interlaken

Switzerland may be my favorite place that I've ever been! Interlaken was wonderful-especially on Swiss Day! As soon as we arrived on Sunday the celebrations were already in full force. We went to see the parade downtown and had a Brat and a Swiss beer. We walked around after the parade and did a little shopping. I bought a Swiss Hat and t-shirt to wear for the rest of the day! When we got back to our hostel- Balmers- the party had begun! We met so many awesome people from all over the world. The party went on until eventually I just had to go to sleep! Yesterday was a little slower-it was rainy. Not too much to do in the "outdoor capital of the world" in the rain. Sarah and Maggie went canyoning and loved it! Carolyn was going to paraglide, but her trip was cancelled due to the rain. Carolyn and I went on a boat ride on Lake Thun. It was gorgeous. We hung out at the hostel for the night and made new friends!
Maggie and I got up early this morning and are on the train to Geneva! The guy sitting with us is from Geneva and he's so cool! The views on the train are incredible-so many pretty mountains, lakes and farms!

update!

Ahh! Sorry I have gotten so behind with my blog! We have been doing so many fun things and have been so busy! I have it all written down in my journal though-in way more detail than anyone will ever even want to know! I will also probably tell you all about everything way too many times, so you won't miss out!

We are currently on the train between Italy and Switzerland. I am so sad to be saying goodbye to Italy after spending one of the best months of my life there! We travelled to Cinque Terre, Positano, Capri, the Amalfi Coast, Greve, Rome,Lake Como, and of course spend a lot of time in Florence. Florence was incredible-our apartment, classes, night life, food-everything about it couldn't have been better! Yesterday we spent the day in Cadenabbia on Lake Como and it was great! We went to Bellagio for lunch and then went to our hotel pool for the afternoon! The pool was right on the lake-people were jumping from the pool deck into the lake! I didn't swim, but Maggie did and said the water was cold! We ate at a crowded local pizzeria and enjoyed our night in Lake Como! We were up early this morning and have taken 2 ferry rides and are on our second train, with one more still to come. It is SWISS DAY today so we are anxiously awaiting our arrival in Interlaken!

Cinque Terre and back in Florence

We went to Cinque Terre on Saturday morning! We began our adventure with lunch at Bar and Vini A Pie de Ma, right on the outskirts of Riamaggiore, overlooking the town and the sea. We hiked through all 5 towns and took a lot of pictures. Everything was so pretty along the way, with amazing views of the coastline and of the previous and upcoming towns. My favorite town was Vernazza, there seemed to be a lot going on there. When we were almost to Monterosso (the 5th town), we came across a man on the trail making fresh squeezed lemonade in his backyard-we really enjoyed it! We ate dinner on the beach in Monterosso and then spent the night in Riamaggiore. Sunday we tried to find a spot on the beach in Monterosso, but it was already so crowded that all of the chairs were reserved, and it was very overcast so we ended up heading back to Florence. The train ride was SO HOT! I don't know why they don't use air conditioning when it is 100 degrees here. Sunday night we went to the bar-Mostodolce to watch the final World Cup game. We went to the boys apartment after the game and all hung out. Monday we went to class and then cooked dinner and went out to Twice! Tuesday we went to class and then Maggie, Carolyn and I went to the Academia to see the David. Maggie, Carolyn, Sarah, Ashton, Laura, Katherine, Courtney, Chris, Worth, Dan and I all went to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sun set over Florence. The view from up there was incredible-well worth the hour walk there! We stayed for a long time, and then went to Gusta Pizza for dinner. It was the best pizza I have ever eaten! We sat on the bridge behind the Ponte Vecchio for a while before heading home. Today I have been to class and now I'm about to go to my favorite restaurant in Florence (the school cafeteria) for lunch with Maggie. CIAO!

Florence

We've had a busy, fun week in Florence!! Classes started on Monday and have been going well. Carolyn, Maggie, Sarah and I are in a sculpture class in the mornings, and then Maggie, Carolyn and I are in Italian class in the afternoons. Our professors are great. I am not very good at sculpting, but the professor, Isabella, helps me a lot. We have been mostly going to class, eating really great Italian food, drinking wine, and going out at nights. Monday night all of the girls went to Dante's for dinner. It was great because the owner gave us free bottomless wine and free t-shirts. We went out to "Shot Cafe" and Twice. Shot Cafe is so cool, they have endless lists of shots. Twice is a little scary, Europeans all over the dance floor! Tuesday and Wednesday nights we watched the World Cup games and went out after. Last night (Thursday) we went to ZaZas for dinner-it was amazing! Then we went to hang out at Aldo, Chris, Morgan and Worth's apartment before going to "Central Park." Mrs. Stout, you should definitely ask Carolyn about Worth. We had a wonderful time out, and may have stayed out a little later than necessary, due to a trip to the secret Bakery. The secret bakery is a place where they cook in the middle of the night for all of the different restaurants in town. We are so glad that we found it! Today we are about to go to the Boboli Gardens. And tomorrow morning early we are off to Cinque Terre until Sunday night! We are planning to hike all 5 towns, so we'll see how it goes!

Florence

We arrived in Florence on Thursday morning after a long night in the Athens airport, a flight to Rome, and a quick flight to Florence!! But when we got here we were SO EXCITED! We got a cab straight to our apartment because Maggie had already gotten here! Our apartment is great..it is on a wonderful street and close to everything! We don't have any air conditioning-but we do have fans, and it isn't too bad at all.

