Christmas is all around us ...

What's that you say? It's not December yet? Yes well I know, but maybe someone should clue the Italians in, because they've started their Christmas prep already. Here in Perugia, Christmas lights are being strung across every street! Hundreds of power lines connecting the dangling ropes of lights are being hung from every building! It's yet another exciting time here in the the beautiful city of Perugia, and I can't help but wonder if they ever stop preparing for an event of some kind!
However, I have been doing my research on Christmas in Italy, as much out of my own interest, as I have to give an oral presentation in Italian class next week (5 minutes speaking nothing but Italian ... oh my!) and I've picked the Christmas holiday as my topic! It turns out that in this lovely country, Christmas is not a day or two long affair, but instead, its about a month long celebration with various holidays throughout it! It begins next week sometime, though we've heard our Christmas lights on the street will be lit this weekend, and last until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. They have several traditions that seem like they would be fun additions to our usual family celebrations. One of my favorites, is that instead of sending a letter to Santa about how good they've been all year, the children here write one to their parents about how thankful they are for the year they've had with them and place it under their fathers plate to be read at Christmas Eve dinner! Another favorite is that they have something call an "Urn of Fate" and they put all of their presents into this urn and take turns drawing out presents one at a time for each family member and they open them together. They also have something that is known as "il ceppo" or the tree of light, and its a large wooden pyramid shaped frame with different tiers, the bottom one holding a manger scene and different small gifts of fruit and candy above it. Much like our Christmas tree, it is ornately decorated with these small gifts. One of the most well known traditions, is the Feast of the 7 Fishes on Christmas Eve night which takes place because back in early Christianity, Christmas Eve was a religious Feast day, and no meat could be eaten. Probably the biggest difference in celebrations though, has to do with children receiving presents from Santa. It is not Bobo Natale (Santa) who brings children presents, but La Befana, a nice old which who was asked by the wise men to come adore the new Christ Child. She refused, and later, when she saw how brightly the North Star was shining, realized she may have made a mistake. So she set off on her own to find the baby Jesus and got lost, along with the presents that she was bringing him. So instead, she gives her presents to the children of Italy. Italians share our tradition of stalking being 'hung on the fireplace' and good children do receive candy and things and bad children receive cobbone (or coal), or in the modern day case, black crystallized candy.
Christmas is an exciting time in any country I think, and I can't wait to get home and start celebrating! In fact, I already know that my first weekend home, I am already promised to two large traditions in my family, a family friend's traditional Christmas party and the getting of the Christmas tree ( a now 24 year running tradition in my household! Though I myself will only be experiencing my 21st lovely celebration of this tradition!). But even though I like my own traditions at home, and being able to celebrate with my friends and family, it is nice to think about other people around the world and the different ways in which they celebrate! Who knows, maybe I'll even bring a few of these new Italian traditions home with me!

So I guess I learned something new today ....

While in Italy, I have been taking Italian language classes (we are all required to) in the vain hope that by the time we leave here, I'll be semi fluent. Well it's almost three months in, and I wonder if I'm any better at Italian than when I started. True, I can understand MOST Italians if they speak to me slow enough, and I guess I couldn't do that before. And I can carry on a small conversation consisting mainly of small talk - how are you, where are you from, things like that - so I can get myself around Italy well enough. But at this point I believe I'm becoming even more fluent in the art of hand language. You might think that this is a silly thing to have conquered, the art of hand language, but I see it as basically learning a second language while I'm here.
Basically, I mean that during my stay here Italy occasionally I have no idea how to say something or what I am trying to convey in Italian, so I have to relay on a mix of pointing, gesturing and basically making a fool out of myself before the people that I'm speaking to understand exactly what I'm trying to say. It is an interesting thing, because its universal. If you point at something or gesture as to the size of something, or even shake your head in a yes or no fashion, regardless of what language you actually speak, the gestures are the same. True, each culture has its own specific gestures that they use and they occasionally mean completely different things in different countries, but on the whole, the major ones that are needed to convey basic points, are the same. It's incredibly convenient too! Especially when traveling, like I have been doing so much of, to countries that speak various languages, hand gesturing and my quasi European hand language has come in immensely useful.
I love things like that that are so universal that they are unmistakable. It makes you remember that even though countries and cultures are very different, at the end of the day we're all human beings and we all possess the same sets of emotions and feelings. And even when you can't necessarily communicate well with words, sometimes all you need is a simple gesture (like a smile) to communicate what you want to. :)

Turkey Coma

A lot happened this week, and I'm just catching up - so there's two posts from today!

