Italia2009

Happy Turkey Day!!!

I had jewelry design class today and was really not enjoying the fact that sam and julie would be around and I couldn’t hang with them, so I told my teacher I had to get out early and left at noon.  I called Tom on the way home to see if he had seen the girls yet today. (they were supposed to go to the market for food for tonights dinner).  He hadn’t seen them yet.  When I got home they were still sleeping!! lol So when they got up, and Tom came over, we all went to the market together.  It was fun!  We bought lots of veggies and after some debating and laughing, and even some grossed out faces, we chose our chicken! 

I made sam carry the chicken home!  good thing we picked one without a head or feet!  We got a little lost on the way home, but found this awesome park that I will deffinitly go to soon.  Tom went home after this to get some stuff for the dinner.  When he came back, he prepared the chicken!  It was awesome.  Not only did we all get a good laugh, but I didn’t have to touch the thing!  THANKS TOM!!!  Tom and I got the rest of the dinner ready to cook, and while the rest of us were in italian class, Tom and my roomies Michelle and Liz cooked the dinner.  It smelled soooooooooooo good when we got back!

I was super excited to have dinner.  We moved the table out so all 9 of us could fit.  We pilled the food all on the table and went at it.  OMG Delicious!  For dessert Liz made a fruit pie.  I ran out to the store for some ice cream, and when I came back, it was ready.  We all helped clean up the table, and Kristins mom made soup from the left over chicken carckass. 

This thanksgiving was really great.  I was kinda bummed about not being able to spend it with my giant family, but it was awesome to spend it with my close friends and sister!

Today was just a blah day.  It’s wednesday, so what can I say?  I turned in my photos.  Which by the way the teacher didn’t care for.  UGHHHHH  I hate when he doesn’t like my photos just because it’s not his style!  It drives me insane!  But we went out for dinner at this place called the Diner.  It’s right over by my apartment.  Kristin and Tom joined us as well.  We all ordered burgers! The funny thing was that the skinniest girl was the one who finished all her food!  Yes kristin.  Anyway, the burger was soooo greesy that I couldn’t finish it and it kinda upset my stomach.  Oh well, there’s always tomorrow to finish it lol

ciao

Today was another exploring day.  I took the girls to Sephora, since Julie wanted to see it.  Then I gave them a map and a meeting place and left them to fend for themselves.  I had to work at the computer lab today on my photos that I had shot yesterday.  I think they turned out pretty good, but I’m missing a few shots so I need to do another shoot.  Kristin got back today from her trip, so I dragged her along so she could help.  Sam and Julie were not excited to have to do this again, but they did it anyway.  I made them do some pretty crazy poses, but they turned out great.  And to top it all off, they finally turned on the christmas lights that hang over the streets!

Today was pretty cool.  we all slept in from the events last night.  When we woke up, we got ourselves together.  I told the girls that they had to help me with my upcoming photo project so i dressed them up and we wandered around Florence taking pics.  They were so self-consious though!  After that lovely day, we went out to dinner with Tom at Pizzaria Dante.  They really liked it and it was fun.  We went kinda early though, and ended up being only one of two groups there!  And it was cool too, because it was on the other side of the river, so the girls got to see the ponte veccio all lit up at night (one of my favorite sites here).

We then walked back by route of the Duomo, and got gelato from my favorite place here.  Then we just admired the city by night.  It was really a nice night.

Happy Birthday to me!!!  Today I turn 23…wow!  I got to sleep in today too, which was nice.  I took Sam and Julie around the city for a while today.  They met my friend Tom, who volunteered to be a tour guide for them.  Around 3pm we met up with Nena and Jen and walked to the Piazza Micheleangelo.  There were soooo many steps.  But we made it.  The view over the city was beautiful!  I have never seen it like that.  And then we stayed to watch the sun set.  It was perfect.  Afterwards, we went back to the apartment for naps and Scrubs.  Then it was out to dinner with the girls, Karen, and Tom.  We went to Trattoria Anita.  I love that place 🙂  I was able to show the guys my pictures that I had taken of the restaurant the week before.  They loved them!  And then for dessert, I got a tiramisu with a candle, and everybody sang!  It was really nice.  After dinner, we decided to go have a few drinks at a nearby bar.  Karen bought me a flamming tequila shot!! and a yummy pink drink.  Tom also bought me a drink.  I’m really glad Sam was here too, cuz it was a great day!

