Alice gets stuck.

So, Alice was peeking out the window in my room the other day and had some issues with the curtains..



Despite being an insane pain in the ass, I'm really going to miss this stupid cat. :)

Back to the US soon... mixed feelings.

Italia

So finally...Here are some pictures and a quick recap of part two of my Spring Break: Italy!

The vacation that started off a little bumpy (especially for poor A and her transatlantic journey from hell) ended up smoothing out pretty nicely once we hit Rome. A and I arrived Friday night and were quickly joined by M on Saturday morning - only to be greeted by a dreary, rainy day in Rome. Lame! We decided to head to the Vatican and take advantage of the indoor entertainment. (Apparently, the rest of Rome decided the same thing). We managed to avoid the lines at the Vatican Museum and conducted an abridged visit (aka, straight to the papal studies and the Sistine Chapel..hehe). Afterward however, we were forced to sit in a line that wrapped halfway around St. Peter's Square in order to just make it through security before entering the Vatican. Once inside, being the young and sprightly 20 year olds that we were, we decided to climb the dome. And by climb, I mean we decided to save 2euros to bypass the elevator and climbed all 544 steps to the top. (What? Who's the loser who spent the whole climb counting stairs?? Not me...)

M hiding at the base of St. Peter's Basilica Dome - not quite sure...

Spanish Steps

Typical M and N "crush you" hug...

A and M doing...something...

Trevi Fountain!

The rest of Rome was spent enjoying the beautiful days that followed, stealthily lying and sneaking into *what?* the Borghese palace to see the Bernini sculptures (AMAZING!), and spending an entire afternoon wandering the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. An of course, we celebrated A's 20th birthday in Rome! Whoo! From there, we hopped on a train to Florence!

Florence is easily one of my favorite cities on the planet. We spend our time here wandering the medieval streets, enjoying the famous (an gigantic!) Florentine steak, and of course, climbing the Duomo. No stair counting this time around.

Lugo!

On the Ponte Vecchio

Rub for good luck!

M and I also partook in the local custom of "locking your love" on the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). I know, I know, sounds super lame. No worries, it was my idea and M was cool enough to go along with it. Couples from all over the world come to this bridge with their lock and key, fix their lock to the ironwork of the bridge, then throw the key into the river. Awwww. Okay, end of mushy-gushy moment. :) <3

The Lock.

From Florence, we took a day tour of Tuscany where we visited Siena, St. Gimignano, and Pisa. Absolutely beautiful! Despite starting to get a cold (surprise surprise) I loved the tour and we all definitely enjoyed stuffing ourselves with food straight from an organic farm in Tuscany, our lunch stop on the tour. We also happened to be the only "young" ones on the tour, so we spent the day socializing with the group of 60 year old nurses sitting in front of us on the bus - hilarious.

A makes a friend at the torture museum in St. Gimignano

Our last stop was Venice, a city that pretty much is seen by wandering the maze like streets and canals. We continued enjoying the beautiful weather and enjoyed our last days of vacation. It was definitely a great, relaxing way to end our trip!

Realto Bridge

A Brief Interruption

For those of you keeping up with my Spring Break touring, the rest of the trip will come shortly.

For those of you who are interested in reading about the crazy life I lead at my homestay with M-N and C, this post is for you...

This evening, after dinner, was easily one of the greatest homestay moments since being in France. We had a decently sized dinner party: myself, M (visiting from Barcelona), M-N, C, and M-N's brother, L. After dinner, the apartment started hopping. C insisted on putting on some music and performing a little dance for us. We were all seated in our designated seats around the living room, ready for the show. This "show" basically consisted of C just jumping up and down, but we went with it.

Before we knew it, all of us were dancing (M and L a little more awkwardly than the rest...) in the middle of the living room, rocking out to MGMT and Mika. Let me tell you, this little four year old knows way more techno and indie music than any other four year old on this planet. Dancing turned into dancing with stuffed animals which turned into ring around the rosie with stuffed animals, which turned into playing catch with the stuffed animals, which turned into the adults just pelting one another with C's stuffed animals. Meanwhile, the MGMT is blaring and poor Alice is having a heart-attack. Brother sister + college couple + four year old + stuffed animals + cat + impromptu dance party = best. night. ever.

Nice times in Nice

Forgive me for the cheezy title, I had to..

Spring Break for the French universities has been filling my days for the past two weeks. Although the break started with four days of intense paper writing - about the American forces in Asia from 1945-1975; can we say broadest topic ever?!?! - a train to Nice brought the start of an amazing vacation. I was fortunate enough to miss all of the Iceland volcano drama that seemed to be plaguing all of Europe. Can't say the same for A who was planning on flying into Paris on the 20th to meet up with me and head to Nice, but had her flight cancelled thanks to the big bad ash cloud spouting from the stupid volcano.

