind the Liberty that I mentioned earlier in this post.

One of the best moments of the week was at the end of our long Tuesday when around twenty of us went to go see the musical Wicked. It was even better than I could have ever imagined - the British accents were a pleasant addition too. The last song and the voice of the woman who played Elphaba had me and many others in our group in tears. I could listen to her rendition of Defying Gravity over and over again.

If anyone is on the fence about visiting this city, please go! Just walking around at the end of the day and finding streets with buildings as beautiful as the one above paired with the delicious pub food would be enough for me to head back to this amazing place. I would highly recommend checking out Borough Street Market for lunch as well if you enjoy incredible food.

One of the many quotes printed on ribbons that were part of Millefili’s Color Your Dream booth at the Pitti Filati Trade Show. I was lucky enough to visit this international, innovative yarn trade show with my Workshop in Apparel Merchandising class this past week.

Each strip as you can see from the below photos had motivational and sometimes comical quotes. This structure of ribbons was the focal point of the Millefili booth, however, each corner of the booth added a little special addition to the ribbons.

They had a women sewing together patterned wine bottle “sweaters,” people handing out ribbon samples in another, cupcakes with purple frosting, and little bread sandwiches with delicious freshly-squeezed kiwi juice to compliment. As you might have been able to guess, this booth was a hot commodity for my girlfriends and I - free food and gifts are always on the top of my lists.

All joking aside, the booth had some strong messages for people, with the ribbons and with their facade - shown above - that begs us to take our life into our own hands because we “hold the key.”

The trade show was divided into three main parts with the Pitti Filati yarn trade show booths taking up the majority. Each booth used different techniques to showcase their yarn for potential buyers. It might be hard to believe that a yarn could need a trade show, however when you think about it, we wouldn’t have any variation of clothing, carpeting, or other fabric products without the use of yarn and the combination of various types of yarn.

Another favorite exhibit within the trade show was in the back, labeled Materiality. The concept derives from a “shift of the green economy to blue economy and the development of sustainable production through systemic design” (taken from their 2017 Spring/Summer handout). The innovations behind this exhibit strives to use industrial wastes as a material for future fabrics.

(string from some of the themes, further enhancing the exhibit)

They categorized the materials into ten themes such as Poly-mer, Biscuit, Pulp, 3B’s Printing, Concretion, Indvstria, Rewoodlution, Trans-gloss, Staminalia, and Growduce. You can read more about each theme and Materiality in general on their website, http://www.pittimmagine.com/en/corporate/fairs/filati/specials/materiality.html.

Walking through this incredible trade show as a class assignment and witnessing such innovation in fashion even at the basic level of yarn was such an unparalleled experience. It’s days like this past Friday that make me fall in love with my major all over again and reassures me of my decision I made three years ago when I accepted my acceptance into the Fashion Institute of Technology.

I know fashion may seem to many as glamorous and fun-filled, however, it is such a powerful business industry that is filled with thousands of different parts that must mesh together to create an end product. Although the trade shows like the one I visited are beautiful to the eye, they are a necessary tool in order to continue the business cycle from ideas to production to, eventually, our closets. Meetings are conducting all day in almost every booth between the vendors - who also pay thousands of dollars for their booths - and buyers who are both depending on the show to meet their own monetary demands.

I know I might have gone off on a little bit of a tangent above, however, I hope that I might have helped you understand the some of the behind the scenes aspects of the fashion world!

Skiing abroad has been on my list since I arrived in Florence in August and I was finally able to accomplish this goal last Sunday!

At first, we wanted to try and ski/explore the Italian Alps, maybe even go to Interlaken, Switzerland. As we continued exploring these ideas, the expense of traveling so North and some advice from our fellow FIT students, we decided to ski within the region of Tuscany. Italy is home to two mountain ranges, the Alps along the Northern border and the Apennines that are like the backbone of Italy, extending North and South through Italy.

