We made plans to be unbreakable

Im so sorry I abandoned this blog at the end of my adventure! It got too crazy and I just didn't have time. But now I do!

Lets back up about a month. In the beginning of december Becki and I and our two friends Jess and Ed went to Rome. Europe is so cool that way. We just up and decided to go to Rome for the weekend! Rome was incredible. and huge. I have never walked so much in my entire life. Even when we went to the cinque terre.

We saw everything! The trevi fountain, the spanish steps, the colosseum, the vatican museum, St. Peter's, and the pope's house! His bedroom light was on so we knew he was home.

We were shameless tourists, snapping pictures at every possible moment. The colosseum and the vatican museum were probably my favorite things we did. So much history and awe-inspiringness with the colosseum and so much amazing art at the Vatican museum. I still cant believe I saw the Sistine Chapel!  And we met the most incredible people in Rome. It was actually kind of weird. People kept on going out of their way to talk to us, help us, and even entertain us. We met these two young American guys who were studying to be Priests in the Vatican city. We probably talked with them for around 45 mins and they gave us a personal tour of St. Peters.

The last two weeks of my adventure I spent soaking up all Florence had to offer. Museums, restaurants, gelato, good friends, art exhibits, interesting people, and the italian language. Oh man i miss it!

However it is good to be home. Although getting home was quite the experience. I had to fly from Florence to Vienna to London, where I spent the night in a tiny space-pod of a room. I think I was actually on a spaceship. Then the next day I flew from London to Toronto which was a killer 8 hour flight. In toronto I was supposed to get a flight to Rochester, but my flight was changed in September and no one bothered to inform me. So my flight left long before I was able to get through customs.  To make up for it, the airport got me a new flight to syracuse and a $10 meal voucher. Then I finally got to see my family, waiting in the Syracuse airport. They are so beautiful and I am so blessed to have them as my family.

It was one of the best christmas's ever. It was so good to be with family. I got to see everyone! All my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and cousins from both sides of the family! We even had the pleasure of meeting our cousin's boyfriend who is fantastic.

Oh! I have an exciting little piece of information to share. Now, I'm not saying im a genius or anything, but this discovery I made is pure gold. Thanks to the wonderful genetics on my father's side, I have very dry skin. All year round. But winter is kind of brutal. But I hate to lotion because its way to cold!  Not anymore! No longer will I be plagued with lizard skin in the winter, thanks to this:

Candle Warmer Lotion Contraption! It really works. Try it. But be careful, lotion gets HOT!

I will write one more blog later, summing up my time and describing my re-entry to American culture. But for now I will leave you with this:

it doesnt look like christmas here at all

Its been crazy here recently. I cant believe I only have 17 days left here. I don't even want to think about leaving. But at the same time I cannot frikin wait to see you all! Its been harder than I expected to be away from everybody. But I have a little family here that I'm going to miss so much. Why is it that I always have to be missing someone?

Last weekend I went to Vinci, the small town where Leonardo da Vinci was born. Because I kind of think he was the coolest man to ever live and Vinci is so close that I just had to! It took a train and a bus to get there. I went by myself and got a little confused when I had to find my bus but I figured it out in the end.

The town was absoltly beautiful. I think I could have easily been a renaissance woman if I was born in Vinci. Its very inspiring. Beautiful stone buildings with an amazing view of the countryside all around. 

I went to the Museo Leonardiano. It was a very well done museum. People had studied he sketches and actually made working models of his inventions. There were flying contraptions and pulley systems and cannons and machine guns and boats with wheels!  (these are illegal pictures!)

After the museum I had some time to kill before my bus came so I found a little path that led past farmhouses and vineyards. It was a beautiful, peaceful walk, with chickens and everything!

 

On Sunday me, Lexi, and our friend Chapman went to a nearby garden to take pictures at sunset. Lexi was the best model. 

 

I have cool friends.


This week has been preparing for final projects and writing papers! Today in Fashion Photography we shot a look book for an organic clothing company called http://www.altarosa.it/?lang=en. Here are some of my favorite shots. They are not really lookbook appropriate shots, but I realized I'm less interested in Fashion Photography and more interested in taking interesting pictures of people.

I go to Rome on Friday!

miss you all :)
 

Lets get rich and buy our parents houses in....TUSCANY

Warning: This post is very long and newsy. I would suggest scanning. 


I just had the most amazing weekend. It feels like a dream almost.

Friday I did what I've been waiting and saving up for all semester: HORSEBACK RIDING EXCURSION! I wrote in my journal before I came here that I wanted to ride a horse and a vespa while I was here. I'm still working on that vespa ride.

Me and my apartmentmate Emily went together. We went through this program called Fun In Tuscany, which sounds super lame but its not. There were nine other girls we didnt know, all of whom were very interesting. First we had an hour long car ride though the countryside, which was beautiful obviously. Then we got to this adorable farm house with the stables. 

 When they began to divvy out the horses, the Italian man who owned the horses kept pointing at me and speaking in rapid italian. The only word I could make out was "brutta," which means ugly.  So I was all like "Is he calling me ugly?" and our guide laughed and said "No, Bruta with one "t" means Brutal, which is the name of your horse."  So I was like "oh fantastic." But they told me her name was a joke because she was so gentle.  Which was true, but she was also very hungry. She tried to eat everything.  The guide kept yelling at me to pull on her reigns and I was trying but it was hard and I really wanted to say "I'm sorry Im not as strong as a frikin horse!"

 Anyways, we had an amazing two hour long ride though vineyards and farmland and beautiful country side. I could not stop smiling the whole time. The weather was perfect, I was finally riding a horse, I was blissfully happy.

This one lady was telling this other girl to "show the horse you're in control. You're the boss." But it wasn't like that with me and Bruta. We had a mutual relationship based on love and trust. She gave me a ride and I gave her a back rub and an apple. (although I think I might have gotten the better end of the deal). But seriously, who do these people think they are? No matter how tame a horse may be it could always buck you off in seconds if he really wanted. Silly humans, always thinking they're in control!

After two hours my bum was ready for a break. We went to this resturant near by and had a delicious 35723857 course Tuscan meal. Then we went to a 13th century castle called  Monteriggioni where we had a little wine tasting before heading home.

Then on Saturday I went back to the Uffizi for the 5th time because I can. After Lexi, Laura, and I took a long walk out to suburban florence to take some pics and get fresh air. 

Then in the evening we did another thing I've been wanting to do: Calcio! In other words, Soccer game! It was Fiorentina vs. Milano. Almost everyone in my program went all together as a big group. It was so so so fun. The people at the game were so excited and so into the game.  Milano is number 3 in the league and Fiorentina is 13, so I expected that we would be defeated pretty easily. But, Fiorentina held there own and it was a scoreless game. But exciting none the less.

you know how it is with me and all the boys...







Yesterday Becky, my roomate, and our friend Ed went to a nearby hilltown called Lucca. It was so cute! So italian. The town was tiny and the whole thing was set up like one big antique market!

We went for a photography festival that was going on. It was so fun because the exhibits were set up in churches and old buildings all throughout the town and it was like a scavenger hunt to find them all. My favorite photographer who exhibited was Kenro Izu. He had so many beautiful photos from the most amazing interesting places all over the world. I want to be his assistant!

Overall, one of the best weekends. I really miss all you guys. I'll see you in 4 weeks!