J'adore Paris!

Bonjour mes amis! I just returned from Paris and what a trip it was! It began with an extremely unpleasant 12 hour train ride from Florence to Paris. It was a "couchette" which slept 6 people. Luckily, everyone in our couchette was from our school and got along, so we didn't have any creeps in our midst. There were 3 beds stacked on top of each other, and there was maybe 1 square foot of room to walk, it was smaller than a closet. The worst part of the train was that it was unbearably cold and the train car rocked. It was so scary and I definitely watch way too much CNN, because I have seen the train accidents in Europe and I was sure that I was going to be a part of another one. I woke up with every shake, wobble and screech; it was not ideal for sleeping even after tossing back a few Excedrin PM's. Once it was morning, we had to get dressed and ready for an entire day of things our professor had planned for us. Getting dressed and putting on makeup on a moving train was a gymnastic feat in itself, but somehow I managed to look semi-human. Once we got off the train, we headed to a charter bus that took us to a little French restaurant, where we had a traditional French breakfast consisting of croissants, baguettes, pound cake and coffee.
After our carb filled meal, we went back to the bus for our guided tour. It was great to see the city and have a French person's perspective. She showed us Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees and all of the other major Parisian attractions. We were then dropped off at a store called Collette that is a "lifestyle" store that offers high-end designers next to unknown designers and a wealth of trendy magazines, books, music, footwear and gadgets. They do not show the labels of the clothes and don't put prices on anything because they want you to purchase the item because you love it, not because of who made it or how much it costs. I think this is a great philosophy if money is no object, but unfortunately that is not my case, so I looked intently and with envy.
Immediately after visiting the store, we were rushed off to the Paris-American Academy to attend a workshop given by Madame Picot, who was the head draper for the House of Gres, a French couturier known for the micropleating of the dresses that was done by hand. These dresses were mostly popular in the 60s and 70s and could sell for around $50,000. They took about 300-500 hours of work per dress and everything was done by hand. Madame Picot told us the story of Madame Grès and showed us the pleating technique. I took a video of it so that I can refer back to it at a later date, it was very inspiring.

After the draping demonstration, we walked to a place called the "Trend Union" where a woman named, Li Edelkoort plays God of all things fashion. She predicts the future of trends, colors, textiles, lifestyles, everything. She puts together 250 trend books that sell for around $3000 a piece. They contain all of the information portrayed through her visual presentation. Her predictions are usually accurate and she says she is never wrong, just too ahead of the game. This arrogant attitude was experienced first hand by my friend and I after her presentation. We spotted her across the room and decided to go talk to her, so we walk on over and she is talking to someone else, so we patiently wait. After she is finished talking to the other person, I introduce myself to her and tell her that I was very inspired by her work and thanked her and then told her I was an American fashion design student. She looks at me, laughs and says, “Oh how unfortunate.” I just stood there in shock as she turned around to kiss and hug someone else. My thought is that you do not have to be rude to people and everyone was no one at some point in their life, but I guess she did not get that memo. I just feel that if ever, one day I get to a position where people admire me or my work and tell me so, I would graciously thank them and feel grateful that someone thinks I am important enough to even have the position, but I was raised correctly and with manners and respect for others. The funny thing is that, this would not be my first encounter with a very rude person in France.

After my nice experience with Ms. Edelkoort, Tracy and I stuck around to drink her free wine, as this was also a cocktail party, so we figured that since she was rude, we would take extra advantage of her party. So we made friends with the waiters and they made sure our glass was always full and we always had something to eat. I met some interesting students from all over Europe and it actually turned out to be an enjoyable evening.

The next morning was the “big day.” We had tickets to the largest textile tradeshow in the world: Première Vision. This trade show is where all the important designers, buyers, companies and textile companies come together as one. I am not sure how much space this building covered, but it was HUGE, bigger than anything I had ever seen. The fabrics there were of spectacular quality and were beautiful. I saw a lot of interesting things that I wished I could either take a picture of or purchase. Unfortunately, fabric was not being sold by the yard, (obviously) and cameras were forbidden! I saw a girl take a picture and the security guard yelled at her and stood there while she deleted it. They were very serious about that! We strolled around touching fabrics and staring in awe for a few hours and then we were off to a fashion show at Galleries Lafayette (which is a very large and famous French department store).

It was actually like a mall fashion show, so it was a little bit cheesy, and the models looked about 14. The clothes they were wearing were expensive designer clothing, such as Armani; but to see a girl who looked 14 in an Armani suit, was a bit of a joke. It was still cool to watch I guess but afterwards we went shopping, so that made up for the lack of coolness in the show. Actually, the best part was the rooftop deck, which had a great view of Paris and the weather was perfect. While browsing through the store, I saw about a million things I wanted to purchase, but unfortunately my financial situation does not allow purchases of this magnitude, so I instead looked with awe and envy.