We found Abetone Ski Resort - about two hours North of Florence - off of some travel guide sites and decided to use Florence for Fun for our Sunday trip. We chose this guided trip due to all they included in the price of the day trip such as lift tickets, meals, transportation, and ski rentals. There is a way to reach Abetone through a combination of trains and buses, however, it is a little tricky to navigate since buses only leave to Abetone from Pistoia about twice a day.

We left Florence around 8am and arrived at the small town of Abetone in only an hour and a half - it was quite a relief for me, those weaving mountain roads were not meant for the carsick folks! Abetone, home to about 800 people, sits on the side of the Apennines Mountain range. The ski resort has about 50 km of slopes with its highest peak about 1890 meters. The resort was small in comparison to some American resorts, with only a handful of lodges at the top and bases of the various lifts Abetone owned. Once we clicked our boots on in probably the smallest rental shop I’ve ever seen, buckled in our “stylish” helmets, we ventured out to the bunny slopes in hopes that skiing was similar to riding a bike.

After about two times down the bunny hill, although I hadn’t skied in about six years, we got on the ski lift to the very top of the mountain believing we were up for the challenge of Abetone. I knew previously that European ski slopes were more difficult than many of the slopes in the States, however I didn’t realize the severity of that notion until we got off the lift and saw what was supposed to be the “easy” way down the mountain.

To say we struggled the first time down the mountain might be the understatement of the year. What we thought might me an easy trip to test our skills, ended up being a terrifying side-stepping - yes, I believe we perfected the slide technique well - trip down a black diamond equivalent slope. Defeated and deflated, about an hour later, we found refuge in the lodge for lunch.

Dramatic as that might seem, for beginners the drama and fear was as real as could be. After a delicious Tuscan lunch, we mustered up some courage and decided to tackle the mountain again; this time turning to the left of the ski lift to avoid that plummeting drop of a slope.

The second trip down started, as you might have pictured from the photo above, in an extremely comical and somewhat dysfunctional way. We were able to compose ourselves after some impressive face-plants and actually ski down this side of the mountain - a huge feat for our beginner skills. The powder on Abetone was a godsend, helping us turn and cushioning our falls on this second trip as well.

By the end of the day, we managed to make it down the mountain in under 15 minutes, finally catching up to the other two girls that were part of our small tour trip to the mountain. They were more experienced and probably skied down the mountain over eight times that day.

Regardless of the fear and intimidation of the first trip down the mountain, this trip was more than worth it. I was able to ski down a beautiful, powdered, mountain with views of snow-capped mountains all around me. The sun was shining all day making for such an enjoyable time and even more gorgeous sunset as we had Aperitivo - Italian pre-dinner event where you have a drink and various complimentary appetizers.

Last Sunday, we started off intimidated to say the least, however, we left with an immense sense of accomplishment and happiness for overcoming our fears. I hope I didn’t scare off any beginners studying abroad with the desire to go skiing - there are classes that you can attend while at the mountain for about 30 euros extra if you really feel nervous.

As for those who might be at the same level as we were at, I’d say just go for it and step out of your comfort zone because you’ll never know what you’re capable of until you’re at the top of a mountain with nowhere to go but down! Don’t worry about how you look either as there were plenty of amateurs on the slopes too. If you have any questions about skiing at Abetone or how it was using Florence For Fun please don’t be afraid to message me, I’d love to help out with anything!

Traveling back to Florence was extra special this January when my sister joined me for my first week! Attempting to see as much as we could - her first time in Italy - we split the week up into Florence, Venice, and Rome.

It was such an unforgettable experience exploring Florence, my Euro home away from home, with my sister. I was able to show her many of the places I had talked about to her via Facetime last semester. Some of these places included the Pitti Palace, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Croce, and the Duomo of course. Between the food, shopping expeditions - the post holiday sales were unbelievable - and historic sites I hope she fully enjoyed this beautiful foreign city.

