You only live in Italy once!

Me and Caroline

Wow, what an incredible weekend I had! Caroline and I (official travel buddies in case you haven’t already figured that out) decided to take a trip to Lake Como, which we had always heard was beautiful! Well we sure did hear right! The second we got off the train ride there, our breath was completely taken away. It was definitely in my top 3 most beautiful places I have ever seen! I can’t explain in words what it was like to be there and see it, but that in itself should tell you something about it (that it would take the words right out of my mouth!)

Lake Como is in northern Italy surrounded by the Swiss Alps, and has a few little towns bordering the lake.  When we arrived, it was beautiful weather, and we boarded a boat to take us to Bellagio, the town that we stayed in the whole weekend. Well the boat ride was incredible in itself, and we both kept looking at each other saying, “Is this real life??” We finally arrived at our hotel, which was simple, cheap, but still nice, we decided to soak up the beautiful weather and go ride around on the boats, and that is exactly what we did for the rest of the night, until it started to rain. We made our way back to Bellagio, and had a nice dinner then went to bed early, since I was going off of two and a half hours of sleep due to registering for classes at 2am Italy time…thanks a lot time change... But we decided to get some good sleep and did not wake up on Saturday until 9:30! It was amazing! We found an amazing gelato place that serves gelato cookie sandwiches (pictured below!) and we decided to have those for breakfast! No one judge us…we have taken the “You are only going to live in Italy once” phrase a little too close to heart! They were soooo good though!

After our healthy gelato for breakfast, we hopped on the next Mid-Lake Boat which takes you to 7 little lake towns, and we would just get off an on as we pleased. Most of the towns were very similar, but we would get off, go sit by the lake for an hour, have a couple photo shoots (duh), and then get back on the boat to the next place. It was really a great, relaxing day! I even took a nap on a bench, that’s how lazy it was! So wonderful to have a weekend like this because we are on such a tight, busy schedule during the week! It was so refreshing to just sit by the lake and bask in the Lord’s creation and beauty! We were both just so blown away that the same God created us and all the beautiful scenery too! It was so humbling and great!

The weather was outstanding and it was an all around fantastic day! I so wish each and every one of you could see Lake Como, and if you ever get the chance to go here one day—TAKE IT! You won’t be disappointed!

Caroline and I decided to splurge and have a nice meal by the lake for the last night there. It was really good, we both ordered pasta, but it was really fun getting treated with great service and just enjoying each other’s company!

Sunday morning—let the adventure begin. Well let me preface this with the fact that Italy is a fantastic country, they just do things a little different than America (not all bad) just different. Two words explain what I am talking about….Train Strike. We had been warned that Italy was on the verge of possibly going on a train strike while we are here, we just sort of ignored the fact that it would happen to us. Well we were very wrong. Friday on our way to Como we saw signs in the train station that there was possibly going to be a strike during the weekend, and while they are required to warn you ahead of time when they will be striking, it is all very vague and completely in Italian, so we have no idea what is happening. Well Sunday morning we wake up to a text from our professors who have also traveled to Como for the weekend, saying that no trains are running from Como to Milan, and that they are going to take a taxi from Como to Milan, and will wait for us to join them. Well this is really great, but it was 6:56 in the morning. WE ARE STILL IN BED! And hadn’t planned to wake up for another 2ish hours, oops! So we hop out of bed, panic, and pack our bags fast and rush out of the door! We are running to catch the boat and of course barely miss it. I mean like seconds away…the next train isn’t for another hour…annoying! We realized there was absolutely nothing we could do, so we went to go get gelato for breakfast again haha! And then waited for the boat, met our professor in the taxi and then headed to Milan. We were sharing the taxi with two other honeymooning couples. The one I sat next to happened to be from Houston, and both work at the Impact Church of Christ!!! Can you believe that?! They met there, and got married a few weeks ago. It was the funniest thing, and we were both in shock about how small the world is! I have probably met them before because she said they came to college station to ask for interns from AFCers. It was just a really funny situation and really cool that I met them all the way in Italy! We kept naming people we both knew and it was so funny! I hope to meet them again someday in Houston! We had to spend a few hours in Milan waiting for the train that was actually running to take us to Florence. We decided to go visit the Duomo, which was absolutely beautiful! It was cool walking around where I know famous people have walked! Haha I know I’m cheesy! 

