All Over The Place

Buongiorno to my peeps across the pond!

So, I have offically been called out by Callen Burril for not posting for forever.  The sad thing is y'all I literally had no idea it had been that long!  Every day over here is an adventure, and there is just so much to talk about!  So instead of hiding behind my laptop screen, I have been out cooking up some memories!  But since my last post, I have been to Venice, Prague, and Fashion Week in Milan!!!!  Is this even real life, who writes sentences like that?!  Anyhoo, I'll give you all the highlights for my adventures so far.

Venice 

2/8/2013

Two of my roommates and I took a day trip up to Venice for Carnavale (aka the Mardi Gras of Italy).  While we were there it was totally beautiful!  When we first got there we took the water taxi up to a little island called Barona, and they are known all over the world for their lace and for their colorful buildings.  This little island was like a dream.  We walked the streets and looked at all the houses, and I bought a lace apron!! I was wayyyy too excited, but it's just about the cutest dang thing ever!  After Barona, we hopped back on the water taxi and went to the mainland of Venice.  There were people everywhere!  Old, young, locals, foreigners all wearing masks.  There were some people that were like nothing I had ever seen before.  They were covered head-to-toe in decoration, and they were totally playing the part too. The day ended with our first real sit down dinner in a restaurant, and it was filled with fellowship, pizza, gnocchi and an almond macaroon torte. Simply the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Prague 

2/14/2013- 2/17/2013

Yet again, I ventured on a trip to a different country without knowing a soul.  But I was just going to use this as a chance to meet some more peeps. You can never have enough right?  Anyway, we rode the bus all valentines day night, and I had a celebratory Bachi (aka an italian hershey kiss with a hazelnut in the middle).  We got there at 9:00 a.m. and after a bumpy night's sleep we hit the streets of Prague on a walking tour.  I met a bunch of girls from Clemson, and we actually had some mutual friends, and I ended up hanging out with them for the whole day.

We walked around Old Town, and it was completely gorgeous.  We saw the Astronomical Clock, and it was really cool too. There is just so much history in Prague because it has been taken over so many times, and there is surprisingly a lot of gore.  Apparently it's a common thing to throw people out windows, and sometimes they'll even have people waiting below with swords to catch them.  Yep.  Rough life.  Anyhoo, after the walking tour we hit up a little Czech pub and I got Rabbit and potato dumplings in a "creamy sauce." It was actually delicious and I was so tired and hungry that I pretty much licked the plate haha.  After lunch we headed back to the Czech Inn, our hostel, you can imagine the puns that I was spittin.  We all took naps and slept until the pub crawl.

As I come in to my hostel room, I am hit with the biggest surprise of the weekend.  I open the door and see two dudes passed out on the beds, and yes, I am in a room with 6 guys and no girls.  The name Mason got me again.  Personally I found it hilarious, and I just plopped down in the empty bed.  When I woke up the guys were starting to wake up too, and they were definitely surprised to see long blonde hair covering the pillow on the adjacent bunk.  After a little explanation on my part we had a good laugh and I was basically on bro level.

This pub crawl was all over the place.  We started out at an underground bar that was known as the Propaganda Bar because it has a bunch of old propaganda memorabilia covering the walls.  It was really cool and there were a bunch of Czech students in there.  Next place we went was more club-esk and there was a big dance floor, so obviously we tore it up.  We finally ended at a HUGE club and it was probably my least favorite.  It was like three stories and I think they played one song the whole time we were there haha.

The next morning I woke up to two lonnnnnnng LOUD farts. Yes. Farts people.  To all my ladies out there, this is what goes on in the boys room in the morning.  The mystery is solved.  Of course I couldn't help myself and I had to chuckle.

After that lovely morning serenade I met up with my Clemson ladies and we went on a tour of the John Lennon Wall and Charles Bridge.  The wall was awesome!! It was completely covered in signatures and words of love, and it had about 20 John Lennon faces on it.  There was a jar of purple paint and I signed my initials on the wall!!  It was a proud moment.

After the bridge we went to a traditional Czech lunch where we had a dark beer, potato soup and bread, Goulash and potato dumplings, and Apple strudel.  Oh my gosh people. This stuff was delish.

Following the 3 course luncheon we hit up the Prague Castle.  It was like going back to a little town in a disney story.  It was a castle on a big hill looking over the entire city, and there were guards in little outfits, and a huge cathedral, and there was a wedding going on!! After the castle tour we went back to Old Town and we got traditional Hot Wine (kind of like an apple cider but with wine--- it was not my fav) and this cinnamon neck thing (it was like a churro but it was shaped like a thick bracelet).

That night we went to this huge dance club called Lucerna--it was an 80s and 90s dance club.  Totally my jam.  There was a giant screen with music videos playing, and we danced the night away!

