Hi. Ciao. Bonjour.

There is never enough time to do all I want around here! This weekend was an amazing whirl wind that culminated in coming back to Firenze to Het and Kristen (2 of my best buddies from high school) waiting outside my apartment! It has been an awesome couple of days.

We left for Monte Carlo, on the French Rivera, around 4.30 on Saturday morning. We didn’t get chased by Panini man this time-bummer. I love going with the school on trips because not only do they take you everywhere, but they explain all the history. Monte Carlo was the first stop. I signed up for this trip not knowing much, or anything really, about the French Riviera. Monte Carlo, in the princedom on Monaco, was unbelievably beautiful. Like something off the Princess Diaries. We went on a walking tour led by a French tour guide with a Canadian accent. It was pretty funny and entertaining. We learned a lot about Grace Kelly (famous American actress who married prince of Monaco and became the princess, also famous for the YouTube skit “can I have your number”). I loved learning about the history, but more than anything I loved the flower gardens and the view looking out over the Mediterranean Sea. After lunch in Monaco we drove to Nice. I know I always write about the views on the bus but really some of the prettiest views I have seen have been from the comfort of a bus seat. The roads were super curvy and narrow. No wonder Grace Kelly died in a car accident (I bet her driver was Italian). When we made it to “nice” Nice we checked into our hotel and opted out of the going with the French Canadian tour guide to explore on our own!

Nice was amazing. It was the Myrtle Beach of the French Riviera, except about 1000 times nicer! Both Elton John and Tina Turner have houses in the hills around Nice. My favorite part about Nice was the promenade or boardwalk on the sea. We spent a couple hours just walking, taking pictures, and admiring all the yachts! We explored on some rocks and got splashed by the waves. It was great fun. We had group dinner at 7.30 and I was very happy to eat French food aka NOT pizza or pasta! We walked around Nice at night and even went into the casino. It was no Vegas, but it was still fun to see. I was exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel.

The next day consisted of visiting three towns near Nice: St. Paul Vence, Cannes, and Eze. I loved St. Paul and Eze! I would live in St. Paul. The streets were all made of cobblestone flowers. The word quaint was created to describe St. Paul. I was very sad to leave, but it was one of those towns I will make a point to come back too! Cannes was neat, but rainy. It is home of the international film festival. The highlight of Cannes was putting my hand into Chuck Norris Hollywoodwish handprint, and discussing the impacts of globalization after going into yet another jammed packed McDonalds. In Eze we toured a perfume/soap factory. We left smelling like flowers and two hours later I had a legit headache. We climbed to the top of town and saw one of the most beautiful views overlooking the French Riviera. Such a fun day. I read and tried to rest on the way back, but I was too excited to see Kristen and Het!



We got back at the perfect time because Kristen and Het were trying to figure out how to work the pass code to our apartment! I was soooo happy to see them. It almost didn’t feel real. I’m so used to the little group of girls I see all the time, and here were two of my best friends from High School! It was a great night of catching up in Bella Rosa and the next day we explored Firenze. I loved getting to show them around. We climbed to the top of Duomo, ate gelato and hot chocolate, looked around the Ponte Vecchio, sat in a Piazza. It was such a great day. They left for Rome and Naples this morning, and will return to Florence on Thursday evening! I can’t explain how thankful I am for such good friends. My whole time in Florence I have continually been reminded of how blessed I am to have such genuine and sweet friends. Whether it’s been letters, Skype, FB, sharing an apartment, or even coming to visit; I am beyond blessed with friends. I thank God for all of you (esp. those of you that read my blog ;) ). Overall this week couldn’t get much better. Midterms are next week, so I better start studying…

Fun things…

*This week’s photo assignment were portraits. I liked this assignment. Here are a couple of my faves. I had great models, so I think all of my pictures looked good. My teacher was more critical but hey, to each her own!










*Monday was Festa di Donne (party of women). Basically it was women’s day in Italia. The day is known for little yellow mimosa flowers and women going out with their friends. It fell on the perfect day because Het and Kristen were here! We went to apretivo at this neat little place and took some funny pictures. Sadly, no one bought us mimosas, but we had a great time celebrating “Festa di Donne”!

*Last week I was pretty sure we had hit the homestretch for warm spring weather….WRONG. It snowed today. I’m ready for spring!

Time is flying by. I miss and love you all.
Wing. Meow. Love.
Bec

"For none of us lives to himself alone, and non of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."
Romans 14:7-8

"What's an edelweiss?"

