Romaaaaaa

“Hey now! Hey now! This is what dreamsssss are made of”. No my name is not Lizzie McGuire (unfortunately) but I did go to Rome!! No an Italian pop star did not pick me up from the Trevi Fountain and convince me to sing with him (wouldn’t take much convincing) and I did not fall in love with him and then find out he’s a huge fraud (I’m sure this is confusing if you haven’t seen the Lizzie McGuire movie) but I had a great time!

This would actually be the third time I have been to Rome in my life. Since I have done most of the “touristy” things like the Vatican, Coliseum, blah blah blah I was ready for some Roman shopping and maybe a Roman shopping partner? Due to the crazy prices for a train from Milan to Rome we decided to take a bus. The bus left Milan at 11AM and we arrived very tired and legs cramped around 8PM. We stayed with a girl from my roommate’s school, which was great because they were able to tell us where to go and take us out with them. So our first night there we got some pizza and went to bed early (and by bed I mean the floor).

Day 2 in Rome I am on the hunt for a purse. Although Milan is known for some amazing shopping, Rome should be known for cheap shopping. I made my way around the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps looking for products before making my way over to the wedding cake.  While my main plan was to find a purse, it was also to find the locations that were in the Da Vinci Code movie. Throughout one day I probably went into 15 churches, they are all open and you can walk around a little, it was also close to Christmas so there were a ton of decorations set up. Overall it was an awesome day of exploring and adventuring around Rome followed by a night out with some real Romans, and some guys from Russia and Virginia (I know not as exciting).

The next day we were up bright and early to walk over to the Vatican and see THE POPE!! Yes I saw the pope. I heard him speak and although I am not catholic it was an absolutely amazing experience. We then walked around all day looking for stolen purses and gifts for family and ended our night at an Irish pub where I had chicken strips for the first time in almost 4 months. Then the long night bus back home brought us back to Milan and the reality that we are not in a Lizzie McGuire movie and still have school to attend, still a pretty great weekend.

Ciao,

Taylor

Cinque Terre

I’m not sure if you are aware of this…I was not aware of it before I arrived in Milan…I wouldn’t have guessed it was true with my prior knowledge of Italy…what is this that you should be aware of?  It rains an enormous amount in Milan.  Like three weeks straight no sunshine kept in the dark puts you in a horrible mood kind of rain.  I don’t know about you but that can really make you upset when you haven’t seen the sun in weeks…that’s why I was so excited to go somewhere sunny, and beautiful like Cinque Terre! Cinque means five in Italian and represents the five islands that make up the area of Cinque Terre.  This is the place that you see all the beautiful colorful houses and bright blue water, simply gorgeous.

Like any good week in Italy it is not complete without some kind of strike, this time a train strike.  We were told by the nice man at the train station that our train would still be traveling to Monterosso (one of the islands) because “you are beautiful, train will run”.  Very reassuring.  So while we knew we would arrive in Monterosso we had no idea if we would be able to make it back home the next day.  So that day we shopped and got in the freezing cold water and had a blast!  We headed back to the camp site we were staying at around 8 and came back in the morning to do some hiking!  I made a valiant attempt at paddle boarding but ended up falling on my face and almost a jelly fish many times.  Unfortunately we were not left on the beach as our train showed up on time to take us back to Milan, so bitter sweet!

So as I remenis on my time by the Mediterranean, shopping, drinking, hiking, and paddle boarding I can not believe what an adventure it truly was.  Traveling on a budget is hard but you still get to see some pretty amazing things and it’s great motivation to make your own fun!

Reasons I’m clearly not Italian

Spending a semester in Italy sounded like a dream when I first thought of the idea.  What a magical place filled with amazing food, exciting adventures, and beautiful men. I was sure that spending my time there would lead to a new view on life, and a different view of my home country.  But looking back on it all, I now have a different view on everything.

 

Italy is such a great country….to visit.  Would I live there again? Not unless it was necessary.  Lets start with the food, ITALIAN FOOD.  This is what Italy is known for, the great pasta, lasagna, wine (okay thats not food but it fits), and of course pizza.  And all of this really is good, but that’s really all there is.  You cannot go to Italy and expect to get a cheeseburger or a taco every once in a while, they only have true italian food.  Now for someone that likes to have cereal for breakfast, tacos for lunch, and Chinese food for dinner this was not a good thing.  I love having a variety of foods to try and get sick if I eat the same thing for a long amount of time.  So while the Italians can make a mean spaghetti carbanara, i’ll stick with my Olive Garden if it means having a few options.

