Italia!

Ciao!
Recap of the past few days:
We went from Paris to the South of France...Nice. It was so pretty and relaxing there. We stayed in a hostel that had overbooked so the first night we got a room to ourselves for the same price we would have paid. That was awesome. And then the next night we got in a room with four guys traveling from Wisconsin. They were super chill. That night we just stayed in our room drinking wine and playing cards with them. In Nice, we took a bus tour around the city which offered gorgeous views of the Mediterranean coast. Also, we went to the Henri Matisse museum. I was glad we got to see this because I studied plenty of Matisse at Belmont. In Nice, there was a huge ass IronMan compettion going on so we watched tons of men/women sweating it out riding their bikes, running and swimming.
After Nice, we took a train to Levanto, Italy. LOVED IT THERE. Our hostel was soooo nice and clean. We had really cool roommates there as well. Levanto is just north of the Cinque Terre. We hung around Levanto at night and during the day we hiked/swam/kayaked in the Cinque Terre (the 5 fisherman villages on the coast). Here is just a glimse of what we saw:


We are in Florence now!!!! I can't tell you how good it felt to get off of the train and walk these streets that I missed soooo much. There is something about being in a familiar place that is very welcoming. We arrived at our AMAZING HOSTEL. Absolutely amazing. It is like 6 months old, the staff is so sweet and our room is...there are no words seriously so freaking amazing. When laying in my bed and looking up at the ceiling that is 20 feet tall, I feel as though I am in an ancient palace. The detail on the ceiling is gorgeous. We walked the regular route I took to class everyday. Showed Julie where I lived, the piazza I frequented, the river, and Edison (my fav bookstore). I bought some nutella, cookies and wine to enjoy later this evening on our terrace. One of our roommates is a boy traveling alone from Ireland. Seems cool. Man I love this place. Tomorrow we are taking a train to my favorite place...Lucca. It is an ancient city surrounded by a wall. We are going to rent bikes and ride around the city and stay in an old monastary there for the night. Then return to Florence for two more nights. I am having the time of my life. For real. I am filled with so much joy.

Paris

Bonjour!
Okay so..I love it here. Paris is amazing. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I was told that Paris was dirty and the people are mean...I think the exact opposite. Yesterday we arrived at 8 a.m. and as soon as we got to our hostel and dropped our backpacks off we toured the city. Julie and I are pros at the metro system. pros. We took the metro to see Notre Dame..ummm gorgeous. Then we ventured over to this adorable crepe place that had adorable waiters. Our hottie hot waiter put his hand on my back a few times-I think he may be my new husband! hahahaha. After crepes we went the the Luxembourg gardens-beautiful. I loved it, we just sat in these super comfy chairs by this pond. We sat in the gardens and people watched for an hour or so before heading over to my Belmont friend Megan's apartment. I had Biology with her and through the class we became friends. She nows lives in Paris and is getting her Masters and working. Her place was so stinking cute. She took us to a Canadian pub where we watched soccer and hung out with her two adorable friends from Italy and Columbia (adorable as in good-looking and adorable as in sweet). We stayed at the pub for a good four hours before heading back to our hostel. There we ended up talking to a guy that works at the hostel for a long time. He tried to teach us some French yet we both failed.
Today has been a successful day of touring the city. We took a river cruise down the Seine. It was really cute because they boat was filled with Parisian children who became fascinated by us once they found out we were Americans. One little boy who clearly knew one line in English said "do you know what time it is?" We told him and then soon noticed he was wearing a watch. And then another little boy said "do you get to visit your family this summer?" I laughed because that was probably one of the most random things a little French kid would learn to say in English. They provided great entertainment for us while we cruised down the river. After that we headed to the Louvre. So amazing. The museum itself is absolutely gorgeous in architecture and then we went in and saw some of histories greatest paintings by artists that I have learned about over the years. Mona Lisa was awesome. After walking around the city some more we headed back here to our hostel to rest before we head out to the Eiffel Tour! and then to a party with my friend Megan. I am sad that we are saying goodbye to Paris tomorrow...but excited for our next stop in Nice!
Au revoir, a bientot

ohmyword.

Oh my word. Tomorrow we leave for Europe!!! Julie and I are going on the greatest adventure ever...36 days in Paris, Nice, Cinque Terre, Florence, Interlaken, Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Dusseldorf. I can't believe that after many years of dreaming about doing a trip like this, it is actually happening. I can't wait to sit in a little cafe in each place we go, I can't wait to prove to everyone that I can live out of a backpack!, I can't wait to meet an Italian Stallion and bring him home to meet my parents hahahaha (but really), I can't wait to eat gelato!, I can't wait to meet so many diverse groups of people, I can't wait to sleep in a nasty hostel bed, I can't wait for the mounds of memories to be made, I can't wait to take a zillion pictures, I can't wait to spend hours in a train traveling through each country, I can't wait to paraglide off of the alps once again, I can't wait to ride a vespa through Tuscany, I can't wait to break out my italiano speaking skills, I can't wait to see what God has in store for us as we explore the world!!!

trial

Well, I guess I will see if I ever use this blog.