We finally made it to Florence, where most all the regional trains were cancelled and decided to shop a little bit and wait our the strike! Obviously we weren’t that concerned! I bought a super cute new pair of European shoes! I can’t wait to start a new trend…maybe! :)

We eventually made it home on a random train and everything turned out great! I am starting to be such a world traveler!

This week, there is a school holiday on Wednesday so Caroline and I are taking a trip to Siena, which we have heard is really great, so we are excited to explore!

I hope you are all doing well, and that the end of the semester is not too stressful! 

Blessings in Italy!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post! Things have gotten a little crazy around here!

Since I last posted, I was on my way to Luzern, Switzerland on Friday April 6^th. It was so much fun to get to end our spring break trip with relaxation by the lake and just hanging out! It was so much fun and we stayed in a nice hotel (thanks to one of my friend’s dad’s points! Score!), and we even got an American breakfast included! We felt like such princesses, it was great!

When we finally got home, yes we all call Castiglion Fiorentino our home now, we were exhausted. We barely made it up the hill with all our bags and everything, but when we did finally make it, I completely collapsed on the bed and didn’t wake up until a few girls came to tell me about Midnight Easter mass. I woke up in a hurry, got ready, and went to Mass at 11pm. We sat there for 3 hours! It was a LONG time, and after my day of traveling, I barely made it through, but at midnight they ran a Jesus figurine into the church and fireworks went off outside! It was the craziest thing ever! I could not believe what was going on, but it was a really cool experience!

On Easter, we slept in late and then had a pizza picnic (doesn’t get more Italian than that!) and then spent the rest of the day doing laundry and unpacking, etc. On Monday, I decided to just spend the day relaxing after our long trip, and slept in until 2pm. I NEVER do that! It was so amazing! We have to get up at about 7 every morning and sometimes earlier to catch trains and stuff, so it was nice to get to sleep in for once! Probably won’t happen again until I get home!

On Tuesday, Caroline and I woke up and took the train to Castiglion del Lago, which is about 25 minutes away. We explored through the city until we found the Lake and then popped a squat on the edge of the lake and just sat for 4 hours. We read, listened to music, watched the people, and just relaxed the whole time! It was wonderful and the weather was so great! The funniest thing that we saw was a little European family, with two children who striped down bare bottomed and ran around the lake! They were having a blast and all the tourists were staring away! It was hilarious! The kids were jumping in the water and getting all muddy, just being kids. We could not stop laughing!

The next two days were very, very busy because we had to plan for our lessons and had no time off since the other half of our group was on their spring break. We had play practice and tutoring which was an absolute blast. Tutoring is so much fun because we get to have one on one conversations with the eight grade students and they ask us questions about our culture and we ask them questions too. It is so interesting and so much fun to share stories and talk about each other’s culture! It is so funny to see how much we have in common and yet, how much is different too.

Caroline and I were busy planning our upcoming weekend trip too, which we booked literally the day before. We left on Thursday and booked the hotel and everything on Wednesday. Such a different kind of traveling than what I am used too, but it all worked out great!

So this past weekend…Caroline and I traveled to Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii, and Rome! It was such a fun filled weekend and I love Caroline, so we had such a great time together! It was a first real “sleep away” weekend trip, so that was so much fun! But also quite exhausting trying to cram everything into three days.

Positano, Italy!