Frutti di Mare in Rome

Bruschetta in Florence

Fish in Venice

Creme Brûlée in Milan

Pizza in Milan (veryyyy good)

Favorite foods:

-spaghetti carbanara (kind of like alfredo)

-Pizza Devolo (pepperoni)

-Any of the deserts

-Salami Piccante

-Frutti di mare

-Home made pasta and anything

 

Now let me talk about the Italian culture, focusing on northern Italy since that’s where I was located.  If I could tell the Italian people one thing it would be “IT’S OKAY TO SMILE SOMETIMES”.  These people all act like they are constantly going to a funeral, and everyone treats you like it’s a punishment having to talk with you.  Talking to people is a necessary action, especially if you’re working!  Now I understand that it is just their culture to not be overly nice with anyone, but geez would it really hurt that much?? Not to mention their work ethic is…questionable.  Work a few hours, take a 2 hour lunch break, come back after having a little to much wine and work a few more hours before heading out to dinner for more wine.  Not that I wouldn’t like to work that way but I have no idea how anything ever gets done, not to mention why they wouldn’t all be constantly enthusiastic!

Now contrary to what I just said, the Italian people are still VERY passionate and expressive when it comes to love.  You can constantly see people making out (and more) in public.  On the metro, in the park, at the cross walk, the grocery store, it doesn’t matter where you go you will always see people showing some PDA.  Now for some people this is just a natural way of expressing your love to someone, for other more conservative people…they need to get a room.  But this is considered completely normal and no one will blink an eye when seeing a couple curled up together.  But as you can expect, this is not my style.

So do I hate Italians and all of their food and people? No, not at all.  I loved being around such passionate people that are worried more about family and friends than their everyday work life.  Could I have ate less pasta and more burritos? Absolutely.  But living in the fantasy and adventure of the Italian culture is so much fun that for a four month period is not something I would advise anyone to pass up, as long as you’re not looking for any southern hospitality.

Ciao

Taylor

Not at the secret bakery…

I recently went to the America of Italy…this is of course, Florence.  There are literally more Americans in Florence than Italian residence, giving it a great home away from home feeling.

We booked a trip to tuscany to do a wine tasting, stopped by a very old church on the way and ended up in a castle.  The view was absolutely beautiful and the castle was very cool, the owners live in the castle and have the winery in the basement and the wine tasting in their huge dining room.  I’ve never been a big wine person and even here I drink more champagne than actual wine, but it was great learning all the wine tasting techniques and feeling very italian.

  

We headed back to Florence and had dinner with some friends before going out to the bars.  Everything in Florence is so cheap compared to Milan and having so many Americans around make it feel like I was back at K-State in Aggieville…not that I’ve ever been there (wink wink).  Did not get to visit the secret bakery which you should definitely do if you are out and about around 3AM, apparently it’s some life changing stuff (still crying I didn’t get to go)!

After a rough start due to a late night we set off to see the sights of Florence, the duomo, the fake statues of david, and the many piazzas.  Florence has so many historical sights in so little space that its very easy to get around and see everything.  I can’t tell you how many times we were trying to go somewhere and we would start from the Duomo and think we were headed the right way and 10 minutes later we would be right back at the Duomo, total deja vu.

So Florence was great, very touristy and pretty small but very fun for a weekend with friends!

T&L in Paris

Paris. In. The. Fall. the most beautiful place ever.  I would definitely say the Parisians are “my people”.  Seriously though,  I don’t agree that they are rude people…they just aren’t the friendliest.  There was no cat calling on the streets by gross old men (cough cough Italy) and they all dress so classy like a permeant Chanel fashion show is happening.  They also have a CHIPOTLE and STARBUCKS, I wasn’t even mad they thought my name was Tallor (but why would that be anyones name?).

We arrived late at night and found out that our hostel was right next to Moulin Rouge, in an area of a lot of bars and definitely giving off the strip club feel (there probably were a lot of them but I didn’t investigate).

The next day we were off to see the Eiffel, we went up to the second terrace and got to look over the city, even on a cloudy day it was gorgeous, definitely worth the wait and money.

