Firenze!

I have now been in Italy for about 10 days. Oh what a journey it has been. I have started my classes, I am taking Italian 101 (goodness is it confusing! I get so messed up with my Spanish... but I will get it down), Cross Cultural Communication, Sociology of Italian Culture, Philosophy Ethics, and Sculpture. Yes, I know you saw that in there... I am taking sculpture! I decided to channel my creative side and learn how to sculpt! When in Italy why not study all of the hundreds of sculptures around and build a new skill?! We start sculpting tomorrow so I will keep you posted on how that goes. My other classes seem to be going pretty well so far; they are all quite enjoyable. As I said before, Italian is tough and my teacher is well… been teaching for about 35 years at Gonzaga-In-Florence so she has been around for quite a while. It is fun to try to practice basic phrases in the market and when I order gelato. 

I have basically been exploring the city. The first weekend here I got my Friends of Uffizi pass which allows me to go visit about 22 museums around the city! It was an incredible deal and I have been exploring a few museums but still have yet to see the David. I am hoping to stop by on Tuesday night the museums that it is in is literally just down the street so I don’t know why I haven’t been in there yet. Anyway, I saw a few Leonardo D’ Vinci paintings, the art here is incredible. I found the 1 Euro Gelato shop which sure is dangerous... boy oh boy do I love gelato! Last week it seemed like everyone was sick here. I definitely had a terrible cold but I took care of myself, took some medicine, and drank lots of water and felt better in about 48 hours! I feel like I am the mom passing out medicine and hand sanitizer haha! Thanks mom and grams for convincing me to bring so much medicine!! The other delectable food I have discovered is the pizza. Yum! Dad, you would just love it. It has so many flavors and it seems like each place I go to has some different twist to it. It has been fun exploring around town to find the cheapest restaurants and cute hole in the walls. I am excited to continue exploring and finding my regular spots!

This weekend while most everyone left on a school trip Jordan, Gini, Collin, and I stayed behind to have the ultimate double date weekend! Haha well, it wasn’t really planned to be that but worked out that way and we had a blast! On Friday we went to Viareggio, Italy which is a beach about an hour train ride away along the Tuscan coast. It was a beautiful seaside town. First, we thought we were doing so well finding the train and getting to the train on time before all of the seats were taking until... the train conductor walked around to check our tickets and we forgot to validate them. In Europe this is a HUGE no-no. Luckily, the guy was nice and allowed us to only pay a 5 Euro fine rather than a 40 Euro fine. We were thankful and learned our lesson!! I will never forget to validate any of my tickets again. When we arrived to the town we walked about 2 miles from the train station to the beach. It was a scorching hot day. The beaches looked beautiful all lined with umbrellas and with matching chairs, but little did we know… those were the private beaches. It was lined for miles! We finally had to ask someone where the public beach was. This was another I would like to argue 2 mile walk until we found this tiny patch of public beach. It definitely wasn’t as luxurious but at that point we were tired, hot, and ready to eat our picnic lunch and jump in the cool blue water! We ended up having a great time baking in the sun, eating our snacks, and playing in the water. I have to admit, I was a little scared of swimming in the water because Collin told me he saw little jellyfish and they could sting you! I just kept my eyes up the whole time and moved quickly if I ever felt the slightest thing near me. Needless to say, I am a wimp and mostly spent my time on shore hahaha! At around 5pm it was time to start heading back to Florence. We hopped back on the train taking small power naps and were on the hunt for somewhere to eat! Now, don’t make fun…but we went to a Chinese restaurant. It was filled with seafood which was yummy but it definitely didn’t have as many spices and flavors as the Chinese food in America. But, I was starving so I ate it! That night we were all sunburnt and exhausted from the sun and went back and I crawled into my tiny twin sized bed.

The next day I woke up about 9ish and ate my free breakfast here in my pensione and got ready for the day! We were then on the hunt for the free shuttle bus to Ikea. Gini and I needed a mat for our bathroom and Jordan wanted a pillow. After about 2 hours and almost giving up 3 times we learned this lesson: “When Italians don’t know what you are asking them they will just point you in a direction to get you to leave them alone.” But, since none of us are quitters, we gave it one last try and asked a tourist information desk... yes we claimed ourselves as tourists. And it turned out that the stop was right next to where we started and the reason we couldn’t find it was because it didn’t start running until 1:30pm. We made it though and had a great Italian Ikea experience! Later that night we took the bus to Fiesole which is a nearby town about 20 minutes away. Fiesole overlooks the city of Florence and has incredible views. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy that evening so we couldn’t see the sunset but we all decided this was definitely a place we wanted to come too often. We had dinner there and it was a really fun evening. I think Fiesole is one of my favorite places so far. It was just so calm and peaceful.