After Lafayette, it was time to go back to our “hotel,” which I guess I haven’t even said anything about. It was called “FIAP Jean Monnet,” and it looked more like a human experimentation facility than a hotel. Apparently it’s actually a hostel; my professor who plans these trips really dropped the ball on Paris, considering our money is supposed to be used on airfare and hotels, not overnight trains and hostels. Anyway, when we walked into our room, we noticed that it smelled like a foot and the bathroom smelled like there may have been something dead in there. Our beds were really hard (which I actually enjoyed because it felt good for my back) and the pillow was like a piece of paper. However, breakfast and dinner was included in the price, so that was great, even though the food was a little cafeteria-ish. Unfortunately, we were not informed that dinner was included at our “hotel” so we had made reservations at a couple of really nice restaurants, which were most certainly not free or cheap.

Anyways, Friday night, Tracy and I had reservations at Buddha Bar; while the other girls were going to see Moulin Rouge. (google it, very cool place and they have great music that they release in compilations, and I own all of them!) The tickets for Moulin Rouge were about 200 € and that is way too expensive, so Tracy and I decided not to go. Buddha Bar was amazing and we stayed afterwards to hang out in their lounge area and have a couple of very expensive, yet very tasty cocktails. We always end up meeting random people who have connections elsewhere, so we ended up at an ultra-exclusive club near the Louvre, with a table and our own complimentary (well, to us...) bottle of Belvedere. After having a good time dancing and hanging out, our bottle came to an end, so as we were making our way to the dance floor, Tracy met a couple of nice gentleman who invited us to sit and hang out. After having a drink with them, some guy comes up to us and tells us to get up from the table because it’s not ours. So were like, “ok, whatever” and get up. I was rounding out the rear of the 6 of us and the mean guy was standing next to me yelling. I didn’t realize what he was saying until he was screaming in my face, “you didn’t pay for that!!!! Get out of here!!!!! This isn’t your table!” and I’m like, “Obviously. But we were invited to sit, what is the big deal?” Well, he keeps repeating himself as he grabs a hold of me and starts shoving me, like “you wanna fight?” style. So, by this point the conversation has escalated to a screaming match and me getting manhandled by some psycho. He is pushing and shoving me towards the door (which was really hurting) and I am screaming at him to get off of me and let me go. I turn around with my back to him and he shoves me so hard that I fly face first into a bouncer. The bouncer then proceeds to literally drag me up the stairs (I don’t think my feet were even on the ground) and toss me into the street. While all this is happening, the girls I was with are just watching and come running after me. I have no clue as to why this all happened, but after that I was done with French people being rude to me. After being tossed into the street, we waited about 3 ½ hours for a cab and finally arrived back to the hotel after 5am. It was a horrible end to my night and I am so mad that it happened, because I really wanted to dispel the rumors that the French aren’t nasty horrible people, but it got harder and harder with each passing day.

We got a very late start Saturday morning because of how late we were out, but we made it to the Louvre around noon and headed straight to the Mona Lisa. It was weird, because I always thought the painting was so much bigger, but it was kinda small. It was really neat to see it, but I feel like I have seen it a million times because it’s plastered everywhere. When we got to the Eiffel Tower, I felt the same way; which is all King’s Island’s fault. Anyways, so after the Mona Lisa, we went to see the coronation jewels and then the Venus. It was a very quick and abbreviated trip, but we had a million things to do, so unfortunately it had to be that way.

After the Louvre, we went to lunch because we were starving and had a traditional French sandwich called a Croque Monsieur. It is usually a hot ham and cheese sandwich with a certain type of cheese (I don’t know what kind) but ours was open-faced style, but was pretty good. After lunch we walked through Champs-Elysèes and down to the Arc de Triomphe. Afterwards we walked back and went to the Louis Vuitton flagship store and the Chanel store, yet another amazing and mouthwatering place to be. By the time all of this was done, it was almost time to go and get ready for dinner, so we did.

We had reservations this night at a restaurant called, “World Place” which used to be called, “Man Ray” and is partly owned by Johnny Depp. It was very hip and chic, but the service was HORRIBLE! After sitting at our table for about 20 minutes with no menus or seeing our server, a girl comes up to our table and says “Drinks?” And to that we responded, “Menus?” So she finally brings us 4 menus for 9 people, we ask for more but she says they don’t have anymore; which was odd considering the restaurant was probably a quarter full. Anyways, the food was way overpriced, there was barely anything appetizing on the menu and once we ordered we never saw our waitress again. I ended up getting veal, which was actually amazing but I was still annoyed to be paying so much money for such a disappointing experience.

After dinner, Tracy and I went to the Eiffel Tower because at night it is blue and it sparkles every hour. It was so beautiful and huge! It definitely puts the one at King’s Island to shame! Haha. We walked around for a bit and decided we were tired and our feet were killing us so we just went back to the “hotel.”

