Ciao tutti!
These past couple of weeks have certainly been hectic ones! The internet in my apartment has OFFICIALLY and FINALLY been COMPLETELY fixed! What a relief! Now I can blog with ease!
Since I blogged last, I have been on a weekend excursion to France, have explored the small town of Lucca, and have been to Venice for the opening weekend of Carnival! All three have really been amazing trips, with each one teaching me something different and letting me experience something drastically new! In France, I went to the French Riviera (for some much-desired sun and beach time!). We explored Monaco, and I got to see the church where Grace Kelly was married. After that we headed to Nice, and explored the beach and went to the flea markets set up all around the town. We were taken to a very nice dinner, with a typical French menu. I felt like I was in the movie Julie and Julia, there was so much food! The next day we went to St. Paul de Vence (a small town in France which has a great assortment of modern art), Cannes (where the infamous film festival is held), and Eze (where we went to a perfume factory!). All the places were wonderful, and it was nice to see the small towns of France. The whole trip was through the school, so I met new people in my program and didn't have to worry about transportation!
The trip to Lucca was with a few of my roommates and some people we met on the school-run excursions. Lucca is a small town about an hour and a half train ride away from Florence. It was beautiful the day we went there, I got to wear shorts in February! We rented bikes for the afternoon, and spent the day in parks and riding around the streets of the town. There was a huge open market that we browsed, with very cheap (yet very nice) clothes and food and other various goods! When you think of Tuscany, you think of small Italian villages, and Lucca is the epitome of this image!
As relaxing as Lucca was, Venice during Carnival was anything but! Venice, from the moment we got there to the moment we left, was complete chaos and crowds! Everyone there was dressed up in some fashion, whether in intricate masks or decorative costumes (most often, both). Despite the huge amounts of people, everyone there was extremely nice and friendly. Saturday night, the school took us to a traditional Carnival dinner. There was a DJ there, and it wasn't long until us students and some local Italians were out on the dance floor! We taught them the Macarena! It was a blast!
The trip is definitely going by faster than I could have imagined. Sorry to get kind of preachy on anyone prospectively looking to study abroad, but I will. Take advantage of every opportunity you have over here, and never settle! It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and you need to take it by the horns. But be safe and smart about it!
And just another sort of tip: Take very very very good care of yourself. Much more so than you would at home! I can't tell you how many people I know who have gotten sick within the first month of being abroad, and if you don't keep up good health, it only gets worse! I've only been sick once since my freshman year at the U of A, but here I've already had a cold and am just now getting over some stomach virus/ food poisoning. Just a little tip for those prospective abroaders!
I'll be updating soon, hopefully feeling a little better! My goal is to feel well enough to get out of my apartment on Sunday- I'm supposed to go to my FIRST Italian soccer game!
Ciao mi amici!
Rachael
These past couple of weeks have certainly been hectic ones! The internet in my apartment has OFFICIALLY and FINALLY been COMPLETELY fixed! What a relief! Now I can blog with ease!
Since I blogged last, I have been on a weekend excursion to France, have explored the small town of Lucca, and have been to Venice for the opening weekend of Carnival! All three have really been amazing trips, with each one teaching me something different and letting me experience something drastically new! In France, I went to the French Riviera (for some much-desired sun and beach time!). We explored Monaco, and I got to see the church where Grace Kelly was married. After that we headed to Nice, and explored the beach and went to the flea markets set up all around the town. We were taken to a very nice dinner, with a typical French menu. I felt like I was in the movie Julie and Julia, there was so much food! The next day we went to St. Paul de Vence (a small town in France which has a great assortment of modern art), Cannes (where the infamous film festival is held), and Eze (where we went to a perfume factory!). All the places were wonderful, and it was nice to see the small towns of France. The whole trip was through the school, so I met new people in my program and didn't have to worry about transportation!
The trip to Lucca was with a few of my roommates and some people we met on the school-run excursions. Lucca is a small town about an hour and a half train ride away from Florence. It was beautiful the day we went there, I got to wear shorts in February! We rented bikes for the afternoon, and spent the day in parks and riding around the streets of the town. There was a huge open market that we browsed, with very cheap (yet very nice) clothes and food and other various goods! When you think of Tuscany, you think of small Italian villages, and Lucca is the epitome of this image!
As relaxing as Lucca was, Venice during Carnival was anything but! Venice, from the moment we got there to the moment we left, was complete chaos and crowds! Everyone there was dressed up in some fashion, whether in intricate masks or decorative costumes (most often, both). Despite the huge amounts of people, everyone there was extremely nice and friendly. Saturday night, the school took us to a traditional Carnival dinner. There was a DJ there, and it wasn't long until us students and some local Italians were out on the dance floor! We taught them the Macarena! It was a blast!
The trip is definitely going by faster than I could have imagined. Sorry to get kind of preachy on anyone prospectively looking to study abroad, but I will. Take advantage of every opportunity you have over here, and never settle! It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and you need to take it by the horns. But be safe and smart about it!
And just another sort of tip: Take very very very good care of yourself. Much more so than you would at home! I can't tell you how many people I know who have gotten sick within the first month of being abroad, and if you don't keep up good health, it only gets worse! I've only been sick once since my freshman year at the U of A, but here I've already had a cold and am just now getting over some stomach virus/ food poisoning. Just a little tip for those prospective abroaders!
I'll be updating soon, hopefully feeling a little better! My goal is to feel well enough to get out of my apartment on Sunday- I'm supposed to go to my FIRST Italian soccer game!
Ciao mi amici!
Rachael