The hills are alive with the sound of music! It has been a full week. Hil and I ventured to Austria this weekend. I really hoped we would get to see Austria, and while many of the girls went to Paris, Hil and I toured Vienna and Salzburg. We left Thursday and got to Vienna early Friday morning. We went with the bus tour group again. Vienna was a beautiful city. We did the ring tour on a tram to all the main palaces and museums, ate a famous piece of chocolate apricot cake (Sacher Torte…yum yum), and explored around St. Stephens church. It was kinda rainy, and I don’t have luck with umbrellas, but we had a wonderful time and enjoyed walking into all the shops. Our tour guide told us about the famous Opera House in Vienna and that they offered discounted tickets to students. On Friday night there was a ballet playing (Die Fledermaus), so obviously we had to go! I haven’t been to many ballets but I LOVED it! They sell the tickets that aren’t taken when the show starts to the students, so we figured we would have pretty bad seats. Boy were we wrong! We were about 6 rows back from the stage, in the most beautiful Opera House I have ever been in (not that I’ve been in many). It was such a fun night. Hil and I like to refer to this weekend as our “cultural weekend”. We toured the Habsburg Palace on Saturday morning and learned a lot about Empress Maria Theresa and the Austrian Empire. The gardens were beautiful and we enjoyed our sandwiches and fruit that we packed from hostel free breakfast (we’ve gotten smart with free food). We left for Salzburg around 2.




On the way to Salzburg we watched The Sound of Music! I had watched it with Mom the week before I left, but it’s one of those movies you can watch many times (right Blair?). The main reason Hil and I went to Austria was to go on the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, and because of the Billy Joel song “Vienna waits for you”. We were very excited for Sunday. We got to Salzburg pretty late, and it was dark by the time we explored. From what I saw of the quaint little streets, churches, and mountains, I can say Salzburg is one of my favorite cities. We went with the group to the famous Salzburg beer hall. I didn’t know what to expect, but from what I had been told I would be missing out if I didn’t go. The beer hall reminded me of my father and Harry Potter (for different reasons of course). I actually really enjoyed it. It was huge and full of these long tables packed with stone mugs and men. We got stared at because we were literally the only girls in the place. We sat beside an Air Force couple stationed in Germany, and they informed us that the beer hall was named by the History Channel as the “world’s best beer hall with the world’s best beer”. It was quite the experience, even if I couldn’t finish my half liter, and Hil was pouring hers into mine so she could say she finished “the world’s best beer”. The food was all vinegar based and very Austrian. I tried Wienerschnitzel. We walked around Salzburg a little more and called it a night! Sunday was the long awaited Sound of Music Tour! The tour was great but I have to admit, if Blair would have been there it would have been better. Blair, one of my best friends, LOVES the Sound of Music more than anyone I know. We took a picture of her with us on the whole tour. Blair, you were there in spirit. My favorite part was the hill town of Mondsee, where they get married in the movie! It was about a 30 minute drive up in the hills from Salzburg, around the lake region. It was BEAUTIFUL! Kinda reminded me of the beauty of the Interlaken area. We had the best apple strudel and ice cream. It was a great afternoon! We left Salzburg about 2 and headed towards Firenze. I tried to do my school reading on the bus but couldn’t because of the view. The drive was beyond amazing. I stared out the window for 4 hours. It was unreal. We were driving through valleys, so we were surrounded by the Alps on both sides. Because of all the traveling we have been doing lately, we’ve been missing church on Sunday night. It’s been a bummer, but looking out the window and sitting for 4 hours was a wonderful time to think and pray. How could someone look at the Alps and beautiful countryside and not praise the Artist who made them! Another highlight of the drive was when we stopped at a McDonalds with a panoramic view of the Alps. If the beer hall gets a world famous award, then this McDonalds should too! No kidding, it was that beautiful. We got back to Florence around 10.





Other fun facts:

-While in Austria I discovered a new painter: Gustav Klimt. His work was all around Austria and I LOVED IT! I normally don’t notice artist, but I really liked his paintings. I got a couple of his post cards.

-This week’s photo class assignment was “self-portraits”. My teacher is very broad when she gives us the assignments. She likes creativity. My self-portraits were creative to say the least. Hil got her laugh for the week. It’s not easy to take pictures of yourself. You either look like the middle school MySpace mirror kid, or really weird and conceited. I think I may even prefer being a creeper with my “feel the world” assignment. I managed to get 10 self-portraits but my professor wasn’t as positive this week. I’m learning a lot about Photoshop. Here is a self-portrait for your viewing and laughing pleasure!


-On Monday I went to a “cultural dance class”. It was girls only and taught by my cooking instructor. The more I’m around my cooking teacher, the more I like her! I had to go to her dance workshop! It was the funniest two hours. It was mainly Egyptian style and middle eastern dancing (basically belly dancing). She kept saying “feel the music”, but 35 American girls aren’t used to “feeling the music”. I loved every minute. It reminded me of when Al and I dance on Christmas Eve for Grandma Johnson. We just did whatever we felt. At one point we danced with scarves around our heads and I felt like I was in Slum Dog Millionaire. After dance class and the ballet, I’ve decided I have missed my calling: I was meant to be a dancer.