When we got here Thursday we checked in with the school and then explored the city. We ate lunch at a pizza place- Trattoria Il Porcospino. We walked down to the Arno River and saw the Ponte Vecchio. We also walked by the Uffizi and the Duomo. It was great to learn our way around a little bit. When we were walking home Carolyn and I just picked up a salad to bring back home because we were exhausted. We all sat around and read our books for a while before going to sleep.

Friday started off with the Lorenzo de Medici orientation from 9-2. We learned about all of the safety tips and school regulations. We also got our course schedules and Carolyn, Maggie and I are all in the exact same classes, yay! We are taking World of Museums from 9-11:30 and Italian Language from 1:30-3:45. I didn't know we'd be in class so long every day, but I am sure it will be okay. Lots to learn!! After orientation we went to lunch at a little Cafe near our apartment where they have lots of inexpensive options-it was great and I plan to go there a lot!! We walked around several spots around our apartment and even discovered a McDonalds! I bet I will go! We all walked back to the school because Sarah and I signed up for a trip to Rome on July 24th and 25th. It filled up completely and we got there just in time. I cannot wait to go to Rome. We then went to Grom for Gelato, and it was just as good as I had heard. I highly recommend the Crema de Mentha (mint). We had to come back to our apartment because our Landlord was coming by between 5 and 7:30. He came by to make sure everything was okay and tell us a few things about working the appliances. He was very nice. Carolyn, Maggie and I then went to the welcome dinner at The Club House. It was a wonderful 3 course meal with salad, pasta, rice, potatoes, tiramisu, and even wine! We had a good time and met many other people in the program. Courtney, Ashton and Laura came back to our apartment and we all drank a couple of glasses of wine. We went out to the bars-and it was quite an experience. We went to Fish Pub, Red Garter, and Twice. The crowds there were a little odd but we all stuck together and were fine. We came home about 2:15 and went to sleep.

Today (Saturday) we woke up about 11 and went to the Market Cental, which is a large Farmers Market. It was so impressive. We bought lots of foods- shrimp, zucchini, peppers, onions, bread, tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar. We are cooking dinner tonight with all of the things we bought. We then came back to the apartment for lunch and I ate the rest of my pizza from Thursday. We went shopping for the afternoon and explored a lot of the big shops in the city. We went to a lot of clothes shops, but I didn't buy anything. We ate gelato at Taylor's favorite gelato place in the Piazza called Migone. I got the tourist rip-off that they warned us about in the guidebook. Whoops! I definitely learned my lesson about how to order and not letting them trick me! We went to the beverage market to get a few things and ended up running into a few guys from UNC that are backpacking through Europe, and I think we may go out with them tonight!! We are about to cook our dinner now! CIAO!

Santorini

We arrived in Santorini on Monday about 6:00pm. We took a ferry from Mykonos and it only took us about 3 hours. Finding our hotel was sort of interesting-the cab driver droppped us off on a busy street with all of our bags and we asked him where the hotel was. His response was "take 2 lefts". We found it without too much trouble, but I was nervous for a minute! We checked in and then found a restaurant for dinner-Poseidon. On Tuesday morning we woke up and headed straight to the pool. Our hotel has an infinity pool on the second floor and is so pretty! We spent most of the day out there, until about 3:30 when we went inside to get ready. We took a bus to Fira (the capital of Santorini) and walked around exploring the city and the shops. We then took another bus to Ia (where 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' was filmed) to see the sunset. It was gorgeous! There were so many people there that we decided to take the bus back before eating dinner. We ate dinner at Zorbas-it was great!! This morning we woke up and walked around for a little while before eating lunch at Navy. I had my last greek dish-i will miss the taziki sauce! We also went back to the pool for a while. Now we're sitting on a terrace at the hotel, about to eat dinner before flying to Athens tonight. We'll fly from Athens to Florence at 6am tomorrow morning. Greece has been wonderful!

Mykonos

Yesterday morning we departed Athens on a high speed ferry. We arrived in Mykonos about 11am. Since we've been here, we have spend lots of time on the beach! It is gorgeous!! Yesterday we were on the beach in front of our hotel, Myconos Beach Hotel. We also explored the town and ate dinner at a wonderful restaurant in town, Nikos Tavern. A man that we met in Athens suggested the restaurant to us, and I am so glad we listened!! This morning we went to the beach by our hotel for a little while, and then took a bus to Paradise Island. We heard it was the "place to go" so had to check it out! There were lots of people, and the beach was great, but it wasn't as crazy as we'd heard. We just got back to the hotel now. We're going to dinner in town later tonight. Happy Birthday Mom, I've been thinking about you all day, you would love it here!

Athens, Greece

We made it to Athens yesterday morning after a long flight over the Atlantic ocean! When we arrived we were exhausted, but we made it around the city! We walked through several shopping areas and explored Athens. We ate an early dinner at an outdoor restaurant and watched the World Cup! Too bad Italy is out! We then got gelato and made our way back to the hotel! I was so ready to go to sleep!

Today has been wonderful so far (it's only 2:45pm here)! We woke up and had a complimentary breakfast in the hotel. We then went to the Acropolis! We also went to the new Acropolis Museum! After our museum trip, we continued walking around Athens. We ate lunch and I had a delicious Chicken Souvlaki plate! We don't have much planned for the afternoon!

We are spending our last night in Athens tonight, and will go to Mykonos tomorrow morning early (at 6:15am) on a speed ferry!

on the plane!!

We have officially boarded the plane!!! Very back row, but all together! We're ready to go!!!!!!

Almost time!!!

Just 2 weeks from today we will be embarking on our adventure!!