London

For spring break Kelly, Britani and I went to London, Dublin and Amsterdam! We had an interesting start to our week though. We woke up at three to get to the airport in time to catch our flight. And thank goodness we did, because our luggage weighed 22 kg when it can only weigh 15kg. For every kg you're over, you have to pay 20 euros. Needless to say I had clothes popping out of every corner of my backpack. I don't know if anyone has flown RyanAir before but it is seriously the worst airline. Not only is the luggage weight ridiculous but they advertise the entire plain ride. The flight attendants are walking up and down the aisles trying to sell food, smokeless cigarettes, drinks, etc. I really just wanted to sleep. Besides the advertising, flights must be a party for Italians. Everyone is yelling and talking and up and out of their seats. All I could think was these people are crazy! ha!

We finally made it!

When we got to London, we decided to shop! I was so excited, because London has some of the best shopping. I kind of forgot that we had no room in our suitcase though. So we also had to buy a new suitcase! Friday night we went and saw the Lion King. I think it was my third time to see it, but it's one of my favorite plays so I didn't mind. And all the actors were so cute with there British accents.

Eating fish and chips for the first time..

They have the cutest taxis!

Going to see the Lion King!

Saturday we went to the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. If you ever want to do this, get there early. We just strolled up around 20 minutes before it started and there was already more than 1000 people! They are serious about this. We also did thedouble decker bus tour, which was so fun! That night we rode the London Eye which is similar to a ferris wheel but it is 4,500 feet high and fits 15-20 people in the little bubbles. From bubble is all windows except for the floor and you can walk around in it. You can see a beautiful panoramic view of London. I highly recommend it if you're not too scared of heights!

Buckingham Palace...

The changing of the guards...

Parliament

Big Ben!!

Britani and I on our double decker tour...

On the London Eye...

The London Eye!

Sunday we finally slept in and then went to the famous department store, Harrods. It is huge and has everything you can possibly imagine in it! There was a room just for chocolate and sweets. I was in heaven! Afterwards we had afternoon tea at the Haymarket Hotel. I really felt British having tea. They give you each four different kinds of sandwiches, desserts, scones, tea, strawberries, and champagne. It was a lot of food but then our waiter told us he could bring more of anything we wanted. We definitely took him up on that! We also went to the Absolute Icebar Sunday night. It is a bar that is made solely of ice - cups, counters, benches, everything! You go in 40 minute increments and they give you a cute cape and gloves to put on!

Sunday afternoon tea

Our yummy cakes, sandwiches, strawberries and scones...

At the icebar...

Monday we took a tour to Oxford and Windsor. We almost didn't make it as we missed our first pickup and had to book it to the last pickup spot. We were running through all the tube stations! Oxford and Windsor we both cute little towns. Oxford is where Oxford University is located and there is about 32 colleges there. It was beautiful and all the buildings were so architecturally enriched. Did you know Alice from Alice and Wonderland was based on a real little girl? I had no clue! But Alice and her family lived in Christ Church College which is also in Oxford. Hogwarts dining hall from Harry Potter was also filmed in Christ Church. When we got to Windsor the Queen was there! There is a particular flag that flies wherever she goes. The Windsor Castle was huge and you're only allowed to see a small portion of it. We were all sad to leave London on Tuesday! It was definitely my favorite out of the three places we went!

One of the colleges of Oxford University...

Christchurch College (where the real Alice lived!)

Howarts dining hall from Harry Potter!

Windsor Castle...

cooking and churches

I have a lot to fill you in on! The week before Spring Break we had a chef come and give us a cooking lesson which was so fun. But don't expect me to cook any of this because I can hardly remember. ha! Chef Francesco cooked pasta with clams (which I really liked!), pork with a red wine sauce and potatoes, and chocolate molten cake (of course my favorite!) It was so delicious and a nice change from my plain pasta I always cook!

I want to be able to cut food without looking too!

Me and my sweet Dresh

Our molten cake batter...You all know I wanted to stick my finger in it!

Our pasta with clams!

Tuesday we went to Rome to have a personal tour of Baroque style churches with our cutest professor, Francesco. While it was very interesting and beautiful, it was the windiest (I'm not too sure if that's word ha!) and coldest day we've had. So we were all pretty miserable and cold! We also went to the Borghese museum which has a lot of Bernini's sculptures. Bernini was a sculptural genius. The detail of his work is unreal and the people look just like real life. I highly recommend the Borghese museum which also has a beautiful garden.

