PROST! Munich, Germany

Beer tent in Munich

Wandering Munich

Sorry this has taken me so long to update. I'm usually on top of writing my blogs. But with only two weeks left in Florence I feel like I have no time any more. I wish I could stay longer, I'm not ready to go home.

Last weekend me and a group of 7 friends all headed to Munich, Germany for the opening weekend of Munich Fruehlingfest (aka Springfest, the less known but just as awesome version of Oktoberfest). It certainly lived up to its expectations.

Drindl

Ditching the walking tour. Lion Balls...

We arrived in Munich around 3 AM Friday morning, so after attempting to get some sleep, Sara, Kendall, and I headed to a free walking tour. But we bailed kind of early because the tour guide was awful and it started to hail! So we wandered on our own and had a great time, we even tried on tradition german outfits called drindls, but they were 150 euro so we didn't buy them. I did manage to sneak a picture of mine though!
(pictures weren't technically allowed...)

A typical German night at Springfest. Eric's lookin' good.

Later that night we headed to the opening night of Springfest and went into a huge beer tent called Augustiner Brau (isn't German beautiful?). We got there at 6 PM and managed to Prost (the German way of saying cheers) and dance until we were kicked out at 11 PM. It was so much fun and we all managed to get away with a German Stein as a souvenir :)

Old Crematorium. It wasn't efficient enough.

The next day had a very different tone to it as Sara, Kendall, Eric, Hannah, and I all headed to Dachau (the first concentration camp in Germany). I've heard all about concentration camps but it's really a life changing experience to go and see one. I recommend it to anyone that has the opportunity, it may not be a very cheerful day but you won't regret it.

River Sufers

Of course the one day where the atmosphere felt gloomy the weather was gorgeous. #studyabroadproblems (Twitter reference for those who don't know what # is). But after we arrived back in Munich it was round 2 of celebrating Springfest. We walked through the English Gardens, which I compared to Central Park (even though I've never been there) and stopped at a beer garden. We also saw the famous river surfers at the gardens! It was very cool to watch. We also walked through a nude meadow. Only one person was topless... disappointing. At night it was time to return to Augustiner Brau. But this time we didn't get there until maybe 8 or 9 PM so we had to wait an hour to get in. In the mean time we managed to ride bumper cars and play some carnival games! Once we were finally in the tent there was only an hour left of prosting before we were kicked out again.

Andrew and I at Neuschwanstein Castle

On Sunday morning we got on the bus at 10 AM to head to Neuschwanstein Castle which is the German castle that inspired the Disney Castle. We had quite a hike up to the castle. Since it was relatively nice weather in Germany I didn't think much about wearing just flip flops on my feet. However, mother nature thought it would be really funny if it started snowing while we hiked up the massive hill..... Needless to say, my feet were numb. But the views were well worth it and eventually I regained the feeling in my poor feet.

I was to Lake Como and Switzerland this weekend, which will be a new post in the near future. This week is going to be a busy one. We have Notte Bianca coming up, which is a night all of Florence stays up all night until 6 AM wearing white to celebrate Labor Day. No classes on Tuesday! Also, this Tuesday is my roommate Kendall's 21st birthday! It should be a great time! This coming weekend I'm staying in Florence. I feel like I haven't stayed in the place I call home very much and I want one last weekend of fun before studying for finals. Hopefully we can fit a beach day in soon too!
Ahhhhh don't make me go home. I love Italy so much :(

Legally enjoying a beverage at the hostel in Munich, Germany

Rain Rain Go Away

Sorry this has taken me so long to update. It's been raining for 2 weeks straight in basically all of Europe and it has just killed any small amount of motivation I possess. Unfortunately, the Amalfi Coast was not an exception to the rain.

on the rain in Pompeii! Pancho.

Kendall and Andrew taking

The first day we went to Pompeii and it was just pouring for the first hour or so. Everyone was too busy huddling under shared umbrellas and laughing at panchos to really pay attention to the tour. I basically took away that Pompeii was more civilized than even Rome (and was way before Roman time), but after the city was destroyed other cultures didn't adopt their forms of writing, government, ect. They had brothels (of course that's a fact I memorized). And the houses used to be colorful but the ashes from the volcano kind of ruined that... along with the entire city. It was still a fun trip though. The crazy antics from the Southern Tuscany trip continued throughout Pompeii because this was another ISU trip (with Kendall and Sara joining this time!).

Lovin' me some Pompeii rain in the ruins

After Pompeii we drove to our hotel in Sorrento and received not only a complimentary dinner but also a free Limoncello tasting! I managed to try them all... not really a fan of anything watermelon flavored still. It taste like poop.

Boat ride from hell with a gorgeous view.

