Carrots for Mom :)

So I was talking to my mom and dad on Skype last week and my mom was worried I wasn't eating enough vegetables so she made me promise her I would eat a carrot this week! Even though I didn't want to because I didn't have any ranch to dip them in I got some carrots from the store, luckily they had baby carrots because I don't have a carrot peeler!!! Anyway I took some pictures for proof so that my mom will know I am eating vegetables, so she won't worry!! 

LOVE YOU MOM!!!!!!! :)

Enjoy haha!

My bag of carrots!

So excited!

First bite!

So Good!

MmMmMm...

Tuscany: Pienza & Siena

This weekend I had another field trip for my gardens class to Pienza, which is north of Viterbo in Tuscany. We left at 9 am on Friday morning and this time there were 2 other classes that came with us so it was pretty much the entire USAC group, but I got lucky and got 2 seats to myself on the bus so I could sleep on the 2 hour drive! When we got there we took a tour of the Palace, which is more impressive then the garden, but was FREEZING inside so when we got to the garden it felt really nice! The garden in Pienza is tiny and was mainly built for the amazing view of the entire countryside. The Palace however was really amazing, all the furniture in it is the original furniture that was used by the owners, in I think it was the 1500's, and it was all still in the same position the rooms haven't been moved around at all! After the tour we had an hour before the bus came back so Bethany, Rachal and I went and bought our bus tickets to Siena, and we took an hour bus ride from Pienza to Siena where we stayed for the night and all day Saturday. Friday night we walked about 45 min. from our hostel to the city center to get some dinner. We found a nice restaurant in the main square and I got some Four Cheese Ravioli with Pesto Sauce, it was delicious. Then there was a stand in the square where they were making something that looked really good so we got some for dessert, they were just deep fried balls of dough with sugar on top, I thought they were really good but Rachal and Bethany didn't love them! Then we decided to take a bus back to our hostel, but all the buses were done running for the night, it was only a little after 9, so we had to walk back. Then we got an early start on Saturday and took the bus to town and walked around, looked at all the shops and saw the sights. There isn't much to do in Siena, we hoped to rent bikes and ride around and see some good views but it isn't the season for that so there was no where to rent bikes. Instead we just walked around the town, we got done earlier than we planned so we took an earlier train home to Viterbo. We got home around 7:30 and I went to the grocery store because I was completely out of food and I needed some dinner :) 

On Sunday I didn't do anything really just had a relaxing day. I did my laundry which took pretty much all day, I caught up on some homework and talked to Mom and Dad!!!! That is pretty much it! 

Here are more pictures: 

PIENZA

Me, Jenny, Amy and Rachal in Pienza

Archway in the Garden looking out over the country

View from the top of the Palace

Another view of the countryside from the garden

SIENA

Views From the Train

A view we saw when we were walking around town

Another one

Cute window

Painting at the top of the Duomo 

Front of the Duomo

Side view with the bell tower

Inside the Town Hall

The main square

The Town hall and clock tower

On the walk to the Centro (city center)

Beautiful Sunset!

CarNivALe in VeNiCe!!

This weekend I was in Venice to celebrate Carnivale, which is an Italian holiday and is a sort of mix between Halloween and Mardi Gras. When we first arrived in Italy our program director told us all that the weekend of Valentines Day was a great time to go to Venice because it was the first weekend of Carnivale, which lasts 2 weeks until lent, so just about everyone in our program was there this weekend! We left Viterbo Thursday night at 7, took 3 trains and arrived in Venice at 5am Friday morning! Then we couldn't check into our hotel until noon so we walked around all day with all of our luggage! As soon as we arrived we started walking around looking for San Marco Square and half an hour later, after crossing the Rialto Bridge, we finally found it, just in time for sunrise! At the time I didn't really care about seeing sunrise because I was so exhausted and I just wanted to sleep, haha, but now I am glad we did it because it was soo pretty and we were pretty much the only people in San Marco Square, which was amazing because for the rest of the weekend anywhere near San Marco you could barely move there were so many people! We also went to the Academy Art Museum hoping to see Leonardo da Vinci's, Vitruvian Man but it was under restoration so we couldn't see it. Then we got some lunch and it was really bad and really expensive, FYI if you ever go to Venice do not eat at any restaurant near San Marco! Then it was finally 12 so we took a water bus back to the hotel, and I passed out on the water bus and when we got to our hotel we all took a 3 1/2 hour nap, which we usually never do on our weekend adventures because it is such a waste of time, but we were beat!! After our nap we planned to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, to get some hamburgers :), but we found out that is was closed until March or something weird, so we decided to go to the grocery store and buy some food for the whole weekend since we weren't having much luck with any restaurants in Venice. It was the best idea ever because I found the cereal I have been looking for, I was told about it before I came to Italy, it is like Captain Crunch filled with Nutella! And I found an avocado, BEST DAY EVER :) Then we went out that night and ran into everyone in the USAC group! The next day was the official first day of Carnivale, we started out the day by going to Murano and seeing a glass blowing demonstration, it was crazy the guy made a vase and a horse statue in less then 5 min! Then we walked around the island and saw all the shops filled with Murano glass (I wish I could afford and Chandelier, they are amazing)! After Murano Bethany, Rachal and I did some shopping in San Marco Square, I got my Venice Magnet and we got our Canivale masks! Later we went with Beth, Jenny and Amy on a gondola ride and saw the sights! And then we headed to the Carnivale festivities in San Marco Square where not much was going on! We hung out for about 4 hours and nothing exciting ever happened, we were expecting a huge party like a New Years block party but I think the real party starts towards the end of Carnivale! Either way Venice is an amazing place, and we had a lot of fun without the party :)

