Okay... so since I haven't updated my blog since forever (last month), I am going to try to talk about a couple weeks at a time. The first thing that happened right after our school trip to Rome, which of course was incredibly fun (I couldn't believe my dream of being in Rome was finally coming true!).
Anyways, so we came back from Rome, and we had two weeks of normal classes, and some day trips around the Florence area as well, no complains... just living the dream in Italy!
After those two weeks, it was time for spring break shenanigans! Justin (my roommate) and I had made plans to go to Spain and visit our great dude, Parker Phillips... so we were super pumped to get to Spain and see old faces. The game plan was to fly to take the train from Florence to Pisa, and fly to Valencia from there. I would be staying with my brother's great friend, Victor, and Justin would be staying with Parker's host family.
So the fun begun, and Justin and I packed as light as possible ( I have to give Justin credit for teaching me how to pack lightly, he is awesome at it!... I always take too many unnecessary things with me)... we left super early in the morning of March 17th. the train and the flight went just fine besides the fact that I could not sleep more than 20 minutes, and Justin is a pro at free-style sleeping... the kid will fall asleep on command wherever he wants to!
So we flew into Valencia at around 4 pm, finally! and Victor, my friend, was already there waiting for us... so it was super nice that we did not have to take a bus or anything like that, plus Victor has a mini cooper, which is awesome. Victor showed us a little bit around the city of Valencia and he described pretty much everything important thing that we saw. Also, the fiestas de fallas were taking place at the moment, and this was the last week, so we were getting ready for a super fun time in Valencia.
(((if you wanna know what the fiestas de fallas is, I suggest you google it, otherwise I'll get a fact or two wrong and you will think I'm a big liar!))) but basically it consists of huge and incredible sculptures made of paper mache, super loud fireworks and in the last day... madness! the sculptures are all burnt to the ground and the fireworks do not stop for the whole day... millions of people come to Valencia just for this week, so it's a great time!
When Justin, Victor and I had met Parker at his host parents' place and all hugged happily, Victor and I took off to go home and meet his family. The first one I met is his mom... super nice lady! they received me like I was part of their family, and in a matter of minutes I was truly part of the family! then his Dad and brothers (Pablo and Ricardo) came home and they all greeted me with mexicans sayings! haha I was already having a great time.
That night, the whole gang (Justin, Victor, Parker and I) walked around the super packed city and saw a bunch of the fallas (huge sculptures) in the city center... of course we had some churros on the street. The night was very relaxing and we got to meet Victor's friend's and went out with them... it was surprising to see how Spanish people party! they don't go out until 1 am or so and they all chill on the streets!... it's almost like there is no police... so crazy.
Anyways, so the next few days were all about sightseeing Valencia, going around and seeing more fallas and listening to super loud fireworks, and of course, people everywhere! My favorite part of Valencia was being in the midst of madness, seeing such enormous structures that looked so beautiful and meeting such nice people! and my least favorite part was... nothing!
On Sunday morning we left for Barcelona, were we would meet with two of our roommates (Matt, Chris) and some company! my friend, Cristina was super nice too and let us stay at her place... she also cooked! We were in Barcelona for a couple of days and we got to see all the free touristy things (we walked sooooo mcuh) and I again fell in love with a spanish city. I loved the feeling that I got in Barcelona. Everything is exciting and you see people from all over the world... really enjoyed the architecture and how neat the city is in itself. Of course the women are stunningly beautiful! I did not even know which way to turn and my neck hurt every single night from all the turning and staring... haha!!
After Barcelona, Justin and took an 8 hour bus trip to Madrid, where we would be staying for around 3 days... I was so tired already but super excited to see another grand city! In Madrid we stayed with my friends Dalia Robles and Manolo Garcia, who are currently living and studying in Madrid right now.
We arrived in Madrid early in the morning and we walked to Dalia's place... of course they were still sleeping. they let us in and since we were super tired too, we decided to take a quick 5 hour nap that turned out to be the most uncomfortable nap I have ever taken. Justin and I shared a 4 ft couch made in the 60's or something... but we didn't mind cause we were so exhausted.
The whole time that we were in Madrid, the weather was not very nice to us. It rained on and off everyday, but we didn't mind... the city was ours to take! Of course we had to do as much free stuff as possible! we went to the Museun of the Reina Sofia and the Prado Museum when they are free to enter (the last two hours, every day). We also walked to the Santiago Bernabeu (just like we walked to the Camp Nou in Barcelona) and visited a bunch of neat and very interesting places! after two and a half days of touring around Madrid like the good poor college kids that we are (eating peanut butter sandwiches all day and staring at the amazing food peple eat in Spanish restaurants) we were almost ready to go back to our beloved city of Florence.
The day we left Madrid, we took another bus to Valencia which was a lot shorter... only four hours! this last day that we would spend in Valencia was a filled with a nostalgic feeling... we had fallen in love with Spain, had met so many cool people, seen so many incredible things... but we wanted to come back to Italy too! as soon as we got back, we met Parker and his uncle who was in town visiting (he took us out for the nicest paella I have ever tasted in my life!! thanks Parker's uncle!!). Later that night we met up with Victor and his friends... overall the night was outstanding!
