The Final Countdown...

I still can not get over how fast the past four months have flown bye. It feels like yesterday I got my acceptance letter and started the countdown at 143 days till Florence! The memories of all gathering at the airport saying goodbye to our families is still fresh and vivid in my mind. And now the time has come to say ciao Firenze and hello America. The past few days have been filled with souvenir shopping, sight seeing for hours, and eating all the delicious food our bellies could handle. Its sad to say that last night was our last night out in Florence. We started the night off gathered at our friends apartment for a christmas party! We were all dressed up in red and green, santa hats, reindeer antlers, and santa suits and felt rather festive! We all spread christmas cheer by singing christmas carols and eating finger foods. Next stop for the night was another christmas party at another apartment. Everyone was dressed up for the holiday and the christmas spirit filled the rooms. The apartment was huge and had an awesome roof. We all gathered on the ceramic red shingled roof and looked all around us  only to see the duomo, the bell tower, city hall, and the santa croce peaking over the roofs of the buildings. It was at that moment that I think we finally realized we have been lucky enough to call this place home for the past four months and have literally been given the world. We could not have done it without all the love and support from our parents. Even though a majority of us go to SJU we were not friends prior to coming to Florence, but now we return to hawk hill with new friends who we have shared such a special experience with. After gazing upon Florence it was time to dance the rest of the night away! And of course the night was concluded with our last trip to the secret bakery! 

Today we walked around aimlessly for hours and basically did florence in a day! Todays activities included shopping, pinos, popsicle, ponte vecchio, central market, leather market, riding the carousel, and so much more! The day was concluded at piazza michelangelo for one last time to soak it all in! Tonight we went to Pino's shop to say goodbye to him, which was really sad. He gave us all a kiss on each cheek and a giant hug goodbye! Then me and my five roomies went for our last dinner together at one of our favorite restaurants il teatro. At dinner we all exchanged our secret santa gifts and reminisced on all the memories and good times we had while we were here. It was sad to say goodbye to so mnay of the wonderful people we met along the way, but our paths will hopefully all cross again someday!

I still am in denial that I am returning to America tomorrow! I am leaving for the airport in less than 6 hours and am filled with so many mixed emotions. This semester has truly been one that I will never forget. These past 111 days will stay near and dear to my heart forever and always. I am lucky enough to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. Firenze you will always be a part of me and part of me will always be here! Ciao Florence & Hello America!  

Finals Week

Even though the thought of my finals was my main priority I still had visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. It is safe to say that classes are officially over and the last T's have been crossed and the last I's have been dotted on all my final exams! It is now time to enjoy my last 3 days before I return to America! I am beyond excited to see my family! And I cannot wait to snuggle with charlie man every second of the day and never let him out of my sight! I have missed my puppy SO much! I can't wait to celebrate the holidays with my family because that is what they are truly about. This year has taught us a lot and presented us with many challenges only to prove that nothing can break the strong bond of our loving family. On my to do list for the next three days consists of: shopping, climbing the bell tower, riding the carousel one if not two more times, getting as much gelato as possible, eating Pino's every single day, walking around aimlessly for hours, and going up to piazza michelangelo. There is still SO much to do but very little time to do it. I have started packing up my suitcases and filling them up with souvenirs. Friday night we are having our last roomie dinner and exchanging our secret santa presents! I still can not fathom that this chapter of my life is quickly coming to an end, but the pages are filled with never ending memories of people, food, and places that I will never ever forget. 

This was one of my finals & I got an A!

Christmas Tree Lighting At The Duomo!

This weekend has been consumed with prepping for finals, memorizing study guides, and enjoying the last few tidbits of Florence. A lot of restaurants and businesses were closed yesterday in Florence due to the celebration of the Immaculate Conception. Since we had only taken a study break once to bake a funfetti cake for study snacks we decided to reward ourselves with a little evening outing. Every year on Decemeber 8, the florentine community gathers in the Piazza del Duomo to kick off the Chirstmas season by lighting the tree! It is very similar to the Rockefeller Center tree lighting that takes place every year in NYC. I have never seen the piazza so crowded before. Me, Mary, Alex, Bri, Gina, and Audrey all gathered on the steps of the Duomo in order to ensure that we would have a good viewing of the festivities. It was funny to watch the people who live right near the Duomo hanging out of their apartment windows with their eyes glued on the crowds of people and the tree that was soon to be lit! The tree lighting festivities began around 5pm just as dusk started to become really dark. Before the tree lighting a few people spoke in Italian as the crowds of people cheered and clapped as the Christmas spirit filled the air. There was band playing and a color guard waving and dancing with the Florentine flag. The entire piazza began to countdown! UNO, DUE, TRE, QUATTRO, CINQUE, SEI, SETTE, OTTO, NOVE, DIECI! And the tree was lit! The white lights sparkled in the cool crisp air as the red florentine symbols blended in and looked like red christmas balls. Standing in the piazza we got rather chilly and decided to go get some of the famous, thick, rich hot chocolate before attending mass. The hot chocolate hit the spot and took the chill out of our bones. We then attended mass at the Duomo. Mass was packed considering it was a holy day of obligation. It was weird to think that was my last time that I would be attending mass at the Duomo. It is such a bittersweet feeling knowing that this time next week I will be back home in America!