Sunday morning I didn't even change out of my pjs, and rolled right out to the bus.  So much happened in only 2 days of Prague and it was all so fun! I made some great friends, and got to see a whole new world.

Old Town

Astronomical Clock

Rabbit and Bread Dumplings in a "creamy sauce"

Bar Crawlin'

Cathedral at Prague Castle

Tough Man Guards

Creepy Statue

Potato Soup

Goulash and Bread Dumplings

Apple Strudel

Hot Wine

Locks of Love on the Charles Bridge

Peeing Fountain

John Lennon Wall

John Lennon's Face

My Face

Paintin' it up

MB on the wall!

Milan 

2/22/2013-2/24/2013

This weekend was unbelievable.  Five girls and I planned this weekend all by ourselves and it went just swimmingly!  I had been talking about wanting to go to Fashion Week in Milan, and all these girls were like "Yeah! That sounds so fun!", so without really any plan at all we bought train tickets and booked a hostel!

I went with my roomie Elise, and Christy and Marie who we had hung out with a couple of times, and then 2 other girls named Melanie and Chloe who we had met once at the Chocolate Festival.  It's so cool how everyone here is just up for whatever, and so open to go on adventures with basically complete strangers haha.

Our train left on Friday morning at 7:25, and this was my first train ride ever. You guys. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the weekend.  I LOVE THE TRAIN!! I was so excited like the whole time haha.  There were leather seats, personal coat hangers, a personal trash can, plugs, and even a tray table I painted my nails on! It's really the little things in life haha.  The train ride was just beautiful, everything was snow-covered and it was like an untouched italian wonderland.

Once we got there we went straight to the Duomo and it was beautiful!! It was pink and completely different than the one in Florence.  It was snowing, and we were skipping around in pure joy.  We spent the rest of the day just wondering around the city without any reservations.  We toured the Duomo, explored all the high class shopping, and went to a couple places my Fashion Marketing Professor recommended for me to go to.

That night we found a charming little cafe in the heart of Milan that was like 3 stories, and we sat on the second floor and watched shoppers below and chatted about life.  It was quite a wonderful evening.  After dinner we went out to search for a gelato shop our server recommended to us, and guys, this was no ordinary gelato shop.  We now refer to this place as the "chocolate factory" because that is seriously what it was.  They have every form of chocolate you could possibly want.  We all got gelato, and they filled the bottom of our cones with melted chocolate from a chocolate fountain!! It was genius! Why haven't we thought of this yet?  Needless to say, we were in chocolate heaven.

The next day we went to this thing called "The White Show."  It was like a street full of showrooms that new designers have set up so buyers can come see their merchandise.  We stopped in one showroom for a bathroom break, and I met a lingerie model! She was like six feet tall and completely gorgeous. While I was waiting to use the facilities she gave me the inside scoop of the model life. I asked her if she walked for any big designers, and she said that they only book anorexic girls, and she wasn't skinny enough to do runway. I was shocked.  This girl was like beautiful.  She told me it wasn't worth it to be that skinny, and she was fine with doing lingerie.

I'm almost positive this is her.

We also had another spotting of a model! We were laughing at this guy, Mario Skaric, on a billboard the night before because it was like zooming in on his collar bone and it was kind of ridiculous. But the next day we saw him on the street!! We were like, "It's collar bone man!!!!!" He was like with his family and I think his mom was giving us the stink eye because she saw our little freak-out moment, but I mean it's not everyday you see this swanky guy on the street.  Hubba hubba.

Gimme some o dat.

The rest of Saturday we did some shopping and Elise, Melanie, and I bought shoes!!  They were in this little boutique and I wanted to buy like every pair.  I finally decided on little patten leather coral loafers, and I am in love.  They are adorbs.  For dinner that night we went out for a nice meal because it was Chloe's birthday! We found a sit-down restaurant and ordered wine and real meals.  Our waiter's name was Mario, and we had a great time with him all night.  One of the waiters sang happy birthday for Chloe!  After dinner we hit up that chocolate factory for round two--we have no shame.

All in all this weekend was just amazing.  We did a lot of wandering, and we found so many gems!  All of these girls were so fun to travel with and we had the best time just going with the flow.  The more I travel, the more I realize how it really is the people you are with that make the experiences special.

The Train!!

Freshly painted...on the train

Loving the train life

Milan Piazza Duomo!

Duomo in the snow!

Most beautiful shopping mall in the world.

Can't hide this excitement

Free smiles!

Model Bridge

Car for one?

Gnocchi!

Chocolate Factory dessert on night two

Our room in Ostellolinda!

Traveling in style

Fashion Week!

This is just the beginning people.  This girl has a lot more in store.