Colosseum

I went to Roma this past weekend and since there was so so so much packed into two short days, I have to split up these posts or you will be sitting here forever!

So after we checked into our somewhat weird hotel (I guess I am just not used to non-American ones) we went to the Colosseum.  That place is pretty amazing. 

 History lesson: The Colosseum was built in 80 AD and it took 8 years to complete.  I could hold 50,000 people and could be emptied in under 15 minutes.  It was originally covered in marble but the Romans realized that it was a lot easier to strip the marble off the colosseum to build churches and statues than it was to bring it in.  That is why it is now brownish.

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The Colosseum is pretty darn big.  Not as big as the Swamp or Bobby Bowden Field, but it still big especially considering it was build by hand.  That is still so crazy to me.

Back in it's heyday, there was a large canvas covering that would be pulled over the top to bring some shade.  The seats in the sun would be more expensive than the ones in the shade, duh.  They held all sorts of competitions and bloody battles here not to mention they used to be able to fill and drain it with WATER! That's crazy.

As most of us know, they would kill Christians here by letting them be fed to the wild animals.  The lions and tigers would be starved for a couple of days to make sure that they would attack.  They took these animals from North Africa and that is why you no longer see animals like this there because they are now extinct.  Somewhat funny note- when they were building tunnels under the city, they came across a huge vat of dead but NOT decayed animals that was a couple of miles long because they were packed in there so tightly. Gross.

So the Colosseum was very beautiful and very neat to see.  I am sure I learned more, but I don't remember right now. And I am sure you don't really want to hear it.  So enjoy your early afternoon and I will enjoy my night :)

Mia Babbo

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday and since my internet connection was almost nonexistent I didn't get a chance to write anything about it on the actual day. So here it is:

HaPpY BiRtHDaY DadDY!

Yes, he is still my Daddy because I am a complete Daddy's girl, but heck, I am more than fine with that.

My dad is one of the two best people in the world.  My mom is the other one.  He is awesome.  So in honor of his birth <let's just pretend this isn't late, mmkay> I thought I would let you know why my dad is the best.

1.)  He always tells me how much he loves me

2.) He tells me I am beautiful when I look like a mess

3.) He supports me in all I do

4.) He can always make me laugh with his awful hilarious jokes 

5.) He tells me how proud he is of me

6.) He provides for me

7.) He gives great advice

8.) He knows exactly what to say when I am feeling down

9.) He plays tennis with me

10.) He is a great role model and a perfect gentleman 

So I could go on and on but I figured 10 is a good, solid number so I will stop there.

I love my Dad so much.  He is such an amazing person, I almost feel bad for the boy (should this be man?) who marries me because he will have some BIG shoes to fill.  My dad has given me countless examples of what the as-close-to-perfect man should be. 

So, I love you Daddy and I hope you have an amazing year.

Summer

Operation Stay OUT of Gainesville for the Summer

Yes, this is my goal.  Pathetic, you say?  No, not really. 

I LOVE my family to death but Gainesville, not so much.

I mean, you are going to drag me from this place 

and expect me to be happy here?

Especially considering it has these: 

And I HATE gators.
  a.) because they are gross
  b.) they should have died with the dino's
  c.) they eat people for the heck of it
  d.) Seminoles dislike gators




Plain and simple.


I will take my chances with a shark any day, thank you very much.


So today I officially made the first part of Operation Stay OUT of Gainesville a go. 


I sent in my forms for Windy Gap (!!!!!!!!!!!) so I will be spending about a month of my summer here.

I am so so so so excited!  

I also sent in my application to work at a country club in North Carolina after I finish at Windy Gap so with any luck, I will be going here next:

But don't worry, I will have about a month in Gainesville with the fam before I go to NC (aka my future home if things with Italy don't work out) and a week or two with them before I go back to Tally.

Since I am in Florence, I will let you feast your eyes on some more amazing pictures of Firenze.  

Me and two of my lovely roommates, Julie and Gabi, walked around the city and up into the hills surrounding for about 2 and 1/2 hours.  It was one of the best days ever. 

Here is some of the great sights we got to feast our eyes on.

Ahhh, so pretty.

Well, I am off to Roma tomorrow morning. 

Expect a plethora of great pictures.

And hopefully I will get to see the Pope!

I really really really want to :)

Have a great weekend friends!

Only in Firenze

will you be walking in class and then see a parade of men in tights and women in Renaissance clothes walking down the street playing drums and horns.  

Just another reason why I love this city a little more each day.

I am going to try to blog each day now but- warning- when I go on trips <like rome this friday> I will not have my computer with me so no blog then.

Also, it take FOREVER for me to upload pics on this thing so I apologize if some of my posts aren't that long.

The end.