Florence is really not as quaint and peaceful as I thought it would be. There are constantly cars, buses, and motorcycles that try to run you over. Pedestrians do NOT have the ride-away. The city streets a cluttered with garbage and the sidewalks barely fit two people walking side-by-side. However, through all of this you find the hidden gems within Florence; you will find the Ponte Vecchio Bridge which looks over the canal and off into the city, the Duomo which is a beautiful church with architecture that just amazes me every time I look at it. Small parks dispersed throughout the city. Arch ways, vibrant colorful buildings, sculptures, and fountains. I have been learning to look beyond what is obvious and look a little deeper into the city. I am glad that I have the opportunity. I truly makes me appreciate how fortunate I am to have clean streets, sidewalks, washing machines, free water, chocolate chip cookies, quietness, peanut butter... just to name a few things I miss! Thanks everyone for supporting me in my endeavors. I wouldn’t be here experiencing this without you. I’m off to go study Italian!

Peace and love,

Kayla

The end of Opening Tour, but just the beginning of Italy.

The moment is finally here.. my first blog post! I have been meaning to update you all about my trip for 2 weeks now but I haven’t had an ounce of downtime or decent internet access until now. Oh goodness where to start, well just so you know ahead of time this is going to be a very long blog post so I will not be offended if you skim :)

Let’s start with my flight, I left on September 4^th with my two pieces of luggage and my giant backpack filled with clothes rolled up into tiny hotdog shapes. Saying goodbye to my family was rather hard and I have to admit I did have a few tears well up in my eyes. Although I am beyond grateful and excited for this experience, being away for three and a half months is going to be a challenge. After giving my hugs and kisses and wiping away my salty wet tears it was time to get ready to go and I was as ready as I ever would be. Now flying was less than a pleasant experience. The flights were overbooked, smelling, hot, uncomfortable, and filled with coughing sneezing crying people. I ended up missing one flight, barely making it on a two hour delayed one and in the end getting on a completely different flight than everyone else. Luckily I had one other girl with me when we arrived in Berlin and were able to track down and find the other 13 Gonzaga kids traveling with us. Unfortunately our luggage was lost and no one seemed to be able to track it down. I was crabby, overwhelmed and extremely stressed at this point. I was thinking to myself am I actually supposed to be here? Is this a sign? But after calming down and finally arriving at my hotel in Berlin with my carryon (that I was luckily prepared enough to have packed all that I would need to 10 days) I remembered how fortunate I was to actually be in Berlin and about to go on this amazing journey. My temper tantrum was over and I was done saying “don’t talka me I crabby!” :) haha.

My roommate in my Berlin hotel was Amanda. Someone I had never met before but we had mutual friends and she is someone I think I will get along with very well. After an amazing German dinner I stuffed my face and passed out in my bed for 9 hours until the next morning when we had a fun busy day! We took a three hour long bus tour of Berlin and made many stops as we saw the Berlin wall, shopping centers, historic buildings, embassy’s, and a holocaust memorial. It was great to learn about Berlin and I was surprised how modern and built up the city was. It definitely took a while for it to sink in that I am actually in a city thousands of miles away from home. Later that day I went on an optional tour to a Jewish museum and walked around town to find a place to eat dinner. We finally came upon a restaurant and ladies and gentleman it was finally time for me to order my first alcoholic drink! I asked the waiter what his sweetest beer was and he looked at me like I was crazy... I hesitated for a moment and he said he would surprise me. He came back with a delicious mango beer. It was really really good! Dinner was delicious, meatballs with buttered potatoes and this cream gravy sauce. Definitely a traditional German meal. We ended up getting lost on our way back but eventually found our way. It seems that in every city I tend to get a little mixed around! Now it was time to check out a local German pub. We found this little hole-in-the-wall a couple blocks from our hotel. It was filled with old German men that barely spoke a word of English. Here the Germans laughed at our pronunciations, the boys ordering girly drinks for the girls, and eventually came out side and gave us 6 Euros for more “girly” drinks and they bought us each a round of these tiny shot drinks in a bottle. This was definitely an experience I will never forget, hanging out with the locals and immersing myself into the culture.

The next day I woke up to a dark and dreary morning. It was actually the perfect environment for the place we were about to see. That day we went to a concentration camp. The sachsenhausen concentration camp. Honestly seeing a concentration camp was one of the most gut-wrenching things I have ever experienced. To this day I can’t even imagine the pain and suffering people went through. It honestly boggles my mind so much and puts me to tears even writing about it right now. It was a sad and earry experience but I am happy that it was something that I got to see. To cheer up the evening we went back to the German pub and hung out with the locals for another fun evening.