Thursday night we took a train from CF to Rome, Rome to Naples, and then Naples to Sorrento. We didn’t arrive until 10 pm and then had to trek to our hotel, so by the time we got there we set our bags down, explored around for a little bit, and then went to bed! We woke up on Friday morning and took the first bus to Positano which was about 45 minutes away, and the bus ride there was beautiful! We had our cameras out the whole time snapping pictures and loving every minute of it! We weren’t quite sure which stop to get off at, so Caroline just rang the bell and the bus driver pulled over and we got off! So many people thought we were smart and new what we were doing, so they got off too…little did we all know, we were actually like a 30 minute walk from the center of town. But it was still fun to explore and of course always stopping to ask for directions! Eventually we stopped in one shop and asked the little lady, “Um where is the center of town?” and she was like “Duh, you are in it!” We just laughed so hard and then decided to stay around and shop for a while. We shopped and then made our way to the beaches, which Positano is known for. They are also known for their lemon sorbet (which we had two of!) and they were AMAZING! For those Aggies out there, its kind of like a lemon chill, but WAYYYYYY better!!  It was pretty rainy, so we spent a lot of time inside the stores! I didn’t complain too much! We did go out on the beach though and Caroline completely soaked her shoes by a massive wave, so she had to go buy new socks! I stayed far away from the sea except to touch it once (so I could say I did!). We ended the day back in Sorrento, had a nice dinner, and hit the hay!

Our amazing Lemon Sorbet!

On Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Pompeii! It was really amazing to see the ruins of the city and hear all about the story of what happened to the city! So much of it is still intact, so that was really really cool to see! We spent about 3 hours there and then took the train back to Sorrento, to do none other than…SHOP! We walked down one of the streets for over two hours, going in an out of all the souvenir shops and they are known for their lemon and orange groves there, it is considers the citrus capital of the world, so of course we HAD to try lemon and orange candy! The chocolate was the best! Lemon flavored chocolate (THE BEST!)…I bought some to bring home, so if you are lucky, you will get to try some!

The boats were so cute!

Sunday morning we woke up early and ran to the train station (literally ran) to catch the train back to Rome so we could spend the day in Rome. We had 20 seconds to get from the gate to the train and we made it!! We were so excited when we actually made it! And then we got to spend the day in Rome! We sat on the Spanish steps and watched the people for a while, then wandered around Rome until it was time to go home! It was such a fun weekend and I am feeling so blessed that I had the opportunity to go to the Amalfi Coast on a whim, planned the day before. That’s one of the greatest things about actually living in Italy and having free weekends to travel and get immersed into the culture. I am absolutely loving Italy and am getting really sad that I only have 5 more weeks here, I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by!

Sorry I have been so bad about updating my blog lately. It has just been a whirlwind of activities and things to do over here (as you can tell), that I haven’t had as much time as I have wanted! I am missing certain things from home (sweet tea, c=Chickfila, Mexican food, GOLDFISH), but I would certainly give those things up to be here forever! I wish you all could come here to visit me because you are who I miss the most!

Praying for each one of you daily and hope the warm Spring weather is treating you well!

Vacation on a Vacation!

When we first arrived in Salzburg we took the tram to our hostel, which again was super nice for a hostel, and then figured out how to get to “Old Town” where we would go on Rick Steve’s self-guided walking tour to get acquainted with the history, and figure out how to get around. Salzburg was absolutely beautiful, and the weather was fantastic, so taking the walking tour was perfect for us! We walked around to all the famous monuments and each took turns reading good ole Rick, out loud.

Throughout the trip we have used Rick Steve’s books SO much! I wouldn’t come to Europe without one! It has been fantastic, and I have learned so much, and saved money, which is always a super bonus! So we refer to the book as Rick, just as if he is our best friend! It is really funny!

During the walking tour, we were approached by this little old woman named Kristina, who was literally 4’8 and wearing Gucci glasses and extravagant clothes. She just started mumbling about something and we were getting ready to walk away, when she started talking about how she worked in Hollywood, and is good friends with Tom Cruise…so random! She told us to Youtube her and look her up on Google, but we have forgotten to do so yet! We all think she is a fake, but it was still a hilarious moment we could not stop laughing or talking about! She literally told us her life story in like 15 minutes! It was so funny!

Next we decided to go get something to eat, so we started looking and realize that everything is closed…it is 5:30 pm. (We were quite cranky.) We decided that it might just be because it was a Sunday night and Palm Sunday as well. So we went back to the hotel and had a loaf of bread and peanut butter…so not European!