Next we headed over to my favorite part of the trip, Versailles.  For a girl that thought she was going to be a princess until I was about thirteen, I was very excited.  I felt like Kimye walking through the palace and the gardens outside are amazing.  You could honestly spend hours there walking through all of the gardens and exploring like a modern Marie Antoinette.

Our next stop was to a place I have spent a lot of time at in my life, but no time in the last two months….I’m talking about Chipotle of course.  We ended up following a group of Americans from the metro into Chipotle and found about 30 more Americans when we got there…we named it “the American watering hole”.

The next day were the Catacombs, such a unique and interesting experience.  The wait was a little over 2 hours which was as dreadful as it sounds but worth it for sure.  An attempt at guessing what the fatal wound was for random people makes for an interesting and strange experience.

The next day we visited the Louvre and saw some priceless works of art before lunch and headed over to Notre Dame afterwards.  We ended up in a bar to watch the Paris football game and found the lock bridge and Shakespeare and Company.

Our last big adventure was a walk from Notre Dame to the Eiffel which we underestimated largely and ended up walking for over an hour, but we made it right as the Eiffel lit up, which could be considered a life changing experience.

Overall Paris was amazing and I have already made a promise to myself that I will be back one day, to visit or live is still to be determined.

Venice

Let me just start out by saying… I LOVE VENICE.  The whole city just screams Italy including the hordes of people you have to deal with at every touristy place.

 

We started our adventure by wandering through the many streets of Venice with no destination in mind, slowly making our way to the Rialto Bride (I kept calling it Ranaldo guess I had a certain good looking man on my mind).  Beautiful view of the Grand Canal and we meet up with some other Americans that are in our program and had dinner with them followed by a few too many wine bottles and an early night in bed!

We spent Saturday doing more wandering and helping a friend find Marano glass and real Venician street food!  We saw the beautiful duomo of Venice, took a gondola ride, and enjoyed getting lost in the never ending streets and canals.  Then things got a little more interesting…

 

 

We had been informed that George Clooney was getting married in Venice on Saturday and I figured, how often does this happen we should check it out.  So we decide to head over to the reception and see if we could spot them in transit from the wedding to the reception, not really thinking it was going to be a big deal.  We arrive on the right side of the hotel, only about 20 feet from the entrance of the reception from the canal side.  On the dock there were already hordes of people and reporters, hundreds in total simply waiting because the time of the rehearsal had not been released.  We somehow worked our way to the front of the line and were the closest people to the water and the entrance.  Once the celebrities started to arrive things started to get crazy, yelling at Cindy Crawford, Bill Murray, and Bono (I honestly had no idea what Bono looked like) like a 12 year old girl.  After this the police came over and told us all we had to leave because the dock was too crowded and the paparazzi was yelling at us to leave (I still hate them).  So we shifted down a little and then it happen… I saw George Clooney’s beautiful, flawless face.  I honestly never thought I would be one of those people that yelled at a celebrity like a crazy fan girl, nearly in tears..but I was wrong.  I couldn’t even control myself.  After that most people left and so did we.  Pushing off eating, drinking, and using the bathroom for 2 hours was rough but completely worth it.  Sad day to see George married but it made for a great story!

 

Ciao,

 

Taylor

Vogue Fashion Night Out Milan

Literally a fashion lovers dream.  VFNO is technically a night to “restore consumer confidence and boost the economy” which pretty much means its a glorified black friday.  Stores stay open late and serve champagne or other drinks and give out free stuff and hope that you will buy things while you’re there.  Not all stores participate its really only the ones in the shopping district and focused on the higher end stores.

So here are step by step directions on how to Vogue Fashion Night out correctly…illustrated by me.

Step 1: Find the right outfit.  Something that says “I’m fashionable but I’m also going to be walking a lot so I’m not wearing heels”.

Step 2: Find some great friends to go out with you (duh).

Step 3: Go to the high end stores first to get their giveaways and the better champagne before they run out…learned that one the hard way.

Step 4: If you see anyone that looks anything like this man take a picture with him no matter how long the line is (it was reallyyy long).

Step 5: Make your way through the massive crowds of people doing exactly the same thing you are.

Step 6: Get all the free drinks offered because they are usually 10 Euros each (thats like $13 people).

Step 7: Take selfies with your drink because that’s the cool thing to do (maybe that’s just me).