-Last week we went to a Fiorentina vs. Milan soccer match! I’ve never been to anything like it- not even a UNC vs. Duke basketball game. It was intense! We looked like the dumb American girls when we tried to find our proper seats. Some Italian man informed us that we should just find a free seat…good luck with that! We had on purple so we were fine as long as we stayed with the Fiorentina fans. Florence lost sadly, and we never spotted David Beckham! It was a great night and I will def. be going back to another soccer match!

-I really enjoy hanging out with my language partner! She is so nice and I look forward to seeing her every week! We normally meet on Wednesday.

I love y’all very much. I think and pray for y’all (the faithful few that actually read my blog) daily!
Love.Meow.Wing.
Bec

“The present of things past is memory, the present of things present is sight; and the present of things future is expectation.” –St. Augustine (talking about the concept of time in Philosophy class)

When in Rome...

Rome. Rome. Rome. This weekend we went on a fieldtrip to Rome with the school. It was quite a fun weekend. Rome is very much a modern city with lots of old ruins and history at its center. It’s one of those places you always hear about and then you visit it and think: I don’t know if this is exactly what I imagined but it’s REALLY cool (I guess a lot of things in life are like that huh). We left super early on Saturday morning (4.30 ekkk) and met the tour bus at Piazza Independeza. We had a little excitement bright and early when we got chased by a drunk/drugged up man with a panini in his hand. There was really no reason to be scared (It was 8 against 1) but when a sketchy drugged up man chases you screaming with a sandwich in his hand, you will run! I was in the back of the group of course but after a minute he left us alone! The bus ride was also an adventure. Italians are not the best drivers and there were a couple of times I about fell out of my seat. We got to Rome early and immediately went and saw the Colosseum. It was so nice to be given a tour of the area and not have to worry about transportation to and from sights. After the Colosseum we had a lunch break and then went on a three hour tour of the Vatican. The tour was long and our tour guide was quite the character. I learned a fair amount, but more than anything I just loved the unbelievable paintings in every room we entered! Our whole tour was leading up to the Sistine Chapel and St. Peters. The Sistine Chapel was pretty amazing. There were tons of tourists but I tried to imagine what it would be like in the Chapel when a new Pope was selected and the white smoke was released. I stared at the ceiling for a while. It was the feeling again of “I’ve heard about this place 1000000 times and now I’m here!” I tried to take a picture and about got in trouble with a security guard. We went to St. Peters Basilica next. I have NO idea how people could ever create a church as grand as St. Peters. I added one more unbelievable church to the list of many that I have seen in the last couple of weeks. Although the tour was long and crammed full of random information, I did learn some interesting things about Catholicism. We walked past the crypts of the dead Popes on the way to the Basilica and I was intrigued with the crowds and emotions. Made me want to know more. By the end of tour we were all drained. While waiting for the group we saw a couple get engaged! I was literally standing RIGHT beside them, but it wasn’t until people started clapping and I looked down, that I saw them kneeled on the ground. It was precious. I tried to capture the moment for my photo project but lo’ wasn’t quite fast enough to capture a worthwhile shot. We left Vatican City and headed towards our hotel!


I love hotels. I no longer take for granted rooms where you have your own key and can comfortably leave your stuff in the room. It was super nice and Hil, Melis, and I couldn’t have been happier! We rested, explored, had a snack and McDonalds, and went to dinner with the UNC group! I loved getting to spend time with all the kids on our program! They’re awesome! I’m excited for the Nice and French Rivera trip with the group. We went to bed early and woke up to a HUGE FREE BREAKFAST!!! Sunday was a wonderful day. The sun was shining as we visited the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and the Forum. The dome in the Pantheon was breathtaking and I made a couple wishes at the Trevi Fountain! I enjoyed listening to our teachers/ tour guides and getting to know a little bit more about their lives. A four course typical Roman lunch was included with our program. Lots and lots of pasta and wine. Before heading back to Florence we visited the Catacombs. I didn’t really know much about the Catacombs before our visit, but I thoroughly enjoyed the tour through the tombs. We felt like we were on a ride in Disney World. When our slightly freaky tour guide whispered “come closer”, Hil and I were cracking up/ somewhat scared. It was a great end to our busy day! I slept most of way to Florence and thankfully we didn’t get chased by panini man on our walk back to the apartment. I’m very thankful I choose Rome as one of my school trips. I now feel like I know a lot more about the Vatican and ancient Rome!





Other things from the week.