I was very sad that I was leaving Spain... loved seeing Parkero, Victor ( meeting his family), Cristina, Dalia and Manolo... they all treated us superbly!! After 10 days of traveling thru Spain, it was our time to make our way back to Florence.... but the fun didn't stop there, and it still hasn't!
Tomorrow.. or some other day, more new stories on adventures in Florence, traveling to Greece or something else haha! again... sorry for the super late update!
Ciao!
domingo, 24 de abril de 2011
viernes, 22 de abril de 2011
So sorry!!
My sincere apologies if you have been waiting for an update... it's been more than a month and I literally forgot to give updates. A big update of the last month is coming soon (either tonight or tomorrow).
Mis sinceras disculpas a los que han estado esperando por actualizaciones y mas historias en este blog... ya paso un mes desde que escribi la ultima actualizacion, pero se me olvido por completo. Voy a publicar nuevas historias y experiencias pronto (ya sea hoy en la noche o maniana).
Ciao!
Mis sinceras disculpas a los que han estado esperando por actualizaciones y mas historias en este blog... ya paso un mes desde que escribi la ultima actualizacion, pero se me olvido por completo. Voy a publicar nuevas historias y experiencias pronto (ya sea hoy en la noche o maniana).
Ciao!
jueves, 17 de marzo de 2011
After Rome/During Mid Terms/Almost time For España!!
It's a Tuesday evening, I'm sitting at home enjoying my after-never-ending-Tuesday gelato... ready for an update after several thousands of years. It's been a while!
Martes por la tarde, de regreso en el departamento disfrutando mi gelato despues de mi Martes sin fin... listo para una actualizacion despues de varios miles de años. Ya paso un buen rato!
Since I wrote last, we were about to leave for Rome, the eternal city. Now after almost two weeks after our trip to the Italian capital, I still cannot believe how wonderful and fascinating the city is. From the Colosseum (the dream finally came true!) to the Vatican, it was incredible. One of the best parts of the trip is that it was almost-all paid for, so we didn't have to worry about paying for hotel, meals and, transportation and so on.
La ultima vez que escribi, estabamos por irnos a Roma, la ciudad eterna. Ahora, casi dos semanas despues de nuestro viaje a la capital italiana, todavia no me la creo lo maravillosa y fascinante que es la ciudad. Desde el Coliseo (ya se me cumplio!) hasta el Vaticano, todo fue impresionante. Una de las mejores partes del viaje fue que no tuvimos que pagar por casi nada, entonces no nos teniamos que preocupar por el hotel, las comidas, el transporte y todo eso.
The day we arrived in Rome, was Friday at around 4 pm after a quick stop at Tivoli's garden palace (I forgot the actual name of the place hehe). Tivoli was a very rustic little town, but the palace that we visited was outstanding! gardens, fountains of all sizes, a big ol' castle and much more... it was a huge place!.
Once we got to our hotel in Rome, a nap was much needed, so we rested until 6:30, right before we had to leave for dinner (pizza). The night was very relaxing, since we were all very tired. The plan was to walk around the city, especially the historic center. We saw the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and other ruins among other amazing monuments.
El dia que llegamos a Roma, fue Viernes a las 4 pm despues de una rapida parada en el palacio de los jardines de Tivoli ( se me olvido el nombre correcto). Tivoli es un pueblo muy chiquito y rustico a las afueras de Roma, pero el palacio que visitamos estaba lleno de historia: cuartos antiguisimos con frescos impresionantes, jardines enormes, fuentes de todos los tamanios, el castillo en si es enorme!
Despues de Tivoli, llegamos a Roma unos 40 minutos despues. Estabamos cansadisimos entonces nos dormimos como hasta las 6 30, casi antes de salir a cenar (pizza). La noche estuvo muy tranquila, porque no teniamos ganas de gastar las energias que acababamos de recuperar. Lo que hicimos fue recorrer el centro historico de la ciudad, como el Coliseo, el Foro Romano y otras ruinas y monumentos de alrededor.
...To be continued, cause I'm lazy and leaving for Spain right now!
... Continuara, porque soy flojo y me voy para España por una semana!
Martes por la tarde, de regreso en el departamento disfrutando mi gelato despues de mi Martes sin fin... listo para una actualizacion despues de varios miles de años. Ya paso un buen rato!
Since I wrote last, we were about to leave for Rome, the eternal city. Now after almost two weeks after our trip to the Italian capital, I still cannot believe how wonderful and fascinating the city is. From the Colosseum (the dream finally came true!) to the Vatican, it was incredible. One of the best parts of the trip is that it was almost-all paid for, so we didn't have to worry about paying for hotel, meals and, transportation and so on.