Enjoying a few sunny moments in Capri with Ellen, Eddie. and Eric

The next day we headed over to Capri on a ferry. Just a fair warning: drinking wine the night before a choppy ferry ride is not the greatest idea ever had... Hypothetical situation of course. Capri is the water side town that is always photographed in beautiful sunny weather because it is an amazing get away with possibly the most beautiful views (other than Interlaken). However, we seemed to have bad luck because it was raining for the entire day (minus about an hour in the morning, which is when my camera went crazy with taking pictures). Also, a highlight of Capri is the Blue Groto. It's a cave that literally glows blue and is gorgeous. You can Google image the pictures of it if you'd like. I would show you mine but obviously the rain made the water levels too high to enter the cave and it was closed. Boo :(
But we did manage to find a restaurant that a ton of celebrities eat at! Including Anne Hathaway!! It's not Blue Groto but I still thought that was pretty cool.





Sorry this post is even more random than usual and very short for me. But I am literally leaving in 25 minutes for Munich, Germany for Spring Fest!! I still have to finish packing... Ciao!

Kendall, Ellen, Sara, and I (with Reggie the Red Bird in hand) enjoying the sun in Capri while we can :)

View of Capri from the boat tour! If you look closely you can see a statue waving on the rock to the left. Or maybe I can see it because I know it's there...

Corfu, Greece

Did you know it takes around 32 hours to get from Florence to Corfu? Because, due to a typo in the travel agency's itinerary, I didn't until 24 hours before leaving....
We walked to a bus, to a ferry, to walk to another ferry, to a bus, to the hostel. Getting there wasn't even that terrible, but getting home was hell because we not only hit a thunderstorm on our 18 hour ferry ride (holy sea sickness) but we then hit traffic on our bus ride home. It took an extra 4 hours to drive home... As Louis CK would say, "it was the worst day of my life!" (no idea what this reference is? Youtube the video "Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy". Trust me, it will be 5 minutes well spent. Hilarious.)

I wish I could say it was 100% worth it, but sadly we only had one nice day in Corfu and it was 32 freakin' hours of travel... The second and third day were cold and rainy and although I still had a great time I wish I had more time to spend on the beach. I was kind of hoping to not be this pale still... grrr.

The first day of Corfu was beautiful so thankfully we got to go to the beach that day. Didn't do much but lay around and play in the water! It was very relaxing and different from the usual trips we take. It was nice to not have to run from site to site for once. After the sun was setting and it was getting too chilly to be on the beach we headed in for a nice dinner that was complimentary (free food is the best kind of food) and then had some fun at the hotel's club. It actually had a decent night life and I learned a new drinking game called Cheers Govna! (Proud parental moment for the rents I'm sure).

Being a dork with the Evil Eye

Corfu Castle

The second day was cold, cloudy, and rainy. While most of the students decided to drink and go in the hot tub (which looked gross it was so crowded, and then a girl threw up in it 3 times... so no thanks.) I was feeling a sinus infection coming on so I decided that wasn't the best decision for me. So Kendall, Ashley, and I chose to take a shuttle bus to Corfu Town and explore around there. It was the cutest place. Everyone in Greece is wicked friendly!!! The workers don't look like they want to kill you for entering their shop and they smile when you ask them how to say something in Greek rather than ignoring the question (cough cough, Parisians....). We went to the shops and of course got suckered into buying some almonds and kumkwats from a woman who offered us free samples. She was too good at her job. Had us eating out of the palm of her hand. No pun intended. Then we bought one too many Evil Eye charms. They are believed to ward off bad things. Kendall has one in her car at home and swears its saved her from multiple car accidents... sounds to me like she's just not a great driver :)

r0oMiEs 4 LyFe

After heading back to the hotel the girls changed into some pink togas for the toga party! I was still feeling under the weather so I happily drank my Coke Light (still not Diet Coke) and played photographer until I peaced out for bed... I party hard. But it was still a lot of fun and I got some quality pictures of my amazing friends here. I also laughed my butt off the entire night, such funny girls. One of my favorite quotes of the entire trip was after Kendall and I took a picture together and she said "Yeah! Roomies for life!" ... That quote's sticking around for awhile haha.

My Body Guard

The next day was an awful thunderstorm. But Sara and I didn't want to sit around so we braced ourselves for the rain and trudged down to the beach to head to this little market place. On the way these two dogs spotted us and walked a long side us the entire way, in the pouring rain. When we got to the shop they walked inside with us and I thought the owner was going to be pissed, but he just laughed and called the dogs our body guards. They really were. They wandered around the store but never far, and one even got in between me and a guy that was looking at the sunglasses next to me. It was hilarious. They stuck around with us for about 2 hours. But after the weather got nicer they ditched us for a group of girls with food. I wish I could have kept them (hint: Dad, let's get a dog!).