On Tuesday, we traveled up to Venice for the day, a must see for anyone visiting Italy. It was only a two hour train ride away, which allowed us to catch up on sleep after our previous busy days in Florence. Although the trip to Venice was about four hours, we were able to take a Gondola ride, walk around San Marco Piazza post high tide, and enjoy delicious seafood pasta dishes for lunch! If you are thinking about traveling to Venice, the best idea is to stay at least one night so you can spend one day at the Biennale, however, it is extremely possible to hit all of the important landmarks in a couple of hours if you are short on time.

On the following day, we hopped on a morning train to Rome - our last stop on the sisters abroad experience. As many might have guessed, after all of the traveling the previous day and the exploring the days before that, we were quite exhausted when we finally reached our hotel. Therefore, once we saw our bed, we knew a nap was more than necessary.

On the same night, post nap, we ventured out to see some of Rome’s famous sites - the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps! Although the Spanish Steps closed before we had the chance to walk all the up, which might have been a blessing in disguise, we were able to have our Lizzie moments at the Trevi. This fountain is a 100% must see when you’re in Rome, the beauty of these massive sculptures surrounding the fountain proves that it really is the best in the world. Rumor has it that once you throw a coin into the fountain, you are ensured a trip back to Rome as well!

Our second day in Rome, despite the freezing and rainy weather, we visited both the Vatican and the Colosseum. For the Vatican we used viator.com and purchased a skip the line tour - well worth the ticket! The Vatican City State, which is its own country with its own ruling body, is home to the Pope and Roman Catholicism as of the early 1900s. The magnificent architecture and frescoes within the Vatican were breathtaking to say the least. I am very grateful to say that I will see this magnificent city again when my parents visit in the spring.

(Venice in the Geography Room)

On the tour, we visited some main squares of the Vatican before entering the Galleries, that included the famous Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. One outstanding room before Raphael’s was the geography room with paintings of the different city-states of Italy with such elaborate detail you could even see the Piazza San Marco within the Venice fresco! I wish I could explain the impeccable beauty that filled the walls of almost every room within Vatican, however I know I couldn’t do the masterpieces justice.

(School of Athens)

One of my favorite parts of our visit to the Vatican was walking through the all of the rooms and the Sistine Chapel and finally being able to see what I have been studying for the past years in person. Being able to witness the walls and ceiling of Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel and standing a foot away from Raphael’s School of Athens left my eyes wide and jaw dropped for the entirety of our morning.

The end of our Vatican tour, as well as the beginning of the afternoon rain, we entered St Peter’s Basilica. Created by Bramante, Michelangelo, Maderno, and Bernini in the Renaissance time period, St Peter’s is known as one of the worlds largest church. The top of the dome is also the tallest of all buildings in Rome mandated by law. To put in perspective how large the church is, above is just a small snapshot of the altar, it continues past the bronze piece into the background and to the outer sides of the photo. I urge everyone to walk the nave, looking both up and down, taking in the magnitude of beauty of St Peter’s.

Once we had finished touring the Vatican, we ran through the freezing rain to fill our empty stomachs with some yummy pizza. The warmth of the restaurant definitely helped prepare us for our next venture to the Colosseum; a quick trip on the metro. 

The Colosseum was thankfully well worth the harsh weather we had to deal with that day. The light white color of the exterior beautifully mixed with the darker stone tones of the interior of the structure. It’s hard to believe how old this building is and that it was used to put on real gladiator battles years ago. We spent just under an hour walking through this unbelievable structure, climbing up to the higher levels with a view of the basement cells below that held wild animals and prisoners during the ancient Roman times.

Similar to Venice, we were able to hit the two main hotspots during our second day, however, if you have another day or are feeling daring I would recommend visiting all of the ancient Roman ruins around the Colosseum - about three hours of a tour I believe. It is also important to note that Rome’s subway/metro/train system within the city is very easy and inexpensive to figure out and I would definitely advise everyone to use it instead of cabs when visiting this spectacular city. I am so thankful that I have these amazing memories with my sister and I hope everyone enjoyed their winter breaks as well!

