It's A Small World

I visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa this weekend and I took the cheesy tourist picture. It was an adventure getting there but I happened to run into my friend from high school that attends the University of Georgia at the train station! It's a small world. The lesson of the day was definitely go with your instinct when it comes to trains. We ended up on the wrong one for about 10 minutes going towards the Alps but we managed to rectify the situation.

Ciao!
Alisa

Roomie Adventures: Laundry in Italy

My roommate and I washed laundry today. We have about a week and a half left and we didn't want to go back to Florida with a ton of dirty clothes. To begin she washed her clothes in the baby washer we have in the apartment. This washer is also in the bathroom. It doesn't really actually wash your clothes it seems though, more like soaks them and makes them sour. Then after, you have to hang them up on the clothing line outside of the apartment. Since I am not a fan of wasting time nor having my underwear hanging outside for the world to see we visited a laundromat down the street from our house.

Being the people that we are we first had to get something to eat. We ate at a beautiful restaurant called "Anita" for the second time since we have been here. I enjoyed a pasta with meat sauce, curry chicken, and roasted potatoes. It was very filling. On top of that it was free because of our vouchers with our program.

After our lunch we went to the laundromat and accidentally got the washers that were 7 Euro a piece instead of 3.50. Apparently the bigger the washer the more it cost. We did however save money by purchasing our laundry detergent at the 99 cent store, which by the way is amazing. They have everything you could want in there from 4 rolls of toilet paper in a pack to beer (which the winos that hang outside of our apartment seem to enjoy). We washed our clothes and enjoyed some gelato from the place next door and it was a success!

I'm planning to meet up with some more people from our program later to enjoy our last Friday night in Florence!

Ciao!
Alisa

Boboli Gardens

Also this week a few friends and I visited he Boboli Gardens. It famous park in Florence. People can be seen having a picnic or looking over the beautiful city of Florence. There are several sculptures, fountains, and of course flowers dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries. We will be revisiting this location some time next week before we leave for Rome.

Ciao!
Alisa

Wine Tasting

This week we did as the Italians do and went wine tasting. We went to a couple of locations about 30 minutes outside of Florence in the countryside, one of the locations being a historic castle. I learned how Italians classify their wines and we tried a few as well. We then enjoyed an amazing lunch at a restaurant in the countryside. I feel like Olive Garden is never going to be able to hold a candle to the amazing Italian authentic pasta I have here.

Ciao!
Alisa

"Have You Ever Seen Hell's Kitchen?"

Last night we cooked an authentic Italian meal from scratch at our cooking class It was a great experience, however it took quite some time. We cooked ravioli with spinach ricotta , vegetable souffle, and dessert. The cooks were hilarious and I think they thoroughly enjoyed working with our group because of all the characters we had. Above is a picture of our group and our chef. The funniest quote from the night was when the chef asked me if I had ever seen Hell's Kitchen, because I accidentally filled a bowl with hot water instead of cold, hence the name of this entry. Today I have class and will be going to Italy's National Museum for the soccer team!

Ciao!
Alisa

Scratching Off the Bucket List: Pompei and Mt. Vesuvius

So, I am back in Florence after an amazing weekend! Today we went to Pompei to see the Roman ruins and also to Mount Vesuvius. Mount Vesuvius is known for its eruption in AD 79. This eruption led to the burying and destruction of Pompei. We saw ruins there of markets, we saw the body of the people and animals petrified from the ash they were buried in.

We later went on the expedition that was Mount Vesuvius. We road on our charter buses as far as we could and then we get out and hiked about half a mile to the top of the volcano. It was a thrilling experience. We were able to see the view of Capri and Sorrento and that is just another thing I can cross off my bucket list. We have 2 weeks left in Italy and time is going by so fast! Tomorrow I have class and then a cooking class!

Ciao!
Alias

Sorrento

Thursday we traveled by train to Naples and then by bus to Sorrento. Sorrento is by far my favorite place we have visited thus far. The hotel we are staying at is Concha Park which has beautiful lounge areas, a pool, and all together wonderful scenery. I feel as though Italy is a tourist country in general, but this is by far a great location for a hotel because it's not a ridiculous amount of people. There are lovely shops and the town is right near the water. The only downfall is I do not have the best wi-fi so I can't really skype, facebook, tweet, blog, etc. as much as I would like.