There's nothing like an American Holiday to make you miss home. In Italy, they clearly do not celebrate Thanksgiving, so us Americans were on our own for Turkey Day festivities. We still had to go to class which was a bummer, because if there was a time I did anything but eat mass amounts of food and visit with family on Thanksgiving, I can't remember.
There is a restaurant here in Perugia that nicely enough put together a traditional Thanksgiving dinner special, as most people in the city realized that there is a large population of Americans in town that would enjoy the whole turkey (tacchino), mashed potatoes (pure di patate), stuffing (riempimento) deal. However, this was not going to cut it for me and my friends. No we had to do this restaurant one better and make our own Thanksgiving day feast. And who was in charge of the tacchino and the riempimento? Of course, ME! And let me tell you this was an interesting project for me. Not only have I never cooked a turkey before, I've never even cooked anything larger than a few chicken breasts. So a WHOLE turkey, this was going to be interesting. First of all, they don't just have entire turkeys on hand here in Perugia so I had to go to the butcher (they also don't have supermarkets with everything in them, you have to go separate places for bread, meats, fruits and veggies etc.) and order a whole turkey a week before. But that was the easy part! I finally get it home and luckily I had my roommate visiting me from the US because I'm unsure I could've done the rest alone. Because the turkey came mostly clean, but unlike the turkeys you get at home, it still had the neck and tail attached, and several of the innards still inside. So we had to clean out the rest of the turkey (gross!) and attempt to remove the tail and neck. We ended up leaving these attached because we had no idea how to take them off! But we washed him (Tommy, we named the turkey, it made the thought of handling the raw turkey less unnerving for it to have a name :) ) and managed to cover him and stuff him and put him in the pan. I made stuffing from scratch too, something I've never done before, and it may have been even tastier than the turkey!! My next issue though, was in Italy they use Celsius degrees, and my instructions (from the mum) were in Fahrenheit, and there is no dial on my oven to set it to a specific temperature either. So letting it cook was interesting! And Italians must also have an extra sense to simply know when a meat is finished cooking, because they don't have meat thermometers. Every time I asked a kitchen supply store if they had one, they looked at me like I was crazy. Not so great a feeling, especially when you're already a little sad not to be home with your family for Thanksgiving! But once my friends started showing up for the feast, things got much more enjoyable. Everyone was excited to be celebrating together, even if we couldn't be with our family at home, we could at least be with our 'family' here. And everyone brought a different dish and we ate picnic style on the floor. And Tommy the turkey, when he was ready was pretty darn good! I also had my first attempts at carving a turkey, which was also really fun. Sitting around with my girlfriends talking and eating and laughing was a perfect way to spend Thanksgiving! And the turkey coma that always follows Thanksgiving dinner and eating far too much was a welcome excuse to enjoy relaxing for a night, and not being a busy busy bee like I am for most of my time here!
If you asked me at this time last year what I'd be doing for my next Turkey day , I never would've thought that I would be spending it in Italy, cooking a whole turkey (basically by myself) and having a blast doing both, but that was exactly what I did! And you know what, I wouldn't have had it any other way!

Show me some of that Spanish dancing ....

