Barcelona!

This is going to have to be quick, but I will write more when I get back to Florence and I can put up some pictures!

Spring break is finally here. We got to Barcelona yesterday. It´s an awesome city so far. Our hostel is a bit outside the center, but it´s pretty awesome. There´s hammocks, a kitchen, good people, a den...
We can take the metro right into the center, which is called Las Ramblas (or La Rambla). La Rambla is this main street that has tons of vendors, stores, restaurants, tapas bars, and street performers. If you walk all the way down, you hit the water. There´s also palm trees everywhere. I´m in love with them!

Here´s a few highlights of our first day.
We...
-saw a parade with huge men in costumes on stilts
-ate crepes with fruit and nutella
-took a tiny air tram over the entire city
-ran through the streets barefoot in a sunshower
-let ourselves dry in the sun outside of the biggest mall ever!
-desperately tried to find a restaurant and spoke broken Castillian Spanish only to get frozen pizzas, and ham and eggs


Hamburguesas here are just a piece of ham. Total let down.

me gusta barcelona!

CIAO!

ciao, marzo!

March has been a very good month so far indeed. The weekend of the 9th and 10th, Katy and I went to Berlin. It was our first trip out of the country so it was pretty cool to venture out. We stayed at this very funky hostel in Mitte, East Berlin. East Berlin and West Berlin are really different...Mitte is a bit more artsy and in the process of being rebuilt, like alot of other things in Berlin. I was so amazed at the history there, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, old Third Reich buildings...just kind of an eye opener compared to the frills of Florence.
We stayed in a 32 bed dorm in our hostel. The walls were lime green, the beds were tiny, and sometimes we found girls sleeping in our beds, but everyone was very friendly. I would totally dorm like that again for 12 euro/night!

I DID: see the historical sights and crazy modern art galleries, go to a party with local Germans and a very scary night club, drink a beer the size of my head, and eat falafel.

I DID NOT: go to a holocaust museum, see any lederhosen, eat a weiner, or a schnitzel, or any combination of the two.

I might have to go back just for the schnitzel!


reichstag

Germans!

the Wall

feet, hostel


Now I have alot of painting midterms to finish (and start). Most of them are self portraits at the moment, which is kind of annoying and I'm getting sick of my face, but I'm learning alot about it.

We are also mastering the art of pasta sauces (marinara, pesto, alfredo, creamy pesto...) in our apartment while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I eat gelato almost every day. We also have pet fish now!

Things we miss: Tropicana, maple syrup, peanut butter

Feel free to mail them with love letters to:
Sucola Lorenzo de' Medici
Via Melarancio 6R
Firenze, Italia 50123

One Month Later...

It's been about one month since we've been here, and we've finally settled in pretty well. Classes are totally rolling, my Italian is improving (I think it is, at least, "MOLTO BENE!") and I'm having a really good time. An average day during the week consists of me getting up, making coffee from a percolator, have some toast with Nutella (if you don't know what Nutella is, please go to your grocery store and scour the isles for it, it will change your life and your jar of peanut butter will get very jealous) and head off to the studio for about 6 hours. We get a siesta in the middle where we can go grab a coffee or some lunch. We usually cook every night, which saves a ton of money and it's awesome! We basically live on pasta and veggies, but we're working on some good curveballs like risotto, breaded chicken (fancy, I know), and real beans, like dry from a bag at the market, not goya in a can. The beans have not worked yet, I think we're just going to buy cans. We also drink wine with most meals, it's pretty cheap. We have our hookup from the Indian bodega down the street who gives us 3 bottles for 10 euro. His name is Happy. haha..

We haven't done a whole lot of traveling yet, just because there is so much to do just within the city limits. Katy and I went to Venice though, and that was beautiful. We went during Carnivale, which is kind of like Mardi Gras, so it was pretty packed but everyone was dressed up and there was alot to see. Here's some pictures from that weekend...


The Island of Burano in Venice, where every house is a different color!



Palazzo Ducale in central Venice



Venetian masks, these people were SO awesome!



and a gondola, DUH! :)

Today we went to Pisa and Lucca. We saw that crazy leaning tower, took the silly pictures with us trying to hold it up, etc, etc. Other than the tower though, there's not much to see in Pisa! Lucca was actually cooler, I thought. It's this awesome old city that has a big circular wall that runs through the whole town. The wall is really high and it's pretty much built for pedestrians and bikers. So naturally, we rented bicycles for 2.50 euro and rode around the wall. It was so cool, and no one fell off the wall. Glorious!


so cliche, but I couldn't resist..



Other than that we've been having friends over, doing our homework, art projects and going on random adventures. We eat gelato like it's our job, too. We're also becoming regulars at this pub called BeBop which features a Beatles cover band every Tuesday. They are so good, and there is nothing like hearing the Beatles when you get a little homesick.



Allora! ("anyway..") That's about it for now, I will hopefully become less lazy and try to update this more frequently. Katy and I are headed to Berlin next weekend, so I'm sure I'll have something good to post from that trip. Till then, Ciao!