La ultima vez que escribi, estabamos por irnos a Roma, la ciudad eterna. Ahora, casi dos semanas despues de nuestro viaje a la capital italiana, todavia no me la creo lo maravillosa y fascinante que es la ciudad. Desde el Coliseo (ya se me cumplio!) hasta el Vaticano, todo fue impresionante. Una de las mejores partes del viaje fue que no tuvimos que pagar por casi nada, entonces no nos teniamos que preocupar por el hotel, las comidas, el transporte y todo eso.
The day we arrived in Rome, was Friday at around 4 pm after a quick stop at Tivoli's garden palace (I forgot the actual name of the place hehe). Tivoli was a very rustic little town, but the palace that we visited was outstanding! gardens, fountains of all sizes, a big ol' castle and much more... it was a huge place!.
Once we got to our hotel in Rome, a nap was much needed, so we rested until 6:30, right before we had to leave for dinner (pizza). The night was very relaxing, since we were all very tired. The plan was to walk around the city, especially the historic center. We saw the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and other ruins among other amazing monuments.
El dia que llegamos a Roma, fue Viernes a las 4 pm despues de una rapida parada en el palacio de los jardines de Tivoli ( se me olvido el nombre correcto). Tivoli es un pueblo muy chiquito y rustico a las afueras de Roma, pero el palacio que visitamos estaba lleno de historia: cuartos antiguisimos con frescos impresionantes, jardines enormes, fuentes de todos los tamanios, el castillo en si es enorme!
Despues de Tivoli, llegamos a Roma unos 40 minutos despues. Estabamos cansadisimos entonces nos dormimos como hasta las 6 30, casi antes de salir a cenar (pizza). La noche estuvo muy tranquila, porque no teniamos ganas de gastar las energias que acababamos de recuperar. Lo que hicimos fue recorrer el centro historico de la ciudad, como el Coliseo, el Foro Romano y otras ruinas y monumentos de alrededor.
...To be continued, cause I'm lazy and leaving for Spain right now!
... Continuara, porque soy flojo y me voy para España por una semana!
jueves, 3 de marzo de 2011
Sickness/Venezia/Birthday/Roma!!
sooooo many things have happened (again!) in such a short time. First of all, it has been already a month, and more, since we all arrived in Florence and started living the dream! I can honestly say that I love every single of my roommates here in Italy. Plus we have met so many awesome dudes and dudettes!
Two Saturdays ago, our good friend and great cook, James Smith decided to make a delicious weekend dinner... he made muscles, rice, and all sorts of goodies for us to enjoy. It was a great dinner, and the night was very fun as well! Anyways, the next day, in my hungry little head, I decided to eat a day-old muscle that had been sitting outside in the kitchen for quite a while, what was I thinking! when I was reaching for the 2nd once (since the first one tasted alright) my friend, Matt asked me if I was thinking of what I was actually doing. Immediately I caught up... one day muscles can't be very healthy, specially when they have been sitting around in the kitchen. Monday and Tuesday went by, I thought I was just getting a normal cold, so I didn't think anything of it.
Come Wednesday night, everything was alright, I was a little tired and had a slight fever, but I wasn't too worried about it. Then, around midnight, the headache turned worse, I started shivering and a very strong stomach ache took over me! the pain just kept worse and worse all night long and I don't remember sleeping more than 20 minutes, I was so scared! Anyways, in the morning the pain had not left and I wasn't feeling any better, so we went to the hospital to see what was going on with me.
As we arrive in the hospital, this lady who didn't seem very glad she was working at the moment took me in, asked me to lay on one of those hospital beds. they checked my basic information.. heart rate, temperature and so on and gave me some pills... I fell asleep and I think it was around 10 30 am. I woke up at 1 pm... connected to an IV and in a room with a bunch of people who I had never seen in my life. Good news is that the pain was gone and I was feeling much better. minutes turned into minutes and I started getting very impatient. No one would come to ask me how I was doing! so I started asking for information about my situation, and a not so nice nurse told me to go back to my bed and wait until I was next in line for my "ultra sound"... I didn't know I was pregnant! well, time kept on rolling and nothing happened so I was a little upset, I understand the emergency room is very concurred but, leaving someone for hours without attention is something you don't see very often in a hospital. So I asked for my friends who I'm sure were waiting to hear news about me outside in the waiting room.
My attitude turned a little more demanding, and although the staff of the hospital was a little upset with how I was behaving, they finally paid attention to me. They did the studies they had to do, checked my blood, ultra sounded my stomach to check for anything abnormal and nothing,... everything was fine.
After 6.5 hours of being in a terribly managed emergency room, I got my prescriptions and I was out the door... I guess emergencies are free in Italy... Thank God!
The medicines helped me a lot, and I was feeling a lot better by Friday morning. A huge thank you to Saki Armenis, Chava Rivas and Chris Wetmore for being there for me!
So Friday came, and since I was feeling a lot better, I thought my health was good enough for me to take a little trip with the friends to the mystical city of VENEZIA! The plan had been a little shaken by my previous visit to the hospital, but the doc said that if I took it easy with drinks and food I should be fine.
The train for Venice left at 1 30 pm from the station in Florence. It took us 3.5 beautiful hours to arrive in Venice... the ride was very comfortable too.