My last trip out of Italy, to Barcelona, this past weekend was bittersweet. It was my last trip out of the country, so it was a little bit sad, but I got to see two of my best friends from NU there! One of the girls has been studying in a little town in southern Spain this fall and the other just came to visit us. It was awesome having a little Boston reunion in Europe. I hadn't seen either of them for months, so a reunion was long overdue!
Barcelona is a gorgeous city. Our hostel was literally right on the beach, we walked out of the door and past the Mediterranean sea every morning - were we lucky or what? And across from the street from where our hostel was was an adorable boat yard full of rows upon rows of sailboats. It was incredible! It made me want to rent one and go sailing for the day, even though I get incredibly motion sick - but it would've been worth it!
Barcelona reminded me a lot of Boston, its right on the coast, most things are within walking distance, and it even had a street that reminded me of Comm Ave, lined with trees and brownstone-esque buildings and a square that reminded me a lot of Copley. But once you got off of the main streets, and wandered a little bit, you realized again that you were in Spain. The set up of the streets are a lot like Italy in that buildings are really close together and a lot of smaller streets connect hidden gems nestled in the middle of city blocks, like the Picasso Museum and the Santa Maria Church (both completely obscured from view from the main streets, but tucked away in little back alleys).
Gaudi, the artist/architect from Spain was also a HUGE influence on the city of Barcelona. His architecture is a little bit out of the ordinary and covered in mosaics of brightly colored tiles. His main work in Barcelona was unbelievable. The Segrada Famiglia as it is called, is a chapel that has bee under construction for 300 years. Its construction is fueled by anonymous donations alone, so it still has yet to be finished. It is probably the most outrageous religious building you will ever see. It towers well above most buildings surrounding it, and with its 18 towers and hundreds of turrets covered in the brightly mosaic-ed tiles, at first glance you're not sure if you're staring at a church or a giant wedding cake. Words simply can't express how interesting and intricate this building is, and its not even finished yet! Gaudi also created a number of other buildings and a park area. The park greets you with two giant gingerbread looking houses and and entranceway staircase covered in the trademark mosaics. the most famous peice of this staircase is a beautifully represented lizard. And at the top of the stairs is an informal sitting area with a winding row of benches surrounding a oval shaped portion of land, and the benches are just as beautifully ornamented with his signature color scheme as the rest of the architecture he created. And the view of Barcelona is unbelievable as well!
Soccer is also huge in Spain, so naturally we took a look at their football stadium, also really cool. It technically just looks like any other stadium, but if you imagine it full of people (literally no empty seats anywhere) and these people are decked out in their favorite teams colors, screaming their heads off, like only passionate Spanish residents can, it is quite the site to see!
They also held the 1992 Olympic Summer games in Barcelona and the "port Olympic" as it is now called was also quite amazing to see. There was another stadium where most of the games were held, and an interestingly shaped building where the athletes were housed for the duration of the games. Also, one of what I thought was the coolest parts, was a park opposite the stadium and all along the park were flag poles and during the Olympic Games, each flag pole held the flag of one of the countries competing in the games. Not so cool now that they're empty, I suppose, but if you walked down that strip of park area in 1992 amidst all of those flags flying, I think it would be really interesting.
Barcelona's nightlife is a little out of control. Luckily I didn't experience too' too much of it. We went out at night, because socialization is a big part of getting to know a country. And while it was interesting to be out an about in such a beautiful city, at the time we went out a lot of the area was dead. Apparently, bars are open until 2 or 3 in the morning and then at that point, the clubs and discos open. Apparently this is a HUGE part of Spanish nightlife, however, it was a art that I did not get to see. I'm not quite sure how the Spanish manage to operate on so little sleep, but apparently I'm not European enough, because I simply couldn't stay out and awake until 5, 6 or 7 in the morning! I keep kind of thinking to myself that that was was a pretty lame move, not staying out as late as the Spanish, but then I think, if I could operate on 2 hours of sleep, then maybe I could've done it. All I know is that even with a siesta (the break the Spanish take midday, and EVERYTHING shuts down for the equivalent of kindergarten nap time) the Spanish are pretty amazing people to be so energetic on so little sleep all of the time. Bravo Spaniards, Bravo!
The last thing I did in Barcelona though, was possible the coolest, my roommate and I got up really early and watched the sun rise over the Mediterranean Sea. Not only did we literally have the best, most obstructed view of the sunrise, but the colors were magnificent! IT was literally the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen! And it definitely helped that I was experiencing it in Barcelona, the sun seems a bit brighter there :) Sadly after that it was back to Italy I went, but it was interesting to see the sun set in Italy and think, I saw the sun rise in a completely different country that I am seeing it set in and neither is the country I come from. Unreal. Simply unreal.