Now we are off to Prague, but on the way to Prague we stopped in Dresden, Germany for a few hours. This was a beautiful quaint city. I really wish we would have spent the night there as there were so many museums I would have liked to see! Now Prague... Ohhh Prague, what a beautiful, crazy, and exciting city. The architecture is absolutely beautiful and the city is stunning all around. I would have loved to stay longer to just enjoy the scenery. We went on a tour and learned all about the detailed architecture and history. Amy, Mariah, Jordan and I enjoyed a nice fish, salad, and potatoes for lunch. The fish was incredible probably some of the best fish I have ever had. I definitely felt like I was in Europe when I was walking through the streets of Prague. In Prague around 9pm we left for a pub crawl. Apparently this is the exciting thing to do and so I joined alone with basically the entire Gonzaga-In-Florence student body... Not going to lie, I was a little nervous for this crazy adventure but I tucked my money belt under my shirt and made sure I had close group of at least 7 people that would be looking out for each other at all times. All in all it ended up being surprisingly very organized and fun. I am glad I had the experience of pub crawling and ending up at this crazy 5 story disco but I realized I definitely like my smaller group nights like the ones at the German pub better. Since I didn’t get to bed until 3:30am and we had to wake up at 6:30am the next morning was a bit of a struggle but luckily was had a lot of bus riding ahead of us so I slept the whole way!

We made a stop in Nuremburg for a guided tour and to have some lunch. This was another beautiful city but it was definitely overwhelming with all of the people. That day there was a huge Red Bull sponsored bike race/tricks tournament going on with over 40,000 people crammed into this tiny city. Lunch was absolutely delicious. We stopped off at this tiny bakery/sandwich shop that had amazing bread and fresh cheese. Now it was time for the bus again and our final destination hotel in Bad Kohlgrub, Germany. This is a tiny southern German town. Ahh it was so adorable and definitely my favorite place! My roommate was Mandy and I love her. I have known her well since freshman year and it was nice to finally room with someone I knew. That night I had a relaxing evening with the girls and watched a movie. It was very peaceful.

The first official day in Bad Kohlgrub was a blast! It was September 11^th and the 10^th anniversary of 911. That morning I attended mass in this adorable little church and listened to the homily talk about the tragic day that will go down in history forever. Later that day we went on a hike. Now this wasn’t like any other hike I had ever been on before... this was like one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. It was straight up hill for 9 miles. Extremely steep. My legs were SO out of air by the time I reached the top... or after the first couple miles really haha! But, the views made it so worth it. I could have just stayed up there forever and enjoyed the view.

The next day we left Bad Kohlgrub for the day and went to Salzburg, Austria. We enjoyed a wonderful tour of Salzburg. The gorgeous snow tipped mountains, beaming blue skies, green rolling hills, and colorful flowers growing everywhere mad Salzburg shine. I was also very excited to see all of the main attractions where “The Sound of Music” was filmed. We enjoyed some awesome views of the city and the peace of St. Peters church. That evening Jordan, Gini, Collin, and HI acted all sophisticated talking about nerdy things, listened to classical music and enjoyed some wine on the balcony of the hotel while staring up the gleaming stars. It was a great day.

Our last fun filled day of opening tour we took a tour of the Schlob Neuschwanstein Castle. It you don’t know very much about this castle, it is the one that Disney bases all of its castles on in the movies and in Disneyland. It was incredible! We have already toured a few castles on this trip but nothing like this one. It was a medieval castle surrounded by mountains, green hills, and clear blue water. Our tour guide was fantastic and he filled our brains full of history, made fun sound effects, and rocked out the music jams. It was hilarious. On our bus ride home from the castle we stopped in Garmish where the Olympics were played some years ago and we enjoyed some of the famous 7 layer chocolate cake.
          The next morning we took the 7 hour bus ride to Florence and finally arrived in our Pensione on September 14^th. I am living in 85 Cavour in a triple with Kristie Infantine and Gini Soto. They are adorable girls and I am so excited to live with them! Our room is small and quaint with its own tiny little bathroom. Our Pensione only has 22 students living in it and is run by a sweet little family Ramona, Ricardo, Gaspésie, and Marco. Today was my first day of class. I am excited to finally start learning again! I had Italian 101 and Philosophy 301. I think they are both going to be great classes! Well I am off to go figure out the internet situation and get a few things that I need here.

Thank you for reading Fam Bam!

Love, 

Kayla aka Goggie :)