Monday morning, we woke up early to go on the Sound of Music tour! It was SO much fun and I loved every minute of it! It was so cheesy, we had sing alongs in the bus and danced in the places she danced, but it was so wonderful and we had a blast! We watched the Sound of Music once before the tour and once after, and have not stopped singing Do, Re, Mi since! It was well worth it though! It was an experience I will never forget.

After the tour we decided to go shopping and hopefully have a good dinner because we were starving! Come to find out, there are literally no restaurants that aren’t astronomically expensive (we have a tight budget here, especially after shopping) and open. The whole town literally shuts down at 5 or 5:30. Ridiculous! So since we needed some meat, we found a McDonalds close to our hostel. First time to eat a hamburger in a month! It was really funny to see how European McDonalds were, but I also felt a little silly eating at a McDonalds in Europe, but they are literally everywhere! We also got a chocolate chip cookie that was SO good! I am literally dying over here with no chocolate chip cookies, so that was a nice treat!

We woke up on Tuesday morning and went to the river that cuts right through Salzburg. We sat by the river, had a Bible study and quiet time, which was much needed! It was absolutely wonderful to just relax and soak up the city! We also got attacked by a duck that was trying to steal my baguette! We were cracking up though and Caroline and I have come to realize that animals must hate us, because that is the third animal to attack us! (goose, squirrel, and duck!) Crazy European animals!

We finally got on the train to Munich where we met Caroline’s parents, who were here to visit her over Easter break! It was so great to have some “stand in parents” for a few days, and just have them lead the trip for a while! We had the best time with them! They were truly amazing!

First day in Munich, we got there and started to shop, of course! We wanted to see the huge Glockenspiel that was going to ring so we stayed in that area, which was absolutely crazy!! France and Germany has just played in a soccer game, so everyone was going insane! There was chanting, and yelling, and lots of beer! It was really funny to see the culture literally within the first hour of being there! And although I was grateful to be on the outside, it was hilarious to watch!

We shopped a bit more and then decided that it was time for a good meal, so we sat down at a nice restaurant, which was delicious! The funny thing about this was the waiter, who spoke ok English, kept saying “Time, Time, Time!” every time we asked for something. It was like he was saying more time, but just time time time over and over. It was so funny, so that was our inside joke for the rest of the trip! We would just say “time time time” to each other! I’m sure he thought we were so stupid!

The next day, we woke up really early and headed to Dachau, the old concentration camp, for the morning. It was really touching and moving to see. Some parts were very hard to see, and most of it I still cannot wrap my brain around, but it was a very neat experience. That took up most of the day, so when we finally got back into the city, we decided to go shop some more and then figure out a good place for dinner!

We shopped till we dropped, and then headed to another nice dinner! We were in a rush because the girls decided that we were going to go see Hunger Games, and we found an American Cinema where it would be playing in English! We had to rush because we first wanted to go to a spot in the city that Trey had told me about that only the locals know about where there are four lions outside of a museum and plaza. The locals rub their noses for good luck! We wanted to find these so bad, so we started asking everyone and most people had no idea what we were talking about, but one little girl finally understood us and pointed us in the right direction! She was with her dad and he was like “Wow, I am so proud of my daughter for knowing that!” It was really cute! We ran over to the lions and rubbed all of their noses for extra good luck and a local came up to us after seeing us take pictures and told us the back round of rubbing their noses and said that he tries to come that way whenever he can for good luck! It was a really awesome thing! Thanks Trey for that!

After that we ran to go catch the Hunger Games and later found out that we ran over two miles to get there! INSANE! We were dedicated though! It was amazing, and so awesome for us to be able to say we saw it in Munich!

Today we woke up early early and got on the train to the Nueschwanstein castle. It is the castle that Walt Disney got the design for Cinderella’s castle! It was so neat! The fog was really bad, so we couldn’t see a whole lot of the outside, but the inside was amazing! So detailed and really awesome!

We left the castle and shopped some more for little knick-knack souvenirs and then got on the train back to Munich so we could catch our next train to Luzern, Switzerland! I am so excited to see Switzerland for a few days and we are hoping to just relax by the lake after a busy, busy week!

Thanks for all the prayers! Sorry for the extremely long post! I will try to do better about updating it more often!

Hope y’all have a great weekend and Happy Easter!! 