Un Giorno da sola

I have been told you have to try traveling by yourself, at least once. This of course came from my roommate who is perfectly content with traveling for weeks at a time by herself! But I figured I'd give it a try. Sooo I went for a little adventure this weekend ... by myself. I took a day trip to Siena, and it wasn't as scary as I thought! Siena is not that far from Perugia, and by bus it only took even less time than the train! But now if you know me, you know that doing anything alone is pretty much my least favorite activity. I like to be surrounded by people, and when I am making decisions about when to do things, I usually make them around when someone else can come with me. But for once, it was nice to do things on my own time, to make decisions based solely on what I wanted to do, and go where I wanted to go. Now I don't think that I could travel for long periods of time by myself, one day was enough for me, but it was interesting to realize that I can get around Italy on my own. I used my Italian, and I suffered through some interesting travel mistakes, but I'm still alive and I think I'm the better for it!
It didn't hurt that Siena was BEAUTIFUL! A friend of mine had studied there in June, and had told me all about it, so I knew I had to get there at some point in my study abroad experience and I very glad I did! The town is a lot like Perugia, its a city, but its fairly small. All of the streets are skinny and buildings are close together and most of the monuments and historical sights are definitely within walking distance. And the main piazza, Il Campo, is awesome! Everyone comes here to eat and hang out in the sunshine. The main civic building is in Il Campo and right in front of it is a raised walkway area, much like steps without the steps, or a theaters graduated seating, without the seats. And it was just an awesome little place, bustling with life and people!
And the civic center has some amazing artwork in it, including a painting that I'd been learning about in one of my classes, that I didn't know was located there, and was an awesome surprise! I love learning about artists and artwork and then being able to see their artwork in person. It is probably one of the coolest feelings ever, to be able to appreciate art because you know what it is and who made it. And after having spent so much time on this particular painting and then literally bumping into it in this museum, was unreal! It helps, too, that this painting is on a huge scale and probably 30 times my size, but still, it was awe inspiring for reasons other than its grandiose nature. And attached to this civic center is a bell tower, that I was instructed by my friend to climb, even though it was 330 steps up. But I did 414 in Florence right? So this, I thought, would be nothing! Well it was quite the trek up, but it was well worth it! The views were incredible! You could see all of Siena, and much of the surrounding countryside. It was breathtaking! You were only allowed to spend 15 minutes at the top, due to size restrictions at the top of the tower, but I could've spent hours. I couldn't take my eyes off of the expanse of rooftops that blurred into one another and the hills and countryside that literally rolled on forever. It was exactly what you think of when you think of a little town in Italy. So amazingly Italian that you literally want to stay there, soaking it in forever.
So all in all, I had an amazing time on my little adventure alone. It was a bit nerve racking at times, but I'm glad I did it. Not only did I get to see an amazing city, but I got to know that I can travel alone. Being by myself and on my own is not that scary over all. And I pride myself on being fairly independent in my life in general, but every once in a while, its nice to have a reminder that you actually are! :)

Last Stop - England!

Before I get to the last stop, I forgot to write about my favorite church I'd seen! We saw so much in Scotland, that remembering it all was kind of tough. But St.Giles church on the Royal Mile was gorgeous. It had wonderful stained glass windows and plenty of tiny chapels. But it felt homey somehow. It didn't feel like a giant cathedral that Mass would never be said in. To me it felt like a nice place that I could definitely go to to worship. I am unfortunately not being so good about getting to church while abroad, but if I had the chance, I think hearing Mass in this church would've been very nice. And while I may have forgotten to include it in my last post, I'll never forget it. And it was definitely my favorite church that I'd seen on Fall Break, even possibly since I've been in Italy.