As soon as we walked out of the train station and started walking around the city, it hit me. We actually were in of the most famous cities in the whole wide world! it was a little cold and cloudy but we didn't care. Needless to say, everything is very expensive, even the water-bus! 6.50 for any trip around the city which is of course, very necessary. The first night, we were a little tired so our hotel room seemed like the best place to be was our hotel room, relaxing for the first night. We went out for dinner and walked around the island of Lido. We called it a night early in the night to wake up early Friday morning to soak all of Venice up in one day!
We arrived at the main island around 11 am... and we let the exploring begin. It was unbelievable to see so many people in such a small place, that didn't seem so small at the time... piazza san marco was full of life an pigeons all over the place! we walked around for hours.. went over 56 bridges in a little more than 26 hours and saw a lot of good looking people in costumes. Sadly, carnevale is not as amazing as they say it is, just a bunch of people dressed up, a small concert in piazza san marco and thousands of people... but I'm not saying I didn't have a great time, the city was totally incredible!
Unfortunately, the night of Saturday, three of us did not have a hotel room booked, so our mission was to make it through the night without going indoors nor sleeping, such a hard task to accomplish! since the night life in Venice is a little slow, and everything closes at around 2 am... all we could do was walk all the way to the train station and wait there until our 1 pm train ride back to Florence. It was such a hard time trying to stay warm or somwhat comfortable in a station that does not do justice to the caliber of a city that is Venice. One way or the other, we got through it and at 1 pm we headed back to Florence on the freezing cold and wet Sunday afternoon.
And then, I turned 22 on Tuesday March 1st! can't believe it. I still remember when I turned 10 years old and I was so proud of myself for using every single one of my fingers to count how many years I've lived. I am so lucky and blessed for being able to spend such a special day in such a magical city with amazing people around me! thank you so much to everyone who remembered me, and for the ones who didn't .. it's okay! it was such a good time, once my longest day of the week (Tuesday) was over with. I am so grateful for what I have and what I have been able to see, hear and enjoy in my short life so far.
Tomorrow we leave for the eternal city ( Roma) at 6 am! I cannot believe this is happening to me... been waiting to see the vatican, the COLOSSEUM, the ruins, the fontana di trevi... everything.... I am going to be so amazed and happy... I might cry.
So much typing, so many things to say... so little time.
Love you all... I promise to update this thing more often!
Perdon por no traducir a espaniol para aquellos que no sean angloparlante completamente... perdon mama!! por ahi dicen que hay traductores muy baratos jajaj.... o despues hago una version de esto en espanol
Two Saturdays ago, our good friend and great cook, James Smith decided to make a delicious weekend dinner... he made muscles, rice, and all sorts of goodies for us to enjoy. It was a great dinner, and the night was very fun as well! Anyways, the next day, in my hungry little head, I decided to eat a day-old muscle that had been sitting outside in the kitchen for quite a while, what was I thinking! when I was reaching for the 2nd once (since the first one tasted alright) my friend, Matt asked me if I was thinking of what I was actually doing. Immediately I caught up... one day muscles can't be very healthy, specially when they have been sitting around in the kitchen. Monday and Tuesday went by, I thought I was just getting a normal cold, so I didn't think anything of it.
Come Wednesday night, everything was alright, I was a little tired and had a slight fever, but I wasn't too worried about it. Then, around midnight, the headache turned worse, I started shivering and a very strong stomach ache took over me! the pain just kept worse and worse all night long and I don't remember sleeping more than 20 minutes, I was so scared! Anyways, in the morning the pain had not left and I wasn't feeling any better, so we went to the hospital to see what was going on with me.
As we arrive in the hospital, this lady who didn't seem very glad she was working at the moment took me in, asked me to lay on one of those hospital beds. they checked my basic information.. heart rate, temperature and so on and gave me some pills... I fell asleep and I think it was around 10 30 am. I woke up at 1 pm... connected to an IV and in a room with a bunch of people who I had never seen in my life. Good news is that the pain was gone and I was feeling much better. minutes turned into minutes and I started getting very impatient. No one would come to ask me how I was doing! so I started asking for information about my situation, and a not so nice nurse told me to go back to my bed and wait until I was next in line for my "ultra sound"... I didn't know I was pregnant! well, time kept on rolling and nothing happened so I was a little upset, I understand the emergency room is very concurred but, leaving someone for hours without attention is something you don't see very often in a hospital. So I asked for my friends who I'm sure were waiting to hear news about me outside in the waiting room.
My attitude turned a little more demanding, and although the staff of the hospital was a little upset with how I was behaving, they finally paid attention to me. They did the studies they had to do, checked my blood, ultra sounded my stomach to check for anything abnormal and nothing,... everything was fine.
After 6.5 hours of being in a terribly managed emergency room, I got my prescriptions and I was out the door... I guess emergencies are free in Italy... Thank God!
The medicines helped me a lot, and I was feeling a lot better by Friday morning. A huge thank you to Saki Armenis, Chava Rivas and Chris Wetmore for being there for me!