*Last week I got an e-mail about my language partner. Before I left NC I signed up for a language partner {they pair you with an Italian student who you can talk with}. It sounded like a neat opportunity but once I got here and realized how HORRIBLE I am at speaking Italian, I’m pretty sure I would never have signed up. Anyway, I got the e-mail and I met my partner for first time last Thursday! Her name is Chiara, she’s 23, and one of the first things she asked me was if I watched Dawson’s Creek. We were meant to be friends. I really enjoy hanging out with her, even if my Italian is horrific. She is basically fluent in English. She has taken English since elementary school but rarely speaks it. We are supposed to speak half the time in Italian and half in English. She is super nice and is very patient with me! I’m very thankful that I signed up before I left!

*I’m getting surprisingly good at being creepy while taking pictures. Practice makes perfect. I normally go out on Monday afternoon and sit in a piazza and click away. This week I brought out my telephoto lens {super zoom} and got some really funny shots. It’s always awkward when you can see people looking back at you through your lens. My new motto is “I’m never going to see these people again what do I have to lose (besides my perfect photo)”. If nothing else, my photo assignments make me think of day to day scenes as pictures. I’m continually looking for something worth capturing. This week was “focus your vision”. Very open ended. I decided that I would follow a common theme through all my pictures. I choose companionship. My teacher was more positive this week. Here are a few shots from the week.




*My friends in my cooking class told me about a bakery with normal coffee, muffins and cake. I found it on Monday {and my friends just happened to be in there}. It was great fun and a super cute bakery! We also found a Mexican restaurant close to our apartment. A break from pasta is nice every once in a while! Went to Beatles cover band last week. I enjoyed it. Cool atmosphere.

*It’s getting warmer. Makes me excited for spring! I’m trying to jog more.

The weeks continue to fly by. I think is partly because we have been traveling so much and my days are always slammed packed. My favorite day is always Thursday because not only is it the beginning of the weekend but cooking class day! My teacher plays Michael Buble when we cook. She’s so cool and intense.

I miss and love y’all very much. Wing wing. Meow meow.
Prayers and hugs,
Bec

Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring. – James 3:11-12

Holy Smokes

I LOVE SWITZERLAND! I believe the areas around Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen Valley and Grindelwald are some of the most beautiful in the world! One of my favorite quotes from the weekend came from Melis when she was looking up in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and exclaimed “Holy smokes Lord you are incredible.” I could’t have said it better myself. I thought that a lot this weekend.

We left on Thursday night and rode a tour bus to Interlaken. We ended up going with “Bus 2 Alps”, a tour service catered to study abroad students. After our learning weekend in Venice, I was very thankful for our transportation and hostel to be taken care of. The drive took about 9 hours but I managed to sleep and listen to my ipod for most of it. I really enjoyed the drive and it snowed on the way there! We got stopped at the Swiss border for about an hour and our bus got checked. We arrived to Balmers around 3AM and snuggled into our little room. We woke up pretty early on Friday to reserve our paragliding/skiing spots, ate free hostel breakfast, and headed to Lauterbrunnen Valley for the day.

Lauterbrunnen was incredible! I felt like I was in a movie. We walked down a little road through the town and the country side for almost 3 hours. Just walking, taking pictures, ice skating, and falling down. I would move there. Open a little bakery, live in a log cabin, and have a couple cows and chickens. No kidding, it’s unreal. One of those places I will always long to go back to, and will forever remember as a magical town. In Lauterbrunnen we ate lunch at a little café called Airtime. The lady who owned it was super nice and managed to sell us tomato soup and brownies. We hung out there for a while, eating and looking out the windows. It was a great day in a winter wonderland! Friday night we hung out around Interlaken and went to bed pretty early so we would be ready for paragliding! Note about paragliding: I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS GETTING MYSELF INTO. I decided I didn’t want to ski because I’m not a very good skier and I wanted to have time to explore Grindelwald, so paragliding seemed like a logical option. While walking in Lauterbrunnen I happen to spot a paraglide just coming off the mountain. Hil was cracking up, but honestly I didn’t have a clue I would be up that high. I was legitimately nervous. All that said, going to bed Friday night I was quite apprehensive about our paragliding adventure in the morning!



We got picked up for paragliding around 10. Melis and Em went skiing, while Rach, Hil, and I went paragliding. Obviously I didn’t really know what paragliding was at this point but I was praying that I wouldn’t have to run off a mountain (my other friend Haley who came with us went skydiving…I’m not that crazy) . We went to the paragliding office and picked up our guides. The guides were really funny and cute! That made everything better of course. We drove up to the top of a mountain and hiked up a bit to some random cottages back yard. Thankfully I didn’t have to run off a mountain, just run down it with a guide strapped to my back! Paragliding is just like flying a kite except you are attached to the kite. I LOVED IT! I was not scared once. It was unbelievable and the view was awesome. I didn’t even have time to be scared because I was constantly looking around and gawking at the alps and town below. It was quite chilly and I was thankful for the boots and pants the paragliding guides had provided. If you go to Interlaken pleaseee paraglide (and request Dominick as your guide). After paragliding we went to went to the grocery store and got some soup. Our hostel was so homey and nice. It even had a kitchen which was useful for preparing some cheap meals. Another great part of the weekend was the Swiss Franc. The euro is stronger than the franc so everything seemed a lot cheaper in Switzerland. We stocked up on chocolate, oatmeal, and the some of the best bread I have ever had! So many reasons to love Switzerland.

