So happy togetherrrrr

ERIC COMES TO ITALY!

I can’t believe Eric has already come and is on his way back to California. Seeing him at the train station was one of the greatest moments I have ever had. It was so incredible to be able to make him apart of my life here in Florence as well as discover Paris together, not to mention he brought me all sorts of goodies from home like clothes and food (thanks mom!) After spending a day in Florence it was already time for our journey to Paris! Eric needed to see the leaning tower of Pisa so we made a pit stop on our way to the air port, he agrees that it leans way more in real life! Then it was off to France. That sentence makes it seem so simple, but there were buses, planes, and more buses, and of course the metro! Eric brought a whole tub of peanut butter and had it thrown away because they consider it a liquid and you are only allowed 3.5 ounces and it was 40 ounces, I laughed very hard, he did not think this was funny… Paris was everything people said it was going to be: beautiful, charming, confusing, romantic. We were quite the tourists! The first day: The Louvre, Arc De Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower at night (my favorite), and hurt feet! We spent hours in the Louvre and even saw the Mona Lisa! The Eiffel Tower was insane. First off, its massive, and the way it lights up, is perfection. We went up on top of it and Eric bought me a rose! Awwww what a guy J The second day: we spent the day in Versailles. We went to the Palace and the Garden. It was unreal. There were chandeliers everywhere, statues, and gold everything. The King was living the life. The garden was enormous and so pretty. We spent about 2 hours just walking through it, taking pictures, and laughing together. There was a water show, that was apparently a big deal because everyone stopped to watch it (That’s how you know when you don’t do all of your research J). While you walk through the garden, they have classical music playing which makes it even better! We ended the evening with a night boat cruise on the Seine River. We got to see the Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Congress Building, The tunnel where Princess Diana died L, a Hotel where Mozart and Voltaire used to stay at, the Louvre, and some museums. It was really fun, but I was shivering on the tip of the boat!! The third day: we went to Sacre Coeur. It is a church that over looks Paris and is located in this cute little town with a bunch of shops and artists. We spent some time just watching this man play his guitar and people watching!

We ate cheap but it is worthy mentioning that we tried: crepes, a banana and chocolate one and a ham and cheese (YUMMMMYYY), a true French croissant, and French hot chocolate. We were very satisfied with all of our food purchases J

When we got back to Florence there was so much more for him to see and do! I took him to see the real statue of David in The Academia Museum; we climbed the steps of the Duomo (463 yikesss), shopping at San Lorenzo Market, Erics attempts to speak Italian, made dinner together with some of my new skills from class, sat on the Santa Trinta Bridge facing the Ponte Vecchio with a bag of yummy truffles, and saw the city after climbing up to Piazza Michelangelo. Eric came to one of my classes with me where we watched an Italian film! He came out to dinner with my friends and I, where they finally got to meet their face book friend and the boy I told stories about! We went to yummy dinners; thanks to my meal vouchers and Eric had his first real Italian gelato!

We had so much fun and laughed a lot. Im so blessed he was able to come out here and just to have him in my life. It truly was a breathe of fresh air. It was nice to see a face from home and walk down the streets holding his hand. I hope you like the pictures and hopefully the videos make you laugh because we watched them over and over and thought they were hilarious! I love you cub!!

Other news: I got an A on all my mid terms yahoooo!! And the new apartment is great. I have already gone to seen Tosca 3 times (Eric met her too). Because of her situation she didn’t even remember who I was one of the times, so I think it was the best decision for us to leave, but I still think she is awesome!

Venice, a new home, and a crazy schedule

Sometimes pictures speak louder than words and considering my insane list of things to do i will let the picture do most of the talking. Venice was beautiful and was unlike any place i have ever seen. I rode the water taxis, went on a gondola ride, watched a man make glass, went to a glass museum, saw The Vitruvian Man by Da Vinci, and celebrated Amandas birthday at Hard Rock Cafe!

Tosca came home and the school and we agreed it would be best to move out for us and for her and the family. The school got us a cute apartment right by the Duomo and is not far from where we lived before. I was pretty bummed that the homestay thing didnt work out, i was really looking forward to it, but I am grateful that i was able to spend some time with her and meet her family, they really did treat us like family.

Mid Terms: Im getting good grades mom and dad so dont worry :)

Papers: DONE! I loved writing about the diamond conflict in Africa. I learned so much and would looveeee to tell you about it if you are interested!

ERIC: he comes todayyy!!! im so excited to see him, i cant wait to show him around my new city and take him to my favorite gelato places and all the beautiful places in Florence! We will be going to Paris this friday to see the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower too!

Enjoy the pictures!

watch at your own risk....

good or bad news first?

Bad news first: I found out that my host mom, Tosca has not been on vacation at all. She had, to what i understand through broken english, a brain aneurysm. Meghan, a woman that works from my school, and I went to the hospital to visit her. I felt so terrible for not knowing this whole time, but I dont know how I could have possibly known. She seemed pretty out of it at first, but was still rockin pink hair and gold shoes in the hospital. I dont want to be a burden on their family when they should be taking care of her, not us. Someone may come and live with us to take care of her, which leaves us with the possiblity of having to move. This news cam pretty sudden, and with mid terms, papers, and both of us have visitors coming, we may just see how it goes. Please pray for Tosca and her family, they have all been so great to us.