So Friday came, and since I was feeling a lot better, I thought my health was good enough for me to take a little trip with the friends to the mystical city of VENEZIA! The plan had been a little shaken by my previous visit to the hospital, but the doc said that if I took it easy with drinks and food I should be fine.
The train for Venice left at 1 30 pm from the station in Florence. It took us 3.5 beautiful hours to arrive in Venice... the ride was very comfortable too.
As soon as we walked out of the train station and started walking around the city, it hit me. We actually were in of the most famous cities in the whole wide world! it was a little cold and cloudy but we didn't care. Needless to say, everything is very expensive, even the water-bus! 6.50 for any trip around the city which is of course, very necessary. The first night, we were a little tired so our hotel room seemed like the best place to be was our hotel room, relaxing for the first night. We went out for dinner and walked around the island of Lido. We called it a night early in the night to wake up early Friday morning to soak all of Venice up in one day!
We arrived at the main island around 11 am... and we let the exploring begin. It was unbelievable to see so many people in such a small place, that didn't seem so small at the time... piazza san marco was full of life an pigeons all over the place! we walked around for hours.. went over 56 bridges in a little more than 26 hours and saw a lot of good looking people in costumes. Sadly, carnevale is not as amazing as they say it is, just a bunch of people dressed up, a small concert in piazza san marco and thousands of people... but I'm not saying I didn't have a great time, the city was totally incredible!
Unfortunately, the night of Saturday, three of us did not have a hotel room booked, so our mission was to make it through the night without going indoors nor sleeping, such a hard task to accomplish! since the night life in Venice is a little slow, and everything closes at around 2 am... all we could do was walk all the way to the train station and wait there until our 1 pm train ride back to Florence. It was such a hard time trying to stay warm or somwhat comfortable in a station that does not do justice to the caliber of a city that is Venice. One way or the other, we got through it and at 1 pm we headed back to Florence on the freezing cold and wet Sunday afternoon.
And then, I turned 22 on Tuesday March 1st! can't believe it. I still remember when I turned 10 years old and I was so proud of myself for using every single one of my fingers to count how many years I've lived. I am so lucky and blessed for being able to spend such a special day in such a magical city with amazing people around me! thank you so much to everyone who remembered me, and for the ones who didn't .. it's okay! it was such a good time, once my longest day of the week (Tuesday) was over with. I am so grateful for what I have and what I have been able to see, hear and enjoy in my short life so far.
Tomorrow we leave for the eternal city ( Roma) at 6 am! I cannot believe this is happening to me... been waiting to see the vatican, the COLOSSEUM, the ruins, the fontana di trevi... everything.... I am going to be so amazed and happy... I might cry.
So much typing, so many things to say... so little time.
Love you all... I promise to update this thing more often!
Perdon por no traducir a espaniol para aquellos que no sean angloparlante completamente... perdon mama!! por ahi dicen que hay traductores muy baratos jajaj.... o despues hago una version de esto en espanol
martes, 22 de febrero de 2011
Vineyard, karaoke and sick days/Vinedo, karaoke, y dias enfermos
Here I am again, updating this little blog business of mine, I hope some people actially read this thing, otherwise I'm gonna blow up!
Aqui estoy otravez, acutalizando esta cosita del blog, espero que por lo menos algunas personas esten leyendolo, o al contrario voy a explotar!
Well, last weekend was a lot of fun again! we went to a vineyard 40 minutes outside of Florence... it completely went over my expectations. The bus left at 11 am from piazza della independenza, and off we were to the Chianti Tour. We arrived at the vineyard at around 12 pm.... and the fun begun! the tour was a lot of fun since the vineyard is located around a castle which was built in the 1200s! Anyways, the tour lasted for about an hour... I wish I had paid more attention to the tour lady, the castle and the scenery took over my attention and the chit chat with the friends was too much for me to pay attention. After the tour, they gave us an awesome lunch (cheese, different types of bread, meat, and all sorts of other little things) and a lot of wine to taste and enjoy! Anyways, we had a great time, met some new friends and drank a lot of wine at an awesome place... we came back to the apartment at around 4 pm... it was time for a very well deserved friday workout.
Bueno, pues el fin de semana pasado estuvo divertidisimo! el viernes fuimos a un viniedo que esta a 40 minutos de Florencia... sobrepaso mis expectativas completamente. El autobus salio a las 11 am de la piazza della independenza, y de ahi salimos para el tour de Chianti. Llegamos al viniedo a las 12 pm... y empezo la diversion! el tour estuvo super bien porque el viniedo fue establecido en un castillo que se construyo por ahi del anio 1200! pero bueno, el tour duro como una hora.. ojala le hubiera puesto mas atencion a la seniora que estaba hablando acerca del viniedo, el castillo y el paisaje eran demasiado como para que yo le pusiera atencion. Despues del tour, nos dieron un super lunch (queso, diferentes panes, carnes y todo tipo de cositas) y mucho vino para probar y disfrutar! Nos divertimos mucho, conocimos a mucha gente y tomamos mucho vino en un lugar super especial... regreamos al departamente como a las 4 pm... era hora de hacer ejercicio.