Well, so it was almost the end of my fall break, but I had one more stop to go, and it was back to England. I was lucky enough to be staying with family friends who live a few hours outside of London! And even more lucky, I ended up flying into the airport that was closest to them, so I didn't even have to take the dreaded train by myself! I got picked up right at the airport! Talk about the star treatment haha! I realize that getting picked up in a car does not sound like the most luxurious thing a person could do, but after 4 flights, 5 days of buses and trains, a car was absolutely amazing! And sleeping, for two glorious nights, in a bed, a real bed, not a hostel bunk bed was also absolutely wonderful!
The family I stayed with I have known for around 10 years. Every so often one, two or the whole lot of our families have gone and stayed with the other for different amounts of time. Most recently the eldest son came and stayed with my family, so I had seen him recently, but as for the others, I hadn't seen them since I was 13! Eight years! So it was very exciting! Nicely enough, they were exactly like I remembered them. And it was absolutely wonderful to have a mom figure to be fretting over me for a few days. When you're this far away from home, and without the ability to just go home when you need to, its nice to spend a few days in a family situation, with a mom much like yours who can take care of you! Though I am a grown up (or trying to be these days) its still nice to be able to 'come home' I think, and though this wasn't my home, its the closest thing I have to family over here and it was nice to spend time with them. Though I fear I wasn't such a splendid guest, as I was exhausted and I slept, a lot! But they didn't seem to mind, and it allowed them to go about their days without worrying about me.
Though I did spend a day with the mom, in a town nearby called Lavenham. We walked around and went into this old guild hall and looked around. And she told me all about the town and the buildings that we saw. Including a very crooked house and a house that used to be about 100 meters away from where it currently stands. Apparently, back in the day, when you moved, you really moved, and you took your whole house with you. Then we poked around a few antique shops and headed home for tea. And while it may be a stereotype of England that they drink tea, from my experience, I'd say it was dead on. There were definitely several times throughout the day that I was offered tea (okay, or coffee) and it seemed completely appropriate. Though I'm not a big tea drinker, so I passed, but what a place to live if you liked it! :)
Unfortunately, my time spent there was brief, and it was back to London to meet up with my traveling companions. We spent one last glorious night roaming around London and the downtown area. And in particular a portion that reminded us a lot of NYC with big television-billboards and lots of people out and about. It was a lot of fun and really cool to see that part of London!
On our last day in London, we did the total tourist thing and went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. Unfortunately it was raining, so they didn't have their usual beefeater outfits on, but it was still really cool. And the queen was home, as the English flag flying above the palace signifies.
And then, just like that, my fall break was over, and it was time to come back to Italy. Though I still had a plane, 2 trains, a bus and a taxi to look forward to to get me back 'home' to Perugia. We actually almost missed our train, so we almost ended up stuck in Rome for the night, but luckily we made it, and by 2AM Monday, I was sleeping in my own bed in Perugia. But what an amazing week it was! I got to see so many amazing things and travel to three different countries! I even got to escape the city for a little while and travel to the beautiful green countryside of England and hang out with friends I haven't seen in years. It was probably the most perfect vacation I could have ever taken. It was the most fun, and the most exciting travel experience I've ever had. And to be able to do it with 4 good girl friends, well that just made it all the better! I can't wait for my next European adventure! :)