Sunday morning we packed up and left for Versailles, our final destination in Paris. Versailles was amazing and huge and grand and all of those describing words you could ever think of. It was also jam packed with tourists, but I guess we are tourists as well, so oh well. The décor was unbelievable, and the Queen and King’s rooms were so beautiful, it’s no wonder they didn’t care what was happening to their country, why would you ever want to leave that? Check out my pictures of Versailles and see what I am talking about, however the magnitude and vibrancy of the colors is not done any justice in the photos, but still, check them out.

After Versailles, we went to the airport and came back to reality. As I sit here and think about Paris, I try really hard not to be ignorant and think that the French are terrible people, any of these situations could have happened in the States, but they didn’t, and I am constantly struggling not to think that way. I met plenty of nice French people, and plenty of rude French people, so why do I struggle? I guess it’s the preconceived notion that every American has of France and the French and you just have to try to put it out of your mind. I loved Paris as a city and the people and I are still working on a loving relationship. I guess as with any relationship, it takes work and persistance.

Ciao-

Kellie

Living the dream...

Well, this past week has been crazy as usual. I have been really sick with no voice, a disgusting cough and lots of congestion. Apparently, I have been welcomed to the Florentine fall, according to the locals. I am finally getting over it as I leave for Paris tomorrow, but this past weekend was definitely interesting being sick, but I will get to that in a bit.

Tuesday of last week, we had to meet at the Palazzo Vecchio for a class (pictures are on Shutterfly) which is now the town hall of Florence, and is active but it used to be a palace where the Medici’s resided. It was interesting to visit, as it is so old, but I mean, how interesting can the town hall be? I find the architecture and décor the most interesting. I am constantly in awe of the ceiling decorations in palaces, churches and even my own apartment! The thought of every detail being taken care of is something I strive for, and I love that everywhere in the home is worthy of beautiful artwork. Whenever I finally settle and purchase my own home, it is something I think I will take into consideration, because it adds so much life and color to the space. Anyways, the frescoes were also so interesting and beautiful; I try not to become numb, because I see it so much; it’s a normal thing to see 1000 year old frescoes on the walls around here. Sometimes I forget that they are even there or that they are so old and valuable. It’s a very strange feeling. We took a guided tour through Palazzo Vecchio, but I honestly couldn’t understand a lot of what our tour guide said because of his very thick accent. He basically just told us what its previous use was, etc…One thing I did find interesting, is the Palazzo Vecchio is where a lot of people get married! I think that I would definitely get married at the courts if it looked like this place. The large and vast room that is pictured is where the ceremony is held and our guide said it is a very common thing for couples to go there. I believe it was Cosimo I ( a Medici) that lived in the Palazzo Vecchio with his wife ( royalty from Naples, I believe…anyone who knows can correct me!!) and she hated the palace, so she actually ended up moving down the street to the Pitti Palace, which has the beautiful Boboli Gardens and other such things. But her rooms in Palazzo Vecchio are very interesting because they are green and very decorated. Her major complaint of Palazzo Vecchio was that there were no gardens, trees, landscape of any kind (which is still true…its in the center of a piazza(square)) so her rooms were decorated to reflect nature more than the cold stone grey walls. It was a very interesting tour and informative, plus it’s nice to know about the history of the city you live in, especially if it’s a history like Florence’s.