Saturday we went out to walk around the town with some friends who were visiting, we went to piazza de michelangelo (where you can see the whole city from) and all over the beautiful city of Florence. At night we went to a bar called The Old Stove where we sang karaoke and had a ton of fun!
Sundays are always slow, I don't like them! Even when I want to go out and explore... it's Sunday and nothing happens on Sundays.
El Sabado nos fuimos a caminar por toda la ciudad con amigos que vinieron de visitas, fuimos a la piazza de Michelangelo (de donde se puede ver toda la ciudad) y por toda la hermosa ciudad de Florencia. En la nochefuimos a un bar que se llama The Old Stove donde cantamos karaoke y nos la pasamos super bien!
Los domingos son medio lentos, no me gustan! aunque quiera salir a explorar nuevas cosas... es Domingo, y nada pasa en Domingo.
I feel a little sick today... maybe a cold? gotta get some sleep!
Estoy un poco enfermo hoy.... talvez un resfriado? necesito dormir!
Aqui estoy otravez, acutalizando esta cosita del blog, espero que por lo menos algunas personas esten leyendolo, o al contrario voy a explotar!
Well, last weekend was a lot of fun again! we went to a vineyard 40 minutes outside of Florence... it completely went over my expectations. The bus left at 11 am from piazza della independenza, and off we were to the Chianti Tour. We arrived at the vineyard at around 12 pm.... and the fun begun! the tour was a lot of fun since the vineyard is located around a castle which was built in the 1200s! Anyways, the tour lasted for about an hour... I wish I had paid more attention to the tour lady, the castle and the scenery took over my attention and the chit chat with the friends was too much for me to pay attention. After the tour, they gave us an awesome lunch (cheese, different types of bread, meat, and all sorts of other little things) and a lot of wine to taste and enjoy! Anyways, we had a great time, met some new friends and drank a lot of wine at an awesome place... we came back to the apartment at around 4 pm... it was time for a very well deserved friday workout.
Bueno, pues el fin de semana pasado estuvo divertidisimo! el viernes fuimos a un viniedo que esta a 40 minutos de Florencia... sobrepaso mis expectativas completamente. El autobus salio a las 11 am de la piazza della independenza, y de ahi salimos para el tour de Chianti. Llegamos al viniedo a las 12 pm... y empezo la diversion! el tour estuvo super bien porque el viniedo fue establecido en un castillo que se construyo por ahi del anio 1200! pero bueno, el tour duro como una hora.. ojala le hubiera puesto mas atencion a la seniora que estaba hablando acerca del viniedo, el castillo y el paisaje eran demasiado como para que yo le pusiera atencion. Despues del tour, nos dieron un super lunch (queso, diferentes panes, carnes y todo tipo de cositas) y mucho vino para probar y disfrutar! Nos divertimos mucho, conocimos a mucha gente y tomamos mucho vino en un lugar super especial... regreamos al departamente como a las 4 pm... era hora de hacer ejercicio.
Saturday we went out to walk around the town with some friends who were visiting, we went to piazza de michelangelo (where you can see the whole city from) and all over the beautiful city of Florence. At night we went to a bar called The Old Stove where we sang karaoke and had a ton of fun!
Sundays are always slow, I don't like them! Even when I want to go out and explore... it's Sunday and nothing happens on Sundays.
El Sabado nos fuimos a caminar por toda la ciudad con amigos que vinieron de visitas, fuimos a la piazza de Michelangelo (de donde se puede ver toda la ciudad) y por toda la hermosa ciudad de Florencia. En la nochefuimos a un bar que se llama The Old Stove donde cantamos karaoke y nos la pasamos super bien!
Los domingos son medio lentos, no me gustan! aunque quiera salir a explorar nuevas cosas... es Domingo, y nada pasa en Domingo.
I feel a little sick today... maybe a cold? gotta get some sleep!
Estoy un poco enfermo hoy.... talvez un resfriado? necesito dormir!
jueves, 17 de febrero de 2011
Calcio finalmente!
so finally we have made it to a calcio game here in Florence. Last night, Saki, Matt, Chava and I paid 22 euros each for some pretty good tickets for the Fiorentina - Inter di Milano game.
Finalmente pudimos ir a un partido de calcio aqui en Florencia. anoche, Saki, Matt, Chava y yo pagamos 22 euros cada uno por unos muy buenos boletos para ver a la Fiorentina contra el Inter de Milan
We walked all the way to the stadium with a couple that we met along the way, they were really nice to us and told us how the deal is around the staidum... all the do's and don't's.
Caminamos hasta el estadio, que esta como a 30 minutos con una pareja que conocimos en el camino. Se portaron super buena onda y nos explicaron como esta la onda en el estadio, que hacer y que no hacer por supuesto.
We arrived at the stadium at around 6:15... 15 minutes before the game started so we were ready to go in.However, our friend Matt did not have a ticket yet, so he had to go get in line and buy it. Needless to say, there were a bunch of late italians trying to buy their tickets too! so it took him around 25 minutes to come back... I was very upset, to say the least since the game was on the 12th minute and Inter was up 1 - 0 by the time we went in... but whatever, we were there.
