February in Firenze and other glorious places!

Hi All,
I finally have a chance to sit down and write a little bit before Ian and I head off to Turin and Montreux for the weekend! So, these last two weeks have been pretty crazy! Two weekends ago, Jess, Sara, Elaine, Liz and Emily were visiting from Paris, and we had an amazing weekend! I am sure you can all imagine how excited Jess and I were to be back together :) and I am sure by looking at the pictures, you can all tell how much fun we had! Yes, we did party A LOT...but we still did and saw some great things in Florence! We climbed the steps of the Duomo and got to see the whole city from the top of the dome (SO BEAUTIFUL) and we walked all over the city!

Last weekend Jillian, Shari, Ian, Greg and I traveled with a bunch of other kids to Amsterdam! Aside from it being absolutely FREEZING there, we had a wonderful time! The city is big, and a little hard to navigate, but we tried to make the best of our time there. We went to the museum of indigenous peoples and an erotica museum. I think I am going to plan another trip there when it gets warmer because there are so many more things I want to see there (anne franks house and the van gogh museum). It was really nice to travel, as it was my first time being out of Florence since I arrived here three weeks ago, but when we got back on Sunday evening, I really felt as though I was returning home!!

Tonight Ian and I are hopping on a train to Turin, where we will stay in a hostel/hotel for 2 nights! I have heard wonderful things about Turin- and to top it all off, the chocolate festival begins this weekend! (We are leaving early friday morning, so I am crossing my fingers that the festivities start thursday night!) They also have something called the chocolate lovers pass, which is a pass to various chocolate shops and restaurants that allow you to taste their chocolate for free!! (Lynn, I will try to bring you back some-but I can't promise that I won't eat it before I see you).
On Friday morning at 6AM, we are taking a train from Turin to Montreux to meet David and Jodi for the weekend. We will be staying there until Sunday afternoon!!

I am so excited for the next few weeks, as I have Jodi and David here, and then MOM AND DAD!!!!!and PARIS so soon!
I love and miss you all!
I hope you enjoy all the pics :)
Bec

Carnival in Firenze

Hi everyone!
The past few days have been absolutely crazy here! It is Carnival (which is basically mardi gras) and Firenze has been a blast! Two days ago there was a parade on my street with floats and music and tons of dancing! There were different floats for different countries and everyone was dressed in wild costumes. The Brazil float had about 10 guys playing the drums and dancing and the women wore these outrageous peacock and butterfly wings which you can hopefully see in some of the pictures!
Last night a bunch of us went to a club called Space...it was INSANE! I don't even know how to explain this place other than saying glitter, neon paint everywhere, blacklights and techno music! It was so much fun! All of us got painted (as you can see in the pictures) and were dancing until 3AM. It was a great time!
Jess gets here tomorrow with a bunch of other friends to celebrate her birthday and I am so excited to see her (I may hold her captive and not let her leave Florence for the rest of the semester!)
I finally have a secure internet connection so I will be posting a lot more with a lot more pictures!
I love and miss all of you!
Bec

Firenze

So it has been a few days now since I have been in Firenze and I love it! We got dropped off at the Duomo and were told that we had to schlep all of our bags to our apartment-only to be pleasantly surprised that we live exactly half a block from the steps of the most beautiful church I have ever seen! As we dragged all 31 pieces of luggage (we created a communal luggage pile) up to our apartment, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face!!!!! We walked by Miu Miu, MaxMara and Furla to get to our 20 foot high double carved wooden doors! We dragged the luggage up the 8 flights of steps to the 3rd floor (which can also be reached via the 2"x2" elevator when pressing floor #2...Florence = Chelm). Now our place definitely makes up for all that the "lobby" and "elevator" lack because it is a MANSION! we have the entire floor- fully furnished with 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and 3 lofts (one of which is officially the dance party room, the yoga room, the storage room, and Rachel and Carly's closet!
We have a kitchen which is attached to the washing machine which is attached to the drying rack which is attached to the dishwasher- so lets just say that I wont be spending much time cooking! All of the rooms have a feel about them- mine, which I share with Cara, is very antique looking! we have a marble fireplace (which used to contain a portrait that oddly resembled hitler above it- obviously took that down) and huge windows with shutters...when I look out my window to the left, I can practically touch the Duomo!
We have been having parties at our place almost every night before we head out to the bars and clubs, and it has been a blast! I have made so many new friends and also have the pleasure of sharing my amazing experiences with some old ones as well!
Speaking of sharing experiences with those that I love-I couldn't be more excited to be living 10 minutes from Ian! The walk from my apartment to his is beautiful (as I have to cross the Ponte Vecchio) and it is a safe one too (don’t worry mom, lynn and jodi). His friends are great and we have been having an amazing time! We went to a club called Maracana for his birthday- and I have to shamefully admit that I fully enjoyed the bar-mitzvahesque music they played all night!
I started class today- I had jewelry making and Wine and Culture class. Jewelry making was wonderful- I already made a ring out of silver, which I molded and soldered myself. I picked out a black onyx stone with a roman warrior head engraved in it, which will be set in a bevel on the ring!
My wine class deserves a blog all to itself! it was so great! Aside from getting absolutely hammered off all of the amazing wine- I actually learned a lot about the color, texture, and smell of the wine in relation to where the grapes come from and how long the wine has aged! (see dad-not a waste…just wasted)
Well I love and miss you all very very much! I have to admit that I was a bit homesick tonight…must be directly related to my first night staying in in over a week!
I have my other two classes tomorrow- advertising and web portfolio presentation- tomorrow, which I am very excited about!
I love and miss you all!
Ciao!
Becca