Wednesday, we headed to a little town in the countryside called Lucca for a traditional Tuscan cooking course. As we pull up the very steep, dirt road the bus comes to a sudden stop. We are instructed to get out and hike up the rest of the hill. It wasn’t that bad, but it seemed strange. As we get up the hill, a house comes into view straight out of movie. The typical Tuscan cottage with herb bushes surrounding the property, flowers. Beautiful wicker furniture; it was definitely picturesque. A lovely woman from Texas (haha) comes out to greet us and shows us around the property. She tells us that it’s like a bed and breakfast, but for groups. I guess there are artists that she knows that have these great followings, so she will have the artist stay with her and people come and take classes from the artist and stay for the weekend and cook and drink wine. I think it sounds like a dream vacation and I am currently trying to figure out how to be a part of that! Anyways, we cooked everything from scratch and the ingredients were either from her property or local farmers. As this was a typical Tuscan/Italian meal, it came in several courses and was consumed over several hours. Our first antipasti (or appetizer) was fried sage. I thought that I would not like this, but it was amazing. We went and picked sage off of the trees and then dipped them in beer batter (beer, flour, salt) and then dropped them in a pan with about 2-3” of oil in the bottom. It was the most interesting flavor, almost like a friend Christmas tree! I liked it because, who doesn’t like fried food, and the sage made it seem lighter and not like a typical heavy fried appetizer. The second thing was we chopped veggies to put into a salad that consisted of radishes, carrots, onion, celery and farre (I think that is what it’s called). It is almost like barley, I think she said that it was from the chestnut (somehow…) and it’s actually what the poor farmers used to eat, because wheat products were for the wealthy. It is a grain and they would grind it up to make flour for bread and pasta and they would leave it as is to use in soup and anything thing else you could think of. It was definitely a taste I had not tried before. I liked it, but it was not my favorite. The third thing we made was stuffed zucchini flower. We stuffed it with a mixture of ricotta, parmesan, salt and pepper. We stuffed spoonfuls of the mixture into the flower, wrapped it and then set it in a baking pan. We topped it all off with diced tomatoes and baked it. I really enjoyed the stuffing (who doesn’t like cheese?)but the texture of the flower was different than anything I had ever eaten and only ate the yellow flower part, not the green fuzzy part (ew.). Our next course to make was the gnocchi. If you don’t know what gnocchi is, it is the best thing about Italy! It is potato pasta. They are shaped like little dumplings and are sooooo good. They are also extremely easy to make from scratch. You just boil potatoes, peel them and mash them with a little bit of butter. Then you add a couple handfuls of flour into the potatoes and knead it through. Once the flour is in, you just roll it out into little snakes and cut off little chunks. For the sauce we had a 4 formaggio (cheese) consisting of: gorgonzola, provolone, something similar to Swiss (but not…) and of course parmesan. We made the sauce, boiled the gnocchi and then put everything into a big casserole type dish. We then sprinkled parmesan cheese on top and then baked it until it had a nice crust. Perfecto!!! For the main course (Secondi piatti) we had veal stuffed with cheese, basil leaves and asparagus. It was basically strips of veal with all of these ingredients rolled up inside. We then lightly coated them with flour and sautéed with olive oil and white wine. This course was also amazingly delicious. The vegetable was green beans (the long skinny ones) that had olive oil, garlic and cinnamon on them. It was a very warm flavor and she told us that it was actually a Sicilian recipe, but she loved it, so she wanted us to love it too! After our veal, we had tiramisu that we had prepared earlier in the evening. They brewed fresh caffe to dip our cookies in; we made the cream filling and then sprinkled it with cocoa. Again, delicious. It took us about 3-4 hours to make all of these dishes, and once the table was set we were starving, so we were ready to eat! And we definitely ate…it was probably the best meal I have had since I’ve been in Italy, and that is saying quite a lot. Our night ended with us having an espresso and boarding the bus to come back to Florence, but it was an experience I will never forget, and I will definitely pass the recipes around when I receive them!

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, but Friday we traded Italy for Amsterdam! It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, I had pictured something completely different, but as we pulled in to the downtown area, the sky was blue, the sun was shining and our surroundings were astounding. The architecture was so remarkable, as the very old was juxtaposed against the very new and modern. The canals were busy with private boats, tours and marine life. People were out walking around enjoying the city, everyone was on a bike. The trams go through the middle of town (literally…) it was like a different world. Holland is a place I could live as well! The people were so friendly, the food was unique and very good and there was an endless amount of things to do. As soon as we got there we had to figure out how to speak Dutch… and I thought Italian was hard to pronounce…HA!! We eventually found our hostel, which was pretty nice. It had a very cozy bar/lounge in the basement and everyone was very friendly. It was called the Flying Pig, and I felt a little bit of a connection to Cincinnati again, seeing all the flying pig décor. We stayed in 12 person room, which was a lot like going to camp and sleeping on the bunk beds. We dropped our bags and started to explore the city. We hit up several souvenir shops, coffee shops and boutiques. We also made our way to the Van Gogh Museum, which was really cool. It was exciting to see artwork that I have studied for years in person and right in front of me! After the museum, we were starving and ate at the first place we came across…Pizza Hut. It turned out to be very good and it was nice to have comfort-ish food. The other girls decided they were too tired to do anything else, but Tracy and I figured we can sleep when we die, so we wanted to take advantage of the fact that we were in Amsterdam. We went out and had a few Heinekens at a nice outdoor bar and chatted a bit. It was nice to wind down with a good friend and a good beer in such an amazing place. After a while, we decide it was time to turn in, so we could get up bright and early the next day.

Saturday morning we woke up, enjoyed our free breakfast at the hostel and made our way to the Anne Frank house. It was the actual house where they were hiding and it had been renovated to what it was at the time. However, when the Frank family was discovered they were removed, and all of their belongings (furniture, clothes, etc) were also removed. Because of this fact, and the fact that the father, Otto, was the sole survivor of the family, the house was never refurnished. He wished it to be a source of inspiration and education and that it is. Anne’s diary had been given to Otto’s secretary so that it would not be lost when they were taken, Anne had wanted to be a journalist and there are no words to describe the feelings one gets when entering into her world by either reading her journal or visiting this museum. It was a very meaningful and sorrowful morning, as it is such a sad event in history to even think about, let alone come face to face with some of its victims, especially when some of those victims are children. Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures in this museum, so I cannot share my experiences visually, but take my word, it was moving.