Llegamos al estadio a las 6 15... 15 minutos antes de que empezara el partido, y ya queriamos entrar para ver todo!. Sin embargo, nuestro amiguito Matt no tenia boleto para el partido todavia, entonces tuvo que formarse con un monton de italianos tardios (como el) para comprarlo. Le tomo aprox 25 minutos en regresar con su boleto... yo estaba algo molesto, porque cuando entramos al estadio, el partido ya estaba en el minuto 12 y el Inter ya iba ganando 1 - 0! pero pues ya no importaba, estabamos ahi a fin de cuentas.
The game wasn't as flashy and full of great plays as everyone was expecting it to be; the cold rain was making it a little hard for everyone on the pitch and on the stands, but we still enjoyed it so much!
Watching Fiorentina score the equalizer in the dying part of the first half was incredible, the whole stadium blew up in cheers and chants.. it was so crazy!! they almost scored the 2nd one before the end of the first half. Unfortunately, Inter's playmakers came through on the 2nd half, and a poisonous cross by Eto'o was the pass for Pazzini to put them ahead 2 - 1 over the Viola.. the rest of the game was all about Fiore trying to score another equalizer. Sadly, the Viola could not score again.
El partido no fue tan emocionante o espectacular como todos esperaban; el frio y la lluvia hizo las cosas dificiles para todos, en la cancha y en el estadio, pero de todos modos lo disfrutamos muchisimo!
Ver a la Fiore anotar el empate en la ultima parte del primer tiempo fue increible, todo el estadio se volvio loco y los cantos y sonrisas sobresalieron immediatamente... hermoso! casi anotaron el 2do gol antes de que se terminara el 1er tiempo, pero no Montolivo no pudo concretar. Desafortunadamente, los cracks del inter hicieron su trabajo en el 2do tiempo y Eto'o dio el pase para el gol en la mitad del 2do tiempo. El resto del partido fue totalmente de la Fiorentina, trataron de armar juego siempre y tirar de todos lados, pero ninguno de los intentos se acerco.
We left the game with a smile on our faces, cause we had just watched our first Serie A match, and because we had another awesome match to watch on tv... Arsenal - Barcelona... so we power-walked for about 30 minutes to get to the bar all cold and wet. One of the best nights here in Italy so far for sure!!
Nos fuimos del partido super felices al final, ya que acababamos de haber visto nuestro primer partido de Serie A, y porque teniamos otro increible partido por ver en television... Arsenal - Barcelona... entonces caminamos lo mas rapido que pudimos por 30 minutos para llegar al bar todos mojados y frios. una de las mejores noches desde que he llegado aqui a Florencia!!
Next possible matches to attend to:
Proximos juegos a los que podemos ir:
Fiore - Roma, AC Milan, Juventus!
It feels good to be in a place where soccer is more than a passion again... it makes me so happy!
se siente tan bien estar en un lugar donde el futbol es mucho mas que una pasion... me hace super contento!
Finalmente pudimos ir a un partido de calcio aqui en Florencia. anoche, Saki, Matt, Chava y yo pagamos 22 euros cada uno por unos muy buenos boletos para ver a la Fiorentina contra el Inter de Milan
We walked all the way to the stadium with a couple that we met along the way, they were really nice to us and told us how the deal is around the staidum... all the do's and don't's.
Caminamos hasta el estadio, que esta como a 30 minutos con una pareja que conocimos en el camino. Se portaron super buena onda y nos explicaron como esta la onda en el estadio, que hacer y que no hacer por supuesto.
We arrived at the stadium at around 6:15... 15 minutes before the game started so we were ready to go in.However, our friend Matt did not have a ticket yet, so he had to go get in line and buy it. Needless to say, there were a bunch of late italians trying to buy their tickets too! so it took him around 25 minutes to come back... I was very upset, to say the least since the game was on the 12th minute and Inter was up 1 - 0 by the time we went in... but whatever, we were there.
Llegamos al estadio a las 6 15... 15 minutos antes de que empezara el partido, y ya queriamos entrar para ver todo!. Sin embargo, nuestro amiguito Matt no tenia boleto para el partido todavia, entonces tuvo que formarse con un monton de italianos tardios (como el) para comprarlo. Le tomo aprox 25 minutos en regresar con su boleto... yo estaba algo molesto, porque cuando entramos al estadio, el partido ya estaba en el minuto 12 y el Inter ya iba ganando 1 - 0! pero pues ya no importaba, estabamos ahi a fin de cuentas.
The game wasn't as flashy and full of great plays as everyone was expecting it to be; the cold rain was making it a little hard for everyone on the pitch and on the stands, but we still enjoyed it so much!
Watching Fiorentina score the equalizer in the dying part of the first half was incredible, the whole stadium blew up in cheers and chants.. it was so crazy!! they almost scored the 2nd one before the end of the first half. Unfortunately, Inter's playmakers came through on the 2nd half, and a poisonous cross by Eto'o was the pass for Pazzini to put them ahead 2 - 1 over the Viola.. the rest of the game was all about Fiore trying to score another equalizer. Sadly, the Viola could not score again.