Last Week Of Classes

I can't believe that today was my last day of classes. Sometimes I feel that the week before finals is actually more stressful than finals week itself. This week has been filled with final presentations and papers galore and not to mention making study guides as well. I can't believe that 14 weeks has gone by so quickly and how much that I have learned and accomplished in that amount of time. The next few days shall be dedicated to studying and taking advantage of every opportunity that Florence still has to offer me. My roommates and I all put our names into a hat a selected one to do a secret santa before we depart to go back to the states. Tomorrow night I will be attending a farewell dinner that was put together by my program. It feels like yesterday that I was just attending the mid-semester dinner and heading off for fall break. My experience here truly has been everything I imagined and more. It just goes to show that time really does fly when you are having fun! I will make the most out of my time left. It will be a bittersweet feeling having to return to the states, but I can't wait to see my family and friends at home, especially you grandpa (I hope that you are reading this!). Now it is time to hit the books in order to hopefully come home with a 4.0! CIAO!

Munich Christmas Markets

Tis the season! Since the weather has been rather warm here in Firenze and there was no true celebration of Thanksgiving it does not feel like the Christmas season. All the lights are strung throughout the city and all the shops are decorated, but it just does not feel like Christmas quite yet. So my roommates, Trevor, and I packed up our bags and embarked on our final journey for the semester - Munich Germany to visit the famous Christmas markets! Our bags were overstuffed due to the fact that the weather was going to be 30 degrees less than what we were used to and there was SNOW in the forecast! What could be more festive than walking through the Christmas markets while it was flurrying right? Our bus departed on thursday night around 9pm from the Santa Maria Novella train station. There were only twenty students going on the trip so we had a tiny bus. It reminded me of high school when I had to ride the "short" or "special"  mini-bus to school. The bus ride was approximately 8 hours long, but time went by fast between watching movies and sleeping. I woke up in the middle of the night and was taken by surprise when I had looked out my window. As I looked out the window I knew we were no longer in Italy. Right before my eyes were the Swiss Alps covered in snow surrounded by evergreen trees that were so delicately covered with a dusting of snow. Within the mountains there were small villages in the valleys with lights on and smoke coming from the homes chimney stacks. The sky was midnight blue and covered in millions of  twinkling stars. I literally felt as if I were riding the Polar Express. The scenery that surrounded us seem so surreal and almost to serene to be true. We finally arrived in Munich around 5:15am, checked into the hostel, and headed back to sleep for a few more hours! 

When we woke up in the morning we had breakfast at the hostel & then headed to the train station to embark on our first adventure for the day, the BMW museum. We took the train to the BMW museum and headed in to start exploring! The BWM museum brought back lots of memories of when I was little and my dad and I would drive around in his BMW with the top down. I could never forget the green BMW convertible with the pumpkin colored leather interior. Of course dad would get rid of his BMWs once Gette and I started to drive. Thanks dad! The museum was filled with model cars, engines, and motorcyles dating all the way back to when BMW first started. My favorite car was the 1955 yellow BMW. It reminded me of the car Steve Urkel drove haha! After gazing at the cars in the BMW museum it was then time to explore the Munich Olyimpic Village. Munich held the Summer Olympics in 1972. It was weird to think that the grounds that I was walking on was once crossed by millions of people from all over the world including athletes, fans, and now tourists who come to visit the site! The Olympic swimming pool seemed much tinier that I expected too and the seating avaliability for the viewers seemed so small. After spending the morning venturing around the city, it was now time to explore the Christmas markets!

1955 BMW

BMW Museum

Olympic Village 

Olympic Village

We first headed back to the hostel to warm up! Considering we were not used to the cold winter weather I think thats why it felt so bad. The first Christmas markets were went to were set up on the same grounds where the tents for Oktoberfest are set up. Each stand was strung with Christmas lights, garlin, and tinsel as the air was filled with the smells of hot wine and delicious food! We spent the day eating and drinking our way through the market! We all indulged in hot wine, ribbon fries, grilled corn on the cob, and lots more! The corn on the cob tasted like sweet white jersey corn that was lathered in butter and salt. We went in and out of the bizzare tents and gazed at all the handmade gifts. There was so much to choose from! We spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening walking around the markets. In order to warm up we went into the music tent where a german band was on stage and there were tables set up inside for people to sit, sing, and clap along to the music. For dinner we ate at the market and of course for dessert had a nutella and banana crepe! YUMMY! There were people dressed up and walking around on stilts throughout the fair at night. Trevor and I watched a weird exhibit that was going on. People were dressed up in crazy costumes with absurd makeup and hair and were picking people out of the audience to be their next victims. It was really interesting to watch and to see how creative someone could be right on the spot. I got really scared cause they picked the person standing next to me and I thought they were pointing at me! Since our toes were numb that was our cue that it was finally time to head back to the hostel to call it a night.