Visions of Plaid

We got to Scotland and the first thing you notice, a HUGE temperature drop! It was really, really cold! I had bought a scarf and gloves back in London because it was a little bit chilly there, but thank goodness I had, or I probably would've been frozen in Scotland! Beyond being cold though, Edinburgh was gorgeous!!! Before we got there, people compared it to Boston, and while I would say that is accurate as far as size and activity is concerned, nothing else is quite like it! Boston is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but this place was out of this world! The architecture was tall, sharp and dark, and it was seriously breathtaking. And it was so green! Not only could you see the city portion of it, but in certain sections of the city, you could also see the gorgeous green mountains! And there was an enormous park in the middle of the city as well!
The first thing we did, was head to the castle of Edinburgh. We walked up the Royal mile past some really amazing looking churches and one that had been renovated into a shopping center I believe. The castle is situated at one of the highest peaks in the city and even just the view on the way to it was magnificent! And once we were inside it was even cooler. We took a tour with this older Scottish gentleman as our tour guide and he was awesome! He was really passionate about the castle and the history that he was explaining to us, so that made it all the more interesting. He told us all about the castle and its uses and the royal families that used to live there. He also showed us to where the crown jewels were kept (which were also beautiful - though they wouldn't let you take pictures of them, so sorry no photos for you!) And the views from the top of the castle, were unreal! You could see all the way to the ocean and to the pictures totally don't do it justice. If you ever have the chance, get yourself to Edinburgh! After that we wandered back down the Royal Mile and off to one of the main streets in the city. And we passed by this awesome Scottish band performing on the sidewalk! They had bagpipes (have I mentioned that I am oddly, mildly obsessed with bagpipes?) and huge drums and they were awesome! Then we did a little bit of shopping, because the main street was lined with really awesome stores. I was actually quite surprised, because I managed to restrain myself from buying anything! which is very unlike me! And then the next thing we knew, it was night time! We split up for dinner and most of us regrouped for a roommate's birthday celebration. So we got to experience a little bit of the Scottish night life. It's tantamount to most other European nightlife's I've experienced, pubs are open for a certain amount of time, and they're sparsely populated, mostly with locals and then when those close, the dance clubs open (though we did not end up at one of those!) and most people dance into the wee hours of the morning. We didn't stay out too, too late because unfortunately traveling doesn't really allow for reckless abandon as to amounts of sleep you get, and we had a lot we wanted to accomplish the next day!
So it was up again in gorgeous Edinburgh and our first stop was to climb a small hill on the outskirts of the city and let me tell you, it was also unbelievable. The view from on top of this hill was astonishing. You could see the mountains again, but you could also see the entire downtown area of Edinburgh and the castle way up on the hilltop! And the air up there was so wonderful! So fresh and clean and music to the lungs! I may have done a few twirls - Sound of Music style - just to soak in the amazingness (yes I made up a word) of this hill!
Afterwards we wound our way through the giant garden in the center of town. It was both breathtaking and emotionally stirring. Each of the benches that sat along the path next to the garden each had their own adorable dedication and inscription, mostly to people who had loved the garden and have since passed on. Being the sap that I am, one actually almost made me cry. It was to a woman from her husband and she had been a musician and conductor who had performed in this park and the inscription read "If music be the fuel of love, play on sweet Fiona". Well after several inscriptions like this, I was nearly in tears. I was so moved by the generosity and love of these family members who dedicated these benches to their loved ones, it was incredibly sweet.
I had to get it together though, because at the end of the park, we were headed into the National Gallery, and we had lots of artwork to look at! There was a number of gorgeous paintings and sculptures contained here, though studying in a country known for its art, other museums and galleries sometimes fail to compare. After the museum we went in search of a place called the "Baked Potato Shop". We were told that if we were in Edinburgh, we were not to miss this place. Though, it was so small, a mere hole in the wall place, one very well might have missed it! We finally found it and it was probably the best baked potato I've ever eaten! You could get literally ANYTHING you wanted in this potato, most of us were pretty standard, cheese, veggies, sour cream were our choices. I ended up with chili and a friend got artichoke. They were so delicious! And I urge anyone who goes to find this shop, because it was amazing!
After lunch, we went off in search of the cafe that J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter novel in. It took us some hunting, but after what was probably several hours of searching and literally walking in circles, we found it! The Elephant house is an adorable little coffee shop that proudly displays a "Home of the Harry Potter" book sign in its window. And when you sit in this little cafe, you can almost feel J.K. Rowling getting her inspiration all over again. You have an awesome view of Edinburgh Castle, that looks remarkably like Hogwarts and in the area is a Potter street and all sorts of magically named places and streets. It is no wonder her creative juices were flowing! This cafe was seriously the best possible place to write those books!
Later that night, most of the girls I was traveling with went on a haunted tour of the city, but unfortunately I don't do well with being scared, so I opted not to go, instead I stayed back and napped, because that night was game one of the world series! And we stayed with a friend so that we could watch it, at 1AM our time! So once the girls got back, it was about game time, so we sat up and ate hot dogs and chips (true American baseball style) and watched my Sox get a huge lead early on! Unfortunately, most of us fell asleep before it was over, but from what I hear I wasn't that exciting of a game anyway, with a Sox win of 13-1!
And then just like that, my time in Scotland was over! We were flying out of Glasgow, so most of the next day was an attempt to get to Glasgow and get to the airport. We got to see a bit of Glasgow, but we only spent a few hours there, so we didn't see much, and unfortunately nothing of too much note! But it was in Glasgow that we had our worst mistake of the trip! We thought we were flying out of Glasgow International, when really we were flying out of Prestwick, a 45 minute cab ride away! And so by the time we showed up at Glasgow International, there wasn't time to take a train to the other airport and we had to pay a HUGE some of money to get to the other airport! A GIANT pain in behind. Luckily we made it in time, but it was very, very stressful! Luckily there were no other glitches in the plan that night, and at 9 something, we touched back down in England to finish our last few days in London!

