Update

Hey everyone! Hope everyone is faring well in the massive amounts of snow. I am kind of jealous. It did not snow at all when I was home! It has been raining nonstop pretty much since I got here. That's all right though. Luckily we had a nice day Saturday, and my roommates and I went on a day trip to Orvieto. I went there last semester, but they had never been. It was really nice...we saw the Duomo, St. Patrick's Well, and lots of little shops.  Everyone in Italy is having sales right now. It's still from Christmas and whatnot. A lot of them end this week and next week, so a ton of the girls have been shopping. 

This weekend I think we might head to Perugia. They are famous for chocolate and have a chocolate factory and everything, so that should be fun. Hopefully it quits raining long enough to enjoy some days in Rome.  

We had a lecture last night. That was pretty boring because I heard the same one last semester, but oh well. Tomorrow I get to go to an opera with my Music Appreciation class. That is pretty exciting. I think that might be about it for this week.  I hope that is all well.

Ciao for now!

Allie 

Montepulciano and other happenings!

Hey all! So, I finally got to take my first trip back here in Italy.  The second semester people had tours, so all of the first semester girls (Frannie, Christina, Jillian ,Brett, Laurel, Carol, Sara, Tara, Terri, and myself) took a trip together to Montepulciano, which is just a small town in Tuscany.  We took an early train there and arrived at a decent hour in the morning.  Once we disembarked as Dr. Prebys would say, we took quite a hike, three kilometers to be exact, along a creepy, foggy road. Come to find out, Montepulciano was nine kilometers away, but we didn't want to walk that much more, so we found a bus stop, only after attempting to hitchhike of course. Three cars stopped, but since there were ten of us no Italian car could fit even a fraction of our group.

The bus eventually came and we all hopped on for the ride to Montepulciano.  At one point the bus popped out of the fog and we could see a beautiful town on top of the hill.  After we all got off the bus it was like Montepulciano was sitting in the clouds; it was a pretty awesome sight.  We visited some churches and walked around for a bit until we found a nice restaurant for lunch.  Since Laurel's birthday was the following Monday, her mom treated everyone to lunch.  We all had pastas, and pizza, and bruschetta, and it was an amazing lunch.  After that we wandered for awhile until we found a cantina.  Montepulciano is famous for their wine, so several of the girls bought bottles, and soon after that it was time to go home.  We caught the bus back to the train station and the train station back to Rome.  All in all it was a really nice day trip.

Other things of significance that have been going on include Clark booking his flight here! He is flying out March 17th and leaving the 30th, so it's not for awhile, but nevertheless really exciting! I already booked out flights to London on March 19-22 and to Paris on March 27-29.  So we are set to travel all over Europe! I am finally going to get to see Notre Dame.  I can't wait.  

But before he gets here I have two months of Italy and traveling including Carnevale in Venice which I am still trying to get worked out.  Budapest is coming up quickly, and we might go to Florence this weekend, but we'll see.  There is a chocolate festival there, so that would be neat.  Thursday, Tara and I are visiting the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, so I will start getting pictures up of all my adventures, but you know how bad I am about that. 

Hope all is well and everyone is holding up in the freezing weather! It's sunny and in the 40's and 50's everyday here!

Ciao for now!

Allie

Back in Rome!

Hey everyone! I  am back in Rome! My flight landed right on time on Sunday, and we all took a bus back to the Hotel Tiziano.  Classes started on Monday, and we are all already in full swing.  This semester I am taking Music Appreciation, Political Science, Western Civilization, Italian Cinema, and Religion.  Most of my classes are pretty interesting so far, but a couple of them are going to be tough. 

I have two new roommates this semester, Christina and Frannie.  We have a triple on the fourth floor.  It's a really nice room with a terrace and a bathtub!  I just finished unpacking today, and I booked my flight to Budapest! Five of us are going in early February.  Other trips I plan on taking include London, Paris, Ireland, Barcelona, and maybe Monaco.  I also plan on going back to Venice for Carnevale!

I don't have too much to update you on since this us only my fourth day back.  I am going to try and keep up a lot more on this blog this semester.

Ciao for now!

Allie