On that note, something I love about being here and not having my phone on is that I feel like I am forced to connect with the world that immediately surrounds me and not what's going on in Gainesville or with my friend in Georgia, etc. When I am walking around Florence I am enjoying the beautiful scenery and not texting and tweeting and seeing nothing but the screen of my iPhone. Until next time!

Ciao!
Alisa

Siena and San Gimignano

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday so I will fill you in on a little bit on my trip to beautiful Siena. Siena greatly celebrates their history of the medieval time period. There is a lot of the original architecture of the town still standing. Also, horse races take place there. We went on a tour around the town and then enjoyed some pizza and gelato.

Later, we hopped back on the bus and then took a trip to the countryside to visit San Gimignano. I walked through a beautiful art gallery in the town and even enjoyed "The World's Best Gelato."(I really do think it is the world's best) Yes, I know 2 servings of gelato in one day? Yes, and it was very tasty. There was beautiful scenery overlooking vineyards and such (pictures coming soon).

After returning to Florence, after an interesting bus ride I might add, I enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Trattoria Anita. On the way, an American saw my roommmate and I staring at a map confused and immediately helped. We found our way there for an amazing dinner. I had wonderful pasta with bacon and peas, grilled chicken, and mashed potatoes. I don't know how to say any of that in Italian to make it more fancy, but whatever the case may be.

Later, we went to a bar and met some very nice bartenders, one of them was Australian. We had a lot of fun, and I have made some new friends in the wonderful Gator Nation. Those pictures are also coming soon!

In about half an hour I am going to see the end of the bicycling of the Tour de Italia. I am not really sure if that is the name of the place, but yeah it should be fun and the weather is pretty nice outside. That's all for now!

Ciao!
Alisa

Media Outlets in Italia

Today was another great day in Florence. I went to my 8am and 12pm class and in between I went to a few of the stores here. I enjoyed lunch at a great pizza place (that had real pizza not thin crust.) All of the Gators then met up to here a lecture from the editor-at-large for an English paper here in Florence. We learned so much about how media outlets in Italy work as well as some other random facts. So here are a couple of things I learned.

1. 10% of Italians read the daily paper, 80% rely on TV News
2. 90% of Italians are baptized Catholics, only 20% of them attend mass regularly
3. (My Favorite) La Gazzetta dello Sport is a newspaper published here EVERY DAY that contains everything sports! There is usually around 30-50 pages published every day including ratings of futbol (the real futbol) players and even ratings of referees. About 400,000 people read this paper every day and on Mondays it goes up to 3 million due to the fact that soccer games are played on Sundays
3 1/2. The reasons ratings of refs are included are due to a scandal that took place a few years ago.
4. In order to become a journalist in Italy you must pass an entrance exam, belong to a group "Ordine dei Giornalists" and then spend 600 unpaid in your specific field! Talk about an internship.
5. 60% of families in Italy have the internet.
6. The Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi not only has political control but he has a ridiculous control over the media. He (or members of his family) own newspapers, national television channels, and even gossip magazines! So even when he has scandals, there are some media outlets that find a way to divert the attention in some manner.
7. Speaking of Berlusoni, you know how has wife filed for divorce? How about it is a 3 year process to go through a divorce in Italy! Obviously due to the influence of the Catholic Church.
8. Overall we learned that political parties have control over the media, which would never make for any outlet being "fair and balanced"
9. I have a list of the top 5 shows in Italy I will present later, I want to watch one first so you read my opinion of it as well.
10. Most girls in Italy aspire to be a velina. Wikipedia says "veline are two young women in their early twenties, one blonde, the other brunette. Initially, they came onstage to hand the news to the hosts; today they perform short dance breaks or stacchetti, always finishing up on the news anchors’ desk." The view of women in Italy seems as though women are just sexual objects, and there are a few out there attempting to alter this image.

That's all for now! Day trip to Sienna tomorrow!