After lunch on Saturday I went to explore Grindelwald. Jerm had told me that’s where Pop’s tree was located and I wanted to find it! It was about a 45 minute train ride through the alps, and then I arrived in the town of Grindelwald. Everyone in Grindelwald was either on skis or riding a sled! It was the quaintest little ski town. I explored for a bit and then asked a lady where Terrassenweg road was located. She told me to keep walking straight. I walked straight for quite some time. Straight and uphill, but the view was impeccable. I just kept following Terrassenweg and prayed that I would see the tree! When I got to the ski school I knew I was close. The tree wasn’t hard to spot. There were skiers everywhere, but I trekked in my rain boots to take a picture and stand under it like Pops had many years before (too bad I didn’t have on skis like he did)! It was a really cool experience, one of my favorite from the weekend. I wandered around the ski school for a while, set on a bench, admired the 3 year old pro skiers, and God’s unbelievable creation. I love Grindelwald and I now think every Troxler should go take a picture under the “Troxler Tree” :)! I got slightly lost on the train ride home, but obviously I made in back to Balmers in one piece! We had a fun night eating Swiss fondue and hanging out at the hostel!












Sunday we explored Interlaken a little more and then had an eight hour drive back to Florence. It was Valentine ’s Day so we all ate A LOT of chocolate! Fun times! This week has been the first week of quizzes. It’s hard to make myself study, but I still enjoy the material for each class. I finally went inside the church of Santa Croce with my Renaissance class this week. After walking by it about 1000 times, it is nice to know what it looks like inside! Hopefully we will go to the Duomo in the next few days! The weather has been really nice lately.

Other random things from my week:

-I went jogging on the Arno today wearing my UNC shirt and some old man yelled “Go Tarheels”. It was pleasant surprise! There are Tarheels all over the world!

-Our beloved dog Chip died this weekend. I got an e-mail from Al when I came home from Switzerland. Her words summed Chips life up best: “The lady up the road doesn't know yet, she cried just telling Mom he needed to go to the vet...she said that Chip was the best dog she ever loved..that he was a "pure bred"..that he loved everyone :) Chip was good dog. Dad and I sat around and laughed at him tonight. About him running on the basketball court and softball fields. About him running/swimming after the boat at the lake. We laughed at him trying to jump on the truck and never being about to handle fireworks....It was fun thinking about how he had been there through all these funny moments. Made me smile and think about how blessed I am.” I know Chip was just a dog but I loved that dog. He grew up with us. Makes me realize how fast time moves, but also how blessed I am with family, memories, and friends! There will never be another Chipper.

-my “feel the world around you” photo assignment turned out ok. It was A LOT harder than I thought it was going to be. I’m a pretty good creeper but people get freaked out when you are taking random pictures of them. I posted two of my favorites. My teacher gave me a lot of helpful feedback so my next assignment “focus your vision” will be better!



















-I managed to capture a picture of one of the little produce trucks Dad. It’s not a great one, but maybe you can get the feel of what they look like.It only has 3 wheels. You need one!

Headed to Rome with school on Saturday! I'm excited!

I love and miss you all very much. Some days I feel a little homesick but I quickly remind myself I’m in Florence and I have to love everyday where I’m at! BS still has a huge part of my heart (and Raleigh and CH too)!
Love. Wing. Meow.
Bec

A Venice Fish

This past weekend Hil, Melis, and I went to Venice for Carinvale. We left early Friday morning and got to Venice around noon. After two weekends of trains and buses, we are finally getting the hang of traveling. Our only glitch came when we forgot that we had to validate our tickets downstairs and almost missed the train…but we made it! Good thing we all like to run! Venice was the most unique city I have ever been to. Besides the lack of cars, and plethora of gondolas, Venice had the coolest streets and shops. There were 100000 different masks for Carnivale and more blown glass from Murano (an Island really close to Venice) than I could have ever imagined. It is a really cool city, but this weekend was not all peaches and cream. Arriving in Venice we set out to find our hostel. It wasn’t tough to find,but when we walked in I was a little apprehensive. I knew that it wasn’t going to be the nicest hostel (it was the only one we could find in Venice for the weekend of Carnivale…never a good sign), but I think I may have been spoiled from Siena. It wasn’t horrible but I defiantly did not want to stay in “A Venice Fish” more than I had to. After we left sketch hostel we headed into Venice. I had been reading Rick Steves on the train and it was pretty clear that Venice was a city that did not really use road names, but landmarks to figure out where you are located. We figured we would just walk around, get lost, and look at signs to find St. Marks Basilica. Our plan worked after about 3 hours. It was pouring rain and the signs proved to be very tricky. We wondered around, went in stores, and really anything that was free. It was fun but the rain made things more complicated.