The girls on the beach at sunset

At 4 PM we left Corfu to head back to Florence. Like I said, it was an awful trip back but I guess it was worth it. I mean, we were in Greece for Easter after all (oh yeah, did I mention the day it was storming was Easter? Because it slipped my mind most of that day...)! I just wish that with how long the journey was the weather would have cooperated. Oh well. Study abroad problems, whatchya gonna do about it?

This weekend I'm going to the Amalfi Coast with the school. It's supposed to rain all weekend. I really hope it doesn't though, this is my only other beachy vacation. I don't want it to rain for BOTH of them... boo. Plus if it rains too much the Blue Grotto will be closed. It's this awesome cave the glows blue inside. I want to go so badly! So fingers crossed everyone!

First glimpse of Greece from the ferry, Hellenic Spirit (which was written in Greek and I could read it. Greek life at ISU being put to practical uses!)

Are there churches in Italy?

View of Tuscany from the Hotel

All the ISU Students in Cortona

Jordan, Eric, and I at the
top of Cortona

This weekend I went on a school field trip to southern Tuscany with most of ISU students here. To sum up a hefty majority of the trip: I swear if I walk into one more church I'm going to go crazy. I have been to more churches in the past two days then I have in the past 10 years. Sad fact that is probably true... But they all really start to blur together.

One the first day we went to Arezzo and Cortona in Tuscany. Cortona is where we stayed the night, and it is beautiful. The weather was gorgeous so on our down time we just lounged around outside. Afterwards we hiked up the mountainous town to the top where the Medici Fortress was. There were amazing views of the farm fields and mountains all around and even a volcano! Inactive, but still I've never seen one before. The hike up there was a bit much to handle but well worth it. Especially since Eric brought my new best friend Reggie Redbird with him! I had quite the little photo shoot with my favorite little mascot. He got to fly over Italy, drink a margarita, sunbathe outside, and so much more (displayed at the end).

That night we had an authentic Italian dinner with about 7 courses. I even tried some weird spinach thing and Florentine steak! They were both nasty but I at least tried them. After, we all hung out at the hotel together and since ISU has a group of about 20-30 students here it was a lot of fun! Definitley one of the most memorable nights I've had so far in Italy.

Henry!!!

The next day we sadly left Cortona for Pienza and Montepulciano for a cheese tasting and wine tasting. We were allowed to wander around Pienza on our own for a little bit after stopping at, shockingly, a church! Pienza was amazing mainly for its lack of tourism. It was much mroe quaint than Florence and the view people I talked with truly didn't speak English. Needless to say, it wasn't a lengthy conversation and a lot of hand gestures were needed. My favorite part was sadly this dog that was left in a bike basket!! He was so cute! I named him Henry =] .

After that we sat waiting to head to a cheese tasting and attempted to play Down By The Banks... but Ellie and I couldn't remember the lyrics so we had to give up hope on reliving this childhood game for the time being.
(by the way I looked up the lyrics:
‎"Down by the banks of the hanky panky
Where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky
With an eep, op,
Ee-sock-a-diddly and KERPLOP!
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10" )
Next we were walking around the rooms where they make Italy's famous Pienza Pecorino cheese... but Ellie, Alysa, and I found the tour a little boring so we made our own fun. We played some stupid jokes on an unsuspecting Eddie. We couldn't help but laugh as we put a bar of soap in Eddie's hood and pocket while Eric put a spoon in there too. It was childish but hey, it was April Fools Day. We were just being festive? After sampling some delicious cheese we left for Montepulciano.

For all the Twilight Fans out there (wait... people like Twilight?) This is the town where they filmed New Moon where Bella comes to Edward's rescue. But it is also where they allowed a group of 50 college students to attend a wine tasting! It was all red wine though, which was slightly disappointing but I tried them all. The first one was surprisingly good. The rest I just drank solely because it was expensive wine that I was getting for free. Didn't really enjoy them much. Whoops.

I'm so excited for next weekend! I get to be reunited with Sara and Kristi who I haven't seen in nearly 3 weeks! It's going to be a girls weekend in Greece!! I'm so excited for warm weather and beaches and everything! It's going to be sad being away from home on Easter but I think I may manage to tough it out. I'll miss you guys though! (really)


Reggie the Redbird takes on Tuscany:

Reggie wanted a margarita 

Reggie lounging in the Hotel Cuddle Room

Reggie getting a tan outside in Tuscany

Reggie flying over Tuscany

Reggie gets into some strange places

Reggie chillin in Eric's pants

Reggie in a tree

Reggie petting a kitty cat

Reggie and I in Tuscany

Kristina and Reggie in a tree