The first city that we chose to visit outside of Italy was Amsterdam!!! Our plane left Thursday evening and we were all sooo excited! Not only was this our first time in The Netherlands but it was also our first time staying in a hostile. It wasn't half as bad as I expected. All six of us shared a super tiny room with three sets of bunk beds. This also came with our own bathroom. Although it obviously didn't compare to any hotel it was worth saving the money for the three nights. Nicole and Allie were also going to be in Amsterdam for the weekend so I couldn't wait to meet up with them! It worked out perfectly that their hotel was right near my hostel too. It was a total of maybe a five minute walk. I ended up sleeping in their hotel room the very first night. We stayed up talking and catching up until around 3:30 in the morning. Compared to Florence it was freezing. I guess we never realized how spoiled we really are with the weather here. It didn't take long for us to realize how much of a bike city Amsterdam truly is. Even in the cold more people were riding bikes than cars! I even almost got run over a couple of times by them!! Amsterdam's subway system runs on the streets outside not underground like the one I am used to in New York City. We found this to be extremely convenient throughout the entire weekend.

The next morning I woke up super early to meet back up with my friends and get the most out of our first real day there. We started off taking a tour of the Heineken Brewery. It was so much fun and I actually learned a lot such as the main ingredients that they use to make the beers. Of course we got a couple of beers for free too, which was a plus. Once the tour ended we went to find the famous I AMSTERDAM sign. We stayed there for a long time after discovering it and took millions of pictures. Later on that night I met back up with Nicole and Allll for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Once we were done we went to this bar all the way in the Red Light District to catch up with a whole other large group of people also from Penn State who were there for the weekend.

On Saturday all of the girls that I was staying with and I went to get pancakes for breakfast because we were told that that is what Amsterdam is known for. I ordered the bacon pancakes. It was really just one huge, thin crepe type pancake with strips of bacon cooked into the middle of it. I have never had anything like it before. We bought tickets for a tour of the canal after and the weather was absolutely perfect! We sat on the outside of the boat the entire time and just relaxed for the hour or so. At the end of the tour we went to the sex museum. It was interesting and gave us all a good laugh. After learning that Amsterdam is also known for their waffles we stopped in the closest little bakery we could find. I got nutella on top of mine. It was AMAZING!!!!!! By far the best waffle I have ever had. At night we went as a huge group to a different bar in the Red Light District. Here I met back up with Nicole and Allie to hangout for one last time. It was so sad and hard to have to say good bye to them again but I am sure that I will see them in another country in Europe before I know it. It felt good to get to see them and made me feel much more at home. Our flight left super early Sunday morning so we didn't have time to do much more after that. Overall it was a fantastic, successful weekend!

Pisa was the first place that we actually traveled to all on our own. We just made a day trip out of it on the Sunday after the wine tasting. The trains were very confusing to figure out at first but they were definitely a lot cleaner and faster than the ones from home. After about only an hour we were there! The town was overall very quiet and dead compared to Florence. I would kind of even describe it as deserted. The first thing that we did was walk straight over to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was pretty much exactly what I pictured it to look like. We all hung out around it for a decent amount of time trying to get the perfect pictures. It was not as easy as it looks!! Even after all of that time I still wasn't satisfied with my final picture. Afterwards we went for lunch at this restaurant that was nearby and clearly meant for tourists. While we were eating this older guy came slowly walking down the street playing a guitar and singing loudly in Italian, which was very peaceful. It was something that I knew would never happen back in New York. There really wasn't much more to do or see. Most of the stores were closed. We stopped at this little souvenir shop on our way back to the train station and I bought a shot glass that is actually tilted on an angle. The day was short and sweet but good practice for us all and the perfect first trip.

We left Florence for the first time today to take a day trip to Chianti, Tuscany with our program. It was only about an hour bus ride away. When we got there we got an underground tour of all of the barrels where they store the wine for years. After that we finally got a wine tasting! They taught us how to properly hold a wine glass, how to tell how much alcohol is in the wine, how to smell it correctly and how to see what color it really is. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so great and it started to rain near the end. Yet, it was still such a beautiful place. Luckily, we will be going back with our food and culture class later on in the semester so I am hoping it will fall on a clear day and we can get some better pictures. Overall, it was still a great day though!

There was not much of a chance to get to catch up on sleep because we had to be at orientation at 9am today. They went over all of the basics like safety and housing rules. We were each given our class schedules as well. I was relieved to see that I got every class that I wanted including: The history of Rome, the art of Florence, food history and culture and introduction to Italian. Once we got out we headed over to the Ponte Vecchio. I am not joking when I say it took my breathe away. I have seen countless pictures of it before but they do not do it justice. On our way back to our apartment we stopped at a grocery store called Conad to get some basic things. It was pretty frustrating because it is nothing like the King Kullen that I am used to at home. First of all everything is written in Italian. On top of that I do not recognize any of the brands. I am sure with time I will learn to get used to it, however and make due. While at the register paying we learned that they don't put all of your things into shopping bags in Italy. You need to buy a pack of them and bring them back to reuse them each time you go shopping. Vespas are extremely popular around here. When walking around you see more of them than you do cars. We went to this restaurant called II Gato e La Volpe for dinner which is known for its penne alla vodka. While waiting to be seated we ended up talking to and becoming friends with the bartender and the owner. They were all so nice including our waiter, Ramsey. They offered us a free bottle of wine and told us that we can get 10% off of our bill every time we go. We tried a different American bar this time called Uncle Jimmy's. Here they had all different versions of saki bombs. We all tried one called the gator bomb which was surprisingly easy to drink.

We had a rough start at the airport this morning (ask my family and they will tell you all about it... lol) to say the least but I finally made it onto the correct plane. We had a layover in Munich, Germany where we each proceeded to buy ourselves a large mug of beer at eight in the morning. The lady working at the counter looked at us like we were crazy of course. After hours on hours of traveling we finally made it to Florence at 12:35pm (6:35am in America). We all already felt confused by the time difference and were exhausted. A taxi drove me and Natalie from the airport to bring us to our apartment. We turned down one block in particular and I looked at her and said, "Wow, this is gorgeous. Best street I have seen here yet. Imagine if we were able to live here." Not even two seconds later the cab pulled over to the curb and said, "Here we are!" Both of our jaws immediately dropped. Our apartment is not even a minute from the Duomo which is the best location there could possibly be. It is HUGE with a total of 5 bedrooms and 4 full bathrooms. Including myself there are 9 of us who live here. The view from my bedroom of the center of the city is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It all seems so unreal. After unpacking it was not long before we all had to then start getting ready for dinner. We came across this great local restaurant called Osteria De'Pazzi. I got spaghetti bolognese and a glass of the house white wine. I have had bolognese before at home but it does not compare to what I had here at all! Not only that, the wine was so good that we each drank it like water. By the time we finished it was 10pm because everyone eats dinner much later here. Afterwards we made our way over to this American bar that multiple people have recommended to us called The Lion's Fountain and proceeded to drink another bottle of wine. On our walk back home we passed countless gelato stores and could no longer resist ourselves. I got coconut and it was like no other "ice cream" I have ever tasted before. I can't wait to eventually try them all!!!