When we went inside St. Marks Basilica my eyes goggled at everything. I love the intricacy of every church we go into. You could stay in St. Marks for hours and never get tired of looking at the walls, ceilings, windows… Almost everything in St. Marks is a mosaic, so if you look carefully you can see all the little tiles that make the whole pictures. Everything was gold. We stayed for a while inside the dry warmth of the Basilica and then finally ventured out to see the Grand Canal. I loved all the gondolas and funny men who paddled them. Sadly, because of the rain and price, we opted out of riding on a gondola, but if I ever go back on a warm sunny day, I WILL ride in a gondola! The rest of the day we spent wondering around, exploring all the many bridges, and eating Nutella crepes!We went back to “A Venice Fish” around 7. They provided free dinner at 8:30 and by 7 we were so drained I didn’t care how sketchy it was, we needed a place to sit down. We stayed in a four person room, so we only had one girl we didn’t knowwith us. She was extremely nice. Everything was going great (besides the fact that we had to pay 5 euro for sheets), until our new roommate informed us that she had read/heard that this hostel was known for bed bugs and that is why she had brought all her own linens. Greaaaat. I’m laughing just thinking about what our faces must have looked like when she told us this.I thought of what my dad always says “don’t let the bed bugs bite”, and how he would most likely respond in this situation (“a few bed bugs never hurt anybody”). We toughed it out, but I only slept on the clean sheets we had paid for. I was freezing during the night so Melis and I ended up snuggling in a twin size bed for warmth. It was a night to remember. Woke up early the next morning, ate the free hostel breakfast, and said CIAO to “A Venice Fish”!






Saturday was a much prettier day in Venice. What a difference not having to lug around at umbrella can make! It was also the first official day of Carinvale so the streets were packed with mask and costumes. It was entertaining to walk around and see all the uniquely dressed people. St. Marcos square was teeming with tourist and there was a huge area set up where clowns, entertainers, and musicians were playing! By the end of Saturday I felt like I really knew the streets of Venice. We literally
walked the entire day and probably made at least 5 loops around the city. I can’t deny that I was pretty happy to rest my legs on the train ride back to Firenze. We had our first run in with sketchy Italian men on the train. One man stared at Melis for the last hour of our train ride, it was pretty funny. I slept happily in sweet Bella Rosa Saturday night!


This week has been full of classes and not much sleep. I really enjoy every class but my favorite is photography class (cooking is actually my true favorite of course). My teacher speaks broken English, but I can normally catch the drift of what she is saying. This week we learned about the basic functions of our cameras and about a famous French photographer Henri Cartier- Bresson. He was known for the lines in his photography. These are a couple of his shots that I liked:





Our assignment this week is to “feel the world around you”. We have to take 10 pictures of what we “feel” in the world around us (following Bresson’s example of lines and emotions). Should be interesting. Maybe next week I’ll post my “feel the world around you” photos!


Other Fun facts and quotes from the week:

-on my way to class I discovered a coffee vending machine. It .50 Euro and it gives you a little to go cup and then you choose what kind of coffee, cream, and sugar you want. It also makes hot chocolate. I’ve never seen one of these machines in America (they probably have them in big cities) but I’m thinking if I put one of these in the middle of CH I will make bank next year.

-Italians dress their dogs in little coats.

-“Photography is not just the party for Facebook” – my photo. Professor.
-"I'd rather be with Jesus in the rowboat in the middle of the storm, than standing in the sun on shore without Him.” – M’er via e-mail

-“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like the stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life- in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.” – Philippians 2: 14-16

-“ If we were willing to endure so much sweat and labor in order to raise our bodies a little closer to heaven, how can a soul struggling toward God, up the steps of human pride and mortal destiny, fear any cross or prison or sting of fortune?” – Petrarca (read in The Ascent of Mt. Ventoux in my Renaissance class)
We tried out another church this week! It was great. There were mainly study abroad kids since the service was in English and it was run by two missionary couples from Finland. One of the couples had two little girls and it made me realize how much I miss being around little kids. Can’t wait to come home and see all my little cousins (especially my newest little cousin Della Sharron!).

This weekend we are headed to Interlaken Switzerland. Don’t know if I’ll ski, but it will be fun to play in the snow!

Love and miss y’all.
Wing Wing. Meow Meow. Love Love
Bec

OMG

The title of this post is OMG because that is what my little friend at the market yells at us every day as we pass by his stand. He knows very little English so he uses OMG and provocative song lyrics he has memorized to “attract” people to his leather stand. Obviously we haven’t stopped, but I always giggle when I walk past OMG man. I heard it twice today. Good day. Honestly today has been one of my favorite days in Florence. Besides it being Thursday (our last day of classes), I also had my very first cooking class and went to the most incredible chocolate festival! Good day.