More Pictures: Enjoy!

The Grand Canal around 6 am on top of the Rialto Bridge

On top of the Rialto Bridge

San Marco

San Marco Square at sunrise

Cute buildings

Gondola Ride

First night out with our 1 euro masks :)

Glass blowing demonstration in Murano, he was making a vase

Sculptor made of Murano Glass

View of the Alps from Murano!

Carnivale masks!!

Dressed up for Carnivale!

Our gondola man

The fire station! It was just like ours only fire boats instead of fire trucks!

The bus station (for the water bus)

The Rialto Bridge

Sunset!

1st night of Carnivale with our legit masks!

More gardens and Florence and Pisa!

Hi everyone this weekend started with another trip for my gardens class on Friday. We went to a garden in Bagnaia, which is only about 15 min. from Viterbo, called Villa Lante! It was a very beautiful garden but different from the others we have seen it was very structured where the other ones have had paths going in all kinds of directions you never really new where to go. Then we went to a monster garden in Bomarzo which was very interesting. It was built by a Orsini and is full of huge sculptures that are sculpted from the rocks that were in the garden. There is also a house in the garden that was built on a slant and it is very strange to stand in you get very dissoriented! I wouldn't really consider this a beautiful garden but it was fun to visit!

After the gardens trip our travel crew, Me, Rachal, Bethany, Amy, Jenny, Beth and Mike, headed to Florence. When we arrived we checked into our hostel, which is considered the best hostel in Italy, and then went to dinner! After dinner we walked around the town for a little bit and got some dessert, Jenny couldn't stop talking about these waffels with nutella on top so we had to try them. They were pretty good but not worth the 6 euros! After walking around for a bit we went back to the hostel and met our roommate named Daniel, he was a really cool guy from Australia!! He was telling us all about himself he left home when he was 17 and has just been working all over and traveling all over the world, he told us that if we ever went to Australia he would love to be our tour guide! He has not made it to the States yet but really wants to so we told him what was worth going to for when he comes!! Later that night we all went to an Irish pub and met up with some of Jenny's friends who are studying in Florence. The next day Daniel came out with all of us to see the sights! First we went to the market and found some great souviners... I am collecting a magnet from every city I visit! Then we went to the Duomo... it is such a beautiful building... I feel like I am just repeating the word beautiful in all my posts but I don't know how else to describe all the amazing things I am seeing haha! Anyway Rachal, Bethany and I decided to walk to the top of the duomo, there are 463 steps that are in tiny little hallways wide enough for one person and half of them are spiral staircases so you get a little dizzy! But when you make it to the top it is such a great view of the city! All the roofs in Florence are red so it reminded me of the red rocks in Sedona. After the Duomo we got some lunch and then found one of the Gelato shops we were told to go to and got some gelato. Then we headed to see the statue of David! It is HUGE, much more impressive then the Mona Lisa! There are guards all over because you are not allowed to take pictures of it, which I don't understand because I don't think a picture will hurt the statue, but we totally snuck some Rachal got a bunch, I only got one because I was working as Rachal's guard! After we walked to the river and walked across the bridge then we looked for the other gelato shop and got more gelato, don't worry! haha! Then everyone else was tired but me and Rachal were not down for sitting in the hostel because we were in Florence so we went to some more shops and then met up with everyone later for dinner! Then that night we stayed in and played some card games. Daniel taught us an Australian game and then Amy and Beth taught us another one. Then we wrote on the walls of our hostel and went to bed! In the morning we took the train to Pisa to see the Tower and got some great shots of it, ate some lunch and then headed back to Viterbo! It was another long weekend but Tons of Fun!

Enjoy the pictures!!

VILLA LANTE:

BOMARZO:

The leaning house

Inside the leaning house


FLORENCE:
The Duomo

Golden Doors

The stairs to the top of the duomo

Last few steps

View from the top
Ceiling of the Duomo

A doorway on the way down... I just fit Bethany and Rachal were to tall

A tiny car

The Statue of David

A Painter on the river


Writing on the hostel walls

PISA:
Our cute new umbrellas

I kicked it..

Then saved it!