Ciao!
Alisa

American Food in Italy

I just got back from an amazing meal at a restaurant called, "House of Sizzle" that serves both Italian and American food. I enjoyed an excellent BLT Cheeseburger with equally tasty fries. AIFS (the organization that coordinates our study abroad trip) gave us 5 free meal vouchers, and one of them was to that location. The House of Sizzle was also an excellent place to watch sports, I watched part of the Lakers game while there on the Italian Sports channel. There were many Americans in there enjoying the game as well as a few other on lookers.

On a side note, myself as well as my fellow Gators seem to be finding our way around Florence very well and seeing each other on the way while doing it. It's starting to seem like a very historic, Italian version of Gainesville for every corner you turn you see someone you know. Until next time!

Ciao!
Alisa

The Pope in Venice

So, what I must say before I begin about today's adventures is bring your camera with you everywhere, especially if you only have an iPhone 3G like me (which means your pictures will be pretty basic). But me and my roommate, Montana did get to see Pope Benedetto XVI (as they say in Italia) on the Grand Canal in his boat. He followed and was followed by a lot of security, of course. It was absolutely amazing to see! It was even better because we just happened to be browsing through some shops and we saw people singing and we decided to go join the crowd, as easy as that we were able to see one of the most influential figures in the world. As Montana, said we can now scratch that off our bucket list. I'll put up an album soon of his Popemobile and the caravan. I will be leaving to go back to Florence in a bit and of course I have my 1.5 liter bottle of water with me to quench my thirst on the way back!


Also, Instagram is an excellent program you can use to publish your pictures straight from your iPhone! Again something, Montana told me.

Ciao!
Alisa

Day 2 in Venice

Today in Venice we visited Piazza San Marco (often known in English as St Mark's Square), is the principal public square of Venice, Italy as well as the Basilica there. It was absolutely beautiful. Many of the rooms in the palace were adorned with 24kt. gold and had beautiful murals. As for some background information of the square you can use my favorite easy source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_San_Marco.

In addition, the prison we visited today was where Casanova was imprisoned! I also did a little bit of shopping and purchased a couple of t-shirts, a handbag, and a beautiful scarf that I can also use as a scarf. Until later!

Ciao!
Alisa

Elite 8 Rules for Americans in Italy

So even though I lived half of my life overseas as a child, there seems to be some important information you should know...some of these are humorous but so honest.

1. You have to pay more if you want to sit down to eat in a restaurant often times. So take that stuff to go!

2. Europeans have a very small personal space, so when they are close to you, they can't help it.

3. If you get lost, you will eventually find your way. Everything seems to eventually make a circle, or square. And if you do get lost ask for directions. I know i will never have too much pride to ask for directions.

4. Not as much water are in the toilets, so don't expect to use the bathroom right after your roommate and expect it to flush it has to build up. Trust me, Montana and I know. -Entry on Bathroom Incidents Coming Soon-

5. Italians love "chocolate women" as our friend in the Kabab place next to our house told us.

6. There is not a lot of crime, but people love to pickpocket so a throw over shoulder bag is your best bet. Make sure the zipper is facing you and not on the outside however.

7. Get some nice orthopedic shoes, you are going to be walking everywhere, and the amount of stairs are in large numbers and the number of elevators. Well, let's put it this way I have been on an elevator once since I have been here and it could only fit me and one other person.

8. Oh yeah, the American dollar isn't worth anything anymore! So just make sure when shopping you find the cheapest items, because 9 times out of 10 if someone at the corner has a 10 euro scarf...if you walk 60 yards someone else is selling it for 5 euros. Also you have to tip if you take pictures with the interesting characters, like the one shown above!

Ciao!
Alisa

First Week in Italy

So, thus far Italy has been absolutely amazing. I first would like to thank my parents for paying for me to come on this trip. The sites are amazing, the people I am with are absolutely amazing, and the shopping of course are amazing. Something I find to be so amazing is the amount of people that can speak English. On top of that, many times the things that we have are in both languages. Other countries seem to cater to us in a way and many of us are not even bilingual. Anyways, I am studying abroad with the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. I am taking an Ethics in Journalism class as well as Sports Reporting. I will be doing a couple of entries a day so you can see what I do daily!

Ciao!
Alisa