This week we started real classes. I have 18 hours but 6 of those hours are photography and food and wine pairing. Overall I think I’m really going to enjoy every class I have. Even my Italian class is entertaining and not nearly as intimidating as precession. It’s at 8AM, which makes for an early morning, but there are only 6 girls in my class and they are all on the same level as me! Most of the girls are studying in Firenze for a whole year so they are very helpful and fun to talk to! One of them is from Scotland and another lives in Turkey. I love listening and talking with them. After Italian I either have Renaissance Civilization and Culture or 14th Century Italian Literature. These are my two core classes, so they are only with UNC kids. The Renaissance class is very engaging because almost everything we talk about is located in Florence. It’s always more motivating to learn about things that you can actually go see! I also have Italian philosophy on Mondays and Wednesday. I can already tell that philosophy is going to be interesting. I’m excited. My favorite two classes are obviously photography and cooking. Photography is a six hour long class on Tuesday night. While six hours is a reallllly long time, I’m pretty sure half the class is spent going out and practicing the techniques we learn. This week we filled out “get to know you” questionnaires and made collages that describe us. I’m such a little kid because I LOVED making the collage! I’m very proud of it, even though it’s quite random and took me two hours. It was fun to hear about everyone’s collage and entertaining to see how different everyone’s was! Maybe by May I’ll know how to properly work my camera and can take legit engagement pictures of Al and FiFi :)



Wednesday night Hil and I cooked great potato soup! Thank you grandma Johnson for your yummy recipe! We’re trying to cook a variety of things and we have done better this week. Grilled Chicken, Salad, Potato and Veggie Soup, getting better every day! Tonight I had my cooking class at 3-5:30. I absolutely loved my teacher. She told us about her life and background in Italian cooking. Her family has always been cooks and I could tell that she was passionate about cooking. She believed the best way to learn was simply to cook and experiment; she didn’t seem too strict on rules. I loved that she took us on a walk around town and pointed out all the places we had to go. She told us the history of the market, where to get the freshest ingredients, and of course all the best restaurants/ gelatarias. When we got back to class we made a quick and easy pasta dish (all I had to do was mince garlic and my hands still smell). On a normal week we make three dishes and pair them with two wines. It made me sooo excited for every Thursday to come! After class I met Hil at Santa Croce for the chocolate festival. We had heard that we HAD to go to the chocolate festival and since it was about 3 minutes from our apartment we decided to give it a shot. I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH CHOCOLATE! Chocolate shaped tools, coffee cups, literally everything you could imagine. In Italy they have great hot chocolate, it’s more like a melted chocolate bar. After we walked around for a while and scoped out all the yummy stuff I decided that the “white hot chocolate” looked the best to me. Little did I know that it wasn’t hot chocolate but some nasty bready drink with alcohol in it (or so I think). I couldn’t drink it. Out of all the amazing things at a chocolate festival I would get the one thing that I dislike. It turned out ok though b/c Hil and I ended up splitting a wonderfully rich piece of chocolate cake and REAL hot chocolate. The chocolate festival redeemed itself. We went on a run around the Arno after. It hasn’t been too cold this week, so I’ve ran a couple times. Hopefully the closer it gets to spring, the more we can run! It couldn’t have been a better first week of classes! Venice tomorrow!





Interesting things to note:
- There are these little trucks here (not exactly trucks though because they only have three wheels) that I think Dad could really use for the garden and carting veggies. They are super cute and have a huge cab for hauling things. I need to capture a picture so y’all can understand. I call them produce trucks and I want one.
- Italians normally buy their veggies, milk and bread fresh- 2 or 3 times a week.
- Hil and I can’t read labels. I accidently bought whole milk and she bought fizzy water. We’re learning.

Miss and love y’all,
Bec

I think i'll name my child Siena...

I should probably write more than once a week Because when I finally take the time to sit down and think about what I want to say, I do not even know where to begin! This week was our last week of intensive Italian and I can not say I'm sad for it to be over. We had our final on Friday. It was not too bad. I'm a lot better at writing than speaking. We went to Fiesole with the school this week. The view was amazing. It was about a 25 minute bus ride from school and then we could see over all of Florence. It was beautiful, I'll def. be going back. Other highlights of the week included: going to my first Italian nightclubs, trying two of the best ice cream places in town (Grom and Vivoli), and falling down multiple times on the stone roads. I'm a fan of ice cream. Hil still prefers yopo, but I think I'll take ice cream. It is kind of expensive but we found a place close to our house for 1 euro. It's fun to explore all the different places and flavors (my favorites so far are black cherry and white chocolate). The weeks literally fly by. We never feel like we have enough time in the day to do all we want to. This week we are finally making time to climb to the top of the Duomo and find the Academia where Michelangelo's David is housed. Cooking is going well. We eat a lot of soup (from these little packets) and Stand bread. We plan to branch out this week and try out some homemade pasta sauce-we'll see how that goes! I'm really excited for our classes to start this week. As much as I enjoy 5 hours of English every day, it will be a nice change to learn about art and literature! Ok enough about the week, on to the fun weekend trip!