Look at the Pope just chilling in the middle...

Supposedly St. Peter's chains

Wednesday we had class and then had a hip hop teacher come to the palace to teach a class! It was so fun and she even taught us some break dancing. Now I have some new moves for Sky Bar in Auburn! It was also Jessica's birthday, so we made cupcakes and a card for her 22nd! (even though she keeps telling everyone it's her 20th)

Thursday was a very interesting day. We started out with rain, which is never fun at 7 in the morning. It was planned to go to this town which is on decaying and you have to go up a bridge to get to it. Well when we hit snow, this plan got cancelled. And I mean a lot of snow. We were all in shock. So we ended up going to a close town called Orvieto. We went to St. Patrick's well which is like a DNA strand and you have to go down one set of staircases and up another. This was a month's workout for me. I had to take about 4 breaks on the way up! ha! But it was a cute town and had a beautiful duomo (church). We also had a wonderful lunch there - gnocchi (potato pasta dish) with mozzarella and pesto. So yummy!

The never ending well...

Orvieto Duomo

Beautiful gold detail

Thursday night I packed for our Spring Break trip which I had to wake up at 3 in the morning for, but it was definitely worth it!

Cinque Terre

At the beginning of last week the weather forecast predicted rain all week. We were all really bummed especially about Cinque Terre. We knew we would be hiking (yes, you heard that right.) and that it was coastal. So all week I was praying that I would take rain everyday in Siena and Florence but just to spare us Cinque Terre. And God is good because we couldn' t have had prettier weather. It was a little cold but with the most beautiful skies. Everything looked like a postcard. I felt like it wasn't reality and I was just looking into a backdrop.

Cinque Terre means "5 lands" because it is made up of five little towns. When I signed up for this trip and they mentioned hiking I didn't really take them seriously. Hmmm definitely found out they weren't kidding the first day. We hiked for 5 hours from the first town to the second. 5 hours! Can you believe I did that?! And to be honest, I really enjoyed it. The nature and me were definitely "one" that day. ha! Saturday we visited the other 4 towns which were all made up of a cluster of colored houses. If you come to Italy, I highly recommend Cinque Terre. From the last town there's a walkway called Via dell'Amore which is a lovers lane. It was so cute, but I wish I had had a boy to walk it with me :). I tried to hold Jess's hand but she didn't like that too much. People come and write on the walls and its an Italian tradition to put a lock on the walkway to symbolize your relationship's strength. We were all very sad to leave this breathtaking place! Enjoy the pictures!

Siena and Florence

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Last week was a very busy week, but so fun! We went to San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena, and Florence. I didn't take my computer because we were told we wouldn't have internet connection...big mistake. I felt so lost without my computer! I will definitely be taking it with on midterm break!

We did a wine tasting in San Gimignano which was beautiful! Volterra was mentioned in Twilight and we thought that some of the movie was filmed there but it wasn't :( It's just mentioned in the book. It looked like a vampire town though. They also are known for their alabaster and we got to visit an alabaster sculptor which was really neat!

San Gimignano...We had gelato at this place and they had cheesecake flavor!

Mary Hester, me, Britani, Sara Beth, Kelly, Jessica and Madeline

Jess and I at the winery...

Volterra...

Siena is great town and had lots of cute shops! They're known for their horse race called Palio, which happens in their main square. Thousands of people cram in the middle to watch it. It only lasts for about 75 seconds and it is a huge deal if you win! Tuscany is also known for a soup call ribolita which has potatoes, beans, bread, and vegetables. It is very delicious!

Ribolita...

Siena Duomo

Italy's oldest stained glass. Made around 1212...

Florence was a lot of fun and there were a ton of Americans. This was nice because everyone knew English! ha! This was my favorite because we got to go to the Capucci Museum which featured amazing dresses that were more like pieces of art. We also went to the Ferragamo museum. He designed shoes for movie stars like Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. The only bad part was we couldn't take any pictures :(. I highly recommend it if you love shoes! That was a very short overview of my week! We did a lot more like visit churches and art museums too.

View of Florence...

Spring dress at the Capucci museum

Drum roll please...

This summer I will be interning at...

I was offered to be a Polo intern for the Color Department of Ralph Lauren in New York City! I am beyond excited!! Please feel free to come and visit me! Thank you for all the prayers :) Here are some of my favorites from his fall/winter 2010 show...