These Irish Eyes Are Smiling

The next stop on my Fall Break (abbreviation FaBre, in case I throw that in somewhere) after England, was Ireland! What a fun country! The people are extraordinarily friendly and the accents are adorable! The first person we met, our cab driver was so chatty it made me instantly as ease in this new country! And although it was late and we were tired he told us it was unnacceptable to go straight to bed, that it was our first night in Ireland and we should most definitely walk the 5 or 10 minutes to the near by town of Swords because according to him " it was on fire"! Well, how could we say no to that? So we went out, we didn't stay out long, but it was fun to explore a little bit of the town anyway. First thing I found, a store with the name FLYNN across the markee. I mean I knew Flynn was a prominent Irish last name, but I got so excited I simply had to photograph it! After a bit of wandering we ended up in a little pub in the middle of town and ordered our first Guinnness' of the trip. Since Guinness originated in Dublin and is as our cab driver also mentioned "Irish religion" we didn't think it was right to get anything else. Well I don't know if it was just the atmosphere or what, but Buinness tastes different in Dublin. As I am not a huge beer drinker, and especially not a fan of darker beers, Guinness is not my first choice, but in Dublin, its delicious! It's smooth and light and not filling like it is back home. Though apparently, as we were told later, it is not a very lady like drink, as the men sitting next to us laughed at 5 younger women who were all drinking a pint. Well, I guess we showed them, didn't we?
The next day after walking through the heart of Dublin, past the Millenium Spire (a giant steel spike in the middle of town), it was off to the Guinness Factory itself. Being newly 21, I have yet to tour a beer making factory, so this was very exciting for me! It was really interesting to be taken through the different stages of beer production, harvesting the hops and barley, adding the purest water, fermenting it, taste testing and finally bottling and shipping. Who knew so much went into making a pint? I do now! My favorite part of the factory though was the advertising floor. It was full of different bottle types, commercials, billboards and labels of Guinnness since it's creation. It was really interesting to see the progression that their advertising has taken. And lastly it was up to the 360 degree pub for our complimentary pint. While the beer was okay, the view was even better! You could see all of Dublin! It's always fun to get an arial view of a city that you're exploring because you realize just how large it is and how far you've actually walked. And let me tell you, we walked pretty far to get to that factory! But it was well worth it, I'd say!
Unfortunately that took up a large portion of our first day, and all that there was time for afterwards was dinner and some time to experience the Irish nightlife. We were being a bit American though, and ended up at this fantastically American restaurant that had a huge US flag on the ceiling and played songs from Journey, The Police, U2 and Prince. But we figured, we've gotten a whole heck of a lot of Europe in the past few months, whats a little bit of home going to hurt? Dinner was good, but directly afterwards we were catapulted right back into Ireland! WE went to a pub that was reccommended by a friend studying abroad and it was EXACTLY the type of atmosphere that one thinks of when one tries to imagine Ireland! It was dimly lit, full of people laughing and smiling and sharing pints and the best part, there was an Irish band playing! Well, I pretty much fell in love with this band. I love Irish music and this band was so lively and people were so excited jumping and dancing around that it was just an awesome experience. It was probably my favorite part of Dublin! I was extremely close to buying their CD, and I wish I had, because they were fabulous! So authentically Irish it made me smile the entire time we were there!
The next day we walked around more of the different districts of Dublin. We walked through the Temple Bar region, which is full of pubs (one of which we ate lunch at - and I got Bangers and Mash, a typical Irish dish of sausages and mashed potatoes - YUM!), shopping and restaurants. It's a really cute area, and reminded me a bit of downtown Boston, but much more compact. Then we walked down and around the 'old town' portion of the city where there is a lot of really interesting architecture and two important churches, The Church of Christ and St. Patrick's Cathedral. The Church of Christ is really beautiful inside with lots of little chapels and the most interesting portion, an underground crpyt area where there are several burial sites and some really interesting artifacts from Dublin. St.Patrick's Cathedral, probably the most well known in Ireland, is HUGE! The ceilings are immensely high and the stained glass takes up entire portions of the wall! It was beautiful! Even the floor was ornately decorated. And I've found I have a weird liking for these ornately decorated floors that I have found in churches and other large monuments. Odd I know, but they're beautiful, and I can't help it! After St.Patrick's we tried to go to Trinity College to see the book of Kells, but the building it was in was closed, so we just ended up back in the Hostel. We were exhausted and decided to relax and regroup for hopefully another night of Dublin Nightlife, but unfortunately, we got a bit too relaxed and we never made it back out! Something I sort of regret now, as that second night in Dublin was one of my favorite nights of FaBre, but oh well! Traveling makes you tired and theres no shame in taking a night off! Besides, we had to be up early the next day to catch a flight to Edinburgh! I had already seen so much at this point! I couldn't beleive I wasn't even half way done my trip! If the Irish were this polite to us and the country had been so entertaining, Scotland couldn't be much different, I thought, so I was very excited to go! Even if it did mean getting up at 4:30 AM for a 7 AM flight! Oh well! Early mornings and late nights, so is the life of a traveler I suppose!