After Anne Frank’s House, we took a canal cruise. It was really nice and after the morning, I think we all needed something mindless and happy. It was really crowded and the boats are sunken into the water, so it’s really hard to see out, but it was still cool nonetheless. After the tour we had lunch at a place called the Soupkitchen. SO GOOD! It wasn’t an actual soup kitchen, it was just called that, but it was inexpensive and all of the ingredients were organic and locally grown. I decided to step out of the box a little and order the Sweet Potato soup with sour cream and coriander. It was probably the best decision I have made in a while! It was like a warm, cozy blanket. I have been craving it ever since. After the best lunch ever, we went to the Rijks Museum. I’m not sure any of you are familiar with Dutch painters, but I love them. The color palette is usually pretty dark and subdued, but they are beautiful still lives or portraiture, or pretty much anything else! I just really like the style, so this was of particular interest to me. When I say Dutch painters, I am referring to Vermeer, van Dyck, etc… Google them, let me know what you think. Anyways, apparently the entire museum was undergoing renovations, so about 1/10 of the building was open, but that’s ok. I still got to see a pretty good mixture of artists.

After the museum, we decided to venture to the Red Light District. I, personally, was disappointed, because everyone makes such a big deal about it, but we actually only saw maybe 3 girls in the windows, but it was only about 6 pm, so maybe that’s why. After strolling around the Red Light District, we decided that we were again starving so we headed over to Pancake Corner because we had heard it was really good. Seeing as how I don’t really like breakfast food ever, I knew I had to find something else to eat. I kept hearing that we should eat Indonesian food, and there was some on the menu, so that is what I ordered. It was delicious!! It was a chicken and rice substance, maybe a peanut sauce…I am not really sure, but it was good. So, I recommend it if you are ever in Amsterdam. After dinner we decided we would go back to the hostel for a bit and then go back out, but we all actually ended up falling asleep and not getting back up until the next morning. I was kinda annoyed with myself, because like I have said before I can sleep when I am dead. How many times am I going to be in Amsterdam?

Sunday was a travel day and when we finally got back to Florence it was cold and rainy, which it has been a lot lately for some reason. I went to bed quite early Sunday night, seeing as how I had just traveled with a really bad cold and felt like a pile of crap.

The last couple days have been pretty uneventful, except getting ready for Paris! We leave tomorrow night around 8 pm and I am ecstatic!!! I have been waiting for this trip for my entire life. But, I will tell more about that tomorrow, for now I have to get my beauty rest!

Ciao for now.

~k

Amalfi Coast!

This weekend we headed to Southern Italy to the beautiful Amalfi Coast. We stayed in Sorrento and traveled to Capri, Pompeii, Naples and Positano. It was a 6 hour bus ride, which wasn’t actually that bad. It was a chartered coach, and we got to watch Entourage the entire time. The tour guides were three guys my age who were pretty cool. They were from Seattle and had studied in Florence during college and they decided to come back. Once we arrived in Sorrento, we headed to our “hotel.” The hotel was actually what they referred to as “bungalows” which in all actuality were little cabins like you stayed in at camp. It wasn’t my ideal lodging, but seeing as how we had air conditioning and were never actually there, it was ok. I stayed with my four roommates and the other four girls were next door. When we walked into our “bungalow” there was a set of bunk beds in one “room” and two twin beds in the other, but the room was so small that they were pushed together. I managed to push them apart a little, I really didn’t want to snuggle with Tracy for 3 nights and we managed to get around. The most interesting part of this lodging experience was that it was like a jungle. It was called Villagio Verde which means in Italian, “Green Village”, and it was green. There was like a pergola type structure over the entire area that was covered in grape vines. There were hundreds of bunches of grapes everywhere, which was kind of cool but the bugs were worse than in Florence. Also, the people who lived behind the “hotel” had a small farm with a bunch of dogs and of course, a rooster. Oh how nice it is to have a rooster alarm clock everyday at dawn…not. This thing crowed for hours. The first morning I woke up, I thought I was dreaming – I was not. Although it was particularly annoying, it was also humorous, so we got used to it.