Today my cousin Andrew Smialek passed away after his long battle with cancer.  It’s never easy dealing with the loss of someone you care about.  I was super excited today for Sam to get here, and an hour before I left to pick her up from the train, I found out the bad news.  I couldn’t help crying.  I’ve only lost 1 other person in my life, my grandpa.  I’m glad Sam will be here though.  Walking to get her was weird.  I was extremely upset, but once I got there, it started to fade into excitement, and I didn’t know if I wanted to jump for joy or break down in tears.  And the worst part, I had to break the news to her too.

Once the girls were here, I was just so happy.  I made them a dinner.  I knew they would be tired and hungry from traveling.  It was spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, and wine.  They loved it.  Later that night, I took them walking around a little bit, and then to the secret bakery.  We all got a chocolate pastry that we saved for breakfast.  They smelled soooo good!  Then it was off to bed.

This week went by so fast that I didn’t even have time to catch up on my blogs!  Lets see…what did I do this week?

I discovered that I have an awful gene…the cleaning gene!  Thursday I went crazy after I got home.  I realized the house was a mess and couldn’t stop cleaning it.  It was terrible.  I just kept going.  I wanted to stop but couldn’t.  But I guess it’s for the best because Sam and Julie will have a clean apartment to stay in.

Tom cooked dinner for Kristin, myself, and Emily on Tuesday again.  Delicious as always!

Oh I kinda forgot…Traveling home from Amsterdam.  Michelle and I had to get up early, and were home by 1pm.  It was nice to be able to fly directly into Florence instead of having to take a train and such.  When I got home, I totally crashed for about 5 hours. 

I think the rest of the week was just bummin around and school.  Nothing special. But tomorrow Sam comes so it should be awesome!!!

Today was pretty cool.  Michelle and I decided to split up for the morning because I wanted to go to the zoo to continue my independant photo project.  However, there was some sort of parade going on and the trams weren’t running for the day, so I wasn’t able to make it there.  Instead I headed to a coffeeshop.  It was super chill.  Then I just walked around the town admiring the awesome architecture.  I saw this really cool parking garage…only it was for bikes!!  no joke, 4 stories of bike parking!!  Later that day I met back up with Michelle and we went to this photography museum called FOAM.  I really enjoyed it, but it was smaller than I had expected.  After that, we both wanted to go to the Anne Frank House.  That was totally a sombering experience.  It was super cool though, being able to see a place I had only read about in a book.  That night, I got KFC for dinner!! Yummy!!! lol Then we hung out for a bit with some of the boys from the hostel.  It was a fun night.

I slept in late today, it was soooooo nice!  It was a little awkward being surrounded by so many guys, but oh well.  Today we decided to go to the van gogh museum.  I can’t tell you enough how confusing this city is.  I was looking at a map the whole time, and we still continuously got lost!  The museum was nice.  It was more Michelle that wanted to go in the first place.  The weather was nice too.  We walked around the city a bit and then also went to the Anne Frank House.  Wow that was an experience.  Walking through the actual house that she and her family hid in was chilling.  But I learned a lot, and now the book makes sense to me.  After we were done, we decided to get dinner at this place we had seen earlier called Wok to Walk.  It was pretty good stir fry.  Afterward, we got some coffee at this great little place.  Well actually, I got hot chocolate and Michelle got coffee.  The best part about it was that it was easy to get back home.  No getting lost!  We walked along one of the canals for a bit and the coolest part was that at one point, there were like 20 swans and 50 or so ducks just swimming along!  It was so pretty.  And apparently Holland celebrates their christmas around this time, and so there were lights up all over!  Beautiful 🙂