Please Mind the Gap

So I went to London, and fell in love. The city is beautiful, the people are friendly, and the cider is delicious. :) It was the first stop on our Fall Break, so naturally I was excited as a kindergartener on the first day of school. I was excited to speak English again, and to see this wonderful city again, I had been there a little less than 10 years ago with my family. But London has changed since then, and I'd say I've changed, too. So this was a whole new experience for me! The tube, or the Underground, their public transportation system is beautiful. It is clean, and new and sorry Boston, but a whole heck of a lot better than the public transit I'm used to!
After checking into our hostel, and getting the first of many Starbucks (I know, uber American, but hey they don't have it in Italy!) it was off to see the sights! We took the tube to the downtown area, stepped out of the station and it was just BAM Big Ben! I have had a lot of these epiphany type moment, but Big Ben is a pretty impressive one! The houses of Parliament are enormous, gorgeous buildings that are slightly Gothic in their appearance, with flat levels and pointy turrets on the tops of them. They are beautiful during the day, but even prettier at night! We were told that the minute hand on Big Ben is about twice the size of a double decker bus, so the clock face as a whole is as tall as four double decker buses stacked on top of each other! Then we walked along the Thames River and past the Tate museum and wound our way to the restoration of Shakespeare's the Globe theater. I am a self proclaimed (and darn proud of it) theater dork, so this was really cool for me. Unfortunately we couldn't go inside, since their season is over. But seeing it, how it would've looked back then was still really cool. We wanted t go see a play inside it, which you can still do today, but again the season being over put a small road block up in our plans! But it was really cool to see regardless.
Later that first night, we went on a boat tour of the Thames which was awesome. It told us so much history of the different buildings along the river. And its always nice to hear the history from someone who knows it like the back of their hand. I mean I saw a lot of things during Fall Break, but they always mean a lot more when you get to hear, form someone who understands it, the history of what it is that you are seeing. And the houses of Parliament and the Tower Bridge are absolutely beautiful at night. I love city lights in general, but being a part of something that large and breathtaking, makes them 100% cooler.
After the boat tour it was directly onto the London Eye, the giant Ferris-wheel thing, containing 33 orbs symbolizing the 33 sections of London) that they constructed in London to serve as an observatory for tourists and visitors. At the moment the Eye is the tallest observation wheel, though there is one being constructed in Beijing, I believe, that will out do it, so sadly, the Eye won;t hold this distinction for much longer. We did some pleading with the person operating the Eye and managed to get a bubble all to ourselves. It was so much more fun just being up there with the four of us, than having other people we didn't know, because we got to take as many pictures as we wanted and ask all of the stupid questions to each other that we wanted. I even did a cartwheel inside our bubble! A couple of the girls I were with were almost too scared to go to the edge of our little bubble, so I did a cartwheel to prove that the structure was stable and they had nothing to worry about. We laughed about it, though I'm not sure that any fears of falling out of the bubble were calmed. Oh well!
Later that night we went to an adorable pub and drank Strongbow hard cider, which is probably the most delicious thing I've ever drank. I mean, I pretty much like anything that tastes like apples, apple juice is probably my favorite drink ever. So a carbonated apple drink that was alcoholic, but didn't taste like it was, was amazing in my life. We went to another pub a little further down the same street which was also a lot of fun. I think Italy could take a cue from the English, more pubs I say! I love the atmosphere- an almost underground feeling, and everyone is happy and friendly, it makes nights out in the city a bit more fun!
The next day we went exploring, and shopping. We started off at the British Museum, which luckily for student bank accounts, is free admission. The rooms were broken up into various countries and it was fun to walk around and explore 'the world' throughout the museum. We saw a lot in interesting exhibits, but probably the coolest one was one about the amount of prescription drugs a person takes in their lifetime. It followed the life of this one couple and it followed the different stages in their lives and the different medications that they would have taken during the different periods of their lives. You would never know that you took that many pills in a lifetime, but they were almost all completely necessary to the happenings of that portion of your life. And each of the pills that you would have hypothetically taken was woven into this netting of sorts that stretched on for at least 20 feet, though the wife's was longer, because she lived longer. And there were pictures that accompanied the netting, that detailed the lives of the two people who were represented in the study. It was really interesting.
After the museum it was off to the Covent Garden district of London where we put in some quality shopping time at the various shops along the streets. And where we also sat at this cute little cafe and ate bagel sandwiches, which again, doesn't seem too exciting, except that you can't get them in Italy :)
Later that night was my first experience with the Airline RyanAir, whom gives great deals for in Europe flights (we took 3 during the trip), but is occasionally a little disorganized and sometime unreliable. Luckily I had pretty good experiences with them, but this is not the case for all passengers of the airline. Regardless of my experience though I was excited to fly, because when we touched down, it mean that we were in Dublin! Being a quarter Irish myself, this was extraordinarily exciting! And I could not wait to explore! But that story, is for another time! No need to overwhelm you with too many stories at once! And trust me there are many many more! But that's it for the first round of London, the wonderful city that I was lucky enough to return to at the end of the trip for one a few last adventures before it was time to head back to Perugia. But even in this first small portion of time I spent there, to repeat myself, I fell in love. If only it weren't such an expensive city, I would move there in a heartbeat. In fact, I just might anyway! :) Just kidding ... sort of!