What language do I speak again?

Monday-Thursday was pretty normal! We just taught our lessons and observed in classrooms!

I was able to observe in the music class! Which is not like music class in America! Most of the children play the recorder, a couple play guitar, one drums (but the drum is a cardboard box) and the teacher plays the keyboard. It was really interesting to observe in this class. At the end the teacher even taught us to play the guitar and the drums with the class! It was so much fun and the kids LOVED us being in there with them! I absolutely love being part of this school’s environment.

On Wednesday we had play practice and it was so much fun! I am teaching all the kids the dances they need to know, and they pick it up pretty well! It has been so much fun getting to know the students outside of the classroom! They are really great!

The lower level classes were testing on Thursday, so the class I was supposed to teach got cancelled, so I just observed in other classes and helped to plan the play.

 Then Thursday night came and three friends and I hopped on an overnight train  from Florence to Vienna, Austria. It was so much fun! I loved being able to experience it and even though we were in close quarters, I still had a blast and was just pretending I was on a harry potter train! It was so great! And I actually did get a pretty good night’s sleep!

 Friday morning we woke up in Austria…pretty sweet! And we were trying to find our way to the hostel, but of course it was raining and cold. We finally found our way after being pretty lost! Then we went to tour a castle, which was absolutely beautiful! So great! It was still raining outside so that was kind of a bummer, but we just kept walking and getting lost and asking for directions. Luckily so many people speak English here. It is great, because German is so hard to understand! It was about 2:30 and we hadn’t had lunch yet, so we were getting pretty cranky, so we decided to stop for lunch and we ordered some Huhnerschnitzel. I was actually really great!! After lunch we went shopping at H&M (duh!), and then just roamed around the city center! It was a very fun evening and we even decided to go to the Opera that night! It was so fun!! We bailed after act one because we were standing to watch it and our feet hurt so bad, but we didn’t feel too bad because we only paid 4 Euros to see it! It was great! We ate dinner and then went back to the hostel!

Saturday: We woke up and were headed to tour another castle, but the train station was having technical difficulties, so we were like “uhhh what do we do??” Luckily an angel from God appeared, in the form of a very nice man who spoke English, and he was heading the same direction as us! He told us exactly where to go and gave us other ideas of places to go see and where to eat, etc. It was amazing and I was so thankful to have bumped into him! (Thanks God! You’re great!) Anyways we had a very busy, but fun filled day of touring and shopping and chilling in parks! It was very cold, but I bundled up so I was just fine!  We took lots of great pictures and had a blast exploring Vienna together!

Today we woke up and went back to the first castle, Schronbrunn Palace (sp?), to take pictures since it was raining the first day and it was beautiful! It even started SNOWING while we were in the Gardens! It was truly spectacular! I loved it so much!

Now we are on the train to Salzburg, and with our Eurail passes we were able to get first class reservations! It is amazing! Caroline keeps telling me to be careful because “Luxury sampled soon becomes necessity.” I know that is true, but duh I will live up this first class train ride!

We arrived in Salzburg and found our hostel pretty easily, which was a relief since in Vienna it was a bit more challenging. We checked into our hostel (which is basically a four star hotel—again with the luxury thing…I’m getting spoiled!!) and then took the Rick Steve’s walking tour of Old Town Salzburg! It was so great! It’s such a cute little town with so much to see! It is much more “do-able” than Vienna, which made us a lot more as ease! So many things are out for Easter, it’s really cute!

I am looking forward to the Sound of Music tour tomorrow! We even watched the movie last night to prepare ourselves for it! So excited to see Salzburg and all the excitement that comes with it!

Please keep me and my friends in your prayers as we travel literally around Europe! It is a very exciting time for all of us, but it is a little nerve-racking to be in a foreign country all by ourselves! We are having a blast and soaking up every minute of it though!

Also I don’t know if anyone is counting, but I have been in Italy for 3 weeks now! I can’t believe it has been that long! It is going by way to fast, but I am also starting to miss friends and family back home! Pray that the homesick feeling goes away, and that I enjoy the time I have here because it is truly flying by!

Love each and every one of you! Thanks for reading!