As the second semester approaches and my days at home are numbered, I thought I would share with you some useful tips I learned from my past semester abroad. In case any of you are stressed packing and preparing for your trips, I hope that this list might relieve some stress.*

1. Clothes! Yes, for each college semester we tend pack everything in our closets at home in case we might want to wear it one time for dinner. However, I would try to pack minimally for your semester abroad. Less options can sometimes be better and gives some of us a reason to shop internationally. A couple heavy sweaters, long sleeves, jeans, leggings, a bathing suit or two, and some outfits for the warmer months should be sufficient for your time abroad.

2. Shoes! That was such a difficulty for me considering my love for shoes - stilettos, boots, sandals and all. For Italy in particular, do not bring wedges of any kind unless you enjoy falling to the ground; do bring converse for casual days as these are a necessary shoe for Italians. I would also bring about six other shoes including booties, boots (brown/black), sandals, and flipflops.

3. Copies! Make sure you have two copies of your important documents. One of those copies your school organization will most likely take for their records and the other copies you should keep with you for your travels abroad.

4. Phones! Personally, I used TIM phone services on a cheap flip phone equivalent. With that phone, you just have to pay about nine euros a month for texts and calls so you can talk to people in Europe. Apart from that phone, I just used an app call Google Hangouts along with iMessaging and Facetime to talk to those across the pond! I know some people use a sim card in their iPhones, however, the flip phone is nice for going out purposes, decreasing the risk of people stealing your phones.

5.School Supplies! For those studying in Florence, I would go to this cute store called Tilly’s. It has everything you wouldn’t think you would need in one store including school notebooks for under three euros.

6.Credit Cards! There are many credit cards and such that you can use while traveling abroad such as Capital One, however, I have found that the Bank of America’s Student Rewards card is one of the best to use. It doesn’t charge the extra 3% conversion fee that is normally charged when you’re abroad, which is extremely beneficial. Apart from Bank of America, you can open an Italian bank account, if you are up for a fight with the Italian bank tellers, and only pay a starting fee to transfer your money over.

7. Money! Try to get money out before you go to the airport, preferably from your bank or a bank in the US - around two hundred euros. Also, try to never use the exchange kiosks at the airports or in shops around Europe - they have an additional fee added to the exchange so the shops can make a profit off of us. Ask your home banks if they have a sister bank abroad that you can use to wave extra fees in your transactions as well.

8. Maps! Get used to using paper-maps for the first couple of days in the city that you’re studying in. You’ll probably use paper-maps for your weekend trips as well. As for another little tip about maps while living on wifi abroad, there is a way you can use the maps app on the iPhone while walking through your city! As long as you open the map app on wifi, the blue dot that marks where you are will track your steps to the destination you desire even after you leave the house!

9. Apps! Some of the best apps to get would be SkyScanner for cheap international flights, SeatGuru for the best seats on long flights, GoogleTranslate that allows you to use your camera to translate items at the grocery store, and Currency to show you the conversion rate between different countries currency.

10. Enjoy! Don’t be too nervous about going abroad. It may take a little time to get used to your surroundings, however, with an open mind you will find yourself having the time of your life over the upcoming semester.

*Note: This is more of an opinion blog on what tips I believe will prepare you the most for your studies abroad! Thank you for reading everyone.

The final weekend before leaving this beautiful city for Christmas, I was given the opportunity to travel back into time walking through the Vasari Corridor. 

Built above the shops on the Ponte Vecchio in 1564, the Vasari Corridor was created for the Grand Duke Cosimo I de Medici and his family to walk from their home, the Pitti Palace, to the Uffizi, and ending at the Palazzo Vecchio, which was the government building since the 13th century.