This weekend we went to San Gimignano and Siena. We left on Saturday morning and caught the 9:30 bus to San Gimignano. We had to change buses at Cold Werid little sleep, and would have missed our bus to San Gimignano if it had not been for a really nice woman who told us the bus was about to leave us. No kidding, God watches over us. Everywhere we go we meet extremely nice people who help us. We made the bus and got to S.G. Around 11:30 or so. Before coming to Italy multiple people had warned me that: A. it was going to be cold and B. it rained a lot. So far neither of these things have really been an issue in Florence. It has not rained Once and while it is cold, it's totally bearable. When we got to S.G. It was drizzling and very chilly. The town is known for its medieval towers and beautiful views of the Tuscan countryside. The rain held off and we managed to climb around the tower / walls and see all the breathtaking beauty of San Gimignano. Literally as soon as we made it back inside the town it started to rain. We got pizza and ice cream (surprise surprise) and waited an hour or so for a bus to Sienna. One interesting thing we learned this weekend is that Italians must eat and walk, Because every place we went to charged extra to sit down, or had no sitting area at all. Be prepared to eat ice cream outside ... it's worth it. We were thrilled to get on the nice warm bus and when we finally made it to Sienna, we all would not have minded 1 more hour of rest on the cozy bus. When we got off the bus we were kinda in that disorientated "Where in the heck did we just get dropped off at" feel. It did not help that it was pouring rain and freezing. We found the first coffee shop (with seats) and sat for a little while to get our bearings. It's amazing what a little coffee, bathroom, and warmth can do for you! Sienna We headed into our hostel and called just to check it. The hostel lady could speak zero English so we ended up having to go straight to the hostel Because she kept screaming at us over the phone (we were a little scared). Finally found the hostel, got yelled at by hostel lady on the phone for a couple more minutes (she kept asking "where are you" in Italian ... we are standing right outside of the door but she just could not get it .. . showed me how poorly I speak Ital), and somehow managed to get settled into our extremely nice rooms. This was my first hostel experience and it could not have been better. We stayed at Casa di Antonella and it was really just a nice apartment with rooms they rented out. We got lucky. Dropped off our stuff and headed back into the heart of Siena to explore.



I loved Siena. I have really loved all the little Tuscan towns, but I really loved Sienna. The Streets were unreal. At one point we got a little lost while looking for a dinner spot but managed to see the coolest, steepest, winding streets. I loved all the people in "The Champ" (the main square), and the little kids that Chased around the pigeons. I especially loved the Duomo in Sienna. Unreal. The outside was beautiful in itself, but the inside was indescribable. Every part of the cathedral was striking. The details are what amazed me. Whether it was the floor, the striped marble columns, the ceiling, or (my favorite) the stained glass windows, I gawked at everything! I can not help but think "how in the world did anyone ever build this? We had a nice dinner Saturday night at a place Rick Steve's suggested. It was great. I tried some kind of Duck Sauce b / c that's what Siena is famous for. We went to bed early, but by 10 I do not think I could have seen much more. There was not a cloud in the sky on Sunday. We had the best time exploring St. Catharine's Church (Church of San. Dominico) . Her head and thumb are still preserved here, weird I know. "Once again, I could not get over the stained glass. We did random things like go to our favorite store "everything / everything .99 euros" and took pictures at the camp until 1: 30 when we could finally go into the cathedral. If you ever go to Siena, go inside the Dome. Favorite part of the weekend for sure. We managed to find the train station and got back to Florence around 5. It was a great weekend.



A couple things I learned from the weekend:
- Wear hats, they keep you A LOT warmer and you do not have to shower b / c no one can see your hair;)
- Be prepared for rain. Have an idea of where your hostel is located, and make sure you know the #.
- When trying to speak Ital take your time and use the words you know. Do not feel discouraged when someone looks at you like you are an idiot.
- Wear lots of socks.

Overall I could not have asked for a better weekend. It was good weekend to learn a few things before Hil, Melis, and I venture to Venice for Carnivale next weekend! The whole weekend Continually I thought about how beautiful God's creation is and how blessed I am to see it (and with some of my very best buddies). God is good. Whether in Florence, Brown Summit, Chapel Hill, or Haiti. He is the same, even if I'm not. We went to worship at Pepperdine yesterday, loved it for the 2nd time. Tonight we have LDM welcome dinner. Should be fun. Promise to write more than once a week. Love y'all.

meow meow,
Bec