Friday morning we met early to take the ferry over to Capri. It was one of my favorite spots we’ve been to. It was a day of luxury for sure. Once we got to Capri, we stopped for lunch and rented a private boat. The driver was really fun and let us out to swim a lot. We stopped at the “Green Grotto” which is not as famous as the blue one, but just as fantastic. It is a swim through type of area (boats definitely don’t fit) and the rocks under the water glow bright green. As I was swimming, I unfortunately don’t have any pictures of it, but it was amazing. Its something about the way the sun hits the rocks underneath, I am not sure, but it’s definitely green! The water was the deepest shade of blue and so beautiful. It was a little chilly, but it was very hot that day, so it felt amazing. If we weren’t swimming we were laying out on the boat deck (it was a small boat, but the entire front part was flat and cushioned…so nice) it was so awesome. Once we finally got to the Blue Grotto (its one of the 7 Wonders…google it.) we got into little rowboats and went in. It is a very small opening, so you have to sit on the floor of the rowboat and lay back as to not hit your head. Once in the cave it is pitch black, I could not even see my hand in front of my face, which is very strange. The “driver” of the row boat takes you to the back of the cave and turns around and that’s when you see it; the brilliant blue radiating out of the water. It’s so weird and cool at the same time! Again, it is something about the why the sun reflects, but regardless, it’s awesome. Afterwards we headed back to the island of Capri where we walked around for a bit and then headed back to Sorrento to get ready for the evening and go to dinner. Our tour guide had recommended this place by the ports called “Ristorante don Viceno” as having the best seafood, so that is where we went. It was a little more expensive, but it was definitely worth it. I obviously didn’t have any seafood, but the service was amazing (which is rare in Italy) and my food was pretty good. There were 12 of us, so they set us up in a private room. The waiter brought us 3 trays of antipasti (appetizers and on the house…) which consisted of bruschetta, and other things that I don’t have a clue as to what they were called, but were delicious nonetheless. Everyone ordered seafood except me and another girl, but I ordered asparagus and this pasta with zucchini, cream and provolone. It was almost like glorified mac and cheese…haha but good. The asparagus was over cooked, but it was still pretty good. We were having a great time and getting ready to get our check when here comes our waiter with more complimentary things only this time it was little dessert pastries and Limoncello. Limoncello is a dessert liquor that is made in Italy. Most regions have their own version, as lemons are grown everywhere. I had never actually had Limoncello, but I figured it would be light and lemony. Ha! This drink is served in little glasses (like shot glasses) and it is meant to be sipped. I took a sip and almost threw up all over the table. It was definitely not light, but definitely tasted like lemon. I suffered through it, as I thought it would be rude if I didn’t finish, and afterwards I am pretty sure I grew hair on my chest. Haha…I would compare it to sipping on bad tequila or any other really strong liquor. Anyways, it was a great dinner and followed into a great night on the town with our tour guides and the other students on the trip.

Saturday morning we had planned to get up and go to Positano, because they are supposed to have the best beach in Italy, but we thought it was going to be cloudy all day so we went to Pompeii and Naples instead. (sidenote, it was 90˚ and sunny with not a cloud in the sky…) We went to Pompeii first and had some of the best orange juice I have ever tasted. It was like someone squeezed an orange into my mouth…delicious! We entered the ruins immediately after and it was awe inspiring. I cannot describe the feeling of entering into this city that was frozen in time. A lot of the buildings are still intact and there were several “people” on display. It was very odd to see the people, because they were in mid-motion when they died and were basically fossilized immediately. I really enjoyed seeing Pompeii and if you are ever in Italy, I highly suggest going. We were only there for a couple of hours, but the ticket lady told me it would take 2-3 days to see everything. I wanted to stay longer, but the people I was with didn’t share my interest and fascination and were complaining the whole time, so we left. Please look at my pictures from Pompeii and hopefully you will see how interesting these ruins were as well.

After Pompeii, we headed to Naples (the birthplace of pizza) to eat authentic Pizza Margherita. Pizza Margherita is pizza crust (obviously), fresh tomatoes, salt, pepper, olive oil, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. I don’t even really like pizza, but this was the best pizza I have ever had. Ever. It is indescribable and is probably the best thing I have eaten in Italy. If pizza was this good in the States, I would be a lot fatter…The pizzas were probably about the size of a large pizza, but the crust is very thin and light, so it is not as filling like all the pizza we have in the US. I actually ate the whole thing, as did everyone else with us! After having the best pizza on earth, we were exhausted and decided to head back to Sorrento. It was a pretty low-key evening that night as we planned to get up early the next day to go to the beach.

Sunday morning we woke up late (of course), but we woke up to rain. However, Italy’s weather is not unlike Ohio, so rain in the morning, doesn’t necessarily mean it will rain all day. Well, it did and it was cold, but we went to Positano anyways. We took the most horrific bus to the town. It was a charter bus, however they stuffed it full and we had to stand for 45 minutes driving through the mountains and trying not to fall or sit on any of the fortunate people who had seats. I had to keep my head down because I was getting really car sick, so by the time we got to Positano I was pretty green. Once we got there, we hiked down to the shore (I’m not sure how far, but by the time we got there, all of our legs were shaking…and that was going down !!) We decided to get lunch at this cute little place that also had very good seafood (I was told…haha) and I got eggplant lasagna, which was interesting and good. Instead of noodles, it was slices of eggplant….I’ve been eating enough carbs, I thought it was time to branch out. By the time we were finished eating, it was almost time to start heading back to Sorrento, so we walked through some shops and made our way to the bus. Fortunately we found a shuttle to take us to the top, as I am sure all of our hearts would have exploded walking up the amount of stairs that took you to the top. After we arrived back in Sorrento, it was time to load up and get back to Florence.

It was a great weekend exploring Italy. I am so grateful for the experiences I had there and on other trips. The things I have seen are so beautiful, I am in constant amazement. Actually on the walk home from the train station last night, Tracy and I were talking about how amazing the Duomo is. It is so strange to live next door to this massive, important historical monument. We were laughing about how it didn’t seem real and we thought it was a painting or I think the other thing we said was a hologram…haha… I hope that I continue to be in awe of my surroundings as this is a once in a lifetime experience that I will treasure forever, and I hope that you enjoy reading about it!!

