Callen, Chocolate, and Mumford

Ciao Ciao!

I just can't even believe how fast time is flying by here.  Where have the days gone?! It's already March 18, like what?  I am going on Spring Break on Thursday.  This is not happening.  But at the same time I look back, and I have already done so much!  In these 8 weeks I had tracked some serious mileage, and I have made some unforgettable memories.  I just wish I could write about everything, but I think that would take another 8 weeks just to get everything down haha.

Anyhoo, since the last post I wrote MAJOR things have happened.

1. CALLEN CAME TO VISIT
2. We traveled to Verona (aka the city of love, and also the place where Romeo & Juliet was based)
3. I went to the Perugina Chocolate Factory
4. Elise and I went to the Mumford & Sons concert!!!

Let me just hit the highlights of these extravagant adventures...

Callen in Florence/ Verona
First off, I just need to set the scene here.  I am 19 years old, Callen is 18 years old, and we just spent her Spring Break traveling around Italy! What kind of lives are we living?!  Great ones.  --Thanks Mom & Dad.  When she first got here I met her at the airport with a chocolate croissant, and from there we took to the town!

Callen on the Ponte Vecchio

Callen's first Panino!

Random Parade we ran into, complete with men in tights

Her first full day we traveled to Verona with a student tour group called FlorenceForFun.  We had an old Italian dude as out tour guide, and I could barely understand a single thing he said.  I also think the guy smoked at least 30 cigarettes throughout our day haha.  But Verona was GORGEOUS! It was definitely a smaller place compared to Florence, but it had it's own unique charm.  We hit all the major spots in the town.  We saw Juliet's house,  we rubbed the boob of her statue for luck in finding new love, and we signed the wall where people tuck away their love letters.  The rest of the day we galavanted around being ridiculous, and it was great.

Verona!

Creepy crying baby that is actually a grown man.  It was as creepy as it sounds.

Almost Burril!

Yeah...

Just eating an apple in Verona

Our personal paparazzi, Raymoundo wanted a picture of the apple eating too

Romeo's wall of love

Beautiful Verona

Awww 

Oh yes.

Mom signed the wall too!

Locks of Love in Juliet's house

Rubbing Juliet's boob...it's a thing

Lake Garda

Sista love

Some lady posing with her little dog, and some lady posing with her little skirt

During the rest of her week in Flo-town I showed her all my favorite places, where I go to class, and all the major attractions this wonderful city has to offer.

Climbing the Duomo

"I'm fabulous."

"I'm the Queen of the World"

Florence doin its thang

Channeling her inner Italian

Cheesin'

Got that Florence glow

Hello beautiful

Works of art... drinkable art that is

Straight sippin'

Just catching up on my Italian news

Heart shaped pizza from our BFF Roberto at Gusta Pizza

Having Callen was unbelievable. We just tore up the town, and she came at the perfect time.  After all this traveling and new experiences having something familiar back in my life was really nice.  I am so grateful for every experience we shared.

Perugina Chocolate Factory

I had to include this in my blog post because this was so cool! It was like stepping right into Willy Wonka's factory.  The floor was made of candy, and the air smelled of melted chocolate.  Let's not forget that there was free chocolate EVERYWHERE!  This place is the eqivilant of Hershey chocolate in the US, they make a chocolate called Baci which means kiss in Italian.  It is a little piece of chocolate filled with crushed hazelnut and chocolate and topped with a single hazelnut.  So good.

While we were there we got to sample every kind of chocolate they sell, and I, like a straight up GENIUS, brought tupperware.  I filled that thing up to the brim and now I have a semester worth of free top-of-the-notch chocolate!!!  I am just so proud haha.

Dang big Italian kiss

FREE SAMPLES GALORE

This is just unreal

Candy Floors!

 Mumford & Sons Concert

So first off, the reason I even got to go to this amazing event was because my roommate, Elise, bought an extra ticket and she let me go with her! Words cannot even describe how fun this concert was.  We were literally right in the front, and I have never felt more like a sardine in my life, but it was TOTALLY worth it.  They were seriously 10 times better live than they are on the record, and there is nothing like jammin' out with 100,000 Italians.  They know how to get down fa show.

New friend Jamie reppin' his new shirt!

SOOOO EXCITED!

This guy whipped out a panino right before they came on haha

We were so close!

This piano man... oh man

Hello everyone behind us!

Also, I will be putting up all my recipes per Mrs. Tish's request!  I just have to get through midterms!