The need for the corridor started when Eleonora, Cosimo’s wife, purchased the Pitti Palace. The Ponte Vecchio, now filled with jewelry shops, was a butcher’s bridge with blood flowing along the bridge - sorry for the details. Therefore, within five months, Vasari designed and created the corridor for the Grand Duke as a passageway away from the disgusting stench of the bridge below him. Currently, the corridor is filled with a thousand paintings ranging from the 16th Century.

A fun fact about this corridor relates back to WWII. It is the only bridge that Hitler did not blow up during the war. It is rumored that Hitler, knowing how historically profound this bridge was, decided to keep it standing despite the advancing Allies. Furthermore, this rumor is rooted from the lunch that Mussolini had with Hitler in the center of the corridor, allowing him to take in the view of the beautiful architecture of Florence. 

(the 16th century version of a Facebook profile picture)

Regardless of the legends or facts that are tied to this corridor, walking through these halls felt as if I was walking through years of history. To think that powers such as the Grand Duke Cosimo I, Hitler, and Mussolini have walked through those walls was overwhelming. Not to mention the beauty seen between the many portraits through the circular windows facing the city - a way for the Grand Duke to spy on the activity on the bridges, his paranoia hitting an all time high during this time.

After our morning walking the halls of Vasari’s masterpiece, I enjoyed some pizza - embarrassingly we had to wait outside for them to open at 11:30am, whoops. However, once you’ve enjoyed the delicious tastes of Italian pizza, you too would wait outside for a personal pie!

(Gusta Pizza! Ask fro them to cut it in order to create the heart shape)

Last Monday I was able to visit a town three hours south of Florence, home to beautiful thermal baths.

My classmates and I settled in on the bus around eight in the morning, prepared for the long drive ahead of us. The drive was seemingly smooth for the first two hours of the ride, however, as we approached the surrounding towns of Saturnia, the winding roads and changing inclines made for a carsick bus ride for many of us. Thankfully, the bus arrived at the thermal baths before the nausea became more than just a mind game. We almost kissed the ground as we sprang free from our bus seats.

Saturnia, a small town of about 200-300 people, is home to beautiful thermal baths - thanks to the several springs around the area. As legend has it, these springs were part of the aftermath of the battle between the ancient gods, Jupiter and Saturn. It was believed that Jupiter’s thunderbolt fell at the exact points where the springs lay, creating these magnificent outdoor baths that reach temperatures of 37.5 degrees Celsius.

Apart from the legendary tale, the warm sulfurous waters were well known by the Etruscans and Romans in ancient times. The waters, similar to those found in Budapest, are thought to have therapeutic and relaxing properties. The baths that I explored with fellow classmates were the Cascate del Mulino, possibly the most famous natural springs in Tuscany. The beauty of the pools mixed with the waterfall shown above left many of us speechless, understanding why the ancient Romans and Etruscans believed them to be a making of the gods.

The baths are luckily free to the public and open for the whole year, which is important to note If any of you are tempted to make the drive or train ride down to the springs. Furthermore, I would visit the baths during the fall in order to avoid the large crowds that are constant in the spring and late summer months. There are several small pools below the waterfall, the water seeming to increase in temperature as you travel closer to the small falls themselves. My best advice would be to start from the farthest pools and travel upward slowly, enjoying each level before reaching the waterfalls.

After the pools, we stopped what seemed like the only restaurant opened in quiet Saturnia. I enjoyed some pici in wild boar sauce - a MUST when visiting Tuscany, especially in Sienna - and finished my lunch with an Italian crème brûlée! As we sipped down the last drops of our teas and scraped the last bit of brûlée from our bowls a calm, relaxing feeling filled my body - possibly from the minerals in the baths.

Bellies full and bodies rejuvenated, we ventured back onto the bus for a ride much smoother than the one to Saturnia. As we drove off, an unbelievable sunset, mixing orange into deep purples over the mountains in the scenery, made for the perfect end to this amazing day. It’s days like these in Italy that leave me feeling incredibly grateful for this amazing opportunity to study in a country foreign to my own, exploring hidden gems that make up the Italian countryside.