El partido no fue tan emocionante o espectacular como todos esperaban; el frio y la lluvia hizo las cosas dificiles para todos, en la cancha y en el estadio, pero de todos modos lo disfrutamos muchisimo!
Ver a la Fiore anotar el empate en la ultima parte del primer tiempo fue increible, todo el estadio se volvio loco y los cantos y sonrisas sobresalieron immediatamente... hermoso! casi anotaron el 2do gol antes de que se terminara el 1er tiempo, pero no Montolivo no pudo concretar. Desafortunadamente, los cracks del inter hicieron su trabajo en el 2do tiempo y Eto'o dio el pase para el gol en la mitad del 2do tiempo. El resto del partido fue totalmente de la Fiorentina, trataron de armar juego siempre y tirar de todos lados, pero ninguno de los intentos se acerco.
We left the game with a smile on our faces, cause we had just watched our first Serie A match, and because we had another awesome match to watch on tv... Arsenal - Barcelona... so we power-walked for about 30 minutes to get to the bar all cold and wet. One of the best nights here in Italy so far for sure!!
Nos fuimos del partido super felices al final, ya que acababamos de haber visto nuestro primer partido de Serie A, y porque teniamos otro increible partido por ver en television... Arsenal - Barcelona... entonces caminamos lo mas rapido que pudimos por 30 minutos para llegar al bar todos mojados y frios. una de las mejores noches desde que he llegado aqui a Florencia!!
Next possible matches to attend to:
Proximos juegos a los que podemos ir:
Fiore - Roma, AC Milan, Juventus!
It feels good to be in a place where soccer is more than a passion again... it makes me so happy!
se siente tan bien estar en un lugar donde el futbol es mucho mas que una pasion... me hace super contento!
Actualizacion/Update
Hola a todos! Les escribo desde la comodidad de mi cama… ya que no me puedo dormer y maniana me tengo que levanter a las 7 para preparar todo e ir a clase a las 9. Ojala escribiendo se me canse la vista y por fin me pueda dormir después de un fin de semana tan divertido y lleno de emoción.
Por supuesto, aun no tenemos internet en el departamento, pero seguimos con los puntos aleatorios donde ciertas computadoras si reciben senial de internet. Ya nos urge nuestro querido internet para poder estar en contacto con nuestras familias y amigos!
La semana fue muy eventual, esta fue la segunda semana de clases, con largas caminatas, mas spaghetti, un viaje a un outlet super chafisima y otras cosas por ahí. Se me hace tan raro y un poco innecesario que tengamos una clase solo una vez a la semana pero por mas de 5 horas… pero que se le va a hacer, asi es como le hacen aquí en Italia.
Justin y yo ya compramos nuestros boletos para ir a visitar a Parker en Valencia, y también vamos a ir a Barcelona a mediados de Marzo que es cuando tenemos nuestras vacaciones de spring break. Llegaremos a Valencia para los últimos días de la fiesta de Fallas, que emoción!!
Como les comente, tuvimos una no muy grata visita a un outlet localizado a menos de una hora de la ciudad de Florencia este pasado Viernes. Lo único bueno acerca de este viajesito es que era gratis, entonces pues no estuvo tan tan mal verdad? Resulta que todas las tiendas eran de ropa muy cara, ya saben, diseniadores europeos y todos esos menesteres. Graciosamente, nuestro grupo de 6 amigos era el único grupo de hombres, en medio de mas de 40 mujeres que también me imagino no estaban muy contentas con la calidad del outlet…. En pocas palabras, tiendas que no me gustaban, mas precios nada accesibles resulto en un dia casi desperdiciado. La semana que viene hay otro viajesin que ojala este mucho mejor que el del pasado viernes. Luego les cuento bien de que se trata!
En otras noticias, hemos estado conociendo gente de todas partes de Estados Unidos y del mundo… me encanta estar aquí. Aun no me la creo que estoy en Italia con amigos nuevos y viejos, explorando y divirtiéndonos como nunca. Cada dia me asombra mas la belleza de la ciudad de Florencia. Ya se me mover como si llevara años viviendo aquí, claro aunque hay muchas calles o lugares con los que aun no me familiarizo muy bien. Tantas cosas han pasado en apenas 3 semanas que hemos estado aquí… parece que el tiempo se nos va a ir súper rápido!
Quiero también mencionar que en el departamento tenemos a nuestros dos reconocidos chefs, Saki y James que nos cocinan y nos alimentan cada noche! También quiero dar reconocimiento a nuestra “mama” , Chris, que también nos cuida mucho y nos da consejos cuando estamos en un dilema.
Por ahora eso es todo, es hora de tratar de dormir para ir a clase mañana. Tal vez el problema es que estoy tratando de dormir… para dormir no se debe de tratar, solo se debe descansar!
Buenas noches a todos, los extraño!
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