Ciao for now-

It's been too long...

Where to begin!? I have been MIA for a while because I have been so busy! We just entered our 4th week of school and I had a presentation today in Product Development and I have a project due Monday (the corset) Things have been going well in school, my Italian class is extremely difficult because he doesn't really speak much English and I sit in the front because I want to come across as a good student and he always picks on me!! He will ask me a question in Italian, and I will sit there like a deer in the headlights and say "I don't know" repeatedly, then he'll teach the lesson! So I get to look like an idiot in front of the entire class while he makes aguinea pig of me. Its embarrassing and very annoying. Also, we have a test on Thursday and it is over 5 chapters in the book ( and there is A LOT in those 5 chapters), so I am pretty sure I may fail my first test ever. I guess its a good thing that it is only a 2 credit hour class and its Pass/Fail.
My other classes are going well. In Product Development, our ( my group) project is to develop a line of souvenirs for KSU Florence students and the steps to getting to the final line. Today's presentation was for our market research. Basically, our market is fashion majors in Florence, ages 19-24 (I had to include myself...haha). Our price range is 5-30Euro and our products are: a slim-fit, long, deep v tee with a graphic placed somewhere on it, a printed silk scarf, an embroidered pashmina scarf and a tote bag made of recycled plastic bottles for books, supplies or groceries (as the supermarkets here make you pay for bags). We feel that we have a pretty strong product line, as these are all things we would buy ourselves. We also thought of these things because they are a little classier than your typical souvenir and the customer could actually use it, rather than letting it sit on a shelf collecting dust. The next part of this project is product positioning where we will decide where to sell, etc and then we have to have sketches, mock-ups and then finally a complete line. Of course this is a semester-long project so we have a while to work on it.
For my design class, I have a corset due Monday, which instead of creating a pattern for, we draped it on the form. It is a good exercise for draping technique and definitely was a good warm-up for our following projects, which include: a draped jacket (blazer-ish style..) and a boned-bodice dress (which I have not decided on what I am going to do) and a couple other mini-projects in between. Today we went to a fabric stockhouse in the middle of nowhere to look at fabric. I thought we were being taken to slave traders until we walked into the creepy warehouse that housed millions of bolts of beautiful fabric. It was a fabric wonderland! I found so much that I wanted to buy, but I held back and stuck to what I needed for my projects. I bought a beautiful printed silk that is a white background with navy, brown and tan flowers scattered throughout. I am planning on using it to line my jacket, which will hopefully be a charcoal grey wool. The design has yet to be decided, but I will definitely post my sketches for everyone's opinion! The other fabric I bought is a navy taffeta-like fabric that is beautiful. You know when you get bleach on your favorite navy blue piece of clothing and it turns the pinkish-brownish color? Well, my fabric looks like that, and the "bleach" is in a strip pattern, it is truly unique and I really like it. That will be used for my final project (the boned bodice dress) I, again am not sure what to do, but I will begin sketching soon. The best part of all of this fabric, is that it wasn't very expensive!! They are mill-ends and other types of run-offs, so there may be irregularities, but as a whole the fabrics are great! I plan on going back there to gather some fabrics to bring back to the States. (Good thing Ben is bringing an empty suitcase!! :) )
Let's see, what else have I been up to? A lot actually!!! I have been pretty good about updating my pictures, but not so much this, so I will fill in about my pictures!
A couple of weeks ago, we decided that since we are in Italy, we should probably see the sights in Italy, so we hopped a train to Pisa. Well, you know how Pisa is so famous because of its leaning tower? Well, that's because that's all there is. Period. When we got off the train, we expected it to be this bustling city...it was not. It was actually kinda a craphole and I would never want to go there again. Where the tower is, is enclosed by a wall, like a fortress. And of course when you get off the train, the Tower is at the OPPOSITE end of the city, so once you walk to the sketchy town of Pisa, you see why the beautiful part is protected by huge stone walls. Now, it is Italy, so even the bad parts are still a little charming, but coming from Florence, which is beautiful and is referred to as "Historical Disneyland", its a bit of a shock. Anyway, so we finally get to where the tower is, and its definitely leaning, which is strange to see in person. I took a million pictures of it, but none of them seemed to express the degree to which it was leaning, so I guess you just have to use your imagination. Then we decided to do like the tourists do and take those stupid pictures as if we were leaning on the tower. 40 minutes later, we figured out how to do, and looking ridiculous trying to figure it out. That got old pretty fast, so we decided to stroll the markets (and they went on forever...it is tourist central after all...) I bought some cute things and then we all decided that our feet were killing us. We had originally planned to stay and have dinner and take the 9pm train, however we overestimated what there was to do in Pisa, so we cut it short at 3. It was a nice little day trip, and I am glad I went, but it definitely wasn't full of excitement and probably wouldn't go back. I would highly reccomend that if you are in Italy however, that you go. It's what the tourists do.