Eating Grilled Corn On The Cob

Crazy Exhibit

Crazy Hair

Saturday morning we set out on a bike tour of Munich because it was included when we had booked our trip. Whoever thought that taking a bike tour of Munich in the negative degree weather while it was snow flurrying is totally and completely out of their minds. Unfortunately it was so cold that I do not even remember most of the facts of the things that we saw throughout the city. Munich is one of the wealthiest cities world wide. I do not think that I have ever been that cold. My feet were so cold that they hurt to walk. I thought that my toes were going to snap off if I even wiggled them the slightest bit. Along the tour we stopped at the Chinese beer garden which is in a park that is 20 times the size of Central Park in New York City. During the peak of the summer the Chinese beer garden can hold 5000-6000 people. Instead of getting beer we all chugged hot chocolate to try to take the chill out of our bones. Our tour guide who was originally from Hawaii made the tour a lot of fun, which allowed us to try to keep the coldness off our minds. The coolest part of the tour was seeing the surfers. I know you are probably thinking where the heck do people surf in Germany and how do they not die of hypothermia? Throughout the park there runs a stream that is filled with glacial water. There is a certain section of the stream where waves form and people are actually able to surf. Surfers all line up along the bank of the stream in their heavy duty wet suits and the boards in hand waiting for their turn to ride the waves. It is much different than surfing in an ocean because instead of the wave coming from behind you it is coming from in front of you. Our Hawaiin tour guide said that even he had trouble doing it the first time he tried, but he enjoys riding the waves every morning! Once the tour was over we could not wait to go back to the hostel to put on 98654567 more layers, 3 more pairs of socks, and to defrost! Then it was time to head off to the other Christmas markets!

Bike Tour Through Munich

Chinese Beer Garden

Hot Chocolate Time

German Surfing

These Christmas markets were more festive and decorated than the ones we had visited the day before. Christmas lights twinkled, the air was filled with the smell of roasted nuts, and you could sense the Christmas spirit all around you! We walked around the markets and shopped from booth to booth until we stumbled upon a crepe booth! It was hands down the best crepe I think I had ever eaten. The crepe was filled with chunks of white chocolate that melted and oozed while you ate it accompanied by fresh sliced sweet strawberries! It was like heaven in my mouth! There was a giant Christmas tree in the middle of the square, which reminded me of the tree in Rockefeller Center in NYC. After buying some Christmas goodies it was time for dinner at the Hofbrauhaus! The Hofbrauhaus is the biggest beer house in Germany and gives you the true German experience. There are long tables all set up filled with Germans and tourists who have come from all over the world. The tables are covered in beer steins and traditional German food that is shared by all. The men walk around in the leiderhosens and the girls in their traditional gurndels selling giant pretzels. I was super excited to see that they had spetzale on the menu! It brought envisions to my mind when my grandma taught my mom, my sister, and I how to make the homemade German noodles with the family recipe that has been handed down through generations. Of course it was no where near as good as my grandmas, but it was still delicious! We all raised our steins and gave a toast to the remaining of our time that is left abroad!

Christmas Ornaments

Trevor and I

HOFBRAUHAUS

Cheers!

Sunday morning we woke up to see the grounds covered in a light dusting of snow as flurries continued to fall from the sky. We headed to the train station in order to take the train to Dachau Concentration Camp. Upon arrival at the concentration camp we got audio guides that would help us to understand what we were seeing throughout our visit. The camp grounds were really iry and gave me chills up and down my spine. Walking throughout the concentration camp was a really  moving experience. Seeing the bunkers were Jews were once held hostage, the gas chamber where so many people died, and the crematorium brought tears to my eyes. It is so hard to fathom that not too long ago so many people were tortured and lost their lives where I was standing. I also walked through the museum and viewed a short documentary. It was then time to head back to the hostel to get back on the bus to go home to Florence. 

Entrance to Dachau

Dachau 

Bunkers

Crematorium

Gas Chambers

Dachau Concentration Camp

Upon arrival back in Florence the weather was a lot colder than it was when we had left. Unfortunately the cold weather had followed us home. Being that my trip to Munich was the my last trip of the semester  finally made reality sink in that my time abroad is quickly coming to an end. I was happy to return to Florence to enjoy my little time left and to prepare for final exams! 

Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!