spain

Since my trip is over in 2 days my mom keeps bugging me about updating my blog. Its almost over does anyone even read this any more? I think its only her and i talk to her almost daily and tell her what i am doing so Mom this is so you can know what i have done this past week and a half and you can read it anytime you want. my blog is now updated. :)

I went to Athens, Greece. Hostel was great. We had a roomie from Chile. She had been traveling for weeks. She spend 6 hours in a museum we spent 2 in. Their was also a guy that looked like Johnny Depp.
We went to an island of the coast of Greece and met a old man from England that used to be a teacher and now lives on aegina (the island). he taught us many great things about the island. sadly we learned no Greek.

With only 4 lovely days in Athens we jetted off to Barcelona.. well almost. Apparently Alitalia sucks. So they changed our original flight and canceled our second so we made a full circle and we spent the night in a 4 start hotel in Rome. We felt very much at home.

The next morning we left for Barcelona. Our hostel was young hip and cool. We putted around Barcelona for 3 days going to museums, parks and enjoying the Spanish culture.

When we started out trip we didn't know how we were going to get from Barcelona to Madrid so we were looking at options. They were the following:
1. high speed train for 150 euros= 3 hours
2. overnight train for 100 euros= 8 hours
3. bus for 50 euros= 8 hours
4. plane for 56 euros= 1.5 hours.

Plane won. Saturday we took a plane across Spain to Madrid. What a great city to end with! I love Madrid. Saturday we spent walking around Puerto del Sol. Sunday we spent at church and walking around. We got into the Prado museum for free! wahoo. We spent 3 hours in there and are planning to go back on Tuesday (when its free again) because there was so much to see.

I have been trying to upload photos but the internet in my hostel is not as speedy as i wish. Therefore all you get is words


Taaa daaa mom.
Also i am sending my mother my password to my blog so she can correct all the spelling mistakes in my blog post.

countdown:
2 days until Family
9 days until Kiel

Athens

I have just spent a wonderfully relaxing 4 days in Athens. We have seen the Parthenon, Acropolis and bought some hand made Greek sandles.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Barcelona then moving onto Madrid.

I can't believe is almost over!

8 more days until hugs.

Venice and beyond

I just spent a fabulous week in Venice. I saw an orchestra concert, rode a gondola and bought some Morano glass.

It was a perfect ending to an amazing trip in Italy with the best friends anyone could as for.


Today I leave for Athens, Greece and then on to Spain.

hugs and kisses I'll be home soon.

Ciao.

Since we are leaving Siena tomorrow morning I have been thinking about my time here and what I will miss here's a list.

1. Cioccolatta calda. Italians confuse hot chocolate with the either warm chocolate pudding or a Hersey syrup
2. Ben (my host dad) telling me what of our dinner that night and that I should eat it. And usually its because I am not eating it.

3. The special invites Erika and I get for dinner every night from Guiseppe.




4. The friends I have made and always remember.


5. Our horrible Italian that makes our teacher want to commit suicide.

6. Literally running to catch the bus every morning. *

7. Hanging out in the Irish Pub.

8. Gelato.


9. Tuscany beautiful landscape

10. The Everett Family

11. My Italian Family

*Not the actually event but laughing about it after wards.

Ciao this is my final post from Siena...


SIENA SENDS LOVE

the end.

Well its here. the end. Erika and I made our last walk to school this morning.

We spend most of today we spent saying our goodbyes to our beloved Italian teacher and our wonderful chef.

Alessandro and Enzo, our humanities and italian professors on our last day of class.

We woke up to a cloudless sky and knew today was going to be great. Erika and I caught the bus to school flawlessly. (it finally took us 2 months to master this public transportation system).
We got to school and began our finals. These were the two easiest finals of my life. Our Italian was only about 20 questions and humanities was two essay questions about 150 words long.

When we finished our finals Erika and I strolled up to Piazza Gramschi and did our 'tourist' thing along the way. We turned around and hit the the internet cafe on the way back to school.

As we were leaving the internet cafe, the lady who ran it asked if we are sisters...

What do you think?

At 1 o clock we had our farewell lunch. It was delicious.

Throughout our program we all talked about our lives at home but not to the extent we did today. For most of us this was a 3 months vacation from reality. With only 1 week left we all are stating to talk more about home and the lives we have going on there.

This is the highlight. Okay so in September I bought a snazzy green umbrella here in Siena. When I was in Milan, I was walking out of the subway my umbrella fully broke. Great. So the next day it was raining so i bought a new black one with a sweet handle. I just figured that it would last me the 4 weeks I had left in Europe. Today as I was leaving school it was raining and so i pulled out my umbrella and this is what happened.

Taaaa daaa. Seriously?

I just busted up laughing. just my luck. So on our way home I bought a flashy bright pink one. 3 weeks I am hoping that this one will last me the 3 more weeks I have left.

Once we got home we Alberto and Guessipi had friends over and were using the computer in our room. All I wanted to do was take a nap and use the internet. I tried using the internet but because there were 3 computers on it i guess it was overloaded. haha europe. So I took a quick nap, the boys left then i got to use the internet. Its still a little picky on which webpages it will load. but hey i can't complain.

siena sends love

Phenotics video

We never know what to expect from Phonetics class.
I snuck this video. :)

countdown

I feel as though the countdown has begun. We have finals this week and then we leave Seina in 7 days! I can't believe is almost over. I am excited to spend a week in Venice though. Then Greece and Spain!

Here are some lovely photos of the week.

Signor Bebelacqua. (Mr. Drink-water, Yeah that is his actual name) Our phonetics teacher/actor from Rome.


In our last phonetics class we learned some very valuable phrases.
"la citta e bella perche l'amiable "
"The city is beautiful because it is lovely"

Erika and I decided that makes absolutely no sense. We came up with some other sentences that were similar.

"You are fat because you are obese"
"You are ugly because you are not good-looking"

Take 10

Tuscany

Pottery shops in San Gimigano

Kendis and I in front of one of the many towers in San Gimigano


Everyday our bus drops us off near the church on the left, San Domenico, We walk past the Duomo (center one) and school is next to that FAR church on the right.

Medici fortress in Siena.

Chelsea and I in Il Campo

So this weekend we just traveled around tuscany. Saturday night, Johanna, Erika, Chelsea and I got Chinese food and had movie night. It was a great change of pace.
Also our host family -finally- got internet in the house (wireless. Wahoooo!) so i am writing this from the comfort of home and not the beloved Irish Pub. :)

Siena sends love!