Travel problems and the fact that I was now going to awkwardly experience Nice alone aside, the vacation definitely started of on a great note. The weather was WONDERFUL! Blue skies, sunny, warm. I got so desperate at one point, that I actually had to buy a pair of shorts to make it through the rest of the vacation. (I hadn't packed any because weather.com was incorrect about the ever-changing weather. Again).

The Coast

Gardens outside the Monastery

Waterfall on the Hill

Fortunately, some of my friends from my program, E and H, were also in Nice. We hit up the Matisse museum, the beach, the hill, and even Monaco together. It was definitely a seaside paradise. Monaco was just as beautiful as Nice. We spent most of the time walking along the port and taking in the views. We tried our luck in the casino, but that ended in all of us losing between 5 and 20 euros to the slot machines. Turns out, gambling is both awful and addicting...

Monte Carlo Casino

View of the Port in Monaco

The wonderful, relaxing stay in Nice ended on a very stressful, rainy note. I spent the last dreary day checking out the Chagall Museum while constantly checking my phone trying to keep track of A's progress in getting to Europe. Hat's must go off to this girl. She had literally the WORST day of travel. Ever. Flight from LAX to Newark, international flight from Newark to Paris, three hour "layover" in Paris, 5 hour train to Nice (that ended up being delayed and taking 6 hours), insane ride in a death cab making it from the train station in Nice to the airport in about 7 minutes (usually a 20 minute ride), checking in literally three minutes before closing, and hopping on a flight to Rome. I'm exhausted just typing it out.

In the end, we got back on track with our original vacation plans and A and I were on our way to Rome to meet up with M. Goodbye France, hello Italy!

Breakdancers in Paris!

The other night, I was meeting some friends by the metro and came across a HUGE crowd of people, obviously watching a performance. The music was blasting and everyone was cheering.

A group of breakdancers (I later learned that they frequent this street performance venue and are really popular in the Bastille area) were showing off their sets. They were incredible and definitely crowd pleasers. Check out some pics and videos I grabbed of the show! Easily one of the coolest things I've come across on the streets of Paris!

French Four-Year-Old Theta Love

Today, when C came home from school, we did a little playing as usual. She was showing me how she can make all kinds of shapes with her hands - hearts, stars, circles, squares, etc. Then she made a kite with her little, paint-covered, four-year-old hands and I saw a future Theta right before my eyes!

Lovin' this pic!

Off to Belgium

This past weekend, I took advantage of one of my program's "excursions" to Belgium! We took a (6:30am!!) bus on Saturday to Bruges for the day, then headed to Brussels for the night and all day Sunday.

Bruges

Bruges was a BEAUTIFUL little town. It really is the Venice of the north. The egg-shaped city is surrounded on either side by canals, one of which is called the Lac D'Amour or "Lake of Love" - a mistranslation that sounded so pretty and wonderful, it just stuck with the city. The interior part of the city is also interlaced with tons of canals. The streets are almost entirely void of cars, making the atmosphere all the more surreal. (Residents are reimbursed for every kilometer they bike to work each month, so pretty much everyone gets around by bike). The food was also definitely something to write home about. The french fries (which actually originate from Belgium) are absolutely delicious, and don't even get me started on the WAFFLES! Everything you may have heard about Belgian waffles is absolutely true. They are incredible. People, these things are even filled with sugar to add to the delicious-factor. The only thing a little odd about Bruges is the feeling that you are in Disneyland... The entire southern part of the city was filled with tourists, which was a little unsettling at times. We quickly got over the sentiment though. A mouthful of waffle pretty much helps you forget any and all of your worries.

The city seemed to be totally on the same page with my irrational love for french fries... :)

We also found a chocolate museum...

...where we came across this chocolate statue of Barack Obama.

Oh well, Bruges, you almost scored a 100%.

Brussels was equally wonderful and definitely the beer capital of Europe (in addition to being the actual capital of Europe - the EU hangs out in the city and makes all sorts of important decisions...or something like that). We went out Saturday night and found ourselves at an incredible bar with 46 beers on tap. The bartenders were incredibly helpful and picked the perfect beer for all of us!

Sunday was a very early morning, but fortunately, we had lots of time to spend in Brussels. The first order of business was to find the Mannekin Pis - a fountain that supposedly represents the "free spirit" of Brussels. And here it is!

Yes, it is in fact a small, naked boy peeing.

Also, in case you are having trouble with the proportions of this city-symbolizing statue, here is another picture to give you a better idea of the scale of this very important fountain.

A little underwhelming, but an experience all the same.

The rest of the day in Brussels was spent wandering the city, seeing the palaces and justice buildings, and taking a quick detour into the Magritte Museum - there were of course cones of french fries and chocolate covered waffles and strawberries involved as well. If you know me at all, you realize that Belgium is the definition of my food pyramid. Mmmmm...

After a full two days of walking and touring, I was glad to see Paris (and my bed!) again. Just one more week of work to get through and then Spring Break! Almost there!