BETTER: Things that i found funny about my week....

1. I walk by the same man every morning who sells paintings and he always calls me Shakira... maybe its the hair or our similiar body types (haha)... im gonna go with the hair... anyways i laugh everytime he calls me that

2. I went to karaoke last night with my italian friends and somehow i found myself on stage singing "Fallin" by Alicia Keys with Meghan.... it was a room full of italians. There may a video coming soon or maybe just picture depending on how bad the video is. I dont think we were the best singers but we got a lot of sympathy cheers!

Other:

I went to the Galleria Accademia and saw the real statue of David! It was HUGE!!! It looked so real! I loved it :)

I went to cooking class. I honestly dont remember the names of the stuff we made but it was sooooo yummy and we made ice cream! I have the recipe, so you may even be lucky enough to have me cook for you some day!

BARCELONA!!!!...longest blog ever

Thursday October 1^st came and I had my small carry one of clothes for the weekend, my passport held tight, and so many different expectations. I was so excited to go to Barcelona not only to see it but also because I considered studying in Spain. I started the journey with my friends Stephanie and Amanda. We had to take an hour bus to Pisa,

an hour and a half plane to Girona, another hour-long bus to Barcelona, and then the metro to our hostel! It was quite the journey to get there but we made it!! I was so proud of us. It is so much different traveling with out any adults, but is so rewarding.

The night we arrived we checked into our hostel, HelloBCN, and went to find some dinner, we were sooooo hungry! Later that night my best friend Shea, who is studying in Rome, arrived with some of here friends and stayed at the hostel with us. It was so great to see her! We took lots of silly pictures and laughed a lot, we both couldn’t believe that we were finally together!

Spain was awesome and I would love to go into every detail, but I think you may get a little bored of all my explanations so lets see what I can do…

DAY 1. We woke up early to begin our day of sight seeing. First stop Gaudi Park Museum. It was incredible. It looked exactly like I had seen in pictures, minus mine have a lot of tourists in the background. The park had uniquely crafted mosaic buildings and ceilings with an array of beautiful colors. There was also I section of it that was on Americas Next Top Model! Antoni Gaudi’s work is featured at Balboa Park, so it reminded me a little bit of home. Next stop Casa Mila Pedrera. Another Gaudi piece, so it was awesome! We went inside what was once an apartment building, but is now a museum. The architecture was insane, and something I had never seen before. I thought the top looked like a vanilla ice cream cone! Third and fourth stop… Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo. Both were amazing on the outside, but there was a special event going on so we weren’t able to go inside. Next and final stop if the day, La Sagrada Familia! It was gigantic! It has taken 200 years already and won’t be done until 2021, shucks I guess ill have to come back! We ate dinner and drank some San Gria, Spain’s infamous beverage, and hit the hay we were exhausted from a long day and had another day of sigh seeing the next day.

DAY 2. We woke up early again, ate our breakfast provided by the hostel, bread and cereal, haha. And began the next days adventure. I was so excited because Shea came along with us! We started at the Picasso museum. Honestly my knowledge of Picasso is pretty slim, but I know that his art was influential and I remember learning about him in Meet the Masters in elementary school! It was cool to see how drastically his art evolved from his age, to stages of his life and to the colors he used. Next stop: Starbucks, sounds silly, but there is nothing like a cold caramel frappaccino! We made our way to a vegetable, fruit, and meat market. It was packed with vendors and different colors from all the food. I have realized something about myself; I HATE seeing meet when it is not cooked. In the past two weeks I have seen a tongue of some creature, a full leg, a full chicken with a head, a spine of a fish, and other gross bloody animals. Don’t worry I am not going vegetarian, I just prefer no to see it in this stage of its life, but I did take some pictures. WE kept walking and came across a street of vintage and thrift stores…. O no!! We pushed through our sore legs and went to Estadi Olimpia! They had the Olympics there!! Yahoo so cool to see! It was right next to National Palas, it looked like a castle and we got to watch a water show!!! That was my favorite part! It was a surreal moment, an “ Im actually in Spain moment”. It over looked the city of Barcelona, the water changed colors, and music played.

Day 3. First stop Palau de la Musica. It is a theater where orchestras play. It was filled with mosaic everything. We took a tour and learned about the meaning of different aspects of the building. Europe has been so impressive to me because of the way it has preserved its buildings, to me this place looked new, but was centuries old. Later that day I ran into 10 Armenians! I could tell they were Armenian, and when I asked and the said yes, I said one phrase and it was like instantly they became my best friend! My roommate at Point Loma taught me some Armenian so it reminded me of her! Any attempt at a language other than your own has proved to itself t show you care for another culture. I said a simple phrase and somehow the Armenian genocide was brought up, which Mary also told me about. Connecting with people around the world is an unexplainable and makes me want to lean more about all culture so that I can connect with all sorts of different people. We ended our time in Barcelona by walking along the coast.

It was an awesome trip and I am so glad I went! The metro, sightseeing, staying in a hostel with all sorts of travelers, and long days and late nights. Now its time to get down to business and finish those to papers and read a lot more!! Thank you for your prayers, I had a safe trip and I have been blessed with stable health. I love you all! Thanks for following what I write, it means a lot.