Step 8: Admire all the BEAUTIFUL dresses (christmas?), cool DJs, and interesting exhibitions set up around the city.

And of course end your night with some McDonalds because how else would you go home after so much free champagne??

Ciao

Taylor

Don’t worry guys I’m still surviving out here (on pizza alone because thats all I can read on the menu).  

This segment of my blog is all about my apartment!!

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So my apartment is conveniently located in the black circle shown on the map (smart right I’m not going to get ‘Taken’), it’s a great location because it’s easy to get around and we can walk to class (keep in mind I said can not will).  

 

The street we live on is so cute and nice looking although it is mostly families or adults and not to many college aged students, although there is a park by our house where we spotted some cute Italian guys playing soccer.  

So when you walk up to our apartment you have to go through a little door in the big door, and you walk into an open air courtyard area which all of the apartments look into from their rooms!

 

 

 

 

You walk into a little foyer area…. 

 

Then into the kitchen…

     

And the living room is down the hall..

 

And my room that I share with one roommate (she’s awesome btw), decorated with pictures of all my besties 🙂

 

And a beautiful view outside from our room.. to some other people’s rooms.

 

 

And of course we have this in our bathroom…awkward.  

So thats pretty much the tour… spent about an hour today trying to figure out how to work the stove, still no idea.  The washing machine goes for 2 hours and then you have to line dry your clothing which takes like a full day so no showering for me on washing towels days.  Found out last night you can’t get Netflix, Hulu, or HBO Go in Italy and honestly I teared up a bit (how will I watch Gossip Girl??).  Send prayers that I will find an illegal site I can use (can I say that on here?).  Thanks for reading :).  

 

Ciao 

Taylor 

 

Boh

I MADE IT!!!!!!

Things have been going great so far! I love my roommates and our apartment is awesome! Its just like the Italian apartment I had always pictured in my head (working on getting pictures).

Luckily for me we got picked up at the airport by the University or else I would never have made it to my apartment. There was a group of us from my program being picked up at the same time and I quickly discovered I had about twice as much luggage as everyone else (don’t know why I was surprised by that, like I said I’m a clothing hoarder). Luckily a nice (and nice looking) Italian man helped me carry my things to the car and up to my apartment (hope that doesn’t make me the star of the next ‘Taken’ movie). After that was drinks and a buffet (not actually called a buffet though how weird) at a casual bar downtown and lots of meeting new people and looking at people with blank faces as they speak Italian. Getting lunch has been very hard since I cannot read the menu and waiting until 8:30PM to eat dinner has been pure torture, but always worth it in the end. We also went to Roberto Cavalli’s night club, thinking we were going to a casual bar dressed in a sundress and sandals (no one else looked near as scrubby), and that was embarrassing enough for the rest of the semester.  Today we spent about an hour asking students where the cafeteria was and being led to about 5 different bars before we figured out that they had no idea what a cafeteria was, small language barrier.  Slowly but surly figuring things out (and I mean really slowly).

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Things I’ve learned so far:

1. “Boh” is a word that means the same as when someone asks you a questions you know the answer to but don’t feel like/don’t want to share with them (my new favorite world).

2.  If some man on the street puts a bracelet on your wrist and says its free its not! Its not free…. he will come after you (Taken 3?).

3.  Even on the hottest day don’t leave your windows open all night unless you want to wake up in a very cold and delirious state.

4. Never try and run into the super cool elevator at Cavalli’s nightclub you will get thrown out of the club within 10 seconds (but worth a try for sure).

At least it looked cool! ^^^

Ciao

Taylor

Ready. Set. Go.

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow is the big day!  I’m off on my big adventure to Milan (well New Jersey first) and I’m so nervous/excited I’m sure I won’t sleep at all.  After a very relaxing week of getting my hair done, shopping for luggage, and watching lots and lots of Gossip Girl I am so ready to be actually doing something!  I’ve discovered that packing for 4 months is one of the hardest things to do as a clothing hoarder/shopping addict and I have had many almost breakdowns trying to decide what to bring with me and what to leave in my closet.  But somehow I fit everything into 2 suitcases, 1 very cute carry-on bag, and a purse (conveniently pictured below).

 

Here’s to hoping that my flight goes well,  I can read a few Italian signs to find my ride, and my apartment is ready when I get there!  More correspondence to come when I arrive!

Ciao,

Taylor