Piece of Pisa

So I went to Pisa for one reason and one reason only.

To take the cliche pictures.

Oh- and maybe eat some good food.

On Thursday night, we decided to go to Pisa for the day!  How fun, right?!? So we woke up on Friday and went to the train station where we bought our train tickets! The ride there was fun- the ride back- not so much.  I will tell you about that later.

See how fun it is? 

So we got to Pisa and walked towards to Leaning Tower of Pisa! Let me tell you, it looks fake when you first see it.  AND it leans A LOT more in real life.  The pictures make it look like it is almost straight and it definitely is not.

There it is? Doesn't it look like a set from a movie? 

So we went and we stood in awe waiting for the tower to fall at one more gust of extremely cold wind.

<Luckily it never did>

We had a super nice day though! 

These pictures are barely edited.  In fact, these first two aren't at all.

It's when I come in that they get edited so you all can't tell just how pale I am becoming.

When I tell people I go to Florida State, it has to look like I am from the Sunshine state. And it currently does not.

Back to the tower:

It was really really pretty. 

Like, super pretty.

The church and baptistry were also beautiful. 

Side note: I think that I need to find more adjectives to describe this place.

SOOOOOOOOOOO:

Now for the cliche pictures.  

So there you have it Ladies and Gents, the classic Pisa pictures.

PS- I was a good girl and didn't take any dirty ones :)

So then we went to lunch at this delish place.  We called up our director, Sue, and asked here where to eat in Pisa.  2 minutes later, she called us back and gave us the name of this little hole in the wall restaurant where no English was spoken and the menu was entirely in Italian.  Oh boy was it good.  Gnocchi with spinach, cheese, and tomato. 

After lunch we ate gelato- of course!- and then went to the church.  There is a dead Saint in that church people- saint ranieri (I think)! Along with my most favorite statue of all time that I discovered as soon as I saw it.  Here's some pics of the church and then at the end- get super excited- the statue of our Mother being crowned by her Son and His father.  SOOOO amazingly beautiful.

Okay, now as somewhat promised at the beginning, our train ride home.

There were these two guys with huge duffel bags that were doing drug deals at every stop.  Yes, I know they were because they would meet someone at the platform, slap hands, and then when they came back in, we saw them with money and a black box in their hand. 

SKETCHY.

See how scared we are?  At least we had Dan (our amazing RA) to protect us.

That's my roommate Julie, by the way.

We got home safely so I guess in the end that's all matters. 

Mia Casa

I just got out of a sort of hot shower for the first time since last Friday- talk about AMAZING!  Just so we're clear- I have showered since last Friday. I washed my hair in the sink Sunday (when I burnt my scalp with boiling water), took a tea cup shower on Monday (we boiled water and used a tea cup to scoop it out in the shower), took a coldish shower Tuesday after my run, and took a lukewarm shower yesterday.  Let me tell you, a warm shower as great!

I finally took pics of my house!  Let me give you some background.  I live in an season of The Real World- honestly.  There are 28 of us all living in this HUGE, gorgeous house.  We walk into each other's rooms all the time, we share everything, it's loud and CrAzY!!!  Oh, but it is so fun.  

Me and my lovely roommates- Gabi, Carolyn, and Julie (yep, Caroline and Carolyn- confusing!!) live in the penthouse of this house.  We are on the top floor and it's HUGE!  Julie and I share what would be the living room of a normal apartment while Gabi and Carolyn have another room.  We are the only apartment that has a full kitchen (not just a cupboard), we have 2 bathrooms, and 2 walk-in (or walk-through since it's the only way to get to our bathroom) closets.  We have a fireplace that Julie and I use to store our shoes.  Oh, and our views are BEAUTIFUL.  We can see the Boboli gardens from our window.  We have adorable green shutters on the outside of our windows that we shut every night to keep the cold out and wooden panels that we shut on the inside (there's glass in between).  Everyone who comes in here is jealous of us.  

Well, currently I can hear music blasting from downstairs, 4 people have walked in in the past couple of minutes, and someone is having a conversation on the other side of my wall.  Just like The Real World.  Crazy, but we love it.  All we need is a hot tub and it would be complete. 

View from our living room and bed room (it's pretty much the same).                                                                                        Our living/dining room.  This is what you see when you walk in

 Kitchen view and kitchen

                         Julie and I's bathroom and closet

Our view from the closet and the bathroom. I LOVE this view.  There are bells to the left which ring and sound so very pretty. 

Julie and I's bedroom (which is sort of in the real living room) and our fireplace shoe holder.  My bed has the red pillow and flower blanket. 

 My crafts and Gabi and Carolyn's room (plus an extra bed)

 Gabi and Carolyn's bathroom and closet 

TA-DA! That's my Italian home.