The day after Pisa we went to a little slice of heaven called "Cinque Terra," which in Italian means "5 Lands" Its 5 little towns that are connected by some serious hiking trails ( about 5.6miles up and down stairs and hills...). They are all old fishing villages and they are great. The houses are all painted bright colors so that the fishermen could see their house from the sea. They are known for their pesto, fresh anchovies,Troffie pasta, and various other types of produce. It was the most beautiful hike I have ever been on, it was definitely hard at points in the trip, such as the 365 stairs we had to climb. I posted a picture of them, but it hardly does it justice, talk about "feel the burn"!!!! I am definitely going to have to make the StairMaster my new machine at the gym after that. It was totally worth it, as after climbing the stairs we had an amazing lunch. The hike ended at the beach, which was full of topless women, an odd thing for a bunch of American girls. No, we did not partake in the tradition, we are much too modest for that. Cinque Terra was probably one of my favorites so far because, not only was it beautiful but it was an amazing workout and it felt good to get outside and really work hard.
Last week at school was great because we were only there Monday and Tuesday and it was arrivederci Florence and 'ello London!!!! The second I stepped off the plane I was in love. Although it was cold and windy and not very sunny, something about it just felt right. As soon as we got to London we went to our hotel which was located in South Kensington (a great location: across from Kensington Park) The hotel was great, and it was a nice change from our hot apartment in Italy. After we checked in, we went to The Kensington Gardens Orangery to have afternoon tea!!!! I was excited to actually try real British tea, as I don't really like hot tea normally, but it was delicious! I am hooked. We had little cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves and then the "Orangery cake" which was cake that had a definite orange flavor. It was all so great (there are pictures of all of these things on my shutterfly website...) We then got to take a tour of Kensington Palace and see the Princess Diana memorials outside on the gates. It was actually pretty moving to see and also very beautiful. After the palace we were on our own for the night, so we decided to explore around town. We went to Selfridge's ( a fabulous department store) and a couple of other boutiques. We were hungry again, so we decided to go to China Town for dinner. We went to a sushi place (which sucked for me, because I am not that big of a sushi fan...) and it was ok, but we definitely received culture shock number one: the pound equals about two dollars. So, after I finished my $6 water and my $20 lo-mein we decided to make our way back to our hotel. I had a really bad headache but everyone wanted to go out, so I went. It sucked. Pretty much all of London closes between 9-11 and the pubs aren't open much later. so by the time we got ready and found a place to go, they were closing. Good thing, because I did not feel like spending $14 more on another martini.
After the most expensive night ever, Thursday morning we took full advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel (which was actually really good) and departed for a guided bus tour of London. It was great! Our tour guide's name was Nigel and he was hilarious, gotta love that British humor (I actually do...) He showed us where the all the cool stuff was: Harrod's (the greatest store in the world...) the Prime Minister's house, Big Ben, London Eye and most importantly, the changing of the guards!!! It was really cool, there is a band that marches behind the guards and was really neat to see. We then took some pictures of Buckingham Palace and then went back to the hotel. We had to change in time to go see "Wicked" at the Apollo!!!!! If you are not familiar with the show, it is basically the "Wizard of Oz' but from the Wicked Witch of the West's point of view. It was such a good show and if it ever comes to town, go see it!! After that we were exhausted, so we went home and went to bed.
Friday morning we had a guided tour through Liberty's, which is yet another department store but it is very cool and I am glad we went. It is very cozy, plush carpeting, wooden staircases and shelving, just very interesting and of course, beautiful. After that, Tracy (my roommate) and I decided to hit up TopShop, which has a cult like following among young fashionistas because of its super up to date (and forward) clothing, accessories and shoes. They have a great vintage section, their shoes are AMAZING and I wanted to buy everything. Instead I bought one dress, which was adorable and I can't wait to wear. The best part of Friday was that evening we got to meet with Zandra Rhodes and her head designer, Ben. Zandra Rhodes is a textile designer from the 70’s who creates these amazing prints on chiffon, then designs dresses around the print. Her prints are inspired by her life and the experiences she has had. They are very bright and colorful prints and the dresses are very unique. She is also an interesting individual with neon pink hair and crazy outfits, but so nice and down to earth. It was very informative to meet with them and an internship with her could be an interesting experience. Friday night was also cool, as we decided to go out and enjoy London nightlife in our fancy new dresses. As always we had a great time and got to sleep in on Saturday morning and recover from the previous night’s festivities.

Saturday, as I said, we slept in and it was awesome. We got up around noon and made our way to Harrod’s. We spent about 5.5 hours strolling through…there is so much amazing stuff there. Anything you could ever imagine, dogs, cats, food from every country, equestrian gear, boats, furniture, fabric and the list goes on forever. We tried on a lot of pretty dresses that cost around what my car cost and had a great day!

Sunday we went to Windsor Castle. We took a tour and had some tea and scones to cap off our amazing trip to London. Even though it was rainy and grey while we were there, I still loved it and am currently looking for internships there!! So, maybe I will be in foggy London next summer!? We shall see...

Ciao for now…